Research for Design of Playful Mobile Services for Social Experiences between Nearby Strangers

Having positive interpersonal interactions is a fundamental human need and source of well-being. While fulfilling this need is usually associated with strong ties, research has shown that meaningful social experiences are not limited to those. This research explores the largely untapped social potential of nearby strangers and ways that mobile services can be designed to take advantage of these social opportunities. Play and playfulness appear to be particularly worthwhile ways to achieve this end: play is meaningful in itself (i.e., does not require an external goal) and takes place outside the context of real life. In addition, playful design tends to make digital services more engaging. This research focuses on playfulness as a design quality and explores the social implications of playful mobile services for nearby strangers. This doctoral thesis asks two research questions: What kind of social experiences emerge between nearby strangers from the use of playful mobile services? How can playful mobile services be designed to encourage social experiences between nearby strangers? The research contributes to the field of human-computer interaction and provides insights into mobile service design through six research articles. Two of the studies charted expected experiences with early-stage mobile application concepts for playful interaction between nearby strangers. One of these concepts was further developed into a fully functional mobile application, and a large-scale, in-the-wild study was arranged to explore the actual social experiences it generated. Two of the studies investigated social experiences between nearby strangers in the context of commercial mobile games. The sixth study explored the design space of playful interactions between nearby strangers through co-design workshops. The playful mobile services investigated in this research were found to induce various behaviors that resulted in social experiences between nearby strangers. Examples of such behaviors are the active exploration of the outside world, community building, communicating and collaborating with strangers, and interacting in crowds. I found that playful and social experiences such as competition, surprise, curiosity, inspiration, and benevolence motivated individuals to use these services

Interaction between nearby strangers: serendipity and playfulness

“Nearby strangers” provides an interestingly paradoxical space for interaction design. There are various social norms, cultural practices, and privacy concerns hindering interaction with nearby strangers, but by ignoring them, people constantly miss social opportunities. Technology enabling ad-hoc interactions between co-located people has been explored for years in research but real-life applications are still rare. The potential focus areas include increasing awareness of social possibilities; light-weight playful interactions, play and gaming; serendipitous and ad hoc social interaction; anonymous exchange of content; matching interests for various purposes; icebreakers and provocation to interact, and ambient representation of the nearby strangers. This workshop convenes researchers and practitioners to gather and advance the state of research on interactions between nearby strangers. We aim to explore this design space and collaboratively identify new research and design opportunities that novel communication technology creates

Konkari kaapissa – ideaaliopiskelija työkokemusta omaavien varhaiskasvatuksen opettajaopiskelijoiden diskursseissa

Opiskelijat, joilla on aikaisempaa varhaiskasvatuksen alan työkokemusta, ovat olleet viime vuosina kasvava joukko varhaiskasvatuksen yliopistokoulutuksessa. Aikaisempi tutkimus on antanut viitteitä, että kyseisen opiskelijaryhmän odotukset opiskelulta ja toiminta opettajankoulutuksen kannalta keskeisissä opetusharjoitteluissa voivat poiketa opiskelijoista, jotka edustavat traditionaalista yliopisto-opiskelijan normia. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin aikaisempaa varhaiskasvatuksen alan työkokemusta omaavien varhaiskasvatuksen opettajaopiskelijoiden tuottamia diskursiivisia subjektipositioita opetusharjoittelun kontekstissa. Haastatteluaineisto (n = 12, haastatteluiden kesto 10 h 13 min) analysoitiin kriittisen diskurssianalyysin keinoin. Tuloksissa tuotettiin kuusi subjektipositiota: oppimiseen orientoitunut opiskelija, työkokemusasiantuntija, mentorin kollega, konkari kaapissa, mentorin tai yliopiston kriitikko ja noviisiopettajaopiskelija. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa tuotettiin subjektipositioiden synteesinä ideaaliopiskelijan diskurssi. Ideaaliopiskelijan diskurssi on ristiriitaisten ominaisuuksiensa vuoksi saavuttamattomissa, ja se haastaa aikaisempaa traditionaalista yliopisto-opiskelijan ideaalia. Tulosten perusteella esitetään ehdotuksia varhaiskasvatuksen opetusharjoittelun kehittämiseen ja monenlaisista taustoista tulevien opiskelijoiden kohtaamiseen

Konkari kaapissa – ideaaliopiskelija työkokemusta omaavien varhaiskasvatuksen opettajaopiskelijoiden diskursseissa

Opiskelijat, joilla on aikaisempaa varhaiskasvatuksen alan työkokemusta, ovat olleet viime vuosina kasvava joukko varhaiskasvatuksen yliopistokoulutuksessa. Aikaisempi tutkimus on antanut viitteitä, että kyseisen opiskelijaryhmän odotukset opiskelulta ja toiminta opettajankoulutuksen kannalta keskeisissä opetusharjoitteluissa voivat poiketa opiskelijoista, jotka edustavat traditionaalista yliopisto-opiskelijan normia. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin aikaisempaa varhaiskasvatuksen alan työkokemusta omaavien varhaiskasvatuksen opettajaopiskelijoiden tuottamia diskursiivisia subjektipositioita opetusharjoittelun kontekstissa. Haastatteluaineisto (n = 12, haastatteluiden kesto 10 h 13 min) analysoitiin kriittisen diskurssianalyysin keinoin. Tuloksissa tuotettiin kuusi subjektipositiota: oppimiseen orientoitunut opiskelija, työkokemusasiantuntija, mentorin kollega, konkari kaapissa, mentorin tai yliopiston kriitikko ja noviisiopettajaopiskelija. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa tuotettiin subjektipositioiden synteesinä ideaaliopiskelijan diskurssi. Ideaaliopiskelijan diskurssi on ristiriitaisten ominaisuuksiensa vuoksi saavuttamattomissa, ja se haastaa aikaisempaa traditionaalista yliopisto-opiskelijan ideaalia. Tulosten perusteella esitetään ehdotuksia varhaiskasvatuksen opetusharjoittelun kehittämiseen ja monenlaisista taustoista tulevien opiskelijoiden kohtaamiseen

Playfulness and progression in technology-enhanced social experiences between nearby strangers

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From Chance to Serendipity: Knowledge Workers' Experiences of Serendipitous Social Encounters

Serendipity refers to uncontrolled circumstances that lead to unexpected yet fortunate discoveries. The phenomenon has been studied extensively in relation to information retrieval. However, serendipity in the context of social encounters has been the subject of few empirical studies. In professional life, social serendipity might result in benefits such as fruitful collaboration, successful recruitment, discovery of novel information, and acquisition of crucial new perspectives from peers. Despite the potential significance of serendipity, particularly for knowledge work, there is a lack of empirical understanding of related subjective experiences and the role of technology within the process of encountering unsought findings. This qualitative study investigates knowledge workers' detailed narratives of serendipitous social encounters and the related factors through an analysis of 37 responses to an international online survey. We provide a detailed account of the experiential characteristics and contextual qualities of the reported instances of social serendipity. Finally, we discuss the seemingly minor role of technology in social serendipity and research avenues to computationally enhance social serendipity.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Technologies for Enhancing Collocated Social Interaction: Review of Design Solutions and Approaches

Collocated interaction has received growing interest in both academic research and the design of information and communication technological applications. An emergent research topic within this area relates to technological enhancement of social interaction. Various envisioned systems aim beyond simply enabling interaction, to actively enhance—i.e., improve the quality or extent of—social interaction between collocated people. However, there is little understanding of the optimal design solutions and roles of technology considering this goal. This literature review outlines the landscape of design explorations in this emergent research topic. We contribute an in-depth study of 92 publications that present relevant solutions or prototypes, analyzing their focus areas, design objectives, and design and evaluation approaches. To contribute with a new theoretical perspective, we identify various roles of technology relevant for enhancement, representing three abstract categories: facilitating, inviting and encouraging. This review helps researchers to describe, analyze, and position relevant prior research and identify gaps in scientific knowledge