<p>Certifications is common for IT in relation to individual program languages or program applications. Certifications for educations that endures several years is not as common to see. In this paper the situation for the Systems Science programme is researched, by investigating how the programme looks around in Sweden. Also by using interviews, show how companies and people responsible for the programme in Umeå, think the contact is between them and how the knowledge of the Systems Science students are from the view of the companies that employ them. In the end the conclusions show that there are differences in the Systems Science programme, and that the companies have quite a similar view of what the Systems Science students are good and not so good at. The contact between the industry and the programme does exist, but have to improve. When taken all the aspects in hand, and by seeing the positive thoughts that involved people have on the idea of including a certification in the programme, the final conclusion is that a certification is something that would benefit the Systems Science programme.</p>

Statistics indicate an increase in online shopping. This indication could result in the loss of safety factors for the customer, for example the possibility to physically examine the product, interact with professional store personnel and try the product before purchase – factors which all could support the customer in her choice of company and product. The purpose of this study is to increase the theoretical knowledge regarding strategies in the area of trust-development between customers and companies. We have chosen to investigate what strategies web based companies apply and how they are perceived by their customers. Thus, we conduct our study on a market leading company, selling quality-demanding products, to investigate how they apply trust-development strategies. To be able to understand the inner workings of e-commerce and how trust-development is created, we will present the history of e- commerce as well as the concept of web 2.0 and their impact on customers and companies acting in the e-commerce market. To answer our research questions and sub-purposes we have applied a three-step method containing a literature study, an observational study and focus groups. Results of the study indicate that the existing general strategies in the area of trust-development are applicable, however they lack certain important components according to customers. The most prominent results of the study show that the design of web sites and web-shops is of utmost importance to the customers and thus should be integrated into previously developed strategies.

The manufactory industry, due to decline in profit margins, is seeking new business opportunities by moving towards servitization and value-adding services in after-sales. We have therefore conducted a case study to investigate a manufacturing company in their current transformation towards servitization. By studying the management perspective, we aimed to understand how Information Technology, by adding value, could play a role in the transformation process. This study shows that information technology can take an integrating role, by supporting new value-adding services to provider and customer, as well as a co-creating role, where both provider and customer benefits by learning from each other, in the changing work process initiated by new services. The study has also shown that Information Technology, together with organization, information and people, are crucial components in the manufactory industry’s transformation towards servitization.  Furthermore, the study has also shown that the value chain has the potential to drastically change due to the value-adding that the information technology brings to the progress of servitization.

It has become more popular to work abroad and companies have become more global than they used to. A big reason for this is due to globalization and the progress done within the field of technology. Because of this aloofness that occurs, a gap between the expatriates’ personal life and his or her working life develops. The cases focused on in this paper includes people who are distanced from their private lives at least a few consecutive months but are all aiming to get back when they are done with their individual errands. Computer-Mediated Communication can help these people to keep in touch and can also help them to stay in both places without physically being there. By taking advantage of the technological development that exists today it can help relatives and other people to stay close during these periods of time. When the expatriates’ come back to their private lives it can be as they never went away if Computer-Mediated Communication have been used frequently. This paper addresses the issue of emotional and geographical aloofness with research within the area of organizational use of Social Media and other types of Computer-Mediated Communication.

Several researchers have pointed out that the field of eGovernment suffers from a too short-termed, project oriented, retrospective focus and a naïve technological optimism. Reflexive, critical analysis, cumulative research and altered use of theoretical frames are asked for to increase the practical value. However, in front of fulfilling such expectations the reality is that we get the research we are asking for, and we are asking for the research we know exist, and in this logic lies a lot of communicative challenges (as well as funding mechanisms). This article tries to address this relation and does so by putting forward an initiative to establish a national network of eGovernment researchers and practitioners (from private and public sector).

In this paper we are applying inter-organizational concepts from the industrial/business network approach on empirical findings from an e-government case, in order to describe and better understand challenges in one-stop government e-service development. We analyze our case by using concepts that characterize an inter-organizational relationship in terms of its level of continuity, complexity, symmetry, informality, and its dimensions (links, bonds, and ties). The purpose of the paper is to explore how these theoretical concepts can help us focus on certain aspects of e-service development challenges. The empirical findings are collected within an on-going action research project for e-service development in the public sector in Sweden. The aim of the project is to develop one-stop government e-services for driver’s license matters as well as a web-based portal where these e-services and information about the driver’s license process will be easily accessible. Our conclusions are that the theoretical concepts helped us reach further understanding of the empirical case. In the spirit of the network approach, we focused on the present situation and been able to give a rather detailed and fine-grained picture of the problems and challenges in this context.

There are a lot of reasons reported for why organisations start a sourcing decision. This chapter discusses this theme based on two questions: Does the need and/or wish to increase e-Government services influence the start of a sourcing decision process aiming at reorganising hosting of software applications and if it does, how does it influence the start of such a decision-making process? The point of departure, besides a literature review, is a sourcing decision-making process in a Swedish municipality. When analysing the sourcing decision, five suggested propositions developed from the factors, control, core competence, capability, cost, and strategy, are used. It is concluded that municipalities in Sweden has to prepare for being more of an e-Government organisation, which means that more of the services the municipalities' employees has done before citizens will do by themselves. This demands that to be able to offer future e-Government services municipalities need to have control over software applications. From this study it is suggested that centralisation of hosting can be seen as decentralisation of work tasks from an e-Government perspective.

Earlier research has shown that combining education with entertainment can improve students motivation in school. With this study we aim to learn more about interactive digital learning resources and how they should be designed to entertain and thereby contribute to motivation. We have identified aspects of educational games that also could be considered when developing interactive digital learning resources, to make them more entertaining and motivating. We have chosen to study and evaluate an interactive digital learning resource called “Grasp the Disaster”, a fictional online adventure created for students in the ages between 13-15. By studying the guidelines for educational games and then customize them for interactive digital learning resources, we found that “Grasp the Disaster” is a well produced interactive digital learning resource, though in need of a few changes. In addition to evaluating the production itself, we could also confirm that the guidelines we have customized can actually be applied to an interactive digital learning resource when it comes to design and evaluation.

Currently there exists an advanced and natural form of interaction, named gesture-based interaction. It has been applied in some fields successfully, especially in the form of game applications. Although people are filled with wonder at the new interaction, it has not replaced the traditional interaction, like keyboard and mouse. From the user experience point of view, gesture-based interaction has advantages which traditional interactive form cannot offer, but also shortcomings which people seem dissatisfied with. This thesis focuses on expressing user experience of gesture-based interaction by conducting interview method. Finally, this paper presents a new design and tries to find implications for its practical usage in the future.

Today’s transnational IT development requires complex collaborations which are often hindered by differences in the culture, geography (time zones), and the work habits of the people involved.  This study was conducted in the real-world environment of a global telecom company. The data demonstrates some of the problems which can arise when attempting transnational IT development, particularly in the field of engineering. Using case study research method, collaboration barriers can be found and research insights are generated from collaborative interruptions and communication behaviors. Although technologies and working principles do enhance performance, I argued that social considerations in transnational collaboration are needed to study as top priority. Particularly in the engineering working context, most people are often either unaware of potential collaboration conflicts or unprepared to solve them. In some technology solutions gaps are existed between human’s intentions and practical supporting functions. In this paper, the finding shows that social considerations in transnational IT development result significant influence to collaboration which clears the picture and brings more understanding between individuals, mechanisms and IT products. In addition, this study also confirms that social approach does increase certain level of improvement in transnational collaboration.