Search

The present study focuses on the implementation of a self - assessment procedure in a Physics class, extended during a seven weeks period in a European secondary level school. The researchers used three modes of assessment based on paper and pencil, computer-web and mobile devices respectively. The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of each mode of assessment on students' motivation and achievement. Analysis of pre- and post-motivation tests revealed a more positive motivational orientation of students towards computers and mobile devices as assessment delivery mediums. Also, student evaluation implemented after the phase of the experimental procedure showed a significant increase in learning achievement for low-achieving students who participated in the mobile-based and computer-based assessment. The positive effects of computers and mobile devices on students' learning motivation suggest that they can be used as a promising alternative to paper and pencil assessment procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the metaverse is still in the early stages of development and implementation, it has the potential to revolutionize the way how businesses can interact with customers through both the virtual and real world. In particular, service industries are already exploring the opportunity to utilize the metaverse to provide more immersive, interactive and engaging customer experiences. However, the holistic overview of the future applications, opportunities, and challenges of a metaverse in the context of service industries from academic and expert perspectives is limited. By employing a multi-perspective approach, this study looks into these unexplored aspects of the metaverse in the context of service industries through informed and multifaceted narratives by leading academics and experts from cross-disciplinary backgrounds from media and communication, education, hospitality, financial services, retail, tourism and healthcare. The main opportunities identified include the development of new experiences, the introduction of novel inter-world interactions, and new business-consumer relations within the metaverse. The key challenges covered include current technological boundaries, limitations of the experiences in the metaverse, health issues, and data privacy, security, and legal issues. The paper concludes with formulating future research agendas and presenting contributions to literature and implications for practice. • It explores future applications, opportunities, challenges, and research agenda of the metaverse in service industries. • Opportunities include new experiences development, novel inter-world interactions, and new business-consumer relations. • Key Challenges are technological boundaries, limited experiences, health, data privacy, security, and legal issues. • The paper concludes with formulating future research agendas and presenting contributions to literature and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the study of offline prosocial behavior has a long tradition, much less information is available about how these behaviors manifest and change in the digital environment, and little is known about their background. This paper evaluates differences by age and gender in a variety of attitudes and beliefs during adolescence and studies their influence on the online prosocial behavior emitted and received. A cross-sectional study was performed with 1299 participants aged between 14 and 20 from the Region of Madrid (Spain). The Spanish adaptation of the Online Prosocial Behavior Scale and a selection of items from various studies on attitudes and beliefs regarding altruism, direct and indirect reciprocity, social responsibility, and the perception of the subjective norm were administered. The results suggest that female adolescents maintain higher altruism, social responsibility, and indirect reciprocity than males, and that the older age group (18–20 years old) has higher scores in altruism, social responsibility, and direct reciprocity. Together with altruism, the subjective norm, social responsibility, and indirect reciprocity positively influence the online prosocial behavior emitted by adolescents. Indirect reciprocity, the subjective norm and altruism also influence the feeling of receiving online prosocial behaviors from others. Knowing the extent to which adolescents hold prosocial beliefs and which of these beliefs may favor prosocial online behaviors can be beneficial when promoting such beliefs and fostering more positive online conduct, as well as lessening cyberbullying, online hate and any other manifestation of aggressive behavior online. • Social networks constitute a space for the socialization of prosocial behavior in adolescence. • Beliefs about altruism, social responsibility, and indirect reciprocity favor the emission of online prosocial behavior. • Beliefs about altruism and indirect reciprocity favor greater perception of receiving prosocial behaviors online. • The prosocial subjective norm favors both the emission and reception of online prosocial behaviors. • Direct reciprocity does not seem to influence the emission and reception of online prosocial behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the interplay among human cognitive processing differences (field dependence vs . field independence), alternative interaction device types (desktop vs . touch) and user authentication schemes (textual vs . graphical) towards task completion efficiency and effectiveness. A four-month user study ( N = 164) was performed under the light of the field dependence-independence theory which underpins human cognitive differences in visual perceptiveness as well as differences in handling contextual information in a holistic or analytic manner. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of results revealed that field independent (FI) users outperformed field dependent users (FD) in graphical authentication, FIs authenticated similarly well on desktop computers as on touch devices, while touch devices negatively affected textual password entry performance of FDs. Users' feedback from a post-study survey further showed that FD users had memorability issues with graphical authentication and perceived the added difficulty when interacting with textual passwords on touch devices, in contrast to FI users that did not have significant usability and memorability issues on both authentication and interaction device types. Findings highlight the necessity to improve current approaches of knowledge-based user authentication research by incorporating human cognitive factors in both design and run-time. Such an approach is also proposed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Users of Social Network Sites (SNS) use the networks to share content and information about themselves. In particular for “nonymous” SNS, such as Facebook, profiles are connected to real names and appearances: this increases the connection between online and offline identities and the relevance of audiences to the information users share. This can lead users to feel as though they are under someone's constant observation, which can have consequences on how they present themselves on the platform. In this paper, we explore how the perception of an imaginary audience, i.e. the “others” adolescents perceive to be as concerned with themselves as they are, can inform the impression management strategies of adult Facebook users. Based on a Dutch empirical sample, and through a hierarchical regression, we explore the relationship of imaginary audience to impression management (both content-based, such as self-censorship, and audience-based, such as audience restriction). We also investigate the roles of privacy concerns, self-monitoring, age and gender on the self-presentation of users. Our results find positive effects for both imaginary audience and privacy concerns on both content and network-based impression management, while self-monitoring appears to have no effect. The age of respondents also appears to influence content-based impression management strategies, but not network-based strategies. Our paper represents a first attempt at applying the concept of imaginary audience to an adult sample of Facebook users. As imaginary audience and privacy concerns appear to have a stronger effect on content-based, rather than audience-based impression management, more research is necessary to understand how the feeling of being observed influences the information users share about themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a collaborative e-learning content management environment, the heterogeneity of data in different learning management systems presents many difficulties for data sharing; some of these difficulties are how to integrate data, produce results for user queries, and find the correct data from heterogeneous learning management systems. Over the last few years, numerous e-learning system architectures have been proposed; however, issues related to sharing and integrating data from different e-learning systems have been given less attention. Considering this need, this paper presents solutions for semantic data interoperability, distributed metadata management, and an agent-based query processing approach for supporting the exchange of learning content from different e-learning systems. The paper presents an empirical evaluation of the user acceptability of the proposed solutions to find qualitative measures of the users' acceptability and satisfaction; our proposed solutions resulted in high user satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a fact beyond doubt that humans, irrespective of race, age or gender, love to play, games being considered a tool for enjoying oneself and relaxing, but also for one's mental and physical development. The present paper addresses the concept of gamification, tightly connected to games and playing. The first part of the paper makes an introduction to this concept, with an emphasis on how it could bring motivation in education and learning. Gamification is considered critically, with reference to some problems that could occur for applications using gamification for learning. The second part deals with the zero-cost implementation process of the Interactivia.ro platform, which uses gamification to develop general knowledge, showing how a playful social experience is doubled by educational usefulness. We developed a list of features required for a successful implementation using open source or freemium modules and we applied them to several modules identified on the market. The statistical analysis of the date resulting from the implementation revealed that gamification increases web traffic. We also highlighted how Interactivia.ro can alter the virtual gamified experience into one applied in real life through partnerships and discounts offered to its users. The final part of the paper presents the conclusions and the possible openings for improving the current business model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Advertisement-based Video on Demand (AVoD) model has attracted the interest of major streaming players aiming to expand their audience reach. However, this prospect is threatened by the escalating trend of viewers actively avoiding video commercials. Such behavior poses challenges to advertisers and raises concerns about the economic sustainability of AVoD platforms. Despite its significance, the existing literature lacks in-depth studies on effective ad management in AVoD platforms. In this paper, we address the research question: Can overlay advertising be the key to engaging viewers with ads while watching media content on AVoD platforms? To answer this question, we conducted an experimental assessment using advanced eye-tracking technologies to analyze viewers' responses to personalized and generic overlay ads. The obtained results show that generic overlay ads do not effectively engage viewers, whereas personalized overlay commercials obtain significant results. Furthermore, we present a feasibility design study of the AVoD architecture, showcasing its capability to manage and display personalized overlay advertising. In summary, our findings suggest a promising path to establish meaningful engagement between viewers and commercials, thus enhancing AVoD platforms' appeal to advertisers. • An approach to display ads in AVoD platforms was proposed. • Eye tracking technologies were used to measure the viewersads engagement. • A questionnaire was used to investigate the viewers' perception towards overlay ads. • A between-subjects experiment was performed using 52 volunteers. • Viewers were engaged to personalized overlay ads, but not to generic overlay ads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper investigates the moderating effects of collectivist cultural orientation introduced in the information systems and knowledge management (KM) literature to fully understand the important factors and relationships in knowledge sharing in the online learning environment. Social norms and collectivist cultural orientation are hypothesized as direct and moderating factors to the system users’ (or learners’) attitude toward sharing knowledge by email. An empirical test of large student samples (n =566) with multiple cultural backgrounds in the most diverse university was implemented by PLS. The test confirmed that collectivist cultural orientation moderates the effects of social norms on the attitude toward sharing knowledge by email. Furthermore, the test results show that group norms are stronger than the instructor or classmate norms. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings for online learning and KM are discussed in the paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract Monitoring learners' satisfaction (LS) is a vital action for collecting precious information and design valuable online collaborative learning (CL) experiences. Today's CL platforms allow students for performing many online activities, thus generating a huge mass of data that can be processed to provide insights about the level of satisfaction on contents, services, community interactions, and effort. Big Data is a suitable paradigm for real-time processing of large data sets concerning the LS, in the final aim to provide valuable information that may improve the CL experience. Besides, the adoption of Big Data offers the opportunity to implement a non-intrusive and in-process evaluation strategy of online courses that complements the traditional and time-consuming ways to collect feedback (e.g. questionnaires or surveys). Although the application of Big Data in the CL domain is a recent explored research area with limited applications, it may have an important role in the future of online education. By adopting the design science research methodology, this article describes a novel method and approach to analyse individual students' contributions in online learning activities and assess the level of their satisfaction towards the course. A software artefact is also presented, which leverages Learning Analytics in a Big Data context, with the goal to provide in real-time valuable insights that people and systems can use to intervene properly in the program. The contribution of this paper can be of value for both researchers and practitioners: the former can be interested in the approach and method used for LS assessment; the latter can find of interest the system implemented and how it has been tested in a real online course. Highlights • Real-time monitoring of LS is crucial for CL processes. • Real time monitoring of LS may support course delivery and reduce early drop-outs. • Learning Analytics provide valuable insights about the level of LS. • Big Data may support learning managers to enhance decision making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of fake news and doctored narratives on the Internet, research on online rumors is growing. Previous works often dealt with either individuals' trust in rumors or their willingness to share. Juxtaposing both in the same study, the aim of this paper is to investigate medical professionals' intentions to trust and share online health rumors as a function of their personal involvement, the rumor type, and the presence of counter-rumors. Personal involvement refers to individuals’ perceived relevance of a rumor. Two common types of rumors include dread and wish. Counter-rumors are messages that debunk rumors. A within-participants experiment was conducted with 60 participants, divided evenly among doctors, nurses and medical students, each of whom was exposed to eight cancer-related rumors. Rumor type and the presence of counter-rumors were induced. Personal involvement, intention to trust, and intention to share were measured using a questionnaire. Results showed that personal involvement compelled intentions to trust and share. Dread rumors triggered intentions to trust and share more than did wish rumors. The presence of counter-rumors lowered intention to trust, but not intention to share. Moreover, rumor type moderated the relation between personal involvement and intentions to trust and share. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ophir, Nass and Wagner (2009) showed that as multitasking frequency increases, multitasking performance decreases. Other studies, however, have not replicated this effect (e.g., Minear, Brasher, McCurdy, Lewis & Younggren, 2013). In this paper, we argue that the association between frequent media multitasking and poor multitasking performance depends on self-regulation ability and external factors, such as manipulation of the task execution strategy (sequential vs. free switching). In Study 1, we determined participants’ media multitasking frequency and measured their self-regulation ability. Then, participants performed a multiple media task in which they could freely switch between browser tabs. The results showed that high media multitasking levels were associated with more switches between tabs but only for participants with low (but not high) self-regulation ability. No differences in performance were observed. In Study 2, instead of measuring self-regulation ability, we manipulated task execution strategy (as an external form of regulation). As predicted, media multitasking frequency and performance on multiple tasks (overall score) were negatively related only in the free switching condition and not in the sequential condition. The results elucidate the relationship between media multitasking frequency and multitasking performance by showing its boundary conditions, and they help explain contradictory findings in the media multitasking literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the persuasive process of borrowers' controllable voluntary information which can be easily manipulated and is particularly valuable for borrowers to persuade lenders and enhance the likelihood of funding success in P2P lending marketplace. Using a large scale data set from a Chinese leading P2P lending platform, namely Renrendai, based on a dual-processing persuasion theory-Elaboration Likelihood Model, we introduce four newly persuasive features ( Completeness, Sentiment, Language intensity, The number of certificates ) with central and peripheral cues in voluntary information. The results show that the persuasion of borrowers' voluntary information can be accomplished via two distinct routes in P2P lending, suggesting that not only central cues but also peripheral cues have significant effect on lenders’ decision making. Specially, negative sentiment is negatively associated with funding success which is contradictory to the findings in fund-raising appeals say using negative emotions can evoke “empathy-helping”. Moreover, we find a negative interaction effect on funding success between Completeness and The number of certificates . Our study shed some light for deeply understanding the dual-route persuasive process in P2P lending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Searching for specific topics on Twitter, readers have to judge the credibility of tweets. In this paper, we examine the relationship between reader demographics, news attributes and tweet features with reader's credibility perception, and further examine the correlation among these factors. We found that reader's educational background and geo-location have significant correlation with their credibility perception, and furthermore the news attributes in tweets are also significantly correlated with reader's credibility perception. Despite differences in demographics, readers find features including the search topic keyword and the writing style of tweets most helpful in perceiving tweet credibility. While previous studies reported the use of specific features, our results showed that readers use combination of features to make decisions regarding tweet credibility. Comparing the credibility level predicted by an automatic prediction tool and that by reader's perception, we found that readers tend to be more trusting, possibly due to the limited explicit author information available on Twitter. Our study can help devise strategies to enhance the tweet credibility with readers and also help educate readers to be more cautious with information credibility on Twitter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of numerous Internet celebrities on social media platforms has created fierce competition among this group of individuals, making the maintenance of enduring involvement among followers a crucial concern. Building upon theories of social exchange and interpersonal attraction, this paper investigates the effects of Internet celebrities' self-disclosure (across the dimensions of amount, relevance, and negativity) on their followers' interpersonal attraction to them (across the dimensions of familiarity, similarity, and expertise), as well as on their followers' enduring involvement with them. A survey was administered to 695 Internet celebrity followers, and structural equation modeling was performed to examine the hypothesized intervariable relationships. The amount of self-disclosure negatively affected followers' perceived similarity but did not significantly affect perceived familiarity or perceived expertise. Relevance positively influenced perceived familiarity, perceived similarity, and perceived expertise. Negativity positively affected perceived familiarity and negatively influenced perceived expertise but did not significantly affect perceived similarity. Enduring involvement was positively influenced by perceived familiarity, perceived similarity, and perceived expertise. The findings have various theoretical and practical implications. • The amount of self-disclosure negatively affected fan-perceived similarity. • Relevance fosters the three dimensions of fan-perceived interpersonal attraction. • Negativity fosters perceived familiarity and declines perceived expertise. • The three dimensions of interpersonal attraction fosters enduring involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personalization techniques are a classic solution recommended by many experts for improving learning. Information and communication technologies and online courses have helped reduce the difficulties teachers face with a diversity of student profiles and a large number of students in a classroom. When these factors are extreme, like in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), those techniques may be the solution. However, even the most sophisticated technologies have not solved all the challenges posed by personalized learning, and in cases where teachers are not skilled in the technology they must use, the adaptive systems have only complicated the implementation of online courses. Therefore, this paper proposes a construct of adaptivity for MOOCs to identify some specific personalizing indicators. These indicators are chosen as a result of previous work done and are based on two aspects of learning: self-regulation and cooperation. This construct presents a consistent scale. A study is conducted to find the indicators that are most acceptable to participants in a MOOC, and it considers whether the performance or completion of other MOOCs previously influences the participant's perception of the value of the proposed construct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social network profiles display individuals' posts and content left by their friends, such as wall posts and photo tags. Sometimes content posted and tagged by others is inconsistent with a person's desired self-image. One strategy that people use to increase the distance between their identity and content they don't like is to untag themselves. Tagging and untagging pose important questions for traditional theories of self-presentation, which describe the projection of one's own desired identity and others' response to that projection. Tagging reverses this role by allowing others to project a person's identity, and forcing that person to respond. Using de-identified, aggregated behavioral data from Facebook and a survey of 802 people, this paper aims to explore this shift by asking whether untagging occurs similarly to other self-presentation behavior and how people view this strategy. Results suggest that untagging differs from traditional self-presentation tactics in three key respects: it is used more by more experienced users, it occurs when there are gender and age differences between tagger and target, and it is seen as an easy way to mitigate the negative effects of annoying or embarrassing content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering students, as compared to computing-related majors, are not traditionally introduced to computing in the context of authentic learning experiences, i.e., real-world applications within their discipline. This paper identifies the impact of computation delivered by authentic learning experiences in the form of anchored instruction on students' self-beliefs and their capacity to leverage computation to acquire disciplinary concepts in subsequent computationally-based engineering coursework. This case study included 130 students with different programing preparation (authentic or traditional), who were exposed to computational learning modules. Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions is the conceptual framework that guided the evaluation of this investigation. Measures included student self-beliefs such as control and value appraisals, and their relationship with academic performance. Results suggest that programming preparation presented in an authentic engineering context provides an important foundation that goes beyond increasing students' control self-beliefs. This preparation seems to effectively enable students to leverage computational practices for the purpose of acquiring disciplinary concepts. Implications for teaching relate to the integration of computation sooner, more often and within a disciplinary context in the undergraduate engineering curriculum. Implications for learning relate to fostering engineering computational literacy guided by anchored instruction to support disciplinary problem solving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This paper investigates the influence of using tablet in waiting rooms and medical examinations on how physicians give information and how patients learn. It further assesses the factors that impact patient satisfaction. Methods Patients and physicians in a primary care clinic were given a tablet device to search for health information in the waiting room, and when interacting with the physician, while physicians used the tablet device to share information with patients during the medical consultation. 82 patients completed a ‘pre’ survey on using tablets to search for health related information and a ‘post’ survey after their visit. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze patient's perceptions. Results Tablet use during consultation has a negative effect on patients' perceptions of physician information giving, but using the tablet in the waiting room has a positive impact on patient learning, perceptions of physicians' information giving and patient satisfaction. Conclusions This study indicates the importance of tablet use in ensuring information giving and patient learning. It further highlights the potential for tablets to promote single-loop learning in the medical encounter by better preparing patients for the physician's information giving. Tablets also enable double-loop learning, which leads to greater patient satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a research on the application of Facebook in education is presented. A total of 139 students of the Faculty of Education in Sombor (Serbia) participated in the research. The results establish a positive correlation between the academic performance of students and the frequency of use of Facebook for educational purposes. The factor of perceived usefulness greatly affected the decision of students to use Facebook as a learning aid. No significant difference in the frequency of use of Facebook for general purposes has been reported between the groups of students divided by the academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike traditional media, our interactions with political parties via social media are generally public, subject to scrutiny by others and, consequently, a self-presentation concern. This paper contributes to theory on impression management within social network sites (SNSs) by providing an understanding of the effect of visible affiliation on page ‘Liking’ behavior in the context of political parties; specifically, the possible association with social anxiety and the use of protective impression management. We predict that while users may be motivated to ‘Like’ a political party, some may feel socially anxious about the impressions their friends may derive from this action, and so ultimately choose to refrain from ‘Liking’ the party. Furthermore, we propose a new function of ‘Secret Likes’ (i.e. ‘Likes’ that others cannot see) as a means to increase gateway interactions. A survey of eligible voters ( n = 225) was conducted in the month prior to the 2015 UK general election, examining behavior associated with the Facebook pages of the two largest political parties. Results support that conspicuous affiliation with political parties indeed hinders intention to ‘Like’ political pages and is associated with social anxiety. ‘Secret Likes’ were found to be a successful method to increase gateway interactions. In addition to the theoretical contribution, implications for political party communications and site designers are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines the effects of general, medium specificity, and specific instructions on hypertext navigation and comprehension scores. Undergraduate students ( N = 45) were assigned to the different hypertext conditions, and navigation patterns were extracted through cluster analysis. Control subjects ( N = 45) performed the same tasks, but using paper texts. Our results suggest that novices are only affected by the specificity of instructions after an exploration phase. Also, an ANOVA showed no significant differences in comprehension scores across conditions, supporting the fact that hypertext comprehension is directly affected by navigation paths. Implications for research and education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phishing is an online identity theft that aims to steal sensitive information such as username, password and online banking details from its victims. Phishing education needs to be considered as a means to combat this threat. This paper reports on a design and development of a mobile game prototype as an educational tool helping computer users to protect themselves against phishing attacks. The elements of a game design framework for avoiding phishing attacks were used to address the game design issues. Our mobile game design aimed to enhance the users' avoidance behaviour through motivation to protect themselves against phishing threats. A think-aloud study was conducted, along with a pre- and post-test, to assess the game design framework though the developed mobile game prototype. The study results showed a significant improvement of participants' phishing avoidance behaviour in their post-test assessment. Furthermore, the study findings suggest that participants' threat perception, safeguard effectiveness, self-efficacy, perceived severity and perceived susceptibility elements positively impact threat avoidance behaviour, whereas safeguard cost had a negative impact on it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Trolling’ refers to a specific type of malicious online behaviour, intended to disrupt interactions, aggravate interactional partners and lure them into fruitless argumentation. However, as with other categories, both ‘troll’ and ‘trolling’ may have multiple, inconsistent and incompatible meanings, depending upon the context in which the term is used and the aims of the person using the term. Drawing data from 14 online fora and newspaper comment threads, this paper explores how online users mobilise and make use of the term ‘troll’. Data was analysed from a discursive psychological perspective. Four repertoires describing trolls were identified in posters online messages: 1) that trolls are easily identifiable, 2) nostalgia, 3) vigilantism and 4) that trolls are nasty. Analysis also revealed that despite repertoire 01, identifying trolls is not a simple and straight-forward task. Similarly to any other rhetorical category, there are tensions inherent in posters accounts of nature and acceptability of trolling. Neither the category ‘troll’ nor the action of ‘trolling’ has a single, fixed meaning. Either action may be presented as desirable or undesirable, depending upon the aims of the poster at the time of posting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing presence of online travel communities is leading to great developments in the travel industry. Grounded in the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) and the technology acceptance model (TAM), this paper seek to develop and empirically test a comprehensive framework to examine the antecedents of customers' intention to participate in online travel community. Using SEM to analyse the data collected from a sample of 495 members, the results indicate that innovation diffusion theory and TAM with trust provide an appropriate model for explaining consumers' intention to participate; this intention in turn has a positive influence on intention to purchase and positive WOM. Furthermore, religiosity plays an important role in understanding consumers' behavioural intention. The results offer important implications for online service provider and are likely to stimulate further research in the area of online travel community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online newspapers (and other spaces) are increasingly seeking to utilise user-generated content alongside professionally developed material. However, this might leave websites increasingly vulnerable to trolls, who work to disrupt online communications in online spaces. Such behaviour can have serious consequences both in peoples online and offline lives, and for the development of coherent online communities. One means of controlling is through the manipulation of the online space to create social norms of polite behaviour through the founding of ‘imagined communities’ online. Approaching the issue from a discursive psychological perspective, this paper draws upon comments published in two online British newspaper comment sections responding to the publication of an academic article on trolling. Imagined communities are shown to arise irrespective of the presence of the virtual infrastructure to support the development of these imagined communities. Key features of imagined communities identified here are: individuation (as opposed to deindividuation); mutual influence between posters; shared history for both the users and the online space; the use of humour to cement social bonds. Analysis also revealed tensions in posters understanding of online and offline behaviours. This research holds implications for understanding online spaces, and the interactions between users within these spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim The purpose of this paper was to examine the possibility of using Augmented Reality to reduce memory-related ethnic bias towards places and to increase understanding of multicultural place meaning and change emotional attitudes towards historical sites. Background Theoretical and empirical works suggest that the direct, embodied contact with place's history facilitates understanding of its past. Places which were deprived of historical continuity are less liked and threatened by ethnic bias in collective memory. AR technology gives a possibility of recreating past of such places and in a consequence tests an influence of experience of place's history on psychological aspects of the people-place relationship. Method A between-subjects experiment was conducted, in which participants either walked with an AR application displaying historical photos in real environment or watched photos on computers. The chosen place was the former Jewish district in Warsaw, Poland. Results The results of multiple regression analyses showed that the AR application can facilitate positive attitudes towards a place, reduce ethnic bias and enhance multicultural place meaning. Conclusions We argue that AR could be used as a method of reviving (multi)cultural heritage, but also as a tool of reducing prejudices and increasing openness to other cultures and traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify the most commonly used external factors of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in the context of e-learning adoption, a quantitative meta-analysis of 107 papers covering the last ten years was performed. The results show that Self-Efficacy, Subjective Norm, Enjoyment, Computer Anxiety and Experience are the most commonly used external factors of TAM. The effects of these commonly used external factors on TAM's two main constructs, Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) and Perceived Usefulness (PU), have been studied across a range of e-learning technology types and e-learning user types. The results show that the best predictor of student's PEOU of e-learning systems is Self-Efficacy (β = 0.352), followed by Enjoyment (β = 0.341), Experience (β = 0.221), Computer Anxiety (β = −0.199) and Subjective Norm (β = 0.195). The best predictor of student's PU of e-learning systems is Enjoyment (β = 0.452), followed by Subjective Norm (β = 0.301), Self-Efficacy (β = 0.174) and Experience (β = 0.169). Using these external factors and their effect sizes on PEOU and PU, this study proposes a General Extended Technology Acceptance Model for E-Learning (GETAMEL). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile learning (M-learning) has become an important educational technology component in higher education. M-learning makes it possible for students to learn, collaborate, and share ideas among each other with the aid of internet and technology development. However, M-learning acceptance by learners and educators is critical to the employments of M-learning systems. Attitudes towards M-learning technology is an important factor that helps in determining whether or not learners and educators are ready to use M-learning. Such attitudes will serve to identify strengths and weaknesses and facilitate the development of the technology infrastructure. This paper aims at exploring students and educators' attitudes towards the use of M-learning in higher educational universities within Oman and UAE; two neighboring countries in the Arab Gulf region. To serve this purpose, two survey questionnaires were conducted: one for students and another for educators. The participants of this study are 383 students and 54 instructors from five universities. Different factors have been examined to test where there is a significant difference among students and educators' attitudes towards the use of M-learning, such as gender, age, country, level of study, smartphone ownership, major in terms of students and age, country, academic rank, academic experience and smartphone ownership in terms of educators. Findings revealed significant differences among the students’ attitudes towards M-learning with regard to their smartphone ownership, country and age. Furthermore, results indicated that M-learning can be one of the promising pedagogical technologies to be employed in the higher educational environments within the Arab Gulf countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trust and risk have been theorized and empirically approved as the most influential factors affecting individual behavior toward social media platforms (SMPs). However, the evidence is scattered and the understanding of the effects is ambiguous. To address this problem, a rigorous and quantitative meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the empirical evidence of 43 studies in information systems research between 2006 and 2014. The findings suggested that trust and risk both had significant effects on individual behavior toward SMPs but that trust had a stronger effect. Moderating effects of trust objects (community members vs. platforms) and platform types (virtual communities vs. social networking sites) were found. Surprisingly, culture was found to exert no moderating effect. This paper contributes more generalized knowledge to social media research literature to the theory with regard to the influence of trust and risk on individual behavior toward SMPs. The knowledge serves as the foundation for future research efforts in social media. Implications for practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio constructivist approach has an important say in cognitive absorption of learning in a student's life. This era of social networking services has given substantial importance to collaborative nature of learning, thus supporting Vygotsky's socio constructivist approach. The aim of this paper is to predict key determinants that affect students' intention towards academic use of Facebook. The usable data were gathered from 215 Omani students, and multi-analytical methods were employed to test the proposed research model. The results obtained from structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that resource sharing is the most influencing determinant in the decision of Facebook usage in higher education, followed by perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, collaboration and social influence. Further, the results obtained from SEM were used as input to the neural network model and results showed that collaboration is the most important predictor of Facebook adoption for academic purposes followed by, resource sharing, perceived enjoyment, social influence, and perceived usefulness. The findings of this study can be used to enhance the use of social media tool like Facebook for teaching and learning purposes. This is the first study which analyzed Facebook adoption for academic purposes by using a linear and nonlinear modelling. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted an experiment to examine how people perceive differences between points-based and story-based gamification approaches. We were interested in how these differences impact peoples’ play experiences and perceptions of working on a citizen science task. Our findings show that the story-based game, Forgotten Island, was strongly preferred over the points-based game, Happy Match. Participants indicated that this was because of “diegesis” in Forgotten Island – in other words, a focus on story-motivated activities and rewards made the citizen science task more enjoyable and gave participants various reasons to continue play. This study suggests that story-based games can be a powerful tool for attracting participants to citizen science tasks. In particular, compared to point-based games, story-based games may be more useful for attracting and engaging participants who are ambivalent about scientific inquiry. This paper also discusses some of the challenges and possibilities for both points-based and story-based gamification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased use of smartphones has established a trend of web browsing through smartphone browsers. On one hand many of the smartphone web browsers are available and on the other hand many of the websites are customized for mobile browsing. This paper presents the results of a study conducted to reveal the usage patterns of smartphones web browsers. Mix methods of research are used in this study. It is initiated with a qualitative part to lay down the basis for further investigations and concluded with a quantitative part. The results revealed about some of the insights on smartphone web browser usage patterns, which are equally helpful for the industry and academia. The findings are presented in following categories: number of usage sessions per day, duration of sessions, common tasks performed, and frequently used browser features. Furthermore, usage patterns associated to these categories are identified and analyzed in context of age and experience groups. The findings suggest that respondents from 35 to 44 years of age tend to use smartphone web browsers for less number of times in a day but have longer sessions. However, there is no significant difference in use of browser feature among different age groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobiquitous is a term recently introduced in literature to stress the strategic convergence of mobile and ubiquitous technologies. Mobiquitous services in a smart environment rely on the capability of smart objects to sense, compute, communicate and take some adaptive actions according to their goals in situated contexts, even without the human intervention. These complexity oriented issues make the human interaction with mobiquitous services more crucial and more challenging as compared with the classical human–computer interaction. In this paper, we propose a general framework as a conceptual tool for modeling such an interaction, once specific technologies are selected and employed. We view a single interaction occurring in a smart environment as a sequence of actions that involve users, mobiquitous services, interaction resources, environmental context items, and information exchanges between the user and the mobiquitous service. We specify these concepts and we discuss their inter-relationships. The rationale is to provide a conceptual aide for designing, analyzing and operationalizing human interaction with mobiquitous services and applications in smart environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retailing industry has evolved drastically, especially in the past two decades due to the mobile technology. A recent empirical research study proved that the public use of mobile devices can be explained by the extension of the self, Hahn and Kim (2013) suggesting that fashion and appearance related constructs are imperative to understand young adult consumers’ mobile use intentions. With an aim to better understand the consumer’s mobile usage behavior, the researchers adopted psychographic characteristics such as fashion involvement, self-monitoring tendency, and proclivity of experimenting with appearance to gauge the individual consumers’ mobile dependency. Using an online and paper survey, we collected 273 usable responses from college-aged consumers. T -tests revealed that individuals, who had a higher degree of one’s sensitivity of self-monitoring, exhibited a significantly higher mean scores in fashion involvement, experimenting with appearance, and mobile dependency. A similar pattern was found among the ones with higher degree of ability of self-monitoring tendency as well. Discussion and pragmatic implications to the retail industry are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robot representation is a moving target : according to our previous experience and to the context of use, we constantly reinvent what we consider to be ‘robot’. In this paper we investigate teenagers’ robot representation, with special concerns to educational robots. By robot representation we mean its (i) ontological and (ii) functional status. Particularly, we seek to understand whether teenagers’ judgment about (i) and (ii) changes when they become acquainted with robots. To this aim, we carried out an experimental study with pre- and post-questionnaires with 79 participants during a robotic event: the RoboParty®. Results show that building and programming a robot fosters a more nuanced judgment about robots’ belonging to the living and non-living categories but, on the other side, a more definite judgment about the educative functions that a robot may serve. Thus, at this stage of technology development in contemporary society, robots seem to share something with living entities and some other things with non-living ones. Just like living entities, robots hold an ontological status that admits degrees; similarly to non-living entities, robots need to have a precise function in order for users to have a meaningful interaction with them. Moreover, contrary to our prediction and to current literature, no new category – beyond those of living and non-living ones-seems to emerge in teenagers’ ontology. However, cues pointing out that dealing with robots might have an impact on traditional boundaries of common-sense ontology are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines gender effects reported in a quasi-experimental implementation of a social dilemma using Facebook profile owners as subjects. By sending personal invitations via Facebook interest groups, we were able to recruit a fairly large number of participants ( N = 216) who participated in a “one-shot” variation of the Voluntary Contribution Mechanism (VCM). In addition to participating in the social dilemma, participants provided information about their online profile and their attitude towards Facebook. We observed gender effects on the cooperation style of participants who use Facebook frequently in order to communicate not only with friends and family but also with work colleagues and business acquaintances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to investigate the constructs of Technology Readiness Index (TRI) and the Decomposed Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory (DEDT) as determinants of satisfaction and continuous use intention in e-learning services applied in public organizations. The research was conducted by online survey in a sample of 343 employees of two public organizations in Brazil who have had e-learning experience. The results showed that quality, quality disconfirmation, value and value disconfirmation positively impact on satisfaction, as well as disconfirmation usability, innovativeness and optimism. Likewise, satisfaction proved to be decisive for the purpose of continuous use intention. In addition, technological readiness and performance are strongly related. The main contribution of this study is the delivery of an assessment tool for performance oriented to training courses at distance and applied in public organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of why players of video games persist gaming in the face of what seems to be insufficient reward has not yet been properly answered. This paper approaches the issue by combining two general psychological theories: Self-determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) and Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). A large scale survey ( N = 7252) enabled a comparison of three groups which differed in terms of their Gamer Identity Strength (GIS), namely the degree to which players define gaming as part of their social identity. GIS is highest in Hardcore gamers and lower for Heavy and Casual gamers. GIS was positively, and uniformly, related with needs for Competence, Autonomy and Relatedness. Meanwhile, regulation was greater and more internal in the higher GIS groups. Finally, persistence was found to increase with GIS. The structure of needs and regulation modes underlying persistence was comparatively analyzed for the three groups; similarities between GIS groups were more frequent than differences. Most importantly, results indicated that Casual and Heavy gamers were motivated to continue to play as a result of both the feelings of enjoyment and a sense of connectedness. Hardcore gamers were more intrinsically motivated through enjoyment enhancing their levels of persistence accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper investigates whether perceived risk online is affected by the language in which a user browses a given website. In order to achieve this objective and test the proposed hypotheses, a 2×2 between-subjects experimental design was chosen, using two independent variables with two levels each, namely: culture (Spanish vs. British) and processing language (Spanish vs. English). The final sample comprised 491 individuals (264 Spanish and 227 British). Half the sample browsed in their mother tongue, and the other half in a second language. The results showed that Spanish users perceive less risk when browsing in English than in Spanish, while for the British there was no difference, in terms of perceived risk, between browsing in Spanish or English. Another interesting finding is the moderating effect of message involvement on the processing of information from the website, and thus its effect on the user’s perception of risk. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper aims to develop an instrument to measure Player–Avatar Identification (PAI) in video game playing. Survey studies were conducted with over 1000 students in Singapore primary and secondary schools. The results of the studies demonstrated that PAI can be conceptualized and reliably measured in terms of four-factors – feelings during play, absorption during play, positive attitudes toward the game avatar and importance of the avatar to one’s self identity. The four-factor model showed acceptable model data fit and satisfactory reliability and validity. The construct validity was supported by the relationship between PAI and identity style. The result suggested that students with diffused identity style reported significant higher scores on absorption and importance to identity. The usefulness of the concept and the scale was discussed in relation to behavioral and developmental implications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Research suggests that certain visual instructional aids can reduce levels of disorientation and increase learning performance in, and positive attitudes towards, HLS for learners with specific individual differences. However, existing studies have looked at only one or two individual differences at a time, and/or considered only a small number of visual instructional aids. No study has considered the impact of the three most commonly studied individual differences – cognitive style, domain knowledge and computer experience – on learning performance, disorientation and attitudes in a HLS incorporating a full range of visual instructional aids. The study reported here addresses this shortcoming, examining the effects of, and between, these three individual differences in relation to learning performance, disorientation and attitudes in two HLS versions: one that incorporated a full set of visual instructional aids and one that did not. Significant effects were found between the three individual differences with respect to disorientation, learning performance and attitudes in the HLS that provided no instructional aids, whereas no such effects were found for the other HLS version. Analysis of the results led to a set of HLS design guidelines, presented in the paper, and the development of an agenda for future research. Limitations of the study and their implications for the generalizability of the findings are also presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: 3D online multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) have a lot of potential in supporting older people in their daily lives, yet little research has been conducted to explore how older people engage with this type of technology. This paper aims to investigate the characteristics, user groups and activity patterns (particularly social networks and gift giving behaviour) of older users within a 3D online multi-user virtual environment. Data from approximately 5000 online user profiles of older and younger users from a 3D MUVE, namely IMVU, was collected for analysis. Overall, we identified several distinct patterns of use (e.g. size of social ties, level of reciprocity, etc.) among older users when compared with younger users. We also found that despite the capabilities of 3D MUVEs to provide the users immersion in alternative realities, a feature well embraced by younger users in this study, older users seemed more interested in activities which serve as an extension to their physical life. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Internet gambling is one of the fastest growing sectors of e-commerce and rapidly growing as a mode of gambling. Although Internet gambling is characterized by high levels of customer choice, little is known about Internet gamblers or their engagement with Internet and non-Internet forms of gambling. Regulators are struggling to respond to Internet gambling given that little is known about the impact of this mode of gambling on the existing gambling market, who is gambling online and how. This paper presents one of the largest studies of Internet gambling; an online survey completed by 6682 Australian gamblers. Results show that Internet gamblers are a heterogeneous group, although there is a tendency for Internet gamblers to be male, have high incomes and be well educated. Internet gamblers have more positive attitudes towards gambling and are more highly involved gamblers, engaging in many different gambling activities in both online and offline forms. However, a proportion of Internet gamblers prefer the privacy and anonymity of Internet gambling and do not like land-based venues, suggesting that Internet gambling is creating a new market of gambling customers. Understanding the impact of this new mode of gamblers on existing gamblers and new players is important to contribute to the appropriate regulation of this activity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Drawing upon researches in marketing and psychology, the present investigation examines empirically the intermediate psychological process that would explain how and why forced use affects satisfaction and behavioral intentions with self-service technologies. A non-internet self-service technology setting serviced as the study context. This study tested the research model and relevant hypotheses with survey responses collected from 290 users of self-service technology in China. Results indicate that technology anxiety and technology trust are the two intermediate psychological constructs through which forced use affects satisfaction and behavioral intentions with self-service technologies. This paper sheds some additional light on the relationship among forced use, technology anxiety, technology trust, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions in self-service technology setting. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to examine various normative, attitudinal and control factors influencing consumers’ intention to adopt broadband internet in a developing country such as Malaysia. This study is based on empirical data collected using a self-administered questionnaire relating to the normative, attitudinal and control variables. Structural equation modeling analysis is conducted to test the role of numerous variables on consumers’ behavioral intentions to adopt broadband internet in Malaysia. Results revealed that Primary Influences (PI), Relative Advantage (RA), Hedonic Outcomes (HO), Facilitating Conditions Resources (FCR), and Self-Efficacy (SE) are positively associated with consumers’ Behavioral Intention (BI) to adopt broadband in Malaysia. The significance of this research study is twofold. Practically, this research study provide some useful guidelines to industry players, be it the internet service providers (ISPs) or the policy makers, to understand which are the factors (primary influences, self-efficacy, relative advantage, hedonic outcomes and facilitating conditions resources) that can have an influence on consumers’ intention to adopt broadband technology. It was found that primary influences, self-efficacy and relative advantage are the key determinants that influences consumers’ broadband adoption. From here, practitioners could take into consideration our findings when revising and restructuring their marketing strategy. Theoretically, the research framework used in this study is an extension from the past research models used (i.e. TPB, DOI and MATH). With the newly integrated framework, a greater level of comprehension can be attained with regards to the broadband acceptance among the Malaysian consumers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The popularity of Internet use has generated a need for reliable and valid Internet attitude assessments. Current practices in the development and validation of Internet attitude scales have raised several methodological and practical issues. The purpose of this study was to develop general Internet attitudes measure as well as to explore the psychometric and methodological concerns surrounding the construct validity of existing Internet attitude scales. A three-study sequence was conducted that included the development and refinement of the Attitudes Towards the Internet Scale (ATIS), an investigation of differences between Internet and paper-and-pencil administrations, and differential item and person functioning. The ATIS demonstrated appropriate psychometric qualities and is suitable for general use. Suggestions for future researchers and practitioners interested in the assessment of Internet attitudes are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Despite the increasing and now ubiquitous use of computer technologies, previous research by the authors has indicated a preference for using books over computers in the learning context. This paper presents a follow-up study, which investigates why there is this preference for books amongst the undergraduate population. It was found that findings from the previous study were replicated; namely, attitudes toward books were significantly more positive than attitudes toward computers. Further, significantly more respondents expected to learn more from books than computer-based material, and preferred to learn from books than computers. Reasons for these preferences included practical usability issues, media-related usability, experience and aesthetic values. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

People process information at different levels of abstraction (e.g., talking about a topic in general terms and then going into the details). They move from one level to another but focus on a particular level at any specific moment. We see this behavior in the most common of tasks, such as solving problems, communicating and designing. This paper explores the implications of levels of abstraction on designing interactive systems. It demonstrates the idea by showing the feasibility and desirability of building a simple e-mail system based on the idea of levels of abstraction and testing its usability.We believe the implications of levels of abstraction on design are profound as regards the design of interactive systems that support dynamic behavior. Having shown the feasibility of some basic design implications, we call for empirical studies to test their usability and explore more advanced design implications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Many studies have compared paper and computers using objective performance measures. The aim of the study reported here was to extend this body of work by considering subjective measures. A questionnaire survey of 217 people showed that books were perceived more favorably than computers on all of the affective scales of Kay''s Computer Attitude Measure (CAM; 1993). Further, respondents preferred to learn from books rather than computers, and expected to learn more from them than computer-based material. The conclusion reached is that people have a strong affection for books, prefer them to computers for learning purposes, and expect to learn more from them. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]