Purpose: The information technology (IT) sector has been seen as central to society's transformation to a more just and sustainable society, which underlines teachers’ responsibility to foster engineers who can contribute specifically to such ends. This study aims to report an effort to significantly update an existing engineering programme in IT with this ambition and to analyse the effects and challenges associated with the transformation.

Design/methodology/approach: This study is based on a combination of action-oriented research based on implementing key changes to the curriculum; empirical investigations including surveys and interviews with students and teachers, and analysis of these; and a science and technology studies-inspired analysis.

Findings: Respondents were generally positive towards adding topics relating to sustainability. However, in the unmaking of traditional engineering subjects, changes created a conflict between core versus soft subjects in which the core subjects tended to gain the upper hand. This conflict can be turned into productive discussions by focusing on what kinds of engineers the authors’ educate and how students can be introduced to societal problems as an integrated part of their education.

Practical implications: This study can be helpful for educators in the engineering domain to support them in their efforts to transition from a (narrow) focus on traditional disciplines to one where the bettering of society is at the core.

Originality/value: This study provides a novel approach to the transformation of engineering education through a theoretical analysis seldom used in studies of higher education on a novel case study.

Smart meters are often understood as central devices in the smart, flexible and sustainable electric grid, enabling consumers to adapt their electricity use to current supply. In this study we are interested in how different actors in a Swedish context understand the smart meters and fit them into their locally situated practices and contexts, and we analyze the smart meters with the concept of boundary objects as an analytical lens with the purpose of describing and explaining tensions between actors in intended and actual use of smart meters. The case study builds on empirical material from policy documents, web pages and user forums, and include the Swedish government, authorities, grid operators and electricity suppliers as well as consumers. The main conclusions are that consumers were not included in the design and roll-out of the smart meters, resulting in that the available information requires consumers to be active and resourceful experts.

In this paper we address the increased digitalization of the fabric ofmodern welfare societies, and the expectations on individuals to be independentand digitally capable that follows from this. We focus on enactments of repairaimed at maintaining the lives of individuals situated in unstable sociomaterialrelations in the context of social care and a public library in Sweden. The purposewas to explore enactments of repair in two Swedish empirical contexts: one ina social service setting, and one in a municipal library setting. The analysis wasconducted with the help of the concept of repair, understood as maintenance ortransformation. We conducted interviews and observations in these two settingsand analyzed these with the help of the concept of repair. The analysis shows that inthe context of social service, repair was enacted differently in relation to differentinterpretations of existing legislation concerning minimal livelihoods, and that inthe context of the public library repair was enacted in relation to expectations of thelibrary visitors to become digitally independent. The analysis showed that in bothof these contexts repair was enacted as maintenance rather than as transformation.

In this paper we address the increased digitalization of the fabric of modern welfare societies, and the expectations on individuals to be independent and digitally capable that follows from this. We focus on repairment practices aimed at repairing the lives of individuals situated in unstable sociomaterial relations in the context of social care and a public library in Sweden. The aim was to explore repairment practices in two Swedish empirical contexts: one in a municipal library setting, and one in a social service setting. The analysis was conducted with the help of the concept of repairment, understood in relation to feminist STS points of departure of relationality and entanglement of humans and non-humans. We conducted interviews and observations in these two settings and analyzed these with the help of the concept of repair. The analysis shows that in the context of social service, repairment was enacted differently in relation to different interpretations of existing legislation concerning minimal livelihoods, and that in the context of the public library repairment was enacted in relation to expectations of the library visitors to become digitally independent. We also relate these repairment practices to the current pandemic. 

Advanced digital societies in democratic societies are conceived to besustained by informed, active and responsible citizens. While internet and informationtechnologies are both hailed for their empowering potential for the citizensto express their civic and political rights, they also pose considerable literacy andusage challenges, and thus can raise exclusionary thresholds for these same aspirations.Digital skills and information literacy as preconditions for tapping intosuch technology potential, can thus affect theway citizenship is practiced and conceivedby the members of society. Based on an extensive field study at Swedishlibraries practices with helping and educating clientswith awide diversity of questionsrelating to digital technologies and e-services, we examine both empiricallyand conceptually how citizenship is practiced in an advanced digital society, ina universal welfare state. The analysis focused on citizenship practices in dailyactivities when technologies mediate participation and interaction among the public,civic andmarket actors. The conclusions contribute to the conceptualization ofcitizenship act and agency and elaborates on citizenship as a performative process.

The concept of digital divides has been on the agenda in research and policy making for at least the last 20 years. But it is still, a challenge to grasp this concept that is so elusive and transforming. Inclusion, access and equality are still key values for democratic governance and must be addressed in particular when forming and contributing to a digital government. This paper seeks to intervene in current debates on digital divides and digital inclusion by analyzing two cases of responses among street-level public administration in relation to e-government services in Sweden. The case studies are strategically chosen and conducted in national agencies and in local public libraries. Three lines of contributions are discussed, firstly the importance to care for equality secondly the need to see the non-users, and thirdly to discuss the potential of putting focus on digital diversity.

The purpose of the paper is to use the concept of ethics of care in order to explore and reconceptualize the entangled relations that come into play when employees (librarians and others) in a Swedish public librariy context work to support citizens with digital problems. Application of ethics of care lens is interesting in this context from at least two perspectives. It can be used as a theoretical lens to analyze the librarians’ care practices in their mission for digital inclusion and addressing digital diversity needs. By uncovering the entanglements of relations between the librarians, the services, the visitors of the library, and the digital technologies, it opens for a contribution to the reconceptualization of digital citizenship (Mossberger et al, 2008) in relation to digital divide and participation, as well as access to services and opportunities. A care ethics lens is also valuable in terms of uncovering tensions and value conflicts that arise from normatively conflicting principles that govern public administrations in practice, such ex. New Public Management (Giritli Nygren, 2009; Rose, Persson, & Heeager, 2015), or service manufacturing logics governed by business rationale (Cordella, Paletti, Chun, Adam, & Noveck, 2018; Gustafsson & Wihlborg, 2019).

The purpose of the paper is to use the concept of ethics of care in order to explore and reconceptualize the entangled relations that come into play when employees (librarians and others) in a Swedish public librariy context work to support citizens with digital problems. Application of ethics of care lens is interesting in this context from at least two perspectives. It can be used as a theoretical lens to analyze the librarians’ care practices in their mission for digital inclusion and addressing digital diversity needs. By uncovering the entanglements of relations between the librarians, the services, the visitors of the library, and the digital technologies, it opens for a contribution to the reconceptualization of digital citizenship (Mossberger et al, 2008) in relation to digital divide and participation, as well as access to services and opportunities. A care ethics lens is also valuable in terms of uncovering tensions and value conflicts that arise from normatively conflicting principles that govern public administrations in practice, such ex. New Public Management (Giritli Nygren, 2009; Rose, Persson, & Heeager, 2015), or service manufacturing logics governed by business rationale (Cordella, Paletti, Chun, Adam, & Noveck, 2018; Gustafsson & Wihlborg, 2019).

Den här rapporten bygger på en kartläggande litteraturstudie om internationell forskning av digitalt utanförskap. Digitalt utanförskap är ett demokratiskt problem när alltfler välfärdstjänster digitaliseras. Rapportens syfte är att undersöka vilken forskning som har publicerats inom området digital exkludering, samt vilka faktorer som nämns som bidrar till digital exkludering och vilka grupper som studerats som digitalt exkluderade tidigare.

Modell

En användbar modell för att analysera digitalt utanförskap har utarbetats av forskaren Jan van Dijk. Den har tidigare illustrerats som en triangel med motivation som bred bas, men utifrån vårt arbete med denna forskningsöversikt föreslår vi att den illustreras som en trappa med stegen: motivation, tillgång, färdigheter, användning. Denna modell visar hur forskningen har gått från fokus på tillgång till digital teknik, till att se det som ett mer komplext fenomen.

Resultat

Resultatet visar att tidigare forskning har förklarat och förstått individuellt digitalt utanförskap utifrån följande faktorer:

• Bristande motivation
• Bristande infrastruktur/tillgång
• Bristande kunskap och färdigheter
• Låg socioekonomisk status
• Bristande tillit/självtillit

När det kommer till samhälleliga faktorer som kan bidra till digitalt utanförskap så nämns:

• Bristande styrning och ledning

Motsatsen till digitalt utanförskap är digital delaktighet och inkludering. Det främsta resultatet visar att det är en pågående process som här liknas vid en trappa. Eftersom den digitala utvecklingen är pågående kan inte digital kompetens och inkludering ses som avslutade processer; människor måste ständigt uppgradera sina kompetenser för att kunna hänga med. Människor som befinner sig på de övre stegen kan dock halka ner vid en förändrad livssituation,

som att gå från anställning till arbetslöshet.

Slutsatser

• Det saknas enhetliga begrepp om vad som avses med digitalt utanförskap, inkludering och kompetens, vilket kan försvåra jämförelser
• Digital inkludering är pågående process, som människor kan halka efter i
• Digitalt utanförskap kan förstås utifrån situationer snarare än utifrån människors karaktär eller identitet (som implicit innebär att det kan undvikas)
• Digitalt utanförskap kan handla om komplexa samband mellan flera faktorer
• Digitalt utanförskap kan förekomma i olika sociala grupper och ålderskategorier

Rapporten har en sammanställning över faktorer som lyfts fram i tidigare forskning som gynnsamma för insatser som syftar till digital inkludering. Det handlar om faktorer som i stort återspeglas i ovan nämnda modell:

1. Motivera
2. Skapa tillgång
3. Främja färdigheter
4. Främja användning

Idéer för fortsatt forskning

Med slutsatsen i tidigare forskning om att digital inkludering är en pågående och komplex process eftersom den digitala tekniken ständigt utvecklas behövs fortsatt forskning som visar hur olika faktorer hänger samman och kan bidra till inkludering eller exkludering. Det behövs även fortsatt forskning om olika grupper, till exempel nyanlända och migranter samt människor med olika funktionsvariationer. Att fokusera på hur olika situationer påverkar digital delaktighet och inkludering framstår som relevant. Mer tillämpad forskning om hur offentliga digitala system och tjänster designas inom ett svenskt sammanhang skulle också vara värdefull, liksom utvecklandet av nydanande metoder för att studera digital delaktighet.

This paper concerns the intersection of knowledge, power and gender in information systems design. This is explored with the help of Foucault’s concept of power/knowledge, and ideas from feminist technoscience studies, and studied in the context of an information systems design project in a Swedish authority. The aim of the paper is to explore how power/knowledge plays out in the everyday practices of an information systems design project, and how this is also a gendered issue. The analysis showed three different configurations of power/knowledge during the course of the business analysis as a result of shifting design conditions. The analysis contains no key, but the project clearly worked towards the enactment of some specific, and differently gendered, futures, which shifted with the different configurations of power/knowledge. The analysis provides an example of how in IS design projects, various realities are enacted, how some gendered realities are being explored, dismissed, and replaced by others. This illustrates how hopes for a better future among some gendered bodies might emerge, but also how these hopes – in the course of the the same IS design project – might be turned down, when other bodies and values become prioritized. © 2019, IRIS Association. All rights reserved.