Digitaliseringen fortsätter att utvecklas inom kommuner genom den nya föreskriften för digitaliseringen av detaljplaner. Studien syftar till att analysera äldres förutsättningar att ta del av kommuners planarbete med hänsyn till digitaliseringen av planprocessen. Detta görs med utgångspunkt i tre kommuner och med fokus på tillgänglighet. Digitaliseringen öppnar upp nya sätt att inkludera kommunernas medborgare men samtidigt riskerar de äldre som samhällsgrupp att hamna i ett digitalt utanförskap. Studien genomfördes genom intervjuer med planarkitekter från Varbergs kommun, Trollhättans Stad och Karlskronas kommun samt en projektledare från Pensionärernas Riksorganisation (PRO). Studien visar att kommunerna arbetar med tillgänglighet genom digitalisering på olika sätt. Kommunerna menar att de inte fokuserar på tillgängligheten specifikt för äldre, vilket resulterar i slutsatsen att det finns en risk att de äldre exkluderas från planprocessen, när allt fler delar av den digitaliseras. / Digitization continues to develop within municipalities through the new regulation for the digitization of detailed plans. This study aims to analyze the pre-conditions of the elderly to take part in municipalities' planning work regarding digitization. This is done based on three municipalities, with a focus on accessibility. Digitization creates new ways of including the citizens of the municipalities, but it also creates the risk of exclusion of the elderly as a social group. The study was carried out through interviews with planning architects from Varbergs kommun, Trollhättans Stad, and Karlskrona kommun, as well as a project manager from the Pensionärernas Riksorganisation (PRO). The study shows that the municipalities work with accessibility through digitization in different ways. The municipalities mentioned that they do not focus on accessibility specifically for the elderly, which leads to the conclusion that the elderly may risk exclusion from the planning process, as it becomes digitized.

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The final thesis deals with the mapping of the use of network media as one of the tools of political communication during events, that are called Arab Spring (Arab revolution). It is based on the hypothesis, that some people in non-democratic countries are able to effectively deal with information and are able to spread it efficiently among themselves and beyond their country through network media. All this despite of the fact that in these modes is censorship, restriction or Internet blocking. It provides the evidence, that the use of the network media is, that they help to inform the world about events in the country, that held protests or riots. Social networks are not used to organize and coordinate protests, as they were often attributed by the media. Network media acted more as an alternative channel of information to the outside of the country.

In his dissertation thesis, the author elaborates on a new position from which both information society theory and digital divide research could be analyzed as active participants in a large-scale societal reconstruction. The text begins with the reconstruction of the argumentation core of information society theories, which is then utilized when choosing their latest, most respected, and most elaborated version. In the following chapter, the author presents the composition of Manuel Castells' information society theory and its tight relationship with the digital divide issue. In the final parts of this chapter, the author reveals the key position of the digital divide issue in solving the contradictions and negative aspects of informatization. The chapter is concluded by finding out the absence of the link between digital divide and information society theory in the preceding criticism of Castells' work. In the fourth part, the development, arguments, and empirical evidence of the digital divide research are presented, followed by identification of the limits of contemporary academic digital divide discourse. In the sixth chapter, the author tries to overcome these limits by proposing a new empirical evidence better fitting model of the digital divide. The thesis is concluded by thinking over the...

Digitalization has made it possible for organizations to propose value to their customers through digital services. Meanwhile, due to digital development, the digital divide has increased in society, since many older adults do not know how to use the proposed digital services.   The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges and dilemmas that older adults face within digital services and how organizations can co-create value with older adults to maintain them and attract them as their customers. This study aimed to analyze existing data, but also to embrace new findings, therefore, an abductive approach has been used. Seven interviews were accomplished, one with the head of sales development at our case organization Skånetrafiken, and six interviews with older adults, who contributed with their thoughts about the digitalization, digital services, and value.   The digital divide does not only depend on the digitalization but also that older adults feel forgotten as customers since they do not follow with the digital development, which leads to older adults not knowing how to use digital services. Organizations may co-create value with older adults through a change of mindset, education, information, and interaction. Moreover, this may lead to that organizations attract and maintain older adults as their customers, meanwhile minimize the digital divide.   The context of this study has a few limitations that may affect trustworthiness. Firstly, only one region was taken into consideration. Secondly, this study could have contained more participants in interviews with older adults. Lastly, due to Covid-19, there was no possibility of having physical interviews, which set limits for reading body language and facial expressions. However, future researchers may consider these limitations and hopefully can contribute to more research on this widespread topic.   Although the findings are related to the cases of older adults and Skånetrafiken, this study contributes with original insights into the field of the digital divide, older adults, and value co-creation.

The median wealth of Blacks is lower than that of Whites by 90 percent. The corresponding median income for Blacks is 40 percent below Whites. Additional research has revealed that Blacks tend to invest in low-yielding assets and borrow at high interest rates. The alarming problem is that financial outcomes and behaviors can be associated with race. In this cross-sectional quantitative study, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem and the Money Attitude Scale, both are Likert-type scales, served as survey instruments to collect data from Blacks and Whites about their individual financial behaviors. The purpose of this survey was to explore the relationship between self-esteem and monetary power among Blacks and Whites in the Unites States. The Behavioral life-cycle hypothesis served as the theoretical framework for the study. The research question for this study was as follows: There is a relationship between self-esteem and monetary power among Blacks and Whites in the United States. Using the IBM SPSS analytics software, the findings of the linear multiple regression analyses indicated that there was a significant predictive relationship between self-esteem and retention time, self-esteem and distrust, and self-esteem and anxiety. There were no correlation findings related to race, there were however, correlations related to gender. Regional investigative studies to gather data about behavioral factors that drive decision making are still necessary. The social change implication as it relates to asset accumulation is that financial services professionals will begin to shift attention away from financial accounting outcome matters toward behavioral lifestyle outcome matters

The problem addressed in this study was the lack of a model for technology integration in social work education to meet the needs of graduate social workers in the field. Extant research has focused on the efficacy of online or blended learning, but not on social work educators' technology literacy. The purpose of this study was to explore social work educators' self efficacy related to technology use in curriculum and pedagogy. Digitally immigrant educators, defined as those over the age of 35, were studied since this group struggles in adjustment to technology, commonly used by younger students. The conceptual framework synthesized von Bertalanffy's general systems theory and Bandura's self-efficacy construct to understand the relationship between social work educators and technology. In this concurrent mixed methods and grounded theory study, participants (n = 396) provided quantitative responses about self-efficacy to the Computer Technology Integration Survey and answered additional questions about technology integration in the classroom. Findings from the correlational analysis revealed a model that connects positive self-efficacy to the number of digital tools used in the classroom, technology integration in pedagogy and curriculum, and teaching the concept of a 'digital divide.' Qualitative data from open-ended questions (n = 260) and 4 individual interviews were analyzed by thematic content analysis. Findings included issues that inhibit technology integration: personal motivation, time, and lack of institutional support. This study may contribute to positive social change by proposing a technology integration model for social work educators to use as an innovative strategy for preparing future professionals in the practice of social work.

This thesis examines the impact structural aid from the EU has on popular Euroscepticism – a set of critical public opinions that has been on the rise during the last decades. The study is done by operationalising both instrumental and political Euroscepticism. Through a statistical method with regression analyses, structural aid is tested as an independent variable explaining Euroscepticism using data from the European Social Survey. Other factors on individual level, values/culture and socioeconomic conditions are added to the analyses together with contextual factors on country level. The results show that structural aid in less developed regions manage to mitigate Euroscepticism, especially in Western Europe. This suggests that the EU has a tool to shape the public opinions while it addresses regional disparities, and that popular Euroscepticism is shaped both by economic mechanisms and individual values/cultural factors.

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To obtain the purpose of this study, three following questions were asked:● How are three government agencies working with the transition to the increased amount of digital services?● What effects does digitalization have on the selected authorities?● How do they counteract the risk that some individuals will find it difficult to take advantage of the authorities services at a time when an increased amount of work is being transferred to digital forms?Since digitalization of the public sector first occurred around the year of 2010 in Europe, Sweden has been one of the frontrunners in the development of digitalizing their public sector. Despite Sweden’s good use of digitalization it is clear that a digital divide exists in the northern country within different public authorities. The main purpose of this study is to describe how the Swedish authorities; the Swedish Tax Agency, the Swedish social insurance agency and the Swedish pensions agency include the excluded target groups and individuals who are within the digital divide. This was formed following the increased digitalization of self-service services. The purpose is also to see the similarities and differences between the authorities linked to theories and strategies. The empirical material has been collected from interviews and previous research. The method used in this study is a qualitative and comparative approach to successfully investigate differences between the selected authorities. The main conclusion is that there is a clear digital divide, especially within the older target group. As for the effects of the digitalized public authorities, some of the advantages refer to cost-benefits and a more open, efficient and accessible authorities. Although there are also disadvantages such as risks to unsee/miss important details in individual cases and that the selected authorities indirectly fail their social responsibility: to include all citizens. The authorities combine personal meetings with digital services to minimize the digital divide.