This study examines the preservation practices of academic law libraries and argues that the survey results illustrate the growing gap between current preservation practices and new technology. The introduction to the study discusses challenges for libraries and cultural institutions in the digital age. In the second section, the paper analyzes U.S. copyright law and the effect of recent amendments on library preservation activities. The third section reports the results of a preservation practices survey. In the fourth section, the paper explores options for future law library preservation including institutional repositories and collaborative preservation efforts. The paper concludes that a new approach to scholarship and preservation is necessary to ensure that future generations have access to historically important legal literature.

This thesis examines how IT and the digitization of information have transformed the Swedish graphic industry. The debate concerning the productivity paradox, i.e. if investments in IT contribute to productivity growth, is one important starting point for the thesis. Previous research on this phenomenon has mainly used different types of statistical databases as empirical sources. In this thesis though, the graphic industry is instead studied from a mainly qualitative and historical process perspective. The empirical study is focused on describing the development of internal critical production processes in the graphic industry and its external markets. The aim is to show how innovations based upon IT have influenced the transformation of the Swedish graphic industry and if this has led to changes in productivity. Furthermore, to identify other significant effects and changes in the graphic industry’s markets that also has occurred as a result of the introduction of IT innovations. The process study shows that digitization of information flows in the graphic industry began in the 1970s, but the start of the development and use of digitized information happened in the early 1980s. Today almost all types of materials in the industry, for example text and pictures, have developed into a digital form and the information flows are hereby more or less totally digitized. The consequences from use of IT in production processes are identified here as different outcomes and effects. One conclusion drawn from the analysis is that investments and use of IT have positively influenced changes in productivity. The conclusion is based on the appearance of different automational effects, which in turn have had a positive influence on factors that may be a part of a productivity index. In addition to productivity, other mainly informational effects are also identified. These effects include increased capacity to handle and produce information, increased integration of customers in the production processes, increased physical quality in produced products, and options for management improvements in the production processes. The appearance of such effects indicates that it is not always the most obvious ones, such as productivity, that is of greatest significance when IT is implemented in the processes of an industry. Also the part of the study using an external perspective shows that IT innovations have had great influence on the graphic industry’s markets. The transformation of markets is analyzed through the use of the Innovation influence model, which is grounded in the Technological systems and Development blocks concepts. It shows that suppliers to graphic companies have played an important role in the IT innovation development process and they have thereby contributed to the ongoing transformation of the industry. Furthermore, IT innovations have been an important tool for graphic companies to handle different structural tensions they have experienced. The innovations introduced have thereby contributed to the development of new products, distribution channels, and markets. At the same time different products have disappeared and old markets contracted. These progresses have also been a result f the digitization of society. Altogether, this development has resulted in a transformation pressure that has come to greatly influence the industry. Because of this there today exist fewer but larger graphic and suppliers companies. Altogether the study shows that if a productivity paradox existed in the graphic industry, it is today to be considered as resolved. The pace in which the transformation of the industry, caused by IT innovations, has occurred has been extraordinary compared to previous developments. IT has become an unconditional part of the industry and society. Therefore it is of great importance to include several perspectives, e.g., internal process perspectives as well as external market perspectives, when discussing the value that might be derived from IT investments.

The aim of this two year master thesis is to analyze how digital preservation is presented as a problem in the Swedish national strategy for the digitization and digital preservation of the Swedish cultural heritage. In order to study which assumptions about digital preservation exists within the strategy I apply the discourse oriented methodological tools presented by Carol Lee Bacchi, which focuses on discerning what problem or, rather, representation of a problem exists within a specific policy. This study is a post-structuralist discourse analysis. The main focus of the study is on what assumptions and prerequisites the dominating representation of the problem is based upon and how the representation has evolved. The main material of the study consists of public investigations conducted by the Swedish state, governmental propositions and replies as well as other public documents upon which Bacci's methodological tools are applied. Results show that digital preservation is primarily interpreted as a financial problem as the national strategy and its surrounding documents stress the need of cost-efficient solutions. The discourse of cost-efficiency is based upon instrumental political ideals, and results show that there is a specific kind of terminology within the documents which strengthens the dominance of this discourse. The consequence of the dominating representation of the problem as being of a financial kind marginalizes other vital aspects of digital preservation.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the practices of Canadian repositories in making their archival holdings available on the Internet to see whether they are more or less restrictive than copyright law requires. The Internet provides an opportunity to make archival material more widely accessible; however, repositories’ copyright practices in making their holdings available online may affect the extent to which wider access to archival material is actually achieved. The study employed four different sources of evidence, i.e., the website content of 154 Canadian repositories whose websites feature archival material from the repository’s holdings; copyright policy and procedure documents of those repositories; 106 responses to a questionnaire sent to the staff of those repositories; and 22 interviews with repository staff members. In terms of selection for online access, the study found that the repositories studied prefer to select items that are perceived to incur little risk of copyright infringement (because the copyright has expired or because the repository owns the copyright), or items that require few or no resources to investigate copyright status or obtain copyright authorizations. Thus, with regard to selection, repositories were more restrictive than the law required, largely due to lack of resources. Although repositories have no legal or professional obligation to enforce others’ copyright interests, they nonetheless attempt to control further uses of their online holdings through the use of technical measures (e.g., low resolution images, watermarks, etc.) or non-technical measures (e.g., conditions placed on further uses), for reasons not necessarily related to copyright. Overall, the study found that repositories’ practices in making their holding available online were more restrictive than copyright law envisages. While this may be due to factors other than copyright, access to online documentary heritage may be limited as a result.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the practices of Canadian repositories in making their archival holdings available on the Internet to see whether they are more or less restrictive than copyright law requires. The Internet provides an opportunity to make archival material more widely accessible; however, repositories’ copyright practices in making their holdings available online may affect the extent to which wider access to archival material is actually achieved. The study employed four different sources of evidence, i.e., the website content of 154 Canadian repositories whose websites feature archival material from the repository’s holdings; copyright policy and procedure documents of those repositories; 106 responses to a questionnaire sent to the staff of those repositories; and 22 interviews with repository staff members. In terms of selection for online access, the study found that the repositories studied prefer to select items that are perceived to incur little risk of copyright infringement (because the copyright has expired or because the repository owns the copyright), or items that require few or no resources to investigate copyright status or obtain copyright authorizations. Thus, with regard to selection, repositories were more restrictive than the law required, largely due to lack of resources. Although repositories have no legal or professional obligation to enforce others’ copyright interests, they nonetheless attempt to control further uses of their online holdings through the use of technical measures (e.g., low resolution images, watermarks, etc.) or non-technical measures (e.g., conditions placed on further uses), for reasons not necessarily related to copyright. Overall, the study found that repositories’ practices in making their holding available online were more restrictive than copyright law envisages. While this may be due to factors other than copyright, access to online documentary heritage may be limited as a result.

<p>In this thesis I am going to investigate the trends within e-business, what it is that drive</p><p>these trends and why these drivers are of such importance. I chose this subject since I have</p><p>found it very interesting and useful in my career because of the importance it embraces in</p><p>today’s business world.</p><p>The aspect of e-commerce has changed a lot lately to in the beginning of the 1990s be</p><p>about being present on the Internet with a web site, to being about transactions, meaning</p><p>to buy or sell through digital media at the end of the 1990s, to today be about being used to</p><p>make profitability – an era that can be called e-business, because it is now that e-business</p><p>finally gets its big breakthrough and starts to be recognized as a necessity for companies to</p><p>survive. As long as e-business has existed so have trends in the same matter. What will be</p><p>the trends of e-business in the future? Impossible to say of course, but by taking today’s</p><p>major trends into consideration, and to look at what drives these trends might have, will</p><p>make it possible to get a glimpse of the future of this relatively new business phenomenon</p><p>called e-business.</p><p>To get the best result possible of my thesis I have made a wide literature study in the subject</p><p>by reading and examine accurate literature and articles as well as carried out interviews</p><p>with different IT-gurus and other persons that is thought to withhold a lot of information</p><p>about my chosen subject.</p><p>I have focused on two major trends being customer oriented trends and service digitization.</p><p>Customer oriented trends are trends which have their focus towards customers such</p><p>as customer service, offering more product choices and to have integrated solutions. Service</p><p>digitization is the transformation of paper-based transactions into the new integrated</p><p>multi-channel processes. The driver I have found of most significance and therefore focused</p><p>on is customers. Customers are important as drivers since they have adopted a new</p><p>role in the business process. Customers nowadays have found a way to let their voices to</p><p>be heard. With the help of blogs, social networks and wikis over the Internet they can express</p><p>their feelings and suggestions about products as well as companies and have so to say</p><p>gained a more active role as customers to also taking part of the development. This voice</p><p>of the customers is highly essential to listen to if you as a company want to survive in a</p><p>business world where customers get more and more power.</p><p>After finishing this study I came up with the importance of service, and especially customer</p><p>service as well of personalization and customization (to personalize the shopping experience</p><p>for the customer). Another important conclusion is the importance of customers,</p><p>both as trends to focus on, as well as drivers behind these trends.</p><p>ii</p><p>Acknowledgements</p>

Ist es sinnvoll, Originale zu bewahren, und wenn ja, welche? Löst die Digitalisierung unsere Probleme der Bestandserhaltung? Wie sind die Pläne zur Langzeitarchivierung? Diese und viele weitere Fragen wurden am Sonntag, dem 2. September 2007, beim ersten „Nationalen Aktionstag für die Erhaltung des schriftlichen Kulturguts“ in der Sächsischen Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden mit Experten aus Kultur, Wissenschaft und Politik diskutiert.

In this thesis I have chosen to study the use of crowdsourcing in Swedish archival institutions as well as the influence this methodic platform has on the work of modern archivists. This also raises the question whether the nature of the platform is in any way influenced by the attitude working professionals might have towards crowdsourcing as a legitimed working method. This investigation is based on case studies and interviews with archivists from select Swedish institutions and also the methodology of two now ongoing crowdsourcing projects. The theoretical framework on which this composition is based comes from the work of Gregory Asmolov and his work on crowdsourcing platforms and their functionality as tools of governing. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) is applied to analyze how the method of crowdsourcing is utilised by archival institutions and influenced by their daily routine in conjunction with Governmentality as the chosen way of studying how these platforms might control their users. From the results of the performed case studies, two discourses emerged based on the view on quality concerning gathered information amongst the involved subjects. The first of these discourses places it´s trust and faith in users themselves where validity is of a lesser concern than the actual availability of information through the concept of ”wisdom of the crowds”. Discourse number two represents an alternate perspective where quality of information is of the outmost importance and requires the supervision of professionals upon the work of common users. Through the course of this study I have come to find that the use of crowdsourcing in Swedish archival institutions is mainly controlled by the archivist in charge´s attitude towards this specific working method and in a larger context also formed by the basic archival discourse, legal questions and financial matters of the last century. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

Durch Digitalisierung und Bereitstellung im Internet rücken jetzt die Nachschlagewerke näher an die Leser und Schreiber heran. Orientierung beim Schreiben geben neben den gedruckten Werken längst auch Online-Dienste wie Wikipedia, während die Lektüre zugleich von Fachportalen und einschlägigen Hypertexten gesteuert wird, die immer weniger dazu auffordern, den Schreibtischstuhl zu verlassen. Die Kultur des wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens mag gleich bleiben, ihre Medien ändern sich entscheidend, wenn sie digital werden.

El propósito de un método de segmentación es descomponer una imagen en sus partes constitutivas. Se han propuesto un gran número técnicas y algoritmos para realizar ésta tarea. Algoritmos de visión por computador, en particular de segmentación, que han sido utilizados con éxito en ambientes industriales, con colores e iluminación controlada, no obtienen resultados similares en contextos diferentes. Una alternativa para abordar problemas en que las condiciones de contorno no permiten una segmentación adecuada es incorporar información de profundidad. Las mejoras realizadas en el campo de las tecnologías de escaneo 3D han hecho posible que las cámaras basadas en el principio de tiempo de vuelo sean más accesibles. Las cámaras de tiempo de vuelo son dispositivos de captura que generan simultáneamente imágenes en tonos de grises e información 3D de la escena. La fusión de la información de profundidad junto con la informaci ́on de intensidad permite obtener descripciones de las escenas que tienen en cuenta tanto la geometr ́ıa de los objetos como la información de luminancia. En éste contexto, la segmentación de imágenes consiste en utilizar algoritmos que utilicen ambas fuentes de información y no sólo los niveles de intensidad. Con esta perspectiva el problema de segmentación puede ser formulado como la búsqueda de formas efectivas para particionar adecuadamente un conjunto de muestras con información de intensidad y distancia. Recientemente han sido propuestos diversos algoritmos de agrupamiento, tanto jerárquicos como particionales, para abordar el problema de segmentar objetos en imágenes de intensidad. En particular los métodos de agrupamiento espectral tienden a determinar la estructura subyacente en un conjunto de patrones, donde otros métodos convencionales por la disposición y características particulares de los agrupamientos, no obtienen los resultados esperados. La presente tesina se enfoca en la posibilidad de utilizar métodos de agrupamiento espectral en imágenes de rango y de intensidad para abordar problemas de segmentación complejos.