As the digitalization constantly grows, opportunities have emerged for companies to market themselves. One marketing strategy that has become a big part of many companies' strategies is influencer marketing. The strategy has shown very effective results, but it remains to be investigated whether the effectiveness is affected in connection with mass media scandals.

This study has examined the effectiveness of influencer marketing on NA-KD's Instagram in connection with mass media scandal. This through a digital data collection that examined users' interactions in the form of likes. A survey that examined users' attitudes towards NA-KD and its choice of influencers.

The results made it clear that users are divided on how the scandals have affected the image of NA-KD and the influencers. The digital data collection for scandal 1 resulted in a reduced average value of likes for the category influencer and an increased average value for the category product placement. For scandal 2, the average value of likes for the two post categories increased. Despite the increase in likes for the category product placement, the category influencer has continued to have the most likes.

The results from the survey indicate that users have lost confidence and gained a worse perception of both NA-KD and the influencers. In order for the respondents to regain confidence in NA-KD, they demand a clear action plan and public apology for each scandal. The authors of the study believe that the survey indicates that the respondents would like to see that the influencers actively distanced themselves from NA-KD in connection with the scandal.

On May 26th, 2020, the world was shocked after learning that George Floyd had died at the hands of the police while being wrongfully arrested. Protests took place worldwide, demanding justice for Floyd as well as the end of the systematic racism present institutionally in police forces. In Europe, people started raising their voices, denouncing that this phenomenon was no stranger to the Old Continent. Indeed, the last few years have witnessed the media coverage of multiple cases of police violence based on ethnic grounds. The media play a key role as the source of information for the population, they decide what is going to be on the headline, catching people’s eye. France has especially attracted attention with its racial profiling practices that go against the 2001 European Code of Police Ethics acting as recommended guidelines for the Member States. Therefore, this study aims to analyse media discourses depicting three specific cases of police violence: the Adama Traoré Case, the Theo Luhaka Case, and the Michel Zecler Case. Following the model of Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis, the point of this thesis is to find whether the power relations regulating the world can be identified within these discourses. By analysing the articles and finding similarities in how they portray the events then an idea of the institutional and societal power relations in France.

The aim of this study is to examine and to describe how student teachers engaged in courses in web-based learning environments over a period of 40 weeks develop a collective competence to collaborate. The collective competence of collaboration is defined as the level of learning ability a group of students express when using dialogues as a tool for their own and other’s learning in a web-based learning environment. The students’ contributions to the course assignments, the group responses and the collaborative discussions and dialogues were analysed and interpreted based on Bakhtin’s and Rommetveit’s theories on dialogic interactions and meaning potentials. The results describe three different levels at which students use dialogues as a tool for learning when they collaborate within the group.

The study assesses the influence certain individual factors have on reseller employees online purchasing behavior, after various UI alterations were implemented on a leading tech manufacturer’s web application.

A total of 207 reseller employees, from 46 different countries, participated in an 8 week long within-subjects designed A/B test. By examining four different individual factors (age, gender, education/income and culture) and the participants usage analytics data, it was possible draw some pertinent conclusions as to how resellers are affected by UI alterations.

The results confirm what have been largely theoretical ideas of linkages between reseller employees individual factors and online purchasing behavior. Correlations on gender and culture exist, and these can be explained and supported by the quantitative data collected.

Syftet med utredningen är att skapa förutsättningar för att bättre kunna möta forskningens behov och bidra till att effektivisera forskarnas arbete genom stöd till informationsförsörjning och IT. Den organisationsövergripande dialogen, kartläggningen, de förslag och pilotprojekt som arbetats med inom utredningen, och som föreligger här är tänkt att kunna fungera som såväl beslutsunderlag som idébank till BITs framtida service för högskolans forskare.

This article is based on a case study of the online media practices of the militant neo-Nazi organization the Nordic Resistance Movement, currently the biggest and most active extreme-right actor in Scandinavia. I trace a recent turn to humor, irony, and ambiguity in their online communication and the increasing adaptation of stylistic strategies and visual aesthetics of the Alt-Right inspired by online communities such as 4chan, 8chan, Reddit, and Imgur. Drawing on a visual content analysis of memes (N = 634) created and circulated by the organization, the analysis explores the place of humor, irony, and ambiguity across these cultural expressions of neo-Nazism and how ideas, symbols, and layers of meaning travel back and forth between neo-Nazi and Alt-right groups within Sweden today. 

The purpose of this study is to analyze female gender representations in three of Swedish Armed Forces’ recruiting campaigns between 2018-2021. Using a qualitative approach, the empirical material was analyzed using semiotics as a method. The aim was to contribute to a deeper understanding of female gender stereotypical representations, whether and if so, in what ways they are made visible and if conflicting notions linked to gender emerge in the recruitment films.

Using the theory of denotation and connotation we can conclude that the Swedish Armed Forces’ recruiting campaigns between 2018-2021 use traditional gender stereotypical representations to convey an advertising message. The Swedish Armed Forces’ challenge traditional gender stereotypes of young women by representing them as active and independent in their recruiting films. They reflect a new more modern version of young women that is closer to reality today. However, while using traditional gender stereotypes as rhetorical figures to build their advertising messages, they continue to reproduce traditional gender stereotypes by making them visible. 

Keywords: gender, stereotype, semiotics, advertising, representation, masculine, femininity

This study examines how a user centered approach can develop the learning management system Canvas, based on how it is perceived by students with ADHD/ADD. By conducting interviews and observations data has been collected about the students interaction with Canvas and what they experience as problems with the platform. Based on the students experiences and guidelines that can be found in the theory, an alternative interface has since been created. This interface has since been tested by the students to gather additional information about what can be improved, and to test whether the changes that have been made are well met. In order to develop a product that work for all users, it is important to take those with disabilities into account at an early stage in the design process, and by doing so a digitally accessible product can be developed. Data from this study provides valuable insights into what students with ADHD/ADD experience as problematic with learning management systems. 

Arbetsgruppen för ”Forskningskommunikation i det fysiska biblioteket” på Bibliotek och IT, Malmö högskola undersöker i detta projekt hur den egna högskolans forskning kommuniceras i de fysiska biblioteken och i vilken mån biblioteken är öppna mötesplatser. I projektrapporten redogörs för riktlinjer och rekommendationer omkring samverkan och forskningskommunikation samt för hur biblioteken deltar och skulle kunna delta i detta sammanhang. Malmö högskolas fysiska bibliotek inventeras med fokus på exponering och kommunikation av forskning och bibliotekariens roll granskas. Möjligheten att utöka kontaktytan gentemot näringslivet genom att erbjuda service till småföretag diskuteras och undersöks. Inventeringen visar att det redan idag sker en hel del forskningskommunikation i biblioteken men att det finns utvecklingsmöjligheter genom en mer medveten och strukturerad satsning. I rapporten föreslås en strategisk planering, både vad det gäller lokaler och information till bibliotekarier, för att förbättra kommunikationen. Arbetsgruppens slutsats är att biblioteken fungerar som öppna mötesplatser och är lämpliga arenor för samverkan. Ett utökat samarbete med Malmö högskolas informationsavdelning, avdelningen Innovation och utveckling samt forskningsprofilerna rekommenderas. Dessutom föreslås att biblioteken erbjuder företagsservice i mindre skala med integrerad forskningskommunikation.

Older adults are typically seen as passive consumers of content rather than active contributors, andlittle is known about their digital content creation practices. This ethnographic study explores thepresence of people over 60 as content creators on TikTok, an emerging social media app favored byteenagers in the US. Drawing on the Uses and Gratifications approach and the concept of affordance,this research is a first step in understanding the motivations older adults have for producing videoson TikTok and how the specific affordances of the app support creators in fostering new socialconnections. The study identifies several distinct motivations related to initial and sustainedcontribution and shows how older adults use TikTok not only for fun and recreation, but also for civicengagement and community building. Additionally, parallels emerge between older adults’motivation to blog and to produce TikTok videos, suggesting that the gratifications they derive fromshort-form, audiovisual content are similar to those received from long-form, written content. It isfurther argued that TikTok’s algorithm and the Duet feature are among the features that help olderadults to forge new connections, while Live Streams and Questions-and-Answers play a big role indeepening the dialogue and maintaining these relationships.

In the last decade, digitization has accelerated and developed the media landscape, resulting in social media becoming one of the main tools for marketing. The most used social platform in 2020 was Facebook, followed by Instagram and YouTube, both with a usage rate of around 60%, which is a number that is constantly increasing. 

This study aims to investigate whether influencer marketing on social media is an effective method for reaching the target audience in the Swedish fashion market. The study aims to demonstrate decisive factors for whether the Influencer-marketing strategy is worth investing in or not. The goal is also to examine how companies reason about opportunities and risks when working with influencer marketing. The study is based on a method combination consisting of a quantitative survey with cluster sampling and four semi-structured, qualitative interviews with companies. The companies that participated in the study were two that apply influencer marketing and two that eliminate the method. All companies interviewed operate in the same industry but have varying marketing strategies. The quantitative survey resulted in 131 responses from individuals who are exposed to influencer marketing on social media. 

The result of the study showed that Instagram and Facebook are the primary platforms for organizations to market on. The result also showed that Instagram and TikTok were the primary platforms that respondents spend their time on. Furthermore, the result also showed that there are divided opinions about applying influencer marketing, which among other things, depend on the company, products, and target audience.

How augmented reality and virtual reality are taking their places in contemporary media culture alongside film and television.

This book positions augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) firmly in contemporary media culture. The authors view AR and VR not as the latest hyped technologies but as media—the latest in a series of what they term “reality media,” taking their place alongside film and television. Reality media inserts a layer of media between us and our perception of the world; AR and VR do not replace reality but refashion a reality for us. Each reality medium mediates and remediates; each offers a new representation that we implicitly compare to our experience of the world in itself but also through other media.

The authors show that as forms of reality media emerge, they not only chart a future path for media culture, but also redefine media past. With AR and VR in mind, then, we can recognize their precursors in eighteenth-century panoramas and the Broadway lights of the 1930s. A digital version of Reality Media, available through the book's website, invites readers to visit a series of virtual rooms featuring interactivity, 3-D models, videos, images, and texts that explore the themes of the book.

This degree project aims to examine how the representation of migrants in Italian media differs according to their nationality. The new migration from Ukraine raised the problem of their different representations; a difference that existed before but now the media classification of migrants in first- and second-class is more evident and frequent. I engaged in a comparative content analysis of Italy’s state online journal that examines both the representation of migrants from Sub-Saharan and Northern Africa and Southern Asia arriving through the Mediterranean routes and that of Ukrainian migrants. Through the notions of representation of otherness (the other as a foreigner to strengthen our identity) and of voice as a process (claiming the importance for the disadvantaged to express their needs), the representation of the two groups will be analysed. Critically, this analysis will find that according to the media perception, migrants arriving through the Mediterranean routes are viewed as outcasts and their voice is also underrepresented compared to migrants from Ukraine.

This chapter explores transmediation between qualified media types. It discusses the adaptation of a literary canonical work, Joe Wright’s 2005 novel-to-film adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice a novel that repeatedly has been adapted into new contexts and audiences. The qualified medium of opera implies certain conventions but also certain limitations of space, time and voice. The natural venue for experiencing an opera is the stage. An experienced opera or musical librettist will consider where to put such music highlights when writing the text. Both drama text and opera score are a set of directions fixed in a script but resulting in different kinds of performances. It has been our aim to demonstrate in specific analysis the very abstract idea that all media transformation is interplay or a negotiation between transmediality and medium specificity.

Over the past decade, there has been a considerable rise in popularity of family vlog

channels on YouTube. However, these videos have been receiving growing criticism for

hosting the children as the main ‘stars’. With YouTube being the main source of income

for some of these family units, concerns rise regarding the possibility of family vlogging

accommodating a new type of child labour. For this reason, it is crucial to understand

how the children’s rights might be threatened. At the same time, research within this field

is still limited as family vlogging concerns a fairly recent phenomenon. Accordingly, the

current thesis aims to fill these research gaps by contextualizing the practices of family

vlogging through a rights-based approach. To do so, a case study was conducted on a

YouTube account named ‘The Bucket List Family’. Using content analysis, 5 of their

videos were analysed qualitatively and 100 of their video titles were analysed

quantitatively. Findings confirm that the children played a central role in contributing to

the popularity of the videos. Moreover, the children’s images were consistently and

successfully used to further capitalize the family’s brand. Therefore, one can conclude

that these children are being exposed to digital child labour, which can mean a possible

breach of their rights. The considerable exposure of the children in the videos not only

robs them from their privacy, but it also does so without their explicit consent, leaving

them extremely vulnerable. As such, the conclusions of this thesis implicate that more

research in this field is needed, so that future policymaking can be guided towards a better

protection of the children. Additionally, by exposing the digital child labour practices

behind family vlogging, this study hopes to bring more societal awareness to the topic.

Working at the intersection of migration studies and radio studies, we interrogate podcasting’s potential as a practice-based activist research method. This article documents podcasting’s role in an ethnographic project conducted together with Konstkupan (The Art Hive), a migrant-focused community arts space in Malmö, Sweden. We argue that the value of podcasting as a practice-based research method exists in its potential to function as a boundary object. Boundary objects are technologies and processes bridging social worlds and providing sites of communication and translation between groups. Challenging narratives that detect a decline in podcasting’s radical potential, we argue that as a boundary object, podcasting’s political significance continues in how it convenes small, diverse, but attentive ‘listening publics’. A boundary object does not demand consensus on the meanings or representations it produces, affording space for both the synchrony and dissonance of narratives produced by migrants.

This thesis aims to find out how fans perceive the authenticity of the Formula 1 documentary series ‘Drive to Survive’. Research has shown that documentaries are challenged from the audience with regard to draw an authentic representation of events while they seek to nevertheless be entertaining to people. Thus, the thesis tries to examine which themes fans focus on when they rate the authenticity of documentary series and how they express authenticity by investigating comments from a fan forum of Autosport.com. 

With regard to the theoretical framework, it seems obvious to illuminate the concept of authenticity. Moreover, it is important to put it in context with documentary theories, fandom concepts and reception theories, since the thesis contains data of fans about the documentary series ‘Drive to Survive’ and focusses on its reception of authenticity, meaning how the fans perceive authenticity. To examine relevant data, Mayring’s (2000) approach of a qualitative content analysis is used. 

The main results of the thesis are the determination of four themes of authenticity of a documentary series, namely cinematographic manipulations, behind the scenes footage, participants and imposed judgements. But even if the same themes are generally addressed from fans, the focus of the fans on the themes of authenticity varies. Another result is that fans do not express authenticity with the same words, but the comments contain of patterns content wise related to the themes. 

As a conclusion with regard to the research focus of fans’ perception of authenticity the thesis shows that it is related to the individual mind. While the reception theory explains that the individual background influences interpretation of content, the concept of fandom illustrates that fans are able to give content an individual meaning which both has effects on their perception of authenticity. Therefore, it remains a challenge for documentary productions to find the balance between entertainment and authenticity.

Indigenous people in Mexico are generally put at the bottom of the social scale and suffer from discrimination. This also becomes apparent in media, where indigenous people are traditionally being left out, misrepresented and underrepresented This racist discourse has its origins in the politics of mestizaje and the subsequent social whitening. Recently, we notice an upsurge of fiction film that tries to decolonize mediatic representations of indigenous people and goes beyond stereotypical depictions. By means of a critical discourse analysis, two recently produced Mexican fiction films were analyzed, in order to identify counter-discourses. In both films it has been recognized that indigenous people are seen as active subjects, with the possibility of an upward social mobility. Further, rather than being represented as ‘the Other’, the cinematography represents them as ‘us’. Thus, creating a sense of identification with the main protagonists. These narratives and counter-discourses can help to adjust the position of indigenous people in Mexican society. It can disrupt racial discrimination and hierarchical relationships of power and divert this racist discourse.

This study explores whether the narrative has a motivating effect in gamified learning applications. The study is conducted with a deductive approach, with some elements of an inductive analysis method, with the purpose of exploring the narrative’s impact on students’ level of motivation in serious games. The study’s quantitative data was collected through a quasi-experiment using two gamified prototypes, with a narrative as the distinguishing factor. The qualitative data is based on a focus group interview and a semi-structured interview. The participants in this study were first-year web development students studying at university who are new to programming.

The study does not show a clear positive result, but points by small margins towards an increased motivation among the participants who used the prototype with a narrative, compared to those who used the prototype without one. The narrative was proved to function as a reward for finishing challenges, while at the same time guiding the participant through the game. The prototype with the narrative has proved to not only motivate the participants to spend more time playing the game, but also helped their learning process by contextualizing the exercises. Other game elements that interplay with the narrative, such as milestones, progression, varying degrees of difficulty, and different input methods, have also shown a positive effect on the participants’ motivation. An attempt to implement avatars showed no effect, which was probably due to their insignificant role in the game.

The concept of connective memory highlights how memories are shaped by connections between people, objects, media, and institutions. It derives from the growing discussions on how technological and digital developments affect contemporary memory culture and, in particular, from Andrew Hoskins’ conceptualization of a “connective turn” and a “new memory ecology.” Connective memory is both a methodological and an analytical tool as it inspires memory studies to explore memory by tracing and analyzing how different interactional trajectories intersect with and compete against each other. The concept is thusly designed to challenge ideas of “individual memories” and the binaries of individual and collective and active and passive. Even though the concept of connective memory is closely tied to technological and digital developments, it is important to note that it inspires memory research to investigate both online and offline connections. Connective memory has also been an influential concept in José van Dijck’s more wide-ranging conceptualization of a “culture of connectivity.” Her conceptualization not only engages with remembering but also deals with the connected society as a whole, and it provides a critical perspective on technology and social media platforms.

In recent years design with augmented reality applications for cultural heritage purposes have increased and their usefulness for informal learning and tourist experiences is improving (Haugstvedt and Krogstie, 2012; Liestøl 2014). However, there are still significant challenges with using Augmented Reality technology for cultural heritage applications in open urban environments using GPS location. Even if the potential for rich experiences is great, the continued lack of precision of available GPS location and direction in smart phones create particular challenges for the interaction and experience design. This paper presents the experiences from a project that underwent several iterations in 2017 and 2018, using mobile Augmented Reality and 360 panoramic photography in a mobile application that foregrounded historical narratives in urban heritage environments. Specifically, the narratives were about the colonial past in the Danish capital Copenhagen, a past whose traces are still present in the architecture and history of noted places such as the famous Tivoli in the city as well as in archives and museums. This contested and fragmented colonial past live in digital archives that require design and exhibition practices in order to find their way to a larger audience. 

Our project Finding Alberta was one such intervention. The extended reality (XR) web-based application, using a now depreciated platform called Argon (Speiginer et al 2015) but which was created using web programming and therefore is transferable, was part of a larger set of experiences, workshops and installations that brought to life black persons who were once taken to Denmark from the Virgin Islands, then under Danish rule. The point of the urban AR experience was to let the visitor follow in the footsteps of two children - Victor and Alberta - in order to better comprehend their lives and ultimately their fate in Denmark, from the human exhibition to early death of Alberta in 1917. However, the difficulty of properly leading visitors to GPS points and understand fully in what directions they are facing once they reach those points proved a design challenge that we were only partially able to successfully work around. This paper presents some of the design choices we made in order to still create a compelling experience while working around the limits of the affordances of mobile AR.

The concept of deep reading is defined as the application of higher-order thinking skills to the process of reading. It includes analogical skills, critical analysis, reflection, and insight. Deep reading is also often associated with particular media, primarily printed books, preferably certain kinds of literature. This chapter discusses some of the prevalent ideas surrounding notions of focused, critical and valued reading modes and how these are connected to media technologies, implicitly or explicitly. Some scholars, such as Nicholas Carr, have suggested that digital media in general and the kinds of distracted, quick, or hypertextual reading that the Internet provides in particular are detrimental to our ability to focus and engage deeply. Within media studies, however, research has pointed to other equally important aspects of engagement that must be redefined so as not to be inextricably linked to a particular medium or genre.

Paper publicerat i samband med konferensen Mötesplats inför framtiden, Borås 15-16 okt 2008. Beskrivning av ombyggnadsprojekt av område kring informationsdiskar på Orkanenbiblioteket utifrån pedagogiska, estetiska och praktiska förtecken.

Instagram is a free mobile application for social networking that gives individuals as well as companies the ability to share videos and photos with each other. Today, Instagram also serves as a platform for companies to do marketing on, which in turn has influenced users' consumer and buying behavior. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether there are any differences in buying behavior between women and men after they have been influenced by advertisement on the platform Instagram and to contribute with knowledge that may interest companies in their digital marketing strategies. The study is conducted through a qualitative method that includes semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire. The questionnaire examined the respondents' consumption and what made them consume for a period of three weeks. The interviews then took place and gave the respondents room for deepening their personal experiences. The conclusion showed that the men and women in the study have been affected on different levels. The women in the study consume after being influenced by advertisement on Instagram, the men in the study do not. Women may have more confidence in influencers and are inspired by them, while the men in the study did not have that confidence.

In recent years, fake news has become central to debates about the state and future of journalism. This article examines imaginaries around fake news as a threat to democracy and the role of journalism in mitigating this threat. The study builds on 34 qualitative interviews with Danish journalists, media experts, government officials, and social media company representatives as well as 42 editorials from nine national Danish news outlets. Drawing on discourse theory and the concept of metajournalistic discourse, the analysis finds that media actors mobilise fake news to support opposing discursive positions on journalism and its relationship with falsehoods. While some voices articulate established journalism and journalistic values, such as objectivity, as the antithesis to fake news, others blame contemporary journalistic practices for potentially contributing to misinformation, calling for change and reform. These contrasts are particularly notable between the public stances of editors-in-chief, expressed through editorials, and reflections based on personal experience from news reporters and media experts. The paper concludes that fake news functions as a floating signifier in Danish metajournalistic discourse, mobilised not only to attack or defend journalism, but also to present conflicting visions for what journalism is and ought to be.

This article presents a qualitative study of media discourses around fake news, examining 288 news articles from two national elections in Denmark in 2019. It explores how news media construct fake news as a national security threat and how journalists articulate their own role in relation to this threat. The study draws on discourse theory and the concept of logics to critically map how particular meaning ascriptions and subject positions come to dominate over others, finding five logics undergirding media discourses: (1) a logic of anticipation; (2) a logic of exteriorisation; (3) a logic of technologisation; (4) a logic of securitisation; and (5) a logic of pre-legitimation. The article concludes that fake news is constructed as an ‘ultimate other’ in Danish media discourses, potentially contributing to blind spots in both public perception and political solutions. This resonates with previous studies from other geo-political contexts, calling for further cross-national research.

This article explores the mimicking of tabloid news as a form of covert racism, relying on the credibility of an established tabloid newspaper. The qualitative case study focuses on a digital platform for letters to the editor, operated without editorial curation pre-publication from 2010 to 2018 by one of Denmark's largest newspapers, Ekstra Bladet. A discourse analysis of the 50 most shared letters to the editor on Facebook shows that nativist, far-right actors used the platform to disseminate fear-mongering discourses and xenophobic conspiracy theories, disguised as professional news and referred to as articles. These processes took place at the borderline of true and false as well as racist and civil discourse. At this borderline, a lack of supervision and moderation coupled with the openness and visual design of the platform facilitated new forms of covert racism between journalism and user-generated content.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the conspiracy theories that exist among members of three Facebook groups based on six posts about Covid-19. The study also compares the posts about Covid-19 in the Facebook groups with information from the official sources World Health Organization and the Swedish Public Health Authority, how the information from the different sources is presented and the differences in the information between them. This contributes to a better understanding of the use and different types of misleading information. The study is based on a qualitative linguistic analysis since there are only a few studies on the text's content in misleading information.

The study draws attention to previous research on the connection between social media and conspiracy theories. The theoretical starting points are three different types of misinformation and concepts such as social control and selective exposure occur. The results show that there are four main conspiracy theories and six related conspiracy theories in discussions about Covid-19 in the analyzed groups on Facebook. In these discussions, disinformation is most common. The result is discussed in comparison with information from the World Health Organization and the Swedish Public Health Authority. The misleading information forms messages and interpretations through signs and language in the form of texts. Finally, the discussions highlight that the previous research, to some extent, is consistent with our study and provide suggestions for possible future research on conspiracy theories.

Personliga data, digital integritet, e-handel, datainsamling, PINTEG.

A number of theories suggest that participatory arts based approaches have the potential to contribute to development and social change. However, the nature of participation and participative approaches is multi-layered and complex, and critics have voiced concern for depicting participatory art initiatives in an oversimplified, uncriticised positivistic manner. The danger of such assumptions lay in the risk of manipulation, where non-genuine participation could contribute to the reinforcement of oppressive power structures and the dominating hegemony.

This study explores the intersection of art, participation and development, and further aims to discuss the process of identifying the emancipatory possibilities and limitations of participatory art for development and social change. Using a combination of a constructivist case study approach and critical discourse analysis, two participatory art organisations are analysed with the intention to define each organisations’ understanding of the nature of participatory art, and further how this is reflected in the implementation of their work.

The findings suggest that both organisations, to a certain degree, communicate an understanding of participation that reflect previous theories on genuine participation. Additionally, the findings suggest that this understanding is reflected in the practical work of the organisations.

Under coronapandemins år 2020 så fick en ny sociala medie-plattform många nya användare. Den applikationen heter TikTok. TikTok är en sociala medie-plattform där du som användare kan publicera, redigera likaså interagera med videos i alla dess storlekar och former. Det är bara kreativiteten som sätter stopp för ditt uttryck på plattformen. TikTok har en bred grupp med användare från olika åldersgrupper. En stor majoritet av de som använder TikTok är under 25 år – en grupp med människor som kan kategoriseras ihop som generation Z. Med nu över en miljard användare i flera olika åldrar, stora mängder av effekter, filter, trender, hashtags och låtar så är möjligheterna oändliga på TikTok. TikToks makt är något som är svårt att missa både för konkurrenter, andra företag, vänner runt omkring en och allmänheten. TikToks influenser kommer in på alltmer ställen i samhället. Konkurrenter tar inspiration av deras designspråk - likaså deras smarta funktioner. TikTok bestämmer desto mer över musikbranschen – både hur användare lyssnar på musik och hur musik produceras. TikTok tar upp alltmer tid hos varje TikTok-användare med deras hypnotiska feed och korta interaktiva videos. Uppsatsens syfte är att bidra med ny kunskap kring digitaliseringens påverkan på generation Zs musiklyssnande. I synnerlighet vilken vikt TikTok-videos har i detta. 

Studien är genomförd med hjälp av en kvantitativ metod som har applicerats. Detta har skett i form av ett enkätformulär. Det som kom fram i resultatet var ett resultat som bekräftade hypotesen. Digitaliseringen har påverkat generation Zs musiklyssnande. Det har digitaliseringen gjort på många sätt, bland annat genom TikTok-videos. Generation Z blir matade med massvis av digitalt material och de släpper in den digitala världen mer i sina liv både medvetet och omedvetet. TikTok och digitaliseringen påverkar generation Zs musiklyssnande – och TikTok är en del av flera anledningar som spelar en stor del i det. Det argumenteras också att denna forskningsstudie ska ses som en början på ett nytt forskningskapitel. Det har tidigare inte funnits mycket forskning kring ämnet och för att dra en motiverad slutsats behövs mer forskning utöver den befintliga att göras. 

The study aims to investigate how gamified applications, in other words applications that use game elements in non-game contexts, motivate users to live more sustainably for the environment. In our study, we have studied the Joulebug application by having two different sample groups discuss their experiences in focus group interviews after using the application for a week. We have also carried out a survey to get broader background information about people's environmental habits, and about their prior experience with applications that use gamification. Based on the results of the focus group interviews, the social elements such as competitions between users, the way in which applications present information, and the sense of ownership are important points for the respondents. In the survey, we could distinguish a certain critical attitude to whether the respondents live environmentally friendly today in relation to how they wish to live more environmentally friendly. This point of view is something game developers of green gamified applications can benefit from.

ABSTRACT

Although Lithuania is rated “Free” in “Freedom in the World 2023” and scored 89 points out of 100 in the index, trust in the media in Lithuania fell from sixth place in Europe to record lows during the pandemic (Vilmorus, 2023), when the wave of misinformation and fake news was so huge that the World Health Organization declared that the world was also facing an “infodemic” (Richtel, 2020).  

This research has the purpose of studying how journalists in Lithuania perceive how journalism was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and how they perceive their role in fighting fake news and regaining the trust of the public. It also aims to figure out what professional roles journalists in Lithuania identify themselves with the most and what influences from the Hierarchical Influences model of Shoemaker and Reese have the biggest effect on them. The study is based on the questionnaire completed by 51 journalists from the main newsrooms in Lithuania. 

In the paper, a model called the “model of influences to roles of journalists” was developed to demonstrate how the various influences can interact with each of the normative, cognitive, practiced, and narrated roles of journalists which were described by Hanitzsch. A central finding is that there is no big difference between journalistic role perception and their declared measures in fighting fake news and trying to regain the public‘s trust in the media. As it is shown in the Analysis chapter, all six dimensions of journalistic role performance, introduced by Claudia Mellado, are influenced by all five levels of influences from the Hierarchical Influences model.

This thesis aims to explore and describe the content diversity of Siri’s search results in the polarized context of US politics. To do so, a crowdsourced audit was conducted. A diverse sample of 134 US-based Siri users between the ages of 18-64 performed five identical queries about the politically controversial issues of gun laws, immigration, the death penalty, taxes and abortion. The data were viewed through a theoretical framework using the concepts of algorithmic bias and media-centric fragmentation. The results suggest that Siri’s search algorithm produces a long tail distribution of search results: Forty-two percent of the participants received the six most frequent answers, while 22% of the users received unique answers. These statistics indicate that Siri’s search algorithm causes moderate concentration and low fragmentation. The age and, surprisingly, the political orientation of users, do not seem to be driving either concentration or fragmentation. However, the users' gender and location appears to cause low concentration. The finding that Siri’s search algorithm produces a long tail of replies challenges previous research on the content diversity of search results, which found no evidence of fragmentation. However, due to the limited scope of this study, these findings cannot be generalized to a larger population. Further research is needed to support or refute them.

Computational thinking is a problem-solving skill and is considered to be an important part of today’s digital literacy. As it is an evolving research field and an emerging subject within the K-12 educational systems there’s a need to develop methods and environments for teaching and assessing computational thinking as well as establishing a cohesive view of its definition. A concern with computational thinking is it's neigh synonymity with programming and computer science in a classroom environment as they share several concepts and because programming is an effective way to teach it. 

Acknowledging this need for this separation as well as the need for developing educational environments this study explored the aspects of problem-solving and perception of computational problems in different environment. 

This was explored through a quantitative study on late-stage K-12 students and how perceived and performed in different types of problem posing environments. These environments included the challenge of using programming concepts through gamification as a way of exploring methods of teaching and assessing computational thinking in a metaphorical and real-life simulated situation. 

It wound up measuring the effects that different problems had on the confidence and expertise of computational thinking capabilities within this exploratory experiment. The findings suggest an indication that too much given context can confuse students and that alleviating mental workload is crucial when presenting computational thinking problems if the correct solution should be reached. 

På sociala medier publiceras idag ett flertal olika typer av innehåll, vilket skapar olika känslor hos mottagaren och påverkar mottagarens handlingar. Detta kan visa sig genom kundengagemang i form av likes eller kommentarer vilket idag har visat sig ha en effekt på exempelvis kundnöjdhet och förtroende samt ger förståelse för hur konsumenter interagerar med produkter och varumärken. Ett negativt engagemang kan bidra till en negativ uppfattning av företaget hos konsumenter.

Studien syftar till att bidra med ökad kunskap och förståelse för vilken typ av innehåll på Instagram som kan ge svenska klädföretag ett högt och positivt kundengagemang. Metoderna som har använts är netnografi och en kvantitativ innehållsanalys för att undersöka inlägg som publicerats under 4 veckor från 10 olika svenska klädföretag. Dessa samlades in och delades upp efter motiv, bild eller video samt informativ eller känslomässig text där likes och kommentarer studerades.

Slutsatsen visar att informativt innehåll ger högst kundengagemang i form av likes och kommentarer för svenska klädföretag på Instagram. För högt antal kommentarer rekommenderas videoinnehåll tillsammans med informativ text medans bild med person/er eller bild med annat motiv än det som företaget säljer, båda tillsammans med en informativ text, ger högt engagemang i form av likes.

This thesis analyses the negative and positive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the religious practices of the pentecostal Hillsong church in Malmö, Sweden. To do so it draws on theoretical concepts of affordance, mediatization of religion, and media effects, in order to explore what emerged through digital ethnographic research that included church event observations, interviews, and qualitative surveys.

It is argued that the digital form of communication among believers during the pandemic constrained religious practices in terms of service, congregational worship and connection with fellow worshippers. However, this kind of communication has also made it possible to maintain church fellowship in a creative and simultaneously safe and feasible way. The virtual space created through video streams, Zoom meetings and other online activity impacted the way people worship and engage with the preaching and the congregation as a whole. Thus the purpose of this study is to explore the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic requirement for online worship on religious practices in a Nordic location of the Hillsong church, examining ways in which online and offline religious practices were isolated from, integrated into and influenced by one another to accomplish individual and corporate needs and goals.

The present thesis analyses the online religious practices of Christians through the mobile app YouVersion Bible. Particularly, it explores the ways in which Christians interact with sacred texts online and the phenomenon of a digital Bible. It is argued that the digital form of communication among Christians and the practice of reading the Bible online can undermine once fixed interpretations of the Holy Scripture, turning religious apps into persuasive technologies. An argument proposing that it is impossible to have a sacred text in cyberspace is confronted by an ever-increasing practice of using a Bible app instead of a physical book in churches and at home and affective sharing that happens online during digital religious practices. Moreover, publishers themselves have begun to augment the Bible with multi-media resources, arguing that this will help the user achieve a deeper and more frequent engagement with the text. 

To explore and analyse the religious practices through the YouVersion Bible, a digital ethnographic methodology was applied that included YouVersion app observations, interviews, and qualitative surveys. Throughout the paper, it draws on theoretical concepts of technological affordance, emotions in religion, and affect theories in connection to religious practices and embodied experience amplified by the app. 

While the purpose of this study was to explore the influence of the YouVersion Bible app, its design, and features, on religious practices, examining ways in which Christians interact with sacred texts online, adopt or resist them, the main finding of this thesis became the conclusion that religious apps can have an appealing, engaging and affective design with a variety of technological affordances, but it does not automatically make them persuasive technologies as stated by several contemporary scholars.