Studying the ability to use sport watches when running - insights from a small pilot study

Digitalization is a phenomenon that seems to affect all aspects of contemporary society. The sports domain is by no means excluded from this development. In sports, the sport watch might be one of the most iconic symbols in how digitalization has enhanced, changed and developed how physical activities are experienced and measured. Despite the massive adoption of sport watches among runners and other athletes, few studies have explored how sports watches are used in the specific activity they are designed for. The study presented in this research in progress paper is small and should be viewed as a small attempt to outline an approach to study digital technology use in sports activities

Att åstadkomma inriktning och samordning - 7 analyser utifrån hanteringen av skogsbranden i Västmanland 2014

I antologin får du ta del av sju olika analyser av det utmanande arbetet med att åstadkomma inriktning och samordning av samhällets resurser i samband med skogsbranden. Publikationen är ett utvecklingsbidrag och är tänkt att ge vägledning till förbättrad förmåga att hantera framtidens samhällsstörningar. Bakom texterna står sju olika författare som utgått från ambitionen att publicera ett transparant resonemang där slutsatserna är välgrundade och tillämpliga, såväl ur ett praktiskt som ur ett teoretiskt perspektiv. Arbetet utgår från vetenskaplig metodik och grundas bland annat i ett stort antal intervjuer. Flera av författarna var dessutom närvarande under den akuta hanteringen och kunde på detta sätt samla in värdefull data. Målgruppen för materialet är alla de som på olika sätt är intresserade av utvecklingsfrågor inom området ledning och samverkan

EN KLINGANDE PRODUKT : Musikskapande i högstadiets musikundervisning

Tidigare forskning har visat att musiklärare i större utsträckning än tidigare förhåller sig till styrdokumenten, men att det finns en bred spännvidd vad gäller deras definitioner av musikskapande. Syftet med den här undersökningen var att bidra med kunskap om musiklärares uppfattningar om musikskapande i högstadiet. Specifikt hur musiklärares definitioner av musikskapande förhåller sig till Skolverkets definition, hur musiklärare har uttryckt att ramfaktorerna påverkar undervisningen och bedömningen av musikskapande samt efter vilka kriterier musiklärare anger att de bedömer musikskapande. En enkätundersökning bestående av slutna och öppna frågor skickades ut till musiklärare och rektorer på utvalda skolor i Sverige. Enkäten besvarades av 28 respondenter. Resultatet antyder en diskrepans mellan hur musiklärare och Skolverket definierar musikskapande. Tillika indikerar resultatet att möjligheten till likvärdig undervisning och bedömning inom musikskapande påverkas av ramfaktorernas variation mellan olika skolor. En av de slutsatser som dras är att ytterligare forskning behövs inom området

Designing Information Technology for Emergency Response

This thesis contributes to our understanding of information technologyuse in emergency response work and how information technology couldbe designed to provide support in emergency response work. The work domainof operative emergency response has been studied by extensive ethnographicfieldwork at several different fire and rescue services in Sweden.Prototypes have been design and used by fire crews in field experiments inorder to probe for potential future use of information technology and tostudy its consequences.By using sensemaking as an analytical lens, new aspects in emergency responsework have been identified that influence the design of informationtechnology support. The results from the extensive fieldwork and the fieldexperiments presented in this thesis suggest a new conceptualization of responsework as patterns of practice where the collective efforts of makingsense is fundamental for successful response work. The conceptualizationmakes visible the importance of carefully embedding the use of informationtechnology in the situated time-critical response work.Based on the patterns of practice, two general design dimensions havebeen formed, extending our current knowledge of how informationtechnology should be designed for emergency response work. Currentinformation technology has primarily been designed for a formal role orspecific task. The results presented in this thesis suggest that the design ofinformation technology should focus on the social interactions among theresponse actors involved in time-critical response work. In the collectiveefforts of making sense in emergency response, actors use a range of informationtechnology artifacts that produce a range of digital traces that saysomething about the ongoing work. Future information technology shouldbe designed to make use of such traces of actions in order to improve thevisibility of the actors and their actions in ongoing the response work.By designing for social interactions and designing for traces of actions,new improved features of information technology could be materializedthat will make emergency responders better equipped for sensemakingactivities in emergency response work

Critical aspects of early-phase response work and its consequences for digital event-log systems

This paper reports from a study focusing on documentation practice in emergency and crisis response work. Specific focus is put on how information is produced and used in the time-critical setting of a situation room part of a command center at a local fire and rescue services. The study uncovers critical aspects of early-phase response work and its potential consequences for digital event-log systems for supporting documentation and reporting. The findings show that fundamental and important information are produced outside of the formal event-log based documentation systems and not as an embedded and integrated activity of using these systems. The analysis shows existing information technology in use lack important functionality in order to contribute to an event-log based system design as suggested in the DERMIS-framewor

Insights from an ethnographic study of a foreign response team during the EBOLA Outbreak in Liberia

Organizing response operations during large-scale and complex disasters requires an ability to meet and adapt to sudden changes of plans. This paper presents descriptive accounts from an ethnographic field study of the work of a foreign Ebola response team during the Ebola outbreak on location in Liberia. The findings illustrate how response work is subject to frequent and rapid changes that result in unforeseen consequences that could cause frictions and dilemmas. The findings imply tentative implications for design, suggesting a need for improved decision support for re-planning and re-designing of ongoing response operations