Within any ecosystem, information needs are shared to be fulfilled and to support the ecosystem in a way or another. They are vital for designing appropriate information systems that will provide those needs. In this thesis, the gravel road ecosystem is studied, where efficient information sharing is not enabled due to the lack of appropriate information systems. Thus,when focusing on the gravel roads ecosystem, information plays a crucial role regarding the maintenance acts upon these roads. Moreover, not enough literature investigates theinformation needs of gravel roads stakeholders with the aim to improve the maintenance ofthese roads.

Therefore, this thesis intends to elicit information needs of gravel road stakeholders by performing an exploratory case study. The case study forms a part of an ongoing project with the goal to build a cloud-based information system for a sustainable gravel road maintenance. Data were collected through telephone- and online-based interviews with several key stakeholders in Sweden and were thereafter structured through template analysis. The major findings were a set of information needs and several needed sensors within the pre-mentioned information system. This thesis concluded that the future cloud-based information system in the ongoing project is a useful system for sharing vital information among future gravel roads stakeholders, considering the variety of needed information that affects the maintenance of the gravel roads.

Abstract

Information and communication technology is used in healthcare in Sweden to improve health quality. Electronic Health Records are one of the technologies in healthcare which can increase a patient’s involvement in his/her healthcare and decision-making related to it. The patient can discuss the treatments, analyses and medical information stored in Electronic Health Records. The aim in this study is to investigate how the Electronics Health Records can be improved to motivate refugees in Sweden who cannot speak Swedish. This research is a qualitative interpretive case study. The methods used in this study are observation and interviews. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis. The findings show that refugees don’t receive information or instructions about how to use electronic health records properly. The language is the biggest hurdle to use electronic health records for refugee patients without knowing Swedish language. The findings further show that the electronic health records can be improved by adding sound or translated medical information in the diagnosis part of the electronic health record. This research might contribute to the healthcare process of any country in the world which has refugees and they use electronic health records.

Purpose: This study explores both library users’ and librarians’ experiences, benefits, and challenges depending on the implementation of digital technologies in academic libraries. The research has been taken place in two Greek academic libraries; In the Panteion University Library and in the Central Library of T.E.I. of Athens.Approach: Two research questions were developed for this research to be conducted and a sample size of 55 respondents (39 library users and 16 librarians) of the Panteion University Library and Central Library of T.E.I. of Athens, was evaluated.Findings: From the findings of the study, it was concluded that the general perception of both library users and librarians towards digital material and E-resources and services of the Panteion University Library and Central Library of T.E.I. of Athens, is satisfactory. Library users were satisfied with the convenience of digital material, the availability of E-resources provided by both academic libraries such as World Wide Web, WIFI, and online databases. They were not satisfied with library technology (i.e., computers) and library staff. Besides, results showed that services such as e-mail and Open Public Access Catalogue were used more often. Librarians were less satisfied with the digital library system, the limited personnel, and the financial funds for academic libraries in general.Implication: The results of this research have implications in the stakeholders of an academic library including the institutional management, the library administration, the librarians, the library users, the researchers, the community at large, and others.Value: This paper identifies critical issues related to the utilization of digital technologies and digital material; their benefits and challenges faced by librarians and library users as well as their effective operation from academic libraries in this information age.

Cloud computing popularity has continued to be on the increase side, and it has been significant contributory factor to the of 24/7 365 days business culture of the digital 21st century where data and data centers are accessed via the internet through any connected device, anytime and from anywhere. Higher Education Institutions (HEI) or Tertiary Education Institution (TEI) are also among organisations, medium and large, that are tapping into this trend by gradually adopting this technology to reduce their high budgets in the prevailing face of financial shortage. This has particularly made the technology attractive to TEI in developing countries, and more of them are adopting the services being offered by cloud computing. The adoption of this technology however, affects the way and manner by which IT services are being delivered traditionally by the TEI IT or ICT departments. The objective of this study therefore, is to explore the adoption of this phenomenal technology and its impact on the role of traditional IT department in one of the tertiary education institution in the South Western part of Nigeria. The TOE framework adoption model was used to explore the adoption factors, and interviews conducted within the ICT department of the institution as part of the empirical findings process. In contrary to popular belief, no member of the IT staff has lost his or her job yet based on the adoption despite the impact on the skills and culture in service delivery of the department. IT staffs were encouraged to adapt to the change as quickly as possible with trainings given, and the ICT, thus the HEI have value added as most of the services are now available on a 24-hour basis to users, even while off campus and far remote, a dream very difficult and near impossible in the days of full traditional IT services delivery.

Aims/Objectives: The objectives of this thesis were to examine and discuss the existing information and communication technology (ICT) tools used in the healthcare sector for older adults with dementia, the benefits and challenges of using these ICT tools from the perspective of older adults with dementia and their health care providers. Research methods: Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with older adults with dementia and health care providers and managers at a nursing home in Nigeria. All interviews were audio recorded with the consent of the research participants and then transcribed verbatim. All interview transcripts were analyzed using qualitative content analysis using the deductive approach. The coding scheme used for data analysis was derived from an existing framework called the Human-Organization-Technology fit (HOT) Framework. In addition, existing literature were reviewed on the use of ICT tools by older adults with dementia, their caregivers and their health care providers. Empirical findings: A total of six participants were interviewed for this study: two older adults with dementia, two nurses and two managers (one senior manager and one manager from the medical team). One older adult was 72 years old and was diagnosed with dementia one year ago. The other older adult was 70 years old and was diagnosed with dementia two years ago. The nurses that I interviewed have been working at this nursing home for 3 and 4 years respectively. The mangers that I interviewed have also been working at this nursing home for 3 and 4 years respectively. Two ICT tools are currently being used at this nursing home: 1) a GPS tracker and 2) a device that assists older adults with their daily activities. Eight themes emerged from the interviews: system quality, service quality, user satisfaction (perceived usefulness), system use, user expectation, organization structure, organization environment and net benefits. Conclusion and Future research: This study demonstrated that older adults with dementia and their caregivers (i.e. nurses) perceived the GPS tracker and the ADL assistant as userfriendly and helpful for supporting the daily activities. Most of the existing research on ICT tools used for dementia care have been conducted in North America and Europe. Therefore, there is a need for more research in Africa.

In educational institutions, the use of technology has been used to compliment face to face learning or used alone to deliver the educational needs and learning process for distance education. Where used alone, it is said to be online learning and where it has complimented traditional learning it can be said to be hybrid or blended learning. Before the pandemic, the question of choice or the voluntary use of these technology was there, and the student determined what was best suited for their educational and learning needs. This study looks at the how the students related with technology during the pandemic. It looks at constructs like performance expectancy, fit for use, effort expectancy, fit for task and ends with investigating the student’s perception on intention for future use. Using a mixed approach, the perception of students was sampled. First by using a quantitative method, hinged on the novelty of the disruption to reveal areas that could be of potential interest and then a qualitative method followed. The purpose of using a mixed method approach was for completeness and complimentary reasons. The results of the qualitative data and quantitative data were bridged to form meta-inferences, and these were used to answer the research questions and discuss the findings.

The study revealed that technology was easy to use without little or no technical issues, it was fit for the task at hand, it aided the students to achieve their academic goals and needs, but intention to retain the use of technology for future academic activities was not welcomed. This was due to social factors like lack of motivation, feeling of isolation, lack of social interaction been missing but available in traditional classes. these are critical factors that affect the retention of technology for future use. In the presence of choice, they would rather go back to the traditional mode. They integration of technology with traditional mode of learning, i.e., blended mode of learning was highly welcomed.

Trots de svenska medborgarnas ökande krav på digital självservice via e-tjänster, går införande trögt hos kommunerna. En anledning är den relativt låga kunskap som finns i området. Främst vad gäller avancerade e-tjänster som förutom att öka medborgarnas tillgänglighet, insyn och delaktighet i sina offentliga ärenden, även ska minska den administrativa hanteringen för att istället låta mer av resurserna gå till kärnverksamheten. I den här kvalitativa fallstudien studerades hur en kommunal verksamhetsprocess utvecklas vid införandet av en e-tjänst. Hur slöseri kan identifieras i processen informationshantering och informationsflöde och hur dessa förändrats efter att e-tjänsten införts. Resultatet baserades på material från intervjuer och analyserades utifrån Leans kategorier av slöseri och teorin om Microsystem. Resultatet visade att slöseri som uppstår i informationshantering och informationsflöde mellan enheter eller microsystem kunde identifieras om alla microsystem kartlägger processen tillsammans. Mycket slöseri hade tagits bort i utvecklingsarbetet och lett till en smidigare och troligtvis mer effektiv process. Ett antagande men som även bekräftades av personalens upplevelser från testförsöken. Processutvecklingen tillsammans med e-tjänsten har säkerställt delar av processflödet där antalet informationsöverföringar blivit färre och på så sätt troligtvis även minskat risken för att missförstånd och felhantering ska uppstå av informationshanteringen.

This thesis aimed to study the everyday use of ICT-enabled memory aids in order to understand and to describe the technological mediations that are brought by them (i.e. how they shape/mediate experiences and actions of their users). To do this, a post-phenomenological approach was appropriated. Postphenomenology is a modified, hybrid phenomenology that tries to overcome the limitations of phenomenology. As for theoretical framework, ‘Technological Mediation’ was adopted to conduct the study. Technological Mediation as a theory provides concepts suitable for explorations of the phenomenon of human-technology relation.

It was believed that this specific choice of approach and theoretical framework would provide a new way of exploring the use of concrete technologies in everyday life of human beings and the implications that this use might have on humans’ lives. The study was conducted in the city of Växjö, Sweden. Data was collected by conducting twelve face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Collected data was, then, analyzed by applying the concepts within the theoretical framework – Technological Mediation - to them.

The results of this study provided a list of ICT-enabled devices and services that participants were using in their everyday life in order to support their memory such as: calendars, alarms, notes, bookmarks, etc. Furthermore, this study resulted in a detailed description of how these devices and services shaped/mediated the experiences and the actions of their users. 

Att vid 18 års ålder tvingas ansvara för sina handlingar är för många ett stort steg, inte minst då en del av ansvaret är ekonomi. Ungdomarna vänder sig ofta till föräldrarna med frågor, men var ska de vända sig när föräldrarna inte har svaret? Bankerna har börjat söka sig lägre ner i åldrarna med sin marknadsföring för att fånga kunden innan denne blir myndig, men fortfarande är det många frågetecken kring informationen ungdomarna behöver.

Uppdraget var att undersöka vad ungdomar behöver för information i en webbplats riktad mot ungdomar från banken. En undersökning genomfördes med en enkätundersökning med 100respondenter och tre olika fokusgrupper som genererade att ungdomarna känner att banker är alldeles för avlägsna. En minskad distans skulle medföra att ungdomarna lättare vänder sig till banken vid frågor kring sin ekonomi vilket i sin tur medför att deras intresse kring privatekonomiska frågor ökar.

Designförslaget som presenteras fokuserar mycket på en funktion med textbaserad personlig service med co-browsingfunktioner som tillåter en bankman guida den unga kunden genom webbplatsen. Strävan är att ungdomarna ska känna en samhörighet till banken och lättare kan få alla typer av frågor besvarade då de var osäkra på vilken information de behöver. Om man inför en sådan tjänst bör användbarhetstest och utvärderingar på designförslaget genomföras för att kontrollera om distansen mellan bank och ungdom minskar.

Education is a sector that has the potential to become a critical area of action for the full exploitation of ICT. Educational systems of developed and developing countries have an ever-increasing tendency to apply ICT to education, in an attempt to prepare their students for the future's society. This thesis attempted to explore what kind of ICT is used in the Greek Primary Schools and develop an understanding on the relationship between the ICT and the teachers. The philosophical background is post-phenomenology and the methods chosen for collecting data for this research are policy document analysis and interviews. The empirical findings show that various ICT are being used in the classrooms of the Greek Primary Schools,  others widely and others occasionally. The research compares the legal framework revolving around ICT in Primary Schools in Greece, with the teachers' own experiences and shows that the guidelines suggested by the Greek Ministry of Education cannot be followed easily, due to economical and pedagogical reasons. It also investigates the ICT's effects on the teachers and the students through the teachers' own words and perceptions. The effects are mostly positive, there are mentioned however, some negative ones to take into consideration. Finally, the research presents a number of sectors where the participant teachers suggested there is room for improvement. By comparing the legal framework with the situation in the Primary Schools, this research adds a new perspective to the previous literature. The findings show that the current situation can be improved and the teachers' statements may trigger further research.

A North American university is engaged in a large transformation project involving the wholeorganisation. Students, Lecturers, departments and additional questions from the shared leadership team are engaging in defining the services offered, in particular from the university library and its associated sub-services. It is an exciting time for the University as it seeks to not only define its services but also how these can be created and consumed.There are many aspects to this re-organisation and many items to be addressed. In this report,we look at the current situation at the University, as well as taking into account the aspirations of the stakeholders. We start by drawing out a Rich Picture, part of Soft System Methodology (SSM) (Checkland, 1981) which we use in order to spot opportunities that are available for further exploration. Much of the information that we use comes from material supplied by the University itself as well as interviews with the Head of Library services and Head of Library IT. We look indepth at how SSM assists in this process of evaluation through its focus on participation and how it may assist us to understand the many different perspectives collected in our research. SSM consequently assists in defining problems with solutions to any areas that have drawn our attention. Following the evaluation of collected data, discussions and our own observations, we identify that a digital wall that is being proposed for the redesigned library presents an opportunity to explore possibilities for exploitation of this technology. Further research on other digital walls such as Brisbane’s Cube (Abdi et al, 2014), and Auraria Library’s Discovery Wall(Burch, 2016) shows some of the uses that these walls have been put to and how the Institutions use them. We then use a number of models to evaluate the data that we collected on digital walls and from the North American University and analyse it in order to inform our thinking. These models can be used independently or collectively to evaluate data from different perspectives. As such we were able to look at problems and solutions from the perspective of many of the actors involved in shaping the future library services. These models and results are discussed in the report. Finally, we take our results and make a number of proposals for the North American University digital wall along with the relevant justifications at the end of this report.

The Internet of things and its collaborative technologies such as 5G, cloud, artificial intelligence, analytics, and automation will allow people and objects/devices to communicate not only with each other but with anything at any time and anywhere using the internet. Nowadays, people interact with different smart devices daily. Keeping in mind technology’s evolution, it is estimated that each of us will own roughly 15 linked devices by 2030. Therefore, we cannot neglect the impact of this technology on virtually everything and the various risks associated with such emerging technologies.

The goal of this thesis was to better understand the phenomenon of the Internet of Things and more importantly, what security, privacy, and trust threats are associated with it. And how these threats can be overcomed. Moreover, how IoT devices are perceived in terms of privacy and security by people and what factors they must keep in mind while buying, using, and disposing of such devices. Literature review and interviews were made to better understand the issues of privacy and security in IoT devices and people’s understanding of them. A general inductive method proposed by the grounded theory was used to analyze the obtained data, and answers were grouped into categories to identify different themes within the data. The results of the interviews and data showed that people’s top priorities with smart home IoT devices were interest in technology, comfort, a better lifestyle, energy savings, and cost savings. People were unaware of the gravity of security and privacy issues by and large, and they had no idea how to counteract them.

Common uses of smart devices include virtual assistants, smart heating, listening to music, getting weather and traffic updates, smart lighting, smart lock systems, and fitness gadgets. The results can be seen in the empirical findings and discussion chapters. These results will also be published on relevant Facebook groups and in the local newspaper, Valbyavisen. Data showed IoT understanding and use of technology were directly proportional to the age factor. Young people were more aware and excited as compared to older ones. Finally, some suggestions were presented on how to buy, use, and discard IoT devices. Future research directions were also presented to conclude the thesis report.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the role of IT specialists in systems integration during M&A processes including the issues faced during the process and provide suggestions based on experience from top management staff and IT specialists about improving the merger-IT integration process.

Methods: In-depth interviews with open-ended questions were conducted on ten individuals belonging to the senior management of the companies under the study. The collected data were transcribed and analyzed and coded using qualitative thematic analysis to derive categories and themes.

Results: The analysis resulted in 5 themes and 14 categories from a total of 39 codes. The analysis revealed the implications of "Underestimating the importance of IT" and analyzed the "Preferred IT integration approach" methods followed by the participants. The coded data also revealed the "Perception of management toward including IT and IT experts" and the “Issues faced in the M&A process due to the delay/non-involvement of IT experts". The results of the analysis conclude with the "Perceptions of managers toward the timing of IT integration" and suggestions from the participants based on their experiences.

Conclusion: The five themes obtained from the qualitative thematic analysis from the interviews of ten participants suggest that IT and IT specialists were a necessary and core function of the M&A process. The analysis also recommends senior management responsible for the merger or acquisition engage IT, specialists, during the early stages of the process to enable better IT integration and follow a centralized approach towards merging the IT systems.

Diagnosing and treating abnormalities in the wrist, specifically distal radius, and ulna fractures, is a crucial concern among children, adolescents, and young adults, with a higher incidence rate during puberty. However, the scarcity of radiologists and the lack of specialized training among medical professionals pose a significant risk to patient care. This problem is further exacerbated by the rising number of imaging studies and limited access to specialist reporting in certain regions. This highlights the need for innovative solutions to improve the diagnosis and treatment of wrist abnormalities. Automated wrist fracture detection using object detection has shown potential, but current studies mainly use two-stage detection methods with limited evidence for single-stage effectiveness. This study employs state-of-the-art single-stage deep neural network-based detection models YOLOv5, YOLOv6, YOLOv7, and YOLOv8 to detect wrist abnormalities. Through extensive experimentation, we found that these YOLO models outperform the commonly used two-stage detection algorithm, Faster R-CNN, in fracture detection. Additionally, compound-scaled variants of each YOLO model were compared, with YOLOv8 m demonstrating a highest fracture detection sensitivity of 0.92 and mean average precision (mAP) of 0.95. On the other hand, YOLOv6 m achieved the highest sensitivity across all classes at 0.83. Meanwhile, YOLOv8x recorded the highest mAP of 0.77 for all classes on the GRAZPEDWRI-DX pediatric wrist dataset, highlighting the potential of single-stage models for enhancing pediatric wrist imaging.

Nowadays, the growth of mobile apps is so fast and viral; they have the potential of transforming our everyday lives by creating huge opportunities to individuals and businesses. This translates into a growing demand for developing such apps, which need to be easy to learn and use. In this paper, we conduct an evaluation of an android mobile app, which we designed and developed to find and register power outlets in public spaces. Our evaluation of the prototype consisted of two stages. First, we provided the users with two tasks, with an additional option to indicate their perception of how easy it was to complete these tasks. Second, upon completing both tasks and offering their comments, participants were asked to take the SUS (System Usability Scores) questionnaire. The results of the evaluation indicate that the app usability and learnability is acceptable despite being a prototype. The findings and participants’ comments give us a direction on how this app can be improved in the future.

The practice of using video conferencing systems for health care provider-patient meetings is becoming increasingly more important. Here, we reviewed literature on the subject, with the aim to provide a set of factors and perspective on what has been noted as important for the success/failure of the use of video in consultation meetings. Mostly, previous studies have focused on the outcomes, how well video works for the patient-care professional meeting, when it comes to affecting expected outcomes of the consultation. However, we focus on the contextual factors that have been noted in research on the topic and aim to gather these from a wide range of studies on video used in a home environment. We discuss the results of the study in the broader context of the implementation situation of video consultations systems, providing factors, barriers, and perspectives as well as a general context to use or non-use of the systems. Hence, we provide knowledge that can be taken into account by the designers and developers of such systems.

This paper discusses a social and cognitive approach to the planning and implementation of knowledge support systems in a health care organization. A case study is presented and then discussed using a broad theoretical frame of reference gathered from the knowledge management field. The discussion is an illustration of the delicate trade-off between social and cognitive perspectives of a development project. The assumption is that these two aspects must be handled in an interconnected and balanced way. The aim of the paper is to illustrate the use of multiple perspectives as a tool for understanding how this problem can be dealt with.

This paper presents the experiences of setting up a knowledge triangle project in the software development field as an approach to teaching in the area of information systems and information technologies. The case includes an international dimension of the IT industry as it interconnects several countries. The cooperation between company and university is a pedagogical tool for creating an educational situation which conveys motivation and broad perspectives to the student. However, this brings in a number of problems and a generally higher level of complexity. This paper explores a case that illustrates the complexities and presents a generic model of a setup for a knowledge-triangle-based educational situation. Its model adopts an increasingly important aspect of IT education, namely how to prepare students for the globalized nature of the IT industry. The final discussion focuses on issues concerning the use of knowledge triangle thinking, including complexity, measurements, pedagogy and organization.

The road towards a digital organization is partly technical but also about the skills and mindset of the personnel of thecompany. As the technological base for digitalization is fairly straightforward, the ways of supporting change in people are notevolving as rapidly. This paper suggests an approach to continue learning in an organization, based on concepts aroundpedagogical theory, learning patterns. This theoretical framework is transferred into a business setting, and the consequencesare discussed from the digitalization perspective.

While living longer at home is the preferred option for the elderly, disease, accidents or general health decline might make this hard. Fall accidents, which are among the chief causes of unforced injury leading to hospitalization, must be viewed as a strong factor working against the possibilities for the elderly of living longer at home. Although many fall prevention programs have been developed and applied, and checklists and advice abound, most of these originate in the professional care area or depend on care professionals. In this paper, we present a fall prevention concept directed towards elderly people living at home, with the intention of providing a safer environment ensuring more years of doing this in a healthy manner. There are several obstacles for a successful implementation of fall prevention, many pending on the attitudes and thought systems of the elderly user community, including low risk awareness, technological stigmata, refusal to be associated with health problems and a general “not for me” world view. The paper presents an AI/IoT-driven learning environment for fall prevention which facilitates living independently and improved self-understanding to provide for easier everyday living. The central design idea is to lead the user through a learning process including acquiring knowledge of fall prevention, personal characteristics, taking fall prevention action and understanding the outcomes of changed behaviors. The concluding outcome is a discussion of a set of design variables for the effective implementation of fall prevention systems, including a holistic view of fall prevention and aging, open platform technologies, a flexible and adaptable module approach, feedback-based learning, IoT/sensor-driven learning, personalization and goal orientation and the dual use of technology avoiding technology stigmas.

This paper presents a literature review of motivating factors for taking part in fall prevention activities among the elderly. The research aim is to improve the design and development of IT-based fall prevention programs for a deeper understanding of what motivates users to take part in such programs. Making fall prevention IT-based might improve the situation but might also become an obstacle in itself. To better ground this design process, a review is made of current efforts of fall prevention and of understanding motives for participation in fall prevention programs. As a result, we present a set of driving forces for the elderly to participate in fall prevention and discuss these in the context of technology acceptance theory, giving outlines for a model of motivating factors for them to use IT-based fall preventions systems. The results show a general direction of motivational efforts used in fall prevention to consist of some form of personalization strategy where, e.g., personal goals and conditions are used to adapt prevention measures to the individual.

Co-design, as a way of integrating users’perspectives and technical possibilities, has been subject to amultitude of interpretations. To facilitate the development ofpatient-empowerment services, co-design is a central approachneeded to ensure high acceptance among users. In thisresearch, we offer a flexible co-design approach by building onadaptive and continuous planning based on sets of co-designactions directed towards participants’ mutual learning. Theresearch is based on the experiences of a co-design processwithin the area of eHealth, specifically the fall prevention area,as a special case of self-training systems and self-managementsystems. The project team comprises a variety of membergroups, including the elderly, technical developers, businessdevelopers, methods experts and project management. The keysuccess factor was identified among the persons of the differentgroups as achieving possibilities for learning. To make learningprocesses requires adaptability and flexibility in interactingdifferent planning actions in order to balance both the need fortechnology development and the understanding of users’needs.

The purpose of this article is to provide a better understanding of an information systems development process from a learning theory perspective. The authors wish to investigate how learning concepts can improve the practice of developing such systems. They look closer at the activities and outcomes of a development project with the focus on the user side and how these can be understood using different theories from the field of learning. The purpose of the case project was to ensure that the intended users of the systems (in this case, heart failure patients) should be able to influence the choices made during the project so that the implemented system would benefit the whole group of patients. During this process, it became apparent that the users themselves developed and changed a great deal. In this research, the authors therefore wish to investigate the learning and change mechanism that came into play through the designed participative ISD process. As a result, they suggest that a learning mechanism should be planned for in any ISD process, regardless of what methodology is applied.

Ehealth solutions are in great need in the community of elderly in general, as patients or home carers, however a design approach that delivers this is illusive. In this research we present the experiences from a set of design processes targeting elderly’s needs of support or home care, based on a co-design approach. The purpose is to present guiding principles for how to work with elderly in a co-design process, to be used as basis for future set up of co-design processes.

The Internet of Things (IoT) plays a vital role in today’s medicine (Islam et al, 2015). In 2020, 40% of IoT-related technologies will be assigned to the health domain, which makes up around a 117 $ billion in the global market (Bauer, Patel & Veira, 2016). Adding to this the demographic changes will further set a significant challenge in Europe (Steinführer & Haase, 2007). Innovative techniques for supporting health systems and independent life for the aging population is therefore essential, not at least in relation to fall prevention and technology for promoting a good life throughout the lifespan. Further, participation from patients is a goal for healthcare worldwide (Lundgren, Sunesson & Tunved, 2014). For example according to the Health and Medical care act in Sweden (1982:763) it is described that the goal for health care “is good health and care on equal terms for the entire population”. In line with this challenge of integrated care the patient itself will be the most important resource for promotion of health, why Co Design is needed as a method for innovation in healthcare sector. It is important for the users ‘experiences and insights to contribution in improvements but not at least because it has been shown that increased involvement with the user in care reduces the number of hospital visits (Simpsons, 2007).

The quest for user friendly systems that fit into an organizational reality and yet stay competitive on a very crowded marketplace is a challenge. This report covers the setup of an eHealth project that faces challenges in all these areas, not least in the intersections between them. We discuss these challenges in the context of a research and development project, FRONT-VL, which is in its start-up phase, giving samples of problems and opportunities. The purpose of the paper is to problematize eHealth development and to provide initial insight into the planning and conduct of such projects.

Self-care is important for heart failure patients. However, what are the views of patients on their situation when it comes to realizing self-care? The aim of the paper is to investigate the self-care needs of HF patients, by understanding the issues they embrace in their self-care processes. In this paper we make a review of 17 interviews and make a classification of what the needs are for possible information technology support systems. Based on the analysis of these interviews, we identify the diversity of needs in support of activities related to different background conditions and the dynamics of change of learning and changes in the heart failure condition. The contribution of the paper is a framework for understanding the diversity of needs and the specific situations of this group of patients.

The paper deals with the planning of eHealth systems in the area of chronic care from a patient-centred perspective. The particular area is heart failure (HF) and systems that support patients’ possibilities to be active learners during the care processes. A better understanding of this process is hoped to create a basis for the development of appropriate information systems or information technology (IS/IT) support of learning processes. The objective of this paper is the development of a better understanding of the challenges of chronic illness with special focus on HF. The results are presented as a planning framework that guides the choice and design of ICT-based support systems.

In this paper the nature of user involvement in a co-design process will be explored. The outlines of a research project aiming at developing support systems for self-care inpatients suffering from chronic heart failure will be presented. The project is planned to perform a co-design effort where users (patients and healthcare professionals) will be given the opportunity to influence the development of support systems. We will discuss a number of possibilities and challenges that lie in the design of this kind of project and also some findings from its early stages. This report presents the experiences of users’ input, which are discussed in the context of previous research on benefits of user contributions in systems development.

ICT projects, development and/or research driven, are sources of new innovative eHealth solutions. However, the rate of continued use is low and gaining sustainable benefits in daily operations is difficult (Warth et al.). This research looks at the barriers for the organizational implementation based on research driven projects. 

Three eHealth projects have been analyzed for aspects on the phenomenon, to gain a deeper understanding of the problem. Results are based on discussions between project participants, (professionals, decision makers, patients), and analysis of the project set ups and purposes. 

ResultsFactors that could be seen as important for lack of continued use includes: pure research setup of projects, lack of financial resources in the post projects time , lack of organizational competences for adoption of solutions, no organizational champion or CEO support, lack of fit to organizational processes or scheduling, professional resistance to change, among others. 

DiscussionProject set ups and working methods of the project might hamper the possibilities of effective knowledge transfer and organizational adoption. Experiences from mentioned projects show that a 360-degree co-design approach, which includes major stakeholder (for example, professionals, patients, researchers, patients, decisions makers) should be included. There is a need to prepare for knowledge transfer processes in post project phases, including competence development strategies for professionals and organizational change plans. 

Conclusions A holistic understanding of conditions and challenges is needed for paving the way for health organization to reap benefits from research projects. 

Lessons learned Projects need to include processes for engaging the stakeholders through 360 co-design, knowledge transfer plans and competence development strategies. 

Limitations The research is exploratory and based on analysis of past and ongoing eHealth projects. 

Suggestions for future researchBetter understanding for how to integrating competence development and organizational change as a part of eHealth project are needed. An investigation on digital competence among patients and healthcare personnel is planned, with the purpose of defining competence development strategies and requirements for IT-enabled cooperation and co-production.

IT solutions for rehab are seen as an opportunity to provide effective support for patients’ recovery process in their in-home environment, based on instructions from health care professionals. However, what factors in the context affect the usefulness of such systems lie beyond the training process as such. In this research, we followed a co-design process, where the design of a support packaged for home rehab is based on standard products. Through group interviews with teams of home rehab staff, a broader view of the subject was sought. Group discussions involving the initial demonstration and testing of technology provided a wide spectrum of factors that the staff considered important for success, related to issues on both the organizational and the patient levels. These findings were analyzed for success factors in an attempt to reach an understanding of the rehab process context which will have an effect on the usefulness of the support system. As a result, a checklist of aspects on the process that need to be taken into account in the design of a rehab support system is presented and discussed. The results could be used both in the design of solutions and in the selection and implementation of support systems regarding how to improve the actual use of the systems.

Abstrakt (svenska)

Bakgrund: Piratkopieringen bara ökar och ökar. Program-, spel- och musikbranschen har idag stora problem. En i stort sett okunnig användare kan fixa en nyutgiven skiva innan den nått butikerna på grund av piratkopieringen. Detta problem möjliggörs genom att ingen bra lösning finns i form av fungerande kopieringsskydd samt att fildelningstjänsterna får stort spelrum. Vi går in specifikt och undersöker musikbranschen.

Syfte: Fördjupa oss i begreppet piratkopiering. Vidare vill vi upplysa och informera såväl musikbranschen som användare om problemet och dess framtid. Vi hoppas att det resultat vi kommer fram till kan ge underlag för vidare forskning.

Metod: Vår information har tagits från artiklar på Internet samt från litteratur vi ansett vara aktuell. Telefonintervjuer har skett med Magnus Mårtensson, IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), programjuristen Anna Burén på Sveriges Radio, Per Sandin,

General manager EMI marketing samt ett flertal Internetleverantörer. Vi har dessutom sammanställt en enkät som besvarats av en mängd personer.

Resultat: Många av gårdagens skivköpare anser att priset för en CD-skiva är för dyrt idag. Man har upptäckt piratkopieringen med dess obegränsade funktioner samt insett hur lätt det är att få tag på gratis musik utan repressalier, vilket beror på den idag vaga och ej alltför avskräckande lagstiftningen. Musikbolagen förlorar pengar och höjer därmed priserna för skivorna samtidigt som de aktivt arbetar för att hitta det perfekta kopieringsskyddet eller för att komma på någon annan strålande lösning. Framtiden ser oviss ut och för tillfället har

piratkopierarna och fildelningstjänsterna trumf på hand.

Nyckelord: Mp3, CD, Kopieringsskydd, Fildelningstjänster, Upphovsrätt och Musikintressenter.

The goal of this thesis was to investigate the factors that influence the adoption of big data analytics by public sector employees based on the adapted Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. A mixed method of survey and interviews were used to collect data from employees of a Canadian provincial government ministry. The results show that performance expectancy and facilitating conditions have significant positive effects on the adoption intention of big data analytics, while effort expectancy has a significant negative effect on the adoption intention of big data analytics. The result shows that social influence does not have a significant effect on adoption intention. In terms of moderating variables, the results show that gender moderates the effects of effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating condition; data experience moderates the effects of performance expectancy, effort expectancy and facilitating condition; and leadership moderates the effect of social influence. The moderation effects of age on performance expectancy, effort expectancy is significant for only employees in the 40 to 49 age group while the moderation effects of age on social influence is significant for employees that are 40 years and more. Based on the results, implications for public sector organizations planning to implement big data analytics were discussed and suggestions for further research were made. This research contributes to existing studies on the user adoption of big data analytics. 

Studiens syfte är att identifiera informationslogistiska problem och behov med utgångspunkt i förändringsprojekt inom strategi, organisation och IT för att därigenom visa vad informationslogistik kan lösa för problem och behov. Informationslogistik är ett tvärvetenskapligt ämne och rör sig inom disciplinerna informatik, ekonomi/management och logistik. Utifrån ämnets tresidighet valdes utgångspunkterna strategi, organisation och IT.

Forskningen inom informationslogistik redogör för hur IT kan användas för en behovsorienterad informationsförsörjning. I korthet redogör forskningen för hur information kan lagras i datalager och hur informationen är möjlig att bearbetas med olika intelligenta verktyg. Logistik är de bakomliggande förhållningssättet på hur olika IT lösningar kan förse rätt information till rätt person. Forskningen visar på lite olika synsätt på informationslogistik och vad ordet syftar till. Frågan är om det finns relevans och nytta för verksamheter att hantera informationslogistik.

Studien baseras på metoden Grundad Teori (GT). Syftet med metoden är att låta praktikens erfarenheter styra studiens inriktning och sedan spegla det mot aktuell teori. Studiens syfte synliggör också valet av förhållningssätt. Med anledning av studiens syfte tar studien ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv. Det empiriska underlaget har samlats in genom telefonintervju med sakkunniga konsulter inom tjänsteområdena strategi, organisation och IT.  Genom analysen har det identifierats att det inom ett förändringsprojekt existerar tre olika typer av informationsflöden.

• Strukturerade informationsflöden.
• Omstrukturerande informationsflöden.
• Ostrukturerade informationsflöden.

Utöver ovan informationsflöden har det också identifierats situationer där informationen är dynamisk respektive stabil. Analysen gör således skillnad på flödet av information och informationen i sig. Följande punkter visar på de problem som är att betrakta som informationslogistiska.

• Utveckla affärsplaner.
• Informationen är separerad från användarens behov.
• Man lyckas inte nå ut med informationen som finns på papper.
• Ledningen vill ha information på tvären och medarbetarna på längden.
• Konsulter tar över informationshanteringen.
• Organisering av processer och människor.
• Informationen hålls separerad och påverkar processutförandet.

Populariteten av Internet of Things (IoT)- enheter är någonting som på senaste tidenökat, Dessa enheter avser smarta enheter uppkopplade mot internet som används avbåde privatpersoner och företag. Ett användningsområde för dessa smarta enheter ärinom hemmet som syftar till att ge mer bekvämlighet för användarna och underlättavardagen. Trots teknikens fördelar har det medfört ett stort antal risker och nackdelarvad gäller säkerheten vilket kommer att diskuteras i denna studie. Syftet med dennastudie är att undersöka medvetenheten kring säkerheten för dessa smarta enheterallmänt och i ett uppkopplat hem. Empirin i studien har samlats in genom en kvalitativundersökning där det genomförts semistrukturerade intervjuer med sju olikainformanter med olika erfarenheter och relationer till smarta enheter.Studiens resultat bidrar till en ökad förståelse av ämnet och validerar resultaten fråntidigare forskning. Vidare analyserades empirin och resulterade i att ett antal faktoreridentifierades gällande de smarta enheterna utifrån ett säkerhetsperspektiv.Respondenterna fick svara på frågor angående deras medvetenhet gällande dessa smartaenheter och medvetenhet kring de säkerhetsrisker som finns för dessa enheter.Den insamlade datan analyserades genom en tematisk analys vilket resulterade i fyrateman: säkerheten för produkterna, säkerhetsmedvetenhet, Lagar inom IoT ochskyddandet av data. De olika informanterna hade olika erfarenheter samt motiveringartill deras förmåga att kunna påverka enhetens säkerhet samt de åtgärder de valde attimplementera. Informanternas erfarenheter och förmåga att kunna påverka sina enheterlänkades till litteratur. Sammanfattningsvis är informanternas förmågor att kunnapåverka sina enheter begränsat till de grundläggande säkerhetsåtgärderna. Studiensresultat visar att användare inte kan påverka sina enheter särskilt mycket för att ökasäkerheten för sina enheter vilket i sin tur leder till att enheter som har säkerhetsluckorleder till att användare lättare kan falla offer för attacker.Denna studie bidrar till att vidga förståelsen och fylla kunskapsluckorna gällandesäkerhetsrisker för smarta enheter bland användare. Genom att undersöka dessa frågorkan man arbeta mot en förbättring av säkerhetstänket och medvetenheten för att minskariskerna som dessa uppkopplade enheter kommer med, både för enskilda användare ochföretag

Understanding complex machine learning and artificial intelligence models have always been challenging because these models are black-box, and often we don't know what information models rely upon to infer. Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) has emerged as a new exciting field to explain and understand these machine learning models as humans can understand and improve them. In the past few years, there have been numerous research articles on explainable artificial intelligence for medical and healthcare. 1687 documents are being studied and analysed using bibliometric methods in this work. There are certain systematic reviews on the same topic, but this study is the first of its kind to use a quantitative method to analyze a large number of publications. The results of this study show that the research in this field took place in 2011, and there have been quite many publications in the following years. We have also identified top-cited journals and articles. Through thematic analysis, we have found some important thematic areas of research in the field of XAI for medical and healthcare. The findings showed that the USA is the global leader in XAI research, followed by China and Canada at second and third place, respectively.

This thesis examines the nature and effects of current public information about food production, purchasing and sustainability that is available in Sweden. The thesis follows a two part structure based on the Action Research Cycle; it focuses predominantly on the initial diagnostic stage, using document review, questionnaires and Cultural Probes to examine what information is currently available to Swedish consumers, as well as how they respond to this information. The thesis then moves towards the action planning stage of the Action Research Cycle, using current academic literature in IS with the findings of my diagnostic research to suggest ways in which information-communication technology can be used to improve upon the current situation, and paving the way for future research in the area of public information and food sustainability.

Information security is one of the most essential concerns in today’s organizations. IT departments in larger organizations are tasked to implement security, by both ensuring to have pertinent hardware and software, and likewise enlighten, teach and educate organization’s employees about security issues. The aim of this research is to focus on the human factor of the organization, which impacts the security of the information, since technological solutions of technical problems become incomprehensible without human recognition about security. If the security is not addressed in firms, this might lead to essential data of the organization to be compromised. This study explores ways to enhance information security and improve the human factor by integrating the crucial information security elements in organizations. Social constructivist worldview is adopted throughout the study, and an inductive based - qualitative approach, a single case study design and hermeneutical analysis for analyzing the observations and interviews are utilized. The research setting for this study is Växjö Municipality in Sweden. The empirical investigation suggests that human factor plays an essential role in maintaining information security, and organizations can improve employees’ role by keeping their security policies up to date and find the best ways to disseminate that information. As a result, this research comes up with “information security human management model” for organizations.

Covid-19-pandemin och de åtföljande restriktionerna i samhället har haft stor effekt på våra liv och ekonomi. Företag har fått anpassa sig och digitala lösningar har implementerats för att möjliggöra arbete på distans, i hopp om att minska pandemins spridning. Distansarbete har hindrat fysiska träffar och därför har företag tvingats att hitta nya lösningar för att hjälpa de anställda att fortsätta sitt arbete. Följaktligen har kommunikation och samarbete på distans blivit viktiga faktorer för att kringgå de utmaningar som har uppstått till följd av pandemin.

Syftet med uppsatsen har varit att undersöka vilka utmaningar som finns inom semi-virtuella teams från medarbetarnas perspektiv. Även medarbetarnas upplevelser har undersökts med fokus på samarbete och kommunikation. 

En kvalitativ intervjustudie har genomförts för att samla empiriska data om kommunikation och utmaningar inom semi-virtuella teams baserat på fynd av Daim et al. (2012). Författarna beskriver att kommunikation och utmaningar inom virtuella grupper är baserat på tillit, relationer, ledarskap och teknologi. 

Empiriska resultatet har sedan analyserats och jämförts med litteraturen från litteraturstudien, samt har en metodreflektion gjorts om undersökningens metodval och genomförande.

Utmaningar inom semi-virtuella teams har hittats och presenterats och likaså har informanternas erfarenheter angående samarbete och kommunikation undersökts och presenterats.

Kommunikation räknas som det viktigaste kriteriet för ett lyckat samarbete. Även att samarbete och kommunikation i semi-virtuella grupper är sammanhängande eftersom bra kommunikation är avgörande för ett lyckat samarbete vid distansarbete.

Svårigheten att kommunicera eller komma i kontakt med gruppmedlemmar är en utmaning. Brist på sociala interaktioner gör det svårt att främja relationer. Det leder till minskat förtroende inom gruppen speciellt för nya medarbetare. Forskning visar att teknologen har varit en har varit en utmaning när arbetet skiftades digitalt.

Covid-19 pandemin skapade en global hälsokris med svåra konsekvenser för företag och arbetare runt om i världen. I Sverige gav Folkhälsomyndigheten ut allmänna restriktioner som skulle följas i syfte om att begränsa smittspridningen av Covid-19. Konsekvenserna resulterade i att många företag och organisationer blev påtvingade till att arbeta på distans och då blev det inte längre ett alternativ att genomföra arbetet fysiskt på arbetsplatsen längre utan distansarbete blev den enda lösningen.

Tidigare forskning presenterar att det har varit en stor och krävande omställning för flera företag runt om i världen att övergå från fysiskt arbete på plats till distansarbete. Vidare framkommer det att olika företag har olika förutsättningar för att kunna bedriva och utföra distansarbete.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka vad personalen anser om att bedriva distansarbete inom en kommunledningsförvaltning. Syftet besvarades genom att undersöka vilka för- och nackdelar som personalen upplever att det finns med att utföra distansarbete inom en kommunledningsförvaltning.

Semistrukturerade intervjuer har varit studiens tillvägagångssätt för datainsamling. Intervjufrågorna utformades utifrån studiens tidigare forskning och litteraturstudie. Totalt har fyra intervjuer genomförts på kommunledningsförvaltningen på en kommun i södra Sverige.

Det empiriska materialet analyserades utifrån Jacobsens analysprocess av kvalitativa data som innefattar fyra olika steg. Därefter jämfördes det empiriska materialet med litteraturstudien för att efterlysa samband mellan studien och tidigare forskning.

Efter att analyseringsprocessen av det insamlade resultatet var sammanställt hade fyra fördelar och tre nackdelar identifierats med att genomföra distansarbete på en kommunledningsförvaltning. De fyra fördelar som identifierades var: ökad flexibilitet, ökad produktivitet, effektivare möten och att medarbetarna slipper pendling. De tre nackdelar som identifierades var: ingen anpassad arbetsmiljö, sämre kvalité på möten och svårt att förhålla sig till arbetstider.