As artificial intelligence becomes more common in education and society, some of the concepts we rely on need to be reconsidered. In the paper Conceptual Analysis and Conceptual Engineering: Methodological Issues in the Philosophy of Computing Education, Roger McDermott, Mats Daniels, John N. Brown, and Åsa Cajander discuss how philosophical methods can help researchers analyse and rethink key concepts in computing education (McDermott, Daniels, Brown, & Cajander, 2025).
The authors focus on two approaches. Conceptual analysis helps clarify what a concept actually means. For example, analysing the concept of a programming language shows that it includes elements such as syntax, meaning, data structures, and mechanisms for abstraction. Making these elements explicit helps researchers and educators better understand the foundations of computing.
However, sometimes clarification is not enough. When technology changes, concepts may also need to change. This is where conceptual engineering becomes useful. Instead of only analysing concepts, it explores whether they should be revised or redesigned.
The paper uses the concept of explanation as an example. Modern AI systems often work as complex models that are difficult to interpret. This makes it challenging to explain how a decision was reached. In areas such as education and public administration, where transparency and accountability are important, this creates new challenges.
Roger McDermott, Mats Daniels, John N. Brown, and Åsa Cajander therefore explore possible ways of rethinking explanation in AI contexts. These may include approximate explanations of influential factors, contrastive explanations that show how a decision could have been different, and institutional mechanisms such as audits that support accountability.
Together, conceptual analysis and conceptual engineering provide useful tools for understanding and adapting key ideas in computing education as technologies such as AI continue to develop.
Reference
McDermott, R., Daniels, M., Brown, J. N., & Cajander, Å. (2025, November). Conceptual Analysis and Conceptual Engineering: Methodological Issues in the Philosophy of Computing Education. In 2025 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) (pp. 1–9). IEEE.
Surrounded by colleagues, friends, and family, I nailed my PhD thesis to the tree in our department yesterday. It was a simple act, but it represented years of hard work, challenges, and growth. In Scandinavia, this tradition marks the moment when the thesis becomes public, and the journey towards the defence enters its final stage. For me, it felt both grounding and uplifting.
My research focused on developing a user-friendly web-based application, Carer eSupport, designed to support informal caregivers of individuals with head and neck cancer. In Sweden, as in many other countries, cancer care has gradually shifted from hospitals to the home. Family members now carry much of the daily responsibility. These informal caregivers often step into complex roles with a little preparation. They manage medical tasks, emotional pressure, and practical coordination frequently while being excluded from healthcare processes.
This thesis provides guidelines for developing and evaluating web-based applications that support the well-being of informal caregivers. It also identifies factors that influence the acceptance and use of such applications. At its core, this work recognises caregivers as essential partners in cancer care and argues that they should not be left to manage their issues on their own.
The thesis further explores how technology can be designed to be accessible, understandable, and meaningful for vulnerable groups such as caregivers. Many caregivers have limited time, reduced energy, and varying levels of digital confidence. Designing for them requires clarity, simplicity, trust, and sensitivity to their emotional situation. A web-based application should not introduce additional complexity. Instead, it should fit into everyday life, strengthen preparedness for caregiving, and support both practical tasks and psychological needs.
Through a human-centred design and in close collaboration with caregivers and healthcare professionals, Carer eSupport was developed as an evidence-based digital intervention. The application aims not only to provide reliable information but also to support competence, autonomy, and a sense of connection. In doing so, it contributes to a broader understanding of how web-based applications can be designed to promote well-being in demanding and emotionally challenging life situations.
Looking back, this journey has been demanding, but deeply meaningful. I have learned that designing technology is not only about functionality. It is about listening carefully, understanding lived experiences, and creating something that makes daily life slightly more manageable for someone carrying heavy responsibilities.
My heartfelt thanks to everyone who made this possible. I feel deeply grateful, especially to my main supervisor, Professor Åsa Cajander, who guided me with clarity, patience, and trust throughout this journey.
Defence: March 27, 2026, at 13:15 Place: 101195, Heinz-Otto Kreiss, Ångström, Lägerhyddsvägen 1, Uppsala
Digital vård växer snabbt. Samtidigt förändras arbetsmiljön för vårdpersonal, och en fråga som fått allt mer uppmärksamhet är hot och trakasserier i digitala vårdmöten.
I forskningsprojektet DIGI-RISK studerar vi hur sådana risker uppstår och hur de kan förebyggas. Nyligen började Sofia Thunberg som postdoktor i projektet. Vi ställde några frågor för att lära känna henne och höra mer om hennes arbete.
Kan du kort presentera dig själv och din forskningsbakgrund?
Jag är doktor i kognitionsvetenskap och har en bakgrund inom människa-datorinteraktion med särskilt fokus på ny teknik i olika vårdsammanhang. Bland annat har jag forskat kring införandet av välfärdsteknik inom äldrevården, sociala robotar som psykosocialt stöd för äldre med demens på omsorgsboenden och barn med autism inom specialisttandvården, användningen av generativ AI inom primärvården samt medicintransporter med drönare. Något jag tidigt intresserade mig för var hur vårdpersonalen påverkas i sitt arbete av att ny teknik införs och jag har bland annat tittat på förekomsten av technostress.
Vad gjorde att du ville arbeta i DIGI-RISK-projektet?
Hot och trakasserier inom vården är ett stort och välkänt arbetsmiljöproblem som möjliggörs på ett nytt sätt via den digitala tekniken. Användningen av digitala vårdmöten är idag utbredd medan forskningen kring dess konsekvenser på arbetsmiljön ligger efter. Jag tycker det är spännande med ett projekt som undersöker ett sådant nytt forskningsområde och som också är väldigt relevant ur ett svenskt perspektiv.
Vad kommer du främst att arbeta med i projektet?
Mitt huvudfokus ligger på att utforma en nationell enkät där ett delmål är att validera ett nytt enkätinstrument för att mäta förekomsten och intensiteten av hot och trakasserier i digitala vårdmöten.
Vad hoppas du att forskningen ska bidra med framöver?
Jag hoppas att projektet kommer leda till ett ökat fokus på vikten av ett aktivt arbetsmiljöarbete för användningen av digitala vårdmöten och att vårdanställda kan känna sig tryggare på sin arbetsplats.
In a recent study, Anna Kharko, Josefin Hagström, Saija Simola, Åsa Cajander, Charlotte Blease, and Maria Hägglund analyse how gender is associated with patient experiences of electronic health records across Norway, Sweden, and Finland.
Drawing on responses from 27,038 patient portal users, the study shows that women use electronic health records more frequently than men and tend to rate more portal functions as useful.
While positive experiences were reported at similar levels, a higher proportion of women reported very negative experiences. Gender was associated with usefulness ratings for almost all functions, except contact with provider.
How might we interpret this pattern?
One possible explanation is that women generally have more frequent contact with healthcare services. Women also generally have more frequent and diverse interactions with healthcare services across the life course. This may increase both their need for, and engagement with, digital health services. My guess is that higher usage also increases the likelihood of encountering inconsistencies, errors, or confusing documentation, which may help explain why women report more negative experiences.
Another interpretation is that women may take on more caregiving responsibilities and administrative health-related tasks for family members. This could make functions such as error notification and certificate management more salient and valuable. My guess is that women’s broader coordination role in healthcare interactions may shape how they evaluate usefulness.
Overall, the findings suggest that gender is not merely a demographic variable but may reflect differences in health practices, expectations, and responsibilities. As patient portals become more personalized, considering these patterns may support more responsive and inclusive digital health design.
In 2024, we organized a workshop at NordiCHI on design methods in connected health. We had strong participation, and a wide range of connected health projects were presented and discussed. The workshop was structured to foster collaborative reflection on how different design approaches are used in real projects and what can be learned from them.
Following the workshop, we continued working with the material that emerged from the discussions and presentations. The submitted abstracts and workshop dialogues formed the basis for a joint paper, which has now been published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
The paper synthesizes insights from six diverse connected health projects and highlights both opportunities and challenges experienced in designing connected health systems:
On the opportunity side, it identifies areas such as improving data integration and usability, enhancing collaboration across stakeholders, using iterative and user-centered design processes, addressing complexity in socio-technical systems, focusing on sustainability, and adopting digital infrastructures that support seamless communication.
At the same time, the paper also points out persistent challenges that practitioners face, including information exchange and interoperability, navigating ethical and legal requirements, understanding design and evaluation standards, ensuring trustworthiness and quality of data, and involving stakeholders effectively.
These insights come directly from workshop discussions and collective reflection across multiple projects. The paper brings together varied experiences to show what practitioners encounter when working with connected health systems in practice. This makes the findings relevant for researchers, designers, and policymakers interested in the practical side of digital health design.
The publication is timely because connected health technologies are becoming increasingly embedded in health care delivery and everyday care. Understanding both opportunities and barriers in their design — especially from real projects — helps ensure that these systems are usable, sustainable, and aligned with stakeholder needs.
We are pleased to see the workshop discussions evolve into a peer-reviewed publication, and we hope the paper is useful to others working on connected health design and implementation.
This week we spent two focused and inspiring days at Krusenberg Herrgård, just outside Uppsala, working together on the final steps of the AROA project, funded by AFA försälring. Krusenberg, with its calm surroundings and views over Lake Mälaren, offered an ideal setting for concentrated work, reflection, and discussion.
The environment clearly did its job. Several of us kept working well into the night, some until 01.00, others until 03.00, driven not by deadlines but by an overload of ideas, discussions, and theoretical connections that we simply did not want to interrupt.
The workshop focused on the last phase of AROA: synthesising empirical findings and theory into the project’s final theoretical framework. AROA explores how AI, automation, and robotics at work influence work engagement and socio-technical work dynamics. The project takes a human-centred and socio-technical perspective, aiming to develop a framework that can help identify opportunities for work engagement in AI-supported workplaces. Our discussions revolved around aligning concepts from work engagement research, sociotechnical systems theory, and empirical insights from multiple sectors into a coherent whole.
Participants in the workshop were Maria Normark, Jessica Lindblom, Andreas Bergqvist, and Åsa Cajander.
Alongside long work sessions, there was also time for shared fika, informal conversations, and moments of pause – important ingredients when ideas are being shaped and reshaped.
The Krusenberg days marked a milestone for AROA, and we now move forward with a clear sense that the pieces of the framework are coming together.
This blog post is written by Jana-Sophie Effert, PhD candidate at TU Dortmund University.
A month back home in Germany: time enough to let impressions settle, but not quite enough for them to fade. After three months with Uppsala University’s HTO Research Group, I’m now back here on the blog to reflect on what those weeks have meant for me and my PhD journey. Since everyone at home keeps asking me about my experiences anyway, it feels like the perfect opportunity to bundle and share them here.
First things first: What I miss: The calmness of Swedish everyday life, being surrounded by nature, and that special kind of adventure that comes with living in another country. Further of course: colleagues, cinnamon buns and the HCI environment.
What I’m happy to have back: Of course, there’s comfort in returning home: subsidized student lunch options (no more microwavable meal-prep experiments!), being back in teaching, reconnecting with friends and family: simply enjoying the convenience of familiar surroundings. Yet even here, traces of Sweden remain; small habits and ideas keep resurfacing during daily work.
What I learned (even if it’s really hard to grasp)
1) Networking Across Fields
I was fortunate enough to join several events during my stay – from the DOME meeting on digital medical records and e-health services to national conferences on equal opportunities and social innovation in health. These experiences taught me how valuable spontaneous connections can be: finding overlaps between projects, brainstorming across disciplines, staying up-to-date with neighboring research fields. Networking turned out not just as professional exchange but as genuine inspiration.
2) Teaching From New Perspectives
One highlight was giving two guest lectures within HCI courses: From human-centered to intersectional design, another on work systems – socio-technical aspects of (in)accessible technologies. Sharing insights from rehabilitation sciences while learning how students approach inclusion through an HCI lens was a helpful angle and reminded me how much I like interacting with students‘ perspectives.
3) Feedback and Insights for my PhD Project
My research focuses on technologies supporting people with disabilities in work systems and their transitions into employment. During my stay, I not only had the chance to get feedback on my concrete approach and findings, but I also had the chance for job shadowing at Daglig Verksamhet in Sala. Observing inclusive practices firsthand offered new comparative insights for my project. These experiences helped refine questions about participation and technology use within real work environments.
4) Local Academic Routines
Academic life at Uppsala University left its mark: I participated in regular seminars, open group discussions, collaborative meetings. One thought that stuck with me is seeing this PhD journey again through its original purpose: becoming a “critical thinker,” not just an expert within a narrow niche.
Looking Ahead
Three months were certainly a good enough time to fill my head with thoughts and ideas. Now comes the part where these insights need sorting and weaving into ongoing projects here at TU Dortmund. Some collaborations initiated at UU are already continuing:
Participation & Accessibility: Together we’re developing a scoping review exploring how people with cognitive accessibility needs experience their involvement in Human-Centered Design or Co-Design activities.
Sustainability & Accessibility: We’re exchanging perspectives on sustainability and accessibility as value-based features of software development.
One thing is certain: I’m eager to return someday to this wonderful Swedish town, both professionally and personally. To anyone considering spending time with the HTO group: do it! Looking forward to being back, continuing working together and eventually share some joint research results on this blog 😊
Last December, Sita Vriend was given the opportunity to visit Uppsala University through support from the Equal Opportunities Fund.
My research focuses on human-centered uncertainty visualization, an area concerned with how uncertainty, which is all around us, is communicated through visual representations. Common examples include weather forecasts that show the probability of rain or storm predictions that visualize the possible paths a storm might take. The goal of my work is to better understand how users perceive such visualizations and how they can be designed more effectively. Along the way, I have become something of a data and statistics enthusiast. I enjoy the process of exploring data and creating clear, compelling figures.
Hence, I got asked to collaborate with Åsa Cajander and Jonathan Källbäcker to analyse data collected as part of TARA project (The Impact of Automation, Robotization and AI on the Work Environment of Airport Ground Staff). While I am experienced in data analysis and visualization, I was less familiar with the specific application context. This made the collaboration particularly valuable, as it provided opportunities to discuss unexpected patterns and oddities in the data. Jonathan was able to contextualize these findings by drawing on insights from interviews conducted during earlier research.
Our collaboration is ongoing. Additional data will be collected, and the analysis is still in progress, laying the groundwork for continued joint research in the future.
Sita Vriend, M.Sc. Doctoral Researcher Visualization Research Center (VISUS) Weiskopf Group
Det jobbigaste i arbetsmiljön är väl egentligen när det är dåligt väder.
– Lastare på stor svensk flygplats.
Det finns vissa saker som kommer tillbaka årligen i svensk medial diskussion. Melodifestivalen i all ära, men framförallt återkommer diskussioner kring den eviga kampen mot snön och hur det kan komma sig att snön påverkar vår trafik så pass mycket som den gör i vårt land. Nu i början av nådens år 2026 manifesterades detta fenomen inte minst på landets flygplatser, inte minst på Arlanda, och inte minst på bagagehanteringen. Ena kanalen efter den andra rapporterar om kaoset [1,2] och opinionstexter skrivs för att peka på problemet [3].
Givet att mitt främsta forskningsprojekt har varit med fokus på just markarbete på flygplatser och hur tekniken påverkar deras arbete, och speciellt eftersom väderförhållanden har varit ett återkommande ämne i vårt projekt, vill jag nyansera bilden lite och ge mina topp 5 komplimenterande perspektiv till varför vädret kan ha påverkat denna gång (och kan komma att göra i framtiden). Det ska sägas att det här är inte ett exakt facit kring varför det blev så denna gång och att det inte är något en specifik person på Arlanda har sagt om just denna situation, utan mina bedömningar gällande vad som mycket väl kan ha påverkat.
Fundamental teknik blir långsammare. Bagaget lastas in i flygplanet med hjälp av så kallade lastband. På grund av hur de är konstruerade blir det segare i kyla, adderar stress och kan göra arbetet långsammare. Överlag hjälper dessa hjälpmedel mycket med arbetet och den fysiska arbetsmiljön. Det är mycket bättre att använda dem än att lasta från marken, så att inte ha det för att det blir svårare i snö är inte ett argument.
Jobba med skärmar är svårt i snöstorm. Många flygbolag kräver idag att bagage scannas innan det lastas. Säkerhet och möjligheten att underlätta att hitta bagage som ska plockas bort om någon inte dyker upp är återkommande argument för detta. Att använda skärmteknik i snö med allt krångel det kan komma med kan mycket väl bidra till extra försiktighetsåtgärder och behov att dubbelkolla att scanningen har genomförts på ett korrekt sätt.
Många roller ska samsas på liten yta. Mat, avlopp, tankning: alla roller har sina utmaningar med vädret. En tankare beskrev det en gång som att de skulle kunna kvalificera sig till curling VM givet hur mycket snö de behöver skotta för att få tag på brunnarna med bränsle. Snön försvårar för flera och kan påverka koordinationen mellan roller och smidigheten i processen som helhet.
Bagagevagnarna väger flera hundra kilo, speciellt med all skidutrustning och allt vad folk kan tänkas behöva ha med i sina vinterresor. Lägg till snö och behovet att justera dem för hand lite då och då. Tyngre, jobbigare, långsammare i snön.
I slutändan handlar allt om säkerhet, flygplatsernas modus operandi. Verksamheten kräver försiktighet överlag. Teknik som krånglar kan skapa osäkerhet för personal, resenärer och utrustning, speciellt i svåra väderförhållanden. Säkerheten blir därmed extra viktig.
En beskrivning av industrin jag gillar är att flygplatserna jobbar med ”minutlogistik” – och med vädret som det kan vara här i norr leder det till lager på lager av försvåringar – vilket påverkar hanteringen minut efter minut. Allt som allt adderar detta stress till system och människor, vilket kan leda till att aktioner tar längre tid.
När teknik utvecklas bör alltså inte kontexten (och vädret) glömmas bort och alltid vara i riskanalysen och kravspecifikationerna. Förseningar som vädret är med och bidrar till kan inte endast tillskrivas denna eviga boven i dramat ”den mänskliga faktorn”. Framför allt är bagagehantering en mycket mer komplex arbetsuppgift än vad man kan tro, och kräver långt mycket mer än endast en bagagevagn.
“The toughest part of the work environment is really when the weather is bad.”
– Ground handler at a major Swedish airport.
There are certain things that return annually in Swedish media discussions. Melodifestivalen by all means, but above all, the recurring debates about the eternal struggle against snow and how it’s possible that snow affects our traffic as much as it does in this country. Now, at the beginning of 2026, this phenomenon manifested itself at the nation’s airports, especially at Arlanda, particularly within baggage handling. One media channel after another reports on the chaos [1,2], and opinion pieces attempts to point out the root of the problem [3].
Given that my main research project has focused specifically on ground operations at airports and how technology affects their work, and especially since weather conditions have been a recurring topic in our project, I want to add some nuance and offer my top five complementary perspectives on why the weather may have caused issues this time (and may continue to do so in the future). It should be said that this is not an exact explanation of why things happened as they did in this particular case, nor is it something any specific person at Arlanda has said about the situation. Rather these are my assessments of what could very well have contributed.
Fundamental technology becomes slower. Baggage is loaded into the aircraft using so‑called belt loaders. Due to how they are constructed, they become sluggish in the cold, which adds stress, and can slow down the workflow. Overall, these tools greatly support the work and physical work environment. They are far better than loading straight from the ground, so not using them because they become more difficult in snow is not a viable argument.
Working with screens is difficult in a snowstorm. Many airlines now require baggage to be scanned before loading. Safety and the ability to locate baggage that needs to be removed if a passenger doesn’t show up are recurring reasons for this. Using screen‑based technology in snow – with all the complications that come with it – can easily lead to extra precautions and the need to double-check that the scanning has been done correctly.
Many roles have to share a small space. Catering, sewage, fueling – every role has its own challenges in bad weather. A refueler once described that they could probably qualify for the curling world championship given how much snow they have to clear just to reach the fuel pits. Snow complicates things for many roles and can impact coordination and overall workflow.
Baggage carts weigh several hundred kilos, especially with all the ski equipment and whatever else people need to bring on winter trips. Add snow, and the occasional need to manually adjust or realign the carts. Heavier, tougher, slower in the snow.
In the end, everything comes down to safety, the airport’s modus operandi. Operations require caution in general. Technology that malfunctions can create uncertainty for staff, passengers, and equipment, especially in harsh weather conditions. Safety therefore becomes even more critical.
One description of the industry that I like is that airports work with “minute logistics” – and with the kind of weather we get up here in the north, which leads to layer upon layer of complications, the process is affected minute by minute. All in all, this adds stress to both systems and people, which can make tasks take longer.
Therefore, when developing technology, context (and weather) must not be forgotten and should always be part of risk analyses and requirement specifications. Delays that the weather contributes to cannot be attributed solely to that constantly reoccurring villain “the human factor.” Above all, baggage handling is a far more complex task than one might think, requiring much more than just a baggage cart.
Under tre års tid har vi i TARA-projektet undersökt hur ny teknik påverkar markpersonalens arbetsmiljö på svenska flygplatser. Som en avslutning av projektet bjuder Uppsala Universitet och TYA in till en kostnadsfri heldag på Arlanda för chefer, skyddsombud och övriga anställda inom hela transportbranschen. Om du är intresserad finns en länk till anmälan här: Seminarium – Arbetsmiljön i digitaliseringens spår.
Inramningen för dagen är att fokusera på hur digitaliseringen kan hjälpa i stället för att stjälpa. Diskussionerna kommer att primärt handla AI och digitalisering i transportbranschen vad som händer när digitala system, AI-lösningar och automatisering rullar in i verksamheten. Vi kommer lyfta våra forskningsperspektiv kring hur man kan undvika att skapa nya risker och i stället använda digital teknik till att stärka arbetsmiljön.
Fyra fokusområden kommer att vara:
• Vad säger aktuell forskning om förändrade arbetsuppgifter, nya kompetenskrav och organisatoriska risker i digitaliseringens spår?
• Hur kan digital teknik användas för att stärka säkerhet och hållbarhet?
• Regeringens nya arbetsmiljöstrategi för 2026–2030.
• Resultat från TARA-projektet, med konkreta exempel från flygplatsmiljö som även är relevanta för andra delar av transportbranschen.
Professor Åsa Cajander kommer primärt hantera frågan om digitaliseringens konsekvenser för arbetsmiljö. Maria Normark, docent i människa-datorinteraktion kommer lyfta perspektivet om möjligheter för stärkt användarfokus i säkerhetskritiska miljöer som flygplatser. Slutligen kommer jag (Jonathan Källbäcker – doktorand i människa–datorinteraktion) prata om vad digitalisering och ny teknik innebär för risker och möjligheter för markpersonal på flygplatser, baserat på den data vi har samlat in under dessa tre år.
In our research group, we study the relationships and dynamics of Human, Technology, and Organisation (HTO) to create knowledge that supports sustainable development and utilization of ICT.
