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This paper presents the development and evaluation of an in-class intervention based on persona cards, an accessibility kit created to introduce users with diverse needs to postsecondary students and motivate them to adopt accessibility guidelines. The cards created include 16 profiles of users with visual, hearing, motor, cognitive, and multiple impairments. To assess the effect of the intervention on the students' knowledge about accessibility, five in-class interventions with 134 students were conducted in the USA and in Spain. The intervention aimed at encouraging the discussion about how future designers can make interactive solutions more accessible for users with diverse needs. To assess the acceptability of the intervention materials among instructors, an online survey was utilized, and 30 respondents rated the usefulness, impact, ease of use, and their willingness to adopt the cards. They also provided suggestions to facilitate adoption. The statistical analysis of the results using Mann–Whitney tests indicates that the usage of personas during the intervention had a positive effect, improving the students' understanding about accessibility. Instructors who responded to the survey considered the persona cards to be easy to use, diverse, and useful. The intervention increased the students' interest and motivation to apply accessibility principles in their work practices and employ universal design in their lives. Also, instructors reported a positive acceptance regarding the adoption of the cards in their technology-related courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accessibility of library products and services for use and profitability by people with hearing impairment is related to a comprehensive set of standards, including ISO 26000, on Social Responsibility, and its association with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. In order to verify the relationship between these accessibility regulations and the practices carried out in Spanish public libraries, a quantitative study was carried out. For this purpose, a data collection instrument has been designed to identify the websites and the service charters of the libraries under study that were compliant with accessibility standards and offered specific products and services for this group, basing this information on that provided by the Directory of Spanish Libraries. The results of this research reveal shortcomings in terms of accessibility for this specific group in Spain and suggest a series of recommendations to be taken into account in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the perceptible interactivity processes in the corporate websites of non-traditional political actors of enormous importance in increasingly unequal societies: non-governmental organizations. To carry out this study, another similar research is taken as a reference on the methodological matter (Caprioti et al, 2016; Smolak and Castillo, 2017). In the first part of the article, we make a theoretical review about how interactivity gets to establish as an issue for public relations scholars. This is a subject that has been being studied for almost twenty years in the academic field. Then, in the methodology section, to analyze the interactivity level of these websites, a sample of seven NGOs dedicated to Development Cooperation that operate in Spain is selected. These NGOs have the greatest annual budget, and we decided to pick only the ones that do not have a religious basis. The Spanish NGOs that enter on that category are: Oxfam Intermon; Plan Internacional España; Educo; Cruz Roja Española; Save The Children España; Acción contra el Hambre y Ayuda en Acción. We carry out a content analysis is that aims to identify the expression of two categories, Information Presentation Tools and Virtual Visitor Resources. To carry out the methodology, we use a model created by the studies mentioned above. Based on the detection of these categories on each NGO website, the level of interactivity offered by these entities is analyzed, and the type of relationship they establish with their audiences is interpreted from the spaces for participation and interactivity that they promote. The analysis is complemented with the study of the "call to action" present on each web page, as a singular element of web design that aims to establish a privileged contact with the public. Among the results, we can say that several NGOs are using the same tools to get in contact with their audiences. Also, they implement different kinds of digital spaces to get more interactivity with their stakeholders. Nevertheless, we also identified that the first contact that they offer from their websites is asking for money, which might be a problem for them as non-traditional political actors who depends on their capacity of influence in the political system. This action may have an impact on the way people think about them, and the symbolic capital of these entities may be at stake. The research concludes that the NGOs that are part of the study offer high levels of interactivity on their corporate websites, however, the first contact they offer from the call to action of the web pages aims to request financial contributions, which would negatively impact in generating a long-term bond between these NGOs and their audiences. With this first contact, they are communicating that their stakeholders are just money givers, and not citizens how are committed to changing the odds of unequal situations. These results are a contribution to the existing scientific literature about public relations and interactivity on the NGOs, and invite a critical reflection on the actions of digital communication from NGOs for development, non-traditional political actors of enormous importance in the current context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of technology and the digital empowerment of society have led to the proliferation of Audiovisual Content Webs (ACWs) where users can share information and experiences, along with other commercial resources. ACWs have led to significant changes in the way users can select and access audiovisual content. The design of these websites combines various features, including a user community, streamed content, ticket sales, and recommendations, among others. Each ACW has a specific profile with respect to the mentioned variables. The aim of this study is to identify the critical success factors for a ACW, i.e., which features and the form they should take to attract followers, thus increasing the capacity to prescribe and broadcast content. Using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), a formal analysis technique that allows the identification of combinations that produce a certain result, a sample of the 12 most representative cinema websites in Spain is analyzed. The results indicate that the incorporation of content recommendation systems and the connection with streaming platforms through which the content can be accessed are key factors in the success of these ACWs. This work contributes academically to the knowledge and explanation of audience behavior in the new audiovisual scenario. From a professional point of view, relevant design suggestions are offered to platform creators. Finally, the limitations of this work are described, and future lines of research are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the age of globalization, rural municipalities in Spain must differentiate themselves and compete to achieve the loyalty of their stakeholders (neighbours, tourists, investors, media..., among others) and fight against depopulation. The corporate website is one of the most used channels by these audiences to go in depth in the knowledge of the settlements. Therefore, this study is approached in an exploratory way, in order to evaluate whether these rural municipalities use the institutional web as a strategic tool to make known their identity. Given these objectives, the methodological design is based on a qualitative approach, with different research techniques. The results show that websites with replicated structures have significant deficiencies in identity management, both from the point of view of corporate visual identity, communication with their audiences and corporate culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context Nowadays it is an irrefutable fact that economy digitalisation is changing the traditional methods and balances of the current economic and social organisation model. In this context, the incorporation of new digital technologies in the company plays an undeniable competitive role in its strategic business policy. Agri-food cooperatives cannot ignore this opportunity and must face the digital transformation process not only to survive, but mainly to grow in a particularly changing and competitive market. Objectives The aim of this research is to contribute to the analysis of the digital transformation of the economy, paying special attention to Social Economy and, in particular, to the agri-food cooperative sector in Spain as a strategic sector of the country's productive model. Specifically, our main objective is to present an exploratory study on the use that agri-food cooperatives make of new information and communication technologies in two different aspects: Internet presence and web services offered. In light of the results obtained, an inter-territorial and inter-sectorial comparative study is posed as a complementary objective that allows: i) to characterize the degree of maturity of the digitalisation process of the cooperatives under study; ii) to determine their relative positioning within the Spanish business sector; and iii) to identify any conditioning factors that can exert a greater influence on the degree of digital transformation of agri-food cooperative. Methodology The main method used is the analytical empirical method through frequencies and correlations analysis. The population considered is constituted by the agri-food cooperatives operating in Spain having more than ten partners / employees, whose data date after the year 2000 according to the Orbis database. Out of 6,431 registered cooperatives, there is a population of 506 entities meeting these criteria. For the selection of the sample under study, we used stratified random sampling proportionate to the Autonomous Community. The study focuses on cooperative companies with more than 10 partners / employees, the main reasons being summarized in two. On the one hand, since it is based on the hypothesis that agri-food cooperatives present a degree of activity digitalisation below other business legal forms, and therefore focusing on larger ones will help us to position ourselves in the bestcase scenario in order to be able to make a more critical analysis. On the other hand, to be able to compare the study with the one presented by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE), which makes this same differentiation by size. For a confidence level of 95% and an error of 7.9%, a sample of 119 cooperatives is obtained. Thus, as Analucia is the community that has the most cooperatives in this sector, it is also the most represented with 20 cooperatives within the sample. The search and data collection were carried out during the month of May 2018 through direct analysis of the contents and design of the Web pages corresponding to each of the 119 food cooperatives making up the sample under study. In particular, 11 variables total have been verified. Three hypotheses will be established to respond to the objectives set: • Hypothesis 1 (H1): The degree of digitalisation of agri-food cooperatives in Spain is below that of the business sector as a whole. • Hypothesis 2 (H2): The size of the cooperative exerts a significant influence on its degree of digital transformation. • Hypothesis 3 (H3): The activity sub-sector determines the level of digitalisation of the agri-food cooperative Results As for the results obtained, the analysis shows that only 55.46% of the agri-food cooperatives under study have a corporate website. Therese results, when compared with all companies -whose percentage rises to 77. 69%-, evidences the existence of some delay in the agri-food cooperative sector in terms of internet presence compared with the average result achieved by the Spanish business sector. Note the existence of a differential greater than 22 percentage points. The most significant point is to verify that the average in the digitalisation level is 2.3 out of 11, being this the maximum reachable value. That is, it would not pass on a scale from 0 to 10. In fact, no cooperative has the highest score possible, being 8 the highest value obtained. We can intuit thanks to the media that there is still much to be done regarding the level of digital transformation. On another note, the variables that have a higher level of correlation with the variables measuring the level of digital transformation are: operating revenue, partners / number of employees and total assets. Therefore, the three variables established to measure the size of the cooperative influence the level of digital transformation, measured by the 11 items. To contrast the third working hypothesis, the sample has been divided into the proposed subsectors following the Spanish Classification of Economic Activities (CNAE-2009). In this case, the outstanding role of the "dairy products" sub-sector, whose cooperatives obtain an average value of 4.67 at the digitalisation level, is verified. On the other hand, 100% of the cooperatives that operate in this subsector have a website. Other sub-sectors that do not go unnoticed are "olive oil" and "animal feed products". In both cases, cooperative companies operating in this activity field that have a website represent a significant percentage of 82% and 71% respectively. In particular, if we compare these figures with the average of all companies in Spain, we can say that only the "dairy products" and "olive oil" sub-sectors have a percentage of companies with a website that is above the national average. On the other hand, the activity sub-sectors that reach a higher score in the posed digitalisation index are, in descending order, "dairy products" (4.67 points), "olive oil" (3.25 points), "meat industry" (2.92 points) and "winemaking" (2.89 points). Although all these sub-sectors present a score higher than the average of the agri-food cooperatives analysed, this rating is far from being considered optimal, which indicates the need to promote measures that intensify the process of digital transformation of the agri-food cooperative sector. Practical conclusions and original value Regarding conclusions, after contrasting the formulated hypotheses, it is verified that the digitalisation degree of the agri-food cooperatives is relatively far, in general terms, from the average digitalisation level observed in all Spanish companies, presenting some "delay" in the digital transformation process. Nevertheless, this deficit position does not appear homogeneous in all sub-sectors that make up the agri-food sector. On the contrary, it is verified that both the activity sub-sector and the organisational dimension are determining factors in the digital transformation process of agri-food cooperatives. Thus, the results obtained reveal that cooperatives with a greater dimension are characterised by presenting a greater digitalisation degree in terms of website development, internet presence, ecommerce and web services offered. Likewise, the dairy, olive oil, wine and meat industries present a global level of digitalisation greater than the rest of the agri-food sub-sectors. Finally, it has not been identified that the territory where the cooperatives carry out their activity exerts any influence on a greater or lesser degree of business digitalisation." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality and recognition of Spanish cuisine are fostering the development of culinary tourism, both domestic in origin and from abroad. Another detected trend is that an ever-greater proportion of tourists are using the Internet to obtain information and make decisions about activities to include in their trips. Given this context, the present work describes a comparative analysis of the websites of Spanish restaurants which have at least one Michelin star in order to assess the quality of those webpages and provide some guidance to their designers to facilitate their use as a marketing tool. The instrument used is the Web Assessment Index. This has been validated in other studies, and measures the quality of a website based on four dimensions: visibility, speed, navigability, and content. The results showed the quality of the website to be positively correlated with the category of the corresponding restaurant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines the factors that drive adoption of internet baking use and the role of product involvement, consumer-perceived risk, and consumer confidence in Spain. It explores the impact of product involvement, consumer trust, risk perception, and technology acceptance model (TAM) or usefulness beliefs on internet banking services. It indicates that TAM beliefs and perceived risks directly influence internet banking adoption and user trust serves as a moderating variable that reduces perceived risk, while product involvement increases the perception regarding ease of use. It suggests that web contents and design are key elements that increase adoption of internet banking services.

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The article describes the author's experience with an Internet subscription service in Madrid, Spain. Topics include: the author's frustration with having to enter so much information on the service's web page; the arrangement for purchasing time on and gaining access to the Internet; the problem of a forgotten password for the PayPal account that is complicated by the use of a different credit card on an existing account; and three lessons learned from this experience that relate to the subscriber's convenience and a website's design and usability.