<p>Background: The knowledge-based theory proposes that knowledge and how it is managed is an important factor for determining the competitiveness of corporations. Project-based organisations are often put forward as a fast and flexible way of managing knowledge. The prioritizing between different tasks and projects in such organisations is to a large extent done by the individuals. In addition, electronic communication technology enables large amounts of information to travel far and fast. The bounded rationality of the human brain, the flood of information and the multitude of tasks pose a big challenge for project-based organisations. Communication is crucial for efficient project work and given this background it is interesting to examine how individuals in project-based organisations use different communication channels.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore individual communication behaviour in a project-based organisation and from these understandings create a practical framework for discussing and actively managing project communication.</p><p>Research method: The gathering of empirical data was done through a case study of the Converting Standard Line Project – TBA at Tetra Pak Carton Ambient in Lund. The case study consisted of observations and 20 qualitative interviews conducted with the project members, the project manager and representatives from senior management.</p><p>Results: The choice of communication channel was governed by the relative relation between individual gain and individual attention cost and high social presence media such as face-to-face interaction were more preferred than suggested by existing theories. Moreover e-mail had characteristics that made it more than a communication channel and therefore more popular than suggested by existing theories. Finally the study proposes a project communication framework that can be used as a platform for active management of project communication and thereby enabling a more efficient use of the limited attention budget of each individual.</p>

Background: The knowledge-based theory proposes that knowledge and how it is managed is an important factor for determining the competitiveness of corporations. Project-based organisations are often put forward as a fast and flexible way of managing knowledge. The prioritizing between different tasks and projects in such organisations is to a large extent done by the individuals. In addition, electronic communication technology enables large amounts of information to travel far and fast. The bounded rationality of the human brain, the flood of information and the multitude of tasks pose a big challenge for project-based organisations. Communication is crucial for efficient project work and given this background it is interesting to examine how individuals in project-based organisations use different communication channels. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore individual communication behaviour in a project-based organisation and from these understandings create a practical framework for discussing and actively managing project communication. Research method: The gathering of empirical data was done through a case study of the Converting Standard Line Project – TBA at Tetra Pak Carton Ambient in Lund. The case study consisted of observations and 20 qualitative interviews conducted with the project members, the project manager and representatives from senior management. Results: The choice of communication channel was governed by the relative relation between individual gain and individual attention cost and high social presence media such as face-to-face interaction were more preferred than suggested by existing theories. Moreover e-mail had characteristics that made it more than a communication channel and therefore more popular than suggested by existing theories. Finally the study proposes a project communication framework that can be used as a platform for active management of project communication and thereby enabling a more efficient use of the limited attention budget of each individual.

A growing use for serverless computing is large parallel data processing applications that take advantage of its on-demand scalability. Because individual serverless compute nodes, which are called functions, run in isolated containers, a major challenge with this paradigm is transferring temporary computation data between functions. Previous works have performed inter-function communication using object storage, which is slow, or in-memory databases, which are expensive. We evaluate the use of direct network connections between functions to overcome these limitations. Although function containers block incoming connections, we are able to bypass this restriction using standard NAT traversal techniques. By using an external server, we implement TCP hole punching to establish direct TCP connections between functions. In addition, we develop a communications framework to manage NAT traversal and data flow for applications using direct network connections. We evaluate this framework with a reduce-by-key application compared to an equivalent version that uses object storage for communication. For a job with 100+ functions, our TCP implementation runs 4.7 times faster at almost half the cost. / Master of Science / Serverless computing is a branch of cloud computing where users can remotely run small programs, called "functions," and pay only based on how long they run. A growing use for serverless computing is running large data processing applications that use many of these serverless functions at once, taking advantage of the fact that serverless programs can be started quickly and on-demand. Because serverless functions run on isolated networks from each other and can only make outbound connections to the public internet, a major challenge with this paradigm is transferring temporary computation data between functions. Previous works have used separate types of cloud storage services in combination with serverless computing to allow functions to exchange data. However, hard-drive--based storage is slow and memory-based storage is expensive. We evaluate the use of direct network connections between functions to overcome these limitations. Although functions cannot receive incoming network connections, we are able to bypass this restriction by using a standard networking technique called Network Address Translation (NAT) traversal. We use an external server as an initial relay to setup a network connection between two functions such that once the connection is established, the functions can communicate directly with each other without using the server anymore. In addition, we develop a communications framework to manage NAT traversal and data flow for applications using direct network connections. We evaluate this framework with an application for combining matching data entries and compare it to an equivalent version that uses storage based on hard drives for communication. For a job with over 100 functions, our implementation using direct network connections runs 4.7 times faster at almost half the cost.

This study investigates what roles the Chinese state-owned media play in the Covid-19 outbreak in terms of what kind of messages they delivered on Weibo and the quality of the messages. It also explores how the public is engaged with these messages on Weibo. Both the messages and the engagement are examined by mix-method content analysis.   The exploration of the Weibo messages relies on the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) framework. The CERC framework combines various existing theories and compiles them into a communication guideline for a health crisis. This study examines the messages by focusing on sensemaking and self-efficacy. Sensemaking is informing the public of the nature of the crisis; self-efficacy reflects people’s confidence in the capacity to change behaviours and deal with the problems. It was found that Weibo provides a platform for delivering sensemaking messages and self-efficacy messages in the coronavirus outbreak. However, considering the accuracy, relevance and intelligibility of strategic health communication, the quality of the messages is debatable in some cases.   The exploration of social media engagement relies on Liu, Lu and Wang’s virality theory on social media which discusses four aspects of engagement: authority, privacy, evidence and incentive appeal. This study shows how each of these aspects influences how people engage with messages on Weibo: the effect of different authorities on the message engagement; the usage of one-to-one communication and one-to-many communication in the engagement; and the engagement in positive appeals and negative appeals.

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