Adaptive music allows game developers to implement music that responds to other game parameters. Thus, the music can follow the game's narrative in real time, thereby contributing to an immersive experience. In a game with adaptive music, the player has agency and influence on the music, while at the same time the music also has agency and influence on the player. In this bachelor thesis, we have investigated how adaptive music could affect player performance by looking at elements that may influence this issue, such as music features and stress. We have conducted tests as well as combined quantitative with qualitative methods which enabled us to dive deeper in this question and get into the details, while at the same time obtaining broader and more comprehensive knowledge about the role of adaptive music in games. In the text, we describe the practical work with all of  it’s technical ingredients that we performed to create and implement adaptive music in a game. Finally, we also provide an account of the collected data, a methodically conducted analysis, and an in-depth discussion that reflects on the work and suggests how to continue researching this subject.

This study is part of a worldwide debate on inclusive innovation systems in developing

countries and particularly on the co-evolutionary processes taking place, seen from the

perspective of a public university. The increasing literature that discusses how innovation

systems and development can foster more inclusive and sustainable societies has

inspired this thesis work. Thus, the main problem handled in the research concerns the

question how socially sensitive research practices and policies at a public university in

Bolivia can be stimulated within emerging innovation system dynamics. In that vein,

empirical knowledge is developed at the Universidad Mayor de San SimoÅLn (UMSS),

Cochabamba as a contribution to experience-based learning in the field. Analysis are

nourished by a dialogue with the work of prominent Latin American scholars and

practitioners around the idea of a developmental university and the democratization

of knowledge. The reader will be able to recognize a recursive transit between theory

and practice, where a number of relevant concepts are contextualized and connected

in order to enable keys of critical interpretation and paths of practices amplification

for social inclusion purposes established. The study shows how, based on a previous

experience, new competences and capacities for the Technology Transfer Unit (UTT)

at UMSS were produced, in this case transforming itself into a University Innovation

Centre. Main lessons gained in that experience came from two pilot cluster development

(food and leather sectors) and a multidisciplinary researchers network (UMSS

Innovation Team) where insights found can improve future collaborative relations between

university and society for inclusive innovation processes within the Bolivian

context.

The concept of National Innovation Systems (NIS) has been widely adopted in developing countries, particularly in Latin American countries, for the last two decades. The concept is used mainly as an ex-ante framework to organize and increase the dynamics of those institutions linked to science, technology and innovation, for catching-up processes of development. In the particular case of Bolivia, and after several decades of social and economic crisis, the promise of a national innovation system reconciles a framework for collaboration between the university, the government and the socio-productive sectors. Dynamics of collaboration generated within NIS can be a useful tool for the pursuit of inclusive development ambitions.

This thesis is focused on inclusive innovation processes and the generation of co-evolutionary processes between university, government and socio-productive sectors. This is the result of 8 years of participatory action research influenced by Mode 2 knowledge-production and Technoscientific approaches.

The study explores the policy paths the Bolivian government has followed in the last three decades in order to organize science, technology and innovation. It reveals that Bolivia has an emerging national innovation system, where its demand-pulled innovation model presents an inclusive approach. Innovation policy efforts in Bolivia are led by the Vice-Ministry of Science and Technology (VCyT). Moreover, NIS involves relational and collaborative approaches between institutions, which imply structural and organizational challenges, particularly for public universities, as they concentrate most of the research capabilities in the country. These universities are challenged to participate in NIS within contexts of weak demanding sectors. 

This research focuses on the early empirical approaches and transformations at Universidad Mayor de San Simón (UMSS) in Cochabamba. The aim to strengthen internal innovation capabilities of the university and enhance the relevance of research activities in society by supporting socio-economic development in the framework of innovation systems is led by the Technology Transfer Unit (UTT) at UMSS. UTT has become a recognized innovation facilitator unit, inside and outside the university, by proposing pro-active initiatives to support emerging innovation systems. Because of its complexity, the study focuses particularly on cluster development promoted by UTT. Open clusters are based on linking mechanisms between the university research capabilities, the socio-productive actors and government. Cluster development has shown to be a practical mechanism for the university to meet the demanding sector (government and socio-productive actors) and to develop trust-based inclusive innovation processes. The experiences from cluster activities have inspired the development of new research policies at UMSS, with a strong orientation to foster research activities towards an increased focus on socio-economic development. The experiences gained at UMSS are discussed and presented as a “developmental university” approach.

Inclusive innovation processes with co-evolutionary approaches seem to constitute an alternative path supporting achievement of inclusive development ambitions in Bolivia. 

Solution providers are transitioning from product-centric models to service-oriented solutions. This shift has led to the rise of Product-Service Systems (PSS), which offer a holistic approach by integrating physical products with associated services. However, the inherent complexity and collaborative nature of PSS development present a significant challenge: information gathering, analysis, and knowledge building. This is further amplified in the early stages of PSS development due to data challenges such as uncertainty, ambiguity, and complexity. This complicates informed decision-making, potentially leading to the risk of sub-optimal outcomes and impacting the success of final offerings.

This research proposes an AI-powered data analysis approach to address these data challenges and augment the decision-making process of PSS development. The focus is on supporting early-stage decision-making, as decisions made at this stage greatly impact the success of final solutions. The research investigates how data can be utilized and visualized to extract actionable insights, ultimately facilitating informed decision-making.

The presented research demonstrates that AI-powered data analysis effectively supports informed decision-making in early-stage PSS development. By extracting actionable insights from complex data, handling data limitations, and enabling informed strategic decisions, knowledge sharing, and collaboration are facilitated among stakeholders. Furthermore, integrating AI with visualization tools fosters knowledge building and a deeper understanding of system behavior, ultimately leading to more successful PSS solutions. The efficacy of AI-powered data analysis for handling diverse data types across application domains is demonstrated, potentially leading to benefits such as a deeper understanding of system behavior and proactive solution strategies. These advancements contribute to developing decision support systems specifically for PSS development.

Overall, this research demonstrates the efficacy of AI-powered data analysis in overcoming data challenges and empowering decision-makers in early-stage PSS development. This translates to more informed choices, leading to the creation of successful and efficient PSS solutions.

A data analysis method based on artificial neural networks aiming to support cause-and-effect analysis in design exploration studies is presented. The method clusters and aggregates the effects of multiple design variables based on the structural hierarchy of the evaluated system. The proposed method is exemplified in a case study showing that the predictive capability of the created, clustered, a dataset is comparable to the original, unmodified, one. The proposed method is evaluated using coefficient-of-determination, root mean square error, average relative error, and mean square error. Data analysis approach with artificial neural networks is believed to significantly improve the comprehensibility of the evaluated cause-and-effect relationships studying PSS concepts in a cross-functional team and thereby assisting the difficult and resource-demanding negotiations process at the conceptual stage of the design.

This Bachelor Thesis examines how animation and sound design in a design process can illustrate an equal and responsible technological future, based on post-humanist theories and philosophies. During the work we have examined animation methods, participatory design, sound design and technology as well as technological developments. In this thesis, we present the processes and methods we used to create our conformation, which is an animated short film.

Today more than ever, Computerized Trouble Ticketing System is becoming a booming information technology system that makes the difference between staying in business in a competitive global telecommunication arena.

This quantitative exploratory survey utilised conveniently selected research subjects to explore computerized trouble ticketing system and its inherent benefits in Vodafone Ghana Plc. Cross section of vital data set collected with the aid of structured questionnaires haven been analyzed using descriptive statistics model.

The study revealed that, effective and efficient usage of computerized trouble ticketing systems benefit the company in terms of its customer satisfaction, competitive advantage and business intelligence in competitive telecom arena. Nevertheless, the smooth realization of these inherent benefits are constantly challenged by complexity in managing volumes of data generated, intense era of competition, high cost of trouble ticketing system, as well as, rapid technological obsolesce in computerized trouble ticketing applications in telecommunication market.

The study recommended for the quick and effective adoption of differentiation strategy, cost leadership strategy and customer relationship management, which are customer-centric measures that can build sustainable long-term customer relationship that can create value for the company, as well as, for the customers.

Cities in developing world are inadequately equipped with public spaces. The increasing urbanizations trend is attracting more people to come to the cities without having proper sustainable plan for public spaces. However, this social public place holds the important function for urban well-being and collective recognition. This is the place where human can participate as fully fledged social subjects in complex civic life. Unfortunately, in most cases the provision of public space in these cities is always neglected or poorly integrated in planning legislations. So, in many cases community people make their own ways of social interaction that gives public space a new definition. Khulna, one of the divisional cities of Bangladesh, is going through the similar developing country situation. Lack of fund and space restricts development agencies to make new public spaces in this city. On the other hand management and coordination challenges between multilevel planning authorities also making existing public spaces malfunctioned. Sustainably planned, created and managed public spaces are hence urged for the cities of developing world to get livable and healthy urban environment.

The theme of this bachelor thesis was Queer Games. We discussed how queerness is applied in video games for queer people. We made some observations on how LGBTQ characters were represented within a few games that had representations of Queer experiences. We explored the topic of Queer Mechanics as presented by game creator Avery Mcdaldno (2014) and we researched discussions about Queerness in games by a select number of scholars. Namely, Bonnie Ruberg (Campus Gotland GAME, 2017), Naomi Clark (2017, Chapter 1) and Edmond. Y. Chang (2017, Chapter 2).

We explained why we used Gay Memes as our anchoring topic for our Queer Game design and then we went through the methods and design process that we had while developing our Queer Game. These methods included Innovation By Boundary Shifting (Löwgren and Stolterman, 2004), Design Pillars (Max Pears, 2017) and The Crystal Clear method (New Line Technologies, 2018). Then, we broke down the design process starting with how we came up with the game concept, what design pillars we used and the programs and tools we used in the development of the game. We also explained the relation between our design process and the information we learned from the previously mentioned scholars and creators.

At the end of this bachelor thesis, we discussed the effectiveness of the chosen methods, the results we found through research which included questioning the role of empathy and fun in games, putting less focus on superficial forms of representation and creating game mechanics that are queer. We described the finished video game we made and we introduced our ideas for future research on Queer Game Design.

There is an increasing amount of pictures taken everyday and thus an increase of passive pictures in our personal archives. In order to reactivate the passive pictures this bachelor thesis asks the research question what can inspire the everyday photographer to use their picture archive to create new image scenes? The aim of this analysis is to find an inspiration source to encourage the everyday photographers to use their passive images to create new image scenes. The further aim is also to inform and encourage a discussion about the everyday photography and the growing amount of pictures. As a foundation for our design process we have explored a variety of research within the field of everyday photography, personal archives and pictures as memories. We have during our design process also used a combination of methods to create and evolve ideas, for instance brainstorming, mindmapping and the “why-method”. The methods workshop and crowdsourcing were also used as a way to invite other people into the process. As a whole our process has revolved around the concept of messiness as we encountered a dilemma that turned our previous attitude towards the thesis upside down. Our design and conclusion, BuildBild, emerged through our method creating scenes of transparent images which is based on the idea of pictures printed on plastic. BuildBild is a playful tool which is meant to inspire everyday photographers to reactivate their passive pictures through creative scenes. 

Technology has become increasingly incorporated into our modern society and existence overthe past few decades, influencing how we live. Many new technologies are often met with awe orcriticism, only to gradually become integrated into our daily lives. One current type oftechnology that may be on its way to such a role is the abundance of artificial intelligence thathas reached new heights in a very short time. At the moment, the future of this technology issomewhat unclear, but there is much speculation regarding both its potential and the risks thatmay arise. Regardless of how long the technology remains relevant in practice, theseperspectives help us ask important questions about our relationship with technology. How do wewant to relate to it? How dependent do we want to be on it? What can be the consequences ofoveruse? In this article, we have employed speculative design to explore the possibilities thattechnology and machines, in general, could offer us, with the aim of raising awareness aboutthese questions. By depicting five scenarios in different visions and contexts of a near future, wehave explored the social, ethical, and cultural issues that arise concerning technology and ourexistence.

This thesis describes how a foreign object can affect an observer's perception of a character's relation to good and evil. The thesis explores topics like stereotypes, forms, prejudices and impressions. Various methods are used in the development of the characters, which include shapes that are used to enhance the perception of the character's position between good and evil. The characters were created ​​in two versions, one without the foreign object and one with the foreign object.

A survey was created and the participants had to score the characters and then justify their choice with comments. The results showed that a foreign object is able to influence the viewer, where the viewer's relationship to the object has a crucial role in how the character is angled towards good or evil.

Syftet med denna artikel är att vi ska gå igenom användningen och skapandet av visuella metaforer. Vi applicerar detta på en videogestaltning som går ut på att skapa ett förväntat narrativ med hjälp av visuella metaforer för att sedan bryta vad åskådaren förväntar sig ska hända, en så kallad: Plot Twist. Vi går in på vikten av visuella metaforer som Brown (2016) anser vara en av filmskapares viktigast tekniker. Vi går in på hur visuella metaforer kan appliceras som designperspektiv, inte bara inom film men även annan media. Designen för gestaltningen har utförts med designprocessguiden av SVID (stiftelsen svensk industridesign). Metoder och tekniker som använts i övrigt är deltagande design, storyboards, testgrupp och visuella metaforer som designperspektiv. Vi vidareutvecklar från hur Brown (2016) använder det som en narrativ teknik. Vi har även analyserat critical design, research through design och design fiction för att komma fram till visuella metaforer som perspektiv.

Vi har inget mål att ge någon numeriska data på hur man exakt ska använda visuella metaforer eller vad det exakt genererar utan vi har som mål med resultatet att vidare möjliggöra framtida designarbeten inom området. Kanske väcker vi fler frågor än svar men det är resultatet vi är ute efter, vi tror att visuella metaforer har en större roll i media än vad den används för idag.

In this bachelor thesis we research and discuss a theme that has been the focus for many feminist figures and groups in both older and recent content where they clash together in an effort to find a solution to a problem that has been plaguing our society. The problem being; a lack in diversity inside Game development companies and creation, thus our question becomes; how can We include or encourage more women to enter the digital world and participate in programming and game making. The methods that has been chosen for this thesis range from Critical Design: to design and create a unique game of our own, Interviews: to question women from different backgrounds and ages to find out what they want/wish for regarding games, to Kanban: where we use it to get our project together. All while linking this entire thesis to Situated Knowledge concept where we dive in deeper to what it means in the discussion part and how in our results we discoverer a way that we individually can use to change the gaming industry and its involvement.

Modern facial feature tracking techniques can automatically extract and accurately track multiple facial landmark points from faces in video streams in real time. Facial landmark points are defined as points distributed on a face in regards to certain facial features, such as eye corners and face contour. This opens up for using facial feature movements as a handsfree human-computer interaction technique. These alternatives to traditional input devices can give a more interesting gaming experience. They also open up for more intuitive controls and can possibly give greater access to computers and video game consoles for certain disabled users with difficulties using their arms and/or fingers.

This research explores using facial feature tracking to control a character's movements in a platform game. The aim is to interpret facial feature tracker data and convert facial feature movements to game input controls. The facial feature input is compared with other handsfree inputmethods, as well as traditional keyboard input. The other handsfree input methods that are explored are head pose estimation and a hybrid between the facial feature and head pose estimation input. Head pose estimation is a method where the application is extracting the angles in which the user's head is tilted. The hybrid input method utilises both head pose estimation and facial feature tracking.

The input methods are evaluated by user performance and subjective ratings from voluntary participants playing a platform game using the input methods. Performance is measured by the time, the amount of jumps and the amount of turns it takes for a user to complete a platform level. Jumping is an essential part of platform games. To reach the goal, the player has to jump between platforms. An inefficient input method might make this a difficult task. Turning is the action of changing the direction of the player character from facing left to facing right or vice versa. This measurement is intended to pick up difficulties in controling the character's movements. If the player makes many turns, it is an indication that it is difficult to use the input method to control the character movements efficiently.

The results suggest that keyboard input is the most effective input method, while it is also the least entertaining of the input methods. There is no significant difference in performance between facial feature input and head pose input. The hybrid input version has the best results overall of the alternative input methods. The hybrid input method got significantly better performance results than the head pose input and facial feature input methods, while it got results that were of no statistically significant difference from the keyboard input method.

Keywords: Computer Vision, Facial Feature Tracking, Head Pose Tracking, Game Control

The Eiffel Protocol provides traceability downstream and upstream of all activities that transpire inside the CI/CD pipeline. The traceability achieved by the Eiffel Protocol comes with great benefits even though it does not cover all development activities as it pertains only to the CI/CD pipeline. Our research aims to explore the idea of extending the Eiffel Protocol to cover all activities and discuss what benefits could be seen, especially in the scope of reducing the number of integration failures. A literature study was first carried out to find the root causes of these failures. After the literature study, we conducted a focus group session to gather data about the potential benefits and problems of an extension, what analyses could be drawn, and how it can affect integration errors. Our results show that an extension is beneficial as analyses that can be made with the generated data can tackle some of the biggest issues found in software development teams, especially in larger organizations. The complexity, cost involved and the time needed to see a return on investment does however weigh it down. Thus, while it is beneficial it is not enough for organizations to consider it as a priority to integrate with their environments when thinking of the costs involved to do so. Further implementation solutions need to be researched before it shows its worth.

Background. The heads-up display (HUD) is a useful tool for displaying information to the player in a game, but the HUD is not a part of the game world. This could take away from the desired experience of the game and block important parts of the main action screen. To counteract this the HUD mostly occupies the edges of the screen and avoids drawing the player’s attention away from the main action scene except when it has important information for the player. Only having the HUD visible when it has important information to the player could remove the distraction of the HUD while keeping all the benefits of having one.

Objectives. By using eye tracking to complement the HUD, the HUD can be invisible when the player does not use it, and change how the information is presented depending on where the player is looking. By creating a first-person shooter (FPS) game with a HUD complemented by eye tracking, then comparing it to how a normal HUD differed in terms of visibility and clutter, using a survey.

Methods. The game was created using the Tobii Unity SDK and modifying the FPS demo scene. To create the gaze sensitive HUD three scripts were created to produce the finished result. Giving the HUD the ability to make all HUD elements invisible and able to appear after passing a specific value or when the element has new information, the HUD also has the ability to present information close to the player’s gaze point in the of notifications. The game was then presented to the participants in the form of two videos one using the normal HUD and one using the gaze sensitive HUD. After watching the partisans answered a survey related to the videos.

Results. The gaze-based HUD was generally on par with the normal HUD. The most noticeable significant difference being that the normal HUDs ammunition counter and health bar was proffered over a less visible one.

Conclusions. From the results gathered having a gaze-based HUD does not make it harder to notify the player of important information and dos not make the HUD less cluttered, compared to a normal HUD, but there is a difference between them.

Introduction: In this study, foveated rendering has been explored as its impacton people in a virtual reality (VR) video game setting. Foveated rendering has thepotential to decrease the performance cost of virtual reality gaming by only renderingthe part of the scene where the user is looking. It achieves this with the use of aneye tracker. Although, this study does not focus on the performance gain.Related Work: The work that has previously been done has mostly focused onperformance. Studies that concentrate on how it affects people have only used ascene with a still or moving target in it. This work will expand upon this by includingit in a whole game instead. Method: A user study is conducted to test the perceived visual quality by playinga fast-paced game that requires a lot of eye and head movements. This is tested asa first-person shooter game, which is played thrice with different types of foveation.Those being no foveation, static, and dynamic foveated rendering and comparingthem with each other. The user study performed to test this had 20 participants whoplayed the game and answered a questionnaire afterward regarding the quality. These participants were experienced in normal gaming but had little previous experiencewith virtual reality. Results and Analysis: The results show that the majority do not notice a differencein quality between the game types. However, the type most people preferred wasfoveated rendering without the use of an eye tracker, called static foveation.Discussion: The results demonstrate that video games can effectively incorporatefoveated rendering, resulting in significant performance improvements with minimaldrawbacks. However, it is important to note that foveated techniques have certainhardware requirements that may limit their widespread adoption. One such require-ment is Variable Rate Shading, which is becoming increasingly prevalent as it issupported by all new graphics cards. This means that the market may more easilyadopt foveated rendering techniques that do not rely on an eye tracker. Additionally,a built-in eye tracker in headsets is another hardware requirement that might makeit harder for that to happen.Conclusion: Foveated rendering has almost no impact on the perceived quality of VR games which can lead to performance gains and makes it easier for people to getfeel more immersed in them.

People in the information society are surrounded by technologies and mediums that constantly transmit information of all kinds to their users. The design of this informationbecomes a critical aspect for the everyday user. This bachelor thesis aims to challenge visual communication of information and data. The question is carried out using methods such as prototyping and the design perspective minimalism. We present relevant research and methods that create a starting point for a design process that experiments with visual designs in a design situation. Through the challenge of methods of visual communication, we want to develop experimental designs that process and convey information to a recipient. The result of the design process is a prototype that tests visualizations and possible interactivity in the chosen context. 

In the midst of climate change and growing concern about social aspects, investors want to make informed sustainable choices regarding their consumption and investments. Many companies are trying to stay ahead of the curve by engaging in Corporate Social Responsibility. Mutual funds have noticed this trend and subsequently have started to offer ethical mutual funds as a result. These ethical claims are difficult to scrutinize for investors creating a problem of asymmetric information.

This study analyses how ethical claims and how eco-labels, in this case, the Nordic Swan Ecolabel relate to demand for equity mutual funds. In a world where more investors are seeking ethical investments, how is ethical commitment communicated in a trustworthy way?

Data on daily Net Asset Value (NAV) and monthly Total Net Assets (TNA) between 2016-01-01 and 2019-12-31, for 217 equity mutual funds sold on the Swedish market were collected from Thomson & Reuters database Eikon. These mutual funds were categorized into three groups, conventional, non-labelled ethical, and eco-labelled mutual funds. The data was structured as panel data and both random effect and fixed effect models were used to estimate the factor loadings.

The study shows that Nordic Swan Ecolabelled mutual funds tend to experience higher demand than both non-labelled ethical mutual funds and conventional mutual funds. In other words, the Nordic Swan Ecolabelled group distinguishes itself from the other mutual fund groups. Hence, the results of the study suggest that the Nordic Swan Ecolabel sends a signal that relates positively to the demand for mutual funds. Further, the results implicate that mutual fund companies that aim to introduce mutual funds that are truly ethical or sustainable should consider acquiring the Nordic Swan Ecolabel to signal their sustainability commitment since the results suggest that Nordic Swan Ecolabelled mutual funds have a positive relation to demand, both compared to conventional mutual funds and non-labelled ethical mutual funds.

Background. Physically-based snow simulation is computationally expensive and not yet applicable to real-time applications. Some of the prime factors for this cost are the complex physics, the large number of particles, and the small time step required for a high-quality and stable simulation.Simplified methods, such as height maps, are used instead to emulate snow accumulation. A way of improving performance is finding ways of doing less computations. In the field of computer graphics, adaptive methods have been developed to focus computation to where it is most needed. These works will serve as inspiration for this thesis.

Objectives. This thesis aims to reduce the total particle workload of an existing Discrete Element Method (DEM) application, thereby improving performance. The aim consists of the following objectives. Integrate a spatial method, thereby lessening the total number of particles through particle merging and splitting, and implement a temporal method, thereby lessening the workload by freezing certain particles in time. The performance of both these techniques will then be tested and analyzed in multiple scenarios.

Methods. Spatially and temporally adaptive methods were implemented in an existing snow simulator. The methods were both measured and compared using quantitative tests in three different scenes with varying particle counts.

Results. Performance tests show that both the spatial and temporal adaptivity reduce the execution time compared to the base method. The improvements from temporal adaptivity are consistently around 1.25x while the spatial adaptivity shows a larger range of improvements between 1.23x and 2.86x. Combining both adaptive techniques provides an improvement of up to 3.58x.

Conclusions. Both spatially and temporally adaptive techniques are viable ways to improve the performance of a DEM-based snow simulation. The current implementation has some issues with performance overhead and with the visual results while using spatial adaptivity, but there is a lot of potential for the future.

I denna undersökning tar vi upp hur en designprocess kan ses ur ett agentiellt perspektiv. Detagentiella perspektivet är framtaget av Karen Barad som i sin forskning i kvantfysik börjadeundersöka hur olika fenomen kunde ta olika former, som till exempel hur ljus kunde ta bådepartikel- och vågform (2003). Genom att applicera detta perspektiv på hur man uppfattar

verklighet och situationer utifrån olika håll ges möjlighet till en bredare bild av hur verklighets-skapande blir till. Vi ville därmed undersöka detta i relation till designprocess och hur

verkligheten formas om man ser designprocessen ur dess eget perspektiv istället för designerns,samt hur designern blir formad av processen. Vi har valt att analysera faktorerna tid,informationshantering, process, designperspektiv, Psykofysiologi och medietekniskinstallationskonst. Vi har även valt att studera Chions (1994) begrepp audiovisuella kontraktet,som har varit en grund till vår valda design, genom agentiell realism.Vår design är byggd på intra-aktion, som förklarar mötet mellan olika faktorer som påverkar ensituation (agenser), och audiovisuella kontraktet, som förklarar samspelet mellan ljud, bild ochåskådare, där vi valt att utgå ifrån medieteknisk installationskonst. Med dessa somutgångspunkt skapades en design av en interaktiv Projection mapping, som kan förklaras somen projektion i flera lager, som samspelar med en ljudbild.

Vi har under processens gång funnit fler exempel på hur vi som designers och individer harformats och förändrat olika ställningstaganden till både processen och vår verklighet, som viresonerat och diskuterat kring. Valet av vår undersökning är grundat på att ge ännu enkunskapsbas för vad som händer under en designprocess och för att medvetandegöra perspektivsom kan underlätta arbetsflödet. Vad händer egentligen med oss i en designprocess, och hurpåverkas designen?

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between the establishment of a Project Management Office and project performance. Particularly, whether or not the establishment of a Project Management Office leads to enhanced project performance in project based organizations.

Framework - The framework developed for the purpose of this study is made out of the different categories of Project Management Office services and functions on the one side and the different dimensions of project performance on the other. The model created tests the individual relationships between the constructs on each side.

Methodology- The study employs a quantitative research design. Project Management Offices in organizations from across the globe and operating in a range of industries and industry segments are investigated. The data for the study is collected using an online questionnaire.

Findings - The findings of this study lead to the belief that the establishment of a Project Management Office and the implementation of a certain set of its services and function will indeed lead to enhanced project performance

Managerial Implications - Managers are made aware of the impact of the Project Management Office on project performance. Moreover, they are given guidelines as to what services and functions to adopt if there were only interested in seeing results on the project level.

Limitations - The approach to exploring the subject in hand, the choice of participating organizations, the size of the sample tested, and the framework chosen for the evaluation of project performance are all seen as limitations for this study.

Project control is essential to ensure that the investment on a project is providing the intended benefits and is valuable to the customers. Previous methods offer project performance monitoring and forecasting tools, but they lack accuracy and the associated techniques omit the project financial risk (any unplanned event that has an impact on schedule and budget); the main factor of project failure. Poor project execution, and particularly failure to control and accurately forecast the project performance, may lead to increased costs, upset customers and eventually loss of market share. These gaps have been filled in this study by the development of novel models that use statistical analysis of the previous project performance, including risk evaluation techniques. The proposed models succeeded in providing remarkably improved forecasts in three project dimensions: duration, cost and resources. The robustness of the models has been verified by testing them on real projects. The results show superiority in terms of accuracy and easy application compared to any existing method, proving that the risk inclusion provides improvement compared to previous studies. The most important features of the models are: risk-based adjustment of the forecasted values, periodic and completion forecasts, statistical processing and holistic approach. The greatest advancements have been made in the cost forecast, for which the risk adjustment inclusion is examined for the first time. The resources (man-hours) forecast is another pioneer element of the proposed models. All the above provide a complete image of the project status and paint the picture of future performance. The models results are fed in a Decision Support System, which highlights the overperforming and underperforming areas of the project. This confirms the proposition that the model results can be used to initiate restorative action. The contribution of this study to the project management field is easy-to-use and accurate models, which include the financial risk and facilitate the project manager’s decisions and actions. Anticipation of the project performance, by considering the risk, can result to significant time and cost savings, crucial for project success.   

Med det här kandidatarbetet vill vi utforska hur spelvärldens ljuddesign kan användas och anpassas för att skapa ljuddesign i andrapersonsperspektivet. Eftersom andrapersonsperspektivet främst framkommer i spel vill vi bilda oss en uppfattning om hur ljudbilden kan se ut utifrån andrapersonsperspektivet för audiovisuella medier. Med hjälp av Michael Pauens kriterier för första, andra och tredjepersonsperspektivet bildar vi oss en förståelse för den filosofiska aspekten på de olika perspektiven. Pauens kriterier förandrapersonsperspektivet utgår ifrån distinktionen och förståelsen mellan ens egna medvetande och den andra personens medvetande. Andra viktiga begrepp som använts i vår undersökning är Syncresis, vår förmåga att koppla ljud till bild och Diegesis, det som avgör vilka element som finns i en films egna värld. Begreppen Diffraktion och Situerad kunskap har hjälpt oss att använda den kunskap som vi redan besitter och fokusera på alla aspekter av ljuddesignen och göra det möjligt för oss att utforska olika synvinklar på hur andrapersonsperspektivet kan gestaltas. Därefter nyttjas denna kunskap och appliceras på tekniker som ljudinspelning, sound mapping, foley och mixning. Våra experiment med inspelning och ljudläggning för olika vyer har resulterat i en audiovisuell gestaltning som visar hur andrapersonsperspektivet kan se ut och hur ljudbilden skulle kunna vara. Vad vi har kommit fram till är att skiftet mellan protagonisten och andrapersonen i den narrativa aspekten måste framgå tydligt i det audiovisuella mediet och även att det hade varit tydligare för åskådaren att se att det är andrapersonsperspektivet om det hade gestaltats i längre narrativa ark. Vi har som utforskare blivit mer medvetna om hur andrapersonsperspektivet kan gestaltas.

I dag finns det många olika ramverk att välja bland när det kommer till applikationsutveckling och det kan vara svårt att veta vilket av dessa man ska använda sig av. Denna rapport kommer undersöka två olika ramverk som skrivs i två olika programmeringsspråk vilka är Django och Node.js. Jämförelsen mellan dessa ramverk kommer handla om skillnader i användarvänligheten, det vill säga vilka typer av applikationer som bäst stödjs av något av ramverken, vilka serverleverantörer som har stöd för respektive ramverk samt vilka kunskaper utvecklaren bör ha för att behärska dessa ramverk.

De metoder som används i denna rapport är insamling och analysering av olika dokument och artiklar samt intervjuer som utförts hos ett företag som arbetar med ramverket Django för att kunna besvara forskningsfrågorna. Vid sidan av detta har även en applikation skriven i Django implementerats för att öka kunskaperna kring detta ramverk.

De resultat som framkommit är att ramverket Django främjar en snabbare utveckling och är mer tidseffektivt än vad Node.js är. Applikationer skrivna i Django besitter även en högre grundsäkerhet och detta för att det finns inbygga säkerhetsmoduler i ramverket. Node.js å andra sidan har ett större utbud av serverleverantörer samt en annan möjlighet att skräddarsy applikationer. Valet av ramverk är i detta fall mer en fråga om vilket programmeringsspråk som utvecklaren behärskar bäst.

There are a lot of different opinions regarding the Mozart Effect; which is based on you getting smarter by listening to his music. Some studies claim there is a connection between Mozart and learning, while some studies claim the opposite. By conducting our own study, incoperated with the theories Agential Realism and Situated Knowledge, a new approach emerges enabling a glimpse of the complex nature we are a part of - a glimpse which can aggrevate the standpoint on determine information as an absolute truth. Our findings suggest that infinite amounts of factors are involved regarding the evaluation of your results and findings - which also illustrates the possible outcomes that could have occurred, in addition to the current one. We also illustrate the importance of subjective experiences, as they are crucial to how the results are processed - the same results can be perceived differently, depending on how you as an individual or a group choose to interpret the data. Our findings suggest that we can not achieve the complete truth - only a part of it.

The following text is a study that addresses the relationships between phenomenology, queer, orientation, objects, existence, game- and leveldesign. The text dives into the creation of characters for games with a focus on philosophy and how it can be used to design games. The study addresses discussions about how in our design, how philosophy and thinking about being and even one's own "I" and how the perception of "the self" can influence design and whether it does so at all. The text addresses various methods used for design, but also methods for project management. In the research we also see if something happens in the decisions or in how we use the methods to produce the design.

The study addresses various design philosophy authors in support of how thinking and interaction between aspects can take shape to create an entertaining experience that at the same time is exciting and mysterious. The Theory of Fun by Raph Koster is an example. In his book he presents various theories about how man and the game interact with each other, and what it is that makes the game "fun" to play.

Background. Augmented Reality (AR) is a variant of virtual reality (VR), but where VR replaces reality with a virtual one, AR expands it allowing the user to see the real world and virtual information at the same time. Many have tried to adapt this technology for video and board games and although there are plenty of AR video games or mobile game applications there are no one selling AR board games. Some studies keep coming up from time to time trying to enhance board games with AR through graphics and extra information about player statistics, but there are not many that adapt game logic in AR games.Objectives. A literature review was conducted on related topics building the theoretical background. Then a multiplayer board game that could be played both with and without AR was created. The game was created in the Unity Engine using the Vuforia Engine for the AR, and assets were created for the AR. Design game logic with Unity and player interaction with AR. Create the analog assets. Conduct a user study for participants to rate the experience and analyse the gathered data from the user study.Methods. A user study was conducted with twelve participants who played two versions of the same board game within a controlled environment. One version was analog, and the other featuring AR. After each of the versions, the participants answered a questionnaire about the experience as described in the Game Experience Questionnaire. Results. The results show that participants thought the AR board game was a fun and interesting take on the traditional board games. However, participants also thought that the AR stability and the discomfort of holding up a mobile phone while playing was a worse experience. The statistical results also concluded that there was no significant difference between AR and none-AR board game versions.Conclusions. With the results gathered, the experience were more or less the same. Participants thought the AR version of the board game was fun and interesting because it improved their sense of discovery and imagination. However, because the AR felt unstable and uncomfortable, it disrupted the game flow and player immersion. With better implementation and a more suited device, AR could be enjoyable.

Background: Procedural content generation (PCG) has become an important subject as the demand for content in modern games has increased. Paradox Arctic is a game development studio that aims to be at the forefront of technological solutions and is therefore interested in furthering their knowledge in PCG. To this end, Paradox Arctic has expressed their interest in a collaborative effort to further explore the subject of procedural floor plan generation.

Objective: The main goal of this work is to test whether a solution based on growth, subdivision or a combination thereof, can be used to procedurally generate believable and varied floor plans for game environments, while also conforming to predefined constraints.

Method: A solution capable of generating floor plans with the use of growth, subdivision and a combination of both has been implemented and a survey testing the believability and variation of the generated layouts has been conducted.

Results & Conclusions: While the results of the subdivision and combined solutions show that more work is necessary before the generated content can be considered believable, the growth based solution presents promising results in terms of believability when generating smaller to medium sized layouts. This believability does however come at the cost of variation.

Digitala spel är ett av dagens största digitala medier där det dagligen släpps nya spel. En av de största spel-genrerna är multiplayer First-Person Shooter (FPS) spel. Inom multiplayer FPS-spel, där kooperativt lagsamarbete spelar stor roll, har det på senare år uppkommit en trend där de flesta av dessa spel innehåller progression system som kan vara direkt skadande för spelets kooperativa upplevelse. Genom att undersöka frågeställningen “Hur kan vi med hjälp av progression system göra moderna FPS-spel mer kooperativa?” har vi försökt ta fram hur spelutvecklare istället kan öka den kooperativa upplevelsen i sina spel. Genom att ha undersökt och diskuterat områden som system, mänsklig motivation samt kooperativ spelteori har vi fått fram belöningspåverkan av en spelares beteende. Med hjälp av vår tidigare forskning har vi grundligt analyserat och brutit ner två av marknadens största titlar inom multiplayer FPS-spel, vi kom fram till att med hjälp av ett genomtänkt progression system kan bidra med ökad fokus på den kooperativa aspekten av dessa spel.

Information about bullying and exclusion is important but can often be perceived as dry and uninteresting. This bachelor thesis explores fantasy illustrations as a way to deal with more difficult topics through storytelling and entertainment. I have researched storytelling and the fantasygenre as a tool for discussing more difficult topics in a less confrontational and more receptive way as well as how illustration can be used as a medium for storytelling. This has led to my design, a fantasy story about bullying and exclusion called “Himlen, Havet och Riddaren”.

I have collaborated with Lotusmodellen and their Trygga Klassen work to develop a story and then through a process of concept art developed characters and a visual world of young knights on an island in a green sea. I have used storyboarding and a number of illustration-based storytelling methods such as colour meaning and composition to create a story that is clear even though it lacks text or narrator. I have tested and used digital illustration methods to work efficiently and get a great deal of work done in a short time. The result is a video consisting of 36 illustrations that together form a story that visualizes bullying and exclusion with a positive message and a mood that is enhanced with timing, sound effects and music.

Denna studie är gjord som ett examensarbete inom Masterprogrammet i strategisk fysisk planering på Blekinge Tekniska Högskola under våren 2021. Hållbarhet diskuteras såväl globalt som lokalt och frågor om hållbar utveckling har fått allt mer uppmärksamhet senaste åren. Den sociala dimensionen av hållbarhet har genomgående nedprioriterats gentemot ekonomisk och ekologisk hållbarhet vilket skapar intresse att undersöka vilket utrymme social hållbarhet får i planeringsprocessen. Det finns inte en entydig definition av social hållbarhet och detta ger upphov till flera möjliga förståelser och tolkningar. Vad finns det för synsätt på social hållbarhet? Vad tillskrivs social hållbarhet för betydelse och vilka aktörer och kompetenser får delta i definieringen? I Sverige vilar ett stort ansvar på kommuner att planera för en hållbar framtid och därför har social hållbarhet undersökts på kommunal nivå. Undersökningen har skett som fallstudie, där Lunds kommun och Västerås Stad fungerat som fall. Kvalitativ innehållsanalys av dokument och semi-strukturerade intervjuer har genomförts. Resultat och analys presenteras tillsammans i en tematisk uppdelning och analysen ramas in av uppsatsens teoretiska perspektiv, makt i planeringsprocessen. Rent konkret innebär detta att arbetets teoretiska perspektiv utgår ifrån begreppen makt som handlingsförmåga och makt som uteslutning samt makttekniken kontrollera diskursen. Analysen pekar på att betydelsen av social hållbarhet är kontextberoende och påverkas av sociala och fysiska åtgärder i samhället. Vad social hållbarhet tillskrivs för betydelse påverkas bland annat av den plats som är aktuell, de utmaningar och problem som finns där samt vilka aktörer och kompetenser som får tillträde till processerna kring social hållbarhet. Olika kompetenser inom kommunerna har visat sig ha skilda perspektiv på betydelsen av social hållbarhet. Utifrån genomförda intervjuer framkommer fler betydelser av social hållbarhet än vad som kan urskiljas från dokumenten. Detta betyder att det existerar perspektiv på social hållbarhet som inte är representerade i de publicerade dokumenten. Av dokumenten framträder social hållbarhet som fysiska åtgärder som det primära perspektivet.  Detta tyder på att det finns ett dominerande synsätt då mjukare perspektiv på social hållbarhet inte representeras inte i samma utsträckning i dokumenten. I det långa loppet kan detta innebära att mjukare perspektiv nedprioriteras och marginaliseras. Berördas upplevelse av möjligheten att påverka och delta i planeringsprocessen kring social hållbarhet skiljer sig åt. På strategisk nivå är upplevelsen att samtliga har möjlighet att tillträda processen och påverka, medan mer verksamhetsnära nivå inte delar detta perspektiv. Utifrån undersökningen råder det en viss kunskaps- och kompetensselektivitet i planeringsprocessen kring social hållbarhet, där mjukare perspektiv inte väger lika tungt som hårdare.

Background. Shadow mapping is a method that is used for generating and imitating shadows in 3D-spaces. This technique has been used in the entertainment media industry in the form of games, movies and 3D renderings of environments to create a more realistic experience for consumers. Shadow mapping is not a perfect technique, and is performance costing on the GPU; however, some methods save performance by reducing the complexity of geometrical shapes and textures depending on the distance between observer and object. These techniques are based on that the observer will not notice the complexity reductions; can the usage of such methods be extended to textures covered in shadows without any consequences in the aspect of visual appearance and preference?

Objectives. This thesis aims to examine if there is a possibility to extend the usage of LOD techniques to shadowed textures and to analyze individuals’ preferences of texture variants that are covered in shadows. Additionally, proposing the method of lowering texture resolution by using DirectX:s sampler data type, which is configurable to increase the level of details with mipmapping when sampling textures.

Methods. This document presents a user study using the Two-alternative forced choice method and PsychoPy application to create a visual test. The visual test was conducted in a controlled and observed environment with volunteering participants. The objective of the visual test was to go through several sets of different images, and to choose which image of each set that was preferred. The stimulus was repeated with the initial images fading in and out slowly to prevent carry over effects. After the test participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire. The questionnaire assessed if they noticed any differences within the shadows, and if they had any additional thoughts about the experiment.

Results. The results from the study were then evaluated through a binomial test that yielded that there was no statistically significant difference in preference between the lowered texture resolution in shadows and normal texture resolution in shadows. Separately evaluating the environments showed that there was a preference for shadowed low-resolution textures in environments that were dark. The environments with high illumination had more varied results. There were 17 participants that volunteered in the test and were ranging from the ages 18 to 29.

Conclusions. With the results presented it was shown that the shadowed lowresolution textures were preferred in environments with low illumination. This suggests that the proposed concept method is better suited for similar environments. However, several factors may have affected the results. Factors such as images being too dark, the lack of exaggerated images, images fading in and out too fast, few participants, more partaking will assure there is less chance for bias.

I detta kandidatarbete diskuterar vi ansvar hos utvecklare samt användare när det gäller spridningen av media och filtrering på sociala medier. Med sociala mediers ökade popularitet växer utvecklarnas och användarens ansvarstagande. Många användare uppmanas indirekt till att sprida falsk media för en större publicitet. Vi utgår från Donna Haraway’s begrepp situerad kunskap för att utforska hur media samspelar med användare. Vi använder oss även utav Lucy Suchmans begrepp accountability för att diskutera hur vi som webbutvecklare bär ansvar för hur vår plattform används och hur användare är accountable för källkritik och den spridning de utför.

Vår gestaltning undersöker hur utvecklare och användare inom sociala medier kan fördjupa sin förståelse för olika typer av källor på sociala medier. Gestaltningen är utformad som ett socialt medium och ska ge användarna en tankeställare om filterbubblan. För att utveckla vidare på gestaltningen har vi gjort användartester. Resultatet och diskussionen av användartesterna visar hur bra användare förstår det budskap om filterbubblan och filtrering som sker på sociala medier.

The notion of ‘value’ has become pivotal in the PSS domain, with a plethora of ‘indicators’, ‘drivers’ and ‘measurements’ proposed to guide the assessment of PSS concepts across the design process. This paper presents the results of a systematic literature review that maps existing contributions dealing with metrics for PSS value in early design. The findings reveal the lack of a common taxonomy to define what PSS value is, as well as differences in terms of granularity of the applied metrics, which span from very generic to highly case-study specific. This mapping aims at validating a proposed classification framework for such metrics, which balances customer and provider value perspectives in early stage PSS concept assessment activities. Its goal is to raise the cross-functional design team awareness on the multiple value types impacted by early stage design decisions when working with MADM matrixes; hence to highlight opportunities for improvement, recombination and refinement. 

This degree project will examine active sound design for quiet vehicles. Based on former research wether electric cars expose humans living in urban areas to danger due to the absence of auditive information, we will develop suggestions for dynamic eninge sounds which are related to traffic safety, design and reduced noise pollution. Cities’ overall noise levels are far beyond recommended, and the consequences causes health issues in bigger cities. This paper will therefore discuss the problems with noise pollution in cities, and wether the electric car is capable of reducing the overall sound levels while maintaining pedestrians’ and cyclists’ awareness in traffic by auditive information. Our interpretation resulted in engine sounds which not only contains a causionary effect on it’s surroundings, but also could contribute to the reduction of noise pollution in comparison to combustion engines. 

In this thesis I use both Dense Clarity - Clear Density as well as qualitative interviewing as methods to guide me through this examination of sound design. Through studying other works and executing personal tests I try to find out if there is a need to use sound and silence in a creative way to evoke emotion. I examine films as well as literature from the 1960s all the way to the 2000s, to see how the use of silence has unfolded over the years. I also create a visual production that strengthens my theory that silence affects narrative more than its credited for. But the essay isn’t just about silence, it’s revolved around sound too, expanding into how sound correlates with emotion and how one can apply it to their production.  

Till skillnad från andra digitala medier som ljudböcker och filmer, bygger ljuddesign i spel på hur spelarna interagerar med spelvärlden. Medan ljud ökar inlevelsen i spel, saknas forskning om hur man kan tillämpa ljuddesign för att öka spelets upplevda svårighetsgrad. För denna studie har det skapats två versioner av ett actionspel med tredjepersonsperspektiv i Unity med Wwise integration. En version där ljudet var normalt och en annan där ljudets design baserats på teorier från bland annat kognitiv belastning och ljuddesign baserat på ”looming sounds”. Totalt deltog 12 personer i denna studie där vi undersökte om ljud kan påverka ett spels upplevda svårighetsgrad genom att låta testpersonerna spela två testomgångar med de olika spelversionerna och sedan genomföra en kvalitativ intervju med varje individ.

Majoriteten av testpersonerna märkte inte att ljuddesignen var annorlunda mellan de olika testen. Detta tyder på att ljuddesign i stort sett inte är i fokus för spelare när de spelar ett spel för första gången. Trots detta påverkade förändringarna spelupplevelsen, vilket indikerar att även om spelarna inte är medvetna om ljuddesignen, kan de ändå uppleva en skillnad. När det gäller upplevd svårighetsgrad var bilden blandad; vissa testdeltagare fann det första testet svårare medan andra fann det andra testet svårare eller lika svårt. Intressant nog upplevde de som fann båda testen lika svåra ändå det andra som mer adrenalinfyllt. Även om testpersonerna inte märkte några specifika ljudförändringar, använde några av dem ljudsignaler för att förstå spelets händelseförlopp, vilket visar att ljudet påverkade spelupplevelsen.

Identity communication is a way for a community to tell about themself and what there is to do and experience in their community. To convey identity communication for Blekinge, we created three different mascots that are connected to VisitBlekinge, which is a company that works with the hospitality industry. The purpose of the mascots is to reflect the county and its cultural heritage to tourists, with the target group being families with children, and to create participation to visit nature and try different activities. This is done by creating mascots to be used on VisitBlekinge's website, advertisements and posts on social media where they convey information or encourage participation in various events. The characters were developed by working with HIPO and by collecting information about Blekinge's cultural heritage and history, which is then categorized into different groups. The design of the characters was developed through concept work where different colors and clothes were tested, which finally led to the final result. The work was then validated by comparing the mascots with similar mascots and similar work. The end result resulted in three mascots in a simplified but realistic design. Two of the mascots have several connections to Blekinge and one of the mascots has fewer connections.

This study aims to explore and gain new insight into how one could tell a game-character's story through Environmental Storytelling. By doing this we hope to make game characters feel more real and alive, while at the same time furthering the game’s narrative. Before delving into the creation and examining of our game, we establish that it’s really important let the players come to their own conclusion regarding perceived story, even if they are inaccurate. After having created a game in an attempt to answer our question at issue we let other people play the game. We believe this is important as we, the creators of the game, already know everything there is to know about the character in question. The research uses Actor Network Theory as its methodology, as we believe it can help us understand relationships to why something works or doesn’t work. This research concludes that it’s all the small details that adds up, enriching a character's story.

The Internet have become a 'necessity' in the everyday life of just below 50\% of the world population. With the growth of the Internet and it creating a great platform to help people and making life easier, it has also brought a lot of malicious situations. Now a days people hack or uses social engineering on other people for a living, scamming and fraud is part of their daily life. Therefore security awareness is truly important and sometimes vital.We wanted to look at the difference in security awareness depending on which year you were born, in relation to the IT-boom and growth of the Internet. Does it matter if you lived through the earlier stages of the Internet or not? We found that the security awareness did increase with age, but if it was due to the candidates growing up before or after the IT-boom or due to the fact that younger people tend to be more inattentive is hard to tell. Our result is that the age group, 16-19, were more prone to security risks, due to an indifferent mindset regarding their data and information.

The Swedish academic discipline Informatics has roots in the Scandinavian design approach Participatory Design (PD). PD’s point of departure is to design ICT and the new environment it becomes part of together with the future users driven by the ideal to bring more democracy to the workplace. PD builds further on the Action Research and industrial democracy tradition already starting in the 1960s in Scandinavia, in which the powerful Scandinavian trade unions have a central role. The aim of the unions is to prepare the workers and have influence on the introduction of new technologies that (are expected to) change the work and work environment of the workers. In the 1970s, when more computers emerge in the work place, this leads to the development of PD. Important difference with AR is that the aim of PD is to actually design new ICT and the new environment it becomes part of.

During the in PD literature much referred to project UTOPIA in the first half of the 1980s, led by project leader and PD pioneer Pelle Ehn, it is discovered that bringing the different expertise of designers/researchers and workers together in design-by-doing processes also result in more appropriate ICT.

With ICT being ubiquitous nowadays, influencing most aspects of our lives, inside and outside the workplace, and another role of trade unions in (Scandinavian) society, a question is how PD should further develop. PD pioneer Morten Kyng (also a UTOPIA designer/researcher) proposes a framework for next PD practices in a discussion paper. The first element he mentions in the framework is ideals; The designer/researcher should as a first step consider what ideals to pursue as a person and for the project, and then to consider how to discuss the goals of the project partners, for which Kyng does no further suggestions how to approach this.

This design and research thesis has as aim to design and propose some PD processes to come at the beginning of a PD/design project to shared ideals to pursue, based on a better understanding of the political and philosophical background of PD, including design as a discipline in its own right.

For a better understanding of the political and philosophical roots of PD, and design as a discipline in its own right, Pelle Ehns’s early (PD research) work and (PD) influences and supporting theories are explored, next to Kyng’s discussion paper (framework) and reactions from his debate partners on this. Find out is that politics and what ideals to pursue in PD are sensitive and (still) important subjects in PD, and in a broader sense also for design in general one could argue. In relation to this also related disciplines like Computer Ethics, Value Sensitive Design, and more recent formulated ideals for PD and its relation to ethics are explored. As a result a proposal for a redesigned framework for next PD practices as a design artefact is designed, in which the element ideals is most elaborated.

Before the understanding of design as a discipline in its own right is further explored by exploring a selection of different models and quotes from related (design) literature, on which is reflected also in relation to PD, and which are used as reminders in a design process to come to a proposal for a model that tries to reframe the relation between design, practice and research.

Finally some methods, processes and techniques used in PD, design, AR and related literature that can contribute to design proposals for design processes that enable the design of ideals using a PD approach, are explored. These are used as reminders in design-by-doing processes, in which suggestions for techniques and processes to design ideals together with participants are tried out in real live situations, reflected on and iteratively further developed. Trying to avoid framing as much as possible, (semi-) anonymity and silence seem to be important ingredients in these processes to stimulate the generation of idea(l)s as much as possible free from bias and dominance patterns. An additional design artefact developed in this context is a template for an annotated portfolio used to describe and reflect on the different processes. 

With this bachelor thesis I aim to bring to light the role of the computer in digital creative work. This is accomplished by treating the code that make up digital objects as a form of matter, and with Karen Barad’s agential realism and other research into digital materiality as a point of reference this matter is invited to the creative process as an actor. I’ve been striving for a glimpse of how digital matter comes to life when it’s allowed an active part in the creative process, to see how it expresses itself. By engaging with the digital matter through diffraction and remix as methods I’ve been given an insight into the core of it, and through the process I’ve been working alongside digital matter in intra action.

Ultimately I can see how digital matter won’t appear alone, I myself and the computer are both entangled together with the digital matter as a result of the intra actions we’ve been engaging in. My intervention in digital matter becomes visible as glitches, traces of decay that give the digital matter, which can be so fleeting, more concrete and material characteristics. The unintelligible complexity of digital matter also comes to light when it’s allowed influence, as it appears visually. With this knowledge I’ve gained the awareness that digital matter does not have an absolute appearance, and this thesis can be seen as an investigation into how digital matter can appear.

The purpose of this thesis was to find a way to keep the human input of 2D animation and put it into 3D animation. The 3D animation should be believable and should look like 2D animation. It should also depict locomotion, walk and run cycles, and is meant for a bipedal character in a third-persongame. This character was animated by studying locomotion and the basics and techniques of animation. By using an iterative design process, and with inspiration from the director Hayao Miyazaki’s works, several 2D and 3D animations were created. The 3D animations were created insets of two – one interpolated version and a version that is stylised to look like 2D animation, which was done by using 2D animation techniques, mostly with pose-to-pose animation and timing. This was later rendered and made into two short videos that shows the differences in the interpolated and the stylised animation. The 3D animations were also compared with the created 2D animation. The results are 3D animations that keep the human input and give a feel of 2D animations.

Background: Virtual Reality (VR) devices are becoming more and more common as game systems. Even though modern VR Head Mounted Displays (HMD) allow the user to walk in real life, it still limits the user to the space of the room they are playing in and the player will need virtual locomotion in games where the environment size exceeds that of the real life play area. Evaluations of multiple VR locomotion techniques have already been done, usually evaluating motion sickness or usability. A common theme in many of these is that the task is search based, in an environment with low focus on interaction. Therefore in this thesis, four VR locomotion techniques are evaluated in an environment with focus on interaction, to see if a difference exists and whether one technique is optimal. The VR locomotion techniques are: Arm-Swinging, Point-Tugging, Teleportation, and Trackpad.

Objectives: A VR environment is created with focus on interaction in this thesis. In this environment the user has to grab and hold onto objects while using a locomotion technique. This study then evaluates which VR locomotion technique is preferred in the environment. This study also evaluates whether there is a difference in preference and motion sickness, in an environment with high focus in interaction compared to one with low focus.

Methods: A user study was conducted with 15 participants. Every participant performed a task with every VR locomotion technique, which involved interaction. After each technique, the participant answered a simulator sickness questionnaire, and an overall usability questionnaire.

Results: The results achieved in this thesis indicated that Arm-Swinging was the most enjoyed locomotion technique in the overall usability questionnaire. But it also showed that Teleportation had the best rating in tiredness and overwhelment. Teleportation also did not cause motion sickness, while the rest of the locomotion techniques did.

Conclusions: As a conclusion, a difference can be seen for VR locomotion techniques between an environment with low focus on interaction, to an environment with high focus. This difference was seen in both the overall usability questionnaire and the motion sickness questionnaire. It was concluded that Arm-Swinging could be the most fitting VR locomotion technique for an interactive environment, however Teleportation could be more optimal for longer sessions.

Background. Electrodermal activity (EDA) is a method to measure variations in the electrical conductivity of the skin, and it is often used to help assess emotions like anxiety, or stress. However, it is not yet commonly used in video games, although emotions are an essential aspect to consider when developing a game.

Objectives. By using EDA data and a questionnaire, the thesis aims to study the effect of darkness on the participant's skin conductance responses (SCR) and their potential correlation with negative emotions.

Methods. Using the Shimmer3 GSR+ sensor and the Tobii Pro Lab software to measure and record the EDA data and handle the game, a within-participants experiment with 17 participants was conducted. Each participant played one daytime scene and one nighttime scene from the same game. During the experiment, the participant's EDA data was recorded by the Tobii Pro Lab software when the participant played the game. When the games were finished, the participant answered a questionnaire. The questionnaire presented multiple questions regarding their game experience based on negative emotions.

Results. The EDA data point towards a rise in skin conductance responses (SCR) when playing the nighttime game compared to the daytime game. While the questionnaire data points towards a higher prominence of negative emotions during the nighttime game as well. Based on these results, playing the nighttime game made a majority of the participants experience a higher grade of reported negative emotions.

Conclusions. The results suggest that darkness affects both SCR and negative emotions. Meaning that humans have a tendency to react in an emotionally negative way, and have a higher degree of measurable responses in the skin, to a dark environment.