The purpose of this study is to gain knowledge of the information related activities of health educators. Health educators have been interviewed about how they search for and use information, how they motivate their choice of information resources and how they keep up with research and new insights within their profession. Using a theoretical framework based on a model developed by Pamela McKenzie (2003) together with Wilson’s (1983) concept of cognitive authority, different features of the information practice emerged in the empirical material.The method used in this study is semi-structured interviews with seven health educators, who work at training centers, preventive community centers and in occupational health services. Different information related activities could be identified using categories based on McKenzie’s terminology: active seeking, active scanning, non-directed monitoring and information seeking by proxy. As is well known from earlier research seeking information through colleagues was common, and observing how colleagues use their bodies emerged as another information related activity. Health educators also developed certain strategies using information from health authorities in response to clients’ questions about popular diets and training methods. It was found that McKenzie’s model which is developed from everyday life information seeking, could be adapted to investigate information practices in working life.

Sammanhang: Sjöbasis är ett system som är till att underlätta för kustbevakningen med uppgiften av sjöövervakning. I detta arbete är GUI, Graphical User Interface, och hur användarna ombord kustbevakningens fartyg interagerar med Sjöbasis som har undersökts. Finns det möjligheter att förbättra UX, User experience, för denna målgrupp? Mål: Att hitta förbättringsmöjligheter för UX, användarupplevelsen, för Sjöbasis till besättningen ombord på kustbevakningens fartyg. Metoder: Metoder som har använts är intervjuer, observationer och prototyper. Resultat: Resultatet visar att det finns förbättringsmöjligheter för UX till Sjöbasis. En del av förbättringsmöjligheterna från denna rapport har blivit implementerade och finns med i ny version av Sjöbasis. Slutsatser: Resultatet visar att flera intervjuer och observationer krävs för att förbättra UX. Utföra flera användarstudier kontinuerligt för att säkerställa att förändringarna är en förbättring.

The aim of our bachelor thesis was to study how the personnel incharge of the mobile websites at two University Libraries and thestudents at those Universities viewed the mobile websites, and iftheir views in any way differed.Our research questions were:Why have the examined Libraries chosen to offer mobilewebsites?How do the students at the examined Universities experience anduse respective mobile website?Are there differences between the staff’s intentions with themobile websites and how they are used and experienced by thestudents, and how could they be explained?Semistructured interviews were conducted with six staff membersresponsible for the mobile websites and eleven students that hadexperience in using these. The theoretical framework for thisthesis consists of Klasson’s three models for University Librarianspersonas, and the parts of Rogers theory about diffusion ofinnovations that concerns the attributes of innovations and thecommunication channels.The result of the study indicates that there are some differencesabout how the students use and experience the mobile websitesand the staffs intentions for them. The students required contentwhich the staff had discarded. They also wished to recognise thelayout compared to the desktop website. The overall use of themobile websites was lower than the staff expected. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how students writing their master thesis seek information, how they reason about their information seeking behaviour and how their studies in LIS could have affected their information seeking behaviour. The result was analysed with Roger Säljö’s theory about the sociocultural perspective about how individuals learn in relation to their context and the social practice that they act in. The following conclusions were drawn from analysing the result. The students didn’t really reflect over their information seeking behaviour. Most students have an information seeking pattern, developed under an early stage in their studies in LIS, which they then follow for every task they do during their education, even their master thesis. Although the students can tell a difference in their own information seeking behaviour since they first began their LIS-studies. The students’ attitude to information seeking has to do with the social practice that consists of the LIS-subject. Säljö means in his theory that individuals are influenced and learn how to act and reason from the social practices that surrounds them. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this Master's thesis is to examine the information use among Swedish backpackers, both prior to departure and while travelling. The questions posed in this study are; which artefacts did the backpackers use, in what way were those used as tools of mediation within their social practice and how does a presumptive interaction between backpackers and information sources appear? The empirical material consists of interviews, held with eight backpackers, concerning their information use. The interviews reveal that a number of information sources are being consulted. The most commonly used sources identified in the empirical material are guide books, advice from other backpackers, fiction, TV programmes and periodicals. Among others, music was identified as a source of inspiration. The theoretical framework is the socio-cultural approach of Roger Säljö, which concerns how individuals act in relation to the social practice that they constitute a part of. Socio-cultural terms such as artefacts and mediation are very central in the analysis. The analysis pays particular attention to guide books as these were the most frequently used artefacts among the backpackers interviewed. In a final discussion it is observed that the respondents, even unconsciously, seems to be influenced by the artefacts consulted. It is also noticed that backpackers appear to be using information as tools within their social practice. The consequences of this may be direct, for example in the way in which a travel destination can be determined by the information and documents used by backpackers. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The main purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate the experience of art students and their attitudes and use of information during the last years of their Master’s degree. I also examine their opinions about the art education in general. The theoretical framework encompasses a sociocultural approach within the field of psychology-pedagogy and library- as well as information science. The empirical material has been collected through qualitative interviews with seven students studying at an art school in Sweden. One of the results of the study is that the students saw their education first and foremost as an opportunity for them to discuss their creative work and art-related issues with other students, artists and teachers. The art students emphasised that their learning above all was a matter of communication and independent learning and they also considered themselves as virtually completely free in their choice of medium and subject in the art courses. Consequently they did research in a wide range of subjects. While searching the Internet, all of them used Google. No other databases were used for creative purposes. The students appreciated browsing as a method to find information on the Internet. Moreover, they considered communication as an important search method, especially to keep up-to-date with new trends within the art field. The students used information as a source of inspiration and they felt that their attitude towards information was freer than other university students. / Uppsatsnivå: D

Service design is a field emerging from the new-found interest in services as a design material by practitioners and academics of the human-centred design tradition. As such, the field can build on the knowledge from previous work in design as well as in service research. Introducing a new design material may however also introduce new challenges to practice. The research presented in this thesis investigates how the design research phase of the human-centred design process is affected by making services a design material.   How users, staff and other stakeholders are involved in service design projects was studied in four studies. Two studies focused on getting a holistic view of how service designers engage stakeholders in their design research. The methods used for these two studies were interviews in one case and participatory observation in the other. The two remaining studies focused on specific aspects of the stakeholder engagement process. One compared how designers and anthropologists approach ethnography, whereas the second investigated the communicative qualities of service design visualisations.   It is argued that service design is a stakeholder-centred design discipline. The tools used in service design are to a large extent borrowed from other qualitative research traditions, but design-specific tools do exist. The information gathered with the tools for stakeholder engagement is then transformed into insights through analysis and synthesis. These insights are visualised to provide easily accessible representations of service situations.   The final section of the thesis identifies challenges ahead for service design practice, based on the findings of the thesis and based on existing theoretical frameworks for the discipline. / Tjänstedesign är ett fält som fortfarande håller på att växa fram. Dess ursprung kan hittas i när praktiker och akademiker inom människo-centrerad design blev intresserade av tjänster som designmaterial. Tjänstedesign byggs upp baserat på kunskap från design- såväl som tjänsteforskning. Dock så innebär detta möte av traditioner att tjänstedesignspraktiken ställs inför  utmaningar som dess moderdiscipliner inte har ställts inför. Syftet med denna avhandling är att utforska hur involveringen av intressenter i designprocessen påverkas vid design av tjänster. Fyra studier har genomförts för att studera hur användare, personal och andra intressenter involveras i tjänstedesignsprojekt. Två av studierna fokuserade på att bygga upp en holistisk bild av intressentinvolvering. Dessa båda studier genomfördes med intervjuer respektive deltagande observation som datainsamlingsmetod. De båda andra studierna fokuserade i mer detalj på specifika aspekter av intressentinvolveringen. Av dessa två studier så studerade en skillnader mellan hur designers och antropologer närmar sig etnografi och den andra vad som kommuniceras av de visualiseringar av tjänstemiljöer som är vanligt förekommande inom tjänstedesign. Slutsatsen dras att tjänstedesign kan beskrivas som en intressent-centrerad designdisciplin. Verktygen som används inom tjänstedesign är till stor grad lånade från annan kvalitativ forskning, men även designspecifika verktyg förekommer. Den information som fås genom intressentinvolvering omvandlas till insikter genom analys och syntes. Dessa insikter visualiseras sedan i lättillgängliga representationer av tjänstetransaktioner.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how library users who chose to not borrow any material from the collection look at their use of the library as well as their reasons for not borrowing any material. This thesis also discusses who the non-borrowing users are in a societal context. The theoretical framework is based on sociological theories regarding the public sphere and Bourdieus concept of capital. Concepts which have been expanded and applied in other research regarding library and information studies which this thesis explores. It also explores the library as a place both in architectural and social sense. Another concept which is introduced is the concept of the library as a high and low intensive meeting place.  In this study I chose a qualitative approach. The methods consist of semi structured interviews that I conducted and analyzed. The findings show that non-borrowing library users have a lot of things in common regarding the reason for visiting the library. But at the same time their usage of the library space varies a lot. This thesis shows the importance of the library as a public space for users. Both as a place to relax and escape from the ongoings of modern life as well as a place to learn and socialize. Answering the question regarding which patrons are non-borrowing users can not easily be answered. In this study the findings show that the non-borrowing users are within a certain age range and social group.

GET A GRIP - köksutensilier för jämställdhet är ett projekt som uppmärksammar hur normer och traditioner i kockyrket och produktdesign påverkar upprätthållandet av ojämställda arbetsförhållanden. Projektet har resulterat i ett designförslag på en stekpanna som på sikt kan påverka frågor om jämställdhet bland kockar. Designförslaget är en kombination av formstudie, ergonomisk studie och normkritisk studie som både uppmuntrar och kommenterar designerns ansvar under produktutveckling. Projektet har genomförts tillsammans med yrkesaktiva kockar och lärare inom hotell och restauranghögskolan, campus Grythyttan. Stor vikt har lagts i co-design, där kockarna har varit utgångspunkt för produktens formgivning. Olika metoder för gestaltning och prototyparbete har kombinerats och resulterat i ett slutligt designförslag av en stekpanna som ställts ut på Konstfacks vårutställning 2019. Några av dessa metoder är skulptering i techclay, handskisser, 3D skisser och arbete i CAD program, 3D print, 3D scan och efterarbeten och färgsättning.

This Master´s thesis is a user study of nurses participating in continuing education. The nurses graduated before 1993, when education to become a nurse changed in Sweden. Now they are studying for 40 credits in Nursing at a university in order to get the same level of education as a newly graduated nurse. They were also working as nurses when this study took place. The main purpose of the study is to increase the understanding of what kind of information the nurses think they need and to find out if and in what way they use libraries in their studies and in their work. The empirical material was collected by qualitative, semi-structured interviews with six nurses. To analyze the answers Kuhlthau´s model of information search process, Sundin´s concept of the symbolic value of professional information and Wilson´s concept of cognitive authority were used.The results of this study show that the nurses need course literature, scientific articles and help to search for information in databases. They all felt anxiety for not finding the right information exactly as Kuhlthau´s model shows.The nurses know it is important to keep updated with new information in their specialty in nursing and they know where to find the information. Professional information could help the nurses in their cooperation with other occupational groups, for example physicians.They all use libraries; to borrow books, find articles and also to use the librarian´s expertise in searching. They prefer to visit the medical library at their work and they appreciate the library staff´s knowledge.