SIGCHI FINLAND THESIS COMPETITION 2014

Winner:
Markus Jaakola (Tampere University of Technology): Quality Management of User-Generated Content in Participatory Journalism
The thesis is very wide, thorough, and carefully done, and approaches the topic from a multidisciplinary viewpoint. Jaakola has demonstrated both hard-working attitude as well as the ability to successfully manage a complex and wide thesis research project. In his work, Jaakola demonstrates also his skills to communicate both the theoretical frameworks and pragmatic findings to the reader.

Honourary mentions:
Kiia Kallio (Aalto University): Filtered. A Tool for Editing SVG Filters
Kallio’s thesis represents a more technology orientated work in the area of human-computer interaction. In her thesis, Kallio has demonstrated maturity, thoroughness and skills when investigating the topic and developing the tool for editing SVG filters. The goal to develop an open source tool is ambitious, and the thesis has potential to have impact on the hands-on work of web developers and designers, which makes the contribution valuable. The somewhat long timeline gives a personal touch to the thesis, and is used to provide maturity and wider perspective for the work.

Kristiina Nurmela (University of Jyväskylä): Julkisen hallinnon verkkosivujen saavutettavuuden tila 2000-luvulla (Accessibility of Web pages of the public administration in the 21st century)
In her work, Nurmela has focused on the accessibility of the web pages, and in the empirical part, carried out evaluation on a wide set of web pages of Finnish ministries. The work is well motivated and has a societal function, and it provides good background knowledge for designers and developers for the future implementations. Nurmela has conducted a thorough literature review on accessibility, taking into consideration different viewpoints to the topic. The work is carefully done and clearly articulated.