Purpose – This paper aims to focus on academic library managers’ learning practices in the context of cooperative work supported by computational artefacts. Academic library managers’ everyday work is mainly cooperative. Their cooperation is supported predominantly by computational artefacts. Learning how to use the computational artefacts efficiently and effectively involves understanding the changes in everyday work that affect managers and, therefore, it requires deep understanding of their cooperative work practices.

Design/methodology/approach – Focused ethnography was conducted through participant observations, interviews and document analysis. Ten managers from a university library in Sweden participated in the research. A thematic method was used to analyse the empirical material. Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) and work-integrated learning was used as the conceptual lens.

Findings – Five learning practices were identified: collaboration, communication, coordination, decision-making processes and computational artefacts’ use. The findings show that learning is embedded in managers’cooperative work practices, which do not necessarily include sufficient training time. Furthermore, learning was intertwined with cooperating and was situational. Managers learned by reflecting together on their own experiences and through joint cooperation and information sharing while using the computational artefacts.

Originality/value – The main contribution lies in providing insights into how academic library managers learn and cooperate in their everyday work, emphasizing the role of computational artefacts, the importance of the work context and the collective nature of learning. It also highlights the need for continual workplace learning in contemporary knowledge work environments. Thus, the research generates contributions to the informatics field by extending the understanding of managers’ work-integrated learning in their everyday cooperative work practices supported by computational artefacts’ use. It also contributes to the intersection of CSCW and work-integrated learning.

Computational Thinking (CT) pervasively shares its methods, practices, and dispositions across other disciplines as a new way of thinking about problem-solving. Few studies have been carried out studying CT from an Information Systems (IS) perspective. This study elaborates on how systems thinking (ST), an acknowledged theory in the IS field, bonds to CT to address some well-known common issues related to CT such as reductionism and dogmatism and to supplement the computing nature of CT with behavioral and societal facets involved in its implications. We studied how ST is applied to CT research in the literature. To do so, two primary approaches have been identified that link ST and CT. First, ST is embedded in CT practices meaning that ST is considered as a component of CT. Second, ST and CT are parallelly studied, and ST is considered as a supplementary concept to CT. Correspondingly, we propose a complementary approach that looks at CT from the ST lenses to provide a clearer picture of CT in an educational context. Moreover, we expect this new perspective can help to broaden the development of educational CT concepts and scenarios by including new notions such as framework, interpretation, norms, paradigm, and context.

The role of research in national development is crucial when it comes to creation and dissemination of knowledge. The initiative of establishing a Swedish National Research School model in Kosovo motivated the research community to strengthen the national research by supporting the institution to increase the research capacities and triggering the idea of establishing research institutes and PhD programs in the niche fields of ICT domain through an EU funded project, entitled: Development and Implementation of PhD ICT in Kosovo Education Systems.

The establishment of the Nordic influenced National Research School (NRS) in Kosovo, phased a number of challenges, especially when it comes to the physical and cultural constrains of Kosovo society and how the education system operates. 

Today, the NRS in Kosovo in proposed to be installed in one of the three models generated as a result of EU funded project. Model C, operating as a virtual collaboration among universities that are affiliate in the school by sharing the pool of research experts and its research infrastructure. Model B is similar to Model C, but the virtual collaboration is among the research Institutes as part of the Universities. Whereas, Model A operates as a National Institute (National Research Hub) established as part of Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MESTI), similar to four running Institutes that MESTI currently has. 

The 2nd Linnaeus Student Conference on Information Technology (LSCIT) was held for two days between September 24 and September 25, 2020 in the Växjö campus of Linnaeus University. There were also online participants from different countries as well as different parts of Sweden.

This paper discusses the coordinated use of the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) learning cycle with additional bodies of knowledge. This approach furthers focused understanding and appreciation for taking action within social systems. Adapting the SSM learning cycle extends the richness of the real-world situation understood from an analytic soft systems perspective to encompass the appreciation of a problematical situation using additional bodies of knowledge to explain and explore. Examples illustrate using SSM to foster learning and improve teaching in a research education practice, in a national level research project and, further, in professional in-service at advanced level education.

Due to new technological developments and the ongoing digitalization, the traditional retail sector is currently exposed to major challenges. Digital Retail started with the development of e-commerce, when online companies,such as Amazon, began selling products online. These major online global players are still growing much faster than their smaller European retail competitors. As the absorption of buying power through online retailers, is dominated by global players based in Asia (Alibaba, Rakuten) and the United States (Amazon, eBay), Europe is experiencing a loss in revenue.

In this highly competitive market, traditional European brick-and-mortar retailers face hard challenges. However, studies show that most customers currently do not prefer pure online retailers, but a hybrid model, since traditional stores provide them with the opportunity to experience products and to receive personal advice from experts. This paper is a contribution to on-going research on the business model transition to include digital channels in traditional retail companies and to integrate various channels that support and streamline personal customer requirements. Thus, the paper explores challenges and opportunities for omnichannel management in the digital retail industry.

Digitalization has affected the status quo of every industry and retail is no exception. Omnichannel isthe new norm in today’s retailing. The days of managing and highlighting ecommerce and digitalchannels are over, now the time is for omnichannel retailing. The shoppers are already omnichanneland this puts pressure on retailers to be omnichannel as soon as possible. In the last few years, academicians as well as practitioners have proposed omnichannel management as the future of retailing.However, the reality looks different; the knowledge about omnichannel management and the omnichannel transition is fragmented in the current literature. This research sheds light on the extant knowledge on omnichannel retail drivers and transition journey. The purpose of this study is to illuminate how the omnichannel concept is used and propose a model for outlining the transition from singlechannel to omnichannel. Moreover, contemporary research on omnichannel drivers and challenges are provided, as well as areas needed for further research.

The digitalization of society brings many opportunities and challenges, especially on how we organize the welfare society in the future. This becomes especially pertinent as we are heading toward a global increase of older people, which will strain healthcare and bring the challenge of building sustainable solu- tions. In this paper, we argue that the unsustainable solutions within healthcare are due to them being defined and ‘solved’ with a single approach or approaches used in silos. We advocate that a more sustainable solution could be achieved by combining systems thinking and design thinking perspectives throughout the entire process—from problem definition to solution offering. A benefit of such combined perspectives is the ability to develop a shared context among all stakeholders, which helps uncover unique tacit knowledge from their experience. This will serve as a solid foundation to generate unconventional ideas that will lead to sustainable and satisfactory solutions.