Preface

(This is a work in progress of an English version of this chapter in my PhD thesis. Swedish original)

This thesis is an innovative combination of knowledge development in business administration, research communication, and digital format ("webbification"). The Reading Guide (Chapter 2) is a guide for everyone.

There are interesting connections (Chapter 4.1) between the ecosystems of encyclopedias, research communication, and theses.

Most visitors to this site are not business administration researchers, so the thesis is designed to add value for both of these diverse groups. See these groups (Chapter 27.4). Scientific development has always been closely intertwined with new technology, with technology often taking the lead.

My ambition is that this public site, with chapters 0–34, will be accepted as a thesis in business administration — without printing a book or creating a PDF.

Webbification — the presentation of more and more content in web format — is a megatrend. Likewise, mobile phones have become powerful platforms for communication, apps, and services. Providing easy and tailored access reshapes business models across more and more sectors. This thesis argues that these transformative forces can also significantly affect how research presented in thesis form is communicated.

The Research Communication Ecosystem (Chapter 29) has become a megatrend that already influences the everyday realities of research and its role in society — and is likely to do so even more going forward.

My thesis is also an experiment in web-based dissertations situated at the dynamic intersection of several megatrends. The format requires special approval, which may be granted by the Dean of the School of Economics and Management at Lund University↗. In LUSEM’s new strategy, the Dean emphasizes the importance of innovation and experimentation.
The top blue line of the strategy platform highlights this across all areas. The second line emphasizes the goals of "digital" and "online".

LUSEM Strategic Platform — Fig. 0.1 Strategic Platform 2024 for Lund University School of Economics and Management (LUSEM)

The thesis is written in Swedish (Chapter 30.8.3) in order to reach more Swedish readers, invite more feedback (Chapter 100), and increase impact within Sweden. This enhances its domestic relevance. International academic impact and reach requires a different strategy. If one wants to evolve the format of dissertations — to reach wider audiences, to be more digital, or to promote other goals — practical testing is necessary. This work is one such test. It should be read and understood with that in mind.

// It is only afterward that a novel idea seems reasonable.
To begin with, it usually seems unreasonable. // Isaac AsimovWikipedia

Four Chapters on Web-Based Theses

If web-based theses become common in the future, only a brief introduction to each one’s design will be needed. Three Ecosystems for Theses (Chapter 25) offers a historical perspective on scholarly conversations and their relation to new technologies. In Web-Based Theses (Chapter 26), the concept of a webbavhandling is explored. The concept of information convenience is central to Theses and Research Communication (Chapter 27). Ecosystems for Web-Based Theses (Chapter 28) provides a future-oriented perspective.

0.1Knowledge Development in This Thesis

This section is primarily directed at those assessing the academic quality of the thesis. The Higher Education Ordinance (HSF) outlines general requirements for a PhD and a dissertation. Since each university and faculty is permitted to define its own criteria, this also includes an introduction to what applies at the Lund University School of Economics and Management (FEK). According to HSF, the doctoral student must, for the doctoral degree …

… demonstrate the ability to independently, critically, creatively, and with scientific accuracy identify and formulate research questions […] – demonstrate the ability to substantially contribute to knowledge development through their own research […] – contribute to societal development and support others’ learning. (See the full text of the HSF(Chapter 33, ref+))

The thesis must be assessed based on the standards in HSF and FEK's document for a PhD. The points below are a selection. The full document can be accessed on LUSEM's official website↗ and via this blog post↗.

demonstrate capacity for scientific analysis and synthesis, as well as independent critical review and evaluation of new and complex phenomena, issues, and situations.
show, through a dissertation, the ability to make a substantial contribution to the development of knowledge through their own research.
demonstrate potential to contribute to societal development and support learning, in both academic and other qualified professional contexts.

Making a substantial contribution to knowledge development is a key requirement in both documents.

The chapter Knowledge Development in Dissertations (Chapter 30) highlights how this thesis incorporates several elements outlined in both HSF and FEK. One theme is viewing a dissertation as part of the scientific conversation and reflecting on what constitutes “scientific validity.” The content of research is not format-neutral (Chapter 30.4) from the reader’s perspective. Think Apple without design.

By combining language development, new methodology and theory, interesting data, and a new model for research communication, the contribution of the thesis (Chapter 31) aims to be slightly innovative in multiple areas—both academically and practically. The chapter Knowledge Development in Dissertations (Chapter 30) is included because it became important—if not necessary—to explain why the thesis takes the form it does.

The citation highlights that not everyone who undertakes doctoral studies intends to become a university-employed researcher or lecturer. At the Department of Business Administration at Lund University, with around 50 PhD students, the training is almost exclusively focused↗ on an academic career, even though it's known that about half will pursue entirely different paths. One may ask how many of these 50 individuals, like myself, never intended to pursue a career in academia? A key question in the article is how identity is formed during doctoral education, and how this creates an interesting tension between socialisation and creativity. (Ibid.)

Doctoral education is described as a socialisation process aimed at becoming a university researcher accepted into “the research community.” In this process—defined by both explicit and implicit rules and norms—the doctoral student’s research identity is shaped. Within these boundaries, creativity may be tolerated—though not encouraged—but stepping outside them may result in ... the outcome may be correction or ignorance. (Ibid.)

One reason why this thesis consciously aims to challenge the norms for how a dissertation should be created and presented is that my identity as an innovator with a strong research interest and public engagement as an entrepreneur is more prominent than that of a well-assimilated university researcher.

This dissertation is a monograph—a format that allows more innovation, more 'interdisciplinarity', and more experimentation than articles that may eventually be accepted by established academic journals. These journals also apply stringent formatting criteria that may reject a submission already in an early round↗ (story in BiBB Akademi).

There are interesting connections between order and creativity. A thesis must fulfill certain criteria to be considered scientific—there must be some structure. In some works, structure defines vision, method, and goal, while in others—theses and research studies alike—structure serves as a route toward creativity. Danish artist and COBRA group member Asger JornWikipedia expressed this idea almost aphoristically...

Order is a movement in one direction in order to reach another.

0.5Reference Status and Business Models

The concept ‘Reference Status’(Chapter 5) is central to describing a source of knowledge’s—such as an encyclopedia’s or research communication’s—changing credibility. A printed encyclopedia loses credibility over time even if individual entries remain accurate. This "update debt" also affects digital encyclopedias but is easier to fix.

An encyclopedia’s Reference Status and business model are closely and complexly related — which this thesis explores — and illustrated in several studies about NE. As a necessity, NE (Nationalencyklopedin), started by Bra Böcker AB (liquidated in 2000), and its current owner since 1994 (Chapter 23), serves as a core case for studying encyclopedias in Sweden. There are no other Swedish (digital) encyclopedias. Wikipedia, based on a Wiki modelWikipedia, belongs to a different category.

NE as a Problem

Nationalencyklopedin (Chapter 28.8) was a major national asset when it was published in 1989. Today the digital NE is more of a national problem than an asset (Chapter 15.2), obstructing the creation of a modern, open encyclopedia featuring signed articles.

Typically, a dissertation author forms a close relationship with one or more case companies when only a few are studied. This thesis strongly deviates from that practice. My research questions would have been impossible to answer had I collaborated with the NE company. The studies in this thesis are ‘outside-in analyses’, using a method I term Case Impact Studies (Chapter 7). The CIS method is broadly applicable and may prove necessary in many other research projects in business studies.

Extensive Empirical Research on Digital NE

This thesis includes approximately ten studies about the company and the digital NE. The page Research on Digital NE (Chapter 15) provides a summary.

The thesis argues that the digital Nationalencyklopedin is not a "version" of the respected printed version but that Digital NE is a different category (Chapter 15.1) of encyclopedia and should be evaluated as such.

0.6The Dissertation and Early Adopters

The thesis is "finished" but may be refined until an agreed cutoff date (Chapter 101). It will be submitted at an institution that aims to be an early adopter of the web-based dissertation format — perhaps Lund, or maybe your own?

I have, for better or worse, ignored Umberto Eco’s Wikipedia excellent advice:

Finally, remember this fundamental principle: "The more you narrow the field, the better and more safely you will work." 'How to write a thesis' (Eco, 1997 p.13)

I understand the logic of following the accepted thesis model and then publishing research in a web format. But that strategy would not evolve the thesis model—which is a crucial subgoal (Chapter 101.5). My approach is an intentional risk with long-term objectives. Resistance improves the innovations that endure. You learn a lot about an organization when you try to change it↗.

0.7A Thesis Is Not a "Driver’s License"

To obtain a driver’s license, one must pass both a theory test and a practical driving exam. There is no room for creativity—instead, success requires absorbing and applying existing knowledge. Once licensed, the driver may travel anywhere, but only while obeying the rules under which they were tested.

The 'driver’s license' is a not uncommon—but misleading—metaphorBiBB for a dissertation.

In 'Academics at play: Why the “publication game” is more than a metaphor' (Butler & Spoelstra, 2020ꜜ), the metaphor of academic publishing as a game is both analyzed and criticized. The metaphor "a thesis is a driver’s license" can be critiqued in similar terms.

Butler and co-authors point out that many researchers depict publishing as a game—one they either join or attempt to bend the rules of. It is overwhelmingly publication in leading journals that leads to a successful academic career. This is summarized in their statement:

This tells us that "playing the publication game" has become a prominent, albeit ambiguous, metaphor to describe strategies of academic publishing in the contemporary university. (Ibid. p.2)

The authors interviewed about thirty professors in Critical Management Studies (CMS). While they participate in the game, many distance themselves from the idea that they are doing so. This is referred to as the researchers’ 'Lusory attitude'Wikipedia. Their concern is...

By continuing to view the publication game solely as a metaphor, we risk overlooking the damaging effects that this play mentality has on the production of knowledge in the field of CMS. (Ibid. p.2, emphasis mine)

Psychiatrist R.D. LaingWikipedia expressed something similar in 'Knots' (Laing, 1970):

They are playing a game. They are playing at not
playing a game. If I show them I see it, I
break the rules and they will punish me.
I must play their game of not seeing I see the game. (from Knots)

The authors discuss the philosophical dimensions of the word *metaphor* and note that a metaphor is not what it refers to, but still carries sociological and interpersonal relevance. We encounter metaphors everywhere: "we’re in the same boat", "angry as a hornet", or "a thesis is a driver’s license". Their interpretation varies by context—often depending on figurative vs. literal meaning.

In my view, the metaphor 'a thesis as a driver’s license' has damaging effects, to borrow Butler et al.’s phrase—though in ways different from the 'publishing game'.

On one hand, it is common to view a dissertation (a PhD) as a driver’s license. On the other, we expect a dissertation to "make a significant contribution to the development of knowledge." (HSF. See above)

Bookcase by Jonas Bohlin. Källemo — Fig. 0.4 National
Geographic

Viewing a thesis as a journeyman’s project (gesällprov) is a better metaphor.
A journeyman’s piece must demonstrate both craftsmanship and creativity. Producing a copy of, for instance, a Jonas Bohlin cabinet, would not suffice.

The report 'Doctoral Training in Cultural Geography' (Gren, 2005ꜜref+) is one of many reflections on what a dissertation should be. One chapter is aptly titled Life’s Work or Driver’s License?

So what role and status should doctoral education assign to the thesis? Is it a diploma or an independent contribution to research? A “driver’s license”—or a “life’s work”? (Ibid. p. 50)

Is this a good dichotomy, when a thesis perhaps should be neither? A more constructive metaphor might be a journeyman’s piece—inviting not only competence, but also creativity, originality, and above all, variation. It's no longer possible to build an academic career based solely on a dissertation—especially not a monograph (in Swedish).

0.8Research and Entrepreneurship

This thesis has significantly contributed to the development of and my continued work with the open encyclopedia BiBB®↗. The BiBB ecosystem includes other services and analyses—particularly on topics related to higher education and its strategic challenges and shifting competitive landscape.

In March 2020, a formal collaboration was initiated with LU Innovation to support the establishment of the BiBB encyclopedia. LU Innovation↗ is an organization within Lund University that supports the commercialization of research findings. This should be seen in light of the critique (Chapter 7.6) raised by the then Dean of EHL and the Department of Business Administration that the dissertation could help create an entrepreneurial venture.

Entrepreneurship is an important area in business administration and should be encouraged even as an activity within doctoral studies. My dissertation is an example of research that simultaneously fosters innovative entrepreneurship. I also maintain a blog↗ about business research.

BiBB↗ is in a phase of rapid development and has a unique model—with approximately 600 articles in ORD and IDstories—serving as a modern, innovative encyclopedia with credited authors. The development of the ORD model↗ in BiBB has enhanced my research. BiBB is just one possible business model derived from a normative model and a Framework (Chapter 11).

0.8.1The Relevance of Encyclopedias

That encyclopedias have a long history (Chapter 10.10) and that these historical works have shaped—have been normative—for later encyclopedias is especially true for printed editions. As the referenced material shows, various models for encyclopedias—alphabetical and subject-organized—already existed in the 18th century. Wikipedia (Chapter 10.11) is a unique category and is only marginally discussed in the thesis.

What I call “progress’s backward gaze” makes it tricky to use our digital, media-heavy world as a vantage point when exploring how encyclopedias might become a relevant, credible knowledge service for many today. The AI revolution is definitely one of the major factors influencing this scenario. AI and generative AI, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Bard, and Gemini, are exponential technologies evolving rapidly. These issues are not discussed in the dissertation but are analyzed and detailed in Encyclopedias and AI↗ on BiBB.

0.9About Johan Schlasberg

Today, I am primarily an innovator, researcher, and writer, running a couple of small businesses of my own↗. I have several decades of experience as a strategy advisor to numerous trade unions and companies. IDstories.se↗ (which I founded in 1997) is a small company in mobile storytelling, based in part on my own patents (Schlasberg, 2000ꜜref+)—a method for building bridges between the physical and digital worlds, and other innovations. I coded the website using Adobe Dreamweaver and Photoshop.

My research studies have been entirely financed through my own entrepreneurship.

My profile page↗ at Lund University.

Digital encyclopedias — Fig. 0.5 The Journey of Encyclopedias
to e-Diderot. Remix. (JS)

Even casual reading in the half-French Nordisk familjebok at home sparked my interest in encyclopedias.
During school lessons on the French 18th century, however, we heard more about monsieur Guillotin and the Reign of Terror than about 'Les Lumières'↗ frW and the encyclopedists such as Denis Diderot (Chapter 28.8) and his pioneering Encyclopédie and struggle for Enlightenment. The image illustrates the encyclopedia’s journey from the 18th century to the e-Diderot, a normative model (Chapter 29) for a modern open encyclopedia for the 2020s and beyond.

// Temporary note: the dissertation process is moving slowly because the Department of Business Administration (EHL) at Lund University does not yet accept the web format as a basis for final seminars and public defense. // About temporary texts (Chapter 2.4)

0.10Acknowledgements

More acknowledgements will come later.
But already now, I must mention my dear unmarried wife of nearly 30 years—Birgitta Arneklo-Nobin↗, Associate Professor of Surgery with a thesis on 'The White Cold Hand.' Without Birgitta, I probably would have gotten cold feet and not written a thesis :) Birgitta’s review of many weak drafts has resulted in many better texts. Living with a thesis author has its sides, as those who know, know.

In autumn 2021, I led my third session at the FEKIS business research conference. There, I connected with Bengt Kristensson Uggla ↗, professor at Åbo Akademi (Finland’s Swedish-language university), and was invited in spring 2022 to give two faculty seminars at ÅA—one focused on my thesis content and one on its format. His book 'A Striving for Truth: The Theory and Practice of Science' (Kristensson Uggla, 2019) became a new acquaintance that came to influence my thesis.

I have many friends who are following the dissertation process with keen interest.

Published: February 8, 2020.
Updated: June 2, 2025

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