This master thesis explores the nature of public participation as a central and most current subject in the field of urban planning. A first impression exposes a seemingly unanalyzed consensus on the values and benefits which public participation provides the process of urban planning. The city may be a concern to all its inhabitants; hence knowledge and opinions of the local public are of great importance for the urban development. But is there really something new to these assumptions, and are the advantages of increased public participation in urban planning always obvious?  By using action research as a main method, I have put myself into the context of the Swedish municipality of Nacka and their projects dealing with the development of public participation.

This master thesis is looking into the stories on the internet forum www.resedagboken.se. The stories of Swedish teenaged exchange students in the U.S. are studied and the main purpose is to see both what they are writing about and the reason for why they are spending their time writing down their experiences in a public forum.Even though most of the teenagers here are writing with a specific audience in mind, all the stories are free to anyone to take part of and this causes a difficult position for the teenagers who often seem to forget the public point of view when they are telling about their personal lives.The study is divided into two parts. The first one looks into the content of the stories and the other one focuses on the storytellers and their reasons for writing. The teenagers are writing both a lot about their everyday lives in their new environment, but also a lot of things to keep in touch with what their friends and family in Sweden are doing.

The conflict in the former Yugoslavia was characterised by extensive war crimes committed by all parties in the conflict. Two international courts, The International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, have both judged if a genocide was committed in this conflict. This paper examines how these two courts relates to each other concerning their legal judgement of the crime of genocide. Two cases are analysed; the judgement of Radislav Krstic´ at the ICTY and the case Bosnia and Hercegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro at the ICJ.

Flera rapporter de senaste åren har visat att eleverna i den svenska skolan läser allt mindre. Ärdet så eller väljer eleverna bara andra sorters texter än vi är vana vid? Den här uppsatsenssyfte är att undersöka om några elever i skolår åtta och nio läser, och vad de då väljer för sortstexter. Vidare skall det även undersökas om det finns några skillnader mellan flickors ochpojkars läsning och vad som skiljer sig mellan skolår åtta och nio.Undersökningen har gjorts med hjälp av en enkätundersökning i två klasser, en åtta och ennia. Enkäten tar upp elevernas läsvanor vad gäller sex olika sorters textforum, både trycktaoch digitala.

Purpose: Reading aloud to children and having a conversation about a book, which is read to them, has attracted much attention as important factors that influence children's language development. Language development for children is one of the most important tasks that the preschool- teachers have, and according to ?Läroplanet?, all children must have the opportunity to develop their language. The aim of this study was to examine how reading aloud, and by letting them speak about a certain book, ?boksamtal? impacts preschool-children`s ability to develop their language according to preschool- teachers.Method: I have used a qualitative method by interviewing four preschool- teachers.

Syftet med vår studie har varit att undersöka teaterns roll för skapandet av identitet hos deltagarna i en teatergrupp på Kvartersteatern i Halmstad. Vår samlade frågeställning är att undersöka hur teatern som forum påverkar deltagarnas identitet. Vi har genom våra metoder fått ett rikligt material till att kunna skriva en kvalitativ uppsats om teaterns roll i skapandet av identitet.Vi började vårt arbete på Kvartersteatern genom att ha en första kontakt med en av ledarna på teatern, efter det första mötet så hade vi fått en bild av teatern och dess verksamhet. Vi gjorde sedan deltagande observationer vid tre tillfällen vilka följdes upp med kvalitativa intervjuer. Vi gjorde en intervju med en av ledarna sedan ytterligare sju intervjuer med teaterutövarna.Vi har i vårt socialpsykologiska analytiska arbete använt oss av fyra olika teorier, varav en av dem har fungerat som huvud teori.

How effective is consumer power? Can consumers regulate corporate behavior?And if so is the case, could the mechanisms where consumers regulate corporatebehavior have any democratic value to contribute with? These are the questionsthat this master's thesis comprehends with. The purpose of this writing is toconstruct a theory of consumer power that is compatible with democratic theory,this in order to contribute to the ongoing discussion within the discipline ofpolitical science about the third democratic transformation. A discussion that hasbeen actualized due to the democratic deficit created by the growing corporatepower and the shift of power from state to private enterprises. Besides showingfor a parallel between the democratic mechanisms that exists in the relationbetween citizens and state on the one hand, and the consumers and corporationson the other hand, this paper argues that consumers do have a great potential inregulating corporate behavior towards a higher social responsibility andawareness.

Titel: Det sociala intranätet ? ett forum för information, interaktion och identifikationFörfattare: Jessika Hällerö, Emmy Nordin och Anna SalomonssonUppdragsgivare: Semcon ABKurs: Examensarbete i Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskapInstitution: Institutionen för journalistik, massmedier och kommunikation (JMG) Göteborgs universitetTermin: Vårterminen 2012Handledare: Malin SvenningssonSidantal: 52Antal ord: 15 020Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur Semcons konsulter reflekterar över sin organisationstillhörighet och hur de identifierar sig med sin arbetsgivare, samt att öka kunskapen om konsulternas inställning till och användandet av Semcons intranät.Metod: Kvalitativa samtalsintervjuerMaterial: Resultatet baseras på intervjuer med tio av Semcons konsulter.Huvudresultat: Genomgående för studien är att det tenderar att finnas en positiv och en negativ strömning i förhållande till frågorna. Vad gäller organisationsidentifikation finns det konsulter som identifierar sig med Semcon, konsulter som identifierar sig med arbetsplatsen samt de som är osäkra över sin organisationstillhörighet. Det råder även delade meningar kring hur ett socialt intranät kan medverka till att identifikationen med Semcon stärks. Vissa menar att ett socialt intranät kan bidra till identifieringen som Semconit, medan andra menar att det finns för lite information på avdelningsnivå för att uppnå detta.

Bakgrund och problemformulering - Vi har valt att studera och analysera i vilket avseende det sker user innovation på ett forum skapat av företaget Salesforce. Forumet är ett brand community för användare som utvecklar Salesforce tjänster. Frågeställningarna behandlar om det sker olika typer av user innovation och vad det är som driver användarna till att innovera på det forum vi har valt att studera. Vår studie syftar till att bidra med en bredare kunskap och förståelse kring ämnet då det finns begränsad forskning kring user innovation inom online brand communities idag.Teori - Begreppet brand communities förklaras utifrån Muniz och O?Guinns (2001) synsätt som innebär att ett online brand community är en samlingsplats på internet dedikerat till ett specifikt varumärke.

The aim of this work is to give an example of how archaeoacoustics can broaden our understanding of archaeological remains and to further contribute to the almost non-existing research of ringing stones. With a theoretical discussion about sound from three different perspectives and by means of using different kinds of analysis, this essay will show that there are unknown relations between the three known ölandic ringing stones and the cultural landscape of Öland. Possible patterns in the placement of the stones and the possibility of the sound in this soundscape will be investigated. The essay will also suggest a resonant stone typology and discuss the necessity of one. Finally, the intention is also to shed new light upon the discussion on what the uses of the ringing stones might have been..

Sustainable Development is often described as a balance between ecological, economical and social aspects. Between these exists a complicated interaction that creates conflicts in the planning of the landscape. We see a growing need for a functional interaction between values and interest and an understanding for different perspectives. Cooperation and dialogue are key ideas with the focus on cooperation rather than the goal. There is a lack of forum for dialogue and cooperation within municipalities where a great knowledge and competence are gathered.

This essay focuses on different aspects of the concept of freedom of speech. The purpose is to examine the opinions and thoughts that upper secondary school students have on rights, responsibilities and limitations when it comes to freedom of speech, and to investigate theirschool experiences of the mentioned freedom. Focus groups have been used as method and two group interviews have been conducted, one at a vocational and the other at an academic upper secondary school. Overall, nine students from the third grade participated in the interviews.The essay's results show that the students believe that everyone in society should have theright to be heard, whether you have extreme or divergent opinions. The interviewed studentsexpresses that all people have great responsibility for their opinions, however that, opinionsdiffer on how to interpret the concept of responsibility.

IT-stödd distansutbildning vid svenska universitet och högskolor är en allt vanligare utbildningsform. Denna kvalitativa studie söker studenters erfarenheter av lärande på LUMA-GIS: Masters´Programme In Geopgraphical Information Systems (GIS) vid Lunds universitet. Det är en helt nätbaserad utbildning som är designad att vara flexibel vad gäller studietakt, innehåll, material och arbetsformer och studenterna väljer själva om och på vilket sätt de kommunicerar och interagerar med andra studenter och lärare i kursens diskussionsforum online. Studien är empirisk och har en fenomenografisk ansats. Den syftar till att förstå och beskriva variationen i upplevelser av och perspektiv på lärande och interaktion i online forum.

The purpose of this Master Thesis was to study the reader in the informal reading group. To fulfil our purpose we have used the following questions: how did the reader become a reader and what does her reading look like, why do people choose to participate in a reading group, how may the group influence the individual member in her reading and interpretation of a book, does the reading group have a therapeutic function, how does the informant find the group dynamics and different roles in the reading group, and finally how does the informant experience the discussion in the reading group. We have used two studies about reading groups, one by Elizabeth Long and one by Jenny Hartley. Our theory is divided into reading and group psychology. We have interviewed seven women belonging to different reading groups.

The Slovak Language Law was adopted by the Slovak parlament in June 2009 and it becomea target for a lot of protests both outside and inside Slovakia. The Hungarian minority inSlovakia thought they were discriminated and therefore protested against the Language Law.The relations between Slovakia and Hungary are complicated and could have an impact on the discussion regarding the Language Law.The thesis is about the discussion that was raised in the Slovak media, in the thesisrepresented by some of the biggest newspapers in Slovakia, Pravda and SME..