Adaptiv musik gör det möjligt för spelutvecklare att implementera musik som reagerar på andra spel-parametrar. Därmed kan musiken följa spelets narrativ i realtid och på så vis bidra till en uppslukande upplevelse. I ett spel med adaptiv musik innehar spelaren agens och inverkan på musiken, samtidigt som musiken också innehar agens och inverkan på spelaren. Vi har i detta kandidatarbete undersökt hur den adaptiva musiken skulle kunna påverka spelarens prestationsförmåga genom att titta på element som kan ha inflytande i den här frågan, till exempel musikens funktioner och stress. Vi har bedrivit tester samt kombinerat kvantitativa och kvalitativa metoder för att både kunna fördjupa oss i frågan och gå in på detaljerna, men samtidigt erhålla bredare och mer övergripande kunskap om den adaptiva musikens roll i spel. I texten skildrar vi det praktiska arbetet med alla dess tekniska ingredienser som vi utförde för att skapa och implementera adaptiv musik i spel. Vi erbjuder avslutningsvis även en redogörelse av den insamlade datan, en metodiskt utförd analys, samt en djupgående diskussion som reflekterar över arbetet och föreslår hur man skulle kunna fortsätta undersöka detta ämne.

This paper is about save systems and will analyze save functions in various games. Save systems in games are usually blamed for harming the suspension of disbelief as it is an act taking place outside the game and should only be used for its intended purpose: letting the players store their game data, and progress whenever they need.

The game save function developed as rapid leaps of technology were made, with the beginning era of home consoles and home computers allowing players to spend more time playing, creating a demand for longer play sessions in games which lead to a need of methods for storing game data.

The analysis of save systems is carried out in this paper by using MDA Framework (Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics), a tool used for documenting game design. This framework can be used to analyze a game from a designer‟s or player‟s perspective. By reversing the framework ADM (Aesthetics, Dynamics and Mechanics) one can analyze the user experience, which is how the player perceives the game‟s aesthetics to be, depending on the dynamics and mechanics.

This analysis aims to provide knowledge of how consistency in game design and the save system can be used to create a cohesive game world that facillitates the player's experience and immersion.

Nowadays, the Internet has dramatically changed the way people take the normal course of actions. By the recent growth of the Internet, connecting different objects to users through mobile phones and computers is no longer a dream. Aviation industry is one of the areas which have a strong potential to benefit from the Internet of Things. Among many problems related to air travel, delayed and lost luggage are the most common and irritating. Therefore, this paper suggests anew baggage control system, where users can simply track their baggage at the airport to avoid losing them. Attaching a particular pattern on the bag, which can be detected and localized from long distance by an ordinary camera, users are able to track their baggage. The proposed system is much cheaper than previous implementations and does not require sophisticated equipment.

Snowboarding är idag en stor vintersport med egen utrustning, kultur och egna elitåkare. För de professionella åkarna eller för de som bara åker för nöjes skull är snowboard en förlängning av deras kropp i rörelse. 

Utformingen av brädorna har förändrats med åren och trots detta saknas vetenskapliga studier inom området. Därför syftar föreliggande undersökning till att kartlägga hur bildspråket hos 240 snowboardar har utvecklats mellan 1980-2010, och därmed fylla en del av detta tomrum som uppkommit i den vetenskapliga dokumentationen. 

Denna undersökning har baserats på en visuell innehållsanalys vilket resulterade i intressanta observationer. Resultaten som framkom var att svaren går att generalisera och att utvecklingen av bildspråket har förändrats under olika årtionden. Snowboardarna från de olika årtiondena har specifika särdrag som denna undersökning belyser.

There is a need to create efficiency through digital technology within the elder care, as the elderly population of society is increasing. Existing IT-systems are considered incompatible with healthcare work, despite of Swedish investments in digital development in healthcare. Practices and the use of digital artefacts within an elder care home was therefore studied. Through an ethnographic qualitative method (consisting of field studies, video ethnography and interviews), the empirically driven study identified the healthcare workers existing interactions with- and use of digital technology, as well as the consequences that the use entailed. The study showed that the healthcare workers used the workplace’s existing digital technology as well as personal digital artefacts to solve daily tasks. Furthermore, the results showed that the healthcare workers interactions with personal digital artefacts mediated new work situations, and the healthcare workers desire for new digital work tools.

This thesis investigates the level of difficulty of puzzles in the adventure games and the implications thereof. The thesis contains an in-depth background, and a brief history about the genre. It brings up the main problem of the genre and looks into both the cause and effect that follows. To support this process, an analysis has been made of design documents and a survey was issued on the subject of adventure game puzzles.

A game could have thousands of sound assets, to fit all of those files to a manageable storage space it is often necessary to reduce the size of the files to a more manageable size so they have to be compressed. One type of sound that often takes up a lot of disc space (because there is so much of it) is dialogue. In the popular game engine Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) the the audio is compressed to Ogg Vorbis and has as default the bit rate is set to 104 kbit/s. The goal of this paper is to see if untrained listeners find dialogue compressed in Ogg Vorbis 104 kbit/s good enough for dialogue or if they prefer higher bit rates. A game was made in UE4 that would act as a listening test. Dialogue audio was recorded with a male and a female voice-actor and was compressed in UE4 in six different bit rates. 24 untrained subjects was asked to play the game and identify the two out of six robots with the dialogue audio they thought sound the best. The results show that the subjects prefer the higher bit rates that was tested. The results was analyzed with a chi-squared test which showed that the null-hypothesis can be rejected. Only 21% of the answers were towards UE4s default bit rate of 104 kbit/s or lower. The result suggest that the subjects prefer dialogue in higher bit rates and UE4 should raise the default bit rate.

Den här studien fokuserar på hur ljudbilden i ett spel på ett effektivt sätt kan förmedla information till spelaren, och därigenom låta denne ta informerade beslut. För att göra detta undersöks hur olika typer av ljud påverkar en spelares inställning. Bakgrundsforskningen baserades på texter om speltillgänglighet, teorier kring ljuddesign och spel utan visuella medel som utvecklats i studiesyften. För att svara på frågeställningen så utvecklades ett textbaserat program som i tretton rundor lät fem deltagare välja mellan två snarlika ljud. Uppgiften var att välja det ljud som upplevdes som mest positivt, eller minst negativt. Sessionen bestod av en spelsession som kombinerades med en kvalitativ intervju, och hela intervjun spelades in för senare transkribering. I analysen presenterades ett urval av relevanta citat från de kvalitativa intervjuerna som sedan användes för att dra slutsatser utifrån studiens frågeställning. Resultatets tillförlitlighet sänks av det småskaliga urvalet, och personliga associationer kan ha spelat en alltför stor roll i deltagarnas svar.

Detta kandidatarbete undersöker hur man med animering och ljuddesign i en designprocess kan illustrera en jämställd och ansvarsfull teknologisk framtid utifrån posthumanistiska teorier och filosofier. Under arbetets gång har vi undersökt animationsmetoder, deltagande design, ljuddesign och teknik samt den teknologiska utvecklingen. I detta kandidatarbetet presenterar vi processen och de metoder vi använt oss av för att skapa vår gestaltning som är en animerad kortfilm.

This report is written during a project done by two students at Mälardalen University during the course DVA331. The purpose of this project was to determine if it was possible to reduce the latency on devices with Windows 10 to what is possible on an iOS device. The reason behind this research is that Windows 10 has come with an API that supports low latency sounds. This study was made on an iPhone 4S, iPhone 6, Nokia Lumia 720 and a Nokia Lumia 920 with a contact microphone that was put on the device. The latency was measured 50 times per version of an application implemented for both operating systems. The latency could be measured between the point where the surface is touched and and the point where sound is audible, using the microphone and the audio processing software Audacity. The readings proved that iOS is still a lot faster than Windows 10 and that Windows 10 is way above the accepted audio processing limit. Further research showed that the Windows 10 reading results were caused by the Lumia devices long input latency. User tests were made on 10 individuals with the response that the latency on the Windows 10 devices was a lot longer than the iOS devices. The conclusion was that the Lumia devices used in this study were not suitable for responsive sound applications but that Windows 10 devices with lower input latency that are better suited and that new readings should be done to determine if this is the case.

In this paper findings are presented from a study on how sensor equipped computer game technologies can be used to create tools for educational settings to learn about for example concepts in physics. In a workshop focusing on the concept of gravity, a group of children interacted with an environment consisting of both physical and digital interactive components. We discuss how the mixed digital and physical setting affects the children's coordination and collaboration and their strategies to solve the given assignment. Findings suggest that the embodied nature of the technology create new opportunities for collaboration and that the alignment of the physical and digital parts of the interactive setting is important in order to create a seamless experience that takes advantage of the properties of the respective media.

Climate change is one of the biggest issues that the world faces today, and one of the biggest contributors to climate change are groceries. This paper aims at using digital artefacts to create a product or design that will encourage the user to shop more environmentally friendly. To achieve this, I have tried to identify the major hindrances today that grocery shoppers are faced with through the user centered method Contextual Inquiry.  I have then presented the results from the inquiry to students at KTH Royal Institute of Technology during workshops. During these workshops, the students have conceptualized ideas and designs for different solutions. Based on their results, I have created a prototype design that I call the SmartCart. This cart consists of a regular shopping cart with a screen similar to an iPad attached to the handlebars. This screen then delivers easily apprehensible information about different grocery products environmental impact in real time. The design has not been tested in a live environment, but initial testing indicates that a live application could give satisfying results in lowering the sales of grocery products with a high environmental impact, while the design also could simultaneously improve the shopping experience for the customers in the grocery store.

Vi uppfattar idag en ökning av det vardagliga fotograferandet och därav en ökning av passiva bilder bland de personliga bildarkiven. I ett försök att återaktivera de passiva bilderna utgår undersökningen från frågeställningen vad kan inspirera vardagsfotografen till att använda sitt bildarkiv för att skapa nya bildscener? Där syftet är att hitta en inspirationskälla för att uppmuntra användningen av passiva bildarkiv för att skapa nya bildscener. Vi strävar även efter att informera om de växande bildarkiven med passiva bilder och uppmuntrar till diskussion kring ämnet. För att skapa en bild av vårt valda tema har vi granskat forskning inom vardagsfotografering, personlig arkivering och bilder som minnen. Under processens gång har vi tagit hjälp av brainstorming, mindmaps och varför-metoden för att både skapa nya idéer och utveckla befintliga. Vi har även använt oss av metoderna workshop och crowdsourcing för att ta in utomstående personer i processen. Messiness var också närvarande under en stor del av processen då vi stötte på ett dilemma som vände upp och ner på vår undersökning och fick oss att ändra inställning. Vår slutsats och gestaltning, BuildBild, grundar sig i metoden transparent scenskapande av bilder vilket bygger på bilder utskrivna på plast. BuildBild är tänkt att användas som ett lekfullt verktyg för att inspirera vardagsfotografer att återaktivera sina bilder genom scenskapande. 

Passive optical motion capture is one of the predominant technologies for capturing high fidelity human motion, and is a workhorse in a large number of areas such as bio-mechanics, film and video games. While most state-of-the-art systems can automatically identify and track markers on the larger parts of the human body, the markers attached to the fingers and face provide unique challenges and usually require extensive manual cleanup. In this work we present a robust online method for identification and tracking of passive motion capture markers attached to non-rigid structures. The method is especially suited for large capture volumes and sparse marker sets. Once trained, our system can automatically initialize and track the markers, and the subject may exit and enter the capture volume at will. By using multiple assignment hypotheses and soft decisions, it can robustly recover from a difficult situation with many simultaneous occlusions and false observations (ghost markers). In three experiments, we evaluate the method for labeling a variety of marker configurations for finger and facial capture. We also compare the results with two of the most widely used motion capture platforms: Motion Analysis Cortex and Vicon Blade. The results show that our method is better at attaining correct marker labels and is especially beneficial for real-time applications.

Sveriges Radio började sända radio i Sverige år 1925. 1957 genomfördes de första TV-sändningarna i Sverige av samma företag. Med åren kom företaget att delas i flera mindre delar och en av dessa var det nya företaget Sveriges Television som snabbt etablerade sig som Sveriges primära Tv-station.

Genom åren har både radio och TV förändrats men även själva tittandet. Idag tittar väldigt många människor på TV via sina datorer eller mobiltelefoner. Detta gör att satsningarna på TV-program och deras hemsidor samt sociala medier blir allt viktigare.

Efter att ha funnits sedan år 1980 skulle TV-programmet "Mitt i Naturen" inte sända någon vårsäsong år 2015. Det fanns en önskan om att fylla detta tomrum med en satsning på webben för att programmet skulle leva kvar på något sätt under vårmånaderna. Strategier lades fram och efter detta valdes några av dessa ut. Artiklar och små miniavsnitt skulle produceras varje vecka under vårmånaderna fram till sommaren. Publiceringar på Instagram och Facebook kom även att ingå i arbetet.

Programmets huvudmålgrupp är barnfamiljer och här vill man få så stor räckvidd som möjligt genom satsningen. Efter arbetet kunde man summera att det i några fall gått väldigt bra för vissa artiklar som publicerats på hemsidan. Det som gett bäst genomslag var videoklippen på Facebook.

Discrepancies in loudness (i.e. sensation of audio intensity) has been of great concern within the broadcast community. For television broadcast, disparities in audio levels have been rated the number one cause to annoyance by the audience. Another problem area within the broadcast and music industry is the loudness war. The phenomenon is about the strive to produce audio content to be at least as loud or louder to any other audio content that it can easily be compared with. This mindset, when deciding for audio level treatment, inevitably leads to an increase in loudness over time, and also, as a technical consequence, a decrease of utilized dynamics. The effects of the loudness war is present in both terrestrial radio transmissions as well as in music production and in music distribution platforms.

The two problems, discrepancies in loudness and the loudness war, both emanate from the same source; regulations of audio levels and the design of measurement gear have not been amended to cope with modern production techniques. At the time when the work on this thesis started, the ruling technical recommendations for audio level alignment were based on peak measurement. This measured entity has poor correspondence to loudness. To counter the above described problems, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has developed new recommendations for audio alignment, EBU R 128 and ITU-R BS.1770. The new definitions for loudness measurement constitutes simplified models on the human perception of audio intensity. When using the new recommendations in production, the problems have been shown to diminish.

For an engineer in a live broadcast scenario, measurement equipment also need to be updated in real-time to illustrate a time-variant loudness of the signal. EBU and ITU also has regulated how this type of measurement gear should behave. EBU Tech 3341 and ITU-R BS.1771 define properties for live loudness meters. These recommendations has since the time of publication been implemented in measurement equipment from manufacturers and become available in production facilities.

This thesis investigates the conceptions that have led up to the present recommendations for live loudness meters. It maps out the (at the time) present ways to evaluate the same. Emanating from this knowledge, a new methodology to evaluate loudness meters is proposed that combines qualities from former methods to achieve an alternative balance between ecological validity and control in the experiment design. The methodology includes a procedure to capture data from engineers’ actions and the resulting audio levels from simulated broadcast scenarios. The methodology also incorporates a way to process this type of data into different parameters to be more accessible for interpretation. It presents an approach to model the data, by the use of linear mixed models, to describe different effects in the parameters as the result of the meters’ characteristics. In addition, a review on publications that examine the engineers’ own requests for beneficial qualities in a loudness meter has been condensed and revised into a set of meter criteria that specifically is designed to be applied on the outcome of the mixed models. The outcome of the complete evaluation yields statements on meter quality that are different and complementary to formerly proposed methods for meter evaluation.

The methodology has been applied in two different studies, which also are accounted for in the thesis. The conclusions from these studies has led to an increased understanding of how to design live loudness meters to be satisfactory tools to the engineer. Examples of findings are: the effect of the speed of the meter, as being controlled by one or several time constants, on the readability of the meter and the dispersion in output levels – some tested candidates, with higher speed than the present recommended ones, has been shown to be adequate as tools; the three-second integration time has been shown to generate a smaller dispersion in output levels than the 400 ms integration time; the effect of the gate in BS.1771 on the resulting output levels– the gate generally leading to an increase in output levels. The acquired knowledge may be used to improve the present recommendations for audio level alignment, from EBU and ITU.

Advances in imaging and display engineering have given rise to new and improved image and videoapplications that aim to maximize visual quality under given resource constraints (e.g., power, bandwidth).Because the human visual system is an imperfect sensor, the images/videos can be represented in a mathematicallylossy fashion but with enough fidelity that the losses are visually imperceptible—commonly termed“visually lossless.” Although a great deal of research has focused on gaining a better understanding ofthe limits of human vision when viewing natural images/video, a universally or even largely accepted definitionof visually lossless remains elusive. Differences in testing methodologies, research objectives, and targetapplications have led to multiple ad-hoc definitions that are often difficult to compare to or otherwise employ inother settings. We present a compendium of technical experiments relating to both vision science and visualquality testing that together explore the research and business perspectives of visually lossless image quality,as well as review recent scientific advances. Together, the studies presented in this paper suggest that a singledefinition of visually lossless quality might not be appropriate; rather, a better goal would be to establish varyinglevels of visually lossless quality that can be quantified in terms of the testing paradigm.

Advances in imaging and display engineering have given rise to new and improved image and videoapplications that aim to maximize visual quality under given resource constraints (e.g., power, bandwidth).Because the human visual system is an imperfect sensor, the images/videos can be represented in a mathematicallylossy fashion but with enough fidelity that the losses are visually imperceptible—commonly termed“visually lossless.” Although a great deal of research has focused on gaining a better understanding ofthe limits of human vision when viewing natural images/video, a universally or even largely accepted definitionof visually lossless remains elusive. Differences in testing methodologies, research objectives, and targetapplications have led to multiple ad-hoc definitions that are often difficult to compare to or otherwise employ inother settings. We present a compendium of technical experiments relating to both vision science and visualquality testing that together explore the research and business perspectives of visually lossless image quality,as well as review recent scientific advances. Together, the studies presented in this paper suggest that a singledefinition of visually lossless quality might not be appropriate; rather, a better goal would be to establish varyinglevels of visually lossless quality that can be quantified in terms of the testing paradigm.

Detta kandidatarbete handlar om hur ett främmande objekt kan påverka en betraktares uppfattning av en karaktärs förhållande till gott och ont. Kandidatarbetet utforskar ämnen som stereotyper, former, fördomar och intryck. Olika metoder används i framtagandet av karaktärerna, där bland annat former används för att förstärka uppfattningen av karaktärens ställning till gott och ont. Karaktärerna skapades i två versioner, en utan det främmande objektet och en med. En enkät skickades ut och deltagare fick poängsätta karaktärer för att sedan motivera sina val med kommentarer. Resultatet visade att ett främmande objekt har möjlighet att påverka betraktaren, där betraktarens relation till objektet har en avgörande roll i hur karaktären vinklas åt gott eller ont.  

When face images are occluded it becomes difficult or impossible to make a correct recognition based on only the non-occluded parts. With asymmetrical Principal Component Analysis (aPCA) it is possible to estimate occluded regions based on the content of the non-occluded pixels. Entire faces can be reconstructed from images where some parts are occluded with the occluded region being estimated based on the relation to the non-occluded region. We show the result with 3 different occlusion cases and compare two reconstruction methods. The results are measured both objectively and subjectively and it is shown that a clear and sharp image part should be used even if the resulting image have edges in it.

Current research in iris recognition is moving towards enabling more relaxed acquisition conditions. This has effects on the quality of acquired images, with low resolution being a predominant issue. Here, we evaluate a super-resolution algorithm used to reconstruct iris images based on Eigen-transformation of local image patches. Each patch is reconstructed separately, allowing better quality of enhanced images by preserving local information. Contrast enhancement is used to improve the reconstruction quality, while matcher fusion has been adopted to improve iris recognition performance. We validate the system using a database of 1,872 near-infrared iris images. The presented approach is superior to bilinear or bicubic interpolation, especially at lower resolutions, and the fusion of the two systems pushes the EER to below 5% for down-sampling factors up to a image size of only 13×13.

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.

This thesis is a comparative study of Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) which is a

dynamic method of presenting text.

The aim of the study was to investigate how to improve the user friendlyness of RSVP for

today's mobile phones and technology. To fulfill the purpose, the aspects of the method which

could be improved was investigated and then implemented in a prototype. The prototype was

tested in an experimental study after which the result was analyzed and compared with previous

studies of RSVP.

The new features that were implemented in this study showed no significant improvements in

usability compared with previous studies, but proved to be more user-friendly in comparison

with normal spatial reading.

Allteftersom tekniken för digitala spel har utvecklats och spelen blivit mer avancerade har mängden av information som spelaren kan få om sin avatar (digital representation av spelaren) ökat. Beroende på spelets upplägg och design är denna information mer eller mindre lättillgänglig. Den information som alltid tycks ha en mer eller mindre given plats i spelets HUD (statiska delar av det grafiska gränssnittet) är avatarens hälsotillstånd. Inom den litteratur som finns skriven om speldesign finns flera riktlinjer om hur denna information ska visualiseras men speldesigners utforskar hela tiden nya sätt att applicera detta på. För- och nackdelar med hur informationen implementeras diskuteras av spelare och speljournalister på flera forum. Ofta med fokus på spelupplevelse och utmaning.Forskning som tidigare berört avatarens hälsa har undersökt hur olika mekaniker bakom den grafiska visualiseringen påverkar spelupplevelsen. Det finns dock ett forskningsgap när det kommer till hur den grafiska visualiseringen av avatarens hälsa påverkar spelarens prestation.I detta arbete undersöks hur en spelares prestation påverkas av att få information om sin avatars hälsa genom det grafiska gränssnittet. Studien grundar sig i en pågående diskussion om hur mekaniken bakom avatarens hälsa och dess visualisering påverkar spelets utmaning.För arbetet har en litteraturstudie genomförts om ämnet speldesign med fokus på hur det grafiska gränssnittet för ett spel bör utformas. Efter detta utvecklades för studien en prototyp där litteraturstudien låg till grund för hur en grafisk representation av avatarens hälsa implementerades. I prototypen lades funktionalitet till för att helt utesluta den grafiska representationen av avatarens hälsa varannan gång spelet startar. Funktionalitet applicerades också i prototypen för att lagra data som samlats in under spelets gång, i en databas som satts upp för studien.Genom prototypens två lägen genomfördes en kvalitativ förstudie i form av 12 övervakade spelsessioner vilka följdes upp av semistrukturerade intervjuer. En komparativ studie utfördes genom att hälften av deltagarna fick spela med en synlig hälsomätare och hälften utan. Testpersonernas resonemang kring frågor som berör frågeställningen analyserades för att ge djupare förståelse för den kvantitativa data som sedan samlades in genom att prototypen gjordes tillgänglig via webben.Efter varje avslutat spel av prototypen registrerades resultat i poäng och om spelet hade en synlig hälsomätare eller inte tillsammans med annan information som avsåg att besvara frågeställningen för studien. Efter förstudien publicerades prototypen på webben, vilket resulterade i att data från 259 spelrundor lagrades i databasen. Efter urval enligt studiens avgränsningar har data från 62 spelrundor använts i det kvantitativa forskningsunderlaget för studien.Sammanfattningsvis skiljer sig resultaten mellan de kvalitativa och kvantitativa studierna. Under den kvalitativa studien noterades en skillnad i resonemanget mellan de som fått spela med en synlig hälsomätare och de som fått spela utan. Detta användes för att analysera och jämföra den insamlade datan från den webbaserade prototypen. Den insamlade kvantitativa datan kunde i en jämförelse mellan de som spelat med en synlig hälsomätare och de som spelat utan inte visa på en skillnad i prestation med någon statistisk säkerhet.

How can one create an aura from a digital reproduction? According to researchers like Walter Benjamin (1936) this is not possible. However with todays technology and digitalmedia it is worth looking into how it would be possible.Museums are looking for ways to expand the experiences of their exhibitions with thehelp of digital media, but research into authenticity and aura in digital reproductions islimited. This research aims to answer if it is possible to create an aura from a digitalreproduction and in what way that would be done.

This study examines how Augmented Reality (AR) visualizations can impact the collective interaction of users. This research will focus on a multiphase experience with a buildup of different levels of Virtual Reality through the use of panoramas and 3D models. The experience was created using a participatory method with multiple tests and iterations to better create an evaluable product.

The result if this experiment shows that the impact AR has on users is extensive. A properly framed character can even change a pair of two users into a group of three.

Taking Sweden as a case study, the role of public service broadcasting (PSB) is explored, with a focus on issues of data retention and innovation that accompany web distribution. The issue of predicting audience preferences by means of data retention is investigated, and the related problem of organizational autonomy when interacting with commercial actors in the digital sphere. We hypothesize that previous tendencies towards paternalism might be equally supplemented by tendencies towards so-called “panspectric” surveillance and tracking, given a technological environment where such practices are increasingly common. We argue that the absence of advertising partially helps keep these broadcasters from panspectric temptation. Still, practices such as Facebook integration entail a panspectric element. We ask whether the potential increase in the efficacy of targeting audiences promised by panspectric practices might be offset by its negative impact on civic accountability. Is there a possibility for a “benign,” democratically accountable panspectrocism?

This is a report that goes through the design process of designing and illustrating a virtual clothing shop with the theme ”Stockholm Streetstyle” for the website ”Stardoll.com”. The purpose of the report is to examine how you can manage to get as close to designing a certain style or theme as possible, and also how the process of designing a clothing line can work, The illustrations were made in Adobe Illustrator and the final result of the project was an illustrated fashion collection with 21 parts, in the total of 6 outfits, and also a background for the shop. 

Abstract (SE)

Denna uppsats är den slutliga delen på Medieproducentprogrammet vid Umeå Universitet, inklusive ett påbyggnadsår. Det vill säga att uppsatsen är en kandidatuppsat, även kallad C-uppsats. Syftet med denna var att fördjupa kunskaper och bredda kompetens inom grafisk design, framförallt för tryck och målet var att finna svar på frågeställningar som funnits under utbildningens gång. Framförallt att finna svar på frågan ”vilken betydelse har typografin i analogt format?”. Ett annat mål var även att testa tesen ”det är jobbigare/svårare att läsa text skriven i annan färg än svart på vit/ljus bakgrund”.

Den riktar sig till dig som är av olika anledningar intresserad av typografi och dess betydelse, framförallt i tryck. Uppsatsen berör typografins historia, uppbyggnad och basregler. Uppsatsen presenterar även en genomförd undersökning om betydelsen i tryckt format, dock inte en statistisk undersökning, utan en mer empirisk undersökning som fångar upp ett gäng åsikter och värderingar om användandet av typografi.

Resultatet av undersökningen presenteras med texter och tabeller och visar på motsättning av vad litteraturen skriver. Undersökningen visar på att människor föredrar att läsa text skriven i sans-seriffer i analogt format, samt att det inte är jobbigare/svårare att läsa text skriven i annan färg än svart på vit/ljus bakgrund. Resutatet av sidoprojektet visas med texter och bilder för att du som läsare ska få en överblick om utseendet och hur resultatet från undersökningen samt teorin implicerats – att man i resultatet valt att skriva med sans-seriffer och utgå från teorins basregler för vad man ska ha i åtanke vid utformning av trycksaker.

Uppsatsen har sneglat på vetenskapliga artiklar. Detta kan man läsa om framförallt under diskussionsavsnittet. Där finner man även förslag till fortsatta studier och forskning inom området typografi, samt tankar kring arbetet i sin helhet. 

Professional journalistic culture is a complex of journalistic values, practices, norms and media products. On the one hand it tends to unification across the globe, but on the other hand these cultures varies according to cultural diversities.  Technological development leads to a media convergence, increasing interactivity and plenty of opportunities for individualization of media content influence audience’s demands and consequently challenge of traditional routine of journalists’ work, affect professional practices and even undermine traditional role of a journalist in society. Social media creates new conditions for both actors: readers/viewers/listeners and for media professionals who use it as a tool for media work.  Journalists in the different countries, however, use social media for professional needs not equally. This paper is discussing differences and similarities in the patterns of social media use by Polish, Russian and Swedish journalists.  The research is based on a survey of 500 journalists in each country.  

Idag finns det mycket litteratur om Autismspektrumtillstånd att läsa, men det

mesta är riktat till dem som redan har diagnosen eller föräldrar och bekanta. Det

finns även många med AST som själva har skrivit böcker om sin diagnos. Det

som saknas är en bok för barn utan AST men som möter barn med AST i

vardagen och därför valde vi att skapa en bok om AST för barn. Detta för att

barn utan kunskap kanske inte vet hur de ska bemöta sina klasskompisar med

diagnosen. På ett lärorikt sätt ska barn utan AST kunna läsa och uppleva boken

för att få en ökad förståelse om vad det innebär att ha AST.

En bakgrundsstudie genomfördes för att få en ökad förståelse för AST och hur

man skriver en barnbok. En webbenkätundersökning genomfördes för att ta

reda på människors generella uppfattning och kunskaper om AST. Därefter

skapade vi en barnbok för målgruppen 7–9 år med all den bakgrundskunskap vi

fick fram. Vi testade vår slutprodukt med klass 3A och 3B på Hälsinggårdsskolan

i Falun. De fick själva läsa boken och svara på en enkät med frågor om

vad de tyckte om boken och om de hade lärt sig något nytt.

Testet av vår bokprototyp visade att målgruppen uppskattade bokprototypen

och att de elever som deltog lärde sig något om AST.

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.

One of the most common social media platforms of today is Twitter, an open

community where content easily could be spread by sharing so called tweets and

where the relationship between users is not constrained by accepting the other user.

This report discusses the complexity in merging social media and dance by studying a

project which used crowdsourcing through Twitter to collect choreographic ideas for

a new ballet piece.

In order to examine Twitter as a tool in a creative process, a questionnaire was sent to

Twitter users and email interviews were held with those responsible for the project of

study. The questionnaire showed that most of the Twitter users enjoyed creating and

being part of a creative process. However, some of those with an occupation within

the dance world voiced concerns about untrained people creating choreography.

From the interviews it was found that a lot of thought had to be put into the structure

of the project and that the project’s main motivator was to inspire and create with the

help of people around the world.

It was found in the research that Twitter is a suiting platform for a crowdsourced

project since a large and varying group of participants is reached. Twitter allows for

the Twitter users to participate regardless of location or occupation as well as

bringing good publicity to the dance world.

In the area of Quality of Experience (QoE), one challenge is to design test methodologies in order to evaluate the perceived quality of multimedia content delivered through technical sys-tems. Traditionally, this evaluation is done using subjective opinion tests. However, sometimes it is difficult for observers to communicate the experienced quality through the given scale. Fur-thermore. those tests do not give insights into how the user is reacting on an internal physiological level. To overcome these issues, one approach is to use physiological measures, in order to derive a direct non-verbal response of the recipient. In this paper, we review studies that have been performed in the domain of QoE using physiological measures and we look into current activities in standardization bodies. We present challenges this research faces. and give an overview on what researchers should be aware of when they want to start working in this research area.

Genom århundraden har bilden varit en viktig del i vårt samhälle. Den har varit en källa till underhållning, sparande av minnen och även ett sätt att kommunicera på. Bilder har använts på många olika sätt och sedan 1800-talet har vi kunnat fånga bilder genom fotografier. Med den teknik vi har i dag, kan bilder tas och delas via mobiltelefonen och på grund av detta har fotodelning ökat snabbt. Inte bara genom att vi nu har ett urval av olika fotodelningsapplikationer, utan de erbjuder även verktyg för att retuschera bilder innan de delas vidare med fördefinierade filter för enkel redigering. Vi var därför intresserade av hur dessa verktyg påverkat vårt sätt att retuschera bilder. Med det menar vi om möjligheten att använda filter förändrat hur vi tänker om retuschering och om detta spelat roll i vårt sätt att dela bilder.

Resultat från enkät och intervjustudierna har visat att majoriteten av de foton som delas går genom någon form av retuschering. Vare sig det är genom fördefinierade filter eller om de redigeras manuellt finns det mycket få användare av fotodelningsapplikationer som delar oredigerade bilder. Vidare har det visat sig, som en effekt av filterfunktionen, att fler människor introduceras för konsten att redigera. 

Det råder väldigt olika åsikter när det kommer till den berömda Mozart-effekten, som kortfattat har sin basis i att du blir smartare av att lyssna på hans musik. Vissa studier vill hävda ett samband mellan Mozart och inlärning medan andra avvisar det helt. Genom att utgå från en egen studie, samt teorierna Agentiell Realism och Situerad Kunskap, så introduceras alternativa syn- och förhållningssätt, som möjliggör en inblick i den komplexa natur vi befinner oss i - som i sin tur kan försvåra ställningstagandet i att värdera information som absolut sanning. De upptäckter som gjorts i denna studie tyder på att oändliga mängder av faktorer ligger till grund för att de erhållna resultaten ser ut som den gör - vilket också belyser de möjliga utfall som hade kunnat inträffa, än de som just inträffat. Vi belyser även vikten av subjektiva upplevelser, då dessa har en stor vikt i hur resultaten färgas - då samma resultat kan utläsas annorlunda, beroende på hur man som individ och grupp väljer att tolka dessa. Datan tyder då på att vi inte kan uppnå hela sanningen - bara en del av den.

The loudness wars have been a frequently debated topic in the audio industry. Earlier research has been done on the technical and perceptual effects of loudness and so called hyper- compression but little research has been done to investigate the opinions of the mastering engineers, those who are applying the processing. This research is set out to understand the practise and goals of mastering engineers relating to loudness and hyper-compression, trying to broaden the subject with the viewpoint of those responsible for applying this loudness processing. The goal was to find commonalities amongst the engineers regarding the topic and to investigate the reasoning of the engineers. The study is based of five semi-structured interviews with professional mastering engineers. The interviews were conducted over Skype and the analysis was of a grounded method, originating from three main categories; commercial, technical and aesthetic, and subcategories were generated by the interviews. The research showed that the use of loudness and hyper-compression is multifaceted, with different goals depending on who the user is. There seems to be a strong connection between the loudness processing and genre, that genre often dictates how the processing is used. The research also found that there is a common opinion towards a standardisation of loudness normalisation in streaming services. 

Today in 2015 the game industry grows and games become more advanced. This leads to that the ways interactive media such as games portray their narrative are also improving. Therefore we chose to examine what factors affected how five experienced gamers viewed the narrative in the game Dear Esther (The Chinese Room, 2012) the first time they played it. The investigation used stimulated recall in order to collect data and the data were analysed with the help of the EPP methodology. Our study showed there was a diversity in how the game’s narrative was perceived and that a number of factors affected the interpretations of the narrative. These factors were organised in four categories: exploration, feeling and atmosphere, player experience, and identification with the player character and theories around the narrative. A fifth category evaluation of the storytelling, described the player’s thoughts about the way the narrative was told. Our main conclusion was that the factors affecting the way players perceived the narrative of the game varied much depending on who played the game and what their regular experience of games were. For example some were more affected by environment and monologue while others was more affected by earlier experiences of how games used to work. The respondent’s perception of the game narrative were also affected by their own thoughts and theories around the narrative and what might have happened. We could also see there were several different thoughts and opinions on how the narrative style of the game worked and three participants thought it worked well.

This paper presents the SWAY prototype that encourages people to explore aspects around balance and posture in a playful way. The prototype senses small movements and shifts in posture using a Kinect sensor, and translates these movements to the tilting of a platform holding a set of marbles, and to haptic feedback in the form of vibrations. The prototype provides an interactive experience focusing on building body awareness with a particular focus on balance and posture. The design inquiry provided new insights with respect to reinforcement of bodily experiences and how different modalities affect the guiding of attention.

Denna rapport handlar om hur spelare kommer fram till beslut i fightingspel: om de använder kunskap eller om de förutser vad motståndaren ska göra. Bakgrunden behandlar termen ”mindreading” och vad fightingspel är samt vilka skickligheter som används i fightingspel. En förundersökning gjordes med erfarna fightingspelsspelare för att undersöka vilka faktorer som skulle kunna vara viktiga. Rapportens frågeställning är om det är spelmekaniken eller förmågan till mindreading som är viktigast för framgång i ett spel med frekventa Yomi-situationer såsom fightingspel. Ett enkelt rundbaserat fightingspel togs fram för att användas i undersökningen. Sex par försökspersoner spelade spelet och samtidigt fick de tala högt om sina tankeprocesser. Analysen av spelomgångarna och spelarnas kommentarer indikerade att beslut baserade på spelmekanik var mer framgångsrika än beslut baserade på mindreading. Denna rapport bygger på en undersökning med dataspelare som dock inte var specialiserade på fightingspel. En kommande undersökning skulle kunna göras med mer erfarna spelare.

This paper reports a study in how interaction design and graphic design is affected in the process of developing an mobile application to complement the use of an existing webbsite. The paper also ask how developers are affected in this process by the use of designpatterns. The purpous of the report was to see how designpatterns affects the development of mobile applications and how the interaction and graphic design differs between various company webbsites and their related application. A study was conducted by comparing three diffrent webbsites with three related applications to find material for our thesis. Interviews were conducted on three diffrent companys that work professionaly with creating mobile applications. The results show that interaction between an application and a webbsite differs much because of technical conditions such as screen size or limits as a result of rigid interface guidlines. Graphical elements are influenced by the publishers own guidlines for graphical user interface. The company’s own webbmanual is used as a template when developing the applications and keeping the identity intact. This applies to all the interviewed developers. The use of designpatterns occurs in most cases. The interviewed companys agree that design patterns should be applied to the process but some of the informants only apply them in interaction design and not in graphic design.

This thesis concerns and combines multichannel sound reproduction, digital room correction, audio signal processing, and human sound perception. It investigates perceived sound quality and new methods to improve timbral and spatial fidelity of loudspeaker-based multichannel sound reproduction in reverberant environments.

In the first part of the thesis, the perceived sound quality of regular optimized stereo sound systems is investigated by means of a listening experiment based on subjective comparison judgments. It is shown that average listeners' preferences are in favor of the optimized version of the systems.

The second part of the thesis takes on with three novel equalization schemes, which are based on insights from human perception. First, a general filter design framework based on multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) feedforward control is introduced. The main objective is to provide means to jointly equalize a single loudspeaker by utilizing all available loudspeakers in a multichannel sound system.

Well-known drawbacks of standard multichannel sound reproduction are (a) that symmetrical system setups are generally assumed, and (b) that high fidelity sound reproduction is limited to a tight region in space, the so-called sweet spot. In order to ease drawback (a), the MIMO similarity framework incorporating a pairwise channel similarity requirement is introduced, which is based on a mathematical description of the perception of virtual sound sources created in multichannel sound reproduction. The aim is to obtain similar (symmetrical) room transfer functions in the listening area of a given listening environment. In order to ease drawbacks (a) and (b), the personal audio framework is introduced. It aims at producing filters which improve spatial and timbral sound reproduction in multiple listening positions simultaneously.

Evaluations based on simulations and measurements acquired in representative listening environments strongly indicate that the proposed methods successfully treat several causes which are known to impair sound quality and thus yield improved sound reproduction.