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[Graphic][1] This year Guts UK is 50 years old. Initially established as the Digestive Disorders Trust Fund by British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) Council, it became the Digestive Disorders Foundation, then in 2004 was transformed into CORE, before a highly successful relaunch as Guts UK in 2018. The ‘Digestive Disorders Foundation’ always raised queries about the connection to biscuits, but history will record that the name CORE was not a terribly good one either, despite having been recommended pro bono by a very well-known advertising agency! There is no doubt that the rebirth as Guts UK has had a huge effect on our visibility with a marked increase in contacts from patients and carers. The charity has been digitally transformed by having a relevant name and a strong web presence, all thanks to an outstanding team of enthusiastic staff. The website now attracts over 4000 visitors every day, compared with less than 100 when we were CORE. Importantly, this is now translating into a substantial increase in donations, which is essential for the future growth of the charity and our support for research for all disorders of the gut, liver and pancreas, and in nutritional sciences. This support for gastrointestinal research is even more important today than it was in 1971. Despite the high prevalence and impact of gastrointestinal … [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif

The introduction of the internet has revolutionized the dissemination and assessment of research outputs with renewed emphasis on the impact of scholarly publications. The purpose of this study was to measure scholarly presence and citation impact of research scientists of the Building and Road Research Institute (CSIR-BRRI) on the internet. Bibliometrics was employed as a quantitative research method for this study using Google Scholar. The results showed that majority (77.5%) of scientists had at least one scholarly reference on the internet. It also found that, almost all (96.5%) scientists who had scholarly works online showed affiliation to the CSIR-BRRI. Again, it was observed that most mentions/hits were journal publications (59%) followed by thesis (35%). However, the study found that there was a weak positive relationship between number of journal articles and citations online, a clear indication that a web presence does not automatically reflect the usefulness of a scholarly output. It is recommended that scientists identify and research into globally relevant topics and also publish in reputable journals to enhance their visibility.

In a technology-driven world, libraries must have quality websites that deliver meaningful information in a structured way. Measuring the ease of access to information through website evaluation st...

E-business benefit both large and small businesses. However, the aggregate cost of successful online trading, including initial and recurring costs, continues to pose a great challenge to micro-enterprises. For these willing businesses, the result is a mere web presence and for some, the thought of trading online is a no-go area. Using a multi-case study qualitative approach, this study adopts the technology-organisation-environment theoretical lens to explore empirically the strategies used by e-retail microbusinesses to potentially advance their e-business adoption. The findings revealed the actual cost of adoption, the technology-organisation-environment strategies in use to lower the cost barrier, and how the pursuit of the cost barrier simultaneously lowers some adoption barriers outside the cost factors. The study also highlighted the intrinsic idiosyncratic nature of small firms’ ecosystems, and the fact that government resources and services provided by companies, both private and public, could effectively reduce the costs associated with e-business adoption.

The contribution of local (“grassroots”) sporting clubs to their economies amounts to billions of dollars. These clubs typically rely on volunteers who use Internet platforms (such as webs...

There are number of challenges which are faced in implementing crowdfunding in Sri Lanka. Crowdfunding platforms in Sri Lanka are being used to gather funds, mainly for charities and to find seed money for startups. This study focuses on finding success factors affecting the implementation of the crowdfunding projects which are hosted to gather capital for startups. The study contains a proposed conceptual framework developed by reading recent literature with the facts contributing to the success of startups through crowdfunding and analyzing information gathered from experts in Sri Lanka. Variables namely web presence, investors, crowdfunding team, goal and rewards were analyzed together with the success of funding startups via crowdfunding Finally, all the variables except web presence indicated significant towards the success of funding startups via crowdfunding.

The growing digitalization of scientific research practices is reflected in the content that academic and governmental institutions put on their websites, many of which are not optimized so that their contents reach visibility in search results of Google. Through the mapping of search engine results, this article analyzes the visibility of Ibero-American governmental, educational and research institutions in the results of Google in relation to a group of keywords related to the areas of Science, Research and Innovation. By analyzing the results of these pages in the search results in a specific period we can determine that, although few exceptions, the algorithms used by Google increase the visibility of educational and research institutions in Ibero-America (IA) along with those of each country in function of the national search option offered by the search engine. The indicators obtained both for web presence and web visibility indicate that pages that appear more frequently in the first positions in IA countries are not owned by national institutions, but from other countries. Moreover, we have observed that governmental and educational institutions are most visible than research institutions. While previously social networks are not so far popular for this type of institutions, they are recently gaining positions. However, this study is exploratory and a longitudinal research would eliminate fluctuations of web data.

Introduction: Otolaryngology (ORL) applicants face challenges finding information about residency programs. Due to COVID-19, the Society of University Otolaryngologists released suggestions for students to avoid away rotations and look for programs to expand and update their web presence. However, information on program websites is not always standardized or easily accessible. Many applicants use the American Medical Association's Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database (FREIDA), a designated, standardized resource of basic and detailed information on residency programs. However, the availability of information within FREIDA is unclear. Herein, we analyze available data within FREIDA on all 124 ORL residency programs to understand the completeness of the FREIDA database. Method: Data from all 124 otolaryngology-head and neck surgery residency programs within FREIDA was abstracted in early December 2020 and organized into 2 sections: basic information and detailed information (program details, educational features, and occupational benefits). The number of contributing programs in both sections was evaluated. Results: More than half of the programs (n = 65, 52.4%) did not provide any detailed information within FREIDA. While all 124 programs had their address, contact email, and the names of program directors available, slightly fewer had direct links to their website available (n = 113, 91.1%). Most programs (70.2%) did not include a brief 1-paragraph program description. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that FREIDA provides basic information for nearly all ORL programs, but it does not offer detailed information for most programs. As COVID-19 has negatively impacted the ability of ORL applicants to learn about programs, FREIDA is a helpful, centralized resource but is currently incomplete.

This study investigated university rankings in the UAE within the context of the challenges facing higher education globally in the 21st century, by using the Webometric ranking methodology. Data was collected and analysed on the top 20 UAE universities. It was apparent that the UAE universities do not perform as well as expected in the Webometrics ranking, when compared with peer countries. The ratings are slightly below that which is expected, especially when one considers measures such as research publications. Strategies to improve performance using the Webometrics indicators could have a positive impact on the UAE universities. Improvements in communicating research and their web presence is likely to move the UAE universities up the Webometrics rankings, and their academic reputation in the country.

The paper uses data from 68 United Way of Texas chapters with web presence to create three indicators for web-based accountability — (1) disclosure of performance information (2) responsiveness to stakeholders and (3) fiscal transparency— and to estimate their determinants using OLS regression. Among others, the study finds that web-based accountability determined by online disclosure of performance information is influenced by board size, whereas fiscal transparency is affected by paid staff. The study contributes to nonprofit accountability literature by showing the connectedness of web-based accountability indicators and the need for enhanced fiscal transparency in the nonprofit sector.

Lennart Björneborn’s famous tweet, ‘connecto ergo sum’, which means, ‘I link, therefore I exist’, puts forward the intriguing dimension of the web as a platform for link-based research, a major tenet of webometrics. Webometrics, as discussed in this study, explored the web presence, web visibility, web-impact and linkage of archival institutions in the ESARBICA region; examining the types of institutions that provide links to archival institutions in the ESARBICA region; establishing the links pointing to national archival institutions in the ESARBICA region; and examining the type of institutions that provide these links. Google Search engine and Alexa metasearch engine were used to collect data. Additionally, the formulas derived from the Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group (2016): ‘Impact=Inlinks/page’ and ‘site:Domain’ were used to collect data on the impact and web pages linking to the archival institutions. The study was underpinned by the Citation Analysis theory. Search engines, metasearch engines and web content analysis were used to collect webometrics data from ESARBICA archival websites. The findings of the study revealed that the web-impact of ESARBICA archival institutions is generally low as evidenced by the low impact factors attained. This may lead to the minimal usage of the information on the websites, undermining the importance of archival institutions. The low impact can be increased through such measures as redesigning websites to increase visibility, posting rich files on websites, and interlinking the websites to key archival associations and institutions, among others. Other findings showed that some websites were hosted by institutions other than the archival institutions The impact results further revealed that in the ESARBICA region, Southern Africa was more represented with the archival institutions from six countries (Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe), while the Eastern African region had archival institutions from two countries (Kenya and Tanzania). The findings further showed that not all archival websites attained web presence in the form of accessible websites. The link classification results revealed that the ESARBICA websites mostly attracted industry links with extensions .com and .co as the most popular Top Level Domains (TLD). A strong link relationship was noted between archival institutions and research-based activities in universities, as well as evidence of openness as archival institutions published documents with archives-related discussions on Google Scholar. The study showed that ESARBICA archival websites are not interactive in nature and have not yet embraced Web 2.0 tools on their archival websites. The implications of the study included that archival institutions without websites might consider attaining web presence through constructing websites, establishing link relationships by archival institutions, and making efforts to avail more data to enhance web presence in ranking. The study recommended that ESARBICA archival institutions host standalone websites and establish links with archives related research sites. The practical implications of the paper include: revealing the specific ways in which archival institutions can conduct web-link assessments and web-impact assessments, ways of interpreting results from web-impact assessments and link-impact assessments, assessing alternative methods of link counts.

Titulo, resumen, palabras clave en español e ingles Resumen tomado de la publicación Se estudia la importancia de la imagen de marca de un autor, y la importancia que tiene para su visibilidad. Se analiza del caso de J.K Rowling como ejemplo de migración desde su nicho original, la literatura infantil y juvenil, a la literatura de adultos, estudiando los indicadores de visibilidad como ediciones de su obra, presencia en las listas de más vendidos, presencia web, y aparición en bases de datos nacionales e internacionales. Se discute la viabilidad de salir del nicho de mercado amparado por estructuras editoriales y comunicativas consolidadas, empleando además el expediente del anonimato. ESP

A site traffic analysis study of 24 newspaper sites from OurDigitalWorld’s (ODW) digital newspaper collection and the Ontario Community Newspaper (OCN) aggregate site was completed between 2016 and 2018. Digital newspapers provide access to past and current heritage news, vital statistics, and newspaper clippings. Securing grants from government agencies is essential for local heritage organizations to launch, build, and maintain their digitization initiatives in order to ensure the continuity of local culture and heritage of the past to people of the future. Thus, assessing the impact of (e.g. site usage, Web presence) and routes of Web access to digital newspaper collections is important to determine promotional strategies to increase usage and awareness of the collections. Recommendations were made for ODW, public libraries, and heritage organizations to increase the Web presence and awareness of ODW’s digital newspaper collection and to educate users about the various uses of the newspaper sites. Keywords: Digital newspaper collections, site traffic analysis, web presence, user awareness, user education

A new program has been established by the Microscopy Society of America (MSA) to provide funding for bold, new, strategic initiatives that further the goals of the Microscopy Society of America and the fields of microscopy, microanalysis, and imaging in general. Three bold, new initiatives won initial funding for 2019: a proposal to fund an international micrograph competition, an initiative to set up an MSA Student Council web presence to host web events targeted to microscopy students and developing professionals, and a plan to provide a uniform template and hosting service for MSA Local Affiliated Societies.

Ranking institutions of a country, continent or the entire world is not an easy task. However, there are certain agencies that regularly undertake such an exercise. In this paper we have considered Webometrics Ranking (WR) and National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) specific to India for our study. Various parameters have been compared citing their features. The methodology used by these rankings have been discussed such as WR depends on web presence and categorises institutions on the basis of Presence rank, Impact rank, Openness rank and Excellence rank whereas NIRF categorises on the basis of Graduation Outcomes, Learning Teaching & Resources, Outreach of students, Research and Professional Practice and Awareness. Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Maharashtra tops the list in Webometrics Rankings whereas Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai tops the list in NIRF rankings. An interpretation of these rankings along with their limitations have been given finally some conclusions have been drawn on the basis of the data.

ObjectiveCountries have major differences in the acceptance of face mask use for the prevention of COVID-19. This work aims at studying the information online in different countries in terms of information quality and content.DesignContent analysis.MethodWe analysed 450 webpages returned by searching the string ‘are face masks dangerous’ in Italy, the UK and the USA using three search engines (Bing, Duckduckgo and Google) in August 2020. The type of website and the stance about masks were assessed by two raters for each language and inter-rater agreement reported as Cohen’s kappa. The text of the webpages was collected from the web using WebBootCaT and analysed using a corpus analysis software to identify issues mentioned.ResultsMost pages were news outlets, and few (2%–6%) from public health agencies. Webpages with a negative stance on masks were more frequent in Italian (28%) than English (19%). Google returned the highest number of mask-positive pages and Duckduckgo the lowest. Google also returned the lowest number of pages mentioning conspiracy theories and Duckduckgo the highest. Webpages in Italian scored lower than those in English in transparency (reporting authors, their credentials and backing the information with references). When issues about the use of face masks were analysed, mask effectiveness was the most discussed followed by hypercapnia (accumulation of carbon dioxide), contraindication in respiratory disease and hypoxia, with issues related to their contraindications in mental health conditions and disability mentioned by very few pages.ConclusionsThis study suggests that: (1) public health agencies should increase their web presence in providing correct information on face masks; (2) search engines should improve the information quality criteria in their ranking; (3) the public should be more informed on issues related to the use of masks and disabilities, mental health and stigma arising for those people who cannot wear masks.

Background As the public increasingly uses the internet to search for resources and information regarding health and medicine, it is important that health care organizations provide adequate web resources. Website usability refers to the ease of user experience on a website. In this study, we conducted usability analyses on digital health center websites. Objective The primary aims of this study were to (1) replicate a preexisting usability scoring methodology for digital health centers; (2) apply and test this replicated usability scoring methodology on a sample set of digital health center websites; and (3) derive recommendations from the results on potential areas of improvements for our sample of digital health center websites. Methods Website usability testing was conducted from March 1, 2020, to March 15, 2020. We replicated a methodology and scoring system from previous literature and applied them to digital health center websites. Our sample included 67 digital health centers that were affiliated with US universities or hospital systems. Usability was split into the following four broad categories: accessibility, marketing, content quality, and technology. Usability tools were used to score websites in each of the four categories. The composite of the key factors of each category was used to generate a general usability and overall usability score for each website. Results The category with the highest average score (6.3) was content quality. The content quality score also had the highest SD (2.18) and an SE of 0.27. The lowest performing category was technology, which had an average score of 0.9. The technology score also had the smallest SD (0.07) and an SE of 0.01. Conclusions Our data suggest that content quality, on average, was the highest scoring variable among digital health center websites. As content is crucial to digital health knowledge, it is justified that digital health centers invest more resources into creating quality content. The overall lowest scoring variable was technology. Potential reasons for this finding include designated funding for servers, a lack of regulatory frameworks for social media presence and liability, and infrequent website audits. An easy approach for improving this variable is increasing website speed. Accessibility is another area that organizations can potentially improve. We recommend that these organizations perform periodic audits of their web presence with usability tools.

This paper aims to examine a theoretical framework of digital society and the ramifications of the digital revolution. The paper proposes that more attention has to be paid to cultural studies as a means for the understanding of digital society. The approach is based on the idea that the digital revolution’s essence is fully manifested in the cultural changes that take place in society. Cultural changes are discussed in connection with the digital society’s transformations, such as blurring the distinction between reality and virtuality and among people, nature, and artifacts, and the reversal from informational scarcity to abundance. The presented study develops a general model of culture. This model describes the spiritual, social, and technological facets of culture. Such new phenomena as individualization, transparisation, and so-called cognification (intellectualization of the surrounding environment) are suggested as the prominent trends characterizing the above cultural facets.