A popular school of thought in the study of publishing, exemplified by the influential Long Tail theory, suggests that the economic advantages of e-books will lead to a boom in self-publishing. However, this position focuses on economic factors at the expense of other potential influences. This thesis applied Azjen's (1991) Theory of Planned Behaviour to explore which factors have the most influence on authors' decision to self-publish e-books, and, conversely, which factors influence others' decision not to. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 11 authors in the Ottawa area who have self-published or who are considering doing so in the near future. We discovered that there is significant resistance to e-books as a format for self-publishing, and that normative factors such as a lack of prestige and different promotional requirements were particularly influential. While e-books were seen to reduce economic risk, they were believed to be a less prestigious format, and so to represent an elevated risk to what Bourdieu called symbolic-capital. Some authors were also resistant because they felt unable to promote e-books in the way they are expected to. However, most said they would be willing to abandon their resistance if they perceived sufficient demand from their audience. These results open up paths for future study, including more focused examinations of the resistance factors that emerged; more longitudinal studies to see how authors' opinions change over time, particularly those of the non-adopters; and a further examination of the digital skills developed by adopters.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur verksamma musiklärare och musiker i Sverige resone- rar kring begreppet personligt uttryck. Detta görs genom kvalitativa intervjuer. Det teoretiska perspektivet är hermeneutik. I resultatet framkommer flera olika sätt att se på, och förhålla sig till begreppet personligt uttryck, som visar sig vara svårdefinierat. Personligt uttryck kan tol- kas som ett sätt att vara och förhålla sig till musik och livet som stort eller till exempel som resultatet av de estetiska val musikutövaren gör när den spelar. I diskussionskapitlet dras slut- satser om att personligt uttryck kan visa sig på flera olika sätt, och upplevas på flera olika sätt. I diskussionen diskuteras hur hantverksmässiga och tekniska kunskaper kan ställas i relation till personligt uttryck, och det visar sig att det finns åtskilda sätt att resonera kring detta. / The purpose of the study is to investigate how active music teachers and musicians in Sweden argue about the concept of personal expression. This will be done through qualitative inter- views. My theoretical perspective is hermeneutics. The result shows several different ways of looking at, and relate to the concept of personal expression, which proves to be difficult to define. For example, you can see personal expression as a way of being and referring to music and life as big, or as the result of the aesthetic choices the musician makes when playing. The discussion chapter concludes that personal expression can be manifested in several different ways, and is experienced in several different ways. The discussion discusses how craft and technical knowledge can be put in relation to personal expression, and it appears that there are separate ways to reason around this.

Syftet med studien är att få insikt i hur musiklärare i kulturskoal erfar ämnesintegrerade projekt samt hur inkluderingsarbete kan främjas av sådana projekt. För att kunna uppnå detta syfte utgår studien från följande forskningsfrågor: Vilka erfarenheter har musiklärare av ämnesintegrerade projekt i kulturskolan? Och i vilken utsträckning upplevs ämnesintegrerade projekt kunna påverka inkluderingsarbete i kulturskolan? Studiens kunskapsteoretiska utgångspunkt är interpretativism och den vetenskapsfilosofiska utgångspunkten fenomenologi. För att uppnå syfte och svara på frågeställningarna har semistrukturerade intervjuer gjorts med tre musiklärare som arbetar på varsin musik- eller kulturskola i Sverige. Resultatet presenteras i två övergripande teman. Teman är Resurser för och motivation till kreativt arbete samt social interaktion. I resultatet framkommer många likheter i de intervjuade musiklärarnas utsagor vilka till stor del handlar om en positiv inställning till utförandet av ämnesintegrerade projekt och främjandet av inkluderingsarbete i musik- och kulturskolan. Möjligheten och motivationen till att vilja utföra projekt skiljer sig däremot åt mellan musiklärarna vilka bland annat påverkas av tillgång till resurser och samarbete mellan kollegor. / The purpose of this study is to get a view of how music teachers in the Swedish music schools experience projects where different art subjects are integrated with each other and to see if these projects can facilitate that more people get included in these schools. In order to achieve this purpose, the study is based on the following research questions: In what ways does music teachers experience subject integrated projects in the Swedish music schools?, In what way can subject integrated projects facilitate that more people get included in the Swedish music schools according to music teachers? The theoretical foundation of the study is interpretivism and the philosophical perspective is phenomenology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three music teachers whom where all working in one music school each. The result is presented in two overall themes. Resources and motivation for creative work is the first theme. The second theme is Social interaction. The result reveal that the experience the music teachers describes when it comes to subject integrated projects and the work with including more people to the music schools are quite similar too each other. The experience is however different within the teachers answes when it comes to the possibility and the motivation to participate or lead a subject integrated project. The result reveal that possibilities and motivation is affected by resources and the cooperation in between colleges.

Utifrån ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv har föreliggande studie som syfte att studera några instrumentallärare inom kulturskolan angående kreativitet i instrumentalundervisning. I bakgrundskapitlet tas litteratur och forskning som berör området kreativitet upp. Sju informanter intervjuades med semistrukturerad kvalitativ intervju som metod. Tolkningar av transkriptionerna gjordes utifrån ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv. Resultatet visar att det fanns gemensamma uppfattningar om kreativitet. Kreativitet uppfattades av lärarna som att bryta sig ur etablerade tankemönster, skapande och att skapa nya idéer. Förutsättningar för kreativitet uppfattades vara trygga miljöer och att läraren är trygg i sin lärarroll. Elever ansågs vara kreativa men att det är läraren som lockar fram deras kreativitet. Vissa förutsättningar för elevers kreativitet var nyfikenhet, intresse och motivation. Resultatet visar att lärarnas egen utbildning har varit en källa till hur de uppfattar kreativitet. De viktigaste faktorerna var deras egna lärare och att få spela med andra vilket i sin tur har påverkat hur lärarna undervisar sina egna elever. / From a hermeneutic perspective, the present study aims to examine how cultural school teachers perceive creativity and how these perceptions have grown. The background chapter presents literature and research that concerns the area of ​​creativity. Seven informants were interviewed with semi-structured qualitative interviews. Interpretations of the transcriptions were made by applying the hermeneutic circle. The result shows common views of creativity. Creativity was perceived as breaking out of established thought patterns, creation and creating new ideas. Prerequisites for creativity were perceived to be safe environments and that the teacher is comfortable in his or her teaching profession. The view was that all pupils are creative, but the teacher needs to attract creativity. Some prerequisites for students were curiosity, interest and motivation. The result shows that the teachers' own education has been a source of how they perceive creativity. The most important factors were their teachers and to play music in ensembles with others. In turn this have influenced how teachers teach their students today.

In an era in which school principals' jobs are much more complex and demanding than they were a few decades ago, the increasing challenges of the position have affected principal recruitment and selection efforts by school districts nationwide. Moreover, the rapidly increasing rate of principal retirements has exacerbated the problem of a shortage of qualified candidates for principal positions. As a result, it is important to explore current principals' perspectives on how best to attract and retain qualified prospective applicants during the hiring process. In this case study, 16 principals and associate principals from both public and independent schools in three states described their experiences, their reasons for applying for a principalship, their perspectives on the application process. They also gave advice and recommendations for both administrators of hiring processes and for future applicants. One-on-one qualitative interviews with a pre-established interview protocol were conducted as the sole data collection method. Three primary research questions were investigated: How do school principals perceive the existing principal recruitment processes? How do school principals perceive the processes used by the school districts to select them? To what extent do job descriptions, as currently written, systematically cover the realities of the duties of incumbent principals? From analysis of the interviews, the researcher chose to focus on four main topics that emerged from principals' perspectives on the hiring process: (a) the decision to pursue a principalship and searching for openings, (b) going through the process, (c) personal reactions to the process, and (d) recommendations. These topics were compared and contrasted with relevant research reported in the literature to generate the following four major results of the present study. First, standardized and structured interviews not only helped decision making but also won applicants' trust. Second, hiring processes were generally similar to what previous research suggested. Third, deficiencies in hiring processes that were first identified a number of years ago continue to persist. Finally, whether applicant pools are shrinking appeared to be an open question. These findings contribute to the very limited research that has thus far examined principal hiring practices from the perspectives of school principals, and have allowed suggestions to be made for possible areas of improvement in principal hiring processes.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether there is a trust between social media influencers and their followers, and if so, to what extent. The methodological approach consists of an analysis of interview material, expert interviews and selected comment boxes on social media. By conducting qualitative analysis, this thesis examines audience reception to promotional content produced by social media influencers in collaboration with the Swedish interior design brand Royal Design. Based on the theories of parasocial interaction, two-step flow and opinion leadership, and modes of reception, concepts such as audience advertising response, relationship to influencers and the level of trust are investigated and concluded in order to find common patterns around audience reception to influencer marketing. The analysis shows that there is indeed a certain amount of trust towards social media influencers among the sample group especially if they recognise the influencer, however, the trust is not full and unconditional. The audience reception of influencer marketing content both in the interviews and comment boxes was mostly positive, and some respondents seemed to have developed sympathy towards social media personas featured in the advertisements, praising them for being personal and authentic. The results of the study imply that while the credibility and motives of influencer content are questioned by some, it is generally perceived as a more enjoyable alternative to traditional advertising formats.

Digital advertising has become a multi-billion-dollar industry; and it is growing tremendously each year. In times of strong market dynamics, marketers are particularly aware of Facebook advertising as a powerful advertising form. The dynamic market situation also magnifies the need for marketers to monitor and analyse consumers' perceptions. The purpose of this study was, thus, to assist marketers in understanding the influence of targeted Facebook advertising through mobile devices on South African consumers' advertisement perceptions. The form of advertising investigated was in-stream advertisements. The aim of this study was to explore the role of South African consumers' emotions in relation to these consumers' attention to the targeted in-stream advertising on Facebook delivered via mobile phones. South African consumers view videos on their mobile phone through the Facebook platform, which can be interrupted by targeted Facebook advertising. This study investigated the role that the interruption of video watching bears in relation to the interpretation and perception of the advertisement by these consumers. Another objective was to explore the role of South African consumers' attitudes towards brands in relation to what these consumers remember from the advertisements delivered through mobile targeted in-stream Facebook advertising. The sample consisted of 13 South African consumers and was acquired using purposive sampling. This study was based on a perception-formation model, which is a composition formed from the perception models of different authors. The model was investigated using qualitative interviewing and the data gathered was analysed through qualitative content analysis. The results of the study provide support for the theoretical framework and suggest that consumers' perception of in-stream advertising on Facebook is influenced by various factors such as the nature of Facebook usage, emotions, the disruption caused by the advertising, the attitude towards the brand and the Facebook video viewed. Marketers may be able to influence consumers' perception of in-stream advertisements through more precise targeting, a better fit between the in-stream advertisements and the video and by limiting the advertisement occurrence. By shedding light on South African consumers' perceptions of targeted in-stream advertising on Facebook, this thesis could serve as a basis for marketers' decisions, and also lay the foundations for future academic research in this field.

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The diploma thesis "Accountability in tertiary education in the Czech Republic" is based on the concept of accountability, which is defined as a social relation between two actors, where one actor is obliged to justify his conduct and behavior to another. This diploma thesis has been mainly written on a theoretical base - the accountability concept, which will be applied in the Czech tertiary education. The main aim of the presented diploma thesis is to find out, whether the concept of accountability in the Czech Republic will contribute to the expansion of a professional knowledge in tertiary education system. The set aim further allows verification, if accountability as a concept might be beneficial for further research in this field. The objective of this diploma thesis will further describe how accountability is applied in the tertiary education and outline such a complex network of relations between actors. Following the set aim, this thesis is conceived as a theoretical study covering the specific country - the Czech Republic. The diploma thesis is logically divided into seven chapters, which are divided into subchapters. Aims and research questions are presented in the beginning of this thesis, followed by a detailed definition of the concept of accountability, which is crucial for the whole...

Sustainable development is a broad and difficult concept. The concept has been clarified and given more space in the steering document - the curriculum for preschool 2018 - with its own heading together with health and well-being. Sustainable development can be divided into three different dimensions, the ecological, social and economic dimension. In this study, sustainable development is discussed overall, but, however, delves into the ecological dimension. The ecological dimension is referred to as sustainable development (climate and natural environment) with the support of a qualitative study and individual interviews in preschools as a method. A total of five preschool teachers at two different preschools are interviewed. The purpose of the study is to elucidate some different perceptions that preschool teachers have about sustainable development in preschool. What emerges from the analysis is that all interviewed preschool teacher’s value sustainable development (climate and natural environment) highly within preschool, and that this is a relevant area to work with. The result shows that all preschool teachers consider that they have an important role in supporting children's learning in sustainable development and that it is the preschool teachers who have the main responsibility and should be teaching. What emerges most clearly from the interviews with preschool teachers is to awaken children's interest in digital tools and to talk with children about sustainable development. Prerequisites to work on sustainable development in preschool always exist, according to the interviewed preschool teachers, but some of them emphasize that it is up to each individual to address it if one wants to work with it in preschool. It is more spontaneous teaching than planned teaching in sustainable development, say the interviewed preschool teachers. They further believe that one works with sustainable development on a daily basis without consciously knowing about and thinking about it