Abstract   In this thesis, my aim was to investigate how preschool teachers view their involvement in children's free play. In order to answer this, I chose to do semi-structured interviews with four preschool teachers in three different preschools. My interviews has revealed similarities and support for as how history of research looks at the involvement of educationists. Both research and my results stresses the importance of being active in children's free play and to be a supportive teacher, particulary in conflict situations. For those children who have difficulty entering into the free game its the educationists task to co-play and help the children find the game.

AbstractIn this essay, I have performed a study on peer cultures and how these peer cultures are expressed in a group of pre-school children. My questions are as following:What positions/power positions can be seen in children?s play, and how will these be expressed?How do the children gain access to play?How do children act when they want to exclude other children?In order to understand this I have chosen to do observations as a method. In order to investigate these questions I chose to spend six whole mornings with a group of pre-school children, closely observing their behavior. The focus was on children, three years of age or older.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the consequences following an adaptation from literature to video game formatby comparing Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass with American McGee's Alice and,primarily, Alice: Madness Returns. In order to answer this, aspects of both game theory and literary critique are takeninto consideration, regarding for example the narrative potential of the game medium and the gameplay's possibleresemblance with Wolfgang Iser's theory of the reading process.The analysis shows in what ways the original narrative has been altered in order to fit its new medium. Some of thebooks' main ingredients are simply retold in the games' so called information spaces, i.e. text and video sequenceswhere the otherwise playable character is not controlled. Others, instead, have undergone a ludolization or ergodizationwhere the story events are experienced as playable elements in the games' action spaces.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the unintentional learning that happens during the use of computer games. With the use of interviews with students in the ages 13-15 who all have played the game series Assassin?s Creed, and then compared them with students who does not play the game, we have been able to identify that some learning is taking place, but that the student?s attitude towards the subject, and their maturity, also is vital for the learning. Even tough, the students who didn?t really enjoy history as a subject showed better knowledge after playing the game, than the students who hadn?t played at all, which indicates that computer games can be a good source for learning.

AbstractTitle: Interactivity and participation - a qualitative study about the making of machinima withWorld of Warcraft (Interaktivitet och och deltagande ? en kvalitativ studie kring skapandet avmachinima med World of Warcraft)Number of pages: 68 total, 50 without appendixAuthor: Peter BrandbergTutor: Else NygrenPeriod: Autumn 2006Course: Media and Communication Studies CUniversity: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala UniversityPurpose/Aim: The aim of this study is to take a closer look at the phenomenon machinima by analysing a number of specific movies from the site worldcraftmovies.com. This analyse is focusing on how the content of these movies relate to the wider game culture of the MMORPG World of Warcraft, what specific elements in the movies is referring to and if there is differences or similarities between different genres (or categories).Material/Method: The method used in analysing the movies is a combined method inspired by hermeneutic, semiotics and discourse analysis.Main results: Instead of answers this study raises many questions about the diverse content of the movies. A general division can be seen between movies focusing on the games rules and movies that are trying to present a fictive world. But the study also shows how there are many movies moving between these two points.

The Secret Fashion Council blends spirituality with fashion, art and design. This jewellery collection shows the connections between parapsychology and quantum physics, based on the study of matter and energy, that everything in the universe is built of vibrations. Many believe psychics have the ability to sense this. By using the skills of a psychic, the Secret Fashion Council invites the wearer to have the jewellery ?read? and evaluated in a most special way, tracing the wearer?s spiritual past, present and future.

During a political election the public?s interest in politics and political journalism increases significantly. During the American presidential election in 2012 a big amount of articles on that topic were published in two of Sweden?s largest newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet and Aftonbladet. Political journalism tends to frame politics as sports, game and scandals rather than focusing on the political issues.

Att använda sig av virtuella tv- och dataspel inom rehabilitering är ett relativt nytt medel som det finns begränsat med forskning inom. Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att beskriva till vilket ändamål virtuella tv- och dataspel används inom rehabilitering och vad det ger för utfall. Metod: En systematisk litteraturstudie användes som metod i uppsatsen. De databaser som använts är Amed, Cinahl, PubMed och Medline (via Ebsco). De sökord som använts är virtual video game, video game, computer game, rehabilitation, outcome, movement, playthings och occupational therapy.

Abstrakt I den här uppsatsen undersöks hur ett narrativ kan drivas inom digitala spel enbart med hjälp av spelmiljön. Syftet är att få förståelse för vad miljöberättande behärskar som en självständig form av berättande och vad författarna kan göra för att uppnå detta mål. För att undersöka problemområdet genomfördes en spelproduktion där metoder framtagna under undersökningens gång applicerades. Produktionen testades av utomstående studenter i medieteknik och resultaten sammanställdes med reflektioner kring vad som uppnåtts och de metoder som applicerats. Undersökningen beskriver arbetsprocessen och metoder och visar hur dessa kan driva ett narrativ med en spelmiljö.

AbstractThe purpose of the study was to examine if manual signs used as support to spoken and written language can be a god mnemonic for learning of word-pictures. I performed my study as an experiment in which I made a Memory game with word-pictures. I played the game with the children twice. The first time, we played without manual signs and the second time I used sign as a support. I observed the children and noted the words they learned to read with and without the support of manual signs.

 Den här uppsatsen har skrivits i samband med ett examensarbete som jag gjorde på Shortfuse, ett företag under bildning i Gothia Science Park vid Högskolan i Skövde. Det som jag har gjort under examensarbetet var att ändra vissa befintliga spellägen och att designa helt nya spellägen till fightingspelet Colosseum. Målsättningen är att utveckla nya spellägen utan att lägga till eller ändra på befintlig spelmekanik.Resultatet av arbetet ledde till en lösning på hur målsättningen kan uppfyllas, nämligen genom att kombinera befintlig spelmekanik på nya sätt. Men jag kom fram till att det ändå inte går att designa något nytt utan att ändra på spelmekaniken åtminstone lite grann. Slutsatsen är att den positiva inverkan en idé skulle ha på spelet måste övervägas mot hur mycket det kostar i form av tid och pengar.Dessutom ledde arbetet till beskrivningar av tre olika metoder för att komma på nya idéer.

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att kartlägga hur ett tänkbart samband mellan mode och varumärke kan se ut i modeföretag. Metod: En kvalitativ studie med ett abduktivt angreppssätt. Slutsatser: Sambandet mellan mode och marknadsföring i modeföretag är mycket starkt, även om branschen i sig, historiskt sett inte agerat som om så vore fallet. Centrala faktorer för modeföretagen med ett starkt samband i just dessa två begrepp är bl.a.: ? Överexponeringsproblematiken, det faktum att varumärken kan förbrukas.

Samverkansarbete har under det senaste decenniet genomgående förändrats bland svenska högskolor på grund av bland annat lagändringar, samhällsförändringar och internationell påverkan. År 1997 instiftades en samverkanslag i högskolelagen vid namn den tredje uppgiften. Den tredje uppgiften är idag en naturlig del bland svenska högskolor och syftar till samverkan av utbildning och forskning med det omgivande samhället. Diskussionen har varit omfattande när det gäller hur samhället och högskolan tjänar på att samverka, på vilket sätt det ska ske och hur man på ett konkret sätt kan påvisa de bästa tillvägagångssätten. Samverkan är ett brett och komplext ämne.

Episodic gaming is a relatively new phenomenon, that hasn?t been as extensively explored as other areas in game research. In this paper we research how episodic narratives and gameplay engage players compared to regular continuous storytelling. By exploring this we get a better understanding of how to design games that captivate players to the point of them wanting to play the next episode.  A user study is conducted where ten players play two episodes each of an episodic game. We apply observations and interviews to capture a large amount of empirical data.

Background: In today?s business environment it is important to find new customers. An action that has been widely used is to enter foreignmarkets. Most firms are always seeking to maximize their profits,which can be achieved if an entry into a foreign market is performed.Due the European Union (EU), new economies open theirborders for international trade and foreign investments. In 2004 Poland received membership.