This study means to research the importance and significance of the social and informal learning opportunities offered at a workplace. With Wenger?s theory about social learning and communities of practice as a starting point, this study will create understanding about how teachers at a school comprehend their opportunities for learning within the teacher community. The study is conducted at an independent school in Sweden, and is based on interviews with eight of the teachers employed at the school. The purpose of the study was to research how employees perceive how their social interactions with their colleagues can create learning, and what obstacles they might face along the way.

The purpose of the study was to learn how social structures can enable accessibility, by asking persons with visual impairment about their experiences of accessibility in the public environment in the city of Stockholm. Eleven adults with visual impairments, living in the city of Stockholm, were interviewed using two separate focus groups. The study was carried out with the objective to allow for the participants to be involved in the research process. The resulting data was analyzed on the basis of Nancy Fraser?s theory on social justice, focusing on the conceptions; needs, politicised needs, redistribution, recognition and misrecognition.

The foundation for this thesis lies in whether or not, and how, the body representation in printed commercials, specific products directed to the body (shampoo, body lotion etc.), has changed during the last fifty years. Four years have been chosen because of the changes in society that we believe might have had an impact. The commercials that have been picked out are the ones that best represent the general view of the body. We have found that the changes when it comes to body presentation has followed the social development to a certain degree, but it is difficult to say how much the society has had an affect on the body ideal in advertising. Representations of the male body is something that has escalated since the early 70?s, fifteen years earlier few commercials was made with male models, and the few there were, never showed more than the face.

Our aim in this work has been to redesign ModernFamilies and make a user-friendly interface for people with aphasia. The focus has been to identify general issues they might face while using different technology and applications, in order to find better alternative design for ModernFamilies, with a focus on usability. To approach this issue, we used a qualitative method. Our study includes several interviews and observations preformed in conjunction with the AGNES project (AGeing in a NEtworked Society) and speech therapists. Aphasia requires simple design that in the same time gives them support to understand and use technology and different applications.

Denna studie syftar till att undersöka användares subjektiva reflektioner kring olika interaktionsverktyg och deras användningsområden för att få en djupare förståelse för hur verktygen tillskrivs olika funktionella betydelser och alternativ mening i interaktionen och självpresentationen. Genom detta vill vi förklara hur fenomenet sociala medier påverkar människors vardag och interaktionen i samhället. Detta kan exempelifieras genom hur individer planerar och dokumenterar sin vardag för att kunna framställa sig på ett önskvärt sätt på sina online-profiler.Materialet i denna intervjustudie består av totalt sex intervjuer med personer i olika åldrar. Vi har använt oss av ansatsen semistrukturerad öppen observationsintervju, med motiveringen att detta ger oss möjlighet att studera reflektioner och handlingssekvenser samtidigt.Studiens slutsats är att användares interaktion på sociala medier i många avseenden liknar face-to-face-interaktionen mellan individer i deras vardag, då normer från det övriga samhället ständigt relevantgörs genom tillströmmandet och socialisationen av nya användare. Institutionaliserade användningsområden för olika interaktionsverktyg används som logisk utgångspunkt i hur verktygen används och tolkas, exempelvis hur användare genom dessa kan prenumerera på och visa uppskattning för andras uppdateringar och aktiviteter.

Examensarbetet handlar om OCR (Optical Character Recognition). OCR-tekniken går ut på att konvertera inskannade bilder från maskinskriven eller handskriven text (siffror, bokstäver och symboler) till datorformat. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att utforska OCRs framtid och vilka användningsområden som finns idag för tekniken. Det intressanta är att se hur OCR klarar sig när mer och mer material är digitala. Genomförandet till detta examensarbete har gjorts med information från böcker, Internet, mejl och genom att tittat närmare på ett företag inom den grafiska branschen som använder sig av OCR, nämligen Aftonbladet. Jag har även testat ett OCR-program, ABBYYs FineReader 8 och gjort tester med några testteman, exempelvis matematiktest och olika tester på artiklar från några tidningar. Mina slutsatser är att OCR har en framtid men tekniken har en del förbättringsmöjligheter, exempelvis tolkning av handskrivna texter. OCR kan finnas kvar även när mer och mer material blir digitala om det integreras i befintliga tekniker, som i ett spam-filter för att tolka texten i bilden.

It seems like Swedish municipalities are dominated by beliefs that all citizen participation is good for the development of local democracy. A critic of this certainty is rising among Swedish scholars of political science. However, a critic with an ambition of such generalization is harsh. Different democratic projects contents different qualities and thereby diverse problems in the democratic process. If these democratic problems within the process can be recognized, a deeper understanding can be found and in the prolongation a strengthening of the democracy.This essay examines the democratic process of Lomma municipality's democratic project of citizen participation.

The web is getting more and more characterized by personalization. Big socialnetworks like Facebook as well as the leading search engine Google increasingly usepersonalization algorithms to tailor the information that they present to users. All inorder to make the information more relevant and engaging for the end consumer. Howdoes this personalization affect journalists who increasingly search the web as a partof their journalistic research? In this essay we have looked at the effects thatpersonalization has on the journalists of tomorrow by conducting a survey amongstudents of journalism.

This study examines the cultural place and status of video and computer games in the Swedish public library. Using works on popular culture and the theories of Pierre Bourdieu, this study employs quantitative methods, as well as textual analysis, to analyze the results of an online questionnaire with 19 questions focusing on selection criteria, shelf placement, perceived competence, as well as reasoning for having or not having these games in the library. 286 out of the 440 libraries contacted is participating in the study, and the libraries consist exclusively of public libraries in Sweden that are found in the database of the Royal Library.The results of this study show that a larger number of libraries than previously indicated have started to provide electronic games to their patrons. At the same time, patterns in the data and comments suggests that these games in many cases still do not enjoy the same level of cultural recognition as other media. Indicative of this is the way most libraries seem to focus on the medium being exclusively for their young patrons, with seem-ingly very little in the way of investment for adults.

Sustainable design - a study on sustainable design and its incentives and barriersThe purpose of this study was to investigate the incentives and barriers existing within companies focusing on eco-design. The aim was also to examine the consumers? thoughts on eco-design and sustainable products. A further aim was to try to concretize important lessons for future work on sustainable production and consumption. Two methods were used for completing this study; a literature study and a practical study consisting of interviews with companies focusing on eco-design and a survey among students.

This essay ? Discourse and Dissonance ? deals with Mary Shelley?s gothic novel Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (1818). The focal point is the construction of ?Them and Us?, as defined by scholars such as Stuart Hall, viewed in terms of the following categories: race, gender and family, class, and sexuality. Rather than applying an outside perspective, e.g.

Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka om ansiktsattraktivitet hänger samman med kvalitet i vänskapsrelationer. Hypotesen utgick ifrån att likhet i ansiktsattraktivitet påverkar valet av viktigaste vän samt att en låg skillnad i ansiktsattraktivitet mellan personerna gynnar relationskvaliteten. Tidigare forskning har antingen undersökt attraktivitet eller vänskapsrelationer. Vår uppsats knyter samman dessa två faktorer. 150 tonårspojkars ansiktsattraktivitet bedömdes med hjälp av ett eget utformat instrument.

Body image in women with breastcancerBreast cancer is the second most common form of cancer in Sweden today. To get a breast cancer diagnose can be a traumatic experience for many women. It´s difficult to forsee how these women are going to control their situation. When a breast has to be removed because of cancer, the women has to adjust to changes in both physical and phychological aspects. The aim of this study was to elucidate body image in women with breast cancer after a mastectomy.

Syftet med uppsatsen var att beskriva hur ett svenskt multinationellt företag upplever kulturella skillnader under personliga möten i Kina. Avsikten är att även få en förståelse för hur företagen hanterar kulturella skillnader.Teorier som använts är Hofstedes och Trompenaars kulturdimensioner tillsammans med mer kinaspecifik litteratur.För att beskriva hur ett svenskt multinationellt företag upplever kulturella skillnader under personliga möten med kineser valde vi att utföra ett antal kvalitativa intervjuer av djuplodande karaktär. Respondenterna är nyckelpersoner i fallföretaget med god erfarenhet av den kinesiska kulturen och därför ansåg vi att djuplodande intervjuer skulle ge en rättvisande bild.Slutsatser: De största upplevda kulturella skillnaderna var vikten av relationer, face, synen på tid och initiativförmåga. Det visade sig också att det finns effektiva metoder för att hantera dessa skillnader och på så vis dra nytta av dem..

In this study we have aimed to explore how participation and self-determination is implemented in the daily life of disabled people who receive support through LSS. The questions addressed concern possibilities/obstacles for the participation and selfdetermination of disabled people who live in group housings, and how the terms participation and self-determination are realized. Nine interviews have taken place with staff members and directors of different group housings. We have found that the interviewees believe that the nature of a person?s disability can be a barrier to the individual?s self-determination and participation in his or her everyday life.