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Really simple syndication(RSS) technology enables an alternative delivery mechanism for online content. Instead of waiting passively for users topullonline content out, websites canpushit to potential users through RSS. This is expected to significantly affect user behavior, website profitability, and market equilibrium. This research uses an economic model to study the impact of RSS adoption and examine whether it increases a website’s profit and competitive advantage. The findings are intriguing: they demonstrate that RSS can either increase or decrease website profit. In a competitive context, RSS adoption can actually be a disadvantage; in some cases, it hurts the adopter but benefits the competitor. Moreover, under certain conditions, the first mover will be worse off when the competitor mimics its adoption decision, which discourages the earlier adoption and thus creates an obstacle to using RSS. Derivation of the adoption equilibria in sequential and simultaneous games shows that multiple market outcomes may result. Finally, regardless of whether or not a website operator adopts RSS, it will still benefit by increasing user awareness of RSS technology, but only up to a certain level. Once this critical awareness level has been reached, websites will not gain by continuing to promote RSS to users. As a whole, these results show how technology adoption will have an impact on firm performance and market outcome, and illustrate the complexity of technology adoption strategy in a competitive setting. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although various kinds of personalization cues are pervasively used on websites, previous research studies have treated web personalization primarily as a coarse-grained, monolithic block (e.g., by comparing personalization vs. nonpersonalization or personalization vs. privacy) rather than as a combination of salient types of personalization cues that may create—either jointly or separately—different effects on user assessments of website value. Based on the stimulus–organism–response framework, we develop a research model that proposes users’ preference fit and perceived enjoyment as two key intervening mechanisms that carry over the differential effects of content and design personalization cues on users’ willingness to stick to a website and to pay for website offerings. In a field experiment with 206 subjects using a real-life news aggregator website, our findings provide evidence in support of different effect paths emanating from content and design personalization cues. Furthermore, we show that the effects of content personalization cues on website stickiness and users’ willingness to pay (WTP) are mediated by both preference fit and perceived enjoyment, whereas design personalization cues exert their effects on website stickiness only through perceived enjoyment. Counter to intuition, we find that a combination of content and design personalization cues is ineffective—or even counterproductive—in increasing preference fit and users’ WTP above and beyond the levels generated by content cues alone. With regard to perceived enjoyment and website stickiness, however, content and design personalization cues exhibit synergistic properties indicating that the combination of both cues are more than the sum of the individual cues alone. Recommendations are provided as to how online managers and web designers can use web personalization cues to positively influence website stickiness and to strengthen their digital business model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although understanding the role of users’ overall active behavior on a social networking site (SNS) is of significant importance for both theory and practice, the complexity and difficulty involved in measuring such behavior has inhibited research attention. To understand users’ active behaviors on an SNS, it is important that we identify and classify various types of online behaviors before measuring them. In this paper we holistically examine users’ active behaviors on an SNS. Toward this end, we conduct three studies. First, we classify active behaviors on an SNS into four categories using the Delphi method. Then, we develop a measurement model and validate it using the data collected from an online survey of 477 SNS users. The measures of the developed instrument exhibit satisfactory reliability and validity and are used as indicators of the latent constructs. This instrument is then used in a predictive model based on commitment theory and tested using data from 1,242 responses. The results of data analysis suggest that affective commitment and continuance commitment are good predictors of overall active behavior on an SNS. This study complements the existing research on social media, cocreation, and social commerce. Most important, this study provides a theoretically sound measurement instrument that addresses the complex characteristic of overall active behavior on an SNS and which should be useful for future research. The findings of this study have important implications for practice as they highlight managing and stimulating users’ active behaviors on an SNS. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous research suggests that user characteristics such as web experience and demographics may affect online trust. Drawing on social cognitive theory, we explore the moderating effect of user characteristics on online trust. Based on a survey of German Internet users, we differentiate three groups by age, web experience, and education. We term these groups digital natives, digital immigrants, and naturalized digitals. A multiple-group analysis reveals significant differences in trust formation, particularly in the cues considered in the evaluation of online services. Whereas a large user base inspires confidence in digital natives, naturalized digitals are more geared toward familiar brands and recommendations. Digital immigrants most critically weigh the risks of a transaction against its benefits. We argue that specific user characteristics are associated with distinct cognitive schemata, implying distinct interests and evaluations in online transactions. Online services should differentiate their signaling efforts according to the targeted customer group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web site navigability refers to the degree to which a visitor can follow a Web site's hyperlink structure to successfully find information with efficiency and ease. In this study, we take a data-driven approach to measure Web site navigability using Web data readily available in organizations. Guided by information foraging and information-processing theories, we identify fundamental navigability dimensions that should be emphasized in metric development. Accordingly, we propose three data-driven metrics-namely, power, efficiency, and directness-that consider Web structure, usage, and content data to measure a Web site's navigability. We also develop a Web mining-based method that processes Web data to enable the calculation of the proposed metrics. We further implement a prototype system based on the Web mining-based method and use it to assess the navigability of two sizable, real-world Web sites with the metrics. To examine the analysis results by the metrics, we perform an evaluation study that involves these two sites and 248 voluntary participants. The evaluation results show that user performance and assessments are consistent with the analysis results revealed by our metrics. Our study demonstrates the viability and practical value of data-driven metrics for measuring Web site navigability, which can be used for evaluative, diagnostic, or predictive purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web sites rely on pictures and animation to convey subtle messages that are more effectively communicated nonverbally. We argue that such messages could have strong cultural content, which should be understood in developing Web sites. Hence, this paper explores the cultural content of Web site images and develops a theory for Web-image signifiers. This is done in two phases. Phase I has an interpretive qualitative approach that uses Grounded Theory to identify signifiers and to develop the Web-image signifiers (WIS) theory. Phase II quantitatively tests the WIS theory. Together, these two phases identify and validate signifiers of cultural dimensions in Web site images. More interestingly, the results uncover that cultural dimensions are signified in five categories, of which two, humans and buildings categories, are the most prominent. The contribution of this paper is in developing a comprehensive theory for the cultural content of Web images, identifying 48 signifiers in Web images, discovering new categories of signifiers, and providing insights into the nature of cultural signification by testing the theory. Such knowledge could heighten our sensitivity and awareness of hidden cultural messages in Web site images. The WIS theory could provide a novel approach to the cultural studies of Web images and other artifacts with cultural content. The results of this work have immediate application in the design of Web sites for a multicultural audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web sites are important components of Internet strategy for organizations. This paper develops a theoretical model for understanding the effect of Web site design elements on customer loyalty to a Web site. We show the relevance of the business domain of a Web site to gain a contextual understanding of relative importance of Web site design elements. We use a hierarchical linear modeling approach to model multilevel and cross-level interactions that have not been explicitly considered in previous research. By analyzing data on more than 12,000 online customer surveys for 43 Web sites in several business domains, we find that the relative importance of different Web site features (e.g., content, functionality) in affecting customer loyalty to a Web site varies depending on the Web site's domain. For example, we find that the relationship between Web site content and customer loyalty is stronger for information-oriented Web sites than for transaction-oriented Web sites. However, the relationship between functionality and customer loyalty is stronger for transaction-oriented Web sites than for information-oriented Web sites. We also find that government Web sites enjoy greater word-of-mouth effect than commercial Web sites. Finally, transaction-oriented Web sites tend to score higher on mean customer loyalty than do information-oriented Web sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how consumers process the information available, and what their experiences are, when exposed to an interactive Web site as compared with a noninteractive Web site. The experiment developed analyzes two versions of a Web site in which the capacity to interact with the message has been manipulated. The results show that the interactive Web site leads to more information processing, higher favorability toward the product and the Web site, and greater flow state intensity. In addition, the findings confirm the hypothesized moderating effect of need for cognition on information processing. Implications for new media researchers and practitioners are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines personal Web sites as a conspicuous form of consumer self-presentation. Using theories of self-presentation, possessions, and computer-mediated environments (CMEs), we investigate the ways in which consumers construct identities by digitally associating themselves with signs, symbols, material objects, and places. Specifically, the issues of interest include why consumers create personal Web sites, what consumers want to communicate, what strategies they devise to achieve their goal of self-presentation, and how those Web space strategies compare to the self-presentation strategies of real life (RL). The data reveal insights into the strategies behind constructing a digital self, projecting a digital likeness, digitally associating as a new form of possession, and reorganizing linear narrative structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors suggest that learning is an important factor in electronic environments and that efficiency resulting from learning can be modeled with the power law of practice. They show that most Web sites can be characterized by decreasing visit times and that generally those sites with the fastest learning curves show the highest rates of purchasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research helps Web developers apply knowledge on information search costs to the design of Web sites that sell consumer products or services. The goal of the research is to predict how subtle changes in the user interface design influence information search costs. With an empirical study, the authors compare 1411 choices subjects made regarding a business to patronize using paper and electronic telephone directories. The choices were contingent on information search costs imposed by the different media. By providing a theoretical basis for predicting differences in information search costs, the authors help designers create more effective Web sites for achieving their marketing objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study focuses on consumer-related factors that affect the success of traditional store-based retailers' ventures on Internet shopping. In particular, the impact of income, involvement, home shopping and Internet shopping experience, attitudes towards a retailer's brand and attitudes towards a retailer's Web site on consumers' intentions to buy through that retailer's web site are examined. Results indicated that high income favours Internet shopping from retailers with strong brand names and that high involvement with a product category affects adversely shopping from retailers' sites with weak brands. Both extensive home-shopping experience and positive attitudes towards a retailer's web site were found to have a positive effect on shoppers' buying intentions regardless the strength of brands involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'webometrics' was coined for the quantitative analysis of web - related phenomena, content analysis, including links, search engine performances and web technology analysis from an information science perspective. This paper explored into the webometric study of web sites of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) institutions in India. There are 41 CSIR research institutions in India. The study aimed at to establish a kind of ranking of websites of CSIR institutions in India by measuring their WIF. The study of the ranking will help the reader to compare and identify CSIR institutions websites in India by their WIF. The objectives of the study includes, To identify and classify the domain of CSIR institutes' websites in India; To calculate the Number of WebPages, Number of link pages, Number of self link pages and external link pages of CSIR institutes' websites in India; To calculate the Simple Web Impact Factor (WIF), Self link Web Impact Factor, External Web Impact factor and Revised Web Impact Factor of CSIR institutes'' websites in India and rank them as per the WIF and To analyse the link network of the CSIR websites in India. Four types of links and Web Impact Factors are formulated as The Simple WIF, the ratio of all links to the number of pages; The Self Link WIF, the ratio of self links within the site to number of pages; The external WIF, the ratio of links made from external sites to the target site, to the number of pages at the site ;The Revised WIF, and the ratio of links made incoming from other sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of webpages in the Internet has increased tremendously over the last two decades however only a part of it is indexed by various search engines. This small portion is the indexable web of the Internet and can be usually reachable from a Search Engine. Search engines play a big role in making the World Wide Web accessible to the end user, and how much of the World WideWeb is accessible on the size of the search engine's index. Researchers have proposed several ways to estimate this size of the indexable web using search engines with and without privileged access to the search engine's database. Our report provides a summary of methods used in the last two decades to estimate the size of the World Wide Web, as well as describe how this knowledge can be used in other aspects/tasks concerning the World Wide Web. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2006, many U.S. food and beverage companies have pledged to market healthier foods to children to help combat the childhood obesity epidemic. Despite this, companies’ expenditures on online advertising have increased of late. To explore this seemingly contradictory situation, the authors conducted a content analysis of approximately 100 food and beverage brand websites, examining a multitude of online marketing practices across a variety of different products, as well as the relationship between marketing techniques and the nutritional profile of promoted foods. This is the first study to examine if nutrition varied by marketing technique. Few brands maintained child-oriented websites, but the brands that did have child-oriented websites included a large number of games promoting particularly obesogenic food products. Somewhat surprisingly, games with many brand identifiers were paired with slightly less obesogenic foods. These findings present a mixed picture of the threat posed by online child-oriented food marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the digitization of handwritten documents, the website surveys in a country with high internet services, and the comparison of web interface and R package, computer software.

Methods for observing policy networks have not kept up with the development of new network analytic techniques required to understand governance in complex settings. We compare three unobtrusive methods for observing policy networks based on hyperlinks between policy actor web sites, on media reports, and on public policy partnerships. Observations of one complex local water policy arena with all three methods provide a comparison of the general as well as actor-specific network characteristics in the three observed networks. The core network of actors observed by all methods has similar network level statistics, highly correlated relationships measured by Quadratic Assignment Procedures models, and the same significant network microstructures as measured by Exponential Random Graph Models. The full networks including actors observed by any method also exhibit similar actor-level characteristics, although the correlations across networks are stronger for bridging capital measures than for bonding capital measures, and each method has different apparent biases. Once biases are accounted for, similarities suggest that these methods may provide useful proxies for each other and for other relationships that are more difficult or impossible to measure, particularly when combined to offset each method's biases. If so, they can extend the range of policy networks observable with limited resources across space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which reviewed the advice given to patients and families about water precautions after ventilation tube (VT) insertion by clinicians, websites and hospital information leaflets. The study evaluated clinician experience level, specific advice given and whether advice agreed with published guidelines. It concluded that the advice is rarely in agreement with the guidelines.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of political party websites for e-electioneering and their impact on the outcome of the elections. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical data for the study were collected from the websites of 11 major political parties of Pakistan using modified version of the coding scheme used by Gibson, Rommele and Ward for the evaluation of functionality and delivery of websites. Data were analysed using web content analysis method to achieve the objectives of this study. The study also ranked the party websites based on points scored for functionalities and delivery. Findings – The study found that although Pakistani political parties have started using their websites for communication with their voters during the general elections but they have not utilized the full potential of the website functionalities for e-electioneering. Research limitations/implications – The study focused on content analysis of political party websites of Pakistan only. However, comparisons were made to other studies where possible to contextualize the results of this study in international perspective. It is suggested to replicate this study after ten years to study the changing behaviour of political parties. Practical implications – Political parties might like to improve their websites in the light of findings of this study to spread their message more effectively to larger voter base. Social implications – Findings of the study will help in improving the readiness of political parties for e-electioneering and improved websites will help voters in making an informed decision during election. It will overall improve the electoral process in the country where democratic system is not very strong. Originality/value – With the advent of internet, political parties are using their websites during elections for various purposes. This study, first ever in Pakistan on the topic, provides empirical evidence on the use of political party websites during May 2013 general election in Pakistan and presents its impact on the outcome of the election. The study will be valuable for political science researchers especially those focusing on Asia and Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the digital age, many corporations communicate with their publics via online channels. Among many channels, a corporation’s official Web site is often used for informing publics of its performance and other corporate-related information and for shaping a positive corporate image. This study quantitatively analyzed corporate Web sites, particularly the “About us” Web pages of Fortune 500 corporations based on symbolic convergence theory (SCT), which describes the formation of symbolic reality and the shared meaning of that symbolic reality among the public. A content analysis revealed that economic corporate management was the dominant rhetorical vision, and the fantasy, in the context of SCT, of being a superior company was emphasized by the 500 examined corporations. Such symbolic reality was constructed using corresponding structural tools of Web content, such as dramatis personae, plot line, and scene. In addition, the rhetorical vision and fantasy themes created by the Web sites turned out to be contingent on business classifications (retailer/distributor, manufacturers, and financial/informational/recreational services). Companies that pursued other types of fantasy themes (such as admirable, futuristic, and competent/stable) and rhetorical visions (such as socially responsible corporate management) were also identified. Some suggestions for corporate communicators are provided based on the results of this analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many websites offering Location Based Services (LBS) provide a $k$ NN search interface that returns the top-$k$ nearest-neighbor objects (e.g., nearest restaurants) for a given query location. This paper addresses the problem of crawling all objects efficiently from an LBS website, through the public $k$ NN web search interface it provides. Specifically, we develop crawling algorithm for 2D and higher-dimensional spaces, respectively, and demonstrate through theoretical analysis that the overhead of our algorithms can be bounded by a function of the number of dimensions and the number of crawled objects, regardless of the underlying distributions of the objects. We also extend the algorithms to leverage scenarios where certain auxiliary information about the underlying data distribution, e.g., the population density of an area which is often positively correlated with the density of LBS objects, is available. Extensive experiments on real-world datasets demonstrate the superiority of our algorithms over the state-of-the-art competitors in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Focussed crawlers enable the automatic discovery of Web resources about a given topic by automatically navigating the Web link structure and selecting the hyperlinks to follow by estimating their relevance to the topic based on evidence obtained from the already downloaded pages. This work proposes a classifier-guided focussed crawling approach that estimates the relevance of a hyperlink to an unvisited Web resource based on the combination of textual evidence representing its local context, namely the textual content appearing in its vicinity in the parent page, with visual evidence associated with its global context, namely the presence of images relevant to the topic within the parent page. The proposed focussed crawling approach is applied towards the discovery of environmental Web resources that provide air quality measurements and forecasts, since such measurements (and particularly the forecasts) are not only provided in textual form, but are also commonly encoded as multimedia, mainly in the form of heatmaps. Our evaluation experiments indicate the effectiveness of incorporating visual evidence in the link selection process applied by the focussed crawler over the use of textual features alone, particularly in conjunction with hyperlink exploration strategies that allow for the discovery of highly relevant pages that lie behind apparently irrelevant ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the applications of Web 2.0, social networking sites continue to proliferate and the volume of content keeps growing; as a result, information overload causes difficulty for users attempting to choose useful and relevant information. To resolve this problem, most researches only utilize users’ preferences, the content of items or social influence to make recommendations. However, people’s preferences for items may be affected by social friends, personal interest and item popularity. Moreover, each factor has a different impact on each user. In this work, we propose a novel recommendation method based on different types of influences: social, interest and popularity, using personal tendencies in regard to these factors to recommend photos in a photo-sharing website, Flickr. The personal tendencies related to these three influences are regarded as personalized weights to combine influence scores for predicting the scores of items. The experimental results show that our proposed methods can improve the quality of recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an eHealth intervention (interactive website) on pregnant women's ability to make an informed choice about Down syndrome screening.Material and Methods: The study was designed as a randomized controlled trial with allocation to an intervention group and a control group in a ratio of 1:1. Subsequent subgroup analysis was conducted. Participants were recruited from 5 August 2013 to 25 April 2014 at Odense University Hospital, Denmark. Inclusion criteria were: pregnant women aged ≥18 years who were invited to participate in Down syndrome screening. Exclusion criteria were: high risk of abortion, psycho-socially vulnerable women, late referral, inability to speak Danish and women declining to participate. The primary outcome was informed choice about Down syndrome screening. The Multidimensional Measure of Informed Choice was used to assess whether the choice was informed or uninformed.Results: A total of 1150 participants were included in the study, of which 910 (79%) completed the questionnaire. Only a minority (30% of the women in the intervention group) actually used the website. There was no significant difference in the groups with respect to making an informed choice. The mean knowledge scores were significantly higher for those in the intervention group who used the intervention.Conclusions: An interactive website with information about Down syndrome screening had no direct effect on making an informed choice. However, the majority of the pregnant women who used the website were satisfied with the website and would recommend it to others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the perspective of internet information production (IIP) and internet information consumption (IIC), we interpreted the spatial patterns of the internet industry in China based on top commercial websites. The findings demonstrated more obvious industrial clustering compared with that in Western countries, highlighting the rise of internet cities in China. The differences amongst diverse website themes generate disparities between IIP and IIC, suggesting future developmental trends of these internet cities. The specialised division of internet cities remains somewhat consistent with the local context. The government plays a key role in the early stage of China’s internet industry, enabling cities involved in internet industry at the initial stage gains first-mover advantages, leading to the uneven patterns of spatial patterns since then. Though the role of government in the development of internet industry should still be emphasised, the success of internet cities finally depends on whether their specialisation meets the market demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internationalization of Web sites requires Web designers to provide effective navigation experience for users from diverse cultural backgrounds. This research investigates the effect of cultural cognitive style on user perception of Web site structure characteristics and performance on the Web site, and the subsequent user satisfaction towards the Web site. More specifically, the authors focus on the breadth versus depth of a Web site's structure. A laboratory experiment involving participants from China and the United States was conducted to test the hypotheses. The results showed that cultural cognitive style and Web site structure indeed interact to affect user perception and performance. People with holistic and analytic cultural cognitive styles displayed different perceived navigability and user performance on "broad" and "deep" Web sites. This study adds a cultural dimension to our knowledge on how Web site structure can affect users' experience. It also suggests pragmatic strategies for Web site design practitioners to improve website design in order to produce compelling navigation experience for users from diverse cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This note evaluates the applicability of copyright to web design. Web design affects the appearance and user experience of a website, but excludes content such as the text or images. Web designers have an incentive to standardize websites to ease the learning curve of users who are new to a given website, which is strongly counterbalanced by internal and external pressures to perform creatively. Copyright law has been ambiguously applied to web design. Problems with copyrightability stem from the hurdles to determining what design is original, as well as the exclusion of functional elements. Even if a web design is copyrightable subject matter, successfully proving infringement is difficult. In several contexts where copyright protection might be an issue, this note finds that copyright is unnecessary to resolve disputes. The copyright symbol in the footer of websites can serve as a notice that socially pressures and deters potential copiers, protecting website design and incentivizing innovation, even in the absence of legal certainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the kinds of information concerning English idioms that is available on the web, particularly the material provided on non-lexicographical websites and that provided in establishment dictionaries for learners. After looking at a sample of webpages and the idioms they list, it then examines two idioms as case studies, summarizing corpus evidence and comparing webpage treatments with those in web versions of six learners' dictionaries. The paper concludes by discussing some further web treatments and then more general implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web mining is an emerging research area due to the rapid growth of websites. Web mining is classified into Web Content Mining (WCM), Web Usage Mining and Web Structure Mining. Extraction of required information from web page content available on World Wide Web (WWW) is WCM. The WCM is further classified into two categories first category is to directly mine the content on documents and second category is to mine the content using search engine. The mining method focuses on the information extraction and integration. The content of Web may be text, image, audio, video. Web pages typically contain a large amount of information that is not part of the main contents of the pages, like banner advertisements, navigation bars, copyright notices, etc. Such noises on Web pages usually lead to poor results in Web mining. This paper focuses on the problem of Noise free Information retrieval on web pages, which means the pre-processing of Web pages automatically to detect and eliminate noises. This paper proposes an approach for eliminating noises from web pages for the purpose of improving the accuracy and efficiency of web content mining. The main objective of removing noise from a Web Page is to improve the performance of the search. It is very essential to differentiate important information from noisy content that may misguide users' interest. This approach mainly concentrates on removing the following noises in stages: (1) Primary noises-Navigation bars, Panels and Frames, Page Headers and Footers, Copyright and Privacy Notices, Advertisements and other Uninteresting Data such as audio, video, multiple links. (2) Duplicate Contents and (3) Noise Contents according to block importance. The removal of these noises is done by performing three operations. Firstly, using the Block Splitting operation, primary noises are removed and only the useful text contents are partitioned into blocks. Secondly, using simhash algorithm, the duplicate blocks are removed to obtain the distinct blocks. For each block, three parameters namely Keyword Redundancy (KR), Linkword Percentage (LP) and Titleword Relevancy (TR) calculated. Using these three parameters block importance value (BI) is calculated, which is called Simhash algorithm. The importance of the block is then calculated using simhash algorithm. Based on a threshold value the important blocks are selected using sketching algorithm and the keywords are extracted from those important blocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While lack of sexual attraction, lack of sexual behavior, and self-identification as asexual have been used as criteria to define asexuality, it is not known how much they overlap in describing the same group of people. This study aimed to assess how many individuals could be identified as asexual based on each of these criteria and on combinations of these criteria. Participants were recruited through the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network, social media, and posts on several health- and lifestyle-related websites. In total, 566 participants between 18 and 72 years old (M = 27.86,SD = 10.53) completed an online survey (24% male, 68.9% female, 7.1% “other”). Based on self-identification or lack of sexual attraction, 71.3% and 69.2%, respectively, of participants were categorized as asexual, while based on lack of sexual behavior only 48.5% were categorized as asexual. Gender differences were found only for those participants who indicated that they did not experience sexual attraction, with more women (72.8%) than men (58.8%) indicating a lack of sexual attraction. Given that self-identification as asexual implies familiarity with the termasexual, we argue for the use of lack of sexual attraction as the primary criterion to define asexuality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present study contributes to the current localization literature by revealing the effects of localizing cultural values on tourism destination websites on users’ destination image and willingness to travel. Reporting on two tests, the first is an analysis of the depiction of cultural values on 48 New Zealand, 36 Indian, and 46 Chinese destination sites. Results indicate significant differences in the cultural values exposed among the three countries. The second study reports on an experiment requiring 400 New Zealand participants to visit four versions of a fictitious experimental destination website. Commensurate with motivations for holiday tourism, results indicate that the depiction of incongruent cultural values to a target audience on destination websites generates a more positive destination image and greater willingness to travel, contradicting the current localization literature. Finally, managerial implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To validate a survey of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), we tested the similarity between respondents and nonrespondents using traditional methods of supplemental data collection. Additionally we also applied mixed methods by enhancing the survey data with data obtained by a novel unobtrusive method: observation of company websites. The website data were obtained through human collection of characteristics of the homepage with observation of functional items that were coded and combined into an index for general website quality. Analysis of these data supported the validity of the original survey and exhibited a positive significant correlation between the survey index for use of information technology (IT) and the website quality index. The finding supports unobtrusive website observation as an appropriate data collection substitute. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Google's PageRank method was developed to evaluate the importance of web-pages via their link structure. The mathematics of PageRank, however, are entirely general and apply to any graph or network in any domain. Thus, PageRank is now regularly used in bibliometrics, social and information network analysis, and for link prediction and recommendation. It's even used for systems analysis of road networks, as well as biology, chemistry, neuroscience, and physics. We'll see the mathematics and ideas that unite these diverse applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Methis is the property of University of Tartu Press 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.)

In this article, I examine the use of social network website (SNS) as an influential factor for offline protest activities and organizational memberships. The properties of SNSs may help encourage interpersonal interaction, broaden social ties, and provide valuable information about how to become civically and politically involved. I test these hypotheses using data from a survey of attendees fielded at the US Social Forum (USSF) and control for individual factors as well as alternative mobilizing channels. The empirical evidence suggests that attendees who learned of the meeting through SNSs were more likely to engage in offline protest activity and have a broader array of organizational memberships than were those who learned of the USSF through alternative information channels. I conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for social movement mobilization and persistence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article describes the results of an analysis of 430 Indiana public library homepages. The authors examined each homepage for 129 total elements, such as navigation, search, content, and Web 2.0 features. Our findings reveal common trends in public library homepage design, including twenty-one elements that appear on at least half of the surveyed homepages. The results of this study provide a profile of public library homepage design in Indiana. Additionally, this study blends two preexisting library content checklists in order to provide a replicable methodology for additional libraries to apply to their homepages or websites. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study conducted a qualitative semiotic analysis of 36 images that appeared on www.google.com and www.yahoo.com. The ultimate objective is to reveal source representation and fear appeals in online images to see what information is being provided to the decision-makers in immunisation behaviour. Drawing on principles of visual literacy theory, the authors looked for important themes regarding who is being represented and how information is being portrayed through the images. This analysis revealed three key findings: online images are rife with information presented or supported by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), other governmental agencies, and views from healthcare professionals; images displayed a strong use of both high and low fear appeals (although intent to support or oppose immunisations was most often undetermined) and a high use of gain frames in support of immunisations; and the use of graphs and charts, consisting of the CDC's recommended immunisation schedule, was a dominant theme in images from both online search engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being criticized as unrepresentative and misleading, retention and graduation rates are an important part of college-search web sites and accountability systems, and they frequently have been used as indicators of institutional quality and effectiveness in educational research. Retention and graduation rates are often compared over time and across institutions. However, such comparisons can be confounded by differences in entering student cohorts and differences among the institutions being compared. This research examined the effects of institutional and cohort characteristics on one-year retention rates using random-effect and fixed-effect regression models for panel data. The use of a fixed-effect model allowed the researchers to account for omitted variables (unobserved heterogeneity) in the analyses. Results indicated that unobserved heterogeneity was a significant issue in the study, and that traditional regression methods may overstate the effects of institutional characteristics on retention rates. Results also indicated that the effects of institutional and cohort characteristics were essentially stable over time and across cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research problem: Most of the previous research into corporate websites has focused on the users' point of view and their perception of usability and interactivity as the two predominant website characteristics, and has shown that interactivity plays an important role in consumers' perceptions of, and responses to, these sites. This study explores corporate websites from a different view—that of the company—and investigates the organizational motivation to adopt new interactive features on corporate websites. Research question: What are the critical factors influencing the firm's adoption of online innovations related to interactivity on their websites? Literature review: Many dominant theories in information technology (IT) that guide most research on IT adoption at the firm level include the diffusion of innovations theory (which seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures) and the technology, organization, and environment framework (which identifies three aspects of an enterprise's context that influence the process by which it adopts and implements a technological innovation). But other research streams can contribute to the Theory of Technology Adoption at the firm level, including Institutional Theory (which is a widely accepted theoretical posture that emphasizes rational myths, isomorphism, and legitimacy) and the model of Iacovou et al.(which analyzes interorganizational systems' characteristics that influence firms to adopt IT innovations). Methodology: A conceptual model with supporting propositions was tested using an online questionnaire. Data were collected from 138 firms in Switzerland and Germany and analyzed with multiple regression analysis. Results and conclusions: Complexity, perceived benefits, top management support, and information intensity are the drivers that play important roles in the diffusion of innovation related to interactivity on corporate websites, and support our conceptual model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of tourism-specific consumer innovativeness (i.e., domain-specific innovativeness) on their information search, purchasing, and communication behaviors on tourism websites. The methodology employed is based on a combination of data from website log files and questionnaires (n = 207). The results show that tourism innovativeness is positively related to the frequency and density of site visits, downloading of information brochures, use of the online purchasing mode, and the volume of online purchases. Tourism innovativeness is also positively associated with consumer chatting and e-mailing. The study reveals that consumers high on tourism innovativeness maintain active and cooperative communications with the firm. In summary, the behaviors of innovative consumers that have been documented in traditional offline settings are also exhibited in the online environment. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Specificity-determining sites (SDS) are the key positions of a protein family that show a specific conservation of amino acids, related to the subfamily members of that family. SDS play crucial role in developing functional variation within the protein family during the course of evolution. Thus, it is important to identify SDS to understand the evolutionary process of diversification of biological functions within a protein family. A wide range of computational tools have been designed to detect such SDS. In this review, we intend to examine the concept of SDS in more details along with the advancements and drawbacks of different computational approaches designed towards successful prediction of SDS. Further, we discussed the algorithms behind the computational approaches developed till date and provide an exhaustive comparison of performance of each method. We also introduce a new ensemble approach, SubSite as another tool to predict SDS through a user-friendly webserver available at www.hpppi.iicb.res.in/subsite. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With the explosive growth of online news, adaptive news recommendation models based on social connections have developed as a result of the growth of online news websites. Several models have relayed better outcomes for users. Most of these models establish users' social connections according to their binary news rating scores. In various real systems, mainly based on a non-binary pattern, the rating score is often multigrade. In this paper, we introduce a new continuous ratings model for news recommendations. This model uses exponential distance to measure the similarities of users to increase its robustness to noise. Simulation results show that the proposed model has significantly improved the performance of personalized news recommendation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study is the first investigation into the types of contents in young adult (YA) web pages in public library websites in Japan. The study reveals that YA web pages, in general, place more emphasis on providing guidance on YA services, on helping young adults with regular learning, on the use of information resources for reference services, and on improving the communication abilities for young adults, rather than on providing research assistance to adults on YA services. Furthermore, an IRIS (Information Reference Instructional Sharing) Contents Model is proposed for YA web pages, whereas an IRIR (Information Reference Instructional Research) Contents Model is presented for children’s web pages, based on the differences between the contents of YA web pages and those of children’s web pages. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using data from an exclusive file-sharing Web site that allows users to share music files using the BitTorrent protocol, I exploit exogenous variation in the availability of sound recordings in file-sharing networks to isolate the causal effect of file sharing of an album on its sales. Using within-album variation in illegal downloads and sales, I find that the effect is essentially zero: The elasticity of sales with respect to illegal downloads is one-tenth of one percentage point. However, the finding that file sharing is not harmful to individual artists is not inconsistent with the well-documented fact that file sharing is harmful to the music industry (the fallacy of composition). More important, I find that file sharing benefits more established and popular artists who are signed to major labels, which is consistent with recent industry trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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