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Populating information-rich online environments through crowdsourcing is increasingly becoming popular. One approach to motivate participation is via games. That is, a crowdsourcing game offers entertainment while generating useful outputs as byproducts of gameplay. A gap in current research is that actual usage patterns of crowdsourcing games have not been investigated thoroughly. We thus compare content creation patterns in a game for crowdsourcing mobile content against a non-game version. Our analysis of 3,323 contributions in both apps reveal 10 categories including those that conform to the traditional notion of mobile content created to describe locations of interest, and those that are social in nature. We contend that both types of content are potentially useful as they meet different needs. Further, the distribution of categories varied across the apps suggests that games shape behavior differently from non-game-based approaches to crowdsourcing.

Deepfakes are a potential source of disinformation and the ability to detect them is imperative. While research focused on algorithmic detection methods, there is little work conducted on how people identify deepfakes. This research attempts to fill this gap. Using semi‐structured interviews, participants were asked to identify real and deepfake videos and explain how their decisions were made. Three categories of deepfake identification strategies emerged: the use of surface video and audio cues, processing of the messages conveyed in the video, and the searching of external sources. Participants often used multiple strategies within each category. However, identification challenges occurred due to participants' preconceived notions of deepfake characteristics and the message embodied in the video. This work contributes to research by shifting the focus from the algorithmic detection of deepfakes to human‐oriented strategies. Practically, the findings provide guidance on how people can identify deepfakes, which can also form the basis for the development of educational materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, computer games and other interactive technologies have shown great potential when used in innovative ways to enhance learning. It is now known that learning is associated not only with cognitive ability but also with affect. The incorporation of affective embodied pedagogical agents (EPAs) in computer programs for learning can significantly influence learner beliefs and efficacy. However, there have been a number of criticisms and contradictory empirical findings calling into question earlier results and theoretical claims on the effectiveness of using EPAs. Therefore, this paper reviewed studies that evaluated the effectiveness of affect in EPAs in a computer-based learning environment (CLE). The statistical meta-analytic review (k = 30, n = 2,150) found that the use of affect in EPAs has a significant and moderate impact (r = 0?.35) on students' learning motivation and a relatively smaller impact on knowledge retention (r =?0.29) and knowledge transfer (r?= 0?.26). The effect sizes of the three outcome variables in this review are stronger compared with previous meta-analysis on the impact of the embodiment level of EPAs, indicating that the use of affect is more desirable and effective in CLEs. Finally, implications for both designers and researchers of using affective EPAs in CLEs are discussed.

This paper reports a study conducted to formally evaluate a social problem-solving skills game during the start of the development to ensure that the desired game attributes were successfully embodied in the final game. Two methods, heuristic evaluation and participatory design, were adopted to assess whether the features of the game pose playability issues to the prospective young users and to translate the participants' contributions into game design directions. The participants playtested and evaluated the game based on the Pedagogical Playability Heuristics, which are different from existing heuristics developed for commercial games, as priority was placed on instructional design principles and the concept of playability. Using storyboarding, they built low-fidelity prototypes of the game. Suitable children's design and feedback on the games attributes that would bring about stimulation, connecting instructions to goals, appropriate challenge and influencing goal achievement were integrated into the game design. As a consequence of the study, steps were taken to improve the game as an interactive system to achieve the instructional goals and at the same time foster enjoyment among the users. (Contains 2 tables and 6 figures.)

In social Q&A, user‐generated questions can be viewed as goal expressions shaping the responses. Several studies have identified askers' goals from questions. However, it remains unclear how questions set goals for responders. To fill this gap, this research applies goal‐framing theory. Goal‐frames influence responses by attracting responders' attention to different goals. Eight question cues are used to identify gain, hedonic and normative goal‐frames. A total of 14,599 posts are collected. To investigate the influence of goal‐frames, response networks are constructed. Results reveal that gain goal‐frames attract interactions with questions, while hedonic, and normative goal‐frames promote interactions among responses. Further, topic types influence the effects of goal‐frames. Gain goal‐frames increase interactions with questions in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) topics while hedonic and normative goal‐frames attract interactions in non‐STEM topics. This research leverages responders' perspectives to explain responses to questions, which are influenced by the goals set up by question cues. Beyond that, our findings enrich the empirical knowledge of social Q&A topics, revealing that the influence of questions varies across STEM and non‐STEM topics because the question cues for specifying goals are different in the two topics. Our research opens new directions to investigate questions from responders' perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographical inquiry involves collecting, using and making sense of the data to investigate some geographical phenomena. With the increasing number of mobile devices equipped with Internet access capabilities, there is a wide scope for using it in field inquiry where learning can take place in the form of social interactions between team members while performing a common task. The authors examine the use of MobiTOP (Mobile Tagging of Objects and People), a geospatial digital library system which allows users to contribute and share multimedia annotations via mobile devices, within a geographical field inquiry. A key feature of MobiTOP that is well suited for collaborative learning is that annotations are hierarchical, allowing annotations to be annotated by other users to an arbitrary depth. A group of student and teachers involved in an inquiry-based learning activity in geography was instructed to identify rock types and associated landforms by collaborating with each other using the MobiTOP system. A method combining several data collection methods was used. Four main findings on the affordances of the mobile phone, the need for specialized training in using the application with the mobile phone, design considerations of the application and the authentic context of learning with fieldwork are reported. A discussion on the implication of these findings and how mobile technology may be used for geographical field learning are also included in this paper. (Contains 6 figures and 3 tables.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate airline users' microblog postings pertaining to their travel-related information exchange so as to assess their wants, preferences and feedback about airline products and services. Examining such real-time information exchange is important as users rely on this for various purposes such as seeking help and evaluating the airline services before purchasing. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses Twitter, a popular microblog service. An analysis of 8,978 postings that mention three specific airlines--i.e. Malaysia Airlines, Jet Blue and Southwest--as well as 260 airline postings on their official Twitter accounts is undertaken. The types of postings were ascertained via content analysis. Additionally, the postings were also analyzed to uncover types of communication exchanges between airlines and their users. Findings: The findings suggest that microblogs were primarily used to share compliments, while airlines used microblogs mainly for marketing. Other uses such as sharing general information, asking questions and providing personal updates were also uncovered. Additionally, a high number of attention-seeking postings were found that highlighted user issues and concerns. Further, the airlines being studied did not appear to be as responsive to users' postings as expected. Originality/value: The findings broaden the understanding of what users frequently discuss on microblogs when they communicate about airlines. Next, this study indicates that users adopt microblogs to offer recommendations and share their concerns so that their communication can reach airlines in near real-time. Moreover, this study also suggests that airlines could incorporate this medium for customer relationship management to better meet the needs of their customers. (Contains 3 tables.)

Healthcare portals are becoming increasingly popular with Internet users since they play an important role in supporting interaction between individuals and healthcare organizations with a Web presence. Additionally, many of these organizations make use of knowledge management mechanisms on their healthcare portals to manage the abundance of health-related information, and exchange and share information with their users. Hence, the objective of this study is to evaluate the extent to which knowledge management mechanisms can be supported by healthcare portals. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of knowledge management mechanisms used by 60 healthcare portals to access, create and transfer knowledge. We selected healthcare portals from two geographical regions (i.e. North America and Asia) and three healthcare portal provider categories (i.e. hospital, government, non-government). We found that healthcare portals from different geographical regions and portal provider categories differed significantly on how they used their portals to access, create and transfer knowledge. The results of this study can be used by healthcare portal providers to enhance their knowledge management practices and improve their customer service relationships. (Contains 13 tables and 4 figures.)

The myriad of information communication technologies (ICTs) available today has changed the way students choose and use them. Specifically, individuals are increasingly relying on a mix of ICTs for communication to accomplish tasks. Yet, past studies on ICT use has largely assumed that people use a single ICT per task. We attempt to address this gap by focusing on the influence of individual differences on the choice of communication portfolio (a mix of ICTs) to accomplish learning tasks in school-based settings. Specifically, we focus on two dimensions of individual differences: learning styles and individuals' perceptions. Results suggest that individual differences do have effects on the choice of communication portfolios to accomplish tasks. In particular, we found that students who preferred to learn by hearing tended to choose the complex communication portfolio to accomplish their tasks. Interestingly, our results also indicate that students preferred to use the simple communication portfolio when communication partners were perceived to be unavailable. (Contains 7 tables.)

Analyzing and documenting human information behaviors in the context of global public health crises such as the COVID‐19 pandemic are critical to informing crisis management. Drawing on the Elaboration Likelihood Model, this study investigates how three types of peripheral cues—content richness, emotional valence, and communication topic—are associated with COVID‐19 information sharing on Twitter. We used computational methods, combining Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling with psycholinguistic indicators obtained from the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count dictionary to measure these concepts and built a research model to assess their effects on information sharing. Results showed that content richness was negatively associated with information sharing. Tweets with negative emotions received more user engagement, whereas tweets with positive emotions were less likely to be disseminated. Further, tweets mentioning advisories tended to receive more retweets than those mentioning support and news updates. More importantly, emotional valence moderated the relationship between communication topics and information sharing—tweets discussing news updates and support conveying positive sentiments led to more information sharing; tweets mentioning the impact of COVID‐19 with negative emotions triggered more sharing. Finally, theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed in the context of global public health communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the increasing popularity of gamified crowdsourcing, the study reported here involved examining determinants of users' continuance intention toward crowdsourcing games, both with longitudinal data and reference to a revised unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). At three time points, data were collected from an online survey about playing crowdsourcing games. Time-lagged regression, cross-temporal correlation, and structural equation modeling were performed to examine determinants of the acceptance of crowdsourcing games. Results indicate that the revised UTAUT2 is applicable to explaining the acceptance of crowdsourcing games. Not only did effort expectancy, hedonic motivation, and social influence directly affect users' continuance intention toward crowdsourcing games, but time-based variations also emerged in users' perceptions and acceptance of the games and in how their perceptions affect their acceptance. The findings answer the call for a context-specific acceptance model and the identification of factors of adopting gamification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]