ICT and digital artifacts is an important resource in the society, especially in schools. That is why we have chosen to study if and how teachers uses ICT and other digital technology in their education in the history subject. We think that both subjects are important because history is a subject that has to do with the past, the present and the future. We made qualitative interviews with seven teachers from three different schools. We have analyzed if the teachers sees ICT as a burden or a resource in their education and also in which extend they have digital literacy. We have chosen to discuss different authors view on ICT in the education and digital literacy. We also examined the teaching plan Lpo94 to see what it says about media in the history subject. In our analysis we have worked with different perspectives on learning and knowledge. These perspectives are a socio cultural perspective, the cognitive view and the behavioristic view. The results indicate a connection between a socio cultural perspective and a cognitive view on learning and also in which extend ICT is used in the history education.

This thesis emphasizes the role of being an information society in countries&rsquo / development perspective / furthermore aims to study the economic, social and structural dimensions of information society related policies with the case studies of Turkey and South Korea. Although in 1950s Turkey and South Korea had similar characteristics in terms of basic economic and social indicators, Turkey has lagged behind in South Korea in terms of development perspective and information society parameters. In addition, information society levels of Turkey and South Korea are measured and compared by ICT development index. Information society policies of South Korea and Turkey are analyzed in the scope of national science and technology policies separately. In theoretical perspective, transforming to information society is analyzed on the basis of &ldquo / Deployment policies in the field of ICT&rdquo / and &ldquo / Two models of network policy formation&rdquo / . The findings of the study indicate that, although hegemonic ruler organizations determine science and technology and transforming to information society related policies, government should not apply these policies without considering their internal dynamics. These policies should be re-evaluated and modified in the scope of national advantages and priorities. In addition, this study aims to indicate the importance of the role of science and technology policies on being an information society for 21st century.

This thesis’ main theme is the relationship between teacher training, distance education, ICT and community. These aspects of an educational practice are conceptualised within a hermeneutical approach as aspects of edukation. The thesis consists of eight articles. These are all related to one specific teacher training programme, in the thesis considered as being one demarcated social context, and treated as a single case. In articles I-III, different theoretical conceptions are elaborated upon both in relation to the discipline of Education (in Swedish Pedagogik), and in relation to the hermeneutical approach. Articles IV-VIII reports on the analysis of several data-gatherings, understood as being parts of an embedded case study. Teacher trainees on the programme have responded to a questionnaire, and have been interviewed. Teacher trainers organising the programme have been interviewed, and governmental and local policies concerning both teacher training and distance education were included. The data were gathered with the intention of enabling an understanding of the conditions through which the teacher trainees understand their societal commission, as a strive for upholding and developing legislated constitutive values, such as multiculturalism, equity, democracy and freedom. All in all, the aim of the thesis is to present an overall understanding of the process of edukation, the establishment of an educative relationship between the individual and the society in distance-based teacher training. The analysis points towards an understanding that emphasises the possession by trainees of competencies that include self-sufficiency, self-direction in their learning and self-confidence providing independence from their fellow trainees, their trainers and society at large. Being assessed primarily on an individual basis does not seem to encourage the trainees to take a collective responsibility for their learning. The trainees seem to associate the social dimensions in the programme primarily to feelings of being at ease, rather than to aspects of learning. Seen as an overall aspect of a process of edukation, the norms and values developed when the trainees negotiate meaning and values appear, in this context, to promote individuality. Additionally, this understanding seems to apply to aspects of democracy as well. Having been able to regard the teacher training programme from different theoretical positions over time, and to consider the teacher trainees and their studies as belonging to a learning community; the Online Learning Community that intersects the issues of learning and technology with the issues of values and society, one might ask; is this then a story of community? If the trainees’ views on education and learning stem from a sense of community, then it might be that of a community as a place of belonging. This could be why the trainees regard the sense of being at ease in the study-group as being more important than the aspects of learning in the study-group. Learning might incorporate conflicting views and contrasting standpoints that potentially challenge the study-group and their sense of belonging. Feeling at ease and taking an inclusive stance might then be one way of ensuring that the group provides what it promises: a safe and warm place. This could be contrasted with the way community implies a strong normative tendency to embrace while disciplining, or as the trainees put it; you may belong here if you adjust to the norms of the group. This in turn begs the question: what is the ethical stance taken in a community, society or study-group? In this thesis, one possible interpretation of this matter is provided.

La letteratura sul digital divide ha fatto negli ultimi anni importanti passi in avanti: una velocità, quella dell’evoluzione del concetto di divario digitale, sorprendente, se si pensa che il termine nasce poco più di dieci anni fa (DiMaggio et al. 2004). Ancora più interessante è la duttilità del termine, che si è trasformato in un vero e proprio discorso, quasi in termini foucaultiani, assorbito da governi, istituzioni, associazioni, aziende. La flessibilità del termine sembrerebbe avere svuotato il concetto stesso di digital divide: se da una parte la letteratura e la riflessione accademica si sta progressivamente allontanando dal termine (Warschauer, 2003), dall’altra l’azione politica l’ha fatto proprio, perdendo sempre più aderenza col dibattito teorico in corso (van Dijk 2005; Barzilai-Nahon 2006). L’ambiguità del termine digital divide pone seri problemi circa la definizione della issue: alcuni studiosi (Compaine 2001) hanno definito il digital divide come un problema di semplice diffusione tecnologica. Tale impostazione, ampiamente superata dalla letterature accademica, è stata invece convintamente adottata dagli strategy makers istituzionale e politici, con effetti spesso contraddittori e discutibili sulle modalità di diffusione e adozione delle ICT tra la popolazione. E’ come se di fronte all’evoluzione del dibattito accademico, i soggetti pubblici non abbiano avuto la capacità (e la volontà politica) di far contestualmente evolvere le politiche adottate verso un avvicinamento al tema del divario di competenze. Al contrario, le strategie degli attori pubblici (privati e istituzionali) sembrano in alcuni casi essere ancora legate a interpretazioni, valori culturali, miti, retoriche tipiche della nascita dell’era digitale (Mosco 2004). In particolare, le istituzioni sono impegnate in un continuo processo interpretativo sul ruolo delle tecnologie (della comunicazione) nella società: ciò che sembra emergere dall’analisi dei principali documenti prodotti dalle istituzioni europee e statunitensi sul digital divide e sullo sviluppo della Società dell’Informazione, è la costruzione di un’ideologia di stampo diffusionista e determinista, all’interno della quale le tecnologie digitali (con Internet in testa) sono in grado di determinare una cesura storica e hanno la capacità di offrire alla società delle opportunità di sviluppo rivoluzionarie. Nonostante tale processo di costruzione narrativa delle opportunità sociali delle ICT, le concrete politiche di riduzione del divario digitale sembrano seguire un’altra strada (Milner 2006). La ricerca, dopo una panoramica sull’evoluzione del concetto di digital divide (Iannone 2007), affronta la più recente letteratura sul tema delle disuguaglianze digitali (Newholm et al. 2008; Sartori 2006; DiMaggio et al 2004), inserendola nella più ampia riflessione sulle disuguaglianze economiche e sociali del mondo contemporaneo (Gallino 2000; Milanovic 2007) e relazionandola con un’overview delle strategie e politiche pubbliche e private di riduzione del divario numerico, in particolare nell’Unione Europa e negli Stati Uniti. L’obiettivo finale del paper è dunque evidenziare il pericoloso scollamento tra l’essenza delle disuguaglianze digitali (la cui comprensione è possibile solo se inserita in una più ampia riflessioni sulle disuguaglianza societarie) e la loro discorsivizzazione, rappresentazione e messa in forma operata dai soggetti e dalle istituzioni che si sono assunti la responsabilità di messa a punto delle strategie di superamento del divario digitale (Carlo 2008). La tesi è che, nel processo di discorsivizzazione del digital divide, i soggetti pubblici abbiano costruito un apparato retorico in grado di offrire una rappresentazione del problema lontana dalla reale natura del fenomeno: il digital divide ha assorbito retoriche e miti del ciberspazio e della società contemporanea, trasformando tali miti in un’azione politica in molti casi inadeguata, inefficacia, fuori obiettivo (Colombo – Carlo 2006a). Sembra di essere di fronte in alcuni casi a una vera e propria azione mistificatoria: si discorsivizzano azioni politiche di riduzione del digital divide legate a un auspicato processo di sviluppo sociale e culturale (determinato dalle ICT) per perseguire, in verità, obiettivi di carattere puramente economico. Forse solo attraverso un’azione di disvelamento di tale mistificazione, è possibile riconoscere le vere politiche di riduzione del divario digitale che sono tali solo se inserite in una più ampia riflessione (e azione) attorno alla crescita delle disuguaglianze nella società globale, informatizzata, in rete (Colombo – Carlo 2006b). Il rischio è che tali azioni, altrimenti, siano semplicemente legate a dimensioni economicistiche di efficienza e di crescita, pericolosamente controproducenti per lo sviluppo di società più giuste (Feenberg 2002; van Dijk 2006). / In the recent years, the literature about digital divide makes an important breakthrough: the evolution of concept of digital divide it has been very quick, in particular if is related with the relative youthfulness of the term, that born only ten years ago (DiMaggio et al. 2004). Even more interesting is the “pliability” of the term: it’s seem to be transformed in a kind of discourse, near in Foucault’s concept, premise by governments, institutions, associations, companies. The flexibility of the term seems has transform (near empty out) the concept of digital divide: if on the one hand the academic reflections are gradually moving away from the term (making more complex the concept, Warschauer, 2003), on the other hand the political action still “use” the term, without understand the theoretical debate in progress and the changing of meaning of the concept (van Dijk, 2005; Barzilai-Nahon, 2006). Maybe only through an action of “unmasking” of this kind of mystification could be possible to recognize the true (or, the more efficient, useful, comprehensive) policies of reduction of the digital divide. Only if this policies are combined with a broader reflections (and actions) about the rising of inequality in the global, digital, network society, the effect of these measures of government will be visible. The risk is that these measures, without a deeply consideration about the morphology, characteristic, structurally unequal of contemporary society, are linking only with economic dimension of efficiency and development. This kind of “use” of digital divide term in a frame of economical policy could be very dangerous and counterproductive for the improvement of more equitable societies (Feenberg 2002, van Dijk, 2006). This paper, after a overview about the evolution of the concept of digital divide (Iannone, 2007) , face the most recent literature about digital inequality (DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Celeste, C., and Shafer, S. 2004): on one side it frames the literature of digital divide in a broader reflection about economic and social inequality in the contemporary world (Gallino 2000; Milanovic 2007), on the other side it wants to related this literature with an overview of policy and strategy public and private for the reduction of digital divide, in particular in EU and USA (Milner, 2006). The aim of the paper is to stress the dangerous separation between the essence of digital inequalities and their discoursivization, representation and “shaping” made by the subjects that have taken the responsibility or have the role to manage and ideate strategies for fall digital divide.

Studiens syfte var att bidra med kunskaper kring kollegial observation av nätbaserad undervisning genom att beskriva och analysera hur detta har använts och upplevts vid Umeå universitet. Data samlades in genom intervjuer med 6 universitetslärare som deltog i en vidareutbildning om kollegial observation på nätet. En kvalitativ analys genomfördes och resultaten visar att kollegial observation på nätet i huvudsak upplevdes som något positivt. Samtliga deltagare var positiva till kollegial observation av nätbaserade kurser och de tyckte att metoden uppmuntrade reflektion och lärande. Resultatet visade också att lärarna till stor utsträckning utgick i från egna erfarenheter när de bedömde kollegornas undervisning. Flera av informanterna upplevde rollen som observatör som mer givande än när rollen var att bli observerad. Hinder för kollegial observation upplevdes till stor del bero på organisation, tidsbrist och oförstående kollegor. Att känna trygghet med kollegan visade sig vara av central vikt för att överhuvudtaget vilja använda kollegial observation i nätbaserad undervisning.

The purpose of this study was two fold: (1) to examine how the distribution of resources within and outside an Enhanced Language Training Program (ELT) affected a group of newcomers’ access to Internet literacy development; and (2) to discuss ensuing pedagogical and curricular implications for the ELT Program. The relationship between the distribution of resources and a group of newcomers’ access to Internet literacy development was studied through a hybrid of two frameworks: van Dijk’s (2005) digital divide and Warschauer’s (2004) social inclusion. The key findings were that the distribution of resources affected access four ways: (1) resources affected multiple types of access, (2) the effect of resource distribution on access was both cumulative and successive, (3) distribution of resources could either facilitate or impede access, and (4) Internet literacy development could potentially increase or decrease the resources. The findings resulted in implications for the ELT program and teaching.

I denna undersökning studeras hur digitala verktyg används på två högstadieskolor i årskurs 8 och hur dessa verktyg möjligtvis kan inverka på elevers musikskapande. Undersökningen är av kvalitativ art och grundar sig på deltagande observationer och semistrukturerade fokusgruppsintervjuer i projekt där elever på olika sätt skapar musik med digitala verktyg. Den genomsyras av ett medieekologiskt- och sociokulturellt perspektiv där empiri grundar sig på utsagor och erfarenheter från tio observationstillfällen och sex intervjuer. I undersökningen framkommer det att digitala verktyg används sällan och i begränsad omfattning i musikundervisningen på de två skolorna. Digitala verktyg erbjuder en direktlänk mellan det klingande ljudet och den visuella representationen, något som ligger i linje med tidigare forskning. Framstående i resultatet är också att flera av eleverna upplever att teknologin på olika sätt står i vägen för dem i musikskapandet. Undersökningen visar också att användandet av digitala verktyg skapar nya förutsättningar för musikskapande och samarbete och att teknologin möjliggör ett mer individanpassat musikskapande som motiverar fler elever. När vi använder digitala verktyg för att skapa, spara och kommunicera ett musikaliskt budskap visar undersökningen att eleverna blir beroende av dessa verktyg för att klara uppgiften. Tillgången till teknologin blir på så vis en förutsättning för att eleverna ska lyckas. Forskningsresultatet visar även att uppgiften som eleverna får inverkar och styr i deras val av produktioner, något som är avgörande för huruvida eleverna uppfattar de digitala verktygen som hjälpmedel i musikskapandet. Både lärare och elever i denna undersökning beskriver en rädsla och oro för en undervisning allt för präglad av digitala verktyg. De menar att det skulle minska utrymmet för ensemblespel och ta bort känslan i musiken som de får från att spela riktiga instrument tillsammans med andra.

Denna uppsats granskar fem kommunala 1:1-satsningar, det vill säga projekt att ge en egen dator till varje elev. Syftet med uppsatsen är att jämföra beslutfattarnas visioner med elevernas upplevelser av det faktiska användandet. Utifrån detta är målet att identifiera hur stor vikt bilden av det medialiserade samhället hade vid beslutet av dessa satsningar och eventuellt fortsätter ha i det nuvarande användandet av tekniken. Frågeställningen fokuserar på hur stor roll bilden av det medialiserade samhället spelade i beslutsprocessen. Dessutom har ett par underfrågor formulerats för att tydliggöra arbetet. Uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk grundar sig främst i medialiseringsteorin och media literacy. Dessutom presenteras kommunikativa strategier, top-down och bottom-up samt Maslows behovstrappa för att ytterligare kunna problematisera de empiriska resultaten. Den metod som använts är kvalitativa samtalsintervjuer med både elever och beslutsfattare. Dessa har sedan transkriberats och analyserats utifrån de tidigare nämnda teorierna i tre analysteman; beslut, implementering och användning. Uppsatsen påvisar att det medialiserade samhället skapade ett upplevt måste för skolorna att följa med i teknikutvecklingen vilket underbyggde besluten för de flesta 1:1-satsningar. I och med ett beslut som med tydlighet anspelar på ett top-down-perspektiv skapas en ytlig instruktionsgrund till användarna. Tillgången till bara ett fåtal instruktioner skapade ett behov av att lärare och elever själva bildade sig en uppfattning om hur datorerna skulle användas på bästa sätt. Den nivå av mediekompetens som studien uppvisar indikerar även på att den i vissa fall är överskattad från beslutsfattarhåll. Detta har i sin tur lett till att det förändrade arbetssätt, som var beslutsfattarnas mål, främst syns genom ett utbyte av skrivdon från papper och penna till datorer hos eleverna.

While evidence of the exceedingly important role of technology in organizational life is commonplace, academics have not fully captured the influence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on crisis response. A substantive body of knowledge on technology and crisis response already exists and keeps developing. Extensive research is on track to highlight how technology helps to prepare to crisis response and develop service recovery plans. However, some aspects of crisis response remain unknown. Among all the facets of crisis response that have been under investigation for some years, improvisation still challenges academics as a core component of crisis response. In spite of numerous insights on improvisation as a cognitive process and an organizational phenomenon, the question of how improvisers do interact together while improvising remains partly unanswered. As a result, literature falls short of details on whether crisis responders can rely on technology to interact when they have to improvise collectively. This dissertation therefore brings into focus ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response in two steps: We first address this question from a general standpoint by reviewing literature. We then propose an in depth and contextualized analysis of the use of a restricted set of technologies – emails, faxes, the Internet, phones - during the organizational crisis provoked by the 2003 French heat wave. Our findings offer a nuanced view of ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response. Our theoretical investigation suggests that ICTs, in a large sense, allow crisis responders to improvise collectively. It reports ICT properties - graphical representation, modularity, calculation, many-to-many communication, data centralization and virtuality – that promote the settling of appropriate conditions for interaction during organizational improvisation in crisis response. In the empirical work, we provide a more integrative picture of ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response by retrospectively observing crisis responders’ interactions during the 2003 French heat wave. Our empirical findings suggest that improvisation enables crisis responders to cope with organizational emptiness that burdens crisis response. However, crisis responders’ participation in organizational improvisation depends on their communicative genres. During the 2003 French heat wave crisis, administrative actors who had developed what we call a “dispassionate” communicative genre in relation to their email use, barely participated in organizational improvisation. Conversely, improvisers mainly communicated in what we call a “fervent” communicative genre. Therefore, our findings reveal that the ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response is mediated by the communication practices and strategies that groups of crisis responders develop around ICT tools.

The purpose of this study was two fold: (1) to examine how the distribution of resources within and outside an Enhanced Language Training Program (ELT) affected a group of newcomers’ access to Internet literacy development; and (2) to discuss ensuing pedagogical and curricular implications for the ELT Program. The relationship between the distribution of resources and a group of newcomers’ access to Internet literacy development was studied through a hybrid of two frameworks: van Dijk’s (2005) digital divide and Warschauer’s (2004) social inclusion. The key findings were that the distribution of resources affected access four ways: (1) resources affected multiple types of access, (2) the effect of resource distribution on access was both cumulative and successive, (3) distribution of resources could either facilitate or impede access, and (4) Internet literacy development could potentially increase or decrease the resources. The findings resulted in implications for the ELT program and teaching.