The aim of this master?s thesis is to examine the virtual reference service Ask the Library [Bibblan svarar] from a postmodern perspective. Ask the Library is a Swedish online reference service that is run by the country?s public libraries. The postmodern theories of Jean-François Lyotard are used to study how information is managed and transmitted within the service.

Användandet av Web Services har ökat de senaste åren, det är relativt lätt att utveckla dessa tjänster och de kan användas i de allra flesta miljöer. Ett bekymmer är dock säkerhetsfrågan. Denna uppsats studerar de vanligaste teknikerna för att säkra Web Services, beskriver hur de kan användas samtidigt diskuterar fördelar och nackdelar med flera av dem. Till sist ges förslag på hur Web Services i olika typer av miljöer kan säkras..

This study explores the relatively new phenomenon of online poker. More specifically, it elaborates on who the online poker player is, why s/he plays online poker, what the fascination of the game is, why s/he continues to play, and what the experience is. The study is delimited to focus on individuals who mainly play Texas hold?em online. The empirical material is based on semi-structured interviews with active online poker players, as well as on secondary data such as articles and literature.

Public libraries have an important roll of making information accessible to all people. This democratic right supports the cultural development in our society. When public libraries build websites offering information and services it can sometimes cause obstacles for impaired users. It is therefore our purpose to evaluate a selection of websites and library plans to examine how the libraries work with accessibility for these users. This thesis is based on theories of cognitive and human computer interaction, and information architecture.

The Internet offers an abundance of information. This information is easy to access in technical terms, however it is difficult to find. At present there is a wide variety of search services to choose from. This master's thesis is about selecting the appropriate search service for a certain question. Are different types of services suitable for different types of questions, and if so, which services for which questions?To answer this, I have undertaken one theoretical and one empirical study.

Online Behavioral Advertising betyder att man spårar användares beteende över Internet för att kunna skapa skräddarsydda annonser till användare baserat på deras internetaktiviteter. Det är kostnadseffektivt och ger möjlighet för företag att skapa relevanta annonser för internetanvändare. Online Behavioral Advertising möts ofta av motstånd eftersom att företag inkräktar på den personliga integriteten när man samlar in information om människor för att skapa annonser. Samtidigt har användandet av så kallade blockeringstjänster ökat, det vill säga tjänster som gör att internetanvändare kan ta bort annonser från hemsidor. I denna uppsats undersöks hur unga människor i Sverige ställer sig till Online Behavioral Advertising och blockeringstjänster samt vilka samband som finns mellan dem.I denna studie har vi använt oss av både en enkätundersökning och av intervjuer för att se hur människor resonerar kring Online Behavioral Advertising och blockeringstjänster.

A new phenomenon on the Internet is the online audience response. Mentimeter is a web-based tool where you can create online polls. The users can then cast a vote and the result is shown in real time. We want to test the information visualization in Mentimeter and we base our hypothesis, that a better graph design is possible, on the work of Edward Tufte and Stephen Few. Edward Tufte is an emeritus at Yale University, where he held courses in statistical evidence and information design and has created theories about how visual information should be designed.

Our study illustrates the nature and characteristics of the virtual world Second Life. We have identified that the online community aims to satisfy hedonistic needs through social and conspicuous consumption, for online use only, concentrating on socially accepted identity construction..

With this research we aimed to seek how youth workers express their experience of counselling on the internet compared to traditional counselling face to face with a theoretical ground in semiotics and symbolic interactionism. Our questions were 1) How do youth workers describe their experiences from anonymous, faceless online counselling? 2) How do youth workers experience the differences between online counselling and the traditional face-to-face counselling? 3) Which possibilities and difficulties do they see in online communication with adolescents? We used semi-structed interviews with seven youth workers. Six of those are active in non-profit organisations, and one in social services. The results from our interviews showed that the interviewees saw that misunderstandings were more frequent on the internet, but that online counselling with adolescents still was easier than in the face-to-face meetings.

TV and radio services have always been distributed over analogue broadcasting networks and been received on a TV -set or a radio receiver. Today this situation is changing due to digitalization and convergence between broadcasting, telecommunications and data communications. Other terminals, such as a PC, can also receive TV and radio services. Digital TV and radio can offer additional services such as e-commerce, electronic program guides and content synchronized to the TV and radio shows. If these services are to be received by several receiving terminals with different properties, the services must be adapted to the terminals.

E-commerce is becoming more common in Sweden and many Swedes buy clothing and sporting goods online. Online fashion retailers offer a visually pleasing range of products, which places greater emphasis on the aesthetic design of the online retailer. This paper examines how the perceived credibility of an online fashion retailer is influenced by the aesthetic design through a first impression. This study was conducted through ten interviews where the informants observed, assessed, and then discussed the online fashion retailers that were used in this study. Results show that recognition of an aesthetic design and a perception of usability and professionalism affects the perceived credibility in a positive way.

The increased interest in relationship marketing and the potential of the Internet as a platform for relationship building activities have given rise to new ways for companies to interact with their customers, such as services based on a freemium pricing model. Based on the premise that relationships are processes consisting of interactive moments of value-creating activities, value is considered subjective, relative and dependent on the context in which the activity takes place. Value is therefore variable given its context and cannot be pre-defined without nuances being lost. Despite the Internet's given role in societal development, our understanding of what contributes to customers' intentions to build relationships with online services is yet to mature.As the music industry is well established on the Internet, alongside the change in how music is consumed, it is thus appropriate to examine activities in accordance with a freemium based service that distributes music online, since it still lacks in academic understanding.This study aims to provide insights about virtual relations and how online services that provide cultural content should relate to there users as well as contributing to the ongoing academic discussion regarding value and how it is manifested by highlighting contextual impact on relational activities. For a rapprochement of relations to online services in cultural industries, this study assumed a practice perspective.

Ragnarök Online en plats på nätet, ett online-spel, där människor från hela världen möts och samverkar. Det är i detta möte personer emellan som den virtuella miljön Ragnarök Online skapas. Målet med denna uppsats är att visa på hur människor interagerar i, och skapar denna plats på nätet. Varför spenderar folk tid i virtuella miljöer? Är det annorlunda att agera i en virtuell miljö? Dessa är några av de frågor vi kommer att möta i texten.

A company library can only exist if it contributes to a positive result for the company. As endusers are beginning to perform searches on the Internet and have access to databases and electronic documents via their desktops it becomes important for company librarians to thoroughly think through what services should be offered to the users so that the library still contributes to the company s profit. The aim of this dissertation was to try to define the services that the company library offers its users having in mind the changes that have taken place concerning the availability of information. I also wanted to explore whether the librarians had the necessary competence to perform the services offered. Six information specialists were interviewed to give their view on the services their libraries offered.

Uppsatsens undersökning bygger på en studie av den officiella Scientologikyrkans hemsida: www.scientologi.se. Den frågeställning varpå uppsatsen främst baseras på är: På vilket sätt förmedlar Scientologikyrkan sitt budskap via www.scientologi.se? Tidigare forskning kring ämnet är väldigt knapphändig vilket motiverar valet av uppsatsämne. Uppsatsens teoretiska utgångspunkt baseras på Christopher Hellands begrepp religion online och online religion. Studien lägger därför stor vikt på huruvida Scientologikyrkans svenska hemsida är en religion online eller en online religion.