Per-Olof Hedvall

Welcome!

I am the director of research at Certec. My own research deals with accessibility, primarily for families that have children with extensive disabilities.

I also work as the research coordinator at the Furuboda Association: www.furuboda.se

Current projects

SID – Sensuousness, Interaction and Participation. I manage this project, which deals with interactive, multisensory experience rooms. Visit the project's website: sid.desiign.org.

DIKO – The Digital Contact Book project is developing a platform for digital diaries that can be used as contact books for children with developmental disabilities and their families, friends and teachers. I am responsible for the technical aspects of the project. Visit the project's website: www.diko.nu.

Supervision

I currently supervise the following PhD students:

Henrik Svarrer Larsen (principal supervisor on a regular basis)
Eva Flodin (principal supervisor on a regular basis)
Linnéa Eklöf (principal supervisor on a regular basis)
Delphine Szymczak (assistant supervisor)

The Activity Diamond – Modeling an Enhanced Accessibility

I defended my PhD thesis on 4 December 2009: The Activity Diamond – Modeling an Enhanced Accessibility. The faculty examiner was Prof. Viktor Kaptelinin, Informatik, Umeå University. Prof. Bodil Jönsson at Certec was my principal supervisor and Prof. Eva Björck-Åkesson from Jönköping University was my assistant supervisor. Read more about the thesis at The Activity Diamond. It can also be downloaded as a PDF: The Activity Diamond – Modeling an Enhanced Accessibility (4.6 Mb)

Situated Design for All – In praise of improvisation

The title of my licentiate thesis is Situated Design för Alla – In praise of improvisation. I defended it on 17 October 2007. The thesis is only available in Swedish, but an English summary can be found at http://www.english.certec.lth.se/doc/situateddesignforall/index.html. 

Augmentative and alternative communication

I am very interested in new interactive communication media and new forms of augmentative and alternative communication (ACC) that enable the interaction between children with extensive disabilities and their families. I have been the chair of ISAAC Sweden. ISAAC is the International Society for Augmentative & Alternative Communication. I am currently a member of ISAAC's international council. More information on ISAAC is available at www.isaac-sverige.se and http://www.isaac-online.org/.

Computer games and accessibility

I have worked extensively on how commercial computer games can be adapted so that people with disabilities can play them. From 2002-2004 I managed the award-winning Interagera Project, which included the Gamer's Lair.  

Furuboda Association

I am also employed by the Furuboda Association, a nonprofit organization with an extensive programme of activities for people with and without disabilities. Furuboda often works in project format and has a separate project division, Furuboda Competence Centre, of which I was the director until 2006 when I started at Certec.

 

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