Our time is characterized by the development of new technologies that facilitate communication between people. The need for Video Mediated Communication (VMC) is increasing because people move to other locations due to migration and global mobility. VMC provides the opportunity for millions of people around the world to ?hang out? and see each other despite the distance in between. The world is "shrinking" because of the Internet and our perception of distance is changing.VMC is becoming increasingly available, in the form of applications like Skype and MSN for mobile phones and computers, and in addition, it?s practically free.The purpose of this thesis is to render a picture of the way in which people use Skype in the private sphere.

The subject of this paper is to examine the view of diversity among ten teachers and three principals in the Swedish compulsory school. The purpose is to investigate how they relate to the diversity and in what ways it is involved in their work.The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieus basic ideas of habitus, capital and field are used as a theoretical starting point. The study is mainly based on interviews supported by literature in the subject area.The findings show that diversity is associated with ethnicity among all informants. The drawn conclusion is that this is partly due to the mediated picture but also since ethnicity mainly serves as a starting point in the literature..

The aim of this paper is to investigate the subject matter of visual communication in presentation brochures of two Swedish regions: Region Halland and Region Dalarna. My focuses are the following questions: what is the aim of the brochures and in what ways does the visual material relate to that aim? How can strategic communication be defined through a visual perspective and in what ways is it useful in the context of presentation brochures of the regions? What sort of communicational functions are specific for the visual material in relation to the written language of the brochures? Lead by these questions, I start by analyzing the brochures through a textual analysis and a social semiotic approach. The result shows that the aim seems to be both political and commercial, but that the visual elements relate more strongly to the commercial aim than to the political aim by the way they strive to present a positive image of the region. The visual elements work in strategic ways that I define as visual strategies.

This study examines how the local rescue services relate to the brand of the rescue service and the concept of brand management. To understand the attitudes against the brand and brand management, empirical data, theoretical modelling of brand and current laws have been discussed together in a try to get an overview how the rescue services practically works with the brand. The study results are based on a questionnaire survey and qualitative semi-structured interviews. The survey was sent to employees working with the communication of the rescue service. The interviews were held with two employees working with the communication of the rescue service and two fire chiefs.

The study examines how social media can be used in a business-to-business context. To understand the communication conditions, factors has been identified that affects the choice of communication channels for different types of information transferred between parts. Furthermore, the study investigates the underlying reasons for why certain communication channels are chosen before others, in different situations. The study results are based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with employees in a small engineering consulting company. The investigation has focused on employee communication and choice of communication tools primarily in relation to the business relationship.

The purpose of this study was to examine how modern information and communication technology influence collective action within the framework of social movements. By studying the protests in the Arab World 2011, and focusing on the social movements in Suleimanya in northern Iraq, by observation taken on place, the essay discusses that collective action is closely related to the use of technology, for example cell phones and Internet.Result shows that modern communication technology has enabled immeasurable access andconnection between individuals throughout the world, which seems to be different from previouscollective action. The new communication channels in the form of social media, has been used for the dissemination of information and news, documentation, organization and membership recruitment in the social movements in the Arab World and Suleimanya. The new social movements have the tendency to be decentralized and flattened organized, they are now self-organizing and that they only do a whole as global patterns, as evidenced by the social movements in the Arab World andSuleimanya..

Purpose/Aim: The purpose is to describe, analyze and compare the two communication campaigns Världens Chans and Utrota Fattigdomen Nu, and discuss how and to what extent communication campaigns in Sweden can be used to reduce global poverty. The theoretical framework is mainly based on communications strategies and other relevant aspects of the planning process of campaigns.Material/Method: Within the qualitative case study as an overall method, the main material to the two cases is obtained through five qualitative interviews with the premier representatives of the campaigns.Main results: Världens Chans can be seen as an information campaign by the government which purpose is to contribute to the fulfilment of the millennium goals by drawing the attention of the public to their existence. Utrota Fattigdomen Nu, on the other hand, is an influence campaign by the civil society which purpose is to exterminate poverty by putting a pressure on power holders and to change the attitudes and the behaviours among the public. Both campaigns are based on a network with lots of different actors, functioning as opinion makers. Furthermore, communication campaigns are important tools in the fight against poverty..

In organizations today Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming a common means to try to gain legitimacy and credibility for their business. A successful CSR strategy has the potential to generate positive outcomes for a company and reaching out to stakeholders about the corporation?s contribution in the field is an important part of the work. In this study I examine how the employees at Max Hamburgare receive the corporation?s efforts within sustainability, how it is perceived and what this means to the employees.

During the last couple of years it has been more important to reduce the driving on the field to prepair the soil after ploughing. The machine costs are high so it is necessary to be effective. To reach a pleasant soilbed directly after ploughing is sometimes possible on easier soils but heavier clay soils always need more tillages. There is a lot of equipment mounted on the ploughs on the market, for example Furrow Cracker and Furrow presses, which makes a pleasant soilbed on easier soils. The last year Överum and Kverneland have presented knives which are mounted on the wing or moulboard.

Nathalia Edenmont is a controversial and uncompromising photo artist who has caused the whole world to rage over her obscene photographs. In this thesis I have researched Edenmonts artistry with help of the sociologist Pierre Bourdieus field analysis. By using Bourdieus's different field concepts I have researched Edenmonts artistic career by concepts such as habitus, consecration and different principles.The starting point of this research has been that Nathalia Edenmont is in the autonomous artistic field. I give examples of images that have been highly debated and I have collected information of how Edenmont sees her own images and her artistry. In this thesis I show amongst other things an example with Edenmonts photograph of dead rabbits with Elizabethan hair styling, cut up mice that work like finger puppets and children who are bound up in wire.Nathalia Edenmont autonomous artistry is deeply rooted in her background and the environment in which she was raised.

Through a sociocultural perspectivethe purpose of this study is to investigate how preschool teachers look at quality development in preschool and how they perceive their participation in this development.I have used a qualitative method based on five interviews with preschool teachers from three different parts of Sweden. I used an interview guide with open questions. The interview answers were categorized in themes based on the responses which were most frequent. In the result I have been using an analysis based on these themes. The result showed that the preschool teachers consider that the leadership style affects their work.

The aim with this essay is to emphasize the problems that ethnical belonging causes at schools today. We have chosen to examine and compare two schools with each other, one school is called ?the new school? situated in Stockholms kommun and the other school is called ?the old school? belonging to Huddinge kommun. We have had contact with these two schools for a longer period as substitutes and students. This essay is based on how these two schools prominently differ from each other.

Our study aimed at gaining insight of co-workers experiences of different factors that affects the verbal communication and leads to dialogue and misunderstanding between co-workers and their managers. The empirical material was gained from semi-structured interviews with co-workers at various departments within the same organization. We used a hermeneutic interpretive approach and our data was analyzed concerning different factors affecting communication. The result has been interpreted using the theories of deliberative conversations and dialogue competence. We have also used Illeris theory of learning.

The worldwide industrial demand of energy, often in form of fossil fuel, is continuously growing and at the same time these resources are coming to an end (Hamamre, 2013). The interest and focus in renewable sources are then more important than ever and plants are suggested to be a good alternative for production of raw material for industrial purposes (Nilsson et al., 1998). But the world is also facing an increasing world population which also increase the nutritional needs, plants therefore need to be suitable for both industrial and nutritional purposes. To achieve this, common plants need to be improved but it also need new potential crops to be developed and introduced (Carlsson et al., 2009). Modern technology like gene engineering is an important tool to achieve these challenges (Carlsson et al., 2011). This work focused on analyzes and evaluation of different transgenic lines of field pepperweed (Lepidium campestre L.).

This study aims to build a deeper understanding of how differences in identities and communication can affect the possibilities of achieving a successful merger between companies from different type of industries. Our study is of qualitative nature and looks into the specific merger between Företagshälsovården AB and Managementkonsulterna AB. The study builds upon 16 semi structured interviews which are carried out with employees from both parts of the organization and with management personnel. Firstly our study shows that the different identities existing within the different parts of the organization, highly affect the integration process after a merger. Secondly we show that the level of communication transmitted from the management, but also between the different parts of the organization, affects the possibilities of creating a successful merger.