Studies of Content-Mediated Interaction: Insights into Activities, Motivations and User Experience Design

The amount of user-generated digital content in social media has exploded during recent years. Currently, it is easy to capture and produce versatile personal content, for example, activity data that is recorded with devices, such as heart rate monitors or the preference data of the music you listen to. A plethora of services exists for content sharing. Sharing digital content, such as images, audio, and video allows people to express themselves, create new contacts, strengthen ties with existing contacts, and to collaborate with other people. Social activities through content can create a sense of belonging and being part of a community. Digital content mediates social interaction through online services. For example, a shared video tells someone the story of an event that they could not be physically present at, and then shared exercise data might inform others of an interesting cycle route for a specific type of exercise. The sharing of traditional, personal digital content such as photos and videos has been widely studied, but recently it has become increasingly common to produce different types of content collaboratively and various services enable social interaction around such content – not just the sharing of it. The guidance for designers on how to build services to enable users to engage in these interactions naturally is still limited. To design better services, we need a better understanding of user activities together with the shared content and the collaborative practices that they form. Thus, this work focuses on novel types of user-generated digital content as well as the related activities, motivations, and user experiences.This compound thesis contributes to the research field of human-computer interaction; more specifically, the user experience. The thesis contains findings from six user case studies, involving a total of 328 participants. Through the case studies, we identified the elements that contribute to the user experience of content-mediated interaction with various content types. The theoretical contribution of this work is the introduction of the concept of contentmediated interaction. This work identifies the different elements that affect content-mediated interaction, and builds a content-mediated interaction model. The work extends the knowledge of user activities and the related user experience with novel types of shared content and of the user’s motivation to participate in content-mediated interaction. As a practical outcome, the thesis presents design implications. The thesis first proposes that understanding content-mediated interaction helps to design better applications and services that support online social interaction. Second, this helps to evaluate and refine the existing services as well as understand the emerging new content types in the future. Understanding the underlying activities and motivations supports the creation of new interaction features, service concepts, and finally, identifying business prospects

Modifioidun puun kosteuseläminen ja mekaanisen kiinnikkeen tartuntalujuus

Tämän työn tarkoituksena oli selvittää lämpökäsitellyn puun, vesilasikyllästetyn puun ja tavallisen mänty sahatavaran eroja kosteuselämisessä ja mekaanisen kiinnikkeen tartun-talujuudessa. Kokeissa käytetyt puumateriaalit olivat ThermoWood® Thermo-S-mänty, ThermoWood® Thermo-D-mänty, ThermoWood® Thermo-D-kuusi, vesilasikyllästetty mänty ja käsittelemätön mäntysahatavara. Mekaanisen kiinnikkeen tartuntalujuutta vertailtiin kolmessa eri vetosuunnassa. Vetotes-tejä tehtiin puun syiden pituuden, säteen ja tangentin suuntaisesti. Kosteuselämisessä tutkittiin dimensioiden vaihteluja alkutasaannutuksen jälkeen kosteassa ja kuivassa olo-suhteessa. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittivat, että puun lämpökäsittely parantaa puun dimension py-syvyyttä vaihtuvissa kosteusolosuhteissa, mutta se heikentää mekaanisen kiinnikkeen tartuntalujuutta puumateriaalissa. Korkeammalla käsittelylämpötilalla saadaan parempi dimension pysyvyys, mutta heikompi kiinnikkeen tartuntalujuus. Puun vesilasikyllästyk-sellä ei ole vaikutusta dimensiostabiliteettiin, mutta se parantaa mekaanisen kiinnikkeen tartuntalujuutta.In the thesis dimensional changes and withdrawal capacity of timber fastener between heat treated lumber, water-glass impregnated pine (pinus sylvestris) lumber and pine lumber (pinus sylvestris) were researched. The withdrawal capacity of timber fastener was tested in three withdrawal directions. Dimensional changes were investigated in humid and dry climates after initial condition-ing in a standard climate. Also changes in the cup of lumber and equilibrium moisture content in each conditioning climate were investigated. The results show that heat treating improves stability of lumber in dimensional changes but decreases withdrawal capacity of timber fastener. The higher the temperature of heat treating was the better was the stability of lumber in dimensional changes. Conversely the higher the treating temperature, the lower was withdrawal capacity of timber fas-tener. Water-glass impregnation improves withdrawal capacity of timber fastener and does not have an effect on dimensional stability

Development of Context Cards: A Bus-Specific Ideation Tool for Co-design Workshops

The importance of context is widely studied in design practice. Still, design workshops often take place in meeting rooms, with the help of generic design materials. To support the participants' understanding of the context of products or services, context-specific design materials can be utilized. The aim of this study was to gain design-relevant insights on how to support ideation with context-specific card-based design tool. Thus, this paper presents Context Cards - a bus-specific ideation cards for co-design workshops. We present the four-phase process of the card tool development in our study of early stage co-design of digital services for the bus context. The findings reveal that the developed Context Cards aided the participants' ability to ideate new services for the specific context. As a concrete outcome of our design research study, we present the final version of the cards, and insights on how they can be used.Peer reviewe

Identifying drivers and hindrances of social user experience in web services

ABSTRACT Social activity is becoming a central contributor to user experience (UX) in many modern Web services. The motivations, norms and rules of online communities have been widely researched, however, social activity and its UX in modern Web services is a less studied area. We conducted a four-week-long field study with three Web services -Facebook, Nokia Sports Tracker and Dopplrwhich all support social activity. The aim of this study was to identify the central drivers and hindrances of social UX, user experience of online social activity. Our results show that the main drivers of social UX include self-expression, reciprocity, learning and curiosity, whereas unsuitability of content and functionality, incompleteness of user networks and lack of trust and privacy are often experienced as hindrances for social UX. Our findings also reveal the pragmatic and hedonic nature of the drivers and hindrances. The results can be used to inform design and evaluation of social UX in Web services

Lokitietojen hyödyntäminen yhteisöllisen verkkopalvelun kehittämisessä

Tutkielma käsittelee lokitietojen hyödyntämistä yhteisöllisen verkkopalvelun kehittämisessä. Palvelin, jolla sivusto sijaitsee, kerää oletusarvoisesti lokitietoja sille tehdyistä pyynnöistä, mutta tietojen keräämistä on mahdollista laajentaa myös erilaisilla keruu- ja koosteohjelmilla. Näiden tietojen avulla on mahdollista seurata palvelun ja yhteisön kehittymistä ja raportoida kehitysvaihetta. Lokitiedot tarjoavat informaatiota myös palvelun kehittämiseksi. Helsingin Sanomien Oma kaupunki -hakupalvelun ja verkkoyhteisön loki- ja yhteisötutkimus alkoi toukokuussa 2008 ja päättyi vuoden 2008 lopussa. Tutkielmassa esitellään yleisimpiä lokien keräys- ja analysointitapoja ja verrataan niitä Omassa kaupungissa käytössä oleviin menetelmiin. Varsinaisina tutkimuskysymyksinä on mm. miten lokidatan keräämistä ja analysointia voidaan kehittää Omassa kaupungissa ja miten verkkoyhteisöä voidaan parantaa lokitietojen avulla. Lokitutkimuksessa havaittiin, että palvelun yhteisöominaisuuksien puutteellisuudet jarruttavat yhteisön kasvamista yhtä suosituksi kuin mitä hakupalvelu on. Oman kaupungin yhteisöön rekisteröityneiden käyttäjien määrä on kuitenkin nykyään vain murto-osa koko vierailijapotentiaalista. Vierailijoita voitaisiin innostaa rekisteröitymään ja tuottamaan sisältöä tarjoamalla monipuolisempia yhteisöllisiä ominaisuuksia. Kehitettäviksi osa-alueiksi havaittiin mm. sosiaalista toimintaa tukevat ominaisuudet, itseilmaisun ja suhteiden tukeminen palvelussa, yhteisön tilasta ja koosta kertovat käyttöliittymäelementit ja kontribuutioiden palkitseminen. Näihin seikkoihin esitetään konkreettisia kehitysideoita. Tutkimuksen aikana havaittiin myös, että lokianalyysi toimii yhtenä osana käyttäjälähtöistä tutkimusta, mutta lokianalyysia tukemaan tarvitaan muita tutkimustapoja, kuten käyttäjähaastatteluita. Asiasanat: lokitiedot, yhteisöllisyys, historiatiedot, sosiaalisuus, sosiaalinen navigointi, verkkoyhteisö, verkkopalveluiden kehittäminen, sosiaalinen medi

Studies of Content-Mediated Interaction: Insights into Activities, Motivations and User Experience Design

The amount of user-generated digital content in social media has exploded during recent years. Currently, it is easy to capture and produce versatile personal content, for example, activity data that is recorded with devices, such as heart rate monitors or the preference data of the music you listen to. A plethora of services exists for content sharing. Sharing digital content, such as images, audio, and video allows people to express themselves, create new contacts, strengthen ties with existing contacts, and to collaborate with other people. Social activities through content can create a sense of belonging and being part of a community. Digital content mediates social interaction through online services. For example, a shared video tells someone the story of an event that they could not be physically present at, and then shared exercise data might inform others of an interesting cycle route for a specific type of exercise. The sharing of traditional, personal digital content such as photos and videos has been widely studied, but recently it has become increasingly common to produce different types of content collaboratively and various services enable social interaction around such content – not just the sharing of it. The guidance for designers on how to build services to enable users to engage in these interactions naturally is still limited. To design better services, we need a better understanding of user activities together with the shared content and the collaborative practices that they form. Thus, this work focuses on novel types of user-generated digital content as well as the related activities, motivations, and user experiences.This compound thesis contributes to the research field of human-computer interaction; more specifically, the user experience. The thesis contains findings from six user case studies, involving a total of 328 participants. Through the case studies, we identified the elements that contribute to the user experience of content-mediated interaction with various content types. The theoretical contribution of this work is the introduction of the concept of contentmediated interaction. This work identifies the different elements that affect content-mediated interaction, and builds a content-mediated interaction model. The work extends the knowledge of user activities and the related user experience with novel types of shared content and of the user’s motivation to participate in content-mediated interaction. As a practical outcome, the thesis presents design implications. The thesis first proposes that understanding content-mediated interaction helps to design better applications and services that support online social interaction. Second, this helps to evaluate and refine the existing services as well as understand the emerging new content types in the future. Understanding the underlying activities and motivations supports the creation of new interaction features, service concepts, and finally, identifying business prospects

Lokitietojen hyödyntäminen yhteisöllisen verkkopalvelun kehittämisessä

Tutkielma käsittelee lokitietojen hyödyntämistä yhteisöllisen verkkopalvelun kehittämisessä. Palvelin, jolla sivusto sijaitsee, kerää oletusarvoisesti lokitietoja sille tehdyistä pyynnöistä, mutta tietojen keräämistä on mahdollista laajentaa myös erilaisilla keruu- ja koosteohjelmilla. Näiden tietojen avulla on mahdollista seurata palvelun ja yhteisön kehittymistä ja raportoida kehitysvaihetta. Lokitiedot tarjoavat informaatiota myös palvelun kehittämiseksi. Helsingin Sanomien Oma kaupunki -hakupalvelun ja verkkoyhteisön loki- ja yhteisötutkimus alkoi toukokuussa 2008 ja päättyi vuoden 2008 lopussa. Tutkielmassa esitellään yleisimpiä lokien keräys- ja analysointitapoja ja verrataan niitä Omassa kaupungissa käytössä oleviin menetelmiin. Varsinaisina tutkimuskysymyksinä on mm. miten lokidatan keräämistä ja analysointia voidaan kehittää Omassa kaupungissa ja miten verkkoyhteisöä voidaan parantaa lokitietojen avulla. Lokitutkimuksessa havaittiin, että palvelun yhteisöominaisuuksien puutteellisuudet jarruttavat yhteisön kasvamista yhtä suosituksi kuin mitä hakupalvelu on. Oman kaupungin yhteisöön rekisteröityneiden käyttäjien määrä on kuitenkin nykyään vain murto-osa koko vierailijapotentiaalista. Vierailijoita voitaisiin innostaa rekisteröitymään ja tuottamaan sisältöä tarjoamalla monipuolisempia yhteisöllisiä ominaisuuksia. Kehitettäviksi osa-alueiksi havaittiin mm. sosiaalista toimintaa tukevat ominaisuudet, itseilmaisun ja suhteiden tukeminen palvelussa, yhteisön tilasta ja koosta kertovat käyttöliittymäelementit ja kontribuutioiden palkitseminen. Näihin seikkoihin esitetään konkreettisia kehitysideoita. Tutkimuksen aikana havaittiin myös, että lokianalyysi toimii yhtenä osana käyttäjälähtöistä tutkimusta, mutta lokianalyysia tukemaan tarvitaan muita tutkimustapoja, kuten käyttäjähaastatteluita. Asiasanat: lokitiedot, yhteisöllisyys, historiatiedot, sosiaalisuus, sosiaalinen navigointi, verkkoyhteisö, verkkopalveluiden kehittäminen, sosiaalinen medi

A Co-design Study of Digital Service Ideas in the Bus Context

Part 5: Co-design Studies; International audience; To enhance the desirability of public transportation, it is important to design for positive travel experience. The context of bus transportation has broad potential for utilization of novel, supplementary digital services beyond travel information. The aim of our research was to study bus passengers needs and expectations for future digital services and to develop initial service concept ideas through co-design. To this end, three Idea generating workshops with 24 participants were arranged. Our findings reveal six service themes that can be used as a basis of designing future digital traveling services: (1) Information at a glance while traveling, (2) Entertainment and entertaining activities, (3) Services that support social interaction, (4) Multiple channels to provide travel information, (5) Extra services for better travel experience, and (6) Services that people already expect to have. The themes are discussed and further elaborated in this paper. Document type: Part of book or chapter of boo

Socially Augmented Music Discovery with Collaborative Playlists and Mood Pictures

This article describes the iterative design and user evaluation of a prototype, which enables collaborative music discovery by creating playlists and associating and expanding them with mood pictures. The concept was evaluated in two field trials by a total of 45 individual users, with both trials containing 30 users and 15 of the users attending both of the trials. The results from the two field trials are presented under three main themes: socially augmented music discovery, user-generated content enhancing music discovery and social usage patterns emerging from the usage of such a system. Users formed ways to facilitate social interaction and music discovery through the playlist content they shared. Social usage patterns reveal the social activities users performed with the service in the trials. The findings can be used as design implications for mood-based music service designers.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

A co-design study of digital service ideas in the bus context

To enhance the desirability of public transportation, it is important to design for positive travel experience. The context of bus transportation has broad potential for utilization of novel, supplementary digital services beyond travel information. The aim of our research was to study bus passengers’ needs and expectations for future digital services and to develop initial service concept ideas through co-design. To this end, three Idea generating workshops with 24 participants were arranged. Our findings reveal six service themes that can be used as a basis of designing future digital traveling services: (1) Information at a glance while traveling, (2) Entertainment and entertaining activities, (3) Services that support social interaction, (4) Multiple channels to provide travel information, (5) Extra services for better travel experience, and (6) Services that people already expect to have. The themes are discussed and further elaborated in this paper.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe