Recent efforts mitigating the global energy crisis has led to a radical shifttowards solar energy production. However, photovoltaic module (PVM) waste remains a grave concern. Burden shifting within a system is attributed to the lack of systems thinking applied in socio-technical transitions. Policies describe the processes for end-of-life management such as recycling, yet in practice leaves room for improvement. This paper aims to aid decision-makers with a systems perspective examining the barriers to increased recycling of PVMs. A comparative case study using qualitative data was collected from 12 semi structured interviews in South Africa and Sweden. Interviewees were recognized as key actors in the solar energy transition, as well as having a role to play in recycling PVMs. Using systems thinking approach, the interview results were used to define and visualize a social-technological-ecological system (STES), as well as its components and their relationships contained therein. The STES for Sweden included 12 components with 15 different relationships. Whereas South Africa’s systems included 13 components and 25 different relationships, owing to the addition of the ‘Social equity’ component and several more relationships within the social subsystem, extending to the technological subsystem. Barriers, where connections between components were disconnected, were interpreted. Despite the stark contrast between South Africa and Sweden’s landscapes and regimes, the pathways to bridge barriers are relatively the same. These include implementing economic instruments to encourage recycling, circular design of PVMs, and enhancing the information, knowledge and skills of recycling processes. The transition’s maturity was an overarching theme influencing the broader state of the system. Further research on the cognitive dissonance of sustainability transitions and the long-term impacts, as well as cause and effects relationships between components, and refining component definitions in the social subsystem based on emerging literature are encouraged.

Digital transformation represents an unprecedented strategic challenge for established manufacturing companies, but the theoretical understanding of its implications is still lacking. It is accordingly difficult for management to develop an adequate digital transformation strategy and decide on appropriate organisational implementation measures. The aim of this work is therefore to address the organisational management challenges related to digital transformation of manufacturing companies through strategic digital transformation programmes. It is based on the input of 39 managers with diverse backgrounds, digital and non-digital, within the manufacturing industry. This study enhances the open systems organisational theory approach and the concepts of temporary organisations. It identifies 21 different organisational management factors that are relevant for the digital transformation of a manufacturing company. Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) has been applied to derive an empirical model that organises those factors according to their level of influence. The factors related to organisational leadership, internal organisational structures and operational capabilities have the strongest influence on the digital transformation challenges. This includes the understanding that in the context of digital transformation, a strategic programme cannot be conceived separately to the embedding company organisation. The practical implications of the empirical model on management are derived by this study as well. It suggests that the non-linear nature of digital transformation requires management to continuously embrace and not restrict organisational and operational complexity. Instead, focus should be placed on establishing frameworks that provide operational guidance, supported by substantial management efforts to foster commitment across all organisational levels towards digital transformation goals.

In the last decade, a new wave of socio-technical cyber threats has emerged that is targeting both the technical and social vulnerabilities of organizations and requires fast and efficient threat mitigations. Yet, it is still common that financial organizations rely on yearly reviewed risk management methodologies that are slow and static to mitigate the ever-changing cyber threats. The purpose of this research is to explore the field of Dynamic Risk Management in Information Security from a socio-technical perspective in order to mitigate both types of threats faster and dynamically to better suit the connected world we live in today. In this study, the Design Science Research methodology was utilized to create a Dynamic Information Security Risk Management model based on functionality requirements collected through interviews with professionals in the financial sector and structured literature studies. Finally, the constructed dynamic model was then evaluated in terms of its functionality and usability. The results of the evaluation showed that the finalized dynamic risk management model has great potential to mitigate both social and technical cyber threats in a dynamic fashion. / Under senaste decenniet har en ny våg av sociotekniska cyberhot uppkommit som är riktade både mot de sociala och tekniska sårbarheterna hos organisationer. Dessa hot kräver snabba och effektiva hotreduceringar, dock är det fortfarande vanligt att finansiella organisationer förlitar sig på årligen granskade riskhanteringsmetoder som både är långsamma och statiska för att mildra de ständigt föränderliga cyberhoten. Syftet med denna forskning är att undersöka området för dynamisk riskhantering inom informationssäkerhet ur ett sociotekniskt perspektiv, med målsättningen att snabbare och dynamiskt kunna mildra bägge typerna av hot för att bättre passa dagens uppkopplade värld.  I studien användes Design Science Research för att skapa en dynamisk riskhanteringsmodell med syfte att hantera sociotekniska cyberhot mot informationssäkerheten. Riskhanteringsmodellen är baserad på funktionskrav insamlade genom intervjuer med yrkesverksamma inom finanssektorn, samt strukturerade litteraturstudier.  Avslutningsvis utvärderades den konstruerade dynamiska modellen avseende dess funktionalitet och användbarhet. Resultaten av utvärderingen påvisade att den slutgiltiga dynamiska riskhanteringsmodellen har en stor potential att mitigera både sociala och tekniska cyberhot på ett dynamiskt sätt.

The thesis explores the potential of one way of facilitating and stimulating collaboration in Library and Information Science (LIS), through a specific scientific collaboration activity: creating, sharing and reusing data collection instruments, such as interview guides, questionnaires, and observation protocols. The four studies reported in the thesis can be read as a linear narrative, each study building on the previous and contributing to the following ones. Together the four studies describe the process exploring social and contextual aspects of LIS; developing requirements and designing a working prototype collaboratory; and evaluating how the prototype collaboratory was perceived by LIS professionals. Overall, the results show that whereas the benefits of an LIS collaboratory reported by the study participants focused on the greater good for LIS, the challenges reported focused on the individuals’ perspectives. Hence, a tension exists between supporting the greater good, and challenges for individuals concerning sharing and reusing data collection instruments in an LIS collaboratory. The thesis emphasizes the implications for the LIS discipline when new ways of working with data collection instruments would be introduced; the implications of addressing needs of a diverse target audience; and the implications for further design iterations of an LIS collaboratory, including rewarding contributions, and ensuring quality content in a collaboratory. / <p>Academic dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information Science at the University of Gothenburg and the University of Borås to be publicly defended on Wednesday 11 June 2014 at 13.15 in lecture room E310, University of Borås, Allégatan 1, Borås</p>

Les stratégies de conservation de la nature évoluent de la protection stricte d'espaces isolés et dépourvus d'activités humaines, à l'intégration des enjeux de biodiversité dans le développement territorial. Ce changement de perspective, des aires protégées à la territorialisation de l'environnement, suppose de gérer la complexité et d'appréhender la nature collectivement et met l'accent sur les relations entre science, politique et société. Cette thèse, fondée sur une approche pluridisciplinaire, a eu pour objectif l'élaboration de recommandations pour répondre aux enjeux d'une conservation intégrée de la biodiversité. S'inscrivant dans le contexte de l'avènement des stratégies de réseau écologique en France, notre recherche porte à la fois sur les méthodes spatiales et sur les dispositifs socio-techniques en charge de planifier la conservation intégrée de la biodiversité. Chacune de ces parties a mené à des résultats et conclusions qui leur sont propres et a contribué à une réflexion plus globale sur le rôle de l'expertise technique pour répondre à ces nouveaux enjeux. Nous montrons comment une approche trop technique, centrée notamment sur la spatialisation du réseau écologique, tend non seulement à limiter le partage au sein du collectif et donc l'adhésion des acteurs mais aussi à fournir une vision réductrice et partielle des enjeux de conservation. A l'inverse, un positionnement de l'expertise en accompagnement du dialogue territorial favorise l'apprentissage social et aboutit à un cadre d'action publique qui intègre davantage les incertitudes et la complexité du vivant. Le processus participatif doit donc permettre d'opérer un glissement de l'expertise technique comme fondement de l'action publique à l'expertise collective qui assure l'intégration des savoirs et savoirs-faire de tous. Ainsi l'enjeu n'est pas celui du compromis entre science, technique et débat social mais plutôt celui de la gestion de leur interaction et de leur complémentarité. / Nature conservation strategies evolve from the strict protection of isolated and devoid of human activity spaces, to the integration of biodiversity issues in territory development. This change in perspective requires the development of a collective management of complexity and a collective conception of nature and highlights the developing relationship between science, policy and society.Based on a multidisciplinary approach, the objective of this thesis was the elaboration of recommendations for integrated conservation. In the context of the advent of ecological network strategies in France, our research concerns both the spatial methods and the socio-technical process which are in charge of the conservation planning. The analysis of these two issues has produced results pertinent to each theme and more general reflection concerning the role of technical expertise in the development of such new issues. We show how an overly technical approach, which notably aims to spatially identify the network, tends to limit the collective sharing of major issues and thus the adherence of the stakeholders to conservation goals, and also provide a reductive and partial vision of conservation issues. In contrast, a position of expertise which accompanies the dialogue on territory favors social learning and leads to a framework for public action which more fully integrates both the uncertainty and complexity of the natural world. The participative process could thus allow tfor a transition from technical to collective expertise as the foundation of public action, which ensures the inclusion of general knowledge and know-how. In this way, the issue is not of a compromise between science, technique and social debate, but of the way that they can complement each other through interaction and how this interaction may be conducted.

The prevailing discourse of “resistance vs. acceptance” in IT implementation research mostly personalizes the issue as “users” versus IT implementers (e.g., managers, CIOs, CMIOs, etc.). This kind of discourse has created an IT-implementer-centric attitude among IS scholars and practitioners. The IT-implementer-centric attitude, while embraces “acceptance” as a desirable reaction almost unconditionally, frequently holds for minimizing or more conservatively suppressing “resistance” to IT implementation. In other words, the mainstream IT implementation research, almost completely, treats “users” as passive recipients whose choices, as they face pre-developed/pre-designed/pre-rolled-out technology being implemented, can only be defined on a spectrum from “acceptance” to “resistance.” The current research study, however, offers an alternative perspective that views the “resistance vs. acceptance” duality “from the other side,” i.e., from the perspective of the supposed “resistors” or “acceptors” themselves. Through a review of the literature, this study first identifies major drawbacks of the extant theories and models of IT implementation research. Next, drawing on an interpretive paradigm of research (more specifically, phenomenological sociology), this study investigates a real world case of healthcare IT implementation. The results of the aforementioned literature review and case investigation subsequently form the basis for the study’s proposed theoretical account, which provides an unprecedented understanding and explanation of how actors representing different stakeholder groups, among which people who are routinely called “users” are but one group, experience IT implementation as they live their everyday lives. The proposed theoretical account is lastly used as a guide for crafting both practical and research prescriptions with respect to managing IT-involved change occasions.

Este trabalho identifica o Código de Ética e Prática Profissional da engenharia de software como o conjunto de práticas para consideração de fatores humanos na engenharia de software. A seguir, estende o Kernel da especificação Essence, e o utiliza para conduzir a aplicação desse conjunto de práticas. A prova de conceito indica que o conjunto de práticas identificadas não garante a consideração de fatores humanos na engenharia de software. Considerar a ética nas interações existentes na empreitada de engenharia de software não é um simples caso de utilização de checklists como forma de verificar o que deve ser feito para certificar que algo foi realizado. Considerar a ética é mais do que isso. É necessário que todas as pessoas tenham consciência da importância da ética, do respeito de um ao outro e à sociedade. / This text identifies the Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice as a set of practices to consider human factors in software engineering. Afterwards, it extends the Kernel of the Essence specification, and applies it to steer the use of this set of practices. The proof of concept indicates that the identified set of practices does not ensure the consideration of human factors in software engineering. Considering ethics, in the interactions that are present in software engineering endeavor, is not a simple case of using checklists to ascertain what must be done to ensure that something was carried out. Taking ethics into consideration is more than that. It is imperative that all the people should become aware of how important ethics is, and so is the respect for each other and for the society. Keywords: This text identifies the Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice as a set of practices to consider human factors in software engineering. Afterwards, it extends the Kernel of the Essence specification, and applies it to steer the use of this set of practices. The proof of concept indicates that the identified set of practices does not ensure the consideration of human factors in software engineering. Considering ethics, in the interactions that are present in software engineering endeavor, is not a simple case of using checklists to ascertain what must be done to ensure that something was carried out. Taking ethics into consideration is more than that. It is imperative that all the people should become aware of how important ethics is, and so is the respect for each other and for the society.

Erfahrungsmanagement (EM) ist eine Spezialform des Wissensmanagements, die sich mit aufgabenbezogenem Wissen beschäftigt. Diese Arbeit entwickelt ein Rahmenwerk für Assistenzsysteme, die Menschen bei EM-Aufgaben unterstützen. Es untersucht nicht nur technische Fragen (Erfahrungswissen sammeln, strukturieren, speichern und wiederverwenden) sondern auch organisatorische (Erfahrungswissen evaluieren und pflegen) und psychosoziale Aspekte (ein EM-System integrieren, Barrieren vermeiden, den Systemeinsatz bewerten). Fallbasierte Anwendungsbeispiele für industrielle und experimentelle Szenarien zeigen, welche Prozesse wo unterstützt oder gar teilautomatisiert werden können. Sie dienen der experimentellen Evaluierug der Fragen, die ich zu Beginn jedes Anwendungskapitels formuliert habe. / Experience Management (EM) is a special form of Knowledge Management that deals with task-based knowledge. This thesis provides a framework for assistant systems that support human beings in EM tasks. It deals not only with technical issues (how to collect, structure, store, retrieve, and reuse experiential knowledge), but als with organizational issues (how to evaluate and maintain it) and psychosocial questions (how to integrate an EM system, how to avoid barriers, how to evaluate the success of the whole system). Case-based sample applications from both, industrial and experimental scenarios, show to what extend the particular EM processes can be supported or which sub-processes can even be automated. By means of experiments with these implemented samples, we evaluate the topics that are discussed at the beginning of each application chapter.

L'objet de cette thèse est d'analyser l'émergence d'un objet technique, un portail numérique de produits de formation, en identifiant tous les actants qu'un tel projet a mobilisés et en tentant de saisir la logique de leurs interactions pour en dégager les différentes configurations sociotechniques qui se succèdent, les lois ou les régularités qui les rendent représentatives d'un processus d'innovation technique. À partir d'une enquête de terrain fortement inspirée d'une démarche ethnographique, cette recherche dresse l'inventaire de douze portails numériques qui se sont succédés entre 1998 et 2008 dans les Universités de Grenoble et décrit dans le même mouvement les acteurs, leurs positions (convergentes ou contradictoires), les différents points de vue en présence et les enjeux politiques, techniques, économiques, etc.Empruntant le concept d'objet-frontière pour englober cet ensemble d'environnements numériques successifs et communs à un territoire universitaire, l'étude donne une importance aux objets dans l'action et offre une méthode de compréhension des points d'association et de rupture entre les différents actants mobilisés. L'objectif est de modéliser les interactions qui s'établissent à chaque nouveau « prototype » de portail et qui traduisent des chaînes d'associations (techniques, économiques, politiques et d'utilisation) faisant apparaître différents réseaux.En référence à la théorie de l'acteur-réseau, l'analyse des processus de fabrication des portails consiste à identifier les mécanismes à l'œuvre dans les mouvements générateurs de ces réseaux. Cette sociologie conduit à porter un regard particulier sur le portail, considéré comme la résultante d'une combinaison d'associations entre des actants humains et non-humains. Le portail est alors une mise en forme des relations d'entités hétérogènes sociales et techniques. Pour comprendre ces mécanismes de construction, d'ajustement ou de stabilisation des liens entre les entités du réseau, la démarche consiste, dans un premier temps, en partant de l'historique des douze portails, à transposer l'ensemble des données observées dans un espace topographique (schémas, tableaux) et d'y faire figurer les relations qui se nouent entre les différents actants par la médiation de l'objet technique.Cette mise en scène des douze réseaux, à partir de l'objet technique en tant que point de repère des transformations successives de l'objet-frontière, permet dans un second temps de réaliser une analyse de la structure des réseaux, c'est-à-dire de l'ensemble des données et des agencements entre ces données qui structurent un espace. L'analyse consiste alors à interpréter la structure obtenue pour rendre compte des agencements particuliers. Pour chacun des douze portails, cette recherche met en lumière des structures particulières de réseaux et des propriétés spécifiques de constitution, de déformation et de disparition auxquelles sont soumis ces collectifs hybrides. Le rapprochement itératif et méthodique entre ces structures permet de les classer en trois ensembles distincts : les réseaux autocentrés, les réseaux coopératifs et les réseaux ouverts. Ces derniers révèlent des propriétés spécifiques, notamment : - que la compétition symbolique ou économique est une force structurante du réseau ; – que l'objet technique est un composant dont la plasticité dépend davantage de la structure du réseau que de ses caractéristiques techniques ; – que le potentiel d'action d'une entité (c'est-à-dire sa capacité à créer de la différence au sein du réseau) est lié à sa capacité à établir des associations. L'ensemble de ces propriétés traduit des processus d'innovation qui amènent à questionner le modèle de l'innovation de P. Flichy quant à la distinction des deux cadres dans l'objet-frontière et le modèle de la traduction quant à son principe de symétrie. / The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the emergence of a technical object - a digital portal for training products - by identifying all actors that such a project has mobilized and trying to grasp the logic of their interactions to define the various socio-technical configurations laws or regularities that make them representative of a technical innovation process. From a field survey strongly inspired by an ethnographic approach, this research provides an inventory of twelve digital portals that succeeded between 1998 and 2008 at the Universities of Grenoble while describing actors and their positions (converging or contradictory), the different point of view, and the political, technical and economic stakes.Borrowing from the boundary object concept to include this set of successive digital environments common to a university territory study gives importance to objects in action and provides a method of understanding of the association and breaking points between mobilized actors. The objective is to model the interactions established for each new "prototype" portal, which represent chains of associations (technical, economic, political and usage) thus revealing different networks.With reference to the theory of the actor-network, this analysis of the design process of portals aims to identify the mechanisms at work in generating these networks. This sociology implies taking a particular look at the portal, considered as the result of a combination of associations between human and non-human actors. The portal is there by shaped by the heterogeneous social and technical relationships of the actors who designed it.To understand these mechanisms of construction, adjustment or stabilization of the links between network entities, the approach starts with an historical overview of the twelve portals in order to transpose all of the observed data into a topographical space (diagrams, tables) and to include the relationships established between actants through the mediation of the technical object.This presentation of the twelve networks, which considers the technical object as a landmark of successive transformations of the boundary object, then makes it possible to perform an analysis of the network structure, that is say of the set of data and and how the relationships between this data structure a space. The analysis then consists in interpreting the resulting structure to account for special relationships. For each of the twelve portals, this research highlights specific network structures and specific properties of the constitution, deformation and loss that these hybrid collectives are subject to. The iterative and systematic connection between these structures can be classified into three distinct groups: self-centered networks, collaborative networks and open networks. These groups reveal specific properties, including: - symbolic or economic competition is a structuring force of the network; - the technical object is a component whose plasticity depends more on the structure of the network than on its technical characteristics; - the action potential of an entity (that is to say its ability to create difference within the network) is related to its ability to establish associations.All of these innovation processes lead us to question the P. Flichy model of innovation regarding the distinction of the two boundary object frameworks and in the model of the actor-network in its principle of symmetry.

A relação da palmeira-juçara com os atores sociais no Litoral Norte do Rio Grande do Sul é representada pelo conflito socioambiental entre o extrativismo ilegal e o uso sustentável da espécie. A palmeira-juçara na história da Mata Atlântica possui relevada importância ecológica, cultural e socioeconômica. Apesar das ações de corte e furto do palmito realizada por infratores ambientais ainda ser recorrente, muitos agricultores familiares manejam a palmeira-juçara em quintais agroflorestais, cultivos consorciados, áreas de ocorrência natural aliando a produção agroflorestal agroecológica e a conservação da espécie nos agroecossistemas da região. O trabalho de pesquisa teve como objetivo central compreender a dinâmica das práticas sociotécnicas dos atores sociais e a produção de novidades associadas ao manejo sustentável da palmeira-juçara. Os objetivos específicos da pesquisa consistiram em identificar os atores sociais, descrever as práticas sociotécnicas, caracterizar as novidades e a rede de novidades interligadas. O referencial teórico-metodológico mobilizado no trabalho consistiu na interface dos elementos teóricos da Perspectiva Orientada ao Ator, Perspectiva Multinível (transições sociotécnicas) e da produção de novidades. A construção da pesquisa se deu a partir de uma abordagem qualitativa de estudo de caso onde foram utilizados elementos metodológicos da pesquisa etnográfica como a observação participante, entrevistas semiestruturadas e diálogos informais com atores sociais nas comunidades rurais de Aguapés, Vale do Maquiné, Morro Azul, Arroio do Padre e Chapada do Morro Bicudo no Litoral Norte do Rio Grande do Sul. Como resultados da análise do estudo empírico nas comunidades rurais se identificou a emergência de novidades (técnico-produtivas, organizacionais e de acesso a mercados sociais) que por sua vez, geraram novidades interligadas estabelecidas a partir das práticas sociotécnicas associadas a palmeira-juçara pelos atores sociais. / The relation between the juçara palm and the social actors on the North Coast of Rio Grande do Sul is represented by the socio-environmental conflict between illegal extractivism and the sustainable use of the species. The juçara palm in the history of the Atlantic Forest has important ecological, cultural and socioeconomic importance. In spite of the fact that the palmito cutting and theft actions carried out by environmental violators are still recurrent, many family farmers manage juçara palm in agroforestry yards, intercropping, natural occurrence areas combining agro-ecological agroforestry production and species conservation in agroecosystems in the region. The main objective of the research work was to understand the dynamics of sociotechnical practices of social actors and the production of novelties associated with the sustainable management of the palm tree. The specific objectives of the research were to identify the social actors, to describe the socio-technical practices, to characterize the novelties and the network of interlinked novelties. The theoretical-methodological framework mobilized in the work consisted of the interface of the theoretical elements of the Actor-Oriented Perspective, Multilevel Perspective (sociotechnical transitions) and the production of novelties. The construction of the research was based on a qualitative approach of case study where methodological elements of the ethnographic research were used as participant observation, semi-structured interviews and informal dialogues with social actors in the rural communities of Aguapés, Vale do Maquiné, Morro Azul, Arroio do Padre and Chapada do Morro Bicudo in the North Coast of Rio Grande do Sul. As a result of the analysis of the empirical study in rural communities, the emergence of innovations (technical-productive, organizational and access to social markets) was identified, which in turn generated interconnected novelties established from the sociotechnical practices associated with the juçara palm by the social actors.