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After the introduction of information technology (IT), the government needs to take the initiative to start IT projects for the automation of government process to the citizen. Statistics show that a high number of government IT projects fail and only 15 percent e-government projects are successful. In this study, we will answer this research question, what are the reasons for failure of IT projects in the government sector organization in Pakistan and how to overcome these issues? This research was conducted through a literature review, 20 articles from journals and conferences were selected through keywords for the period of ten years from 2003 to 2013. For suggestions, we have followed the same structured search procedure. We found and select articles with our keywords, after reading abstract and conclusion. Our study has described four factors for the failure of IT projects in government sector organizations in Pakistan. These factors are Technology, Management, Politics and Finance. The technology factor can be reduced by providing latest ICT infrastructure with an expert to run and maintain it. Management issues can be resolved by hiring an experienced, skilled and highly motivated project manager to complete a project successfully. Government should make new laws and regulations to help the implementation of these projects and bureaucracy should eliminate any power struggle during and after the implementation. The budget should be allocated before the start of the project to complete it on time. Our research study has provided guidelines to policy makers for automation of government organizations in Pakistan. By considering these suggestions, successful government projects can be achieved.

Purpose - The concept of Triple Helix relates to collaboration between universities, governments and industry. Such collaboration can take different forms in different countries. This paper examines collaboration between universities and industry in China, specifically in the city of Hefei in Anhui province, one of the most rapidly developing regions in the country. In so doing, it seeks to address the research question: How does industry collaborate with universities in order to acquire commercialized knowledge?

Design/ Methodology/ Approach - The study is qualitative, based on interviews with experts in R & D, and Intellectual Property Rights from high-tech companies based in Hefei. We analyzed our findings using a conceptual framework that focuses on Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Diffusion (Liyanage et al, 2012). Our study describes and discusses the entire process, from an initial awareness of new knowledge to its eventual acquisition.

Findings and implications - We conclude that Chinese high-tech companies design comprehensive strategies for the acquisition of knowledge generated from external sources. These strategies are based on local, provincial and state government industrial policies that aim to support collaboration with universities and implement external knowledge in existing systems.

Originality - Commercialized knowledge put into practice by industries for their own innovation and commercial purposes.

Limitation - We interviewed industrial experts from three high-tech companies in the city of Hefei, which is located in an industrial area of Anhui province.

Introduction. This paper focuses on knowledge generation and the way in which it is transferred from universities to industry. Most well reputed universities have several departments and university-run enterprises that engage in research. The purpose of these research units is to help universities provide breakthrough innovation through the generation of new knowledge.

Problem Statement. For this we chose to study China's University Technology Transfer Offices (UTTOs) to gather concrete evidence of university knowledge generation for commercial use in industry. The objective of this study is get indepth information about the role of UTTOs in the transfer of such knowledge.Purpose. The generation of new knowledge contributes to the field of science and technology; in turn, industry can use this knowledge to produce new innovative products or improve existing ones. This study aims to identify the process of knowledge transfer from universities to industry in China.

Materials and Methods. Our study was carried out as a qualitative case study in the Anhui province of China. Data was mainly collected through semi-structured interviews with technology transfer experts working in technology transfer offices. Collected data were analyzed using a knowledge transfer model with six phases: 1) awareness, 2) acquisition, 3) transformation, 4) association, 5) application, and 6) feedback.

Results. In China, universities and their research groups dominate in the generation and commercialization of research results, with UTTOs acting as technology bridges between the two parties, as well as providing legal and business services.

Conclusions. This paper contributes by offering a detailed description of the knowledge transfer process and specifically the role and activities of UTTOs. This research also helps Chinese and international researchers currently carrying out research on the technology transfer process in China.

The concept of Triple Helix relates to collaboration between universities, governments and industry. Such collaboration can take different forms in different countries. This paper describes collaboration between universities and government in China, specifically in the city of Hefei in Anhui province, one of the most rapidly developing regions in the country. The research question is: How can bi-lateral research collaboration be a source of knowledge generation and commercialization for use in industry?

The study is qualitative, involving individual and group interviews with university team leaders and team members from successful projects. Government representatives in China were also interviewed. We used the SECI knowledge creation method to analyze the findings. We also describe the collaboration process from idea and application through to review, funding, realization and commercialization. Our study shows that the government in China plays a dominant role in the process of knowledge creation and commercialization. We conclude that collaboration is a source of new knowledge generation and that the government plays a key role by funding universities and creating a research environment that meets the policy requirements of industry today. In particular, we show that universities and their research groups use resources, such as skilled manpower, laboratories and equipment, to accomplish tasks within a set timeframe.

This study examines the current situation regarding e-voting in four selected European countries as well as whether Sweden can implement e-voting and achieve success. With the help of a literature study, the study defines the advantages and disadvantages of e-voting and the traditional voting procedure and through a case study, the current situation is identified by the selected European countries and an interview is conducted to gain an insight into the Swedish voting procedure and where Sweden stands when it comes to e-voting. By analyzing the interview and doing a comparative analysis of the key factors that affected the failure or success of e-voting in the selected countries with the key factors identified in Sweden, the result will be clear whether an implementation in Sweden can be successful or not.

Medvetenheten har ökat hos svenska folket om att det är viktigt att motionera och att det till viss del krävs funktionell utrustning. Situationen idag för svensk friidrott är att sporten är het med alla internationella framgångar samt att tillgången till träningsmöjligheter är stor. Trots detta är det svårt för friidrottare att hitta ett brett sortiment av friidrottsartiklar, speciellt för de som inte bor nära storstäderna. Vår affärsidé är att starta ett e-handelsföretag som ska sälja ett brett sortiment av friidrottsartiklar över Internet där marknaden är Sverige och på sikt kanske även övriga skandinaviska länder. Även om marknaden ofta är för liten i enskilda svenska städer för ett stort sortiment av friidrottsartiklar tror vi att marknaden ändå är tillräckligt stor sammantaget i Sverige. Projektet har utmynnat i en fullt funktionell e-handelswebbplats som ska kunna ligga till grund för startandet av e-handelsföretaget shop4athletes. Förutom att e-handelswebbplatsen ska vara funktionell har fokus legat på att skapa en unik, stilren och lättnavigerad webbplats som genom design och användbarhet ska kunna attrahera målgruppen.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a collection of tools and techniques for creating software-bots that mimics human interaction in existing information systems. RPA takes advantage of the user interface to perform repetitive tasks and is the fastest-growing automation technique. Organizations capitalize on RPA by automating repetitive, rulebased, and tedious tasks without making changes to the underlying systems.

Many Swedish organizations have already implemented RPA, and many new organizations will be implementing the technology in the future. This study focuses on organizations that have not yet implemented this technology and the challenges surrounding communication and process selection in an initial RPA project.

Several vendors and suppliers are competing in the RPA market. Meanwhile, scientific research in the field has just begun and struggles to keep up with the fast-evolving technology. Vendors and suppliers often exaggerate and hype terms and concepts, which creates confusion and may slow down the learning curve for beginners. Additionally, Organizations risk designing suboptimal automation strategies from biased guidelines and frameworks from vendors and suppliers.

Newcomers often confuse RPA with physical robots, and many definitions do not use any of the words in the abbreviation RPA. Communication is a prerequisite for any type of project but especially in the multidisciplinary field of RPA. Process selection is commonly described as the first challenge that new organizations will encounter. Choosing a process is considered an essential and complex phase due to the difficulties in measuring automation.

This study explores the literature and conducts six interviews with Swedish RPA experts to identify RPA related themes and challenges for future research.

The rapid development of digital technology together with new business models has

reached new levels in recent years, which has resulted in the processing of personal data

both increasing and changing. The problem with this development involves the violation

of personal integrity to a greater extent. In order to harmonize the processing of personal

data and to strengthen the protection of personal privacy, the EU has introduced a new

data protection regulation. The regulation will enter into force on May 25, 2018 and will

apply in national legislation, which will replace the Swedish Personal Data Act.

The purpose of the study was to identify what measures a number of organizations have

taken to comply with the rules of data protection regulations and the challenges that may

arise in the conversion. The study is limited to consent texts and processing of personal

data. The study is qualitative and we have, through interviews, taken note of a number of

organizations' views on challenges and measures regarding formulas of consent texts and

their personal data processing.

The conclusion in this study shows that all organizations have problems formulating

consent texts in an informative way, which is required for adequate data protection.

Organizations also see challenges in the processing of personal data. These challenges

consist of complex IT systems containing amounts of personal data that today cannot be

managed in accordance with the Data Protection Regulation, as relevant system support is

lacking.

Some 50% of the people in the world live in rural areas, often under harsh conditions and in poverty. The need for knowledge of how to improve living conditions is well documented. In response to this need, new knowledge of how to improve living conditions in rural areas and elsewhere is continuously being developed by researchers and practitioners around the world. People in rural areas, in particular, would certainly benefit from being able to share relevant knowledge with each other, as well as with stakeholders (e.g. researchers) and other organizations (e.g. NGOs). Central to knowledge management is the idea of knowledge sharing. This study is based on the assumption that knowledge management can support sustainable development in rural and remote regions. It aims to present a framework for knowledge management in sustainable rural development, and an inventory of existing frameworks for that. The study is interpretive, with interviews as the primary source for the inventory of stakeholders, knowledge categories and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure. For the inventory of frameworks, a literature study was carried out. The result is a categorization of the stakeholders who act as producers and beneficiaries of explicit and indigenous development knowledge. Stakeholders are local government, local population, academia, NGOs, civil society and donor agencies. Furthermore, the study presents a categorization of the development knowledge produced by the stakeholders together with specifications for the existing ICT infrastructure. Rural development categories found are research, funding, agriculture, ICT, gender, institutional development, local infrastructure development, and marketing & enterprise. Finally, a compiled framework is presented, and it is based on ten existing frameworks for rural development that were found in the literature study, and the empirical findings of the Gilgit-Baltistan case. Our proposed framework is divided in four levels where level one consists of the identified stakeholders, level two consists of rural development categories, level three of the knowledge management system and level four of sustainable rural development based on the levels below. In the proposed framework we claim that the sustainability of rural development can be achieved through a knowledge society in which knowledge of the rural development process is shared among all relevant stakeholders.

Data migration in migration projects have a big chance of failure caused by underestimating the weight and importance of planning for the migration of data between systems. The most common cause of failure is by having inadequate validation. Therefore, knowing what one should be aware of to minimize the risk of data migration will be of help.

This includes steps from David Barkaway for data migration projects about how to gather and retain generated knowledge for future projects. This also includes steps of how to perform data migration and avoid common causes of failure.

Based on the collected theory, interview questions will be written that enables me to create criteria a list of criteria for evaluating tools for data migration.

In this study I have chosen two different tools to evaluate. I will interview four IT-consultants with experience of data migration to best answer which criteria these tools should fulfill to be of interest for these four IT-consultants.

These tools are:

1. SQL-Server Integrated Services: A service from Microsoft within the .Net-environment for datamigration och Business Intelligence.

2. Talend Open Studio for Data Integration: A product from Talend made in java and is open-source, used for data migration.

The result shows that Talend fulfills more of the criteria than SSIS does.

IT-projekt i offentlig verksamhet finansieras i huvudsak av statliga medel och omsätter stora summor varje år. Tyvärr brister de ofta vad gäller tidsramar, budget, utlovad kvalitet eller pga. en kombination av dessa faktorer. Det ligger inte bara i den egna verksamhetens intresse, utan även medborgarnas, att dessa projekt faller väl ut. Rapporten syftar bl.a. till att fungera som ett av flera beslutsunderlag för offentlig verksamhet vad gäller införande av en projektmodell. Den försöker bl.a. fastställa om en av orsakerna till dessa misslyckanden har att göra med avsaknad av en lämplig projektmodell, alternativt om den modell och de metoder man använder sig av används på fel sätt. Fokus ligger på vikten av att använda en projektmodell som stöd för IT-projekt i kommunal verksamhet. Den pekar också på vanliga fallgropar och bygger i huvudsak på två studier. En statistisk undersökning som omfattar landets kommunala IT-enheter och deras användning av projektmodeller, metoder och verktyg anpassade för projektarbete i allmänhet och IT-projekt i synnerhet. Den andra är en förstudie hos IT-enheten på Ludvika kommun. De använder ingen projektmodell och ville bla få en nulägesanalys som underlag för framtida beslutsfattning om att införa en lämplig projektmodell. Resultaten har validerats med befintliga teorier om projektarbete och systemutvecklingsmodeller och visar att en projektmodell är bidragande för att kunna genomföra lyckade projekt. Användandet i sig, räcker inte för att projekten skall bli framgångsrika. Kunskap om projektarbete, förankring i organisationen, god dokumenthantering och rätt rollfördelningar inom projekten är exempel på sådant som är högst relevant.

Vi har undersökt vilket innehåll som socialtjänstens enhet individ-och familjeomsorgen inom olika kommuner har på sina hemsidor samt hur de har organiserat och koordinerat arbetet. Det visar sig att innehållsmässigt ser det väldigt lika ut med den information som erbjuds, det som skiljer hemsidorna åt är aktiviteter och kontaktmöjligheter för användarna. En del kommuner erbjuder sina användare möjligheten till kontakt via email till berörd handläggare medan andra valt att enbart ha email till själva enheten eller någon chef. Koordinationen kring själva arbetet sker i det flesta fall via muntlig kommunikation och ömsesidig anpassning. Endast en kommun har minskat koordinationen genom att använda standardprogram. Arbetets organisation utgår ifrån en grundläggande form av AD-hocracy.

Vårt examensarbete i informatik är utfört på ett producerande företag som expanderat och därför sett behov av att förändra sin organisation. Ägarna upplever att personalplanering och tillverkningsplanering är alltför tidskrävande och de hinner inte med viktiga arbetsuppgifter som marknadsföring och företagsutveckling. Examensarbetet har innefattat teoristudier, en analys av företagets verksamhet samt utformning av förändringsförslag för att förbättra företagets organisation. Våra litteraturstudier har bestått av inläsning av teorier om problem som kan uppstå i expanderande företag samt datainsamling genom intervjuer av företagets ägare och några av de anställda. Detta har legat till grund för den verksamhetsanalys vi genomfört med hjälp av delar ur metoden FA/SIM. Denna analys ligger till grund för de förändringsförslag som har arbetats fram. I analysen har problem som rör följande fyra aktiviteter identifierats. - Arbetsledning - Planering - Tillverkning - Varuleverans De åtgärdsförslag vi anser viktigast att genomföra för att effektivisera och underlätta arbetssituationen för ägare och anställda är att börja registrera ordrar dagligen och införa rutiner för att registrera produktion och lagerhållning. Ytterligare åtgärder är att anställa kvalificerad personal på kontoret samt utbilda fler i personalen i att köra lackeringen. Vi kan konstatera att företagets övergripande problem till stor del orsakas av att organisationen inte anpassats till företagets expansion. Det är vanligt att insikt om detta kommer först när problemen börjar kännas oöverstigliga.

This paper describes how distance educations in developing countries can enhance interactivityby means of information and communication technologies. It is argued that e-learning involvesa shift in the educational structure from traditional transmission of knowledge to interactivecreation of knowledge. Our case studies are two distance educations in Bangladesh and SriLanka that use different technologies for implementing interactivity; Internet and computersin one case and video and mobile phones in the other. The findings are analyzed based onStructuration Theory and we compare the two approaches based on emerging norms andbeliefs. Findings from both cases show the concurrent enactment of both the transmissionand the interactive structure. Whereas peer collaboration and the use of self-assessment toolsmake students take more ownership of their learning, we also found the idea of a classroomwith an instructive teacher to be deeply rooted in the students’ minds.

This article analyzes the construction of women in national ICT policies in South and Southeast Asia. The aim is to unravel the role ascribed to women in these policies and how this affects suggested measures. The research is based on critical discourse analysis and shows that women are mainly constructed as victims, mothers, or an untapped resource. We argue that if women are speciªcally targeted in policies, careful attention should be given to how they are portrayed. Our analysis also shows that in most cases the suggested solutions on how to include women in the ICT society only deal with the symptoms of gender inequality rather than the structures that prevent equal opportunities. We conclude by discussing implications for research and practice.

There is a debate about the advantages and disadvantages of using social media in education. Drawing on interviews and surveys with students and teachers in three Swedish schools, this study finds that studentsas well as teachers find much of the students' social media use distractive to learning. We investigate this by means of an interpretative study of students' and teachers' experiences. We find that concerns relate to how social media use makes students less social, how weaker students are more likely to get distracted, how teachers lack strategies for tackling the problem and how the responsibility of the use is delegated to the students. We discuss how the distractive use of social media is made possible as a result of education policies requiring a higher degree of individual work, individual responsibility, and educational choices forstudents. Teachers and school leaders need to jointly reclaim the students and coping strategies for the distractive use are urgently needed.

In this paper we explore how laptops used in 1:1 classrooms affect cooperation and collaboration practices. Based on an observational time study we find that the most common activity in 1:1 classrooms is group work using the computer. We also found that despite what the concept 1:1 alludes about one student working with one computer, most laptop use takes on other forms such as two students working with one computer (1:2) or two students working together using two laptops (2:2). The findings reported in this paper about the various different collaboration arrangements have implications for both research and practice. Practice because teachers can arrange activities based on an awareness of the different student-laptop constellations that emerge when students are given a laptop. Research is likewise informed about the various group work constellations and can build on this knowledge for further analysis of the pros and cons with the different collaborative forms. 

Software deployment can be seen as the process where all activities are included to make a software available to users without a manual installation on the user’s computer or other machine. There are several software deployment tools that manage automated installations available to enterprises on the market today.

The department HVDC at ABB in Ludvika has needs of starting to use a tool for automated installations of software which currently is installed manually and is time consuming. As Microsoft partners ABB wants to see how Microsoft’s tool for software deployment could help for this need. 

Our study aimed to investigate how the department´s work with installations of software looks like today and to find opportunities for improvement for installations that can’t be automated at this time. The study also includes to develop a general framework for how businesses can proceed when they want to start using a software deployment tool. The framework also includes a designed requirement specification that will be evaluated against Microsoft´s tool.

To create an idea of how the work in the business looks like today, we have performed surveys and interviews with staff in HVDC. In order to develop a framework, we have used the data collected from the interviews, questionnaires and group interviews conducted to identify requirements and wishes from the staff of a software deployment tool. Literature studies were also conducted to create a theoretical framework to use when developing the framework and the requirement specification. 

Our studies have resulted in a description of software deployment, opportunities for improvement in the work of software installations and a general framework that describes how businesses can proceed when they are about to start using a software deployment tool. The framework also provides a set of requirements that have used to evaluate Microsoft's tool for software distribution. In our study we have not seen that anyone before have developed a general framework and requirements specification that businesses can use as a basis when to start using a software deployment tool. Our results of the study can cover up this knowledge gap.

Att konstruera ett tidtagningssystem för enduro i skogen leder till flera frågor som måste undersökas och besvaras. Vilken kommunikationsteknik ska användas och vilken systemarkitekturisk lösning passar bäst? Att dra kabel ute i skogen är ett bra sätt att lösa det kommunikationstekniska problemet, lösningen är säker och relativt billig. Visst påverkas priset av distansen mellan olika klienter ute i skogen, men alla positiva egenskaper hos tekniken gör denna kostnad värd sitt pris. De geografiska variationer som kan finnas är de som kan spela ut de övriga teknikerna i form av stabilitet. En snabb resultatförmedling kräver ett system som har en väl uppbyggd systemarkitektur. Vid tidtagning kommer data i form av tider skickas från klienterna direkt till huvudservern, ingen mellanlagring sker utan data lagras centralt vilket förespråkas i IRM. Dessutom kommer ingen redundans att accepteras, vilket även det förespråkas av IRM. Det finns även flera andra parametrar som väger för att välja IRM, vilket är det som rekommenderas utifrån den analys som gjorts i denna uppsats.

Role-based Access Control is a standardized and well established model in terms of handling access rights. However, the accepted ANSI standard 359-2004 lacks the support of geographically delimiting role authorizations. Information systems handling geographical data together with the increasing use of mobile devices call for a need to discuss such spatial aspects within the context of Role-Based Access Control. This thesis seeks to shed light on the current state of knowledge within the subject area as well as to identify aspects of it that are in need of further development. The theoretical framework conceived by the initial literature review has made the conduction of a systematic literature review possible, and the synthesis and analysis of the data together with the theoretical framework have led to the work’s contributions of knowledge: an overview of the subject where the state-of-the art in the area is presented and a structured list of desirous needs of research and development within the area of study.

Usability is a concept that exists to make it easier for visitors to find the right information efficiently, with goodsatisfaction and widely used. There are various guidelines to achieve good usability on websites that have theirown criteria that need to be met before the site can develop to be seen as useful. I have explored andevaluated a web site that contains an online system, based on previous research on usability of web sites anddata collection of user testing and surveys. I have tried to analyze the results I have gathered to try to answerHow important is it to follow the utility in the development of a website with a reservation system? My researchhas shown that guidelines are something that one should follow to the best of our ability, but only if theguidelines are relevant to the product objectives and one can speculate for the need for guidelines for usabilitytargeting sites with specific purposes.

This work is a survey about CGI’s self-developed invoice system called CDI. This invoice system is used by Trafikverket and the foundation of this work is based on a survey that maps out what problems there is with the current user interface in CDI. The work focuses only on the view where the user is performing accounts of invoices.

The user interface that is used today was developed around 2007 and according to CGI, needs a modernization. The idea over sight is to replace the user interface with a new, updated one that helps the user more than the current user interface.

The purpose of the report is to investigate what problems that users is experiencing with the current user interface and with the help of two self-developed design-proposals evaluate how to fix these problems.

This is being performed with the help of a zero-state analysis, that maps the current problems and another analysis that evaluates the design-proposals. Both analysis is made from interviews and is performed with three persons from Trafikverket that work with the invoice system on a daily basis.

When the evaluation is done there will be a revised version of the earlier design-proposals, this will be the final product of this report. The final product will later be used as a foundation in the work around developing the new user interface for CDI.

Digitalization is a hot topic in today’s world. It’s almost a must for businesses to engage in digitalization if they want to keep thriving one the market. A study conducted by Tillväxtanalys, a Swedish management authority, shows that businesses within the Swedish construction sector are less likely to have a high degree of digital maturity and a digitalized business. The study also shows that small businesses in general are falling behind big businesses in regard to digitalization. In a small business in the Swedish construction sector, the management have tried for years to digitalize their analogue business. The problem however, is the fear and resistance to change within the organization.

The purpose of this thesis report was to identify and describe the factors needed to engage the employees of a small business in a digitalization. Identify which types of change resistance that existed within the organization and to determine the degree of digital maturity.

This case study was conducted with the use of interviews and a questionnaire which have been answered by the employees at this company. The collected data was then analyzed and compared to previous research. The result of this study shows that there are two types of change resistance within the organization and that there are five important factors to engage employees in digitalization within small business; competence, trust, communication, organization-wide need and vision for the change and finally participation.

I have in this case study evaluated advantages and disadvantages with mob programming, at a IT-company called CGM (CompuGroup Medical LAB AB), in Borlänge, Sweden.

Mob programming is new way to work with computer code creation or system maintenance. A group of developers works together to solve problems, like computer bugs. Only one person sits at the keyboard at one time. Like an evolution of pair programming.

I have interviewed a selected number of staffs at CGM.

What are the pros and cons with mob programming for information systems engineers?

I have also conducted a test, with university students that study information systems science at Dalarna University. The students tested to solve a problem with mob programming, and then evaluated the test in a questionnaire.

Today, there is a large selection of brands and beers at Systembolaget and it’sbecoming increasingly important to be visible among all competitors on thestore shelf. As competition increases, it is no longer enough just to be able todistribute a good beer, even the packaging needs to be interesting and credible.The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the visual expressioninfluences the consumer's choice of beer in the store. The purpose is also toinvestigate whether there is a segment of consumers of the target group whobuy beer, who are more or less inclined to buy beer with a more unconventionalvisual expression in the label. The study is also expected to demonstratecommon features for the consumer in this segment.The following issues were raised to investigate this topic: what, in the beerlabel's visual expression, affects the consumer's choice of beer in the store, orare there other factors that are crucial to the purchase decision? Also: if thereare, what are the distinctive features of consumers who tend to buy beer with amore unconventional visual expression in the label? To answer our questions, asurvey was conducted using a web survey addressed to the consumer as well assemi-structured interviews with experts in the industry.The result shows that the nature of beer influences the consumer's buyingdecision the most, but the label's design, price and packaging are also decisivefactors in the buying decision. Illustrations and other artistic elements in thelabel are the visual expressions that affect the target audience most. The typicalconsumer is 32 years old, lives in the city, has a higher education, is a studentand / or full-time employee, has food and drink as an interest, is curious andspontaneous and is perceived as enjoying life by others.The conclusion is that there is a segment of consumers who are the target groupfor beer with a more unconventional expression in their labels. We can also seethat this segment has common features in the form of interests and suchlike.The study also indicates that the visual expression affects the consumer's choiceof beer in the store.

Banverket Produktion är Sveriges största entreprenör inom järnvägsunderhåll. De har tillgång till ett flertal IT-system som ger information om järnvägsanläggningar och maskiner. Banverket Produktion vill utreda möjligheterna med att kombinera denna information och presentera den i ett kartgränssitt. En kartapplikation kan användas för att ta fram information ifrån olika system och presentera grafiskt. Den kan även användas som ett gränssnitt för att söka information från andra distrikt. Genom att använda sig av grafisk kartvisning av verksamhetsinformation blir det möjligt att planera åtgärder på ett mer tidssparande och kostnadseffektivt sätt och maskiner kan utnyttjas effektivare. Arbetet har gått ut på att beskriva vilken ökad verksamhetsnytta grafisk kartvisning av verksamhetsinformation kan ge och presentera ett förslag på en systemarkitektur som stödjer grafisk kartvisning. Inom Banverket Produktion finns det flera problem som man tror ska kunna lösas med hjälp av grafisk kartvisning. En viktig del i vårt arbete har varit att ta fram den viktigaste funktionaliteten i en kartapplikation som skall lösa dessa problem och ge en ökad verksamhetsnytta.

När man kombinerar ett objektorienterat programmeringsspråk och en relationsdatabas uppstår en del problem för utvecklare eftersom objektorienterade programmeringsspråk och relationsdatabaser har olika fokus, objektorienterade programmeringsspråk fokuserar på att avbilda verkliga objekt och relationsdatabaser fokuserar på data. De problem som uppstår kallas med ett samlingsnamn för object-relational mismatch. Det finns flertalet ramverk för att hantera dessa problem. Ett av dem är Entity Framework. Syftet med detta projekt var att utvärdera hur utvecklare tycker att Entity Framework fungerar för att lösa problematiken runt object-relational mismatch, hur det är för utvecklare att lära sig använda Entity Framework samt hur tillgången på inlärningsmaterial är. Under vår studie har vi lärt oss använda Entity Framework samtidigt som vi gjort en studie av tillgången på inlärningsmaterial. Vi har också byggt om en applikation så att den använder Entity Framework. Vi har jämfört den ombyggda applikationen med den gamla applikationen för att kunna se vilken skillnad som Entity Framework bidrog till. Vi kom fram till att Entity Framework hanterar object-relational mismatch på ett bra sätt som bland annat gör att utvecklingsprocessen kortas ner då inte lika mycket kod behöver skrivas. Utvecklare med tidigare kunskaper i .NET-programmering upplever att det är lätt att lära sig Entity Framework. Att det upplevs lätt att lära sig Entity Framework hänger förmodligen ihop med att tillgången på inlärningsmaterial är god.

Projects involving clients, photographers and retouchers has a common goal but each part have different stops along the way.Extended deadlines, budget overruns, lack of communication and friction between the parties. These are all things that can occur in projects involving multiple parties. In this study, work processes in the production of advertising images has been analyzed in order to define strengths and weaknesses. The aim for this work was to develop guidelines for the parties to use in the future.In order to survey each party’s work process and their different views on the collaboration between them, six interviews were conducted. Since the interviewees’ consisted of people currently in the industry, the results were well-founded.The results from the study shows that some of the central parts of a well-functioning work process are a clear brief and the use of templates or checklists. These aspects contribute to high-quality results and delivery within deadlines.This study has been conducted in collaboration with Linjepunkt Repro, a company working with advanced image retouching and graphic production. The collaboration contributed to a clearer insight into the industry and valuable contacts. The result of the study could benefit the company and its partners, but it can also be applied to other similar work processes.

Test is an area in system development. Test can be performed manually or automated. Test activities can be supported by Word documents and Excel sheets for documenting and executing test cases and as well for follow up, but there are also new test tools designed to support and facilitate the testing process and the activities of the test. This study has described manual test and identified strengths and weaknesses of manual testing with a testing tool called Microsoft Test Manager (MTM) and of manual testing using test cases and test log templates developed by the testers at Sogeti. The result that emerged from the problem and strength analysis and the analysis of literature studies and firsthand experiences (in terms of creating, documenting and executing test cases) addresses the issue of the following weaknesses and strengths. Strengths of the test tool is that it contains needed functionality all in one place and it is available when needed without having to open up other programs which saves many steps of activity. Strengths with test without the support of test tools is mainly that it is easy to learn and gives a good overview, easy to format text as desired and flexible to changes during execution of a test case. Weaknesses in test with the support of test tools include that it is difficult to get a good overview of the entire test case, that it is not possible to format the text in the test steps. It is as well not possible to modify the test steps during execution. It is also difficult to use some of the test design techniques of TMap, for example a checklist, when using the test tool MTM. Weaknesses with test without the support of the testing tool MTM is that the tester gets many more steps of activities to do compared to doing the same activities with the support of the testing tool MTM. There is more to remember because the documents the tester use are not directly linked. Altogether the strengths of the test tool stands out when it comes to supporting the testing process.

Flexible study pace distant courses provide opportunities for students with disabilities to attend courses in higher educations as opposed to campus courses with fixed schedules. At least that is what we believe. This study investigates how mentally disabled students perceive taking distant courses with flexible pace and also how their teachers perceive opportunities and challenges. Flexible pace means here distant courses where students can start when they like and keep the pace they prefer. The courses in question are part of a two year program of eService Development at Dalarna University in Sweden. The program was launched in 2006 and admits ca 50-80 students each semester. Many of the students are unable to take campus courses of various reasons such as living far from universities, working daytime, etc. We sent out questionnaires to students with disabilities and to teachers asking them semi structured questions about perceived challenges and opportunities regarding the studies. The students had mental disabilities such as Dyslexia, ADHD, Asperger syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Social Phobia. The answers have been analyzed qualitatively by categorizing the answers firstly in groups of challenges and opportunities and further on in sub categories. Our finding shows that the flexible aspect is especially important to students as it gives them the opportunity to adjust their studying practices to their disabilities. Our conclusions are that the flexible study pace approach (FreeStartFreePace) is suitable for students with nonlinear work. It is also useful for students with mental disabilities who could have a problem adapting to schedules and conforming procedures.

The web today hosts thousands of web user profiles. These profiles contain information, which is sensitive – a reason why the information is protected from illegal use by privacy policies. This kind of information is at times referred to as online digital assets. Online digital assets are either hosted on private or government websites and online systems depending on where users are registered. There is a possibility that after death or impairment of a user, the confidentiality of online digital assets may be compromised due to absence of ownership and weak legal policies. This may result into privacy infringement of the owner, that is, the deceased or the impaired as well as other people related to the affected user such as those that have had sensitive conversations with him or her. Using Facebook as a case study, this research examined social web users’ opinions on privacy and online digital assets management (DAM) after death or impairment of a user. The study used an online questionnaire to collect opinions from 22 Facebook users. Results show that the majority of respondents consider privacy and online DAM to be important issues. On the other hand, other Facebook users think that privacy in social networking websites is a mere illusion. There are also users who are not familiar with the concept of DAM and do not have any means of managing their assets in case of impairment or death.

Mobile learning involves use of mobile devices to participate in learning activities. Most elearning activities are available to participants through learning systems such as learning content management systems (LCMS). Due to certain challenges, LCMS are not equally accessible on all mobile devices. This study investigates actual use, perceived usefulness and user experiences of LCMS use on mobile phones at Makerere University in Uganda. The study identifies challenges pertaining to use and discusses how to improve LCMS use on mobile phones. Such solutions are a cornerstone in enabling and improving mobile learning. Data was collected by means of focus group discussions, an online survey designed based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and LCMS log files of user activities. Data was collected from two courses where Moodle was used as a learning platform. The results indicate positive attitudes towards use of LCMS on phones but also huge challenges whichare content related and technical in nature.

Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) are important tools for organizing learning material and communication. Increasingly mobile technologies are used for internet access; particularly important in developing countries where broadband is scarce. Mobile LCMS introduce specific challenges, which are yet not fully addressed. This paper reviews the literature on mobile LCMS for the purpose of identifying current research focus, research gaps, and future research directions regarding how to bridge the gaps and leverage CMS technology to support “mobile learning”. The concept matrix method is used to collect and analyze literature. Five prominent research areas are found; Use, access, design and infrastructure; communication and collaboration; engagement and knowledge development; content and service delivery; and implementation experiences and evaluation. A major gap identified is that research does neither clearly nor thoroughly address the intersection between learning and technology. Adjusting technologies to learning contexts and environments is a key area for future research.

This study reports an interpretative case study investigating practices and challenges in an emerging m-learning environment at Makerere University in Uganda. The research was part of the MobiClass pilot project. Data was collected by means of observations and interviews with teachers and various m-learning support staff, including teacher trainers, systems administrators and a software developer. The Framework for Rational Analysis of Mobile Education (FRAME) is used as an analytic framework. The research focuses on how learning content management systems (LCMS) are implemented and used for m-learning purposes. We observed teacher training and m-learning content development practices and found that teacher skills for developing educational content, institutional m-learning policies and training programs are crucial success factors. The main finding is the importance of the support staff; it takes a long time to implement new technology and change teaching practices, support staff is needed to manage, inspire and support student and teachers.

This study aimed at investigating the user needs, practices, experiences and challenges faced in promoting transparency and accountability using ICT in low-resource communities. The research was conducted on two ICT4D (Information and Communication Technology for Development) initiatives, a call center, and a telecenter supported by two projects; (1) “Promoting Social Accountability In The Health Sector In Northern Uganda”, (2) “Catalyzing Civic Participation And Democracy Monitoring Using ICTs”. The two projects sought to fight corruption by increasing transparency and accountability using ICT to enable “whistle-blowing,” i.e., reporting misconduct in service provision. The projects are based in Uganda and are carried out by Spider (Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions) partner organizations: Transparency International (TI) Uganda and Collaboration International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA). Using interviews, focus group discussions and observations, the study addressed three research questions: (1) How have the two projects provided citizens a trusted and effective channel for “whistle-blowing”? (2) What are the enabling factors for whistle-blowing through ICT and challenges that affect whistle-blowers and how can the challenges be overcome?

The ICT service-delivery monitoring and reporting methods used by projects include toll free phone calls, blogs, radio talk shows, SMS and e-mail for reaching out; and processes for verification of reports and for communicating reports to government. There are results that indicate these methods are sound enough to serve the purposes of transparency and accountability, and the track record exhibits real change achieved in many instances. ICT users are optimistic and trustful of these ICT methods. Effective whistle-blowing includes efficient and effective reporting processes, convenience in reporting, actual service delivery improvements, availability and privacy, and affordability. There are also a number of challenges, including user education, gender issues, and general issues pertaining to the business model, including economic sustainability and finding the most effective scope of the operations.

Learning from anywhere anytime is a contemporary phenomenon in the field of education that is thought to be flexible, time and cost saving. The phenomenon is evident in the way computer technology mediates knowledge processes among learners. Computer technology is however, in some instances, faulted. There are studies that highlight drawbacks of computer technology use in learning. In this study we aimed at conducting a SWOT analysis on ubiquitous computing and computer-mediated social interaction and their affect on education. Students and teachers were interviewed on the mentioned concepts using focus group interviews. Our contribution in this study is, identifying what teachers and students perceive to be the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of ubiquitous computing and computer-mediated social interaction in education. We also relate the findings with literature and present a common understanding on the SWOT of these concepts.

Results show positive perceptions. Respondents revealed that ubiquitous computing and computer-mediated social interaction are important in their education due to advantages such as flexibility, efficiency in terms of cost and time, ability to acquire computer skills. Nevertheless disadvantages where also mentioned for example health effects, privacy and security issues, noise in the learning environment, to mention but a few. This paper gives suggestions on how to overcome threats mentioned.

Government websites offer great benefits to citizens and governments. Such benefits, however,cannot be realized if websites are unusable. This study investigates usability of government websites in Uganda.Using the feature investigation method, the study evaluated four Ugandan government websites according tothree perspectives. Results show that websites are partially usable in the design layout and navigationperspectives but are rather weak in stating legal policies. Evaluation results provide the Ugandan governmentwith a clear picture of what needs to be improved according to international website design standards. Moreover,the parsimonious evaluation framework proposed in the research is useful for any country that wants to do aquick and easy evaluation of their government websites.

This article discusses practices, opportunities, and challenges in local e-government project management by means of a case study involving interviews, document studies, and an element of action research, over eight months. The analysis against e-government success factors finds seven "critical issues"; political timing, resource allocation, political mandate, distinction between administrative and political responsibilities, coordination of departments, dependence on providers, and use of standards. We found these issues open for local choice, influences of strong individuals and groups, and chance. This is a consequence of the prevailing strategic model for the public sector, New Public Management, which leaves these issues to be filled by negotiations among many actors with different roles, goals, and action space. The general lesson is that there is a need for practical ways of acting strategically to reduce the risk level and increase the ability to implement policy. 

This paper seeks to respond to the research question: How does appropriation take place in the public sector in the development of end user applications by civil servants? Appropriation is defined as taking advantage of opportunities related to the development and use of applications, when the developer has in-depth knowledge of the problem domain and is also the primary user of the application. Our results showed that public servants who have deep problem domain knowledge can take advantage of end user tools (e.g. spreadsheet programs) in the problem- solving process to solve vaguely defined problems. Appropriation is manifested in the continuous development of various ICT applications. In this paper, we differentiate between first- and second-order appropriation. First-order appropriation takes place when the potential of the development tool is appropriated by the end user. Second-order appropriation takes place when an application is continuously developed and refined in parallel with the end user’s learning process and the development of organizational requirements.

Socratic questioning stresses the importance of questioning for learning. Flipped Classroom pedagogy generates a need for effective questions and tasks in order to promote active learning. This paper describes a project aimed at finding out how different kinds of questions and tasks support students’ learning in a flipped classroom context. In this study, during the flipped courses, both the questions and tasks were distributed together with video recordings. Answers and solutions were presented and discussed in seminars, with approximately 10 participating students in each seminar. Information Systems students from three flipped classroom courses at three different levels were interviewed in focus groups about their perceptions of how different kinds of questions and tasks supported their learning process. The selected courses were organized differently, with various kinds of questions and tasks. Course one included open questions that were answered and presented at the seminar. Students also solved a task and presented the solution to the group. Course two included open questions and a task. Answers and solutions were discussed at the seminars where students also reviewed each other’s answers and solutions. Course three included online single- and multiple choice questions with real-time feedback. Answers were discussed at the seminar, with the focus on any misconceptions. In this paper we categorized the questions in accordance with Wilson (2016) as factual, convergent, divergent, evaluative, or a combination of these. In all, we found that any comprehensible question that initiates a dialogue, preferably with a set of Socratic questions, is perceived as promoting learning. This is why seminars that allow such questions and discussion are effective. We found no differences between the different kinds of Socratic questions. They were seen to promote learning so long as they made students reflect and problematize the questions. To conclude, we found that questions and tasks promote learning when they are answered and solved in a process that is characterized by comprehensibility, variation, repetition and activity.

This paper is focusing IT-supported real-time formative feedback in a classroom context. The development of a Student and Teacher Response System (STRS) is described. Since there are a number of obstacles for effective interaction in large classes, IT can be used to support the teachers aim to find out if students understand the lecture and accordingly adjust the content and design of the lecture. The system can be used for formative assessment before, during, and after a lecture. It is also possible for students to initiate interaction during lectures by posing questions anonymously. The main contributions of the paper are a) the description of the interactive real-time system and b) the development process behind it.