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Over the past decades a number of new perspectives on public administration have emerged, for instance New Public Service, New Public Governance, and Digital Era Governance. Several of these perspectives seem to have the concept of co-production in common, implying that the public sector engages citizens to take part in the design and execution of services. A rather new way to achieve co-production in the public sector has been to utilize crowdsourcing or social media monitoring. However, the way these “methods” have been implemented in public sector is often associated with difficulties, and to overcome some of them we propose an Internet of Things (IoT) approach that hopefully will create improved conditions for data-driven business development. At present, the approach is tested in a local government in northern Sweden in which we have set up a Low Power Wide Area Network designed for wireless battery-operated sensors. Although the test is still in an initial stage, results so far are promising and using sensor data in business development may be one way to improve public sector services. However, our test also shows that there are some issues that are of importance when designing and using IoT in public spaces. We conclude by suggesting that the concept of affordance can be useful to understand how we design and implement sensors in public spaces.

The past decades a number of new perspectives on public administration have emerged, for instance New Public Service, New Public Governance and Digital Era Governance. Several of these perspectives seem to have the concept of co-production in common, implying that the public sector engages citizens to take part in the design and execution of services. A rather new way to achieve co-production in the public sector has been to utilize crowdsourcing or social media monitoring. However, the way these 'methods' has been implemented in public sector is often associated with difficulties, and to overcome some of them we propose an Internet of Things (IoT) approach that hopefully will create improved conditions for data-driven business development, and innovative citizen sourcing. At present, the approach is tested in a local government in northern Sweden in which we have set up a Low Power Wide Area Network (LoRa) designed for wireless battery-operated sensors. Although the test is still in an initial stage, results so far are promising and combining IoT and social media may be one way of creating co-production of public sector services.

This paper reports from an ongoing study of how municipalities and local government agencies in Sweden and Norway, use social media to interact with citizens. The empirical material comprises interviews with representatives from seven different local authorities. The findings display how the social media strategies among the local authorities included in the study mostly involves push tactics, not really contributing to citizen engagement. Recommendations based on the obtained findings are provided for local government agencies striving for a higher level of interaction with citizens.

Planning the use of university faculty time and allocating it to various tasks can be challenging since university teachers typically have a complex mix of different tasks that also often change. In this context, some Swedish universities have turned towards time management software solutions as tools for planning department activities. This paper describes the introduction of such a web-based time management system at a Swedish university, and reports from a system evaluation comprising interviews with department leaders and staff planners. The empirical material implies that the advent of time management systems in higher education give rise to challenges for academic leaders aiming for efficiency, transparency and control, while trying to maintain flexibility and autonomy among faculty members.

Planning the use of university faculty time and allocating it to various commitments can be challenging since university teachers typically have a complex mix of different tasks. In this context, some Swedish universities have turned towards time management software solutions as tools for planning department activities. This paper describes the implementation of a web-based time management system at a Swedish university, and discusses its consequences for workforce planning and teachers’ workload.

Managing an online social network site is not an easy task. First, the software environment must be designed with tools that promote social interaction. Second, the social environment most be nurtured and protected with thoughtful and balanced rules that allow for freedom within limits. This paper reports from an ethnographic study of a Swedish social network site, and focuses on how the site managers try to deal with undesirable use patterns and behaviors among members, at the same time struggling with the unexpected social outcome of a software redesign. Adopting a disclosive ethics approach, the paper highlights some of the ethical challenges embedded in the process of managing the site, and discusses their implications.

Denna avhandling handlar om mötesplatser på Internet, där så kallade nätgemenskaper uppstår. En viktig beståndsdel i varje nätgemenskap utgörs av mjukvarumiljön som skapar förutsättningar för Internetbaserad social interaktion. Föreliggande studie syftar till att öka förståelsen för relationen mellan nämnda mjukvarumiljö och den sociala interaktionen i en nätgemenskap.

Avhandlingsarbetet omfattar ett fyraårigt etnografiskt fältarbete på nätgemenskapen LunarStorm [www.lunarstorm.se], där empiriskt material insamlats genom deltagande observationer, intervjuer, samt studier av arkiverat material. Det empiriska arbetet har koncentrerats kring tre olika mjukvarufunktioner och deras användningssammanhang. De funktioner som skärskådats är status-, lajv- och dagboksfunktionen.

I avhandlingen framträder ett tredelat resultat som kommunicerar huvuddragen i en synliggjord relation mellan medlemmarnas sociala interaktion och den underliggande mjukvarumiljön. För det första påvisas att mjukvarans utformning påverkar den sociala interaktionen. För det andra tydliggörs att mjukvarukomponenternas betydelse och användning aldrig är fixerad utan ständigt förändras som ett resultat av kontinuerlig användning och förnyade tolkningsprocesser. För det tredje karaktäriseras nätgemenskapens medlemmar som medskapare av mjuk­varumiljön.

Genom att visa på hur teknikutvecklingen skapat förutsättningar för individanpassade, distribuerade mjukvarumiljöer, ger avhandlingen också ett bidrag till diskursen gällande nya former av nätgemenskap.