!is began as a product design challenge, which stipulated broadlythat the designer be ?inspired by a subject?, whose ideas would leaddown a path of product idea evolution. From there, the goals forthe end-product would undergo rigorous revisions, re-de#nitionand re#nement. !e end-product itself would be the result of anentire thinking process.!e subject I have chosen is: Time. I want to challenge and evenalter our conventional sense of time, using principles ofdesign.

This master?s thesis investigates how six Swedish public libraries integrate equality aspects in their user oriented activity. The theoretical starting point for the study is that Sweden is a part of a gender system characterized by gender separation and male superiority, as described by the Swedish historian Yvonne Hirdman and theories that argue that femininity and masculinity are social constructions. Another starting point is that the library sphere cannot be separated from the gender inequality in society. Since the library is part of a gender system that value individuals who are seen as males and separates men and women, some of the library users may be neglected.

My point of origin concerning this thesis was an interest for how school may develop students? reading comprehension. International surveys show that the results for Swedish students? performance regarding reading comprehension have declined and the current curriculum, Lgr-11, emphasizes the importance of incorporating this into all school subjects. The special teacher education programme has raised the awareness concerning the importance of including the students and that learning is achieved in an interactive setting.

This study investigates the individual usage of the Dublin Core metadata format in three Swedish Subject Based Information Gateways, SAFARI, Svenska miljönätet and Svesök. The authors also present the reader with an overview of the metadata concept and explains in particular the Dublin Core Element Set. The approach to the study is investigation of Dublin Core application from the viewpoint of three major issues, user friendliness, interoperability and quality control. The study includes an in-depth comparison of the three different metadata templates, as well as interviews with people in charge of the metadata production at the respective SBIGs and users of the respective SBIGs« templates. The study shows that the three SBIGs are more similar than they are different.

Andersson, Madelene (2007). Specialpedagogens roll och specialpedagogiska åtgärder, inom förskolan, i en decentraliserad kommun. (The assignment of an educationalist for special needs education and special needs measures, within pre-school, in a decentralised municipality.) Syftet med mitt arbete är att få en inblick i hur organisationen i en decentraliserad kommun är uppdelad när det kommer till specialpedagogen och dennes arbete, samt belysa vad som ligger till grund för rektorernas beslut när det gäller specialpedagogiska åtgärder och specialpedagogens roll i organisationen kring detta arbete. För att få svar på min frågeställning om hur specialpedagogiska åtgärder, inom förskoleverksamhet, har strukturerats i en decentraliserad kommun och vilka konsekvenser det ger för specialpedagogens roll har jag använt mig av kvalitativa intervjuer. I undersökningen medverkade en områdeschef, två rektorer och tre specialpedagoger. Resultatet visar att i den decentraliserade kommun där undersökningen genomförts finns det inga specifika metoder, på lokal nivå, för att organisera specialpedagogiska åtgärder.

The intention of this essay is to describe the problems with loss of books at three Swedish University libraries. It?s based on interviews with librarians. The library codes of ethics, the library law and the terms of reference of the libraries are central for my understanding. Interview results: Little was being done to stop theft.

Today multi-touch technology is the basis for many new techniques designed to improve interactions with computers and mobile devices. It seems that multi-touch screen interface makes the user handling very natural in the sense that there is no need for a manual in how to interact with the object on the screen. The aim with this paper is to establish a fundamental set of design principles intended specifically for large multi-touch interfaces. To reach this goal we have implemented a couple of sub-goals beforehand: It was essential that we acquired a good understanding of the current state of the multi-touch interface and the different implementations that exist today. To make this possible we constructed a multi-touch display, "Rosie". Knowing how the hardware is produced today will help us understand the limitations and also the possibilities of the design implementations today and in the future. We also needed to devise a sound interaction design process that conveys the modern designers work.

Syftet med vår studie var dels att belysa vilket (special-)pedagogiskt perspektiv som avspeglas i den enskilda pedagogens matematikundervisning, dels skapa förståelse för hur pedagoger uppfattar att undervisning kan relateras till elever som inte kan tillgodogöra sig de grundläggande kunskaperna i matematik. Under författandet av vår studie fördjupade vi oss i litteraturstudier som berörde begreppen matematiksvårigheter och dyskalkyli. Som analysverktyg i studien har vi använt oss av det relationella och det kategoriska perspektivet samt begreppen makt, kapital, habitus och fält. Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär och vi utförde fem intervjuer och fem observationer med pedagoger som är verksamma i grundskolans tidigare åldrar (år 1-6). Resultatet visade en tendens till att majoriteten av pedagogernas inställning till begreppen allmänna matematiksvårigheter och dyskalkyli samstämde och att det förekommer elever i skolan som har svårigheter att lära sig matematik.

The communicating home concept has been defined byidentifying the dominating communication technologiesto/from and in the homes, the most important customerbehavior and user needs, the dominating products and thedominating actors of the industry.The evaluation of the communicating home industry has beenperformed with a five forces framework analysis and theoriesregarding value migration and value structures of industries. Ithas been concluded that actors of communication technologies,goods and access services will compete fiercely. The barriersof entry will however be high. When it comes to contentservices the situation is completely different. These actors will,to the largest extent, meet lower competition and low barriersof entry.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the use of IT, that is the Internet and other applications of personal computers, among seniors 65+. It also deals with issues of access to IT for seniors in public libraries. The theoretical background of the study consists of Rogers "Diffusion of innovations", Hektors categories of information activities, and the Swedish IT-commissions categories of motives and prerequisites for the use of IT. The research questions focus on factors motivating the use of IT, the extent and the purposes of IT use, the consequences and the barriers that IT-users experience, and views on IT in public libraries and IT courses, respectively. Qualitative interviews were carried out with nine senior IT-users.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka likheter och skillnader i undervisningen som finns mellan en grundsärskoleklass och en grundskoleklass. Undersökningens metod är strukturerade observationer genomförda av två observatörer i en grundskoleklass och i en särskoleklass på samma skola. Olika aspekter av undervisningen observerades, av vilka några kan anses utgöra förutsättningar för en inkluderande undervisning. Dessa är: samarbete mellan pedagoger i undervisningen, ledarskapsmodeller, cooperativt lärande (samarbetsinlärning), dynamisk pedagogik samt samarbete mellan pedagoger i problemlösande undervisning. Resultatet visar på likhet mellan de båda skolformerna beträffande användandet av en organismisk modell med ett demokratiskt ledarskap, där grundsärskolans pedagoger endast använder det aningen mer frekvent än grundskolans pedagoger.

The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate how the public library can support adult learning through collaboration with other actors in the community. This is done by examining the activity of Linköping municipal library towards the user group adult students. The questions raised consider; the political view of supporting adult learning, the role of the public library, who are the actors in Linköping, the experiences of collaboration and finally what promotes and restrains collaboration. The investigation is done as a case study with qualitative methods. The qualitative methods was found to be the most appropriate for this study, since the majority of the empirical material has been collected through interviews.

The purpose of this report is to contribute with knowledge about the views within special education. I want to explore and compare the way students with special needs are approached within two different pedagogies in Sweden: Waldorf pedagogy and Montessori pedagogy.I have closely studied these pedagogies, read the literature from existing research and also by conducting two interviews with a representative from each pedagogy Both pedagogies claim that their teaching methods are most suitable for children with reading and writing difficulties..The Waldorf pedagogy was founded in 1919 in Germany by Rudolf Steiner. The pedagogy believes in the development of the students into independent children who can use their bodies as a tool for the learning of knowledge. The Montessori pedagogy was also founded in the beginning of the nineteenth century and stands for developing the students into independent individuals. However, the pedagogical approach to reading, writing and dyslexia is different.

Today multi-touch technology is the basis for many new techniques designed to improve interactions with computers and mobile devices. It seems that multi-touch screen interface makes the user handling very natural in the sense that there is no need for a manual in how to interact with the object on the screen. The aim with this paper is to establish a fundamental set of design principles intended specifically for large multi-touch interfaces. To reach this goal we have implemented a couple of sub-goals beforehand: It was essential that we acquired a good understanding of the current state of the multi-touch interface and the different implementations that exist today. To make this possible we constructed a multi-touch display, "Rosie". Knowing how the hardware is produced today will help us understand the limitations and also the possibilities of the design implementations today and in the future. We also needed to devise a sound interaction design process that conveys the modern designers work.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the user service discourses in the field of public libraries that can be identified in four Swedish library journals. Also which underlying causes that control the discourses and the consequences of them are examined. Questions in this study are: which discourses can be found, what characterises them, what kind of different discourses concerning technology in society control the user service discourses and what are the consequences of them. The theoretical starting-point is Ernesto Laclaus and Chantal Mouffes discourse theory. The method is text analytic.