• Experience Programming: an exploration of hybrid tangible-virtual blo...
  De Oliveira, Clarissa C.  : Malmö universitet/Kultur och samhälle (2018)	Master thesis (two year)

  

  

  English abstract:

  In less than a century, programming languages have assumed many forms in adapting to system’s needs and capacities, of which our cognitive systems are a part. One variation, tailored specifically for the cognitive processes in children’s education of computational concepts, and nowadays successful among novice adult learners too, is that of visual block based programming. From the pool of available block based programming environments, Scratch is the most popular for users, and therefore becomes a good topic for researchers interested in contemporary educational discussions, including that of coding as a curricular activity in schools. Although inspired by the educational philosophy of using abstract physical blocks in foundational learning, the mainly visual interface of Scratch is made for keyboard and mouse mediated interaction with the digital content on-screen, producing audio-visual feedback. This research is a case study of Scratch, where the shortcomings found in interactions with its environment motivate the investigation of a potential hybrid technology – tangible and visual – for enhanced learning of foundational concepts in block based programming. The investigation is characterized by progressive cycles of conceptual design, supported by prototyping and testing. The results from its design process present the benefits and challenges of this hybrid concept to inform and inspire the development of new technologies for learning, as well as it should inspire designers of Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) for learning and the educational community of computing to challenge the current ways of learning. The work here presented is concerned with acknowledging and building onto strengths of existing technologies, rather than substituting them with disruptive ideas.

  Clarissa De Oli ... rogramming interaction.pdf   (7.174Mb)

• Creating Social Good through Debts: Critical Discourse Analysis of Bo...
  Dimitrov, Dragomir  : Malmö universitet/Kultur och samhälle (2018)	Master thesis (one year)

  

  

  English abstract:

  Kiva is an international non-governmental organization that competes for funds with others in the field. As a consequence, some special relationships and dependencies are formed. This paper argues that among the most significant ones are the representations of borrowers on Kiva’s online lending platform. The work hypothesizes that while Kiva has the potential to create a friendly environment where both participatory and problem-solving style of communication is encouraged, the organization turns out to be a development factor with international importance which inevitably influences the stereotyping of individuals from the Global South. In that sense, the representations of people from the Global South on Kiva’s online platform seem to continue a well-established tradition of Western-centrism, thus admitting further stereotyping also of the audience from the Global North. Through the lens of postcolonial theory and critical discourse analysis as research methods, the research questions and the hypotheses of the paper aim at contributing to the current debates on the existing power relations between the Global South and North by providing information on: how are people in need represented through profiles of single parents as borrowers on Kiva’s website; do representations of single parents contribute to the process of creating stereotypes; what is the role of microfinance in development. By using the most recent data from Kiva's online lending platform, the work aims to present evidence on the stereotypization of representations of a specific sample group of borrowers – individual single parents. While taking into consideration Kiva's ambition towards creating cooperation based on reciprocal dignity, the paper provides some possible interpretations of the way individuals in need are portrayed. It aims to come to the aid of individuals who have interests in the development field, who may want to rethink fundraising strategies involving both visual and textual representations of people, especially in the field of online lending.

  Dimitrov-D-DP18-v2.pdf   (5.824Mb)

• Saving people: a comparative study of 2 European Search and Rescue Or...
  Tatakis, Konstantinos  : Malmö universitet/Kultur och samhälle (2018)	Master thesis (one year)

  

  

  Tatakis-K-DP18 v.2.pdf   (3.151Mb)

• Representation, Power and Agency during the closure of Manus Island -...
  Wedin Lindgren, Emma  : Malmö universitet/Kultur och samhälle (2018)	Master thesis (one year)

  

  

  English abstract:

  In examining how refugees at Manus Island’s detention processing centre off the coast of Papua New Guinea were featured in national Australian news media at the time of its closure in late 2017, and in analysing a selected national newspaper: the Guardian Australia’s online articles over that time, distinct categories of representation in relation to if and how, Manus Island refugees speak, were found. A content analysis presents the categories as identified, and examines not only the origin of speech [i.e. the person speaking] but also how refugee narratives are presented, what is spoken, what is heard, and to some extent what is missing in terms of voice and speech. As such this thesis examines speech as part of voice and representation in Australian media, and makes use of similar pre-existing studies on refugee representation in news media and beyond to give insight into whether or not the post-colonial terminology, and subsequent category, of the ‘subaltern’ helps identify what speaks power, voice and agency in these instances of representation. In analysing how refugee voices are enunciated, this study gives insight into what considerations need to made to processes of exclusion, de-humanisation, voicelessness and non-belonging as part of processes for social change. It further identifies and strengthen claims to how different categories of speech and representation lend validity and authority to voices, and also how they may diminish agency through such processes as dehumanisation and victimisation.

  Lindgren-E-DP18.pdf   (698.6Kb)

• Online to Onsite - Seeding public collaborative services in Rome's li...
  Luccioni, Carlo  : Malmö universitet/Kultur och samhälle (2014)	Master thesis (two year)

  

  

  English abstract:

  The purpose of the study has been to execute an investigation on digital collaborative services, and their connections to onsite activities, throughout empirical experimentation, with a combined participatory design methodology and lab approach. The research focused on how an online platform, in addition to onsite events, could seed a public collaborative service. The chosen context for prototyping the service was the Rome’s library network, where during a phase of economic and job crisis, the library role is even more crucial, as one of the most locally active user centered services. The library wants to readdress its mediation ability towards educational activities who present an unsaturated potential, aimed at increasing users long term job potential and labour market orientation. The workshops with local students, library staff, and local NGO, highlighted the need of an online platform in combination with onsite events, that could fill the main gaps that prevent the building of continuos relations with the users, adding a new core touchpoint will change the user experience of the current service, generating a new service flow. The online and onsite service was tested in the month of July 2014, with 5 seminars, and a decent online participation, focusing on the main feature of the service: directly influence the service, to actively choosing its contents, the most voted events’ themes that become seminars. The users are able to adapt the service to their personal needs, making the system modifiable, creating dialog between the users and the service, sharing many communal traits with a meta-design environment. The current state of the service prototype can not be considered a collaborative service, since the users can reach the role of co-designer - even if can be considered a social innovation project. However this service prototype has the potential to seed a transformation towards a public collaborative service. The user could gradually build a continuos relation to the service, as far as becoming a co-provider.

  TP2 - Luccioni -print.pdf   (112.7Mb)

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