Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, June, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Liberty University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

This project is based on an ethnography of Trifecta Tech (pseudonym) a major high-tech firm on the West coast of the U.S. Although a growing group of organizational theorists started investigating high-tech firms’ organizational model and management mechanisms, they are still limited by their neglect of two latest trends in the high-tech industry: the rejuvenation of the workforce through disproportionally recruiting young college-educated men and the masculinization of the organizational culture. Drawing on 46 in-depth interviews and 11 months of participant observation, this study argues that these two latest dynamics result in some significant organizational processes that have not been examined before, including the gamification of the workplace; the promotion of “playful” organizational culture that attempts to blur boundaries between work and off-work activities; and the reinforcement of masculinized racial hierarchy to facilitate managers’ division of labor.

This thesis investigates the pre-seed funding process for technology start-ups. Furthermore, it aims to investigate, how the process of acquiring pre-seed funding is, and which challenges entrepreneurs are facing during this process. The data of this thesis were collected through semi-structured interviews with tech start-ups that recently have gone through the funding process and where therefore able to contribute with perspectives of the pre-seed funding process. After analysing the data from the interviews, we investigated how entrepreneurs experience the process of acquiring early-stage funding. We found that the pre-seed funding process for tech start-ups first of all is time consuming. The applications to funding-organisations takes up valuable time for the start-up. Furthermore, entrepreneurs should consider the framing and pitching of the business when applying for funding. The entrepreneurs face several challenges during the process, including limitations on how the money can be spent. Many of the funding programme applications are very bureaucratic and demanding, and some startups require external assistance just to fill out these applications. The lack of network for early-stage entrepreneurs is a challenge, when applying for funding for the company. For entrepreneurs, credibility is also an important part when applying for early-stage funding. These are the areas this thesis will touch upon, as they are central aspects to processes and challenges that entrepreneurs are facing during the pre-seed funding phase. Since this thesis comprises a small group of tech start-ups from Uppsala and Stockholm in Sweden, it is not able to say anything about the possible differences in the pre-seed funding processes in other countries. However, this study gives an initial view about the process of acquiring pre-seed funding in these cities and should stimulate for further research addressing this subject in Sweden and abroad.

Denna uppsats undersöker strategier vid marknadsinträde för startups och vilka resultat det ger i olika delar av processen. Teoridelen fokuserar på strategin effektualitet som lyfter vikten av relationer, flexibilitet och experimentering. Detta i kontrast till strategin kausalitet som baseras på teorier som importerats från ekonomiska teorier med linjärt förvalda mål som är utformade för etablerade marknader. En multipel fallstudie har utförts på två svenska tech-startups i Stockholmsområdet där grundarna har intervjuats. Resultatet visar att de studerade startups har dragit nytta av att använda en effektuellt strategi, därmed finns det implikationer att denna strategi är fördelaktig att använda för vissa typer av företag. Strategin är fördelaktig på grund av att den förespråkar fokus på samarbeten som leder till utveckling av värdefull kunskap som i sin tur ger konkurrensfördelar samt ökar sannolikheten för att skapa en unik produkt som det finns efterfrågan på. Resultatet visar även att kausalitet och effektualitet samverkar med varandra och därmed är inte kausalitet oviktigt för startups. Det gäller att ha rätt balans beroende på var i utvecklingen startupen befinner sig och hur branschen ser ut. Implikationer givet resultatet antyder att nystartade företag kan dra nytta av denna insikt för att öka sin chans att överleva på marknaden. Det bör också belysas en bredare syn på marknader på de kurser som lär ut entreprenörskap.

This study explores how student participation in the development of a school computer-network (SCN) motivated students to learn and promoted service and collegial relationships in the school. Students participated in a Technology Leadership (TL) community and engaged in activities that were central to the development of the SCN. The research examines the co-evolution of the SCN and student activities and the relationships between TL students and the school. In the study, data on students' experiences in the TL program came from non-participant observation, conversations, semi-structured interviews and document analyses. Using a sociocultural perspective of identity construction and informed by Lave and Wenger's notion of participation in a community-of-practice, with actor-network approaches, the analysis of the data showed that student level of engagement increased when the activities were relevant to their in-school and out-of-school technology experiences, or to their future career goals. Program participants provided technical support to the SCN and taught what teachers and students wanted to learn at a time when they needed to know it. In so doing, these leadership students moved towards greater technical expertise, improved interpersonal skills and increased leadership responsibilities as demonstrated by the availability of improved technical support services in the SCN. As newcomers to the TL community gradually advanced to full participation and old-timers became computer consultants to the school before they eventually graduated, the TL community was subjected to a continual process of renewal in terms of participants. With progressive student participation and with translations of diverse technology actors, the services the SCN provided to the school improved. Over time, the SCN's technical character changed and the relationships of service and collegiality between TL students and the school were enhanced. Thus, both participants and the school realized educational value. The implication for curriculum and pedagogy of discipline-based courses is that if students are to be attracted to school initiatives and retained, the curriculum and its delivery need to increase opportunities for students' changed relationships with the school community to take place, and for student participation in a relevant community-of-practice that is responsive to students' future aspirations. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

In modern societies media have a central role as it is through the media that citizens in particular have access to information about their society. Information about society is crucial for citizens to be able to make thoughtful decisions in a democratic spirit. Political campaigns have started using personally targeted online advertising to reach new voters. This phenomenon is called “microtargeting” and the purpose is to identify individual voters that the parties are most likely to convince. Cambridge Analyticas operations, which are largely based on microtargeting, challenge democratic principles. This study purpose is divided in two parts. First is to map out and explain Cambridge Analyticas operations by analyzing from a democratic perspective. Second is to compile and systematize the proposed measures on democracy problems that are brought up in the debate about Cambridge Analytica. Idea analysis is the method of this paper, and it is of both descriptive and explanatory nature. It appears that Cambridge Analytica operations mainly undermines citizens' right to enlightened understanding and a free and factual debate. This undermines democratic principles in several ways. Furthermore, the studies show that the debate orbits around antitrust laws, how the legislation should formulate on how internet companies should handle personal information and what is the Internet companies own obligation in question. A smaller part of the debate also highlights the citizens' own capacity to be vigilant and critical of the Internet.

No description available.

Denna uppsats syftar till att utforska äldres relation till strömningstjänster och designens inverkan på deras användande. Mot en bakgrund av nya lagar gällande offentlig tillgänglighetsanpassning intresserar sig uppsatsen för hur tillgänglighetsanpassningen ser ut i strömningstjänster. Ur ett tillgänglighetsperspektiv undersöks äldres attityder till och problem med strömningstjänster för att för att kunna ge förslag på hur tillgänglighetsarbetet kan förändras eller förbättras. Genom intervjuer framkommer det att en stor del av den problematiken som de äldre upplever inte beror strikt på den grafiska designen, utan problematiken är bredare och berör saker som språkanvändning i tjänsterna, krångliga supportsamtal och en rädsla att göra fel. Som förslag på att åtgärda problemen efterlyses en breddad designroll som utgår från en helhet baserad på sambanden mellan visuella och icke-visuella komponenter för att på så vis verka för att göra digitala tjänster mer tillgängliga för äldre människor i samhället.

Massacre tracks three intersecting narratives during and after a fictionalized recounting of the infamous Virginia Tech massacre. In each characters’ search of individual re-creation and autonomy, they encounter the failings of their person, their families, their institutions, and their country. Formed by the great and impossible trauma that bound them, massacre survivors Connor and Tara navigate the tricky and deceitful terrain of a marriage that should never have been.