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ICT, Innovation Systems and the Role of Universities in Societal Development : a (post) colonial strain?
- 2005
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this book is to develop knowledge and understanding about how ICT can be involved in local and national innovation systems in developing countries. Special attention is paid to the role of the university as an important stakeholder in local and national development processes. For this purpose, the interdisciplinary group of researchers has made the study carrying the question about the prerequisites for postcolonial identities to make their mark on a national situated ICT development and implementation. The study addresses the emerging implosion of postcolonial situations and ICT development. The theory frame of feminist technoscience studies is included in the analysis as a special resource.
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| 2. |
- Kärrman, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Utvärdering av ReVAQ-projektet
- 2007
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The ReVAQ project started with the purpose to ensure a quality of sewage sludge that is good enough to be acceptable for agricultural use. The ReVAQ project is a process involving a long time perspective, structured and audited work. Under a three year period, ReVAQ has been evaluated by a project group from Urban Water. The evaluation comprised the quality improvement of the sewage sludge as well as the change of perceptions and attitudes of the participating municipalities, the users of the water systems and other actors.
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| 3. |
- Rydhagen, Birgitta, et al.
(författare)
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Communication and learning for sustainable sewage systems from a perspective of sanitation professionals
- 2007
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we aim to explore how the focus on sustainable development affects municipal communication strategies in the sanitation sector. Efforts to reduce harmful substances in the sewage system have increased the focus on households and their use of chemicals ending up in the sanitary system. Yet the picture of effects of communication and how household habits change is rather vague. The present study has included a questionnaire distributed to a nationwide sample of municipal water and sanitation offices, as well as a focus group interview with sanitation professionals in one of the municipalities. Questions concerning communication strategies as well as expectations on households and on their own work tasks were included. It was found that sanitation professionals related to the concept of sustainable development in their work. The most common communication strategies were written information in different forms. Households used phone or e-mail to contact municipal offices. In the focus group interview, technical solutions were given priority as households were not expected to pay special attention to the sewage system. The view of households was ambivalent, and the issue of household communication was recognised as complex. Much of the current situation and approaches depend on the structure of the current large scale sanitation system, developed for convenience and safety during the last century.
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| 4. |
- Rydhagen, Birgitta, et al.
(författare)
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Engineering sustainable sewage systems
- 2008
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- During the past 25 years, the focus of the Swedish sanitation sector has turned from the protection of receiving water bodies from nutrients towars recycling and reuse of nutrients. A recent decision in Sweden to recycle 60 percent of phosphorus in sewage is a sign of this changing attitude. The concept of sustainability has contributed to this development. In this process, the interest in household use of the sewage systems has increased. In a number of reports and studies, the attitudes of households towards certain technically modified sewage systems are presented. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the attitudes of engineers and other sanitaiton professionals towards their work for sustainable sewage systems. In two Swedish municipalities, efforts to increase the chemical quality of the sewage have been studied. In one of them, a technical modification of the system in a new built area was tried. In the other, intensified information to a residential area was distributed during several months. Both projects aimed towards increased sustainability on a pilot scale. In this aspect, certain expectations were placed on the households to comply with the intenetions of the project. Sanitary engineers in the municipalities collaborate with other professions within the organisation to develop communication strategies with the households. Interviews with sanitation professionals have touched upon issues of knowledge needs as well as communication strategies. In the core of the study, the roles and expectations of professionals as well as households have been studied, from the perspective of professionals and households as well as engineering educators within the academy. The findings relate in interesting ways with theories of how infrastructural systems have developed. Despite a change towards recycling, the characteristics of the infrastructure remains, as do the expectations on the different actors in the system. A request for changes is formulated in order to achieve sustainable sewage systems in the future.
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| 5. |
- Rydhagen, Birgitta
(författare)
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Evaluation of the ReVAQ Project to Achieve Safe Use of Wastewater Sludge in Agriculture
- 2006
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The use of wastewater sludge on arable land in Sweden has been limited for some years due to the low quality, in some respects, of the sludge and to the reluctance of farmers and the food industry to use it. To improve the quality of the sludge, the ReVAQ project has been started, and it now involves seven municipal wastewater organisations. The goal of the project is to introduce a process in which the quality is successively improved by a series of actions taken by society. These actions include tracking and eliminating sources of heavy metals and other substances. As there are numerous sources of some of the substances, the work concentrates on the major sources. Another important activity is to provide information to the users of the wastewater system. The project is being evaluated by Urban Water AB. The results from the first two years indicate that it may be possible to reach the primary technical goal: to obtain a sludge quality that corresponds to that of household wastewater. The more ambitious goal of reaching a quality corresponding to that of WC water (the sum of urine and faeces) does not seem realistic without far-reaching changes in society. The organisations involved, which take the work seriously and are goal-oriented, have achieved measurable results in a short time. The work is also accepted and supported by the board members. More effort is needed, however, to inform the users about the system, and to [motivate them to] change their behaviour regarding matters such as the purchase of everyday products and the use of the toilet facilities.
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| 6. |
- Rydhagen, Birgitta, et al.
(författare)
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Postcolonial ICT Challenges
- 2006
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Ingår i: Encyclopedia of Gender and Information Technology. - : Information Science Publishing. - 1591408156
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)
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| 7. |
- Rydhagen, Birgitta, et al.
(författare)
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Who Loves Sewage? Matching Expectations on Communication Between Households and Sanitation Professionals
- 2009
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Ingår i: Guzovic, Zvonimir, Duic, Neven and Ban, Marko (Eds.), Proceedings of 5th Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems. - Dubrovnik. - 9789536313983
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Swedish municipalities, householders are addressed as important actors in the efforts to improve the quality of sewage sludge. Householders and sanitation professionals are regarded as integrated and active co-producers of the sanitation system, while limited by the functions offered by the technical and organizational structure. Through interviews with both householders and sanitation professionals, recognition of interdependence was identified in both groups although more communication with counterpart was asked for. If the aim is to increase sustainability in the sanitation system, regardless of technical changes, we argue that two-way communication between householders and sanitation professionals needs to increase and embrace not only advice about choice of products and ways to carry out water related activities, but also planning of activities, feedback on results and other aspects of interest.
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