Search results

The article analyzes the development of the Finnish research in library and information science into its present position of high qualitative and quantitative level (in relation to the size of the research community). A number of aspects that may explain the success of the Finnish research are presented: 1) the early academic context, i.e., the establishment of the chair in LIS at the University of Tampere in 1971, 2) the new conception of LIS that emerged in Finland in the early 1980s shifting the attention from institutions into users and actions, 3) internationalization of research including publishing in peer reviewed journals, participating in international conferences, inviting foreign top-researchers into Finland, and organizing international conferences that have become institutionalized (CoLIS and ISIC), and 4) the selection of priority areas for the research effort combined with the concentration of research and doctoral education in research groups.

One of the main subjects in the history of sociological thought has been the structure and functions of social systems to control the relationship between individual freedom and collective objectives. Sociologists have witnessed both the growing strength of “iron cages” and the liberation of individuals from many kinds of social bonds. Environmental problems call for new ways to build up accord between individual preferences and collective outcomes. The concept of “sustainable development” has been offered for citizens as a moral claim to cut down their options to choose. This chapter studies the acceptance of this offer in Tampere, Finland.

This paper aims to explore smart facilities services in the context of university campus by aiming to understand how the service development processes can be classified.

The qualitative study is based on literature review about smart facilities services and a case study about developing visualisation, data and smart service in one building in Finnish campus. The case study data were gathered by diverse methods and analysed by content analysis.

Three smart facilities service processes were identified: experience processes for users, data-based service processes and technology processes. All the processes require more than only technocratic approach.

Single case study without longitudinal data gathering is not strong in terms of generalisation.

The process classification can help different stakeholders to identify their role and tasks in smart facilities service development.

The research aims to understand how to develop smart services in addition to more investigated topic what the services include.

Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko is a docent and acting professor in the Department of Regional Studies, University of Tampere, Finland. He has conducted and directed several research projects, including The Future of Electronic Services in Local Government and the Local Governance in the Information Society financed by the Academy of Finland. He has worked as an expert in several national and international e-government projects. His academic contributions include in a nutshell nearly 30 monographs, about 40 articles, and some 20 conference papers. He has memberships in several scientific organizations and editorial boards.

What is the role of the state in gendering transnational migration? Although a central question to studies of the migration–gender nexus, Pessar and Mahler (2003) maintain that our existing knowledge concerning this relationship is still rudimentary (cf. Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2003). In the few studies that have sought to uncover this dynamic, the investigative focus has been on the role of sending countries. For instance, in Goldring's (2001) classic study, we learned that Mexican state policies/programmes have contributed to biasing political representation of the two sexes in favour of men in transnational spaces. Similarly, Tyner (1999) uncovered the importance of national policies in gendering migration from the Philippines. He reported that the government's decision to pursue an economic strategy premised on export of labour has effectively ensured that its citizens fulfilled the gendered roles specified by foreign demands (i.e. men for construction in the Middle East, and women for domestic work in Asia) (Tyner, 1999, pp. 683–684).¹