University of Lapland

About: University of Lapland is a education organization based out in Rovaniemi, Finland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Arctic & Context (language use). The organization has 665 authors who have published 1870 publications receiving 39129 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Rovaniemi & Lapin yliopisto.

IdleStripes shirt - wearable display of sedentary time

Abstract: Prior work on clothing with integrated displays has typically presented catwalk-style garments, with light output from hundreds of LEDs. In contrast, we present the IdleStripes shirt, a garment for normal daily office wear, that encourages the wearer to avoid long sedentary periods through an integrated ambient display. Rather than adding the display functionality to an existing shirt, we present a process where a clothing designer designed the smart garment from scratch, in this way creating a more aesthetic and comfortable garment. A display element in the upper chest area of the shirt utilises cloth with embedded optical fibers, stripes of which illuminate based on the wearer's inactivity. Taking a short walk then resets the display. Participants in an in-the-wild user study wore the shirt during their normal working day, and, e.g., report positively on the design of the garment and their willingness to wear it. Those that were not already frequently active during their working day, reported that the shirt encouraged them to break their sedentary behaviour and take short walks.

Love and Creativity – Paradoxal but Important Human Virtues

Abstract: Everything that a human being finds interesting, exciting, and pleasing, can spark love or creativity. In fact, people are almost universal in their appreciation of love and creativity (Hendrick & Hendrick, 2009; Simonton, 2009). Creativity and love are topics of ever-increasing interest, given its importance and applicability to literally every field (e.g., Prabhu, Sutton, & Sauser, 2008).

Grandparental love: a challenge or richness?

Abstract: Grandparenthood has changed dramatically: today's grandparents are healthier than before, live longer, and are more educated than their antecedents. The purpose of this research was to find out how grandparenthood was perceived by grandparents themselves. The study comprised 12 Finnish grandparents, aged between 50 and 81, who participated in the research. The data were collected as letters and through interviews. The analysing method was data-driven qualitative content analysis. Grandparents' experiences of grandparenthood were studied by focusing on the following themes: What kinds of changes does grandparenthood introduce in life; what kinds of resources does grandparenthood provide or involve; and what kinds of challenges does grandparenthood include? Grandparenthood was divided into four types that differ from each other in their relation to the amount of resources and adaptation of changes. Grandparental love can be seen as a central virtue enriching well-being by providing grandparents with strength.

Experiences with wellness ring and bracelet form factor

Abstract: This paper explores experiences with ring and bracelet activity tracker form factors. During the first week of a 2-week field study participants (n=6) wore non-functional mock-ups of ring and bracelet wellness trackers, and provided feedback on their experiences. During the second week, participants used a commercial wellness tracking ring, which collected physical exercise and sleep data and visualized it in a mobile application. Our salient findings based on 196 user diary entries suggest, that the ring form factor is considered beautiful, aesthetic and contributing to the wearer's image. However, the bracelet form factor is more practical for active lifestyle, and preferred in situations where the hands are performing tasks requiring gripping objects, such as sport activities, cleaning the car, cooking and washing dishes. Users strongly identified the ring form factor as jewellery that is intended to be seen, whereas bracelets were considered hidden and inconspicuous elements of the user's ensemble.

Exploring the Use of Virtual Environments in an Industrial Site Design Process

Abstract: Virtual environments are becoming more commonly used in urban planning and the construction industry. In this paper, we investigate whether exploring a 3D model of a factory site can identify design problems related to human perception, such as exposing users to heights without sufficient protection. Problems of height and space are not easily identified during the normal design process, and are costly to correct. We present a user study (n = 30) in which three different presentation formats, (1) CAVE, (2) Head Mounted Display (HMD), and (3) monitor display, are compared as methods to explore a virtual factory site. Our results indicate that HMD provides the most immersive experience and e.g. that the CAVE approach is problematic in cases where detailed navigation is required. We also identify that the use of heart rate monitoring when exploring the virtual environment can provide a useful indication of possible issues related to perceptions of the design.