Doctoral Theses / Doktorsavhandlingar Institutionen för tillämpad informationsteknologi

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Disruptive technology : effects of technology regulation on democracy
(2006) Klang, Mathias
This work develops the thesis that there is a strong relationship between the regulation of disruptive technology and the Internet-based participatory democracy. In other words, attempts to regulate disruptive technology have an impact upon the citizen’s participation in democracy. This work will show what this relationship is and its effects on democratic participation. Taking its starting point from the recent theoretical developments in regulation, disruptive technology and role of ICT in participatory democracy, this work is the application of theoretical discussions on the field of the Internet-based participatory democracy. These theoretical discussions are used in the empirical exploration of six areas: virus writing and dissemination, civil disobedience in online environments, privacy and the role of spyware, the re-interpretation of property in online environments, software as infrastructure and finally state censorship of online information. The purpose of these studies is to explore the effects of these social and technical innovations upon the core democratic values of Participation, Communication, Integrity, Property, Access and Autonomy. The overall research question for this thesis is therefore: How do attempts to regulate disruptive technology affect Internetbased participatory democracy? The specific contribution of this thesis is the development of extended understanding of the way in which we regulate disruptive technology. This understanding helps us to better regulate that which is new and threatens that which is established. Additionally, the extended understanding in this field can then be applied to all domains where regulation of technology may occur. This thesis contributes towards a richer understanding in the research areas of e-democracy, technology regulation and disruptive technology.
Heterogeneous IT Innovation. Developing Industrial Architectural Knowledge
(2007) Andersson, Magnus
Multiple information technologies are converging. Crucial to organizations’ relentless struggle to remain competitive, IT innovation processes must now increasingly take into consideration a multitude of stationary, mobile, and even embedded information technologies and their associated use contexts. In assembling such ubiquitous computing environments, multiple organizations with diverging interests and capabilities are involved. Indeed, heterogeneous component technologies are frequently associated with independent markets lacking a dominant actor knowledgeable about more than fragments of the combined capabilities present. A resulting lack of architectural knowledge poses a challenge to organizations attempting to assemble innovative computing environments spanning these boundaries. In this thesis, heterogeneous IT innovation processes are conceptualized as dependent on dispersed component technologies and associated competencies bound together by boundary-spanning architectural knowledge. This perspective is formalized as a research model assessed over a five-year action research project in the Swedish transport industry. The research project involved an industry network of independent technology vendors and user organizations experiencing a mobile-stationary divide in attempts to assemble ubiquitous computing environments. Seeking to understand the role and nature of architectural knowledge in heterogeneous IT innovation processes this thesis contributes implications for both research and strategy. First, architectural knowledge in heterogeneous IT innovation is found to rely on technology capability awareness, use context sensitivity, and business model understanding. However, in order to be successfully enacted in practice, the emergence of boundary-spanning competence is crucial. It is imperative to collectively define mutual boundaries between components of an architecture with respect to technology capabilities, use contexts, and business models. Through this process, architectural knowledge emerges as actors gain an increased capability to appreciate the conditions present in other components. This creates a crucial foundation for boundary spanning innovation. However, such boundary definitions must reflect a viable common denominator. Any resulting formalized architecture should not pose an immediate threat to perceived core markets of any involved component IT base. The need for open boundaryspanning component capabilities and requirements of innovation leeway for individual firms within their core IT base pose a balancing challenge. This can be achieved by black-boxing disputed technology capabilities of the component IT bases, acknowledging the innovation prerogative of organizations within that particular component market.
Vehicle Services
(2009-08-31T14:39:10Z) Kuschel, Jonas
This thesis contributes to our understanding of the development and diffusion of vehicle services, and to how information technology interacts with forms of organization and business models to undermine or support the development of vehicle services. The overall research question asked in the thesis is: what are the technical, business and organizational prerequisites for the development and diffusion of a rich variety of vehicle services? The development and diffusion of vehicle services have been empirically investigated by ethnographic field studies, prototype software development and case studies as part of a collaborative practice research approach involving the Volvo Group. Based on ethnographic field studies of current vehicle repair service work, analytical patterns were identified to better understand the core foundation of vehicle services. In the prototype development, a platform was developed, which allowed exploring the technical prerequisites for the development of vehicle services. Two case studies examined, first, the development of IT support for vehicle services and, secondly, the organization of vehicle service development. The results from all these collaborative practice research activities suggest that the vehicle industry needs to revise its conception of vehicle services as services extending product features in favor of vehicle services enriching the use of the vehicle. Thus, the thesis argues that the lack of vehicle services, rather than being just a question of technical nature, can only be remedied by a change of perspective from products to services, which in turn influences the choice of technology, forms of organization and underlying business models. Vehicle services are here conceptualized as services interacting across the ecosystem of vehicle stakeholders to enrich the customer’s use of the vehicle. Hence, to be really useful, vehicle services must roam organizational and technical boundaries and cannot be treated as properties of the vehicle. This requires vehicle manufacturers to adopt appropriate forms of technology and organization. The concept of information infrastructure is shown to be appropriate since it allows separating services from shared infrastructural resources. Such a separation also allows opening up the development of vehicle services to other service providers. Open innovation is described as a suitable form of opening up the innovation and development of vehicle services to a larger group of service providers. The thesis argues that these three prerequisites – business model, technology and organization – have to closely interact to facilitate the development and diffusion of a rich variety of vehicle services. The general contribution of the thesis is to show how product oriented industries have to revise their proprietary mindset in favor of an open attitude to successfully engage in the development of services.
Digital Innovation in the Value Networks of Newspapers
(2009-09-04T10:56:23Z) Åkesson, Maria
After decades of digital developments, we are now entering a truly digital era. Digital information and communication technology has become a naturally embedded part of the designed environment we live in. Most parts of life are today pervaded by digital products and services. Evidence of such immersion can be noted in, for instance, media consumption. This development is gradually shaping and cultivating a media environment that is ubiquitous. Such ubiquity is manifested in media’s constant presence and the changes in media consumption in the purview of digital innovation. Indeed, digital innovation is not only a shift in technology. It alters existing value networks and calls for rethinking existing value perceptions. While this disruptive change driven by digitization can be found in many industries, this thesis focuses on its impact on value networks in the newspaper industry. The digitization of newspapers started with the introduction of the internet in the 90´s and soon emerged into new media innovations. While these new media innovations have not replaced existing media, they have been disruptive to newspaper value networks. Recently, the emergence of yet another digital innovation is specifically interesting when studying changes to value networks of the newspaper industry: the e-paper. This innovation (a screen technology very close to print on paper) exhibits inherent values that make future replacement of print on paper a possibility. It is therefore regarded as a very promising technology in the newspaper industry. This thesis can be positioned at the intersection of the friction between forces to embark on a new media trajectory and forces to hang on to the established structures and control. The research question addressed in this thesis is: How are value networks of newspapers influenced by digital innovation? Addressing the research question, a multi method approach was adopted to gain a broad understanding of how digital innovation influences value networks of newspapers. Drawing on digital innovation literature, the thesis presents a theoretical perspective with which to understand how digital innovation
A professional community goes online - a study of an online learning community in general medicine
(2010-05-12T11:27:22Z) Carlén, Urban
The aim of the study is to investigate how an e-mailing list, organised and managed by a Swedish professional association of general medicine, functions as an online learning ommunity (OLC). In a contemporary networked society, people participate online in order to share knowledge and experiences about shared interests. Swedish professional and occupational associations face crucial challenges when building OLCs to support their members as they lack knowledge about maintaining online activities and professional networks that last longer than just a month. The longitudinal empirical material based on postings sent for a period of seven years has been collected from the web archive supporting the e-mailing list. The research questions examine the text-based material focusing on the characteristics of the articipants, what they do online, and what they talk about. The analysis of the emographic statistics of participation, content analyses, and social network analyses take their departure in sociocultural theories and concepts of communities of practice. The findings indicate that e-mailing lists have the potential to enhance participation in online professional communities due to the articipants’ strict focus on the specialist subject when contributing online. The online activities show that the OLC is more than just an exchange of e-mail, sent back and forth among a group of participants. The OLC becomes an arena for the formation of professional identities that holds the general practice all together. Even if the number of subscribers increases over the years it does not automatically raise the number of contributing participants. The thesis suggests that OLCs can be built upon existing synchronous tools which are embedded in professionals’ daily work. Design implications derived from this thesis challenge professional and occupational associations to rethink strategies for organising continual professional development in terms of existing nfrastructures for participation.
Positive Persuasion - Designing enjoyable energy feedback experiences in the home
(2010-05-21T11:13:23Z) Gustafsson, Anton
The world currently faces huge challenges in terms of our excessive use of energy. Energy conservation – a topic that has been on the agenda since the energy crisis in the 1970s – has for this reason once again become a very central issue in our society. In this thesis, we explore how interface design can be employed to address the increasing energy use in our homes. By creating a number of mobile phone services and computer augmented artifacts, we try to provide both fun and interesting ways to engage with concrete energy consumption issues and problems in a domestic everyday context. While design of technology in the home seeks to conceal our everyday use of energy, we here look at how we can reveal it. Consequently, in this thesis we ask how energy use can be visualized, and how playful and social design features can be employed to generate interest and make energy more noticeable in our lives. This thesis relates mainly to the fields of persuasive technology and sustainable HCI, but also makes use of theoretical constructs and practical examples from ubiquitous computing and serious-games research. We argue that when designing persuasive technology, a key thing to consider is its use context and the experiences it provides to its users. Like any other product, a persuasive-technology artifact or service must often be bought or downloaded. But persuasive technology must also be used in order to be effective. For this reason, it needs to offer its user something that can compete with other activities in its use context. The starting point of our investigation has therefore not only been how to change people’s attitudes and behaviors, but also how the artifacts and services created to this end can offer meaningful and engaging experiences that fit into a home context. Since persuasive technology arguments always will be judged based on, among other things, the message and the ethics they convey, we argue that they are often limited to a context where people already have a positive attitude towards the subject. Through what we refer to as a positive persuasion strategy we accordingly try to provide people, who on some level already are either curious or concerned about their energy habits, with fun and interesting means to explore their energy consumption. By combining concepts from both ubiquitous computing and so-called serious games, we specifically address how a persuasive-technology argument can offer a rewarding experience and how the different parts of this offering can be integrated, but also how the offering itself can be integrated into the home. By utilizing the rich complexity surrounding electric appliances and their use of energy as well as the social context around them as a design resource, we illustrate how interacting with our energy use can be made intrinsically fun and enjoyable. Based on the findings from our research we argue that the role of feedback on energy use often is misunderstood. While existing energy feedback solutions focus on conveying accurate information in terms of kilowatts and cost, we argue that this problem needs to be addressed as a question of stimulating attention rather than of providing information. Consequently, energy feedback designs should focus on how feedback cues remind us of and reframe our energy use. This involves a focus on the spatial, temporal, and esthetic aspects of the feedback. We also argue that the primary function of the information conveyed by these energy feedback cues is to motivate rather than to inform. Rather than being simple and abstract, the information will therefore benefit from being detailed, expressive, and complex. Rather than being neutral and objective, it will also benefit from being conspicuous and challenging in its form.
Developing child protection strategies: A Critical Study of Offenders’ Use of Information Technology for the Sexual Exploitation of Children
(2010-11-30) Eneman, Marie
Values in Play – Interactional Life with the Sims
(2011-02-23) Peterson, Louise
This study arises from pedagogical discussion about learning potential with computer games – more precisely, that one game genre called open-ended (sandbox) games can make players explore the game content in such a way that they learn about a specific content or phenomenon while playing. These arguments are strong in the constructionist tradition but are seldom backed up by empirical results. This study scrutinizes the social activity of game play with OESG. Video recordings of 19 play sessions in home environments generated the empirical data. The study comprises 39 players in groups of two or three, aged 10 to 14, as they were playing The Sims or The Sims 2 for one hour. The theoretical tools in the analysis were assembled within a sociocultural perspective on learning and communication, and also by using Vygotsky’s ideas on fantasy and creativity and Goffman’s ideas on social interaction. Drawing from analyses of the video recorded play activities, this study gives an account of how meaning and values are negotiated during actual game play. Whereas previous research indicates that this particular game genre might hold progressive potential, insofar as it challenges the players’ prevailing values and norms, this empirical study brings forth a counterargument by showing how the “freedom” in the computer game assists instead in reproducing prevailing values and norms. This is because the players proved to be using their sociocultural experiences – what they already know – as a resource in their interactions. This suggests that the educational potential of games might not be in exploring, but rather in the fact that rule-based activities make participants orientate themselves to specific topics. Hence, open-ended exploration within immersive game worlds might not be an appropriate way to challenge young people’s preconceptions and stereotypes. These findings suggest that if a concept of challenged stereotypes is desired in video games, the design must present more of a contest to prevailing norms, accentuating alternative subject positions.
Evaluating as designing. Towards a Balanced IT investements Approach
(2011-02-25) Frisk, Jane Elisabeth
The evaluation of information technology (IT) investments continues to present challenges to many organizations. While the emergence of new technologies complicates this activity, business value from IT typically resides with both tangible and intangible aspects. Managers today rely still on economic and financial methods when evaluating IT investments. In doing so, they tend to fail to understand how new IT systems affect the organization and its different stakeholders in ways that can have indirect yet significant impact on business performance. IS literature suggests therefore that interpretative evaluation approaches have to be enacted as to complement the traditional economic and financial ones. Such approaches view value as pluralistic and multifaceted, and evaluation is seen as a collaborative endeavor that involves multiple stakeholders. However, despite calls for integrative IS evaluation approaches, scant attention has been paid to innovative ways to combine the economic and interpretative perspectives. Addressing this knowledge gap, this thesis proposes ‘Evaluating as Designing’ (EaD) as a Meta IS evaluation approach. At the heart of EaD is the idea that by adopting a design attitude managers are able to balance these different perspectives. It suggests that managers must balance decision-making and sense-making to be able to tailor the evaluation activity to the specifics of the organizational context. To assess its effectiveness, EaD was applied through a collaborative practice research effort involving three public organizations. Building on the findings from this study, the thesis theorizes on the nature and role of IS evaluation in contemporary organizations. It also concludes with implications for research and practice.
Instructional technologies in science education: Student´s scientific reasoning in collaborative classroom activities
(2012-03-08) Karlsson, Göran
This study originates from an interest in how students interpret scientific con-cepts demonstrated with animated instructional technologies. Currently, science education makes use of diverse kinds of instructional methods. For the ad-vancement of instruction, new technologies have continuously been employed. Such new instructional technologies have always been accompanied with expec-tations that they should reform teaching. The availability of IT in schools and the selection of animated displays for instructional purposes provide new op-portunities for education. This thesis accounts for three empirical studies of students’ collaborative work with instructional technologies. For the purpose of studying students’ scientific reasoning, two kinds of animated instructional technologies were designed. The three studies focused on designing and exploring the whole educational intervention and are located in the area of design-based research. They provide detailed analyses of secondary school students’ collaboration on an assignment of giving a joint written account of the instructed concept. Analytically, this is done within a socio-cultural framework that uses interaction analysis inspired by ideas from conversation analysis and ethnomethodology. Study I and Study II report observations from instructional technologies that deal with the flow of materials in the carbon cycle. The two studies were connected, as the outcomes from the first study informed the educational framing of the second study. Study III reports findings from a sub-study of a design experiment where students worked in a virtual laboratory to learn about the solubility of gas in water. The results from the studies show that students’ reasoning was influenced by several aspects, such as the characteristics of the animated display, language use, school cultural norms, the formulation of the assignment and the students’ pre-knowledge. The analyses also evinced that the students’ interpretation of a demonstrated concept often diverted from a canonical scientific one, which warns against assuming that the collaborative meaning-making of animated instructional technologies automatically leads to a creation of the desired scientific concept. These findings emphasise that when designing and applying animated instructional technologies in education, one has to consider a wider context where assignment formulation, teacher guidance, school culture and semiotic processes influence how students approach and frame their assignment.
Playing for Togetherness - Designing for Interaction Rituals through Gaming
(2012-04-11) Bergström, Karl
can design facilitate togetherness through games? Seeing the outcomes of a successful interaction ritual – positive emotional energy and a sense of group solidarity – as the main components of the togetherness of games, this thesis seeks to shed light on how design can improve the use of games as vehicles of interaction. The thesis combines six different articles on games, gaming and gamers; the articles illuminate the different ingredients of the interaction ritual afforded by playing games and covers digital-, board- and tabletop role-playing games. The methods used are artefact analysis, observation and reflexive interviewing. The two articles on games; Exploring Aesthetic Ideals of Gameplay and Exploring Aesthetical Gameplay Design Patterns – Camaraderie in Four Games focus on gameplay aesthetics and present a way of looking at the underlying game-mechanical foundations of gameplay aesthetics – the experiential aspect of the meeting between the player and the rules. The former introduces the concept of aesthetic gameplay ideals and the latter explores this further through the use of design patterns. The two articles on gaming; Undercurrents – A Computer-based Gameplay Tool to Support Tabletop Role-playing and Framing Storytelling with Games look at tools to support gameplay and provide a concrete example of how superfluous work during play can be reduced, leaving more time and energy to the core activity. The former is a description of the produced prototype and its design process; the latter expands upon earlier research and outlines some additional theoretical quandaries when supporting complex storytelling activities. The two articles on gamers; The Implicit Rules of Board Games – On the particulars of the lusory agreement and Creativity Rules – How rules impact player creativity in three tabletop role-playing games focus on the rules and the gamer, and delve into the complex social structures surrounding the play of games, as well as how communication on different attitudes when it comes to rules are important to create congruent gaming groups. The former looks at board games and the latter at the practise of tabletop role-playing, both placing emphasis upon the fact that the printed rules of a game artefact only constitute part of the gaming agreement. Together with a research summary outlining how gaming can be viewed as an interaction ritual from a design perspective, this work also aims at shortening the divide between gamer and designer, providing both with frameworks for communicating on interaction with games.
Reproducing Traditional Discourses of Teaching and Learning Mathematics: Studies of Mathematics and ICT in Teaching and Teacher Education
(2012-04-16) Player-Koro, Catarina
This thesis is primarily concerned with the effects of education for future teachers in the context of the Swedish teacher training (Government Bill 1999/2000:135 2000). It belongs to a theoretical tradition in which the education system is viewed as a key factor in cultural production and reproduction in educational practices through symbolic control (Apple 2009; Ball 2006; Bernstein 2000, 2003). Symbolic control defines how forms of social interaction affect what is possible to think, say and do in different situations. The thesis is focused specifically on student mathematics teachers learning to become teachers of mathematics. It has a particular focus on the materials used in this, the meanings given to these materials and the identities produced through the possible embodiment of these meanings. The use of different educational technologies, including in particular ICT, has been of special interest. It aims therefore to understand both how mathematical discourses are produced and reproduced in teacher education and how this colours student teachers’ views on mathematics and their professional identity (Bernstein 2000, 2003; Valero 2007). The main outcomes of my thesis are that through the way that mathematics is taught and learned, mathematics teacher education in practice reproduces traditional ways of teaching and learning. This in that mathematics instruction is built around a ritualized practice based on the ability to solve exercises related to an examined-textbook-based content. ICT use in this context is not transformative. Rather it seems as if teaching and learning with digital technology operate as a relay in the reproduction of traditional forms of education practice. This is contrary to the intentions to renew and revitalise mathematics education and the thesis thus suggests that there is a need to scrutinize the way new technology is formulated in official discourses and appropriated in educational work. Two other things are also noteworthy in the thesis findings. The first is an increased emphasis on formal subject content through recent policy developments. This re-emphasis reaffirms the value of authoritative subject studies content as the central and most important component in the professional knowledge base. On the basis of the finding from the thesis the logic of the reform may be questioned. Also important is the ICT discourse that is constituted in wider society by selected agents. In this discourse digital technology often in many ways defines (post)modern society and the position it and education have as a driving force toward economic competitiveness. An alternative, more reflexive and critical approach where questions about technology uses in education are emphasized is suggested as necessary.
Kunskapsintegrering med informationssystem i professionsorienterade praktiker
(2012-06-01) Svensson, Ann
Den här avhandlingen utgår ifrån ett professionsorienterat perspektiv på användning av informationssystem. Informationssystem för kunskapsintegrering i professionsorienterade arbetspraktiker innebär en dynamik för styrning och organisation där den professionsorienterade arbetspraktiken och informationssystem kan utvecklas tillsammans. Avhandlingen bygger på studier av två olika professionsorienterade arbetspraktiker, flygplansunderhåll och sjukvård, som båda kan karaktäriseras som tids- och livskritiska. De två professionsorienterade arbetspraktikerna kan härledas till två olika professionstyper. De fyra forskningsfrågorna i denna avhandling är: Vilken betydelse har egenskaper för T- respektive L-professioner för användning av informationssystem? Vilka generella utmaningar kan härledas ur professioners användning av informationssystem? Vilken betydelse har ledning och organisation av T- respektive L-professioner för användning av informationssystem? Hur kan användning av informationssystem organiseras för att möjliggöra kunskapsintegrering i professionsorienterade praktiker? Två fallstudier med etnografiska inslag har genomförts där två olika professionstyper utgör två definierade fall. Inledningsvis var dessa studier av en induktiv och explorativ karaktär, för att sedan bli mer förklarande och i slutskedet också något normerande. Den ena studien gjordes inom flygplansunderhållet vid det svenska flygvapnet, F7 i samverkan med Volvo Aero Corporation. Den andra studien har gjorts inom akutsjukvåren i NU-sjukvården, Västra Götaland. Bidraget i avhandlingen avser att visa att professioners egenskaper har betydelse för tillit, meningsskapande och engagemang både för, och i, användning av informationssystem. Avhandlingen visar behovet av att se strukturer mellan professioner och ledning som avgörande för kunskapsintegrering med informationssystem, där ett nytt integrerat ledarskap föreslås. Detta nya integrerade ledarskap är viktigt för att styra kunskaps¬integrering. Dessutom föreslår avhandlingen en ny ansats för kunskaps-integrering för att överbrygga organiska begränsningar och hinder. Denna ansats kallas uppgörelser. Uppgörelser i professionsorienterade arbetspraktiker är viktiga för att kunna utveckla befintlig och kommande användning av informationssystem samt att integrera informationssystem i det komplexa arbetet så att det kan utföras på ett effektivt sätt med hög kvalitet.
Creating and Assessing Multimodal Texts. Negations at the Boundary
(2014-04-09) Godhe, Anna-Lena
Digital technologies are becoming increasingly common in educational settings. The availability of such tools facilitates the creation of multimodal texts in which several kinds of expression are combined. In this thesis, the activities of creating and assessing multimodal texts in the subject of Swedish at upper secondary school level are analysed in order to illuminate how these activities relate to established practices of creating and assessing texts in educational settings. When the tools that the students work with, as well as the outcome of their activities are altered, the meaning of these altered activities in the educational setting needs to be negotiated. Encounters between new ways of working and educational environments require modification and appropriation of both the technologiesand the educational settings. Literacy and assessment are central concepts in this thesis. Spoken and written words have been central in conventional perceptions of the concept of literacy. However, as the communicational landscape has changed, there is a need to broaden this concept. Likewise, the necessity to broaden the concept of assessment has been discussed. When literacy and assessment are regarded as situated, the settings in which they occur have to be considered, because the concepts both affect and are affected by the environment. The aim of this thesis is to illuminate the relationship between technology, literacy and the educational setting by exploring the activities of creating and assessing multimodal texts. The empirical foundation of the thesis comprises four articles, in which the empirical material has been analysed to answer questions of how the multimodal texts are created and assessed. The empirical material has been collected in an iterative research process in which classroom interactions and interviews with students have been video and audio recorded. The theoretical framework of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) has been utilized in the analysis, focusing on how the components of activity systems affect and constitute each other. Tensions and contradictions in and between the different components, as well as between different activity systems, may lead to transformations. By studying these tensions and contradictions, insights can be gained into what enables and constrains transformations. The analyses show that it is mainly the spoken word that is negotiated and assessed in the multimodal texts. This mirrors conventional conceptions of the kinds of expressions that are regarded as valuable in language education. In the subject of Swedish, there is a hierarchy in the subject culture where the spoken and written words are regarded as primary in meaning making. Other kinds of expressions are largely overlooked when the multimodal texts are assessed. Thereby, the multimodal texts may reinforce the primacy of the written and spoken language in educational settings, instead of contributing to the evaluation and incorporation of different ways of expressing meaning in language classrooms.
Narrativer i förändringsarbete – Från projekt till Athenas plan
(2014-09-24) Bolin, Maria
Planned changes occur constantly in organizations. Most of these change management projects fail to reach decided goals and have limited impact within the organization. An important prerequisite for anchoring changes is to get people motivated, engaged and to create understanding of the change process. Today we use a number of rational and instrumental methods for change management, which in many cases do not succeed to create the desired commitment to change. Both from a theoretical and a practical perspective, there is therefore a need to investigate whether a more metaphorical and formative approach in the form of a narrative perspective can increase the possibility of success of change projects and anchoring them. In this thesis a narrative approach to change management is investigated. The research question is ”How can we use narratives to engage, motivate and anchor change among employees in organizations?” The thesis describes three action research studies in which narratives have been investigated. The first study deals with a management team in a brass orchestra. The second study deals with a large business and IT project in a multinational automotive company. The third study is about a city office that is about to develop and establish a 24-7 agency on the web. Two different approaches have been tried in the studies. The first is to use narratives as a way to create creativity in their change process. The second is to drive and transform the change management project in the form of a story. The studies show that the narrative approach has had a positive impact on the meaning making process in the groups that was engaged in the change process. There has also been a transformation in the groups, i.e. they have been able to transfer the traditional communication change plan to a narrative context and thus developed a new approach for its change. A result from the three studies is also a practical-oriented change method based on a formative narrative perspective.
1:1 i klassrummet – analyser av en pedagogisk praktik i förändring
(2015-02-06) Tallvid, Martin
I denna avhandling analyseras resultaten från två utvärderingsprojekt av 1:1-införande som genomförts på två högstadieskolor (2007-2011) och fyra gymnasieskolor (2012-2014) i Sverige. Data från enkäter, intervjuer och observationer har analyserats för att svara på frågeställningar om hur olika aspekter av den pågående digitaliseringen påverkar verksamheten i skolan. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten tas i ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på skola som verksamhet, på teknologi som medierande redskap och på utveckling och lärande som socialt grundade. För att beskriva komplexiteten i läraruppdraget används det teoretiska ramverket TPACK. Ramverket beskriver integrationen mellan de teknologiska, pedagogiska och innehållsliga kunskapsdomäner som tillsammans bildar kärnan i en lärares kompetens i en digitaliserad skola. Resultaten visar att det krävs kunskap om och förståelse för praktikens förutsättningar för att kunna avgöra huruvida digitalisering och 1:1-satsningar påverkar. Ur ett makroperspektiv förefaller klassrumsaktiviteterna vara i stort sett opåverkade av 1:1-införandet. Undervisningen tycks pågå som tidigare och förefaller i huvudsak traditionell och kontrollerad av en reglerande diskurs. Å andra sidan, när skolan studeras ur ett mesoperspektiv är det möjligt att urskilja ett antal väsentliga förändringar av verksamheten. Teknologin påverkar verksamheten, men det innebär inte automatiskt en förändring av den övergripande strukturen för hur utbildningen praktiseras. Ett 1:1-införande leder först till förändringar på praktiknivå med utmaningar av lärares och elevers verksamhet. Delstudierna i avhandlingen visar att digitaliseringen påverkar lärares lektionsplanering, och att elevers användning av de digitala redskapen förändras över tid. Dessutom diskuteras lärares argument för att inte integrera digitala verktyg i den pedagogiska praktiken.Avhandlingen har konsekvenser för praktikfältet genom att den identifierar och diskuterar några av följderna av digitaliseringen av skolan. De klassrumsnära studierna visar att IT-användningen är varierande och ojämn, och att införandet av 1:1 är en komplicerad process som utmanar verksamheten i skolan på flera nivåer.
Being Multisituated : Characterizing laptoping in networked situations
(2015-03-27) Lindroth, Tomas
During the last 30 years mobile IT has gone from being an exotic ingredient to an everyday artifact. This thesis presents an ethnographic study of laptop use in a university setting. The thesis concludes that it is no longer enough to describe the use of portable IT as an activity in its own right, i.e. using a laptop computer as an activity similar to reading a book or writing an essay. Additionally, describing a person as merely a user of digital technology fails to capture the intervowenness between the technology, situation, person and other actors. In order to find more nuanced answers about laptop use the thesis discuss what characterize the use of laptops in everyday life. With support from Actor-Network Theory, the Interaction Order and Experiential computing the thesis explores the hybrid combination of a person-laptop. The contribution is a framework of the driving forces behind the laptoper’s everyday activities. Additionally a model of the networked situation is presented, that uncovers the effects of the laptoper over time, that is, the laptoping process. The contribution is a framework with key characteristics and typified interactions where the multisituated and network dimensions are understood as fundamental elements of hybrid interaction.
Business Intelligence Utilisation through Bootstrapping and Adaptation
(2015-06-26) Presthus, Wanda
Business Intelligence (BI) has traditionally been viewed as a technology-driven, rational process, which would lead to better decision-making in organisations. Fact-based decisions are expected to reduce costs and increase income for a company, but also, for example, prevent crime and illness on a more global scale. A shortage of data is not the problem and data warehousing and end-user tools can provide people with consistent data, which have been tailored to their needs. A common problem is that BI solutions are rarely utilised to their full potential. For example, while a BI solution offers advanced reporting, queries, dashboards and data mining techniques, the most widespread product remains to be simple two-dimensional reports. Throwing more and upgraded technology at the users is common but does not increase utilisation. Although BI research is plentiful, we lack knowledge about (i) how the users interact with the technology, and (ii) what makes a BI solution useful over time. A BI solution can be purchased, implemented, and provide everything the vendor promises, but it is a waste of time and money if the people do not use the solution. The aim of this PhD thesis is to increase our knowledge about how the utilisation of BI can be developed. The thesis applies the concepts of bootstrapping and adaptation from Hanseth and Lyytinen’s theory of Information Infrastructure. Bootstrapping means that an information system must be initiated through a self-sustaining, internal process, and adaptation means self-organizing growth. Through the study of five cases of development of the utilisation of BI, this thesis exploits BI beyond the use of reporting tools, which again results in several benefits for the companies. The research question reads: How can BI utilisation be developed through bootstrapping and adaptation? From a thorough analysis using techniques from Miles and Huberman, several aspects appeared. The BI process should be addressed in two phases with different focus: if users are exposed to lightweight BI tools first (in the bootstrapping phase), they are more likely to want to explore the more advanced tools later (in the adaptation phase). From this PhD study emerges one theoretical and one practical contribution. On the theoretical side this thesis offers a conceptual reframing of BI; as a self-reinforcing installed base that endures bootstrapping and adaptation. In the bootstrapping phase, focus should be placed on agile tools, technology demonstration and arousing curiosity for the user. The bootstrapping phase may eventually turn into adaptation, which requires a different focus. A close interplay between the users and the developers is crucial for the adaptation phase; however, the users can tolerate some delays in usefulness. From this conceptual reframing four patterns are identified, which are operationalised into management guidelines for practitioners in the industry who either want to start using (bootstrapping) or improve their current use (adaptation) of the BI solution. Hopefully, this study can lead to BI being utilised to a greater potential in any organisation, and thus benefit from the many advantages that BI can provide.
Digital Innovation: Orchestrating Network Activities
(2015-09-04) Jesper, Lund
Digitization of analogue everyday artifacts, i.e. when physical products are equipped with digital capabilities, has a profound impact on today’s society. Some examples of these digital innovations aimed at consumer markets are the “connected” car, the digitized television set, and in the near future, digitized IKEA furniture. Digital innovation provides endless opportunities for providing value adding products and services. However, in digital innovation there is a need to find new ways of organizing network activities, i.e. activities such as e.g. production and translation of knowledge and enrollment of actors. These activities need to embrace and build on the networked aspects and the complexity inherent to digital innovation. This requires network activities that can overcome challenges with the ambiguous and messy characteristics of digital innovation. In this thesis, I propose that the theoretical perspective of network orchestration can enlighten fruitful ways to address challenges that are encountered when organizing network activities in digital innovation. Inspired by practical challenges with digital innovation, as well as contemporary calls for research within IS, this thesis investigates: How can network activities be orchestrated in digital innovation? Two cases of digital innovation aimed at consumer markets are studied. The first case concerns the digitization of the newspaper. The second case regards the digitization of door locks. Literature about digital innovation is used to understand the context of the studied phenomenon. Furthermore, theories about network orchestration as well as activities in innovation are used as a theoretical framework to help answer the research question. The thesis is based on an interpretative perspective where a multi-method approach has been applied to address the research question. The contribution is divided into two different parts. The first part presents four categories of empirically derived network activities that address socio-technical challenges with organizing digital innovation. The second part is a proposed model detailing orchestration of network activities in digital innovation. The model is based around the four suggested categories of network activities: (1) Supporting flexible innovation networks, (2) Production and translation of layered architectural knowledge, (3) Addressing heterogeneous user communities, and (4) Harnessing generativity to leverage value. The categories of network activities can be viewed as building blocks for the orchestration process. By emphasizing both a proactive and a reactive way of orchestrating digital innovation, the model proposes a means for organizations to address the ambiguity and complexity of digital innovation.
Service Logic in Digitalized Product Platforms—A Study of Digital Service Innovation in the Vehicle Industry
(2015-09-07) Chowdhury, Soumitra
The digitalization of products has become an important driver for service innovation in manufacturing firms. The embedding of digital technology in previously non-digital products creates digitalized product platforms that enable digital service innovation. Digital service innovation offers new business opportunities for manufacturing industries, as well as challenges established premises for value creation. While digital service innovation can be found in many manufacturing industries, this thesis studies service logic in digitalized product platforms in the vehicle industry. Existing Information Systems (IS) literature presents challenges in digital service innovation relating to value, architecture, and generativity. The design of the architecture of digitalized product platforms requires the identification and combination of digital and non-digital assets. Understanding the architectural aspects is useful in digital service innovation. Moreover, with growing instances of generative digital technologies, it is challenging to develop strategies to leverage generativity for service design in digitalized product platforms. While digital technologies are embedded in products, the role of technology-embeddedness in value creation of digital services is relatively unexplored. Drawing on these challenges, this thesis describes and conceptualizes the underlying premises brought by the architecture and generativity to the value creation of services in digitalized product platforms. The research question addressed in this thesis is: What are the underlying premises for services in digitalized product platforms? To address the question, an interpretive qualitative research approach was adopted in a collaborative research project concerning services enabled by digitalization of vehicles. Drawing on digital innovation and service literature, this thesis presents a theoretical perspective on the role of the architecture and generativity of digitalized product platforms for value creation of digital services. This perspective is conceptualized as underlying premises for this specific class of services. The premises frame the service logic in digitalized product platforms and provide a ground for understanding services in digitalized product platforms in relation to value dimensions, architecture and generativity. The premises are based on five concepts: value-in-architecture, value-in-connectivity, fundamental asset for value creation, mutual dependence of modular and layered modular assets, and re-evaluation of value propositions. The proposed premises offer a basis for understanding value creation of this class of services, and guidance for manufacturing firms designing digitalized product platforms.

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