Submitted by FABIANA DA SILVA FRANÇA (fabiana21franca@gmail.com) on 2017-12-07T12:21:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ArquivoTotal.pdf: 2207635 bytes, checksum: 866c67cae38f232c134e9d55b5dde979 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-12-07T12:21:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ArquivoTotal.pdf: 2207635 bytes, checksum: 866c67cae38f232c134e9d55b5dde979 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The sharing of information and knowledge is known as a human behavior, which is made possible by means of the dialogue among the individuals, in their environments of coexistence. Within organizations, this practice allows the synergy of information and the creation of new knowledge, resulting in innovation and improvements for the development of organizational processes. In this scenario, the information and communication technologies are considered as virtual environments that can subsidize the sharing among the individuals and result in new possibilities of coexistence in the organizations. Considering that this practice involves a set of intervening aspects - facilitators or inhibitors -, especially when mediated in virtual environments, it is analyzed the information and knowledge sharing in the virtual community of SIGAA, among the agents of the Federal University of Paraíba. Methodologically, the research is configured as a case study of the descriptive type, whose corpus is constituted by the virtual community environment and the people management agents. For data collection, it is used the form instruments, field diary, and questionnaire. For the analysis of the data, it is made an interpretation of the results from the quantitative and qualitative methods, through the techniques of content analysis and discourse analysis of the collective subject. And about the results concerning the resources available for the sharing in the virtual community, it is inferred that, although this environment has computational applications designed to subsidize the information and knowledge sharing, it must be available other types of resources that can help the practice of this behavior only at the tacit level, in order to promote the socialization of the individuals' experiences. With regard to the use of these resources for the sharing, it is observed that there was no continuity with the passage of time, resulting in a decrease in the frequency of users' participation. It is also noted that knowledge sharing practices did not present a high percentage in relation to the total of identified records, revealing that there is a preference for shares that involve the flows of formal informational (information). It is concluded that the intervening aspects of sharing among agents in this virtual environment, while involving facilitators, such as motivation to share and satisfaction of the individuals regarding the use of this mechanism, also present some inhibitors that need to be overcome, among them, the relationship among the agents, the culture and structure of the organization, and the understanding of these collaborators regarding the use of available resources. As recommendations, it is suggested initiatives that can involve, in an integrated way, the culture and structure of the organization, the agents and the resources of the virtual community. / O compartilhamento de informações e conhecimentos é compreendido como um comportamento humano, que se viabiliza por meio do diálogo entre os sujeitos, em seus ambientes de convivência. No âmbito das organizações, essa prática permite a sinergia das informações e a criação de novos conhecimentos, resultando em inovação e melhorias para o desenvolvimento dos processos organizacionais. Nesse cenário, as tecnologias de informação e comunicação são consideradas como ambientes virtuais que podem subsidiar o compartilhamento entre os sujeitos e resultar em novas possibilidades de convivência nas organizações. Por considerar que essa prática envolve um conjunto de aspectos intervenientes - facilitadores ou inibidores -, sobretudo quando mediada em ambientes virtuais, analisa-se o compartilhamento de informações e conhecimentos na comunidade virtual do SIGAA, entre os agentes de pessoas da Universidade Federal da Paraíba. Metodologicamente, a pesquisa configura-se como um estudo de caso do tipo descritivo, cujo corpus é constituído pelo ambiente da comunidade virtual e pelos agentes de gestão de pessoas. Para a coleta de dados, utiliza-se dos instrumentos formulário, diário de campo e questionário. Para a análise dos dados, realiza-se a interpretação dos resultados a partir dos métodos quantitativo e qualitativo, por meio das técnicas de análise de conteúdo e análise do discurso do sujeito coletivo. Quanto aos resultados acerca dos recursos disponíveis para o compartilhamento na comunidade virtual, infere-se que, apesar de esse ambiente dispor de aplicações computacionais projetadas para subsidiar o compartilhamento de informações e conhecimentos, é necessário que sejam disponibilizados outros tipos de recursos que possam auxiliar a prática desse comportamento apenas no nível tácito, no intuito de promover a socialização das experiências dos sujeitos. No que concerne ao uso desses recursos para o compartilhamento observa-se que não houve uma continuidade com o passar do tempo, resultando em diminuição na frequência da participação dos usuários. Também nota-se que as práticas de compartilhamento de conhecimento não apresentaram um percentual elevado em relação ao total de registros identificados, revelando que há uma preferência por compartilhamentos que envolvem fluxos informacionais formais (informação). Conclui-se que os aspectos intervenientes ao compartilhamento entre os agentes, nesse ambiente virtual, ao mesmo tempo que envolvem facilitadores, tais como, motivação para compartilhar e satisfação dos sujeitos quanto ao uso desse mecanismo, também apresentam alguns inibidores que precisam ser contornados, entre eles, o relacionamento entre os agentes, a cultura e a estrutura da organização e o entendimento desses colaboradores quanto ao uso dos recursos disponíveis. Como recomendações, sugere-se iniciativas que possam envolver, de maneira integrada, a cultura e a estrutura da organização, os agentes e os recursos da comunidade virtual.

Os estudos acerca da gestão do conhecimento apontam para a utilização do conhecimento como fomento de um desempenho mais eficaz, a partir do envolvimento dos sujeitos nos processos organizacionais, valorizando os ativos do conhecimento, capazes de promover o sucesso da organização. A literatura da área de gestão do conhecimento concentra suas discussões no ambiente das organizações empresariais e possui a maioria das pesquisas e aplicações voltadas ao conhecimento organizacional, contudo, verifica-se a existência de outros contextos, nos quais a gestão do conhecimento pode ser estudada e discutida, dentre esses, o contexto das organizações universitárias, sob a perspectiva do conhecimento científico. A pesquisa investigou o ambiente de uma organização universitária, com o objetivo de estudar o processo de compartilhamento do conhecimento científico na Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR). Para tanto, realizou um estudo de caso envolvendo docentes que atendessem a dois requisitos: orientar tese de doutorado e possuir bolsa produtividade do CNPq. Os dados foram coletados por meio de pesquisa documental e entrevistas em profundidade analisadas utilizando a análise de conteúdo. Os resultados apontam que embora ainda não existam muitos estudos acerca da gestão do conhecimento científico, o ambiente científico já agrega elementos utilizados pela GC. Para os entrevistados, o processo de aquisição de conhecimentos e o interesse pela atividade de pesquisa não estão atrelados à área de formação, mas as suas características individuais. As pesquisas são realizadas em áreas definidas para adensar o conhecimento. A produção está atrelada à pesquisa dos seus orientandos e para iniciar um novo estudo, utilizam a literatura, sobretudo periódicos internacionais. Os canais de comunicação utilizados são, a participação em eventos, e-mail, viagens, contato face a face, participação em bancas, Skype, aulas, fórum, reuniões, telefone, chat, lista de e-mail, página web (acesso aberto e restrito por senha), palestras, seminários, servidor web (com senha), videoconferência. Na comunicação formal, os periódicos são escolhidos por qualidade e credibilidade. Não há ferramentas e práticas institucionalizadas para o compartilhamento de informação e conhecimento, o que ocorre em meios informais, contudo, há o investimento recente em ferramentas como portal institucional, biblioteca digital de teses e dissertações e repositório institucional. O ambiente institucional apresenta espaço físico limitado, por outro lado oferece condições para a realização de atividades de pesquisa. Consideram o contato com os pares relevante para a realização de suas atividades de pesquisa. / Studies on knowledge management have pointed out the use of knowledge as a way for developing more efficient performances, due to the involvement of subjects on organizational processes, recognizing the value of knowledge assets as capable of making an enterprise successful. The literature in the area of knowledge management concentrates the discussions on business organizational environment and most of researches and applications are related to the organizational knowledge perspective. However, it is noted the existence of other contexts where knowledge management can be studied and discussed, among these, academic contexts on the scientific knowledge perspective. This work has investigated the environment of an academic institution with the aim of studying the scientific knowledge sharing at Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR). For so, a case study was developed at the institution, involving professors who met the following requirements: being primary adviser of doctorate dissertations and receiving Research Productivity Scholarship from CNPq. The data were collected by means of documental research and interviews were deeply analyzed using Content Analysis. The results showed that, even though there are not many studies on scientific knowledge management, the scientific environment already possesses elements used by KM. According to the interviewees, the process of knowledge acquisition and the interest in research activities are not tied to their professional area, but to their individual characteristics. Research is conducted in defined areas in order to deepen knowledge. Their production is related to the research conducted by their advisees and, in order to start a new study, they make use of literature, especially international journals. The communication channels mentioned were: participation in events, e-mails, trips, face to face contact, participation in boards, Skype, classes, forums, meetings, phone calls, chat, e-mail list, web page (open access and restricted by password), lectures, seminars, web server (with password), video conferencing. In relation to the formal communication, journals are chosen for their quality and credibility. There are no institutionalized tools and practices for sharing information and knowledge. It occurs in informal ways. However, investments have been recently made in tools such as the institutional portal, digital library of theses and dissertations and institutional repository. The institutional environment has limited physical space, on the other hand, it offers conditions for carrying out research activities. They consider contact with peers relevant for the development of their research activities.

Os estudos acerca da gestão do conhecimento apontam para a utilização do conhecimento como fomento de um desempenho mais eficaz, a partir do envolvimento dos sujeitos nos processos organizacionais, valorizando os ativos do conhecimento, capazes de promover o sucesso da organização. A literatura da área de gestão do conhecimento concentra suas discussões no ambiente das organizações empresariais e possui a maioria das pesquisas e aplicações voltadas ao conhecimento organizacional, contudo, verifica-se a existência de outros contextos, nos quais a gestão do conhecimento pode ser estudada e discutida, dentre esses, o contexto das organizações universitárias, sob a perspectiva do conhecimento científico. A pesquisa investigou o ambiente de uma organização universitária, com o objetivo de estudar o processo de compartilhamento do conhecimento científico na Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR). Para tanto, realizou um estudo de caso envolvendo docentes que atendessem a dois requisitos: orientar tese de doutorado e possuir bolsa produtividade do CNPq. Os dados foram coletados por meio de pesquisa documental e entrevistas em profundidade analisadas utilizando a análise de conteúdo. Os resultados apontam que embora ainda não existam muitos estudos acerca da gestão do conhecimento científico, o ambiente científico já agrega elementos utilizados pela GC. Para os entrevistados, o processo de aquisição de conhecimentos e o interesse pela atividade de pesquisa não estão atrelados à área de formação, mas as suas características individuais. As pesquisas são realizadas em áreas definidas para adensar o conhecimento. A produção está atrelada à pesquisa dos seus orientandos e para iniciar um novo estudo, utilizam a literatura, sobretudo periódicos internacionais. Os canais de comunicação utilizados são, a participação em eventos, e-mail, viagens, contato face a face, participação em bancas, Skype, aulas, fórum, reuniões, telefone, chat, lista de e-mail, página web (acesso aberto e restrito por senha), palestras, seminários, servidor web (com senha), videoconferência. Na comunicação formal, os periódicos são escolhidos por qualidade e credibilidade. Não há ferramentas e práticas institucionalizadas para o compartilhamento de informação e conhecimento, o que ocorre em meios informais, contudo, há o investimento recente em ferramentas como portal institucional, biblioteca digital de teses e dissertações e repositório institucional. O ambiente institucional apresenta espaço físico limitado, por outro lado oferece condições para a realização de atividades de pesquisa. Consideram o contato com os pares relevante para a realização de suas atividades de pesquisa. / Studies on knowledge management have pointed out the use of knowledge as a way for developing more efficient performances, due to the involvement of subjects on organizational processes, recognizing the value of knowledge assets as capable of making an enterprise successful. The literature in the area of knowledge management concentrates the discussions on business organizational environment and most of researches and applications are related to the organizational knowledge perspective. However, it is noted the existence of other contexts where knowledge management can be studied and discussed, among these, academic contexts on the scientific knowledge perspective. This work has investigated the environment of an academic institution with the aim of studying the scientific knowledge sharing at Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR). For so, a case study was developed at the institution, involving professors who met the following requirements: being primary adviser of doctorate dissertations and receiving Research Productivity Scholarship from CNPq. The data were collected by means of documental research and interviews were deeply analyzed using Content Analysis. The results showed that, even though there are not many studies on scientific knowledge management, the scientific environment already possesses elements used by KM. According to the interviewees, the process of knowledge acquisition and the interest in research activities are not tied to their professional area, but to their individual characteristics. Research is conducted in defined areas in order to deepen knowledge. Their production is related to the research conducted by their advisees and, in order to start a new study, they make use of literature, especially international journals. The communication channels mentioned were: participation in events, e-mails, trips, face to face contact, participation in boards, Skype, classes, forums, meetings, phone calls, chat, e-mail list, web page (open access and restricted by password), lectures, seminars, web server (with password), video conferencing. In relation to the formal communication, journals are chosen for their quality and credibility. There are no institutionalized tools and practices for sharing information and knowledge. It occurs in informal ways. However, investments have been recently made in tools such as the institutional portal, digital library of theses and dissertations and institutional repository. The institutional environment has limited physical space, on the other hand, it offers conditions for carrying out research activities. They consider contact with peers relevant for the development of their research activities.

Computer errors are a constant problem for software providers. To completely avoid bugs has proven very difficult even though computer software goes through rigorous testing before released. One of the challenges for developers is recreating errors that end-users experience. User-submitted error reports can often be of help for developers to localize and fix bugs. However, the reports often vary in quality depending on the user's experience and the effort they put into writing the report. Instead of relying on manual error reports, some software providers have equipped their software with automated error reporting functionality. These programs are set to collect important information about the computer and the software in the event of a crash. There are pros and cons with both automated and manual error reporting. The research that has previously been done in the field of error reporting has mostly focused on the situation where private persons are senders and corporations are receivers. This report addresses the setting where both parties are corporations, which brings several new aspects to the problem. The five main topics this report focuses on are: customer attitude, which data to send, privacy, user interaction and feedback. A study has been conducted at the ERP system provider IFS in Sweden where interviews with employees and customers have been performed. Interviewees in the customer companies have been primarily ERP and application managers. The results of the study show that companies are less concerned than what the literature suggests even though the attitudes differ some depending on line of business. Conclusions are that a high degree of configurability of what is sent in the error reports and the level of user interaction is needed for companies to accept automated error reporting. / Buggar är ett ständigt problem för mjukvarutillverkare. Att helt undvika dessa har visat sig vara mycket svårt trots rigorösa tester innan ny mjukvara släpps. En av utmaningarna för utvecklare är att återskapa felen som uppstår hos användarna. Felrapporter inskickade av användare kan ofta vara till hjälp för utvecklare när de ska lokalisera och åtgärda fel. Men rapporterna kan variera i kvalitet beroende på användarnas erfarenhet och tiden de lägger på att skriva rapporten. Istället för att förlita sig på manuella felrapporter har vissa mjukvarutillverkare utrustat sin programvara med funktionalitet för automatiska felrapporter. Dessa program ska samla in viktig information om datorn och programvaran i händelse av att en krasch uppstår. Viss forskning har skett inom området automatiserad felrapportering men fokus har då legat på situationen då privatpersoner är avsändare och företag är mottagare. Denna rapport behandlar läget då båda parter är företag, vilket tillför flera nya aspekter till problemet. De fem huvudfrågorna som den här rapporten fokuserar på är: kunders attityd, vilken data ska skickas, integritet, användarinteraktion och feedback. En studie har utförts hos affärssystemleverantören IFS i Sverige, där intervjuer med anställda och kunder har genomförts. De intervjuade hos kundföretagen har huvudsakligen varit ERP- och applikationsansvariga. Resultaten av studien visar att företagen är mindre oroade än vad litteraturen indikerar även om attityderna skiljer sig något i olika branscher. Slutsatserna är att en hög grad av konfigurerbarhet behövs när det gäller vad som skickas i felrapporter samt vilken grad av interaktion med användaren som behövs. Detta för att kundföretagen ska acceptera automatisk felrapportering.

Wiki är en applikation där kunskap kan utbytas mellan användarna på ett säkert sätt och som möjliggör att idéflödet ökar på företag vilket kan leda till att en stor kunskapsbank skapas. Syftet med denna studie är att ge svar på hur kunskapsdelning sker mellan människor med hjälp av Wiki och varför användandet av Wiki skiljer sig mellan olika användare. Kandidatuppsatsen har utförts på olika it/logistik företag i Kronobergs region. Studien har utförts genom en kvantitativ metod och baseras på UTAUT (Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology) modellen.  Resultatet analyserar faktorer som påverkar användarnas motivation och Wikis användbarhet till kunskapsdelning som verktyg. Slutsatsen besvarar frågeställningen som ställs i syftet, om varför användandet av Wiki skiljer sig mellan användarna, vilket visade sig ha en koppling till ledningens stöd/feedback. / Wiki is a type of collaboration website that allows users to upload, edit, and remove content present on a webpage. The goal of this study is to form a comprehensive meaning, definition, or answer on a specific subject matter. The aim of Wiki is sharing information between users, creating new ideas and building database of knowledge. The study was conducted among it/logistics companies in Kronoberg region. It’s aim is to provide answer on how is this sharing of information between users carried out and why it is different between different users and establishing what factors have a significant effect on this exchange. The study was performed using quantitive methods and are based on UTAUT (Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology) model. The results of the study analyse factors that significantly affect motivation to sharing knowledge and its flow between users and what organizations have to know when they decide to create knowledge database, what factors affect sharing knowledge and how motivation influence creating new content and sharing knowledge.

Denna rapport presenterar en undersökning om hur individuella attityder, normativa föreställningar, motivation och organisationsklimat är påverkande faktorer på kodad explicit kunskapsdelning. Flödet innebär att en anställd besitter kunskap som delas via ett IT-system som nedskriven information för att bli tillgängligt för andra att använda, vilket då leder till ny kunskap. Studien har genomförts på ett svenskt företag i storleken litet till medelstort. Kvalitativa individuella intervjuer har genomförts med anställda på ett fallföretag, där de har ett ansvar att dela kodad explicit kunskap via ett IT- system. Forskare menar att om information redan är kodad och förvärvad kan den användas. Det har däremot påvisats att det inte behöver vara fallet. I små och medelstora företag lagras ofta information på flera ställen, vilket skapar problem för de anställda att använda sig av kunskapen. Ramverket Theory of Reasoned Action [TRA] har använts för att utifrån attityder förstå det individuella beteendet, vilket har utvecklats med tidigare forskning inom kunskapsdelning där TRA har använts. Resultatet visade att faktorerna har en påverkande effekt på beteendet att dela kodad explicit kunskap. Inre motivation visade sig ha en betydande roll för beteendet till att dela kunskap. En annan aspekt var att Strukturen i systemet där kunskapen delades. Strukturen visade sig ha en påverkande effekt på beteendet, vilket inte är en faktor enligt TRA. Utifrån de anställdas perspektiv på företaget har faktorerna identifierats och visats sig ha en påverkande effekt på kunskapsdelning av kodad explicit kunskap. / This is a research about how the factors individual attitude, normative conceptions, motivation and organizational climate is influencing factors of encoded explicit knowledge sharing. The flow of sharing means that an employee has knowledge and share it with others in an IT-system as stored information which will be available to others to use. This thesis has been examined in a small to medium sized company in Sweden. Qualitative interviews have been performed with employees in a company, where the employees are responsible to share explicit knowledge in an IT-system. Some researchers believe that if the information is already encoded and acquired it can be used. However, it has been demonstrated that this does not have to be the case. In small and medium sized companies’ information is stored in multiple locations, which makes it difficult for the employees to use the knowledge. The framework Theory of Reasoned Action [TRA] has been used to understand the individual behavior based on the individual attitude, which has been developed with previous research in knowledge sharing where TRA has been used. Our result shows that the factors have an influencing effect on the behavior of sharing encoded explicit knowledge. The internal motivation proved to be an important element to motivate the behavior to share knowledge. Another aspect was the structure in the IT-system for knowledge sharing. The structure had an influencing effect on the behavior, which was not raised in the framework TRA. These factors have been identified from the employee’s perspective in the company, to be the deciding factors that affect sharing of encoded explicit knowledge.

Det blir allt vanligare att människor byter arbetsgivare flera gånger under sitt yrkesverksamma liv och den gamla synen på anställningen som ett livslångt åtagande håller på att försvinna. Organisationer knyter till sig temporära medarbetare, bland annat till sina olika projekt, för att dessa ska tillföra sådan kompetens som inte finns i den ordinarie organisationen. Detta syns tydligt i statistiken från SCB som visar att andelen temporärt anställda ökar i Sverige och nu är nästan 16 % av arbetskraften. Uppsatsen behandlar lärandeprocesser i organisationer med höga E/A-tal, det vill säga organisationer där andelen temporärt anställda överstiger andelen tillsvidareanställda medarbetare. Den inriktar sig på lärandet i och mellan projekt, samt hur huvudorganisationen tar del av lärandet i projekten, när individerna med specialkompetens bara är temporärt anställda. Respondentorganisationernas syn på kunskap stannar vid individuell kompetens. De har som strategi att till varje nytt projekt anställa personer med rätt kompetens temporärt. När projektet är avslutat, slutar även de som är anställda för projektet. Om organisationen behöver personer med samma kompetens för andra projekt, återanställs personerna temporärt för att arbeta i dem. Studien visar att de undersökta organisationerna har en fungerande lärprocess trots att de inte medvetet strävar efter detta. Inom projekten sker hela tiden ett kunskapsutbyte mellan teammedlemmarna, och mycket utav denna kunskap sprids inom organisationen genom småprat och formella möten. En viktig kunskapskälla är de chefer som fungerar som länk mellan huvudorganisationen och projektgrupperna. / It is getting increasingly common for people to change employer several times during their professional life. The old way to look at employment as a one single lifelong commitment is declining. Organisations are now using more temporary employees, among other things for their different projects, with the intention that these should provide complementary competence to the organisation. This is clearly shown in the statistics from SCB, which illustrates that the share of temporary employees in Sweden increases and at the present represents almost 16 % of the labour force. This thesis studies learning processes in organisations with a high E/E-number, which stand for organisations where the share of temporary employees exceeds the share of regular employees. The thesis focus on learning within and between projects, as well as how the main organisation takes part of the learning in the projects, when the individuals with special competence are only temporary employed. The respondent organisations view on knowledge stop at individual competence. Their strategy is to employ people with the right competences temporary to each new project, so when the project is closed, the people and the competence leave. If the organisation requires people with the same competence again for other projects, they are temporary re-employed. The study shows that the organisations examined do have a functional learning process, although they do not consciously strive for this. Within the projects there is a constant knowledge exchange between the team members, and a lot of this knowledge is spread through out the organisation by small talk and formal meetings. An important source of knowledge is the supervisors which function as a link between the main organisation and the project teams.

Abstract At the heart of the smart space vision is the idea that devices interoperate with each other autonomously to assist people in their everyday activities. In order to make this vision a reality, it is important to achieve semantic-level interoperability between devices. The goal of this dissertation is to enable Semantic Web technology-based interoperability in smart spaces. There are many challenges that need to be solved before this goal can be achieved. In this dissertation, the focus has been on the following four challenges: The first challenge is that the Semantic Web technologies have neither been designed for sharing real-time data nor large packets of data such as video and audio files. This makes it challenging to apply them in smart spaces, where it is typical that devices produce and consume this type of data. The second challenge is the verbose syntax and encoding formats of Semantic Web technologies that make it difficult to utilise them in resource-constrained devices and networks. The third challenge is the heterogeneity of smart space communication technologies that makes it difficult to achieve interoperability even at the connectivity level. The fourth challenge is to provide users with simple means to interact with and configure smart spaces where device interoperability is based on Semantic Web technologies. Even though autonomous operation of devices is a core idea in smart spaces, this is still important in order to achieve successful end-user adoption. The main result of this dissertation is a semantic interoperability framework, which consists of following individual contributions: 1) a semantic-level interoperability architecture for smart spaces, 2) a knowledge sharing protocol for resource-constrained devices and networks, and 3) an approach to configuring Semantic Web-based smart spaces. The architecture, protocol and smart space configuration approach are evaluated with several reference implementations of the framework components and proof-of-concept smart spaces that are also key contributions of this dissertation. / Tiivistelmä Älytilavision ydinajatuksena on, että erilaiset laitteet tuottavat yhteistyössä ihmisten elämää helpottavia palveluita. Vision toteutumisen kannalta on tärkeää saavuttaa semanttisen tason yhteentoimivuus laitteiden välillä. Tämän väitöskirjan tavoitteena on mahdollistaa semanttisen webin teknologioihin pohjautuva yhteentoimivuus älytilan laitteiden välillä. Monenlaisia haasteita täytyy ratkaista, ennen kuin tämä tavoite voidaan saavuttaa. Tässä työssä keskityttiin seuraaviin neljään haasteeseen: Ensimmäinen haaste on, että semanttisen webin teknologioita ei ole suunniteltu reaaliaikaiseen kommunikaatioon, eivätkä ne sovellu isojen tiedostojen jakamiseen. Tämän vuoksi on haasteellista hyödyntää niitä älytiloissa, joissa laitteet tyypillisesti jakavat tällaista tietoa. Toinen haaste on, että semanttisen webin teknologiat perustuvat syntakseihin ja koodausformaatteihin, jotka tuottavat laitteiden kannalta tarpeettoman pitkiä viestejä. Tämä tekee niiden hyödyntämisestä hankalaa resurssirajoittuneissa laitteissa ja verkoissa. Kolmas haaste on, että älytiloissa hyödynnetään hyvin erilaisia kommunikaatioteknologioita, minkä vuoksi jopa tiedonsiirto laitteiden välillä on haasteellista. Neljäs haaste on tarjota loppukäyttäjälle helppoja menetelmiä sekä vuorovaikutukseen semanttiseen webiin pohjautuvien älytilojen kanssa että tällaisen älytilan muokkaamiseen käyttäjän tarpeiden mukaiseksi. Vaikka laitteiden itsenäinen toiminta onkin älytilojen perusajatuksia, tämä on kuitenkin tärkeää teknologian hyväksymisen ja käyttöönoton kannalta. Väitöskirjan päätulos on laitteiden semanttisen yhteentoimivuuden viitekehys, joka koostuu seuraavista itsenäisistä kontribuutioista: 1) semanttisen tason yhteentoimivuusarkkitehtuuri älytiloille, 2) tiedonjakoprotokolla resurssirajoittuneille laitteille ja verkoille sekä 3) menetelmä semanttiseen webiin pohjautuvien älytilojen konfigurointiin. Näiden kontribuutioiden evaluointi suoritettiin erilaisten järjestelmäkomponenttien referenssitoteutuksilla ja prototyyppiälytiloilla, jotka kuuluvat myös väitöskirjan keskeisiin kontribuutioihin.

Magister Commercii (Information Management) - MCom(IM) / Knowledge Management has been at the heart of mounting focus over the last several years. Research and literature on the area under discussion has grown and organizations have come to realize that success is often determined by one’s ability to create, disseminate, and embody knowledge in products and services. This realization has led to increased interest in examining the ways in which knowledge can be effectively identified, elicited, codified, distributed and retained.When an employee leaves an organization, the knowledge they possess often goes with them. This loss can potentially have a negative impact on the productivity and quality of the organization. Knowledge Management seeks to find ways to minimize loss of knowledge when an employee leaves an organization. One of the impediments that knowledge management seeks to overcome is the accepted tendency in people to hoard knowledge. People often withhold knowledge when they feel it provides them with a competitive advantage over others. The argument of this study was intended to provide the organization with an approach that it can utilize to facilitate tacit knowledge elicitation by means of the storytelling method.In keeping with Grounded theory principles, and utilising an interpretive approach, stories from Subject Matter Experts were collected and re-coded into fitting knowledge management constructs. The coding of the stories into the various knowledge management constructs was then further refined by means of expert review. Pearson’s cross correlation analysis was also used as a supporting tool to determine and validate that the collected stories were classified correctly under the knowledge management constructs. The research findings eventually demonstrated that storytelling is an effective means of eliciting tacit knowledge from experts. In addition to this, the research has inadvertently resulted in the construction of a knowledge management framework for storytelling.

The aim of this Master thesis has been to summarize the current theoretical knowledge about the possibilities of using stories in management, especially their use as a tool for better and easier decision-making in a nowadays turbulent period, and to summarize the aspects explaining their positive contribution in this issue. In the practical part, the thesis focuses on exploring the use of stories by students of the University of Economics in Prague to decide on subjects and teachers. More specifically, the aim has been to find out how students are influenced by stories told by their colleagues in selection of subjects and teachers, how actively students use stories for obtaining and transmitting knowledge and information, in what form stories spread among students, which communication channel students prefer and why, what the quality of stories is and what the differences between Bachelor's and Master's students in those aspects are. The purpose of this research has been to demonstrate the power of stories in influencing individuals decision-making, applicable also to classical management in the corporate environment. As a research method, a combination of a quantitative and simple qualitative analysis in the form of the semi-structured questionnaire has been used. Based on the research, it has been found out that students do decide about subjects and teachers on the basis of others'stories, they do actively seek those stories and they do prefer personal narrative from friends, as this form has turned out to be considered as the most reliable for students, and also the one which will find the most consistent validation in what they will experience next. Students of Bachelor's and Master's studies differ in the selected communication channel and the activity with which they search for and use the stories.