This study is about information and materiality, more specifically how the different material manifestations of information affects the archivists in the Swedish Court archives. The primary focus is on how materiality affects archivists work with physical and digital information and how materiality affects the archivists themselves. This study uses interviews with archivists within the Swedish court archives as its primary source for analysis. By using primarily Actor-Network Theory and Discourse-theory alongside other scientific texts this study has shown in what ways materiality affects the daily work of archivists and their self-image. This study is relevant in many ways but primarily because there is little to none research of this kind that focuses on the court archives and as a result of that this study is relevant in the way it illustrates the importance and possibilities court archives for a dedicated scholar within archival science and other areas of information science. The results are as follows: materiality have many different ways of affecting the archivists and it does so on many different levels. With the focus on digital and physical information this study has come to the conclusion that materiality is an important aspect that cannot be overlooked. It affects how archivists work, how they think and how they practically handle physical and digital information.

Bilen har en etablerad roll i vårt samhälle och är ständigt central i samhällsplaneringsdebatten. Förutom biltrafikens koppling till ökade koldioxidutsläpp har bilens utbredning skapat utmaningar för att planera yteffektivt i städerna där allt fler bostäder byggs och i samband med detta även fler parkeringar. Det är kommunen som ansvarar för att det ska finnas skäligt med parkering i samband med bostadsbyggande och de skapar parkeringsnormer/policys för att reglera detta. Över tid har många kommuner gått från att ställa krav på ett minimum av parkeringsplatser till att istället arbeta med flexibla parkeringstal, vilka tillåter byggaktören att bygga färre parkeringar än vad normen säger om andra åtgärder för mobilitet implementeras. I denna process har bilpoolen kommit att bli en växande mobilitetsåtgärd som många kommuner erbjuder byggaktörerna att arbeta med för att sänka parkeringstalet. Det har däremot visat sig vara utmanande för kommunerna att få detta att fungera över tid. Det är kommunens uppdrag att ställa krav på parkeringstal och att godkänna eventuella minskningar av dessa om byggaktören väljer att arbeta med mobilitetsåtgärder - men kommunen ansvarar inte för förvaltningen av de tjänster som utlovas som mobilitetsåtgärd vid en avtalad parkeringstalsminskning. Det finns således inga garantier för att åtgärden över tid motsvarar förväntningarna och risken finns att bilpoolen läggs ned samtidigt som ett fåtal parkeringar har byggts. Detta arbete tar avstamp i frågan om vilka hinder och utmaningar kommuner som arbetar med bilpool som mobilitetsåtgärd vid nybyggnation av bostäder står inför i samarbetet med andra aktörer. Undersökningen tar hjälp av Actor-Network Theory för att kartlägga vilka aktörer och samarbeten som är centrala och vilka typer av interaktioner som skapar störst utmaningar i arbetet. Empirin är insamlad både kvantitativt genom enkätundersökningar där kommunerna fått redogöra för sina strategier, och kvalitativt genom djupintervjuer med utvalda kommuner där de har berättat om hur de upplever arbetsprocessen i sin helhet. Många kommuner befinner sig i en utforskande fas när det gäller att implementera och fastställa strategier i arbetet med bilpool som mobilitetsåtgärd, vilket leder till en variation av tillvägagångssätt och beräkningsmetoder. Implementeringen av bilpooler stöter på flera praktiska hinder, såsom otydligheter i regelverk och bristande samarbete mellan aktörer. Men det framgår i arbetet att det främst är de strukturella utmaningarna som måste adresseras för att underlätta implementeringen av bilpooler som en del av arbetet med flexibla parkeringstal. / The car holds an established role in our society and remains central in urban planning discussions. Besides the correlation between car traffic and escalating carbon dioxide emissions, the expansion of car use has presented challenges in efficiently planning urban spaces, particularly as more residences are constructed, resulting in an increase in parking facilities. It falls upon municipalities to ensure adequate parking provisions in conjunction with residential development, and they establish parking norms/policies to govern this. Over time, many municipalities have shifted from imposing minimum parking requirements to instead adopting flexible parking standards, enabling developers to construct fewer parking spaces than the norm dictates if alternative mobility measures are implemented. In this process, carpooling has emerged as a growing mobility solution that many municipalities offer developers as a means to reduce parking requirements. However, sustaining this approach over time poses a challenge. It is the municipality's responsibility to stipulate parking requirements and sanction any reductions if developers opt to integrate mobility measures. However, the municipality is not accountable for administering the services promised as mobility measures in a negotiated parking reduction. Consequently, there are no guarantees that the measure will meet expectations over time, and there exists a risk of discontinuing the carpool while only a few parking spaces have been developed. This study is rooted in the inquiry into the obstacles and challenges municipalities encounter when incorporating carpooling as a mobility measure in new housing construction in collaboration with other stakeholders. Employing Actor-Network Theory, the study maps out central actors and collaborations, as well as the types of interactions posing the greatest challenges in this endeavor. Empirical data is collected both quantitatively through surveys, wherein municipalities outline their strategies, and qualitatively through in-depth interviews with select municipalities, elucidating their experiences throughout the process. Many municipalities are in an exploratory phase concerning the implementation and establishment of strategies in integrating carpooling as a mobility measure, resulting in a divergence of approaches and calculation methods. The implementation of carpooling encounters several practical barriers, such as regulatory ambiguities and a lack of collaboration among stakeholders. However, it is apparent from the study that primarily addressing structural challenges is necessary to facilitate the integration of carpooling as part of the framework for flexible parking standards.

This research examines whether study of the controversial evolution of energy systems and emerging energy technologies can contribute to the debates in energy policy and STS, especially those concerning the ongoing search for solutions to energy and environmental problems through the promotion of low-carbon technologies. The focus of this study is on the emergence and growth of a technological project in the renewable energy sector, Wave Hub in Cornwall, UK. The analysis, informed by actor-network theory, helps to explore the emergence of Wave Hub as a complex socio-technical system and a macro-actor. The case study reveals that the project is associated with various controversies and problematic temporalities. The construction of credibility and viability of the technological project is explored, including the 'public face’ of the project, various meanings attributed to Wave Hub and its symbolic capital. The discourse around Wave Hub is critically reviewed, as regards stakeholder assumptions about the technological feasibility of the project. Consideration is also given to the political dimensions of credibility, including the promissory role of policy discourse. An actor-network theory approach helps questioning the idea of policy as ‘macro context’; the utility of an analytical approach to policy as an actant is thus investigated. I ask to what extent, and in what sense, policy can be understood as an element of an actor-network, not merely a context. Furthermore, this helps to build a critical discussion around the evolution of the actor-network with policy as its active element and critically assess to what extent this approach might help to understand the destiny of a technological project. The politics of expertise in the case of Wave Hub is shown to play a critical role for the ‘credibility-economy’ of the project. Exploring how the expertise is understood and performed in the case of Wave Hub, I consider the question of the self-representation of experts and how the expert knowledge and the expert status are constituted. Studying the contestation of expertise and its categorisation helps to analyse various forms of collaboration formed around Wave Hub, but also antagonism which was revealed between different groups of experts.

During the 1990's high expectations were put on telemedicine technology in health care organizations, which can be seen as a reflexion of the society's interest in IT. The use of tele-medicine is expected to improve the quality and decrease costs of health care services. However, if these expectations are to be attained the visions have to be translated into fields of application in local settings where the technology would be used. This could be seen as an infusion process, which means that the technology would incrementally be used in a comprehensive and integrated manner. In this thesis, four Swedish telemedicine projects are analyzed. The approach used is that of Actor network theory (ANT), which has enabled the development of a theory of the infusion process, implementation of IT-projects, and parts of ANT, e.g. the model of the translation process and the notion of inscription. By using the concept of translation, it is possible to see the infusion process as a process where the generic features of the technology (transmitting sound and pictures in real time) are translated into concrete activities in local settings. These fields of application are realized by the mobilization of different task-based networks, where the roles of the actors are defined by the task to be solved. An iterated mobilization of the network implies further that the network will become stabilized, which is a central dimension in the process of infusion. Another way to understand the process of infusion is to describe it as cycles of implementation, where one cycle symbolizes the implementation of a field of application, which is a result of the translation of the generic features of the technology. The inscriptions in the studied technology allow a high degree of flexibility of use and flexibility of action. The flexibility means that fields of application ought to be developed in interaction between actors in local settings, and supporting programs of action are to be identified, or developed, in order to integrate technology use into daily routines. The considerable numbers of failed of IT-project implementations can be explained by the fact that a traditional planning perspective has been used on technologies, which allow a high degree of flexibility of use and flexibility of action. However, by categorizing inscriptions in technological artifacts, it becomes possible to predict what kinds of implementation strategies are appropriate for different kinds of technologies. By viewing the implementation of open networking technologies as a process of translation, the infusion process will be facilitated and a comprehensive and integrated use of technology will be enabled. / digitalisering@umu

This dissertation investigates the processes and effects involved in the production of styles in contemporary Stockholm. Particular focus is given to materialization processes regarding gender and sexuality. It is an ethnographic study, organized around three different research methods: participant observation, semi-structured interviews and organic wardrobe studies, carried out during the duration of two years and mainly delimited to Stockholm, often focusing on but not limited to the queer-orientated downtown club scene. The study is centered on ten participants, but is also concerned with the events, situations and relations the participants become part of during this time. In this way, the analysis gives equal attention to the specificity of garments and the spaces and places of social interaction. Drawing on a combination of Judith Butler’s theory of performativity and Bruno Latour’s actor-network theory, it analyses how styles are produced and maintained through interactions. The concept of style operates as a tool of analysis, approaching the subject matter from three different perspectives: verbal communication and politics of naming, the wheres and whens of sartorial practices, and lastly bodily matters as a point of intersection, where styles are constituted as bodily materializations through gestures, movements and orientation in space. Furthermore, this thesis engages in an on-going discussion within fashion studies on how the articulation of matters regarding sexuality, gender and identity projects can be theorized through the concept of style. In this way, it also challenges and furthers the definition of this concept by proving its productive qualities through ethnographic fieldwork.

The aim of this study is to examine the transformation of war into play in the context of the hobby called wargaming. The main focus is around Military Simulations (Milsims) using so called airsoft guns, and the miniature game-rules called Force on Force. It also studies how participants create a common understanding of the plays content, and how conceptions of modern conflicts, soldiers and the traumatizing effects of war are perceived and mirrored in wargaming. The investigation is based on interviews with airsoft and figure gamers, as well as an analysis of rulebooks and observations of said wargames. The theoretical frame is Gregory Batesons play frames (as used by Lotten Gustafsson), discourse theory and Actor-Network-theory, showing the importance of human and material interactions – articulations - within the context of playing. This investigation also relies heavily on the conclusions regarding Wargaming made by P.A.G. Sabin. Using meta-communication and performance, participants create the play frame where their conceptions of modern warfare are played out. Physical objects are an important part of the play frame, affecting the performance of the participants. The study also shows how common prejudices, like the portrait of an irrational and bloodthirsty Muslim, prevail. Women are welcomed to join these male dominated games, but are strongly feminized, making it difficult to enter on even terms. The study concludes that the articulations used to transfer war into game reflect the participants apprehensions of gender, culture, anti-heroes and the military; even though wargamers themselves see their play as being relatively distanced from the ”real” worlds opinions and conceptions.

<p>Programmes and policies to support ecological sustainable development and the practice of implementation is a question of innovation rather than known and taken for granted procedure. This thesis argues a priori models concerning stability in the social sciences, and human geography especially, are less able to help us understand this practice and planning in such unstable situations. Problematic in common understandings of planning and policy implementation concerning sustainability are the dualisms between physical-social spaces and between rationality-contingency. The first dualism makes it hard to grasp the interaction between humans and nonhumans. The second dualism concerns the problem of how to capture change without resorting to reductionism and explanaining the evolving projects as either technically, economically, or culturally rational. </p><p>The scope of the thesis is to test resources from actor-network theory as a means of resolving these dualisms. The case is the Stockholm Local Investment Programme and the new district of Hammarby Sjöstad. The programme’s objective was to support the implemention of new technologies and systems, energy efficiency and reduced resource-use as well as eco-cycling measures. The case-study follows how the work with the programme unfolded and how administrators’ efforts to reach satisfactory results was approached. In doing this, the actors had to be far more creative than models of implementation and traditional technology diffusion seem to suggest. The recommendation is to take the instrumentalisation framing the plasticity of a project in planning seriously – as innovativeness is not a special but the general case. Hence, to broaden our tools and understanding of planning a human geography of planning projects is pertinent.</p>

Electronic Patient Records (EPRs) are becoming standard tools in healthcare, lauded for improving patient access and outcomes. However, the healthcare professionals who work with, around, and despite these technologies in their daily practices often regard EPRs as troublesome. In order to investigate how EPRs can prompt such opposing opinions, this project examines the EPR as a collection of communication genres set in complex contexts. In this project, I investigate an EPR as it was used on the Nephrology ward at a large, Canadian, urban, paediatric teaching hospital. In this setting, this study investigates EPR-use in relation to the following aspects of context: (a) the visual rhetoric of the EPR's user-interface design; (b) the varied social contexts in which the EPR was used, including a diversity of professional collaborators who had varying levels of professional experience; (c) the span of social actions involved in EPR use; and (d) the other genres used in coordination with the EPR. <br /><br /> This qualitative study was conducted in two simultaneous stages, over the course of 8 months. Stage one consisted of a visual rhetorical analysis of a set of genres (including the EPR) employed by participants during a specific work activity. Stage two involved an elaborated, qualitative case study consisting of non-participant observations and semi-structured interviews. Stage two used a constructivist grounded theory methodology. A combination of theoretical perspectives -- Visual Rhetoric, Rhetorical Genre Studies, Activity Theory, and Actor-Network Theory -- supported the analysis of study data. This research reveals that participants routinely transformed EPR-based information into paper documents when the EPR's visual designs did not support the professional goals and activities of the participants. <br /><br /> Results indicate that healthcare professionals work around EPR-based patient information when that genre's visual organization is incompatible with professional activities. This study suggests that visual rhetorical analysis, complemented with observation and interview data, can provide useful insights into a genre's social actions. This research also examines the effects of such EPR-to-paper genre transformations. Although at one level of analysis, the EPR-to-paper-genre transformation may be considered inefficient for participants and so should be automated, at another level of analysis, the same transformation activity can be seen as beneficially supporting the detailed reviewing of patient information by healthcare professionals. <br /><br /> To account for this function in the transformation dysfunction, my research suggests that many contextual factors need to be considered during data analysis in order to construct a sufficiently nuanced understanding of a genre's social actions. To accomplish such an analysis, I develop a five-step approach to data analysis called 'context mapping. ' Context mapping examines genres in relation to the varied social contexts in which they are used, the span of social actions in which they are involved, and a range of genres with which they are coordinated. To conduct this analysis, context mapping relies heavily on theories of "genre ecologies" (Spinuzzi, 2003a, 2003b; Spinuzzi, Hart-Davidson & Zachry, 2004; Spinuzzi & Zachry, 2000) and "Knotworking" (Engestrom, Engestrom & Vahaaho, 1999). Context mapping's first three steps compile study data into results that accommodate a wide range of contextual analysis considerations. These three steps involve the use of a composite scenario of observation data, genre ecologies and the description of a starting point for analysis. The final two steps of this approach analyse results using the theory of Knotworking and investigate some of the implications of the patterns of genre use on the ward. <br /><br /> Through context mapping analysis, this study demonstrates that EPR-based innovations created by a study participant could result in the generation of other improvisations, in a range of genres, by the original participant and/or by other collaborators. These genre modifications had ramifications across multiple social contexts and involved a wide range of genres and associated social actions. Context mapping analysis demonstrates how the effects of participant-made EPR-based variations can be considered as having both beneficial and detrimental effects in the research site depending on the social perspective adopted. Contributions from this work are directed towards the fields of Rhetorical Genre Studies, Activity Theory research, and Health Informatics research, as well as to the research site itself. This study demonstrates that context mapping can support text-in-context style research in complex settings as a means for evaluating the effects of genre uses.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.