Our study illustrates the nature and characteristics of the virtual world Second Life. We have identified that the online community aims to satisfy hedonistic needs through social and conspicuous consumption, for online use only, concentrating on socially accepted identity construction..

This thesis explores different ways of navigation in virtual environments. It also investigates how virtual environments can support human memory. Tests are done using a self made virtual model of Orkanen Library, Malmö högskolas school library. Among the different navigation tests that were done, a visual guidance in form of a line on the ground leading to the goal is showed superior when navigating a virtual environment but that people prefer legible landmarks instead. Tests were also done which show that a 3D-model of a real location supports context based memory.

In recent years the development of mobile devices has made great progress and today they account for a large proportion of the internet usage. This trend poses new demands on web developers as more companies and product owners want to customize their services and products for this new market. In this study we examine the pros and cons of the strategies desktop-first and mobile-first in the development of adaptive interfaces for the web. The study aims to create guidelines for situations in which each strategy fits well. The purpose of the study is to create an understanding of how these strategies can help developers and product owners to develop adaptive interfaces based on different goals and objectives.

The design process of an interaction design student is mostly collaborative and computer oriented. Based on this, it?s hard to believe that we have not yet found a tool that will facilitate our needs. With this in mind, which elements do we need to promote collaboration in a virtual design process? This thesis will include design processes, collaboration, creativity and virtual awareness, amongst others.

Modern agriculture equipment are more computer based today, and many equipments use a terminal in the tractor where the driver have the opportunity to make adjustments to the equipment. This is the reason why ISO developed a new standard called ISOBUS. It is a communication standard based on CAN specially adapted for griculture equipments. The purpose of the standard is that it should be ossible to equip a tractor with a standard terminal called Virtual Terminal that can be used to control the equipment. The use of the terminal should be independent of the manufacturer of the tractor as well as of the equipment.The purpose of this report is to ?nd a solution of how to use CC Systems on-board computer, CCP XS, as a Virtual Terminal.

The aim with this thesis is to investigate how librarians experience communication with children in reference interviews. In today?s interactive community it is meaningful to study how children communicate with the librarian in virtual reference interview as well as in ordinary reference interviews in physical libraries. Focus has been on finding out what children ask about and how they are asking in virtual reference interviews and in ordinary reference interviews, what type of information needs the children have. The study also focuses on which barriers there can be in reference interviews.

The main topic of this thesis is to evaluate the impact on the usability of web pages when using responsive web design, a concept for developing web pages whose design adapts to the screen size being used. This is done by creating a responsive prototype based on an existing web site. A number of usability tests are conducted on the two versions of the site in order to compare the time to complete the tests and to observe the behaviour of the test participants. The tests are conducted on desktop as well as on mobile devices with varying screen size.The number of test participants was relatively low, and so the quantitative result is not statistically valid. However, the conclusion is that the most effective combination is to use either of the sites on desktop format.

Sekretessbelagd.

The purpose of this study is to examine how participants perceive virtual agents shown on a computer display. In particular, it is explored to what extent participants transfer gender and attraction stereotypes that are commonly applied in the physical world to virtual agents. Previous related studies have often explored only text or voice interfaces, without any visually appearing agents, and here indeed found evidence for a transfer of gender stereotypes. Our hypothesis was that the addition of a visual agent interface would reinforce this effect. The results support our hypothesis that participants transfer human gender and attraction stereotypes onto virtual agents, as well as that these processes are affected by the visual representations of the agents..

The main topic of this thesis is to evaluate the impact on the usability of web pages when using responsive web design, a concept for developing web pages whose design adapts to the screen size being used. This is done by creating a responsive prototype based on an existing web site. A number of usability tests are conducted on the two versions of the site in order to compare the time to complete the tests and to observe the behaviour of the test participants. The tests are conducted on desktop as well as on mobile devices with varying screen size.The number of test participants was relatively low, and so the quantitative result is not statistically valid. However, the conclusion is that the most effective combination is to use either of the sites on desktop format.

Arbetsterapi är ett ämne som framhäver hälsa och välmående genom aktivitet. Det huvudsakliga målet som arbetsterapeut är att möjliggöra för personer att delta i aktiviteter i det dagliga livet. Virtual Reality är en simulation där datorgrafik används för att skapa en tillsynes realistisk miljö och denna värld är inte statisk utan integrerar med användaren. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie är att kartlägga hur och varför Virtual Reality kan användas av arbetsterapeuter. En systematisk litteraturstudie genomfördes och efter databassökning uppkom 14 artiklar som via en manuell sökning kompletterades med ytterligare 5 artiklar.

This study focus on how physical and virtual meeting places may promote collaboration between firms and academia for the development of innovations. A case study was conducted on a meeting place that aims to support collaboration for the development of innovations in eHealth between different actors in the Linnaeus region. Data was collected through 6 interviews, whereas 3 with scientists and 3 with entrepreneurs. The data was analyzed based on a theoretical framework based on different perspectives on collaboration and networks, meetings and interaction and, physical and virtual meeting places.The results show that the purpose for collaboration is to be included in a network with other actors in the same area, gain increased knowledge of the subject area and to acquire new external contacts. Furthermore, in order to support collaboration, physical meeting places have to organize effective and interesting meetings.

Ett par av de trick som används i virtual reality för att få 3D-världen att verka mer levande är stereoskopi och ett dynamiskt perspektiv med head tracking. Tidigare undersökningar har visat att head tracking har större effekt på 3D-upplevelsen än stereo [1], i alla fall när bilderna visas på en vanlig datorskärm. Den här undersökningen har försökt att ta reda på om samma sak gäller då den virtuella världen projiceras på en horisontell bordsskiva. Intressant nog går resultaten från det genomförda experimentet tvärt emot all teori. Tyvärr kan inga konkreta slutsatser dras eftersom alltför många felkällor har uppmärksammats, men studien öppnar ändå upp för framtida forskning..

De senaste åren har det börjat dyka upp system för att köra virtuella skrivbordsdatorer. Virtual desktop Infrastructure (VDI) är ett koncept för just det, och ett av de system som finns på marknaden är utvecklat av VMware och har fått namnet View. Frågeställningen som har legat till grund för denna utredning var om prestandan och användarupplevelsen hos en virtuell maskin i ett VDI-system idag är tillräckligt bra för att kunna ersätta en fysisk dator som arbetsdator. För att utreda detta skapades en View-miljö med två olika virtuella maskiner som sedan användes och utvärderades. Därtill användes även prestandatestmjukvaran PassMark PerformanceTest för att utvärdera datorernas prestanda och för att kunna jämföra resultaten med de hos två vanliga laptops.

This paper explores the field of virtual reality and how immersion and presences can be increased when it comes to navigation and interaction with Virtual Environments. The availability of VR technology has sparked a trend, especially in game development. Old ways of designing for interactive environments have to be revised. This is done by exploring the massive body of work done on VR, exploring its underlying concepts, using tested design techniques and ways of evaluating interaction for VR. A design suggestion in the form of utilizing a tablet device as the main input device is derived.