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The development of efficient and reliable online assessments has become increasingly important in the digital era. We developed a 10-min online word reading assessment of global English based on the existing paper-and-pencil version of our English silent word reading test. The test includes two parts, namely, random word recognition and contextual word reading. A total of 889 participants (437 children and 392 adults; 62.7% female) took part in the study. They were from various regions including mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Poland, the United States, and the Philippines. Reliability and validity analyses on various demographics samples (by age and country/region of origin) demonstrated that the WordSword Test is highly reliable and valid (e.g., the correlation of this test with other English reading measures were above.80). Education level was positively correlated with test performance, while the correlations between age and test performance were not consistent. Ninety-seven children participants also took the paper-and-pencil version of the WordSword Test. The correlation between performances on the online and paper-and-pencil versions of the test was.879, one year apart. With more children and adults taking the WordSword Test, we ultimately hope to establish norms by area, grade level, and age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the hands-on experience of HSBC in implementing distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based solutions through building its own proprietary tokenisation platform, HSBC Orion, and participating in various industry initiatives such the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)'s inaugural tokenised green bond issuance. The paper highlights key considerations for building DLT-based solutions and provides a view of the future state of digital assets as the ecosystem continues to grow and evolve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the hands-on experience of HSBC in implementing distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based solutions through building its own proprietary tokenisation platform, HSBC Orion, and participating in various industry initiatives such the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)'s inaugural tokenised green bond issuance. The paper highlights key considerations for building DLT-based solutions and provides a view of the future state of digital assets as the ecosystem continues to grow and evolve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the analysis effect of traditional arts and crafts, this paper analyzes traditional arts and crafts combined with digital technology, builds an intelligent analysis system to improve the digital processing effect of traditional arts and crafts, and takes the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as an example to verify the system effect. In order to improve the accuracy of subsequent image alignment and defect detection, this paper compares the effects of the pixel-level edge detection algorithm and the subpixel-level edge detection algorithm and finally selects the subpixel-based edge detection algorithm to extract the edge of the image. In addition, this paper compares the traditional defect detection algorithm through research and experiment and proposes an improved image phase difference method according to the actual situation. The experimental research shows that the traditional arts and crafts intelligent analysis system based on digital technology proposed in this paper has a very good effect. At the same time, with the support of this system, the intelligent analysis of traditional arts and crafts in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area can be carried out efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Educational Technology & Online Learning (JETOL) is the property of Gurhan Durak and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy is a crucial part of digital literacy that all individuals should possess in today's technologically advanced world. Despite the potential benefits that AI education offers, little research has been done on how to teach AI literacy to children. Objectives: This study aimed to fill that gap by investigating how children were engaged in AI literacy activities that are supported by intelligent agents. These activities were implemented in a Hong Kong kindergarten with a class of six 5‐year‐olds (Mage = 62.83 months, SD = 2.91) over a 6‐week period. Methods: The study gathered data from multiple sources, including classroom observations, teacher interviews, and documents/artefacts. Results and Conclusions: The results showed that children could learn about AI through interaction with intelligent agents in embodied learning contexts. The findings of this study have implications for the broader field of digital technology education, particularly in the context of early childhood education. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy is essential in today's world.Little research exists on engaging young children in learning AI literacy. What this paper adds: Technology‐enhanced embodied learning approach affords multimodality in enabling young children's learning with AI‐related agents.Project‐based learning and real‐life examples can enhance children's learning. Implications for practice and/or policy: Early exposure to AI can help children navigate the increasingly digital world.Practical approaches, such as embodied and multimodal learning, seem to be effective.Teachers can enhance children's digital learning by using pedagogical strategies like project‐based learning and real‐life examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To support young children's learning during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, preschool educators in Hong Kong were required to teach with digital technologies. In this study, 1035 educators from 169 preschools reported their views and practices in an online survey, which we examined via multilevel mixed‐response analysis and thematic analysis. More than half of the respondents (53%) expected future online teaching to continue, and only 11% of educators believed that parents would reject this form of delivery. Administrators and teaching assistants were more likely than teachers to expect online preschool teaching to continue in the future. In addition, respondents with existing online platform experience, who taught the upper levels of preschool, or incorporated specific teaching practices (eg, after the online lesson, they assessed children and assigned homework tasks), were more likely than others to expect online teaching in the future. Many of these respondents also reported (a) difficulty with engaging their children when online and (b) inadequate support from parents for learning activities, which reduced the respondents' perceived likelihood of future online teaching. Administrators and teaching assistants were more likely than teachers to believe that parents would accept online teaching in the future. Respondents who felt they had inadequate training to teach online, children in families with inadequate technical skills and parents who believed that online lessons harmed children's well‐being, were less likely than others to believe that parents would accept online teaching in the future. These educators believed that online learning communities could connect parents and schools and foster interaction that could help align with educator's support for children's learning needs. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about technology integration for young children during COVID‐19COVID‐19 led to the closure of many schools, requiring teachers to teach online.Barriers to integrating technologies in preschool settings existed before the pandemic.Online teaching can support students' learning, but few studies have examined technology integration for preschoolers at home during a pandemic.What this paper addsThis paper adds new data on schooling during a pandemic. During the closures, preschool teachers applied two major online teaching approaches: (a) digital content interaction and (b) online human interaction.Technology integration was added to provide evidence of how teachers applied online learning resources for young children during COVID‐19.During closures, teachers often delivered learning resources via digital‐mediated learning platforms, but they were less likely than other educators to expect online teaching in the future.Educators who perceived greater engagement of children or support from parents were more likely to expect online teaching in the future.Implications for practice and/or policyThis study showed that some preschool teachers integrated technology into their teaching during a pandemic, and future studies can explore how to facilitate or extend this integration after the pandemic.This study showed the need for more interactive online teaching preparation to address young children's learning needs.Some teachers were responsive to feedback from children and monitored their learning during the online teaching process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 2019 Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill resistance movement, Hong Kong netizens used a popular digital platform known as LIHKG (連登) as a communicative center to exchange time-based information, express outrage or solidarity, and assemble decentered actions of agitation. There was an implied sense that LIHKG was facilitating a "wild" mode of politics oriented toward agitation, disturbance, and chaos. This paper examines its "wild politics" and asks: how might we trace the evolution of a complex political vernacular capable of creating a chaotic form of organizing, and what did this vocabulary tell us about the latent meanings, desires, and identity-making of the networked protesters? Utilizing the LDA topic-modelling method, we analyzed a large corpus of discussion threads on LIHKG to develop a customized domain-specific thematic repertoire, and revealed a "language in the wild" as part of a cultural archive that embodied the netizens' ambivalent hopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the key facilitating factors for smart sustainable practices (SSP) and develop a project evaluation model (PEM) for SSP implementation in Nigeria and Hong Kong. SSP is coined from the integration of digital technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) to facilitate sustainability practices. Design/methodology/approach: The study employed a quantitative research design approach using empirical questionnaire surveys to solicit the opinions of 69 and 97 construction practitioners in Nigeria and Hong Kong. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to identify the potential survey respondents. The fuzzy synthetic evaluation technique was used to develop the PEMs. Findings: The findings revealed that adequate technical expertise of the SSP processes is critical in enhancing its implementation in Hong Kong and Nigeria; as well as the provision of training programs for specialists in smart and sustainable initiatives. Meanwhile, the study's findings advocated that for an SSP-enabled construction project, its project performance is mainly influenced by the client's satisfaction level and the early involvement of the project teams. Research limitations/implications: The study's results are limited to the Nigeria and Hong Kong construction industries. Practical implications: Construction stakeholders such as the clients, developers, contractors can utilize the PEMs to determine and track SSP initiatives implementation in building projects in a reliable and practical way. Originality/value: No tool has been developed for evaluating SSP initiatives at the project level in the construction industry. Using case studies of Hong Kong and Nigeria, PEM indices were developed to measure and track SSP implementation in construction projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Examine the use of metaverse for transportation and logistics operations. • Establish an AI supported digital technological framework. • Propose and discuss future research areas. In the digital age, supported by disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain (BC), digital twins (DT), and extended reality (ER), the use of metaverse for real-world operations has emerged. In this paper, we examine the use of metaverse for transportation and logistics operations. To be specific, we first examine the related literature by a selective critical review. Then, we discuss how the use of metaverse can facilitate transportation operations with some relevant cases such as the metaverse project of MTR (from Hong Kong). We establish an AI supported digital technological framework, called the ABCDE framework, for transportation and logistics companies to adopt with their use of metaverse. Finally, we propose and discuss several important future research areas. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study which comprehensively examines the use of metaverse for transportation and logistics operations. The theoretical framework also lays the foundation for future studies. The findings and insights provide constructive and helpful guidance to both practitioners and academics on the future development of the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the digital information era, the impact of "The Internet Plus," "Big Data," and other technologies on urban social development has been far beyond any preceding era, under the influence of information technology, urban agglomeration space exhibits a new layout. Based on the search engine data of eleven cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area from 2012 to 2021, this research constructs the inter-city information network strength linkage matrix to examine the evolution characteristics of city network structure and its driving causes. The results reveal that (1) the overall information linkage strength exhibits a pattern of steadily growing the radiating effect from the leading cities of Guangdong, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong to the surrounding cities, and a closer and more balanced information linkage network is gradually built. (2) Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area information linkage absolute control advantage, four cities Foshan, Dongguan, Zhuhai, Macao regional hub position steadily highlighted. The entire information connection network of the urban agglomerations tends to be flat and polycentric at the same time. (3) The regional core-edge hierarchy is well established, with the four cities of Guangzhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong creating a northwest-southeast orientation. The core metropolis regions of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao in the Greater Bay Area increasingly exert a radiation spreading effect to the northeast and southwest. (4) The urban economy, transportation distance, and information infrastructure have substantial effects on the information connection intensity network of urban clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research selects art museums in four cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) region for relevant research, namely Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao and Shenzhen, which are important representatives of the artistic, cultural, economic and technological development of the GBA. It examines the digital technology strategies used by six selected art museums within the four GBA cities to promote the co-development of collections, exhibitions and audience engagement. The objective of the study has been approached through the following research question: How are art museums using digital technology to improve the relationship among collections, exhibitions and audience engagement from the perspective of online exhibitions? In this article, online exhibitions are seen as an invaluable virtual platform for art museums to display art to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. The necessity for art museums to use digital technology to develop online exhibitions in the face of the plight of the COVID-19 pandemic is first introduced in this article. It then addresses how online exhibitions and online technologies in art museums have influenced the development of collections from offline to online, as well as how to further strengthen the relationship between collections, exhibitions and the audience. Some of the key challenges for art museums in developing online exhibitions using digital technology are also mentioned, and possible future developments of online exhibitions in art museums are discussed. At the same time, there is a need to consider the issues faced by art museums in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as they continue to use digital technology to develop collections, exhibitions and audiences in the post-COVID-19 pandemic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature on the relationship between urban green space (UGS) use and mental health of older people was mainly conducted before the widespread adoption of digital technologies in daily life. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has fostered the use of mobile applications (apps) at a time city dwellers, including older people, were required to stay home. Drawing upon the insights from emerging literature on the changing relationship between UGS use and mental health of older people in the digital era in urban and gerontological studies, this paper offers a vivid mixed-method to investigate whether mobile app use has supplemented or substituted UGS visits and activities that further influence on the mental health of older people. This is achieved by conducting 360 questionnaire surveys in elderly community centers amid the pandemic and 23 semi-structured interviews in local neighbourhood parks after the pandemic by the authors. Results demonstrates mobile app use frequency may moderate the proximity-mental health relationship, but only among the older people with lower mental health levels. Among this sub-group, digital consumption app use frequency weakens the proximity-mental health relationship on marginal significance, which illustrates digital consumption apps may substitute the role of urban parks on improving older people's mental health. Furthermore, digital communication and recreation mobile app use frequency strengthens the proximity-mental health relationship on marginal significance, which suggests these mobile apps may supplement the role of urban parks on improving older people's mental health, particularly during the pandemic. The research pleas for more research on how digitalization of everyday activities is transforming the use of UGS such as neighbourhood parks and subsequent impact on the mental health of older people in the widespread adoption of digital technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies about media self-censorship typically focus on its mechanism in traditional newsroom settings. But how media self-censorship may evolve in online journalism has remained largely unexplored. Using Hong Kong as a case, I examine the digital evolution of media self-censorship in a unique non-democratic context. Drawing on interviews with online journalists, my findings reveal that digital transformation has provided new valences for media self-censorship. With the financial hardship of legacy media in the digital age, Hong Kong online journalists are more directly exposed to external threats such as advertisement boycotts orchestrated by the state, and hence increasingly reluctant to offend external powerholders out of the fear of political and financial retaliation. Moreover, as online journalists adopt business-driven norms that favor the generation of clicks, political or policy news are further marginalized. These stories are often deemed boring, non-engaging to online audiences, and are not "sensationalizable" due to political risks, especially when compared to soft news types like crimes and lifestyles stories. Adapting to these changes, news managers are increasingly used to avoiding professional editorial debates that results are unpredictable but using "objective" web metrics as persuasive devices to discourage the production of sensitive news. Lastly, the dissemination of sensitive news is curbed in the social media gatekeeping process. These findings suggest that an authoritarian state can effectively influence online news production by controlling the capital that drives digital transformation, thereby limiting the liberating potential of the media in the digital age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Facilities management (FM) activities affect citizens' health and safety, long-term urban environmental sustainability and the relationships between the built and natural environments of cities. This study aims to comprehend the status of smart FM tools application, how they are used to improve the delivery of FM services and the barriers to their implementation. Design/methodology/approach: To investigate the current smart solutions that leverage the quality of FM service, a case study based on the FM practice in Hong Kong was carried out. The case study was conducted in two phases of data acquisition based on a qualitative research methodology. After conducting in-depth interviews to determine the application of smart FM tools in different types of properties and to identify the initiatives and barriers to smart FM tool application, three workshops were conducted to validate the findings and further investigate the influence of FM professionals on smart FM tools application in Hong Kong. Findings: The findings of the case study revealed, firstly, that four types of smart FM tools – user-centric, safety and hygiene, maintenance and sustainability-oriented – are used to assist the delivery of FM services. Secondly, smart FM tools are shown to be useful in assisting FM activities. Thirdly, the existing barriers to smart FM tool application manifest differently in shopping malls, office buildings and residential buildings. Fourthly, smart FM tools are used to address the four attributes of user needs: comfort, health and wellbeing, convenience and information to occupants. Originality/value: The value of this study lies in its focus on the industry level (FM industry) and the application process of smart FM tools in different types of property, revealing the benefits, initiatives and barriers to their future application. This study provides a comprehensive picture of the current status and elaborates the barriers to smart FM tool application, which will help FM practitioners to make strategic decisions on selecting and developing smart FM tools. Also, this study will facilitate smart FM tool application policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid developments in building information modeling (BIM) are escalating the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry toward digital transformation. However, the lack of skilled BIM professionals is a critical issue slowing this transformation. Currently, few educational institutions include BIM topics in their curricula, especially those developed for quantity surveying (QS) programs. Moreover, the learning outcomes of BIM curricula may not meet the current industrial requirements. Thus, this study investigated the current states, gaps, and challenges of BIM education for QS practices in Hong Kong. This study conducted surveys to determine industrial requirements and a case study to examine the BIM curricula currently offered at Hong Kong educational institutions. The results suggest that the current BIM education for QS practices is in line with the pace of BIM development in the AEC industry. However, some advanced topics are not covered in BIM education. Additionally, the non-standardized BIM competencies to be attained by students lead to uncertainty and challenges in BIM education for quantity surveyors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East‐Asian practitioners aspiring to engage in the design thinking (DT) practice—a human‐centred approach to innovation developed and primarily used in Western cultures—may experience a "cultural clash" or "cultural misfit" that may inhibit the acceptance of DT logic. To tap into this still underexplored terrain, this qualitative study explores the enablers and challenges of effective DT practice in achieving service innovation in Hong Kong organizations. Based on a dozen in‐depth interviews, we identified numerous sociocultural and institutional enablers and challenges, which we interpreted based on the postulates of structuration theory proposed by Giddens. Our conceptualization and empirical investigation of DT through a practice lens offers a new perspective when studying the contextual antecedents of DT. Specifically, the findings show that the choice to engage in DT practice is shaped by cultural specifics in the plurality of influences that move beyond the Western perspective and previous DT studies. From a practical point of view, our research informs policymakers and managers about the importance of being culturally sensitive and humanizing digital transformation when organizing service innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Algorithms affect practices of reading and writing as well as broader patterns of language use, communication and consumption. • This paper describes a participatory project, in which university students explored their 'folk beliefs' about algorithms. • The participants articulated six metaphors through which they and their classmates understand how algorithms work • Engaging learners in 'folk beliefs' about algorithms can contribute to critical online reading practices. Most accounts of the way digital technologies have changed practices of reading and writing have focused on surface aspects of digital texts (such as hypertextuality, multimodality and the development of new registers). There are, however, less visible aspects of digital communication environments that have had an equally profound effect on reading and writing – namely the algorithms that lie behind texts that monitor the actions of readers and writers and alter the form and content of the texts they are exposed to. Algorithms have the potential to affect not just local communication practices, but also broader social practices, as they work to encourage and reinforce patterns of language use, communication and consumption. This paper describes the results of a two-year long participatory project, in which university students in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom explored the communication and inference forming practices they engage in when interacting with algorithms. The participants articulated six primary metaphors through which they and their classmates understand how algorithms work: (1) Algorithm as agent; (2) Algorithm as authority; (3) Algorithm as adversary; (4) Algorithm as communicative resource; (5) Algorithm as audience; and (6) Algorithm as oracle. Engaging learners in articulating the 'folk beliefs' that govern people's interaction with algorithms, it is argued, can contribute to the development of the kinds of digital literacies they will need to better understand the ways algorithms affect the kinds of information they are exposed to, the kinds of inferences they form about this information, and the ways their own acts of reading and writing can be used by algorithms to manipulate them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explored the use of digital tools by English language schoolteachers in Hong Kong. Using a qualitative-dominant sequential mixed-methods design, wherein an online mixed-methods survey of primary and secondary school English language teachers (N = 83) and follow-up in-depth interviews (N = 22) were employed, this study collectively explored which digital tools the participants used, why the participants used these tools, and how the participants used them. Fourteen categories of tools utilized by teachers in their professional practice were identified. These were further categorized into core, additional, and remote digital tools based on their mode and frequency of use. Affordances of the core digital tools for language teaching were identified, with examples of teachers' pedagogical uses of the tools presented. By providing an overview of digital tool use, teachers, school leadership, and professional development providers can better understand how teachers should be prepared for the digital realities of schools. In addition, this study provides a model for understanding the context and subject-specific bidirectional relationship between tools, their affordances, and teachers' professional tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the popularity of mobile and digital technologies, physical collections still have high user demand in academic libraries and grow continuously. With renovation projects providing more studying and collaboration space, efforts to relocate materials to storage facilities are necessary for major libraries. With the change in student information needs and preferences, it is essential to reinvestigate their behavior and preferences for the use of physical resources and remote storage items. An online survey was conducted in a major international comprehensive university in Hong Kong, China, to explore these questions. Statistical tests were also performed to compare the difference between undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as those with versus those without experience requesting items from storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much contemporary social mobilization is digitally enabled. Digital media may provide the communication platforms on which supporters deliberate movement goals, share information, discuss tactics, and generate discourses in response to ongoing happenings. Yet digital media's capability to serve these functions should depend on platform-specific affordances and movement dynamics. Based on such premises, this article examines how the online forum LIHKG became the central communication platform in the Anti-Extradition Bill Movement in Hong Kong. Empirically, digital media and content analysis data help establish the forum's prominence during the first few months of the movement, while analyses of protest onsite survey data show how the use of LIHKG systematically related to several movement-related attitudes among the protesters. The article highlights the affordances and movement dynamics that allow the forum to play the role. It contributes to understanding the factors that shape the role and impact of digital media platforms in social mobilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China undergoes its digital revolution with the rapid developments of new media and technology on a massive scale, the bodies which used to be the sites for acclaiming for socio-political demands are now shifted to the digital sphere. However, social activists have discovered alternative ways to raise their voices through the virtual and cyber space. They have interwoven a hybrid body of solidarity in games and digital platforms. This article takes the 2020 Hong Kong resistance in Nintendo game Animal Crossing and the legacy of Covid-19 'Whistle blower' Li Wenliang on Chinese social media as cases, aiming to develop a comprehensive and comparative analysis on the performativity and solidarity that emerge with gamification and playfulness in contemporary Sino-sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of aggravating environmental problems, the concept of green economy, advocated by policies introduced to solve such problems, is being increasingly recognized and emphasized. In addition, digital technologies, represented by the Internet, big data, and artificial intelligence, are constantly integrating with economic and social fields, gradually becoming an important driving force for economic and social development, and also bringing certain positive environmental effects. This study investigated the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of the green economy of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) in the past three decades (1987-2018) under the background of administrative division adjustment and artificial intelligence development. First, the overall green economic development level of the GBA from 1987 to 2018 was analyzed using the superefficiency slack-based measure model. Then, the spatial pattern evolution characteristics and regional differences of green economy in the GBA in this period were assessed by the exploratory spatial data analysis model. According to the results of this study, (1) the green economic development levels of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Zhaoqing, and Hong Kong in the GBA always followed an increasing trend from 1987 to 2018. To be specific, Foshan, Zhongshan, Hong Kong, and Macao ranked among the top areas in the GBA in terms of average green economic development level; moreover, a strong positive correlation was found between economic strength and green economic development. (2) The overall green economic development level of the GBA roughly followed a trend of first decreasing and then increasing, fluctuating around 0.45 on average. (3) Clearly, the green economy of various cities in the GBA showed certain correlations in 1987-2005, but with great fluctuations. However, no spatial correlation was observed after 2006. On the whole, in the GBA, the spatial agglomeration of green economy was weak. (4) There was a general lack of obvious spatial agglomeration in the overall green economic development of the GBA, especially in western Guangdong. In contrast, spatial agglomeration was obvious in eastern Guangdong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic, an exceptional crisis, sparked the introduction of new digital infrastructure to halt the novel coronavirus's spread. This paper explores how such digital infrastructure's impact might reverberate over the long term, by comparing Singapore, Hong Kong, and mainland China's utilization of digital technology in response to the 2003 SARS outbreak, and their responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. We find that advancements in digital technology since 2003 have boosted governments' surveillance and segregation abilities substantially—most dramatically so in China. Even though some of these new digital interventions are ostensibly designed to be temporary ones to address the needs of the immediate crisis, we argue that the resultant extensions of state power experienced during COVID-19 are likely to have profound long-term effects because they fundamentally affect sociopolitical contexts, institutional capabilities, and digital cultures. We also find that the extent to which governments can extend digital surveillance and segregation abilities during the pandemic is contingent on their respective sociopolitical, institutional, and digital cultural contexts. • COVID-19 pandemic sparked calls for a new digital infrastructure. • We compare 2003 SARS outbreak to COVID-19 pandemic. • New digital technologies increased governments' ability to surveil and segregate. • Their impact on surveillance and segregation will persist post COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although digital technology enables people to stay connected during COVID-19, protracted periods of isolation, crisis-induced stress, and technology-based activity may intensify problem technology use (PTU), such as social media addiction (SMA) and Internet gaming disorder (IGD). Objective: This study aimed to characterize the patterns and levels of SMA and IGD during COVID-19 in the general population of Hong Kong. We also tested the associations between prolonged use of social media/Internet games and SMA/IGD and the mediation effects of psychosocial statuses (i.e., loneliness, boredom, and post-traumatic stress) on these associations. Methods: A population-based random telephone survey was conducted in community adults in May 2020; 658 social media users and 177 Internet gamers were identified. A structured questionnaire, including the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorder IGD Symptoms Checklist, the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale, Multidimensional State Boredom Scale, and the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, was used. Time spent on social media and Internet games during and before COVID-19 was also asked. Results: There were 66.2–81.8% increases in time use of social media or Internet games during COVID-19 compared to pre-COVID-19 self-reported information of the participants. The estimated IGD prevalence rate in the gamers based on the sample weighted to the age distribution and gender ratio of the Hong Kong population was 9.7%, higher than that of pre-COVID-19 research. Age, marital status, education levels, time use of social media, COVID-19-related post-traumatic stress, boredom, and emotional loneliness were significantly associated with SMA, while time spent on Internet games, boredom, and emotional loneliness was significantly associated with IGD. Boredom positively mediated the associations between time spent on social media/Internet games and SMA/IGD, whereas social loneliness negatively mediated the association between time spent on social media and SMA. Conclusion: These findings highlight the concern of prolonged use of digital platforms during COVID-19 and its role as a "double-edged sword" for psychosocial wellbeing and behavioral health during COVID-19. It also highlights a need to monitor and prevent PTU in the general public. The observed psychosocial mechanisms are modifiable and can inform the design of evidence-based prevention programs for PTU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]