Size matters? - En kvalitativ studie kring hur big data förstås inom fältet PR

This study aims to give insight on how the phenomenon big data is understood and applied amongst consultants within the field of public relations. The analysis was conducted through hermeneutics, where consultants from communication agencies participated in qualitative interviews. By looking at digital processes from a sociological approach, incorporating Neo-institutionalism, Scandinavian institutionalism and Actor-network theory, the empirical data has been contextual-ized with regards to social forces of implementing technology in organizations. In the analysis, an understanding of public relations consultants’ need to legitimize their activities through innovation and measurability of their work is found. The results of this study indicates three main incentives for implementing big data within public relations; efficiency in data collection, big data as an answer to an increased customer demand of measurable results and big data as a tool to associ-ate the activities with innovation. The study also gives insights in big data influ-encing measurability of public relations activities by offering quantifiable results. The result also gives an in-depth understanding of how big data consolidates and alters the practice of public relations, where big data can be seen as a driver of service development and new qualification demands, among them new profes-sions.Denna studie ämnar skapa förståelse för hur big data förstås och används av kon-sulter inom fältet public relations. Studien använder en hermeneutisk analys där konsulter på kommunikationsbyråer har deltagit i kvalitativa intervjuer. Genom att se till digitala processer utifrån i grunden sociologiska förhållningssätt såsom neo-institutionalism, skandinavisk institutionalism och actor-network theory, har det empiriska materialet kontextualiserats med hänsyn till sociala krafter kring im-plementering av teknologi i organisationer. I analysen återfinns ett behov av kon-sulter inom public relations att legitimera sin verksamhet genom innovationer och nya former av mätbarhet av deras arbete. Resultatet visar på tre huvudsakliga inci-tament för implementering av big data inom public relations; effektivisering av datainsamling, big data som svar på en ökad efterfrågan av mätbara resultat och big data som ett medel att förknippa verksamheten med innovation. Resultatet vi-sar också hur big data påverkar mätbarheten av public relations-insatser genom en ökad kvantifierbarhet. Studien ger slutligen fördjupade insikter i hur big data både befäster och förändrar praktiken inom public relations, där big data pådriver tjäns-teutveckling, kompetensutveckling och nya yrkesroller

Militarization and social development in the Third World

In this study we integrated the modernization and dependency theories of development to suggest the ways whereby militarization can affect development. We examined the effects of three components of militarization highlighted in these theories on the social development of ninety-two developing countries. Overall, our findings support the dependency theory's emphasis on the detrimental impact of international trade on disadvantaged nations. There is a significant negative correlation between arms import and social development. Arms export and indigenous spending are correlated with social development in the expected directions but their beta coefficients are not significant. The diverse ways these three aspects of militarization have been shown to affect social development help to explain some of the conflicting findings in the literature and point to the need to study these variables in their disaggregated form.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69141/2/10.1177_144078339503100105.pd

AN INTEGRATED ARCHITECTURE FOR FUNCTIONAL PRODUCTS

There is an increasing trend in industry of selling services in addition to physical products. Infunctional sales, companies sell the service of delivering the function of the product asopposed to selling the product itself. While there is a long tradition of structured developmentand management of purely physical goods, there is a lack of such methods for services, andfor the mixture of service and goods - so called functional products.This paper describes an effort of defining a formal model of services, contributing to theefforts of structuring, visualizing and managing functional products in analogue with purelyphysical products.A modular architecture for services is presented, based on the paradigm of defining servicesas discrete, decomposable activities. Sub activities, so called service modules, are described interms of the activity’s properties and interfaces to other service modules. Since the method isbased on principles for uncoupled design, it provides support for creating transparent andflexible architectures with a minimum of built in dependencies between functions and theirphysical implementation.The service module aggregation and representation principles are described in relation to anindustrial distribution case

AN INTEGRATED ARCHITECTURE FOR FUNCTIONAL PRODUCTS

There is an increasing trend in industry of selling services in addition to physical products. Infunctional sales, companies sell the service of delivering the function of the product asopposed to selling the product itself. While there is a long tradition of structured developmentand management of purely physical goods, there is a lack of such methods for services, andfor the mixture of service and goods - so called functional products.This paper describes an effort of defining a formal model of services, contributing to theefforts of structuring, visualizing and managing functional products in analogue with purelyphysical products.A modular architecture for services is presented, based on the paradigm of defining servicesas discrete, decomposable activities. Sub activities, so called service modules, are described interms of the activity’s properties and interfaces to other service modules. Since the method isbased on principles for uncoupled design, it provides support for creating transparent andflexible architectures with a minimum of built in dependencies between functions and theirphysical implementation.The service module aggregation and representation principles are described in relation to anindustrial distribution case

AN INTEGRATED ARCHITECTURE FOR FUNCTIONAL PRODUCTS

There is an increasing trend in industry of selling services in addition to physical products. Infunctional sales, companies sell the service of delivering the function of the product asopposed to selling the product itself. While there is a long tradition of structured developmentand management of purely physical goods, there is a lack of such methods for services, andfor the mixture of service and goods - so called functional products.This paper describes an effort of defining a formal model of services, contributing to theefforts of structuring, visualizing and managing functional products in analogue with purelyphysical products.A modular architecture for services is presented, based on the paradigm of defining servicesas discrete, decomposable activities. Sub activities, so called service modules, are described interms of the activity’s properties and interfaces to other service modules. Since the method isbased on principles for uncoupled design, it provides support for creating transparent andflexible architectures with a minimum of built in dependencies between functions and theirphysical implementation.The service module aggregation and representation principles are described in relation to anindustrial distribution case

AN INTEGRATED ARCHITECTURE FOR FUNCTIONAL PRODUCTS

There is an increasing trend in industry of selling services in addition to physical products. Infunctional sales, companies sell the service of delivering the function of the product asopposed to selling the product itself. While there is a long tradition of structured developmentand management of purely physical goods, there is a lack of such methods for services, andfor the mixture of service and goods - so called functional products.This paper describes an effort of defining a formal model of services, contributing to theefforts of structuring, visualizing and managing functional products in analogue with purelyphysical products.A modular architecture for services is presented, based on the paradigm of defining servicesas discrete, decomposable activities. Sub activities, so called service modules, are described interms of the activity’s properties and interfaces to other service modules. Since the method isbased on principles for uncoupled design, it provides support for creating transparent andflexible architectures with a minimum of built in dependencies between functions and theirphysical implementation.The service module aggregation and representation principles are described in relation to anindustrial distribution case

Popkollo-effekten : Unga musicerande tjejers erfarenheter innan, under och efter sommarmusikkollo

Den stora manliga dominansen inom musikbranschen, och dess olika villkor för kvinnor och män, har lett till uppkomsten av organisationer som vill utjämna könsbalansen. Popkollo försöker uppnå detta genom att ordna musikläger, speciellt riktade till tjejer. Syftet med min undersökning är att fånga unga musicerande tjejers berättelser om sina upplevelser innan, under, och efter ett Popkollo. Dessa upplevelser skildrar jag utifrån en kvalitativ intervjustudie med 18 kollodeltagare från sommaren 2013. Mina observationer, och tidigare erfarenheter som ledare, kompletterar den bild som deltagarna förmedlar. Intervjustudien innehåller även uppföljningsintervjuer med 14 av de tidigare intervjuade, och ett samtal med Malin Helldorff, medlemsansvarig för Riksorganisationen Popkollo. Undersökningen visar att deltagarna anländer till kollot med ett stort musikintresse och en längtan att hitta likasinnade. Under kollot bildar de band, får skriva låtar och upplever en i huvudsak positiv lärandemiljö, i vilken uppmuntran från andra deltagare, ledare och inspirationsgäster tillmäts stort värde. Många berättar även om ökat självförtroende under Popkollo, och att de där har en större frihet i att se ut som de vill, samt att agera ut beteenden utanför normen om vad en tjej vanligtvis får göra. Det sociala samspelet betonas som väldigt viktigt, och de konflikter som uppstår inom gruppen väcker tankar hos flera av deltagarna. Vad krävs egentligen för att det ska fungera inom ett band? En effekt av Popkollo märks genom att majoriteten har fortsatt med eller ökat sitt musicerande efter Popkollo. Flertalet av deltagarna håller kontakten med nya vänner, som i vissa fall även har blivit spelkamrater, och några vågar även ta med sig den frimodighet som de utvecklade under kollot in i vardagen. Min diskussion kretsar kring det mod som krävs att våga söka Popkollo, och den sociala tryggheten som en förutsättning för att prova på något nytt, göra nya erfarenheter och att upprätthålla spelet i ett band. Jag ifrågasätter även hur stor vikt en kvalitativ studie på denna nivå kan tillmätas. För att spåra större effekter av Popkollo skulle en mer långtgående studie vara nödvändig