Jeanette Eriksson

A Biofeedback Game for Training Arousal Regulation during a Stressful Task: The Space Investor

Emotion regulation is a topic that has considerable impact in our everyday lives, among others emotional biases that affect our decision making. A serious game that was built in order to be able to train emotion regulation is presented and evaluated here. The evaluation consisted of a usability testing and then an experiment that targeted the difficulty of the game. The results suggested adequate usability and a difficulty that requires the player to engage in managing their emotion in order to have a winning strategy.

Methodological Capabilities for Emergent Design

In this paper we revisit emergent design and review five design oriented methodologies; action research, design research, controlled experiments, participatory design and ethnographic based approaches. Based on this review, we outline implications for the use of these methodologies in conjunction with an emergent design stance. Adopting such a stance is in line with both the exploratory way in which users embrace technology and the strong acceptance that agile software development approaches have had. It is therefore, we argue, appropriate that our research methodologies are adapted to embrace this change.

Using the Internet of Things to Support Emotional Health

A first step towards emotional well-being is to monitor, understand and reflect upon one’s feelings and emotions. A number of personal emotion-tracking applications are available today. In this paper we describe an examination of these applications which indicates that many of the applications do not provide sufficient support for monitoring a full spectrum of emotional data or for analysing or using the data that is provided. To design applications that better support emotional well-being, the full capabilities of the Internet of Things should be utilized. The paper concludes with a description of how Internet of Things technologies can enable the development of systems that can more accurately capture emotional data and support personal learning in the area of emotional health.

Bus Runner: Using Contextual Cues for Procedural Generation of Game Content on Public Transport

With the support of the regional public transport operator, this paper explores the potential for mobile games to make journeys on public transport more enjoyable. To this end we have developed a game called Bus Runner which is a context-aware endless runner, based on open and shared data. By blending features of the physical world, such as recognisable landmarks, with the game’s virtual world, we situate and enhance passengers’ experience of travelling on public transport. We identify a set of challenges and opportunities based on the development and evaluation of Bus Runner. These are of relevance not only for game development purposes, but also impact context-driven content generation of infotainment services as a whole.

Playful Method for Seniors to Embrace Information Technology

Digital technology is everywhere today. People who cannot handle digital technology risk to be excluded from the information society. This article reports on how older seniors living in a residential home or participate in day care activities can be introduced to digital technology by playing games. The research was done in close cooperation with seniors and staff from one residential home and two day care centers. The research applied Design Science Research methodology to create a method of how to introduce digital technology to seniors, and to make a game together with the seniors and the staff. In parallel with the research, an implementation process was realized to make digital technology a natural part of the seniors life.

End User Development and Infrastructuring – Sustaining Organizational Innovation Capabilities

Today, both businesses and public organizations need to be able to innovate and continuously develop their services and processes along with the underpinning IT infrastructure. We argue that End-User Development (EUD) becomes a necessary part of the innovation capability that underpins such service and process innovation. The book chapter presents a meta-analysis of two case studies. The analysis shows how the need for change in both cases brought about an organizationally established sustainable practice of EUD, where empowered employees cooperated with IT professionals in the development and evolution of an IT infrastructure based on flexible technologies. The chapter further discusses how such practices are supported by (participatory) organizational IT management structures and processes. Finally, it discusses how EUD in this way contributes to the innovation capability of the organization. The conclusion points to transferability of the insights gained and provides suggestions for future research.

Beyond ‘Happy Apps’: Using the Internet of Things to Support Emotional Health

Emotions and physical health are strongly related. A first step towards emotional well-being is to monitor, understand and reflect upon one’s feelings and emotions. A number of personal emotion-tracking applications are available today. In this paper we describe an examination of these applications which indicates that many of the applications do not provide sufficient support for monitoring a full spectrum of emotional data or for analyzing or using the data that is provided. To design applications that better support emotional well-being, the full capabilities of the Internet of Things should be utilized. The paper concludes with a description of how Internet of Things technologies can enable the development of systems that can more accurately capture emotional data and support personal learning in the area of emotional health.