Search

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on how library and information science (LIS) as a field operationalizes the concept of organizational sustainability for managing digital resources, projects and infrastructures such as digital libraries and repositories over time. It introduces a nine dimensional framework for organizational sustainability in the digital cultural heritage community.Design/methodology/approach Content analysis of publications from three LIS databases (2000–2015).Findings Comparing the articles to the nine dimension framework shows that most LIS articles discuss technology, financial or management dimensions. Fewer articles describe disaster planning, assessment or policy dimensions.Research limitations/implications Three LIS databases might not include all relevant journals, conferences, white papers and other materials. The data set also did not include books; library management textbooks might include useful material on organizational sustainability. Claims about the prevalence of themes are subject to methodological limits of content analysis.Practical implications Organizations that steward digital collections need to be clear about what they mean when they are referring to organizational sustainability so that they can make appropriate decisions for future-proofing their collections. The analysis would also suggest for a greater need to consider the full range of dimensions of organizational sustainability.Originality/value By introducing a new nine dimensional framework of organizational sustainability the authors hope to promote more and better conversations within the LIS community about organizational sustainability. The authors hope these conversations will lead to productive action and improvements in the arrangements of people and work necessary to keep digital projects and services going over time, given ongoing challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Social Media is one of the largest platforms to voluntarily communicate thoughts. With increase in multimedia data on social networking websites, information about human behaviour is increasing. This user-generated data are present on the internet in different modalities including text, images, audio, video, gesture, etc. The purpose of this paper is to consider multiple variables for event detection and analysis including weather data, temporal data, geo-location data, traffic data, weekday’s data, etc. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, evolution of different approaches have been studied and explored for multivariate event analysis of uncertain social media data. Findings – Based on burst of outbreak information from social media including natural disasters, contagious disease spread, etc. can be controlled. This can be path breaking input for instant emergency management resources. This has received much attention from academic researchers and practitioners to study the latent patterns for event detection from social media signals. Originality/value – This paper provides useful insights into existing methodologies and recommendations for future attempts in this area of research. An overview of architecture of event analysis and statistical approaches are used to determine the events in social media which need attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the performance and efficiency of the five most used search engines, i.e. Google, Yahoo!, Live, Ask, and AOL, in retrieving internet resources at specific points of time using a large number of complex queries. Design/methodology/approach - In order to examine the performance of the five search engines, five sets of experiments were conducted using 50 complex queries within two different time frames. The data were evaluated using Excel and SPSS software. Findings - The paper results highlight the fact that different web search engines, which use different technology to find and present web information, yield different first page search results. The overall analysis of the findings of different measures reveals that Google has a significantly higher rate of performance in retrieving web resources as compared with the other four search engines. Yahoo! is the second best in terms of retrieval performance. The other three search engines did not performed satisfactorily compared with Google and Yahoo! Originality/value - The paper will provide important insight into the effectiveness of major search engines and their ability to retrieve relevant internet resources. This paper has produced key findings that are important for all web search engine users and researchers, and the web industry. The findings will also assist search companies to improve their services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Seven years after the release of Google Scholar in 2004, it was enhanced by a new module, the Google Scholar Author Citation Tracker (GSACT), currently a small subset of the complete Google Scholar (GS) database. The aim of this paper is to focus on this enhancement. Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the Google Scholar Author Citation Tracker, its features, potential benefits and problems. Findings – GSACT allows registered users to create and edit their scientific profiles and some bibliometric indicators, such as the h-index, total citation counts, and the i10 index. These metrics are provided for the entire academic career of authors and for the most recent five-year period. The new module also offers some long overdue essential options, such as sorting result lists of the documents by their publication year, title, and the citations received Originality/value – The paper shows that, at present, GSACT may be too little, too late. However, with an extension of the current clean-up project it could possibly become a really scholarly resource in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study conducted at the Physics and Astronomy Department at University College in London, England, which examines the role of Google Inc.'s Google general web search engine in the information-seeking behavior of physicists and astronomers. It uses a mixed-methods study that includes 56 semi-structured interviews, 114 respondent-questionnaire survey, and information-event card reporting. It shows that Google is mostly used for problem-specific content searching and that there is a growing reliance of scientists on Google for finding scholarly articles. It identifies an increasing number of articles that scientists read through Google because of their awareness of the quantity of scholarly articles available on the said search engine.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to engage in a thought experiment, exploring the use of Wikipedia or similar content-malleable systems for the review and dissemination of academic knowledge. Design/methodology/approach - By looking at other sources, the paper considers the current state of the academic peer-review process, discusses Wikipedia and reflects on dynamic content creation and management applications currently in use in academia. Findings - The traditional peer review process must be updated to match the rapid creation and diffusion of knowledge that characterises the 21st century. The Wikipedia concept is a potential model for more rapid and reliable dissemination of scholarly knowledge. The implications of such a concept would have a dramatic effect on the academic community. Originality/value - This paper promotes a radical idea for changing the methods by which academic knowledge is both constructed and disseminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose ? The purpose of this paper is to clarify some issues regarding citation indexing, analysis and searching. Design/methodology/approach ? The paper begins with a discussion on an article in the D-Lib Magazine and then focuses on deflated citation counts and inflated and phantom citation counts. Findings ? The combination of the inflated citation count values dispensed by Google Scholar (GS) with the ignorance and shallowness of some GS enthusiasts can be a real mix for real scholars. Originality/value ? The paper offers insight into deflated, inflated and phantom citation counts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the degree of accessibility of a set of electronic journals that are hosted on widely used online scientific journal publishing platforms and whose content quality has already been certified. Two studies were performed, in which the accessibility of the selected platforms was studied in 2011 and 2016.Design/methodology/approach The research was performed on publishing platforms than hosted more than 20 journals about human behaviour and factors that may influence it. The evaluation was carried out following the methodology described by the Web Accessibility Initiative in their Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology.Findings The results show that, in spite of an improvement in accessibility, all the analysed electronic consultation platforms contain errors that could hinder their users’ access to their content. The incidence of errors found varies considerably among platforms. As the user interface of each platform analysed is common to all the online scientific electronic journals it hosts, the results obtained are valid for all other journals hosted on a given platform.Research limitations/implications Obtained results were valid in the date and time the websites were analysed. Changes made on the websites since then make that the results of an accessibility analysis would be different.Practical implications Analysed platforms would require taking steps to ensure their accessibility.Social implications Users with disabilities cannot use these platforms appropriately due to the accessibility problems found. The lack of web accessibility also has implications regarding visibility of published articles and common users.Originality/value This work offers a systematic analysis that includes manual accessibility evaluation, which has not been performed in scientific article publishing platforms to the extent presented in this paper. Articles found in the literature perform automatic analyses, which lack the depth of a manual one. Besides, when manual accessibility analysis is performed, usually the home page of a platform or journal alone is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the construction and configuration of environmentally friendly living through making visible the link networks that surround personal greener living blogs. The following questions guide the exploration: which types of organisations/actors structure the issue network of green living blogs as it emerges through links? How do these links contribute to carving out thematic areas as particularly influential for the construction of what greener living is seen to mean? Design/methodology/approach – Mixed method, a link and co-link analysis of 46 personal blogs carried out with the IssueCrawler tool, is backed up by a qualitative textual analysis of central personal green living blogs to contextualise the resulting networks. Findings – The resulting network shows an issue space that is divided in two halves: one half where green living is largely an issue of relating outwards (e.g. by broaching consumption) and another half which is inwards oriented (e.g. beauty products, personal well-being). A large integrative centre of mainly personal blogs functions as a hub for different notions of greener living, structured around pleasure vs a problem focus, and along inwards vs outwards orientation. Research limitations/implications – The empirical material consists of a sample of Swedish language blogs, which has implications for the outcome of the study. Practical implications – The study intends to contribute to laying the ground for developing adequately targeted and multi-faceted (online) information campaigns to inform about environmentally friendly living. Originality/value – The results can contribute to expand understanding of environmentally friendly living as it is represented online and thereby add value to comprehend and target parts of society. This paper contributes to the area of environmental information, which is an important and topical yet under-researched area in information studies. The IssueCrawler tool is used in a concrete empirical study in information studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to propose a high-level structure for a global quality evaluation of a website. This structure is based on the characteristics, sub-characteristics and attributes of three main dimensions (content, service, and technical quality) that will substantiate the development of broad website quality evaluation, comparison and improvement methodologies, according to particular sectors of activity and evaluator's perspective. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the literature and the author's experience a framework is proposed for a global quality evaluation of a website. Findings – Considering the results of some studies, as well as the systematisation of the knowledge available in several bibliographies, website quality can be grouped into three main dimensions: content quality, service quality, and technical quality. There has not yet been an evaluation methodology that focuses on these three main website quality dimensions in a broad and transversal sense. Originality/value – The paper presents an innovative high-level structure for a global quality evaluation of a website, based on three dimensions not previously considered together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to demonstrate how blog searching can be used as a retrospective source of public opinion. Design/methodology/approach - In this paper a variety of blog searching techniques are described and illustrated with a case study of the Danish cartoons affair. Findings - A time series analysis of related blog postings suggests that the Danish cartoons issue attracted little attention in the English-speaking world for four months after the initial publication of the cartoons, exploding only after the simultaneous start of diplomatic sanctions and a commercial boycott. Research limitations/implications - Blogs only reveal the opinions of bloggers, and blog analysis is language-specific. Sections of the world and the population of individual countries that do not have access to the internet will not be adequately represented in blogspace. Moreover, bloggers are self-selected and probably not representative of internet users. Originality/value - The existence of blog search engines now allows researchers to search blogspace for posts relating to any given debate, seeking either the opinions of blogging pundits or casual mentions in personal journals. It is possible to use blogs to examine topics before they first attract mass media attention, as well as to dissect ongoing discussions. This gives a retrospective source of public opinion that is unique to blog search engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Most digital libraries (DL) are now available online. They also provide the Z39.50 standard protocol which allows computer-based systems to effectively retrieve information stored in the DLs. The major difficulty lies in inconsistency between database schemas of multiple DLs. The purpose of this paper is to present a system known as Argumentation-based Digital Library Search (ADLSearch), which facilitates information retrieval across multiple DLs. Design/methodology/approach - The proposed approach is based on argumentation theory for schema matching reconciliation from multiple schema matching algorithms. In addition, a distributed architecture is proposed for the ADLSearch system for information retrieval from multiple DLs. Findings - Initial performance results are promising. First, schema matching can improve the retrieval performance on DLs, as compared to the baseline technique. Subsequently, argumentationbased retrieval can yield better matching accuracy and retrieval efficiency than individual schema matching algorithms. Research limitations/implications - The work discussed in this paper has been implemented as a prototype supporting scholarly retrieval from about 800 DLs over the world. However, due to complexity of argumentation algorithm, the process of adding new DLs to the system cannot be performed in a real-time manner. Originality/value - In this paper, an argumentation-based approach is proposed for reconciling the conflicts from multiple schema matching algorithms in the context of information retrieval from multiple DL. Moreover, the proposed approach can also be applied for similar applications which require automatic mapping from multiple database schemas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to present a formalisation of the "online transparency" concept in particular firms' disclosures, employing basic microeconomics. Relevant literature from the accounting, economics and finance fields, along with specific documents regarding micro-simulation as a technique to capture diversity in data sets, is surveyed. Design/methodology/approach -- A class of Stone-Geary utility functions is proposed as an analytical tool. A first simulation of public policies is introduced, exploring its impact on corporate firms and their preferences for online disclosure, specifically in Europe. Moreover, the author study corporate firm digital disclosure and compulsory disclosure policy specifically in Europe, exploring whether the size of the firm, country and sector of operation are relevant to explaining the differences in firms' behaviour and whether these explanatory factors remain after the application of several types of policies. Findings -- Quantitative policies, using this denomination to refer to those that directly affect the amounts of money dedicated to online disclosure, or its unitary costs, seem to have a less substantial effect than those that the author could call qualitative policies (stating minimum requirements for all companies or promoting broader scrutiny by means of internationalisation). Research limitations/implications -- These last policies could also be less expensive for public agencies, as the quantitative ones should be supported by some kind of subsidy or tax benefit system. The paper contains certain mathematical assumptions that will need to be relaxed in further works. Originality/value -- Finally, a full research agenda arises from this first attempt, from which both conceptual and methodological lessons can be learned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of one of the 16 research teams of the third phase of the InterPARES (International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems) project, that is, TEAM Canada. As with all other national teams, TEAM Canada aimed at building solutions for continuing accessibility of digital records in a variety of organizations. Design/methodology/approach – All research teams, including TEAM Canada, utilized action research as their methodological framework. Findings – The most significant finding of TEAM Canada is its discovery of the serious situation with the foundation of continuing accessibility of digital records, that is, the insufficiency of, or even the lack of, digital records management in organizations participating in the project. Originality/value – The study described in the paper is unique for a number of reasons. First, it was guided by a theoretical framework featuring digital diplomatics, which concentrates the development of the InterPARES project of its 12-year investigation. Second, it observed the principle of open inquiry, which encouraged researchers to identify research design and methods according to suitability, not to any particular epistemological perspective. Third, a comparatively large number of organizations were studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this research is to analyse the influence of perceived web site security and privacy, usability and reputation on consumer trust in the context of online banking. Moreover, the paper also aims to analyse the trust-commitment relationship since commitment is a key variable for establishing successful long-term relationships with customers. Design/methodology/approach - The paper describes the positive effects of security and privacy, usability and reputation on consumer trust in a web site in the online banking context. Besides this, it also suggests that trust has a positive effect on consumer commitment. After the validation of measurement scales, the hypotheses are contrasted through structural modelling. Finally, the paper compares the hypothesised model with a rival one in order to test the mediating role of trust. Findings - The data showed that web site security and privacy, usability and reputation have a direct and significant effect on consumer trust in a financial services web site. Besides this, consumer trust is positively related to relationship commitment. Finally, it is observed that trust is a key mediating factor in the development of relationship commitment in the online banking context. Research implications/limitations - The high costs every company has to face in order to attract new customers make it increasingly necessary to reinforce the ties established with customers. In this respect, this research offers several alternatives for improving the levels of consumer trust and commitment in the context of online banking. The limitation is that data were collected to a web survey only of Spanish-speaking subjects. Originality/value - This study proposes a model for analysing empirically the link between security, privacy and trust, amongst others, in the online banking context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to understand how students experience the search tools Google Scholar and Metalib and the role of prior instruction. Design/methodology/approach - A total of 32 undergraduate students searched academic articles for their thesis work. Searches were recorded using Morae software and were analysed along with the number of articles saved and responses to a questionnaire. All searched with both tools. Half of the students received training before searching. Findings - Google Scholar performed better in almost all measures. Training had a positive effect on the amount and quality of articles saved. Responses to Google Scholar were more positive than to Metalib. However, the students were not overwhelmingly enthusiastic about either of the tools. Research limitations/implications - Each Metalib implementation is to some extent unique, which limits the extent to which results can be generalised to other implementations. Practical implications - Training is valuable for both tools. The user interface to Metalib does not conform with students' expectations and needs further improvement. Both tools strive to be a first alternative search tool for academic literature but neither performed well enough in this study to recommend it to be used in that role in an academic library setting. Originality/value - These tools are important to academic libraries but few user studies have been published, particularly on Google Scholar. To one's knowledge no other user study on these tools has looked at the effects of instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose eLancing is a networked online platform used for distributive problem-solving, economic production and service delivery. The platform includes websites/marketplaces where individuals interested in being hired, and clients looking for individuals to perform some type of work meet. eLancing boasts millions of users and billions of dollars in transactions, and it involves fundamental changes in the nature of work. The motivations of this research stems from the credo and notion in which the advances in technology are transforming firm and market structures, employee-employer relationship and the increased intimacy with decentralized system. In order to explore new applications for the eLancing model, there must be a better understanding of why individuals participate in eLancing activities. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach In total, 48 semi-structured interviews were conducted online with workers at elance.com.Findings Ten primary motivators for participation emerged that include following: work-family balance, flexibility and autonomy; economic incentives; skills development; trust and transparency; geographical location; unemployment, equality and disability; higher returns; reputation; passion and enjoyment in problem-solving; and revenge.Originality/value The current study has added rich qualitative data to the scanty eLancing literature and managerial implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to establish common metrics for web-based mapping applications to facilitate user decision making and enhance information providers' product design. Design/methodology/approach -- The metrics were developed from a combination of literature review and case studies. From the literature review, the authors identified three major areas of assessment for web-based mapping applications. The authors then studied six online applications to refine the metrics. Findings -- The results suggest that web-based mapping applications can be evaluated from three major aspects: data content, geographic information systems (GIS) functionality and usability. The authors have developed detailed measures for each factor through the evaluation of the six applications. Practical implications -- The metrics developed from this study could be used as a standard for online spatial information users to choose appropriate products according to their needs. It can also provide valuable information for data providers to improve their products. Originality/value -- To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that has systematically examined web-based mapping applications in academic libraries. Results from this study could be a valuable tool for librarians as well as general information users without background of GIS and usability to evaluate online mapping resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the quality and reliability of websites’ content can be assessed through the lens of “wisdom of the crowds”. In particular as a case study the authors examine the information supplied over time on several prominent Israeli real estate websites. Design/methodology/approach – The Israeli real estate market was selected for the study, since there are many large, popular and dynamic real estate websites that feature hundreds of thousands of ads, representing most of the supply of real estate properties in the country. The authors built an automatic, ontology-based system that downloaded advertisements from three selected websites every two weeks for a number of months and checked for changes in these advertisements over time. The authors conjecture that wisdom of the crowds is mostly reflected by the information changes on the websites, since they indicate the anticipated market trends. Hence the authors developed a number of statistical measures to comparatively analyse trends of information changes on these websites, and assess their reliability compared to the actual market data and tendencies. Findings – The primary results suggest similar information change trends amongst all the websites. Surprisingly, although some properties did not sell over time, sellers generally did not lower their asking price and were willing to wait. Sellers even raised their asking price, apparently in anticipation of future price increases. Comparison of recurring trends among the websites with the trends of the real market during the same time period and a few months after reveals that wisdom of the crowds is only partially effective as an indicator and predictor of website content quality: it correctly reflects the fluctuation in demand, but not in the prices. Research limitations/implications – This study was conducted over a limited time period of five months, and only in several cities in Israel. Additionally, since buyers are not explicitly represented in these sites, their information behaviour was not analysed, although it undoubtedly influences information changes performed by the sellers. Practical implications – The practical contribution of this study is the ontology of the real estate world. Its assimilation by real estate websites would promote the development of their sites and user services. It would also enable ad sharing amongst the various websites and enable efficient searches by search engines. In addition the tools and measures that the authors developed will allow continued monitoring and analysis of user information change patterns. Originality/value – To the best of the knowledge this is the first study to examine and compare real estate websites’ quality and evaluate their information reliability as wisdom of the crowds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – In an online banking context this study seeks to explore the relation between the relationship marketing factors of customer intentions to continue to use services and to recommend these services to others, and the technology acceptance factors of self-control, usefulness, customer value, technology-based service encounter satisfaction and reputation. Innovatively this study also compares the proposed model in two countries, Portugal and Austria. Design/methodology/approach – Derived from a review of previous literature, a survey was developed and data were collected using the online survey service of universities in two countries, Portugal and Austria. The partial least squares approach was employed to test the hypotheses. Findings – The findings showed that self-control and usefulness are important antecedents of customer value delivery. Furthermore perceptions of online bank reputation were enhanced by the satisfaction derived from positive customer encounters with online banking services. Unlike the Portuguese, Austrians' perceptions of bank reputation did not significantly influence their intention to continue to use or their propensity to recommend online banking to others. Originality/value – Based on literature which suggests that constructs such as customer value, trust, satisfaction and reputation are inter-related to the technology acceptance model, this paper extends earlier theoretical frameworks and is the first study to incorporate relationship marketing constructs into a model examining intention to use, and recommending online banking services. The study also differentiates the model in two countries that represent different business and cultural settings: Portugal and Austria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – There is an open discussion in the geographic information community about the use of digital libraries or search engines for the discovery of resources. Some researchers suggest that search engines are a feasible alternative for searching geographic web services based on anecdotal evidence. The purpose of this study is to measure the performance of Bing (formerly Microsoft Live Search), Google and Yahoo! in searching standardised XML documents that describe, identify and locate geographic web services. Design/methodology/approach – The study performed an automated evaluation of three search engines using their application programming interfaces. The queries asked for XML documents describing geographic web services, and documents containing links to those documents. Relevant XML documents linked from the documents found in the search results were also included in the evaluation. Findings – The study reveals that the discovery of geographic web services in search engines does not require the use of advanced search operators. Data collected suggest that a resource-oriented search should combine simple queries to search engines with the exploration of the pages linked from the search results. Finally the study identifies Yahoo! as the best performer. Originality/value – This is the first study that measures and compares the performance of major search engines in the discovery of geographic web services. Previous studies were focused on demonstrating the technical feasibility of the approach. The paper also reveals that some technical advances in search engines could harm resource-oriented queries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The importance of virtual brand communities is growing day by day as a result of consumers increasingly using online tools to contact fellow consumers in order to get information on which to base their decisions. For this reason, this work aims to explore some of the effects of participation in a virtual brand community on consumer behaviour. Design/methodology/approach - The paper proposes the positive effects of participation in a virtual community on both consumer trust and loyalty to the product, brand or organisation around which the community is developed. In addition, it also proposes a positive effect of trust on consumer loyalty. After the validations of measurement scales, the hypotheses are contrasted through structural modelling. Findings - The data, obtained through a web survey using members of several free software virtual communities, show that participation in the activities carried out in a virtual community may foster consumer trust and loyalty to the mutual interest of the community (the free software in this case). In addition, the study also found a positive and significant effect of consumer trust on loyalty. Research limitations/implications - Data were collected thanks to a web survey using Spanish-speaking subjects. Practical implications - The high costs every company has to face in order to get new customers make it increasingly necessary to reinforce the ties established with customers. In this respect, this study has shown that managers may foster consumer trust and loyalty by developing virtual brand communities and promoting consumers' participation in them. Originality/value - Most of the works that are focused on virtual communities have been conducted at the conceptual level. Thus, with the aim of moving on this topic, this study analyses empirically the effects of participation in a virtual brand community on consumer behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - With the ever-increasing volume of text data via the internet, it is important that documents are classified as manageable and easy to understand categories. This paper proposes the use of binary k-nearest neighbour (BKNN) for text categorization. Design/methodology/approach - The paper describes the traditional k-nearest neighbor (KNN) classifier, introduces BKNN and outlines experiemental results. Findings - The experimental results indicate that BKNN requires much less CPU time than KNN, without loss of classification performance. Originality/value - The paper demonstrates how BKNN can be an efficient and effective algorithm for text categorization. Proposes the use of binary k-nearest neighbor (BKNN ) for text categorization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of the Web as a new medium for disseminating and promoting scholarly research is discussed. Particular attention is paid to its potential to provide evidence of wider impact for research than that which can be shown by citation analysis. Recommendations are made for basic strategies for the reporting of the online impact of research leading to the production of what is termed a Web Invocation Portfolio. A conceptual framework is also proposed to help funding and promotion committees assess and compare portfolios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines Google Inc.'s Google Scholar (GS) web search engine and its suitability as a tool for searching scientific articles in library and information science (LIS) journal literature. It looks at the coverage of LIS journals in GS and the forms of their availability such as a PDF format for a fee, a PDF for free, or a PDF for preprint. It indicates that the coverage ratio for individual LIS journal differs widely on average and that 56% of articles could be found in GS with 2.5% of articles available as preprints and 18.3% as free PDF. It shows that GS has indexed 100% of the articles for only eight LIS journals while other journals have no coverage but the overall coverage ratio was over 95%, which suggests that LIS articles can be found in GS.

The article presents a study which explores the use of post-earthquake reconnaissance (PER) and online dissemination of scientific and engineering information from earthquakes and natural disasters through the adoption of information technologies, global positioning systems (GPS), and digital cameras. It examines the evolution of post-earthquake reconnaissance after earthquakes in China, India, Japan, Taiwan, and Turkey. It shows that PER could further improve engineering and scientific knowledge of earthquakes using advanced technologies, embedded metadata, and virtual earthquakes. It proposes development of virtual earthquakes as a tool for organizing information collected from embedded metadata in digital images and visualizing earthquake damage and other disasters.

The article discusses the new method for metasearch engines (MSEs) assessment investigating MetaCrawler, WebCrawler, Webfetch, Dogpile, Clusty, Mamma, Search.com, and Excite. It explores the evaluation of an MSE performance through the measurement of the closeness degree between MSE and SEs. It points out that MSEs can be assessed by using their features along with their results. Study results shows that Dogpile outperforms all the other MSEs. Both WebCrawler and MetaCrawler had nearly the same performance. However, Search.com and Clusty show poor performance when compared to the others.

The article discusses the approaches for personal knowledge management (PKM) in the Web 2.0 era. The study indicates the multifaceted role of Web 2.0 for knowledge communication, collaboration, sharing, and management. It points out the capacity of Web 2.0 to run a new PKM model through collaboration, networking tools, and formal and informal communication. Examples of Web 2.0 used in organizations such as personalized Web pages, personalized search tools, and social bookmarking are also provided.

Purpose – The goals of this study are to evaluate the factorial validity of a measurement model of cultural heritage portals and to test the model's invariance as it relates to user satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – A measurement model was created by adapting multiple existing scales with the hypothesis that overall user satisfaction with a cultural heritage portal consists of satisfaction with data quality, satisfaction with service quality and users' technology acceptance. The validity of the indicator variables of each of the adapted scales was tested, then a combined measurement model was tested, via confirmatory factor analysis. The re-specified measurement model was then tested for invariance between two age groups with increasingly stringent criteria. Findings – The analyses indicated that the three frameworks complement each other in assessing the factors influencing user satisfaction, especially in cultural heritage portals, and that the factor structure is the same across age groups, confirming the findings of the recent online trend: some of the key internet activities such as information consumption are becoming uniformly popular across different age groups. Originality/value – Considering that it is not usual for non-profit organisations to assess customer satisfaction, and there exists limited literature examining factors influencing user satisfaction with cultural heritage portals, especially with different age populations, the findings of the current study provide a valuable contribution to the literature. The study also benefits practitioners in the field by providing a framework to assess user satisfaction with existing cultural heritage portals and/or to build cultural heritage portals in a way that increases users' satisfaction, regardless of age group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines the characteristics and differences in sentiment expression in film review documents from four online opinion genres which include blog postings, discussion threads, user reviews, and critic reviews. It looks at document and sentence length, part-of-speech distribution, movie aspects and star ratings, vocabulary, and multimedia content in film reviews and identifies frequently-used terms and response patterns in different genres. It also shows that critic reviews and blog postings contain sentences longer than user reviews and discussion threads and use nouns and prepositions while user reviews prefer to use verbs and adverbs. It suggests differences in content and textual aspects in the genres.

The article presents a study which examines the preferences of consumers on package tours to China, the differences among consumers' cognition on these tours and web travel advertisements, the similarities among travel web sites, and the cognitive structure that may help marketers on web content design. It compares the contents of travel sites and the search engine results using a means-end chain theory and travel web site content to identify similarities and differences, search results, and user cognition. It shows that greater variety of package tours provided by travel sites could mean higher possibility of offering discount incentives. It also suggests that knowledge on written web content preferred by consumers can help marketers in improving their web design.

The article presents a study which examines the differences in communication patterns between political campaign blogs and web sites during the 2008 general election in Taiwan. It explores the impact of the blogging revolution on the improvement of the process and practice of online political communication using a content analysis approach called web style analysis applied to an online political campaign context during the election. It indicates that the themes of campaign blogs and web sites focused on political attacks toward opponents rather than focusing on relevant political issues. It highlights the role of hyperlinks on blogs and suggests modifications to the conceptual and operational interactivity of web sites and blogs.

The article presents a study which examines the weather and calendar effects on the patterns of tourism web site usage citing the data from the Korea Tourism Organisation and the Korean Meteorological Administration in South Korea. It analyses weather factors including rain, snow, and cloud cover, and calendar factors including seasons and holidays from a yearlong log in the Korean tourism web site. It shows that the number of visitors to the tourism web site increases during rainy and cloudy weather conditions or during workdays or summer seasons. It suggests that tourism managers should set up appropriate marketing strategies with considerations on the weather and calendar variables and run their web sites efficiently with updated information.

The article presents research on the mechanism of Web 2.0 service network's structural evolution. Findings of the study indicate that evolution of the service network adopts the preferential attachment rule though its exponent is found lower than for the other networks after a preferential attachment rule. It points out that the power law distribution exponent of the network is lower than for the other networks although it evolves to a scale-free network. This is correlated with the dependence of the interconnection between nodes on their property.

The article presents a study which examines the factors that drive customers' repurchase intentions in online shopping and the technology acceptance model (TAM) in electronic-service (e-service) quality aspects, trust, and enjoyment in the context of online shopping. It indicates that consumer trust, perceived usefulness, and enjoyment are positive determinants of consumers' repurchase intention in online commerce. It also implies that e-service quality dimensions are among the variables that precede customers' trust in online retailers and suggests that vendors should ensure that they offer utilitarian value for customers rather than focusing on a single aspect of web site development. It notes the importance of customer loyalty to help online vendors succeed and survive in the business.

The article presents a study which examines the moderating effect of the consumer-perceived risk in online buying and the differences in consumer perceptions, attitudes, and behavior based on the level of their perceived risk. It looks at the factors that build consumer trust and satisfaction on online retailers and identifies the implications for these vendors who should consider different strategies to potential buyers with different perceived risks. It shows that online buyers trust a web site based on their previous satisfaction while users who have more perceived risks need to verify the firm's reputation and experience. It suggests that the effect of some factors on satisfaction and trust on customers who perceive high risk differs from the effect on consumers who perceive low risk.

The article presents a study which investigates the determinants of corporate governance information disclosed by Spanish listed companies on the Internet. It explores the extent and the impact of corporate characteristics on the level of information that is voluntarily disclosed by a company. The study suggests that firms that are most transparent are also those that are most likely to use the Internet as a channel for the disclosure of corporate governance information. Also, it indicates that corporate disclosure level is dependent on the degree to which firms are followed by analysts, their listing age, and visibility.

Automatic classification of Web pages is an effective way to organise the vast amount of information and to assist in retrieving relevant information from the Internet. Although many automatic classification systems have been proposed, most of them ignore the conflict between the fixed number of categories and the growing number of Web pages being added into the systems. They also require searching through all existing categories to make any classification. This article proposes a dynamic and hierarchical classification system that is capable of adding new categories as required, organising the Web pages into a tree structure, and classifying Web pages by searching through only one path of the tree. The proposed single-path search technique reduces the search complexity from θ(n) to θ(log(n)). Test results show that the system improves the accuracy of classification by 6 percent in comparison to related systems. The dynamic-category expansion technique also achieves satisfying results for adding new categories into the system as required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]