Abstract IT can facilitate communication among individuals and connect people across geographical distances. On the contrary, citizens of the society who do not use communication technologies to some extent might feel excluded from the information society. As elderly citizens are already in a vulnerable position for the digital divide, communication technology becomes an important tool for interacting with friends and family. The social situation of elderly, 60 years of age and older, is a topic of current interest since they are the fastest growing age group in the world today. Further, social interaction becomes more important among elderly since it has a positive effect on well- being. However, elderly are the least represented age group using social media, which gives a reason to speculate about what affects their outdistancing. To approach this issue we investigated in elderlys’ social background, what motivates them to use technology, attitudes toward technology and whether Facebook meets their social needs. The purpose of this study is to give a deeper understanding of what impact social media has on how elderly build relationships. We have approached this issue by using a qualitative study where we examined how nine elderly between the age of 65-79, in Umeå use Facebook to maintain or establish relations with their surroundings. Our findings suggest that it is most often family members who motivate elderly to join Facebook to enable social interaction online. Another factor that affects elderlys’ relationships is the fact that they feel insecure online, because of a lack of knowledge on the usage of Facebook features. Also, there is an awareness among elderly that social media is characterized by transparency, where information becomes more vulnerable for exploitation. Hence, elderly prefer not to share information on social media. Facebook is thereby mainly used as a complementary mean for maintaining and re-connecting relations with family and friends.  Finally,  our  study  suggests  that  social  media  also  can  conduce  inclusion  in society by serving as a link between working life and retirement.

Abstract For a long time, human beings have believed that only the best of the best is what counts as quality.  This has led to a consumer mentality where as soon as a new or an upgraded version of a product comes out, everybody rushes to get it without hesitating. This has resulted in producers rushing to produce new products in order to be able to compete with the rest, and to maintain their stronghold in the market.  It has therefore become more and more difficult for us to keep up with the fast changing technology, which is steered by the need to make a quick buck (the suppliers) and the need to be in with the times (users).  The questions we are trying to answer in this document are:  Is it really necessary to upgrade or buy the new item?  What value does it add to our lives when we upgrade? Is there a significant improvement to the product that warrants us getting the newer or latest version?  Through our user study, we try to bring out a clear distinction between the different versions of the same product, that will give a clearer understanding of the idea behind the upgrade and our need to have it. Thus we want to help people to make the right decision in considering of buying a new software. The results that we got showed that the latest and the greatest is not always the best, and in some cases it might be better to just stick to the older version than getting the newer.

Computer games is a growing market with over millions of players that are playing and/or enjoying the play of games on a daily basis. The nerdy gamers that once were, are now becoming professional athletes in the virtual world called eSport. We have identified a lack of studies in this area which implies that there is little data of what it is. In this paper we have focused on the phenomena that is eSport and more closely on the game series Starcraft made by Blizzard Entertainment. Our focus lies in the game series Starcraft and eSport organisations mainly outside South Korea. To our help we have used a qualitative method interview as well as digital media found on various webpages. The aim of this paper is to add and develop the understanding of eSport on how to become a professional player or participant and how serious they are in their field. The paper contributes with starting information on the phenomenon but also restricts itself to saying that there is more research to be done in field.

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Information technology inflicts upon us in our everyday life. It is a natural part of our work and of our spare time. The education system is not excluded from this development, IT is becoming an important part of education at all levels. In university, learning platforms is one of these new ways of using IT in education. Learning platforms becomes a valuable tool for teachers and students. Teachers can communicate effectively with students regardless of their physical location. Students, likewise, get access to their education any time, both on-campus and off-campus. Even though learning platforms give many favorable outcomes we must question if we fully understand the impact of technology. The purpose of this study is to explore our relations to technology and how it effects the use of learning platforms. I will identify different technological relations in the use of learning platforms and show how this effects how we think, act and express ourselves about this technology. This knowledge helps us to understand some of the problems related to the use of learning platforms. It also shows how we speak upon the same technology in different manners. Furthermore it questions the common understanding of designer and user, suggesting an understanding were every individual related to the artifact is responsible for how it is expressed and in that sense actually becomes part of its creation.

In the media richness of everyday life, the encounter with information graphics ishappening on a daily basis, whether we are aware or not. With the development andeasy access of technologies, new ways to create and display information graphics hasemerged. Among them, the animated information graphics, which in the few pastyears appears to have increased in popularity on video sharing websites such asVimeo and Youtube. In the genre of animated information graphics, there seems to bean inherent diversity regarding the design characteristics. In this study we exploredliterature and research on information graphics and related subjects. We also lookedat topics related to the moving image, such as storytelling and narrative. We foundseveral central principles to consider in information graphics in general when youwant to communicate different kinds of messages on people successfully. We used aqualitative approach to study the responses and experiences of three different focusgroups, having limited, average and professional previous experience respectively inthe field of media design after being presented with four animated productions. Wefound that the design principles of the more traditional static information graphicsstill are applicable on a genre with such wide variations in style and design as in animated information graphics.

<p>The changed role of IT continuously influences organisational development, the individual and his role in the organization, different kinds of structures, management processes and strategies. One of the big concerns for IT firms is the need for IT consultants with enough experience to effectively and rapidly understand the business procedures of the firm in or-der to become a resource. In the classic IT-consultant role in the early days of IT, quite dif-ferent features were expected from them in their work procedures. The structure of how and which tasks they were expected to handle has undergone an indisputable transforma-tion. Today’s IT consultants are expected to know how to think in business strategic man-ners as well as the IT strategic manners. The need to formulate this role explicitly has thus emerged. So far it has been a case of implicit non-formulated way of handling this role. We present the implications of these regards, namely the Emerging Strategic Consultant (ESC).</p><p>The purpose of the thesis is to gain knowledge about obstacles and difficulties in the proc-ess of introducing the IT-consultants to their expected role as a Strategic consultant. We also intend to give recommendations for improvements based on the study when we find apparent correlations.</p><p>In order to fulfil this purpose and to present a reliable and valid report a qualitative analysis method was used. We wanted to get a deeper understanding of the chosen subject matter, therefore, we conducted interviews and questionnaires in the studied company, Systeam.</p><p>After having analyzed and compared the empirical findings with the theoretical framework we can point out that there are some problems concerning the new strategic role of the consultants and the potential difficulties relating to these. On the whole we can state that management at Systeam have made a really effective job when hiring the right consultants to fit into their company strategy, however with a great deal of intricacy. The empirical study revealed that finding these consultants is not an easy task and takes some effort from many people. However, along with the positive aspects we have found some problems re-garding the replacing and introduction of the consultants into their strategic role. Among the main problems can be named lack of adequate documentation in projects, different personal expectations and non-existence of any documented explicit strategy about how a consultant should work in order to achieve strategic alignment of Business and IT. Draw-ing from this we have gathered some recommendations for the company to consider, which will be presented in the study.</p>

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<p><strong>Introduction</strong></p><p>In our Bachelor’s thesis we wrote about the advantages, risks, strategies and methods useful when working with Green IT. But there still were difficulties delimiting the field of Green IT. This was mostly because of the lack of previous research, unestablished definitions of the term Green IT as well as nonexistent methods to measure the accomplished work. Furthermore the recent changes in the environment, with escalating pressure from stakeholders with environmental concerns and increased costs of investments and maintenance, have forced IT-companies to measure the effects of IT and its financial impact.</p><p><strong>Purpose </strong></p><p>The purpose of our research study is to further clarify the field of Green IT by establishing a definition and constructing a KPI-setting.</p><p><strong>Method</strong></p><p>We first established a definition of the term Green IT by gathering available definitions and analysing them. The analysis resulted in two definitions; one for <strong>Green IT</strong> (<em>a technology product used to support information gathering, processing, distribution and use, and which is or contributes to environmental sustainability</em>) and one for a <strong>Green IT Company</strong> (<em>manages the process of producing technology used to support information gathering, processing, distribution and use, and which is or contributes to environmental sustainability</em>). These definitions made us realise that there are users and manufacturers of Green IT, with distinctive perspectives and needs when measuring it. According to our definitions we found respondents to interview in order to construct two KPI-settings instead of one.</p><p><strong>Conclusions</strong></p><p>The first KPI-setting constructed focuses on producers of Green IT and their production activities along with the financial impact. The second KPI-setting focuses on users of Green IT and looks at the usage of Green IT, and also includes financial indicators to measure financial impact.</p>