The road of development through e-government is covered with deep potholes and dead ends. This is because Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are adopted and e-government policies are developed with a blind focus on the ICT tools and with little reflection on the contribution of ICT to development (Heeks and Bailur, 2007, p. 243, Avgerou, 2009, p. 14). To assist with this reflection Information Systems (IS) researchers are increasingly calling for the development of local contextual theory or a framework in ICT for Development (ICT4D) (Avgerou, 2009, p. 14, Madon et al., 2007, Walsham, 2003, Walsham, 1997). This thesis responds to that call by investigating the role of e-government towards development within the South African context. The means of inquiry was a three year ethnographic immersion in a longitudinal research project. The aim of the longitudinal research project was to investigate how a specialised type of ICT (Group Support Systems) can enable interaction between government and citizens in attaining specific human rights. The research project centred on creating an awareness among the public in South Africa of a newly enacted Act, the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act No 3 of 2000 (PAJA). The rich data collected was analysed using Grounded Theory, resulting in a substantive theory that suggests that within the South African context e-government could contribute to development if it is used to facilitate policy implementation within the spirit of Ubuntu. The thesis delineates the journey up to the emergence of the substantive theory. The substantive theory has important implications for IS theory and IS practice. For IS theory, the substantive theory demonstrates that research on ICT4D in Africa could usefully be undertaken by following an action research strategy within a critical-interpretive paradigm. The substantive theory also suggests the importance of taking into account the contextual collaborative nature of African culture in the spirit of Ubuntu when conducting such research. For practice, the substantive theory proposes a potential framework where ICT could provide the collaborative environment or shared space in the spirit of Ubuntu for policy implementation towards development. Checked against implementation requirements on the South African policy on entrepreneurship, the substantive theory framework proves to be equally valuable. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Informatics / unrestricted

[pt] Essa dissertação busca investigar as maneiras que a Psicanálise possui de construir ou fabricar novos conhecimentos acerca da vida anímica. Essa pesquisa, portanto, tem como objetivo também examinar o desenvolvimento da elaboração do procedimento de investigação criado por Freud, bem como sua aplicação, tendo como foco a forma pela qual esse procedimento se relaciona com a formulação da teoria freudiana acerca dos processos mentais. Além disso, examina-se as mudanças realizadas no procedimento freudiano por analistas pós-freudianos célebres pelas suas contribuições clínicas, como Ferenczi, Winnicott, Melanie Klein, Anna Freud e Lacan. Buscamos em um segundo momento relacionar a técnica e a teoria psicanalíticas utilizando autores oriundos da Filosofia, como Bruno Latour e Isabelle Stengers, nos utilizando de conceitos como o de hibridação, referência circulante e a Teoria Ator-Rede para realizar a ligação entre a prática psicanalítica e o conhecimento conceitual e teórico da ciência inaugurada por Freud. / [en] This thesis seeks to investigate the way psychoanalysis creates or builds new knowledge around the mental life. Therefore, the research goal is also to evaluate the development process of these procedures based on Freud s investigations, just like its application, focusing in the relationship between the procedures and Freud s theory over the mental processes. Moreover, the changes occured in the procedures are assessed by post-freud famous analysts and their clinical contribution, such as Ferenczi, Winnicott, Melanie Klein, Anna Freud e Lacan. Secondarily, we try to relate both technical and theoretical practices in psychoanalysis from authors arisen from philosophy such as Bruno Latour e Isabelle Stengers, using concepts of hybrids, circular reference and the Actor-Network Theory in establishing the connection between technique and theory, in this new science started up by Freud.

Despite the important developments that peacebuilding plays in academia on conflict resolution and management, the field remains unexplored in multiple ways. One of the ways that this can be done is through the involvement of women in a domain that is considered to be relatively less inclusive of marginalized groups. The role women can play in negotiating for conflict resolution is significantly emerging as an important debate in peace research work and studies. Relatively little attention has been paid on the relevance of traditional approaches to conflict resolution particularly on the role that women contribute to using such methods. This impacts in balancing gender representation in peacebuilding processes. This research therefore takes a deeper look into the role of women in peacebuilding using the women groups in Casamance, Senegal as the empirical case study. The main objective of this study is to critically analyze the significant role women play as peacebuilders specifically, highlighting the relevance of traditional knowledge of conflict resolution. Hence, the key research question is to empirically reconstruct the role of women in peacebuilding and analyze how the use of traditional methods of conflict resolution has contributed to peacebuilding in Casamance. In this vein, this study employs a qualitative approach to critically analyze the situation in Casamance using semi-structured in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. This study utilizes the actor network theory (ANT) as the framework for analysis. A core finding of this dissertation reveals a disconnection between the existence of laws and policies on the participation of women in peacebuilding versus recognizing the local practices and initiatives of women groups at the grassroots with regard to implementation. The findings also bring to light the importance of further research in traditional methods of conflict resolution as contributing to peace and security.

This ethnological study represents personal experiences about the voice of a place and its instrumentality in the Swedish Arctic, based on interviews and observations. The appearance of the voice is connected to the existential meeting between humans and different kinds of bodies, from non-physical beings with metaphysical appearance to non-human bodies such as silicates (sand), rhizomes and animals. The metaphysical voice of a place can be understood as the genius of a place, a spirit or ancestor. It can be understood as a real sound in old forests, tactile feeling in the underground mine and as a whole culture dwelling in a region. The instrumental agency of the place-voice acts through personal characters found in places and is a potential tool in creating liminal places and use of the place creativity.

In the thesis I ethnographically study the process of interconnecting and mutual influencing of human and non-human entities in case of the visually impaired persons and the compensation devices based on computer technology. I examine this process, which I call "the technification of blindness", in symmetrical terms. The main theoretical inspiration for the study is the interplay of technology and the health-inconvenienced body and its consequences which are based on the Actor-Network Theory and related material-semiotic tools of social-science research. My aim is to analyse processes which enable/not allow to manage everyday activities to visually impaired persons in the Czech Republic, while they are using computer technologies and their relation with wider processes of accessibility. I trace mutual influencing of human and non-human entities on a specific configuration of visually disabled body with specifically modified personal computer, and with a touch-screen smart-phone. The study shows how the specific form of portable electronic and computer-based devices, which are specially adapted to seeing users, is what excludes blind and visually impaired persons from the interaction with computer technology. Such a cooperation and visual orientation of blind persons is allowed only thanks to...

Despite the destructive and limited nature of fossil fuels, most human-made systems are dependent on the use of oil, gas and coal. Especially agriculture relies on diesel machinery, fertilizer, transport, and cooling systems that are commonly powered by non-renewable energy sources. This independent project in design specifically focuses on the dependency on fossil fuels within agriculture. With the investigation “Vägen mot fossiloberoende jordbruk” (Utredningen om fossiloberoende jordbruk, 2021), or “Pathway to fossil independent agriculture”, Sweden is aspiring to make farming fossil-free by 2030. Consequently, a lot of responsibility to invest in new technologies and alternative energies lies on farmers. In collaboration with Länsstyrelsen Kronoberg, the author explores how farmers can be supported to transition towards renewable energies, focusing on the Swedish region Kronoberg. Through participatory design and design research, notions of fossil fuel (in)dependency are being explored in collaborative ways. Here, the farmers become the ‘experts of their experience’ (Sanders & Stappers, 2012). This independent design project examines ways to transition towards fossil fuel independent agriculture in Sweden, existing challenges and potential solutions. To communicate the complex network of energy and agriculture in Kronoberg to Länsstyrelsen, the author designed an Actor-Network-Model, which highlights the necessity of systems thinking and collaboration.

För nästan hundra år sedan, lades grunden för det som senare kom att benämnas som human relations. HR-perspektivet med Mayos “Hawthornsstudie” i spetsen, innebar ett skifte i hanterandet och synsättet av människor i organisationer. Taylorismens organisatoriska kontroll och effektivitet byttes ut mot människors behov och välmående. Numera är HR-diskursen mångfacetterat och dess nuvarande existens ses som relativt självklar i många sammanhang. Men i och med den nya teknologiska eran, som numera innefattar artificiella intelligenta (AI)-enheter, gör att HR-perspektivet inte bör negligera dessa nya aktanters involvering. Med hänsyn till AI-enheternas ökade inkludering i organisationers och individers vardagliga leverne, räcker det nuvarande HR-perspektivet inte till. Förbiseendet av en AI-enhets inflytande på individer och organisationer i kombination med att det nuvarande HR-perspektivet inte beaktar eller kan hantera en ny “aktör” i sammanhanget, ansåg vi vara högst problematiskt. Problematiken synliggörs inte minst i våra två exemplifierande fall Trelleborg och Kungsbacka kommun, där AI-enheter skapat oro och medfört konsekvenser för både organisationen och individen. Uppsatsens huvudsakliga syfte har varit att bidra till en ökad förståelse för hur en AI-aktant bör inkluderas och beaktas i det nuvarande HR-perspektivet. Uppsatsens bidrag till HR-området gjordes genom att presentera ett nytt HR-AI perspektiv, som inkluderar AI-enheter på ett högst medvetet sätt. Det befintliga HR-områdets breda spektrum, gjorde att vi valde att utgå från särskilda HR-grundantaganden, som i sin tur underbyggdes av en redogörelse för HR-områdets vitala delar. Genom inkluderandet av Latours Actor Network Theory (ANT) i kombination med en kvalitativ metod med en hermeneutisk ansats, möjliggjordes därmed en resa in i rhizomatiska resonemang, som i slutändan ledde fram till det nya perspektivet, HR-AI.  Vårt nya HR-AI perspektiv belyser därmed AI-enheter som centrala aktanter i sammanhanget, vilket gör att det nya perspektivet betraktar och behandlar AI-enheter som komplexa samt unika aktanter med nio unika behov. AI-enheternas behov bör i sin tur matchas med organisationens och individens behov, för att därigenom uppnå en “win-win-win” situation. Exemplifierande av fallen i kombination med uppsatsens analys, visar därmed att AI:s behov bör tillgodoses och beaktas som vitala för en organisation och individ. HR-AI perspektivet innehåller även flertalet praktiska “goda idéer”, för hur aktörer kan hantera och inkludera den nya medarbetaren.

This paper is about a process of a nascency of new doctors, and how it is possible to approach this topic from the viewpoint of social anthropologist. As a starting point, I use actor-network theory, which is one of the social science paradigms focusing on materiality. I consider it (on the basis of work by Bruno Latour and other scholars, who are dealing with this field), to be a remarkable actor in matters connected with human action, and thus an appropriate subject for an anthropological inquiry. Since the topic concerns medicine in the Czech Republic nowadays, I contribute to the knowledge of medical anthropology, which does not have such a strong academic base here as in the Anglo-Saxon world. Special attention is dedicated to a detailed description of activities leading to the formation of the text of this thesis. Reflexivity, on which I put emphasis, shall serve as the foundation of the context of genesis of an anthropological knowledge and also to describe the ethical concerns of the research. The main methods are observation and semi-structured in-depth interviews with twelve informants, who were medicine students or medicine faculty graduates.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the physical environment and children’s play and actions. We want to find out how the environment affects children’s behavior and whether it goes in harmony with the preschool teachers thoughts and educational purposes or not. Furthermore, the aim is to investigate how the children act in the environment and if and how objects affect children’s play and interaction in a certain direction. In order to do this, we observed children’s free play in two different rooms at a preschool on three different occasions. To document our observations we used field notes. We supplemented the observations with three interviews with professional preschool teachers. This was done in order to capture the preschool teacher’s views of the environment versus the children’s behavior in it. In our analysis of our empirical data, we used Bruno Latour’s actor network theory. This study is based on children's actions, but also on educators' perspectives. We want to point out that the purpose is not to show right or wrong, but rather to highlight the educational environment from different perspectives while focusing on inclusion and participation. The result indicates that the environment and materials affect children’s play to a greater extent than expected. The teacher’s communicated a clear educational idea about the “home room” in the interviews. While dressing gowns and roleplay had a central place in the “homeroom”, it was harder to identify an educational idea in the larger common room. On the other hand, the observations indicated that the building toys had a relatively high force of attraction with the children in the larger room.When it came to inclusion, the educators talked about inclusion based on the availability of different materials but also that the available material connects to children’s interests or not. Emphasis was also put on assistive devices to support children with special needs, such as linguistic difficulties.

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