<p>Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to study the interaction between seller and buyer in a mobile phone store. The specific research questions under investigation are:Are there any underlying factors behind mobile purchase, and if so, what are they? Are mobile purchases driven by lifestyle factors and do customers try and create identities when purchasing new mobile phones?</p><p>Material/Method: The study employs an ethnographic method when trying to answer the posed research questions. I have under a period of two weeks studied the seller-buyer interaction in a mobile phone store. In order to further increase the accuracy of my findings, I have complemented my observations with a sample of buyer and seller interviews.</p><p>Main results: The observations and interviews were initially studied in isolation, resulting in different themes. These themes were then collapsed into some common themes pertaining to the different methods. Overall, I conclude three major findings from the seller-buyer interaction which I name, (1) context and influence, (2) status, and (3) social accepting.</p>

Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to study the interaction between seller and buyer in a mobile phone store. The specific research questions under investigation are:Are there any underlying factors behind mobile purchase, and if so, what are they? Are mobile purchases driven by lifestyle factors and do customers try and create identities when purchasing new mobile phones? Material/Method: The study employs an ethnographic method when trying to answer the posed research questions. I have under a period of two weeks studied the seller-buyer interaction in a mobile phone store. In order to further increase the accuracy of my findings, I have complemented my observations with a sample of buyer and seller interviews. Main results: The observations and interviews were initially studied in isolation, resulting in different themes. These themes were then collapsed into some common themes pertaining to the different methods. Overall, I conclude three major findings from the seller-buyer interaction which I name, (1) context and influence, (2) status, and (3) social accepting.

The main purpose of this study is to find out how technology as a school subject is formed into pedagogical action. Issues addressed are: – How does teaching in the school subject of technology differ in terms of content and process? – How do frame factors influence teaching in technology? As analytic tools, concepts from philosophical thought on technology and education as well as frame factor theory are used to throw light on the way technology education takes shape in the practices of two primary school teachers. The philosophical concepts employed and developed have been inspired by the thinking of Martin Heidegger and John Dewey. These con-cepts are “place” and “shaping of technology,” where the shaping of tech-no¬logy involves the following phases: formulation of the assignment, analysis, visualization/construction and evaluation/reflection. The basic questions are investigated in two case studies over a period of one year. Data is collected based on ethnographic methods and consists of observations, video recordings, documentation in the form of teachers’ diaries as well as pupils’ work, taped interviews with pupils, and interviews with the two teachers both before and after the project was finished. The overall results of the study show that the two teachers, to a different degree, use place, e.g. they try to use the children’s own experiences and the surrounding environment as a starting point in their teaching. They try to organize their teaching as a process of knowledge construction instead of as a process of transmission. In that process, different forms of represen¬tation are used, such as sketches, model constructions and written docu¬mentation, with the element of model construction providing a common denominator given the availability of tools and material. Another similarity between the practices is that the children are given opportunities to work at problem solving in cases where there are no given solutions. However, they enter problems due to their own embodiment in a pedagogy of transmission, which results in the fact that the shaping of technology becomes difficult to organize. Strict borders between subjects, the fragmented timetable of the school, and the organization of the classroom space and scarce equipment and materials all influence the possibilities of teaching in technology.

Information appliances such as notebook computers and cellular telephones are becoming integral to the lives of many. These devices facilitate a variety of communication tasks, and are used for employment, education, and entertainment. Those with disabilities, however, have limited access to these devices, due in part to product designs that do not consider their special needs. A usability evaluation can help identify the needs and difficulties those with disabilities have when using a product and universal design principles can then be applied to enhance accessibility and usability. This study addresses the usability of two of the most common information appliances - notebook computers and cellular telephones. The usability of notebook computers was evaluated using a remote ethnographic method where participants recorded usability-related critical incidents. Participants included those with a wide range of abilities, such as legal blindness, total blindness, and upper extremity physical disabilities. Objective and subjective measures were used to determine the effects of several specific design parameters for cellular telephones. The notebook computer study revealed that participants have difficulty with non-standard keyboard layouts, the use of isometric pointing devices, case latches, and inadequate system feedback. User performance and ratings in the cellular telephone study were the best with the 12 mm lateral pitch and 0.7 mm key height, while the fewest task failures were committed using the 0.5 mm keystroke. Participants also preferred telephone models with large <Power>, <Send> and <End> keys located in prominent locations, and 22-point and 36-point display fonts. These results were used to generate product-specific design guidelines that can be used to design notebook computers and cellular telephones that are more usable and accessible for users with visual and upper extremity physical disabilities. Universal design implications are also discussed. / Master of Science

<p>The aim of this study is to analyze the construction of research culture and collaboration within the research studio Tools for Creativity, one node in the larger Interactive Institute. This studio is an arena that in today’s society is associated with boundary crossing, dynamics and variability: An environment with high-tech equipment, a staff equipped with diverse skills, and a flexible approach with the ambition of developing innovative tools based on ICT to strengthen human creativity. The present thesis is divided into four main parts. In Part One, culture as analytical framework is presented. This is followed by a presentation of field work, data and field site, the studio Tools for Creativity, and its employees. This includes a discussion of the methods of participant observations and deep inter-views. In the theoretical framework overview, perspectives used in this thesis is presented, including the so-called “new research landscape” debate, a background to this thesis. The introduction concludes with a chapter whith a reflexivity discussion including the making of the research self during field work and in the written text. In Part Two, entitled “Technology”, the informants’ definition of technology in relation ICT and the prototypes produced is ana-lyzed. The concepts “enlightenment optimism” and “romantic uneasiness” are presented as theoretical entrances to the chapter. This is the background for an analysis of the future- and speed-oriented discourse that characterizes the informants’ perception of technology. The aim of using technology to support human creativity, challenge presence and facilitate multi-cultural communication is further discussed. This is juxtaposed with another aspect of technol-ogy, namely the informant’s critique of technology’s impact on mankind, humanity and society. Part Three, “Re-search”, deals with interpretations and negotiations of the concept of research and the researcher conducted by the informants at Tools for Creativity. First, the concept of “boundary object” is presented followed by its use order to analyze the construction of research and the researcher in a multi-disciplinary arena like the studio. An important part of the making of the researcher is the trading of skills in the attempt of legitimizing the individuals’ efforts at conducting research. Here, focus is the negotiation of research as an activity between individuals representing the sciences and the arts, as well as those with formal education and autodidacts. Attempts to manage a broader research concept are placed in relation to academic quality demands. In this analysis, the point of departure is Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of symbolic capital. Here, gender is included as symbolic capital. Part Four is called “Reflections” and contains a discussion of the study and reflections concerning field work. This is followed by a summation of what happened to Tools for Creativity and Interactive Institute after finished field work.</p>

The purpose of the present thesis is to study whether and how professionals from such different areas as medicine, preschool and school develop and reorganize, through inter-disciplinary focus group discussions, their competence regarding reading-and-writing difficulties/dyslexia. The theoretical framework is based on sociocultural theory of mediated action, focusing on notions such as alterity, intersubjectivity, dialogicality, mastery, appropriation, practical consciousness and discursive consciousness. The data consists of participant field observations, seven individual interviews and fifteen focus group interviews, as well as narratives and written documents concerning collaboration between pre-schools and schools. The method relates to ethnographic and action research. The data is collected over three years. The interviews are audio-recorded and transcribed as close to oral language as possible. The data is analysed with regard to alterity, intersubjectivity, dialogicality, mastery and appropriation, and with regard to professional languages, professional boundaries and domains of responsibility as well as competencies. The results from the individual interviews show that each participant’s conception of dyslexia is closely attached to her or his own field of pracitice. The focus group results show that, over time, the participants changed their conception of dyslexia, and their way of communicating about dyslexia. And, that they thereby deepened their competence on the issue. The written documents show a similar development during the focus group discussions. From hastily scrawled notes they developed into computerised, and well-structured plans of actions for supporting children of special needs. Both the spoken and written data show that inter-disciplinary co-operation leads to the development of inter-disciplinary competence, and a change in organising reading and writing for children of preschool and school.

The aim of this study is to analyze the construction of research culture and collaboration within the research studio Tools for Creativity, one node in the larger Interactive Institute. This studio is an arena that in today’s society is associated with boundary crossing, dynamics and variability: An environment with high-tech equipment, a staff equipped with diverse skills, and a flexible approach with the ambition of developing innovative tools based on ICT to strengthen human creativity. The present thesis is divided into four main parts. In Part One, culture as analytical framework is presented. This is followed by a presentation of field work, data and field site, the studio Tools for Creativity, and its employees. This includes a discussion of the methods of participant observations and deep inter-views. In the theoretical framework overview, perspectives used in this thesis is presented, including the so-called “new research landscape” debate, a background to this thesis. The introduction concludes with a chapter whith a reflexivity discussion including the making of the research self during field work and in the written text. In Part Two, entitled “Technology”, the informants’ definition of technology in relation ICT and the prototypes produced is ana-lyzed. The concepts “enlightenment optimism” and “romantic uneasiness” are presented as theoretical entrances to the chapter. This is the background for an analysis of the future- and speed-oriented discourse that characterizes the informants’ perception of technology. The aim of using technology to support human creativity, challenge presence and facilitate multi-cultural communication is further discussed. This is juxtaposed with another aspect of technol-ogy, namely the informant’s critique of technology’s impact on mankind, humanity and society. Part Three, “Re-search”, deals with interpretations and negotiations of the concept of research and the researcher conducted by the informants at Tools for Creativity. First, the concept of “boundary object” is presented followed by its use order to analyze the construction of research and the researcher in a multi-disciplinary arena like the studio. An important part of the making of the researcher is the trading of skills in the attempt of legitimizing the individuals’ efforts at conducting research. Here, focus is the negotiation of research as an activity between individuals representing the sciences and the arts, as well as those with formal education and autodidacts. Attempts to manage a broader research concept are placed in relation to academic quality demands. In this analysis, the point of departure is Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of symbolic capital. Here, gender is included as symbolic capital. Part Four is called “Reflections” and contains a discussion of the study and reflections concerning field work. This is followed by a summation of what happened to Tools for Creativity and Interactive Institute after finished field work.

Loin d’être homogène, l’habitat est à la fois le reflet de l’assignation des femmes à un rôle de sexe et, dans le même temps, un instrument politique du changement social, de la transgression des normes sociales fixées sur le genre. De quelles manières des actions collectives féministes qui se réclament de l’émancipation peuvent-elles, par le biais de pratiques habitantes, affirmer un autre possible, construire d’autres modes d’être et d’agir en vue d’une vie plus libre ? La mise en œuvre de notre questionnement a conduit à choisir comme objet d’étude le « squat » associé à une critique féministe de l’ordre social. Du squat féministe, un regard se pose sur l’ordre social, un discours est porté sur les raisons de cet engagement dans les marges de la société. Des attitudes, des manières de faire et d’agir s’y construisent afin d’élaborer des réponses à la question des rapports sociaux, des rapports de genre. Nous avons comparé deux modèles de squat féministe : les squats politiques français soumis à une grande instabilité du fait de leur statut « sans droit ni titre » et les squats « légalisés » allemands qui, au regard du contexte historique et politique, s’inscrivent dans un temps plus long. La thèse permet d’élaborer une sociologie du genre renouvelée à partir d’une remise en question de l’ordre social par un engagement féministe autour de pratiques habitantes et de rendre compte de la façon dont des actrices sociales répondent aux problèmes féministes en fabriquant un « autre » modèle. / Far from being homogeneous, the habitat is both a reflection of the relegation of women to the role of sex and, at the same time, a political instrument of social change, of the transgression of social norms of gender. In what ways can feminist collective actions, which claim to be representative of emancipation, affirm another possible, develop other modes of being and acting for a freer life, through inhabitants’ practices? The implementation of our questioning has led us to choose as the object of study the "squat" associated with a feminist critique of the social order.. From the feminist squat, one’s gaze rests on the social order, a speech is focused on the reasons for this engagement in the margins of society. Attitudes, ways of doing and acting, develop to answer the question of social relationships, of gender relationships. We compared two models of feminist squat: in France, political squats which are instable because of their status "without right or title" and in Germany, "legalized" squats which, in terms of historical and political context, are in a longer timeframe.The thesis allows the development of a sociology of gender, from a feminist questioning of the social order around inhabitants’ practices. It also helps to account for how the social actors respond to feminist problems by making an "other" model.

The aim of this study is to perform a rhetorical analysis of how a professional identity is constructed through deliberation. The object of study is firefighters, as they have a strong sense of community. Using rhetorical ethnographic method, the research question is to investigate how firefighters create, confirm, and develop professional identity through social interactions. Recordings and transcriptions of their internal communication were made, in search of recurring themes and perspectives. The theory of this work is based on Aristotle’s practical definition of rhetoric as deliberation, further developed by Burke’s theory of identification. In addition, Perelmans understanding of auditorium and Wolrath-Söderbergs theory of topos form the basis of the theoretical perspectives. The results show that the recurring themes and perspectives in the firefighter’s conversations depict what it means to 1) work as a firefighter, and 2) live as a firefighter. The conclusion is that the day-to-day tasks and other shared interests constitute meeting points for discussion, where the firefighters construct their professional identity through social strategies, such as identification and disassociation, proximity and distance in the communication.