Search

This editorial covers the recent advances in marketing and ergonomics research with respect to packaging, in particular, the papers that form part of the special issue on human-packaging interaction. It presents a classification of contributions to the literature in four categories, namely, (a) research methodology; (b) design methodology; (c) insights; and (d) industry application. Based on the discussion of recent literature, a research agenda is proposed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of Web 2.0 technology has enabled new types of online research methods. The collective intelligence of online communities or 'crowds' can be harnessed to contribute actively to bodies of knowledge, work or value by means of crowdsourcing. This paper presents a case study of using a crowd-based research method, more specifically, an online research community (ORC) for collecting information, user experiences and ideas from a community of packaging users. We will discuss the benefits, challenges and opportunities that the method offers to packaging research. A total of 137 participants were recruited to a closed online platform, with 86 of them as active participants. The discussion topics and tasks were pre-determined by the researchers, and new topics were introduced daily over a period of 13 days. The discussions were moderated in order to keep them on topic and to propose additional questions when required. The platform suited well for gathering user information, feedback and insights on various packaging designs and development topics. The case study also demonstrated that the ORC method can provide valuable insights on usability, packaging communication, consumer behaviour and user experiences. The research yielded rich data, even on such a complex issue as the relation of packaging to food loss prevention. The method can be employed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data from a crowd. However, answers provided by individual participants may remain less grounded and less rich in detail than those elicited with other qualitative methods, such as interviews or focus groups. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EDITOR'S SUMMARY The third annual Virtual Symposium on Information & Technology in the Arts & Humanities, held on April 18 and 19, 2017, centered on a theme of open science in the humanities. Presentations at the Symposium have included topics such as data visualization, historical images, interactive exhibits and linked data. The 2017 theme of open humanities was a starting point for the speakers to consider how open science has and can impact the world of humanities in various ways. Speakers at the symposium discussed analyzing writing practices on the internet using web scrapers, data management in the humanities, visual literacy skills of graduate and undergraduate students and the challenge researchers face in trying to keep up with publications in their field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EDITOR'S SUMMARY Bibliometric evaluation for research in the field of sciences can be a good way to assess the quality and factual basis of claims and can lead to more funding for authors and for research work. However, due to the more diverse fields covered, this type of evaluation is less effective in the world of humanities. Many professionals and researchers in humanities fields believe that bibliometric evaluation is meant only for STEM research and can't properly assess any findings made in humanities. Four common claims made about bibliometrics in humanities are that bibliometrics do not adequately cover the non-uniform nature of humanities; greater bibliometric coverage will not solve all the research problems in humanities subjects; metrics use already has an impact on humanities research practices and finally; other evaluation methods, like altmetrics, are conventional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic information about how psychiatric services have been used by children and young people with mental health issues during the pandemic is imperative, according to researchers of a recent systematic review that investigated the global impact the COVID‐19 pandemic has had on how the general population have used broader health care services, including visits, admissions, diagnostics and therapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article from this special issue was previously published in Packaging Technology in Science, Volume 28, Issue 4, 2015. For completeness we are including the title page of the article below. The full text of the article can be read in Issue 28:4 on Wiley Online Library: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pts.2106/abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]