Communities of Practice regularly utilize virtual means of communication. The according software support provides its members with many sophisticated features for generating content and for communicating with each other via the internet or intranet. However, functionalities to monitor, assess, coordinate, and communicate the quality and development of the underlying electronic networks of experts are frequently missing. To meet this need of increased manageability, this contribution introduces a Social Network Intelligence software approach which aims at supporting the comprehension of the structure and value of electronic communities by automatically extracting and mining available electronic data of various types of virtual communication networks, like e-mail archives, discussion groups, or instant messaging communication. Experimental structural visualizations employing Social Network Analysis methods are combined with Keyword Extraction to move towards a Social Network Intelligence approach which generates transparency of complex virtual communication networks. Together with a comprehensive visualization method, an approach for software-supported communication network measurement and evaluation is suggested. It supports the identification of important participants, topics, or clusters in the network, evaluates the interpersonal communication structure and visually traces the evolvement of the knowledge exchange over time.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-04T19:14:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2017-04-17 / Introdução: Mulheres que apresentam impossibilidade ou dificuldade para engravidar muitas vezes recorrem às técnicas de reprodução humana assistida (RHA). A tomada de decisão quanto à utilização da RHA com ovodoação pressupõe o rompimento de paradigmas e representações sobre a transmissão sanguínea/ genética e a ideia de que a maternidade inclui a experiência da gestação e parto. Considerando a RHA heteróloga como tema contemporâneo e polêmico, mulheres interessadas podem buscar nas mídias sociais, blogs, websites de clínicas particulares e hospitais públicos informações para subsidiar sua tomada de decisão. Objetivo: Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo identificar alguns dos obstáculos enfrentados por mulheres que buscam a maternidade utilizando material genético de terceiros. Método: O estudo teve como foco depoimentos disponíveis em dois espaços virtuais voltados para mulheres envolvidas no processo de RHA heteróloga. Os comentários realizados pelas participantes foram analisados e categorizados considerando as barreiras enfrentadas referentes às vivências e dúvidas quanto aos seus projetos de maternidade. Resultados: A análise dos relatos possibilitou identificar alguns dos obstáculos, objetivos e subjetivos, enfrentados por mulheres que buscavam a maternidade com a utilização de material genético de terceiros, valorizando o blog como espaço de circulação de informação e socialização. Pode-se destacar a importância do espaço virtual em diversas situações: incentivo ao processo de tomada de decisão, ou não, quanto à RHA heteróloga para alcançar a maternidade; necessidade de vínculo genético, ou não, para a construção da família; construção sociocultural relacionada à consanguinidade e laços familiares; solidariedade diante das vivências relatadas; socialização de experiências e compartilhamento do conhecimento construído; apoio a outras mulheres; doação compartilhada de oócitos como solução para diminuição de custos do tratamento de alta tecnologia; enfrentamento do preconceito quanto à utilização de gametas doados; exposição do diagnóstico de infertilidade para realizar a maternidade monoparental; discussão sobre a idade e certas patologias como fatores de restrição à maternidade. Conclusão: Os blogs têm sido um importante fórum de discussões onde há compartilhamento de dúvidas, conhecimentos e explicitação das ambiguidades em relação ao tema. O anonimato parece favorecer essas trocas. Informações somadas a experiências podem proporcionar reflexões a respeito da RHA, favorecendo a desconstrução de barreiras e a mudança de valores e atitudes relativas a esse tema. / Introduction: Women who can’t get pregnant or face some difficulties for it, sometimes search for assisted reproduction techniques (AHR). To make the decision to use the Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) with the donation of oocyte, requires the breaking of paradigms and representations of blood / genetic transmission and the acceptance of the idea that having a child means the experience of pregnancy and birth. Considering AHR a different and controversial contemporary theme, interested women can search for private clinics, hospitals and public information in social medias, blogs and websites that will help them making their decision. Objective: The purpose of this research is to identify some obstacles faced by women who desire the motherhood by using other people’s genetic material. Method: The essay had a focus on available collected testimonies from two selected virtual space aimed at women involved with the AHR process. The participants’ comments were examined and classified considering the obstacles they had about their experience and doubts related to their motherhood projects. Results: The reports analysis permitted the identification of a series of objective and subjective problems faced by women who wanted the motherhood with the donation of genetic material, and appreciating blogs as a place to exchange and share information. The virtual space is important in many situations: encouragement to the process of decision, or not, related to the AHR to get the pregnancy; genetic relationship needs, or not, to build a family; sociocultural development related to blood and family bonds; sympathy before the related experiences; sharing the experiences and knowledge built; support to other women; oocyte donation as a solution to an expensive high technological treatment; facing the prejudice about the use of given gametes; exposing the diagnostic of infertility to do the single parent motherhood; discussion about age and some disorders as restriction factors to motherhood. Conclusion: Blogs have been an important discussion forum where it is possible to share doubts, to know and explain the ambiguity ideas about the theme. Anonymity seems to benefit the experiences exchanged. Information allied to experiences may provide observation about AHR, and help to deconstruct barriers and change values and attitudes about this theme. / BV UNIFESP: Teses e dissertações

Globalization is a phenomena that is, because of the advances in technology, becoming more and more common. New tools for communication enables project teams to collaborate across the globe. Hence, Virtual Teams are emerging to become the new routine way of working. However, even though virtual teams are a new way of working, many project managers are expected to lead in the same way as in traditional project teams. In this qualitative bachelor thesis in informatic we have studied how trust emerges in virtual teams, and what challenges this presents. Moreover, we used these results in order to investigate and present how project managers can foster trust in virtual teams. We conducted three interviews at one of Sweden’s largest organizations with project managers well experienced with working in virtual teams. The conclusion indicates that project managers through several activities indeed can foster trust in virtual teams. In virtual teams the project manager’s interaction with the other team members is limited by the technical tools used for communication. This results in a strong dependency between trust and virtual communication. The project manager can, by establishing a continuous communication within the team, reach a higher level of coordination. This enables every team member to move forward in the same direction, towards the same end result, despite the distance between them, fostering trust. / Globalisering är ett fenomen som tack vare teknikens framsteg, blir allt vanligare. Då tekniska kommunikationsverktyg gör det möjligt för individer att kommunicera med varandra oavsett plats, har virtuella team blivit en allt mer alldaglig arbetsform. Trots att detta är ett nytt sätt att arbeta på, förväntas dock projektledare att koordinera sitt virtuella team enligt samma projektledningsmetodik som för traditionella team. Vi har i denna kvalitativa uppsats utrett hur tillit uppkommer i virtuella team, och vilka utmaningar som kan finnas för att skapa tillit i virtuella team. Med utgångspunkt i detta drar vi slutsatser om hur projektledare kan arbeta för att främja tillit i virtuella team. För att svara på uppsatsens forskningsfrågor genomfördes tre intervjuer på en av Sveriges största organisationer. Respondenterna har en lång erfarenhet av projektledning och av att arbeta i virtuella team. Slutsatsen visar att projektledare kan främja tillit i virtuella team genom olika virtuella kommunikationsaktiviteter. I virtuella team har projektledaren en begränsad kommunikationskanal till övriga projektmedlemmar, en kanal som består av tekniska kommunikationsverktyg och som skapar förutsättningar för virtuell kommunikation. Detta skapar ett starkt beroende mellan kommunikation och tillit i virtuella team. Genom att etablera en kontinuerlig kommunikation kan projektledare bättre koordinera varje projektmedlem att röra sig i rätt riktning mot ett och samma mål, vilket främjar tillit.

Communities of Practice regularly utilize virtual means of communication. The according software support provides its members with many sophisticated features for generating content and for communicating with each other via the internet or intranet. However, functionalities to monitor, assess, coordinate, and communicate the quality and development of the underlying electronic networks of experts are frequently missing. To meet this need of increased manageability, this contribution introduces a Social Network Intelligence software approach which aims at supporting the comprehension of the structure and value of electronic communities by automatically extracting and mining available electronic data of various types of virtual communication networks, like e-mail archives, discussion groups, or instant messaging communication. Experimental structural visualizations employing Social Network Analysis methods are combined with Keyword Extraction to move towards a Social Network Intelligence approach which generates transparency of complex virtual communication networks. Together with a comprehensive visualization method, an approach for software-supported communication network measurement and evaluation is suggested. It supports the identification of important participants, topics, or clusters in the network, evaluates the interpersonal communication structure and visually traces the evolvement of the knowledge exchange over time.

The increase of globalization of business led to the creation of global virtual software development teams in which communication plays an important role. The lack of recent studies raises the need to investigate communication in the context of agile and the current Covid-19 pandemic. This study identifies in literature three factors present in global virtual software development teams: technology, culture, and trust. It aims to explore how they influence internal communication. A qualitative method is conducted on a case study by combining data collected from semi-structured interviews and observations. The case study is a global virtual software development team which implemented the agile Scrum methodology. The findings provide a deep understanding of the positive and negative influences of the factors on communication, including their interrelations and context. Some of the main findings are: (I) the best set up for collaboration among global team members is the combination of synchronous and asynchronous communication through technological tools, (II) cultural diversity leads to differences in the ways members communicate, (III) trust is the precondition of working collaboratively and communicating effectively, (IV) global team members need to occasionally have in-person interactions to nurture their interpersonal relations, (V) the agile Scrum methodology influences internal communication positively, (VI) each communication factor is influenced by time; thus, the theoretical framework developed for this study is updated with this addition, (VII) the Covid- 19 pandemic affects communication to a certain extent.

Global virtual (GV) teams provide an opportunity for engineering students to participate in meaningful, cross-cultural learning projects without additional costs of time and money associated with study abroad programs. However, students must learn how to communicate effectively with international team members. Instruction to help students learn which virtual communication technologies to use and how to use them is needed. Training must include cross-cultural training that facilitates team communications and interactions with people from different cultural backgrounds. This study focused on how 10 specialized lessons, Principles of Global Virtual Teams (PGVT), facilitated the communications and interactions of students participating on GV teams in an advanced engineering design course. All GV teams provided evidence that communications and interactions on GV teams are different than Co-located teams. However, teams receiving the PGVT instruction showed indications of increased communication ability on GV teams. These indicators included technology use, vernacular phrase use, communication competence ratings and descriptors from team emails.

Begreppet Metaverse har på senare tid uppmärksammats som det allra hetaste området inom IT-branschen, före både kryptovaluta och artificiell intelligens. En stor anledning till detta är att Facebook valt att döpa om sitt varumärke till Meta och tydligt indikerat vad som är deras framtidsvision. Metaverse är ett begrepp som används för att beskriva olika virtuella miljöer och tillsammans med olika teknologier som Virtual Reality och Augmented Reality kan det användas för att berika och transformera virtuell kommunikation. Samarbete med hjälp av virtuell kommunikation har redan prövats när covid-19-pandemin slog hårt mot företag och anställda fick arbeta hemifrån. Med Metaverse intåg på marknaden kommer virtuell kommunikation stå inför en ännu större utmaning vilket kommer ställa ännu högre krav på hur företag väljer att kommunicera. Syftet med studien var därmed att ta reda på hur tekniska medel kopplat till Metaverse kan tillåta nya virtuella arbetssätt och ifall detta kan förbättra samarbete i organisationer, samt vilka utmaningar som detta för med sig och hur dessa kan bemötas.   För att uppnå studiens syfte har en kvalitativ ansats tillämpats. Med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer har forskningsområdet undersökts på djupet och för att analysera resultatet har en tematisk analys använts som stöd. Samtliga respondenter som intervjuats har en expertis inom området Metaverse och flera års erfarenhet av arbete inom IT-branschen.  Studiens slutsats visar att Metaverse redan har en positiv påverkan på hur organisationer samarbetar och att utvecklingen inom området går med snabba steg framåt. Det finns flera fördelar med att använda sig av Metaverse-teknologier i organisationer, men samtidigt finns det utveckling kvar att göra då det finns en del utmaningar med Metaverse som kräver vidare forskning. / The term Metaverse has recently gained attention as the hottest area in the IT industry before both cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. A big reason for this is that Facebook has chosen to rename its brand Meta and clearly indicated what their future vision is. Metaverse is a term used to describe different virtual environments and together with different technologies such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality it can be used to enrich and transform virtual communication. Cooperation through virtual communication has already been put to the test when the covid-19 pandemic hit companies hard, and employees had to work from home. With Metaverse entering the market, virtual communication will face an even greater challenge, which will place even higher demands on how companies choose to communicate. The purpose of the study was thus to find out how technical means linked to Metaverse can allow new virtual working methods and if this can improve collaboration in organizations, as well as what challenges this entails and how these can be met.  To achieve the purpose of the study, a qualitative approach has been applied. With the help of semi-structured interviews, the research area has been investigated in depth and to analyze the results, a thematic analysis has been used as support. All respondents interviewed have expertise in the Metaverse area and several years of experience working in the IT industry. The study's conclusion shows that Metaverse already has a positive impact on how organizations collaborate, and that the development is taking rapid steps forward. There are several benefits to using Metaverse technologies in organizations, but at the same time there is still development to be done as there are some challenges with Metaverse that require further research.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T14:32:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria de Fatima Lemos.pdf: 1333079 bytes, checksum: a50767277313daa267c4553d76d22bb2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-03-27 / In the present work Teachers Continuing Education in Virtual Learning Environment under Complexity , the research object is teachers continuing education provided by a course named Virtual communication and planning . This course was held by Núcleo de Tecnologia Educacional in Campo Grande, MS, from February to July, 2006, in the virtual learning environment e-ProInfo. The present research aims at understanding complexity and teachers education in virtual learning environment, analyzing the course by identifying the emergences and considering the contributions of complexity to teachers continuing education. The research used qualitative and case study methods. The data sources involved the messages posted in the Forum of virtual learning environment by the education teachers, available until December, 2007. The qualitative research softwares QualiQuantiSoft and Classification Hierárquique, Implicative et Cohérsive CHIC were used for data organization and analysis. The theoretical foundation was developed throughout data analysis and made it possible to re-signify and gain new theoretical knowledge based on the seven principles of complexity defined by Morin: dialogical, hologrammatical, organizational, retroactive circle, recursive circle, self-organization and reintroduction of knowledge in every knowledge. From those principles and emergences identification and analysis it was possible to realize that the continuing education courses in virtual learning environment may integrate what is fragmented, outline the limits of the relations among subjects, teachers, students, community and integrate them by a pedagogical activities plan which is built upon the certainty we have and the uncertainty we try to find answers for. Therefore, complexity makes it possible to deal with ambiguity and differences and to understand emergences better by re-signifying teachers continuing education in virtual learning environment / In the present work Teachers Continuing Education in Virtual Learning Environment under Complexity , the research object is teachers continuing education provided by a course named Virtual communication and planning . This course was held by Núcleo de Tecnologia Educacional in Campo Grande, MS, from February to July, 2006, in the virtual learning environment e-ProInfo. The present research aims at understanding complexity and teachers education in virtual learning environment, analyzing the course by identifying the emergences and considering the contributions of complexity to teachers continuing education. The research used qualitative and case study methods. The data sources involved the messages posted in the Forum of virtual learning environment by the education teachers, available until December, 2007. The qualitative research softwares QualiQuantiSoft and Classification Hierárquique, Implicative et Cohérsive CHIC were used for data organization and analysis. The theoretical foundation was developed throughout data analysis and made it possible to re-signify and gain new theoretical knowledge based on the seven principles of complexity defined by Morin: dialogical, hologrammatical, organizational, retroactive circle, recursive circle, self-organization and reintroduction of knowledge in every knowledge. From those principles and emergences identification and analysis it was possible to realize that the continuing education courses in virtual learning environment may integrate what is fragmented, outline the limits of the relations among subjects, teachers, students, community and integrate them by a pedagogical activities plan which is built upon the certainty we have and the uncertainty we try to find answers for. Therefore, complexity makes it possible to deal with ambiguity and differences and to understand emergences better by re-signifying teachers continuing education in virtual learning environment / O presente trabalho Formação continuada de professores em ambiente virtual de aprendizagem sob o olhar da complexidade tem como objeto de pesquisa a formação continuada de professores, no curso Comunicação virtual e planejamento . Esta formação foi oferecida pelo Núcleo de Tecnologia Educacional de Campo Grande, MS e desenvolvida entre os meses de fevereiro a julho de 2006, no ambiente virtual de aprendizagem e-ProInfo. Esta pesquisa visa compreender a complexidade e a formação de professores em ambiente virtual de aprendizagem; analisar o curso em questão buscando compreender as emergências e refletir sobre as contribuições da complexidade para a formação continuada de professores. Esta pesquisa se desenvolveu tendo por base a abordagem qualitativa e, dentro desta, o método de estudo de caso. A fonte dos dados analisados foram as mensagens postadas na ferramenta fórum do ambiente virtual de aprendizagem pelos professores em formação, disponíveis até dezembro de 2007. Para a organização e análise dos dados foram utilizados os softwares de pesquisa qualitativa QualiQuantiSoft e o Classification Hierárquique, Implicative et Cohérsive - CHIC. A fundamentação teórica foi sendo tecida no decorrer da análise dos dados e possibilitou ressignificar e agregar novos conhecimentos teóricos a partir dos sete princípios da complexidade delineados por Morin: o princípio dialógico, o princípio hologramático, organizacional, do círculo retroativo e recursivo, da auto-organização e da reintrodução do conhecimento em todo conhecimento. A partir desses princípios da complexidade e identificação e análise das emergências foi possível concluir que os cursos de formação continuada em ambiente virtual de aprendizagem podem apresentar uma visão de integração do que está fragmentado, distinguir os limites das relações entre as disciplinas, entre os professores, entre alunos, a comunidade, mas integrá-los a partir de um planejamento das atividades pedagógicas que vai se construindo nas certezas que trazemos e nas incertezas para as quais buscamos respostas. Portanto, a complexidade torna possível dialogar com as ambigüidades, com as diferenças e melhor compreender as emergências formativas e autoformadoras, ressignificando assim o processo de formação continuada de professores em ambiente virtual de aprendizagem / O presente trabalho Formação continuada de professores em ambiente virtual de aprendizagem sob o olhar da complexidade tem como objeto de pesquisa a formação continuada de professores, no curso Comunicação virtual e planejamento . Esta formação foi oferecida pelo Núcleo de Tecnologia Educacional de Campo Grande, MS e desenvolvida entre os meses de fevereiro a julho de 2006, no ambiente virtual de aprendizagem e-ProInfo. Esta pesquisa visa compreender a complexidade e a formação de professores em ambiente virtual de aprendizagem; analisar o curso em questão buscando compreender as emergências e refletir sobre as contribuições da complexidade para a formação continuada de professores. Esta pesquisa se desenvolveu tendo por base a abordagem qualitativa e, dentro desta, o método de estudo de caso. A fonte dos dados analisados foram as mensagens postadas na ferramenta fórum do ambiente virtual de aprendizagem pelos professores em formação, disponíveis até dezembro de 2007. Para a organização e análise dos dados foram utilizados os softwares de pesquisa qualitativa QualiQuantiSoft e o Classification Hierárquique, Implicative et Cohérsive - CHIC. A fundamentação teórica foi sendo tecida no decorrer da análise dos dados e possibilitou ressignificar e agregar novos conhecimentos teóricos a partir dos sete princípios da complexidade delineados por Morin: o princípio dialógico, o princípio hologramático, organizacional, do círculo retroativo e recursivo, da auto-organização e da reintrodução do conhecimento em todo conhecimento. A partir desses princípios da complexidade e identificação e análise das emergências foi possível concluir que os cursos de formação continuada em ambiente virtual de aprendizagem podem apresentar uma visão de integração do que está fragmentado, distinguir os limites das relações entre as disciplinas, entre os professores, entre alunos, a comunidade, mas integrá-los a partir de um planejamento das atividades pedagógicas que vai se construindo nas certezas que trazemos e nas incertezas para as quais buscamos respostas. Portanto, a complexidade torna possível dialogar com as ambigüidades, com as diferenças e melhor compreender as emergências formativas e autoformadoras, ressignificando assim o processo de formação continuada de professores em ambiente virtual de aprendizagem

Introduction In this study, we have explained the complexities of social media, as it is still a relatively unexplored area. With the rapidly growing use of social media in recent years, companies have chosen to establish themselves in social networks to advertise themselves and communicate with their customers. In this study we analyze IKEA Sweden and their use of social media on the national market, where focus lies upon IKEA Sweden Facebook-page. The study intends to find out how the company uses social media as a marketing and communication tool and also analyzes the relations and conversations that occur on the Facebook-page.   Purpose and research questions The purpose of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of how a large Swedish company as IKEA has chosen to use social media and how it's perceived by them. We also intended to find out how IKEA Sweden uses social media in their daily work and how the company communicates through this media channel. The research questions for this study were: how does IKEA Sweden use social media and in what purpose? How does IKEA Sweden want their communication on Facebook to look like and how do they really communicate? What are the employees at different levels view of the company's use of social media? How do they see the development of social media, in general and for the company?                       Methodology We are using semi-structural interviews and text-analyzing as qualitative methods. We chose to do a text-analysis of IKEA Sweden's Facebook page where relationships, interactions, intertextuality and coherence where viewed upon. Semi-structured interviews have been used with five respondents who therefore represented IKEA Sweden in this study.   Theoretical perspective We present a number of different theories to give the reader a greater insight into the relationship between scientific media theories and its application in how companies communicate through social media. To further enhance the reader's understanding of the material presented in this study we describe how we attach these theories to this study and why we found them relevant.   Conclusions IKEA Sweden has a vision to strengthen relations with their consumers and to market themselves on Facebook. They want to create an image of themselves as transparent, available and honest in the dialogue and managing feedback from their consumers. IKEA Sweden use social media as a supplement to tradition marketing and consumer service. We have been able to discern certain awareness in our respondents of the fact that companies are increasingly encroaching on their consumers' private spaces, which may affect the company's presence in social media in the future.