Antti Hautamäki

Consumer value of camera-based mobile interaction with the real world

Camera-based mobile interaction with the real world allows consumers to connect digital information with the real-world environment, and furthermore, to interact with real-world objects and places. To explore and understand the types of consumer value in the context of such consumer-level applications, we applied the critical incident technique to reflect actual use experiences from 107 application users with a recognized consumer value framework by Holbrook. The findings of the study suggest that at the current state value is heavily based on utilitarian efficiency and excellence. Although the applications enable a diverse value, they have yet to fulfill their potential in providing hedonic and other-oriented value.

The logic of viewpoints

In this paper a propositional logic of viewpoints is presented. The language of this logic consists of the usual modal operatorsL (of necessity) andM (of possibility) as well as of two new operatorsA andR. The intuitive interpretations ofA andR are “from all viewpoints” and “from some viewpoint”, respectively. Semantically the language is interpreted by using Kripke models augmented with sets of “viewpoints” and with a new alternativeness relation for the operatorA. Truth values of formulas are evaluated with respect to a world and a viewpoint. Various axiomatizations of the logic of viewpoints are presented and proved complete. Finally, some applications are given.

A conceptual space approach to semantic networks

Abstract If every entity has a set of attributes with each attribute having a value, we regard the complete set of an entitys attribute-value pairs (e.g., color-red, height-4 cm) as fully describing the entity. Such descriptions form a conceptual space, that is, an intensional space of concepts for which spatial inclusion corresponds to strict logical implication. An intensional logic of concepts is developed with which we can talk about concepts and their relations without referring to extensions of concepts. In this approach semantic networks are simply sets of interrelated formulas; i.e., they are theories in the logic of concepts. Default values are treated by introducing a new type of modal possibility operator and a superconcept operator, not by revising the basic logical entailment relation. A concept may inherit values from a superconcept either strictly or by default as “concept qua superconcept”. In this way inheritance problems turn out to be logical inference problems, and they can be solved in sound proof theory.

Systemic Development of Service Innovation

This chapter explores the intrinsic characteristics of services and service systems and presents systemic approach to produce service innovations. The chapter consists of elaborating the characteristics of services and the principles of systemic development, discussing service matrixes, service systems, service strategies and business models, and special challenges related to the development of services and service innovations. Services are always produced in service systems consisting of combination of service personnel and information systems. Customers are involved in these systems by interacting with the front end of service organization. The key issue in service development and innovation is to build the right architecture to capture all aspects of service systems from customer relations to back office information systems. The desired user experience is created by all aspects of service systems including the contact with personnel, the user interface, and the trustful and efficient information system. In the chapter, we present an approach that starts from the needs of people and through categorization of service types and service strategy types develops understanding about service systems and their dynamics. The proposed approach also provides insights into design thinking and its implications to service development and radical service innovation.

A Perspectivist Approach to Conceptual Spaces

It is a part of everyday life that objects appear different from each perspective they are seen from. Ordinary language has plenty of expressions referring to abstract issues “from my point of view” or “your perspective”. In this article, we argue for a perspectivist approach to conceptual spaces, that is, an approach to concepts as entities whose definition depends on the perspective from which they are considered. We propose an interpretation of Gardenfors’s conceptual space in terms of two components: a highly multi-dimensional ontospace whose simultaneous grasp is beyond or near the edge of human cognitive capabilities, and a lower-dimensional representational space that supports conceptualization of the ontospace in the manner Gardenfors has suggested, however allowing several alternative conceptualizations, not just one. We suggest that a given ontospace is only accessible to the cognition by means of the epistemic work of exploring alternative perspectives. Further, we suggest that the overall understanding of a domain that emerges from seeing it from multiple perspectives is on a higher abstraction level than any particular single perspective. We stress that perspectives to the ontospace are individual and vary as a function of interest, situational contexts and various temporal factors. On the other hand, they are communicable, allowing interpersonally shared conceptualization.

Digital Platforms for Restructuring the Public Sector

Many technological innovations have led to the emergence of the platform economy in recent years. This development is changing the entire landscape of business in the era of digitalisation. However, the impacts of the platform economy on public services and government are not well known. In this article we study the potential for the digital platform economy to help restructure the public sector. Firstly, central features of the new platform technology are explored, pointing to an algorithmic revolution, big data and cloud computing. Platforms are used in coordinating market transactions in an extremely efficient way. In order to apply the platform concept to the public sector, an experimental approach is needed; public platforms cannot be built by transposing mechanical models of the private sector to the public sector, because the market logic of public services is quite different than open markets. To illustrate the challenges and possibilities of the platform economy, we explored a few cases from Finland such as “Suomi.fi” digital service platform and its background technology, which is based on a national architecture for digital services developed in Finland applying X-Road technology created originally in Estonia. As a special case, we studied the Finnish solution to the digital health-care system. The case of “Kanta Services” exemplifies the challenge to simultaneously develop open and secure data systems for health care. Finally, we point out the importance of citizen-centred approaches in developing platforms for the public sector.

Change, Event, and Temporal Points of View

A “conceptual spaces” approach is used to formalize Aristotle’s main intuitions about time and change, and other ideas about temporal points of view. That approach has been used in earlier studies about points of view. Properties of entities are represented by locations in multidimensional conceptual spaces; and concepts of entities are identified with subsets or regions of conceptual spaces. The dimensions of the spaces, called “determinables”, are qualities in a very general sense. A temporal element is introduced by adding a time variable to state functions that map entities into conceptual spaces. That way, states may have some permanency or stability around time instances. Following Aristotle’s intuitions, changes and events will not be necessarily instant phenomena, instead they could be processual and interval dependent. Change is defined relatively to the interval during which the change is taking place. Time intervals themselves are taken to represent points of view. To have a point of view is to look at the world as it is in the selected interval. Many important concepts are relativized to intervals, for instance change, events, identity, ontology, potentiality, etc. The definition of points of view as intervals allows to compare points of view in relation to all these concepts. The conceptual space approach has an immediate semantic and structural character, but it is tempting to develop also logics to describe them. A formal language is introduced to show how this could be done.