Öppna arenor och slutna rum : några kommunikationskonsulter i Dalarna ser på opinionsbildning

Syftet med denna uppsats är att ta reda på hur lokala kommunikationskonsulter i Falun/Borlänge-regionen ser på opinionsbildning via professionella konsulter. De centrala begrepp som avhandlas är PR, opinionsbildning och lobbying.Den teoretiska ram som omger undersökningen består av de teoribyggen som skapats av Jürgen Habermas, James E. Grunig och Larsåke Larsson. Habermas ställer sig tveksam till den demokratiska nyttan av professionell opinionsbildning, Grunig är mer positiv och Larsson ser både för- och nackdelar med PR-verksamheten. Larssons undersökning av opinionskonsulter från 2005 refereras också.Undersökningen bygger på intervjuer med ett antal kommunikationskonsulter verksamma i Falun och Borlänge. Den lokala marknaden för opinionsbildande uppdrag diskuteras, men också huruvida politiska uppdrag förser byråerna med politisk färg. Huruvida medarbetarnas engagemang är viktigt och hur hög statusen på opinionsbildande uppdrag är ventileras, samt vilka arbetsmetoder som används. Intervjuerna behandlar också förekomsten av lobbying på lokal nivå. Till slut redogör de intervjuade för sin syn på hur opinionsbildning, PR och lobbying via konsulter påverkar demokratin.Under slutsatser diskuteras resultatet i relation till den teoretiska ramen. Att PR- och reklambranscherna alltmer växer samman och att opinionsbildning är ett vanligt inslag i många projekt är ett faktum som också skymtat fram i den teoretiska ramen. Men reklam- och PR-metoder integreras också i politiken, på gott och ont. Följaktligen växer den gråzon som finns mellan de olika typerna av kommunikation och mellan opinionsbildande och icke-opinionsbildande uppdrag. Det försvårar gränsdragning och tydlighet, men skapar nya kreativa möjligheter.Att den ökade användningen av kommunikationskonsulter kanske kan bidra till en orättvis fördel för resursstarka organisationer diskuteras. Ny teknik, t.ex. Internet, kan dock eventuellt vara den motvikt som gör det möjligt även för resurssvaga grupper att höras i det offentliga samtalet. Kommunikation som maktfaktor tas även upp utifrån termer som lobbying och medias dagordningsfunktion.Några aspekter av den outnyttjade potential som PR har ventileras också. PR som metod är en outnyttjad resurs på det lokala planet, något som kan bero både på okunskap hos de lokala kunderna och ett traditionellt arbetssätt hos byråerna. Utifrån intervjusvaren framkommer att både byråerna, deras kunder och media på landsorten skulle gynnas av ett större samarbete.Resultaten av intervjuerna stöder mycket i den teoretiska ramen, medan somligt förkastas. Som sammanfattning kan sägas att opinionsbildning via konsulter kan användas för både gott och ont. Vilket som blir resultatet handlar som oftast om etik, ansvar, öppenhet och professionalitet.ABSTRACTThe primary target for this report is to find out how communication consultants in the region of Falun and Borlänge views the practice of establishing public opinions by using professional public relations consultants. The concepts in focus are PR, the moulding of public opinion and lobbying.The theoretical framework surrounding this report is the writings by Jürgen Habermas, James E. Grunig and Larsåke Larsson. Habermas has doubts as to the democratic use of professional consultants working with public opinions, Grunig has a somewhat more positive approach and Larsson sees both advantages and disadvantages in a democratic sense with the PR industry. Larssons research concerning consultants working with the moulding of public opinions from 2005 is also reviewed. The research is carried out by interviewing some communication consultants working in the Falun /Borlänge- area. The local market for commissions concerning public opinions is discussed, but also if and how political commissions are forcing a political stamp upon the firms engaging in such commissions. The importance of personal commitment in the consultants and the level of prominence commissions concerning public opinion has in the business is discussed, but also which methods is used and preferred. The interviews also deal with the practice of lobbying in the local arena. Finally the participants state their views on how the moulding of public opinion, PR and lobbying effects the democracy. Conclusively, the result is put in relation to the theories earlier mentioned. The public relations market is merging with the advertising business, that is a fact, and establishing public opinion is a common element in a lot of projects. But methods used for advertising and PR are also integrated in the political sphere, for good and bad. That has made the distinction between different kinds of communication harder, thereby enhancing the difficulties of establishing boundaries and achieving clarity. Yet at the same time it facilitates new creative opportunities.The growing use of communication consultants may contribute to unfair advantages for organisations with large economic resources. New technical development though, such as the Internet for example, may prove to simplify communication for groups with lesser economic power. Communication as an aspect of power is being discussed in terms of lobbying and the agenda setting power of media.Some aspects of the unused potential that lies within PR are also in focus in this report. PR as a method is an unused resource in the local market, which can be due to the local clients lack of knowledge but also to the traditional work carried out by the communication firms. The findings of the interviews show that both communication firms, their clients and the local media would benefit from greater cooperation.The theoretical base in this work is mostly supported by the interviews, though a few of the findings does not agree. The moulding of public opinions by professional consultants can be used for both good and bad. What the result will be is, not surprisingly, a question of ethics, responsibility, openness and professionalism.

Granskning av kvalitetssäkringsarbetet vid en ICC-profilbaserad trycksaksproduktion

To make your company change from a conventional workflow to an ICC-based workflow you need tomake investments in time and money. On the other hand you get your reward in terms of a stable andquality safe production. To choose this way of adjusting your company to new routines requires accuracyas well as a great deal of commitment. It is not only about having the right equipment. There area lot of factors that affect the quality of production.Our ambition with this report is to bring out the importance of general thinking when it comes toICC-profiling and to discuss on which basis printing profiles should be created. Quality parameters asfor example roughness and whiteness of paper are also discussed. To be able to investigate these mattersin detail we have taken a closer look at two companies, which have chosen to commit themselvesto achive better quality through color management but still feel that they have some problems withtheir workflow.One of the conclusions that are made in this report is that both companies should extend their investmentsin education of employees to become less independent of consultants, but also to increase theinterest in changes within the company. It is also stressed that an ICC-profile only can be efficient if acompany commits itself to accuracy regarding routines, control and calibration.

Borlänge och Falun Brundtland städer

Development of an infrastructure for Brundtland Renewable Energy Network - BREN är ettEuropean Commission Alterner Project med Contract no XVII/4. 1030/Z96-032.Projektet har sitt ursprung i UN rapporten “Our Common Future” 1989. Grundläggande för att nå de mål som rapporten föreslog var att förändra och minska användningen av energi. I Danmark tog man fram en handlingsplan för hur energiförbrukningen skulle kunna minskas “Energi 2000 - Handlingsplan för en bäredygtig udvikling”. De danska och schleswigholstenske energiministrarna överenskom att starta vars ett energisparprojekt i en mindre stad. Projektet kallades “Brundtlandby” och de två första var Toftlund i Sönderjylland och Bredstedt i Nordfriesland. Efter en kort tid anslöt sig ytterligare två tyska städer, Rheinsberg och Viernheim, samt Rajec i Slovakien. Mellan städerna formades ett nätverk för att utbyta information. Nätverket, Brundtland City Project, var inspirerande för de ingående städerna i det fortsatta arbetet med energisparåtgärder. Brundtland City Project presenterades på en internationell konferens “Cities and Energy” i Trondheim, Norge, december 1995. Projektet väckte intresse och det föreslogs att nätverket, som ett pilotprojekt, skulle utvecklas i norra Europa för att senare utökas med andra europeiska länder. En ledningsgrupp tillsattes medrepresentanter från de nordiska länderna.En ansökan sändes till European Commission, Alterner Program, och denna beviljades i juli 1996. Projektet indelades i (9 Activities. Aktivitet 1, var att sammanfatta erfarenheterna av Brundtland City Project i Toftlund, Danmark och Brundtland Cities Nätverket i Sovakien, Tyskland och Danmark. Den nordiska delen startar med Aktivitet 2, vilket var att engagera kommuner/städer i Finland, Norge och Sverige. Som samordnade för den svenska delen utsågs Solar Energy Research Center SERC vid Högskolan Dalarna. Projektet presenterades vid ett seminarium den 30 september för representanter för Borlänge och Falu kommuner. Den 10 december 1996 accepterade de två kommunerna inbjudan att ingå i det nordiska nätverket. Uppgiftslämnare i Borlänge kommun har varit Pelle Helje, Borlänge Energi och i Falu kommun Anders Goop, stadsbyggnadskontoret samt för underlag till Newsletter Jan Kaans, fastighetskontoret.Rapportering till Brundtland Center Danmark av arbetet i Borlänge och Falu kommuner har skett vid tre tillfällen, Aktiviteterna 2-5, 1997-12-16, Aktivitererna 6-7 inkluderande delar av aktiviterna 8-9, 1998-05-03 samt underlag till Newsletter, 1998-07-01. De nordiska rapporterna har sammanställts vid Brundtland Center Danmark för rapportering till European Commission. Gemensamt språk har varit engelska. Efter rapportering av aktiviterna 2 - 5 inbjöds till ett projektmöte och en studiedag vid Brundtland Center den 23 och 24 mars 1998. Det var första tillfället deltagarna i projektet strålade samman och nätverket tog därmed en mera konkret form. Man beslutade också att nästa projektmöte skulle hållas i Borlänge i augusti 1998 med Borlänge Energi och Solar Energy Research Center SERC som organisatörer. Beroende på att Brundtland Centre Danmark upplösts av ekonomiska skäl blev projektmötet i Borlänge inställt.Sammanställning av Final Report, October 1998, har utförts av Esbensen Consultants.Framtida utveckling av nätverketArbetet med Brundtland City Network avses fortsätta som ett “EU Thermie B-project” och nätverket kommer att utökas med fyra nya Brundtlandstäder från Österrike, Tyskland Italien och Storbritanien. Dessutom kommer samhället Putja i Estland att ingå i nätverket men detta financieras av EU-Phare programme.

Borlänge and Falun Brundtland cities

Development of an infrastructure for Brundtland Renewable Energy Network - BREN is a European Commission Alterner Project with Contract no XVII/4. 1030/Z96-032.The project has its origin in the UN-report “Our Common Future”, 1989. A change in and reduction of the use of energy was fundamental in order to reach the goals which the report proposed. Denmark decided on an action plan on how energy consumption could be reduced “Energi 2000 - Handlingsplan för en bäredygtig udvikling”. The ministries of energy in Denmark and Schleswig Holstein both agreed to start an energy saving project in a smaller town. The project was called “Brundtlandby” and the two first were Toftlund in South Jutland and Bredstedt in North Friesland. After a short period a further two German Cities, Rheinsberg and Viernheim, and Rajec in Slovakia joined the group. A network for the exchange of knowledge and experience between the cities was formed. The network, Brundtland City Project, inspired the participating cities in the continuing work with energy saving measures. The Brundtland City Project was presented at an international conference “Cities and Energy” in Trondheim, Norway,in December 1995. Great interest was shown in the project and it was decided that a network should be developed in northern European countries as a pilot project to be enlarged with other European countries later on. A steering committee was formed with representatives from the nordic countries.An application was sent to the European Commission, Alterner Program, and was approved in Juli 1996. The project was subdivided into nine activities. Activity 1, consisted of summarising the experiences of the Brundtland City Project in Toftlund, Denmark and the Brundtland Cities network in Slovakia, Germany and Denmark. The Scandinavian part started with Activity 2, to engage municipalities/cities in Finland, Norway and Sweden in the project. The Solar Energy Research Center, SERC, Högskolan Dalarna was appointed as co-ordinator for the Swedish part. The project was presented at a seminar on the 30th September for representatives from the municipalities of Borlänge and Falun. On the 10th of December 1996 the two municipalities accepted the invitation to join the Northern network. Pelle Helje, Borlänge Energi, has been informant for the municipality of Borlänge and Anders Goop, Department of Urban Planninginformant for the municipality of Falun with Jan Kaans, Estates department providing information to the basis for the Newsletter.Reports on the work in Borlänge and Falun municipalities have been made to Brundtland Center Denmark on three occasions; Activities 2-5, 16-12-1997, Activities 6-7, including parts of activities 8-9, 03-03-1998, and the basis for the Newsletter, 01-07-1998. The Nordic reports have been compiled at the Brundtland Center Denmark for submission to the European Commission. English has been the common language. After the report of activities 2 - 5 the participants wereinvited to a project meeting and a workshop at Brundtland Center the 23rd and 24th March 1998.This was the first occasion the participants in the project met and the network thus took a moreconcrete form. It also was decided that the next meeting should be in Borlänge in August 1998,with Borlänge Energi and Solar Energy Research Center SERC as organisers. As BrundtlandCentre Denmark was wound up for financial reasons, the project meeting in Borlänge wascancelled.Compilation of the Final Report was carried out by Esbensen Consultants in October 1998Future development of the networkIt is intended to continue the work with the Brundtland City Network as an “EU Thermie Bproject”and the network will be enlarged with the addition of four new Brundtland Cities from Austria, Germany, Italy and Great Britain. In addition the village of Putja in Estonia will join the network but this will be financed by the EU-Phare programme.

Carers in the welfare state : on informal care and support for carers in Sweden

  The general aim of this dissertation is to describe and analyse patterns of informal care and support for carers in Sweden. One specific aim is to study patterns of informal care from a broad population perspective in terms of types of care and types of carer. A typology of four different care categories based on what carers do revealed that women were much more likely than men to be involved at the ‘heavy end’ of caring, i.e. providing personal care in combination with a variety of other caring tasks. Men were more likely than women to provide some kind of practical help (Study I). Another aim is to investigate which support services are received by which types of informal caregiver. Relatively few informal caregivers in any care category were found to be receiving any kind of support from municipalities or voluntary organizations, for example training or financial assistance (Study II). The same study also examines which kinds of help care recipients receive in addition to that provided by informal carers. It appears that people in receipt of personal care from an informal caregiver quite often also receive help from the public care system, in this case mostly municipal services. However, the majority of those receiving personal, informal care did not receive any help from the public care system or from voluntary organizations or for-profit agencies (Study II). The empirical material in studies I and II comprises survey data from telephone interviews with a random sample of residents in the County of Stockholm aged between 18 and 84. In a number of countries there is a growing interest among social scientists and social policymakers in examining the types of support services that might be needed by people who provide informal care for older people and others. A further aim of the present dissertation is therefore to describe and analyse the carer support that is provided by municipalities and voluntary organizations in Sweden. The dissertation examines whether this support is aimed directly or indirectly at caregivers and discusses whether the Swedish government’s special financial investment in help for carers actually led to any changes in the support provided by municipalities and voluntary organisations. The main types of carer support offered by the municipalities were payment for care-giving, relief services and day care. The chief forms of carer support provided by the voluntary organizations were support groups, training groups, and a number of services aimed primarily at the elderly care recipients (Study III). Patterns of change in municipal carer support could be discerned fairly soon. The Swedish government’s special allocation to municipalities and voluntary organisations appears to have led to an increase in the number of municipalities providing direct support for carers, such as training, information material and professional caregiver consultants. On the other hand, only minor changes could be discerned in the pattern of carer support services provided by the voluntary organizations. This demonstrates stability and the relatively low impact that policy initiatives seem to have on voluntary organizations as providers (Study IV). In studies III and IV the empirical material consists of survey data from mail questionnaires sent to municipalities and voluntary organizations in the County of Stockholm. In the fields of social planning and social work there appears to be a need to clarify the aims of support services for informal carers. Should the support be direct or indirect? Should it be used to supplement or substitute caregivers? In this process of reappraisal it will be important to take the needs of both caregivers and care recipients into account when developing existing and new forms of support. How informal caregivers and care recipients interact with the care system as a whole is undeniably a fertile field for further research.