Rebekah Rousi

About Rebekah

Rebekah Rousi

From Canvas to the Mind


Rebekah Rousi is a postdoctoral researcher in Cognitive Science. Her doctoral dissertation, "From Cute to Content: user experience from a cognitive semiotic perspective" is about viewing user experience as a communicational system between user, designer and context. The dissertation draws on theories of mental representation, mental contents and consciousness. Rebekah's professional and research background is vast and varied. She trained as a visual artist, majoring in printmaking and drawing at Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. Then graduated with First Class Honours in 2005. Her research interests at that stage focused on post-colonial identity politics in Australia. After graduation she worked as an exhibiting artist (print and drawing), performance artist, as well as a gallery and events coordination assistant. She undertook a Masters of Arts, Nordic Arts and Cultural Studies (Digital Culture major) at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Upon graduation in 2007 she worked as a project planner for the Masters Program in Digital Culture, in addition to being a part-time lecturer at the University of Jyväskylä, the Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences (JAMK), and the College of Western Finland.

Since April 2009 Rebekah has been working as a human-technology interaction researcher specialising in affective design, user experience, in addition to testing and developing methods for user experience evaluation which emphasis the validity of qualitative data. In particular, Rebekah's work is concerned with analysing qualitative data for its ability to reveal mental information and basic hierarchies in which it is represented. This research area also relates to the fields of design semantics, cognitive semantics and to some extent empathy. Other areas of interest are: embodied interactions and experience - architecture, alternative user interfaces, human-robot interaction and augmented reality.p>

 

Publications

Rousi, R. (2013, April). An Uplifting Experience – adopting ethnography to study elevator user experience. Ethnomining Edition and the combination of qualitative and quantitative data. Ethnography Matters.

Leikas, J., Saariluoma, P., Rousi, R., Kuisma, E. & Vilpponen, H. (2012). Life-Based Design Against Loneliness Among Older People. Journal of Community Informatics 8 (1).

Rousi, R., Leikas, J., Saariluoma, P., & Ylikauppila, M. (2011). Life-Based Design as an Inclusive Tool for Managing Microinnovations. Wissensmanagement 2011, 214-223.

Oulasvirta, A. Saariluoma, P., Rousi, R. & Leikas, J. (2011, September 27). Old Wine in New Bottles and New Wine in Old Bottles. UX Magazine. Article 732.

Lamminen, J., Rousi, R. & Saariluoma, P. (2011). Interaction Deconstruction Method for Usability Requirements Engineering. In Ed. Katherine Blashki. International Association for Development of the Information Society. ISBN 978-972-8939-52-6, 161-168.

Rousi, R. & Saariluoma, P. (2011, May 7th). Let the Contents Lead the Way - formulating DX from the information contents of users's mental representations. Presented at the Designer Experience (DX) Workshop, CHI 2011 Conference, May 7th-12th, 2011. Vancouver, Canada.

Rousi, R. & Saariluoma, P. (June 2011). Investigating mental contents of elevator design user experience through ethnographic inquiry. Presented at the 18th International Product Development Management Conference - innovate through design, EIASM, June 5th-7th, 2011, Delft, the Netherlands.

Leikas, J., Ylikauppila, M., Jokinen, J., Rousi, R. & Saariluoma, P. (2011). Understanding social media acceptance and use in the context of technology generations and life-based design.

Rousi, R., Saariluoma, P. & Leikas, J. (2011). Unpacking the Contents - A Conceptual Model for Understanding User Experience in User Psychology. In Proceedings of The 4th International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions ACHI2011, February 23-28, 2011, Gosier, Guadeloupe, France, 28-34. ISBN: 978-1-61208-003-1.

Rousi, R., Saariluoma, P., Leikas, J. & Ylikauppila, M. (2011). Life-Based Design as an Inclusive Tool for Managing Microinnovations. In the Proceedings of the 6th Conference on Professional Knowledge Management - from knowledge to action, February 21st-23rd, 2011, Innsbruck, Austria, 204-214. ISBN 978-3-88579-276 ISSN 1617-5468.

Rousi, R., Saariluoma, P. & Leikas, J. (2010). Mental Contents in User Experience. In Qi Luo (Ed.), Proceedings of MSE2010 V.II 2010 International conference on Management and Engineering, October 17-18, 2010, Wuhan, China. Hong Kong: ETP Engineering Press, 204-06.

Rousi, R. (2010). A Cultural Approach to Human-Centered Design - Measuring User Perceptions of Attractiveness in Smartphone Icons. In proceedings of Young Investigators' Forum on Culture Technology - Engaging Culture and Technology, KAIST, South Korea.

Rousi, R. (2010). “Cute” displays: Developing an Emotional Bond with Your Mobile Interface. After Mobile Media. Proceedings of Digital Arts and Culture Conference, 2009. University of California, Irvine.

Rousi, R. (2010). Creating a national brand of 'girl' - comparing Marimekko's Mari Girl with Helen Gurley Brown's Single Girl during the 1960s and 70s. Gender, Nation, Narration. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä.

Rousi, R. (2009). Research with affection - user psychology research from an artistic perspective. In the proceedings of The Art of Research Conference. Helsinki University of Art and Design, Finland.

 

Reports

Rousi, R. (2011, January). Kone Case Australia – Theseus II Project Report.

Rousi, R. (2010, December). Vaisala Report – Theseus II Project Australia Case.

Rousi, R. (2010, August). Nokia Activity Planner Case Report – Theseus II Project Student Cases.

Rousi, R., Silvennoinen, M. & Niskanen, M. (2010, February). Focus Group Report - PPR# 4 ITEA2 Easy Interactions. An enhanced approach for human-system interactions.

Rousi, R. (2010, January). Mobile Interface Icon Study – three experiments in determining attractiveness.

Rousi, R., Kuuva, S. & Saariluoma, P. (2009, December). Iittala Case Report 2008-2009. 

 

Other Publications

Rousi, R. (2009). New House - there's two sides to every wall. 75th Anniversary University Art Collection Handbook. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä Museum.

Rousi, R. (2009, February 12). Australia of the North. Helsinki Times. Available at: http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/index.php/expat-view/5248-the-australia-of-the-north.

Rousi, R. (2009, January). International competitiveness - bringing Finnish education to the world of the world to Finnish education?. KeVer-verkkolehti. 8(1). Available at: http://ojs.seamk.fi/index.php/kever/article/view/390/452 .

Rousi, R., Burns, E. & Katainen, I. (2008). Coming Together - Multiculturalism in the Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences Degree Programme of Nursing. Culture, Family Health Promotion and Well-Being. School of Health and Social Studies. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences.

Rousi, R & Lehtonen, K (2007, Eds.) Work – Changing Faces, Photography Commissions 2006/2007. Lievestuore: ER-Paino Oy.

Rousi, R (2007, June). “Are you in a game?”. Finnish Culture in English. Free! Magazine. Accessed online: http://www.freemagazine.fi/content/view/338/147/.

Rousi, R (2007, June). “Us and Them”. Finnish Culture in English. Free! Magazine. Accessed online: http://www.freemagazine.fi/content/view/271/214/..

Rousi, R (2007, May). Marimekko: Gender and Nation through Text and Image. Pro-Gradu Thesis. University of Jyväskylä. Finland.

Rousi, R (2006). “Arrangement of the ‘Real’ – from Photoshop to camera”. Shifts – archives in dialogue and new identities in documentarism. Lievestuore: ER-Paino Oy. pp. 128-130.

Rousi, R (2006, Spring). “A postcolonial kind of structuralism: a whole lotta talk”. Art’ishake. (2). pp13-14. Accessed online: http://www.worldurbanfestival.com/pdf/Artishake.pdf.

Rousi, R (2004). Picturing a Postcolonial Australia: breaking the ‘White’ norm in contemporary creative practice, Mount Lawley: Edith Cowan University.