This thesis presents a new way of providing library users with reference services, namely Chat (text based digital reference service in real time). Our research questions focus on the role of reference service, a comparison of Chat reference to other reference forms, and the interest for real-time, digital reference. Our literature review covered the areas of digital reference and reference theory, the results of which showed that an ongoing debate hardly exists among Swedish librarians on the topic of reference work. We interviewed librarians from the three different Swedish Chat reference projects existing at the time of our study. Most interviewees were very positive about Chat reference.

The youth of today grow up with all the new ways to communicate that new technology provides. A lot of young people Chat on the Internet. Adults often lack experience and knowledge about this way to communicate. This is a study of teenagers and adults values and views on teenagers online Chatting. It focuses on area of use, meaning and effects on young people.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether social counselling via Chat conversations could meet the criteria for a professional conversation, and how the six social workers who were interviewed felt that it had affected the profession and the clients who are seeking their help.Communication, professionality, power, roles and regions are the key topics of this study. A hermeneutic approach has not only influenced the interviews but also the content analysis that was used to encode the results.The interviews revealed that the Chat conversations was a successful tool but not entirely without difficulties. The initial contact making between the client and the social worker favours the client, since she/he remains anonymous and that was the main advantage of the method. The biggest concern however was that in the anonymity it is not possible to report cases that the social worker are obligated to. The changing of forum does not necessarily affect the professionality but due to the faceless Chat conversation an entire dimension of communication disappears because the loss of body language.

Ten years ago the public computers with Internet access were introduced in the public libraries. The purpose of the public computers was to give the possibility of searching information. Along with the Internet came also communication media like Chat and e-mail. This type of communication was a new function for the libraries and the reactions among the librarians were mixed. It has been a source of big frustration and attempts to block it has not succeeded.

My paper deals with SMS and IM language's impact on students' language in school. Text messaging and instant messaging involves several simplifications and abbreviations for the user to be able to write quickly and short but in the same time have made them understood by the recipient. The spelling, punctuation and use of capital letters are also of a secondary importance when writing via the text Chat. My purpose with this paper is to investigate the prevalence of SMS and Chat language in student texts, using students in the senior level. My respondents were asked to answer a questionnaire and write a text to a picture.

The new technology brings new opportunities for the language. The language, which is used when Chatting or messaging, is full of linguistic devices, which facilitates writing and saves time and space. The purpose of my investigation is to find out if the Chat- and- messaging- language is affecting the students' way of writing in school.To find out about this I have examined 79 essays written by students in grade 9 during the national test 2006. I have also to found out if the occurrence of these features differed between boys and girls. In addition, I have let the same students who have written the essays answer questions regarding their Chatting- and messaging- habits.The conclusions I have attained through my investigation shows that 58 % of the students are using features which are typical in Chat and messaging language.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether social counselling via Chat conversations could meet the criteria for a professional conversation, and how the six social workers who were interviewed felt that it had affected the profession and the clients who are seeking their help.Communication, professionality, power, roles and regions are the key topics of this study. A hermeneutic approach has not only influenced the interviews but also the content analysis that was used to encode the results.The interviews revealed that the Chat conversations was a successful tool but not entirely without difficulties. The initial contact making between the client and the social worker favours the client, since she/he remains anonymous and that was the main advantage of the method. The biggest concern however was that in the anonymity it is not possible to report cases that the social worker are obligated to. The changing of forum does not necessarily affect the professionality but due to the faceless Chat conversation an entire dimension of communication disappears because the loss of body language.

Större kommuner och industrier använder alltmer automatiserade processer för tjänster och rutinerså som kundcenter och felhantering. Flexeurope AB är ett företag med flera års erfarenhet av auto-matiserade processer och arbetar med att definiera, visualisera, konstruera och optimera processer.Företaget utvecklar även ett webbaserad IT-system för processhantering, kallat flexiteBPMS.Inom en kommun eller industri arbetar ofta flera handläggare, ibland uppemot hundratals, med atthantera ärenden i processer. Detta ställer krav på att handläggare kan kommunicera med varand-ra. Effektivare kommunikation där handläggare snabbare får svar innebär effektivare hantering avärenden. Marknaden har till följd av detta uttryck önskningar om att möjliggöra en form av realtids-kommunikation kring ärenden i flexiteBPMS.Med detta som bakgrund har det här arbetet undersökt, planerat och genomfört en integration av enXMPP-baserad Chatt med flexiteBPMS.

The aim of this master thesis is to gain greater knowledge of interpersonal communication. This study explores on one hand how interpersonal communication can be used as an important part of reference work in a Swedish electronic synchronous reference service, and on the other how interpersonal communication affects the relationship between user and librarian. By using communication theory and establishing a positive relational contact with the user in the electronic environment, the outcome of the reference encounter can be successful for both the librarian and the user. Furthermore, the importance of recognising relational barriers is of great relevance to the relational contact. The scope of this master thesis is to find what relational factors are used and can be used in the interaction between user and librarian.

Detta examensarbete syftade till att utveckla en tredimensionell virtuell miljö, där användare kan konversera och umgås med folk från hela världen. Miljön skall vara åtkomlig via en webbplats och vara kopplad till Lovemates, en Chat utvecklad i Macromedia Flash 5.0. Examensarbetet bestod av följande delar: • Undersöka vilket webbläsarplugin som var lämpligt att använda till en sådan applikation. • Utveckla Lovemates3D med hjälp av valt plugin. Uppgiften löstes genom att söka på Internet efter tänkbara webbläsarplugin, jämföra dess för- och nackdelar med varandra och välja ett av dessa som plattform vid utveckling av Lovemates3D.

Bakgrund: En kvalitativ studie av arbetslivspedagogik i en särskild kontext vid en arbetplats med dubbla funktioner, arbetsplatsen är delvis rehabiliterande utöver sin funktion som arbetplats. Syfte:  I studien  belyses expansivt lärande utifrån möjligheter som kan finnas i den undersökta organisationen. Studien syftar till att  belysa lärande möjligheter inom  organisationen  KRIS och Unga KRIS, Halmstad. Beskrivning sker utifrån ett medarbetarperspektiv. Metod:  Studiens empiriska material insamlades genom  en enkät med Cultural- Historical Activity Theory (Chat).

This master thesis is a study of a new electronic library reference service-project called Speak instantly to a librarian and the purpose of the thesis is to investigate a new electronic reference service and how the librarians who work with it experience it. This should be seen from an informational society point of view. The study is conducted from two questions: - What needs do the libraries have and how do they argue for the project and the Chat-reference service Speak instantly to a librarian? - How do the librarians experience the personal work situation in the new reference service, and its use of Chat technology? Together with interviews of a selected group of librarians from the public libraries of Göteborg, Malmö, Nacka and Stockholm, this thesis includes aspects such as the theory of the informational society by Manuel Castells, as well as literary studies of the history of library reference, the development of electronic reference service and the virtual library, and the background and the beginning of the studied project Speak instantly to a librarian. The thesis also contains an overlook of other similar library projects in the United States of America.

Title: Nätdejting för olika åldrar (Netdating for different ages)Author: Henri NekmouchePurpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate what influence the medium Internethas had on building up relationships between people who have dated online, and tocompare two different age groups.Method/Material: In this study the author has conducted personal interviews with sixpeople who all have experienced Internet dating, and had their first contact with agirlfriend/boyfriend online. The questions asked were designed to help answering thepurpose of the study.Main results: This study shows that in general there is a positive view of Internet datingamong both groups. They appreciate the opportunities it provides, as they get to knowthe other persons personality first. Even so, it should be noted that they still tend to be abit ashamed to talk about Internet dating, and some don?t want to be associated with it.The communication pattern tend to be pretty much the same among both groups.

This report describes a master thesis performed at SICS (Swedish Institute of Computer Science) and KTH (The Royal Institute of Technology) in Stockholm.Ajax stands for "Asynchronous JavaScript and XML" and it's not a programming language, but a suite of technologies used to develop web applications with more interactivity than the traditional web pages.Ajax applications can be adapted for mobile and constrained devices. This has been called Mobile Ajax. While the technique is the same, Mobile Ajax generally is considered to be a special case of Ajax, because it deals with problems specific to the mobile market.The purpose of this thesis has been to examine which possibilities and disadvantages has the Mobile Ajax from developers and users perspective. In addition we compare Mobile Ajax with Java Micro Edition (Java ME) and Flash Lite.This has been done through literature studies and development of a databased Chat client (MAIM -Mobile Ajax Instant Messenger). The application sends and receives direct messages in real time between differently mobile devices.

Halmstads kommun har sedan två år använt sig av den externa företagshälsovården Previa i beställningsarbetet gällande företagshälsovårdsinsatser och efterfrågar en undersökning av detta beställningsarbete. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att ur ett verksamhetsteoretiskt perspektiv undersöka beställare och leverantörers beskrivningar av beställarkompetensen av företagshälsovård och att skapa förutsättningar för ett expansivt lärande. Metod: Undersökningen genomfördes genom kvalitativ forskning där en egen metoddesign inspirerad av Change Laboratory och fokusgruppsdiskussioner användes. Två diskussionsträffar genomfördes tillsammans med beställare och leverantörer av företagshälsovård där bland annat motsättningar och positiva aspekter av beställningsarbetet diskuterades. Teoretisk referensram: Beställningsarbetet belystes genom hela studien ur ett Chat-perspektiv där yttre faktorer ansågs ha betydelse för kvaliteten på beställningsarbetet.