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With the rise of big data, artificial intelligence, and other emerging information technologies, an increasing number of students without computer science (CS) backgrounds have begun to learn programming. Programming is considered a complex task for beginners, and instructors find it difficult to quickly address all the problems that students face, especially in the traditional learning environment. This study adopted a blended learning model that integrated conventional face-to-face teaching, asynchronous learning, and live streaming to examine the perceptions and effectiveness of programming learning among students from different degree tracks. The participants were 26 working and 28 full-time students from a university in Taiwan. The results indicated that with code annotations proving an efficient way for working students to review coding knowledge, and flipped courses making videos important for full-time students. Live streaming learning can overcome lab limitations with instant interaction between instructors and learners. The blended model ensures equal programming learning for both groups, while instructors can design learner-centered live streaming environments and innovative learning pedagogy to flip programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractLive streaming has been increasingly popular worldwide, with gift-giving emerging as a pivotal revenue stream for many streamers. While prior research has delved into the influence of streamers’ emotions and viewer-streamer interaction on viewers’ gift-giving behaviors, we suggest that peer viewers also play an essential role. In line with the principles of social influence and herding theory, the behaviors of peer viewers and the size of the viewing group are integral factors shaping individual behaviors. Hence, in the context of lives streaming, we focus on examining the impact of peer viewers’ gift-giving behaviors and the audience size on the gift-giving behaviors of individual viewers, respectively. Additionally, we examine the moderating role of viewers’ identities. We collected data from a popular live streaming platform in China and employed a panel regression model based on a sample of 651,678 viewers. This study contributes to the gift-giving literature by revealing the influence of peer viewers on focal viewers’ likelihood of gifting, gifting frequency and gifting value, and the moderating effect of viewers’ identities. Overall, these results have significant implications for both the theoretical understanding of social influence and herding in online setting, as well as the practical implications for future live streaming management. Future research could delve deeper into understanding the impact of various types of live streaming content and cultural differences on individual’s gift-giving behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of live shopping has introduced a new form of celebrity endorsement. This study examines the impact of negative news related to streamers on viewers' purchasing behaviour during live streaming, considering different types of negative news. Drawing on research related to celebrity endorsement and information dissemination, this study presents the results from one natural experiment and four lab experiments. The findings suggest that negative news about streamers, as well as their responses to such news, positively influence viewers' purchasing behaviour during live streaming, which is mediated by their visit to the live streaming. Furthermore, the study reveals that negative news related to streamers' personal behaviour has a more positive impact than negative news related to the product they are selling. The positive effect of response to negative news is weakened when the response seems to protect the wrongdoers. This study contributes to the development of endorsement theory, retests the model of the endorser effect, and expands the literature about celebrity scandals. Additionally, the findings provide practical suggestions for retailers and streamers who are dealing with negative news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe surge in popularity of e-commerce live streaming is evident among sellers and consumers. However, a holistic examination of the influencing factors of consumers’ purchase intention from the perspective of social and technical systems is still limited. Utilizing the socio-technical systems theory, we investigate the effects of social and technical system factors on consumers’ flow experience and how flow affects consumer purchase intention in the live streaming setting. Furthermore, we identify how optimal stimulation level moderates the relationship between socio-technical system factors and flow. Empirical results (N = 355) indicate that flow can be strengthened through social system factors (financial bonds, social bonds) and technical system factors (visibility, guidance shopping), consequently affecting consumer purchase intention. In terms of the moderating effects, the optimal stimulation level positively moderates the relationships between social bonds, visibility, guidance shopping, and flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing dialogue services for robots has been promoted nowadays for providing natural human–robot interactions to enhance user experiences as conversation is a key instrument for creating and maintaining their mutual relationships. In this work, we present a trainable framework for modeling context-aware human–robot dialogues, and apply it to a live streaming application to demonstrate the need for social robots. Our social chatting robot framework takes into account both emotional context and topic-focused content information to generate appropriate responses. This framework has some unique features. It adopts a multimodal deep learning model to recognize the participants' emotions. Moreover, our work includes a topic-aware neural model that enables the social robot to follow certain conversation topics to fulfill the specific dialoguing goals and to enhance the chatting coherence. Most importantly, we design a strategy able to take emotions as the drive to control over the neural method of generating utterances. To evaluate the proposed approach, we have conducted several sets of quantitative and quantitative experiments. The results highlight the importance of multimodal emotion recognition and topic-awareness in dialoguing and confirm the feasibility and effectiveness of our framework for human–robot interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractLive streaming has emerged as a novel way for product sales, where the streamer plays an important role. However, little is known about how the differences between artificial intelligence (AI) streamers and human streamers impact consumer purchase intentions. Based on social cognitive theory, this study proposed a conceptual model exploring the influences of streamer types, novelty seeking, perceived intimacy, and perceived responsiveness on consumer purchase intention. Based on 387 responses from live streaming users, the results showed that compared with AI streamers, consumers have higher purchase intention when served by human streamers. Consumers perceive human streamers as having more perceived intimacy and perceived responsiveness compared to AI streamers, and perceived intimacy and perceived responsiveness positively affect consumer purchase intention. Furthermore, perceived intimacy and perceived responsiveness mediate the relationship between streamer types and consumer purchase intention. In addition, the moderating effects of novelty seeking on consumer purchase intention are significant. Specifically, lower novelty seeking consumers have higher purchase intentions for human streamers compared to AI streamers, and the mediation effects of perceived responsiveness will be stronger. However, for high novelty seeking consumers, there is no difference in the influence of AI streamers and human streamers on consumer purchase intention, and the mediation role of perceived intimacy will be weaker. This study enriches the theoretical research on AI and live streaming and provides management strategies for live streaming platforms to obtain better benefits through different types of streamers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractScholars have long recognized that product presentation plays an important role for consumers to understand product and make further decisions, but it is not well-tested in the cross-border e-commerce context. Additionally, there exist inconsistent insights regarding the influences of the two major product presentation modes currently used by cross-border e-commerce platforms (i.e., static pictures and live streaming). Therefore, drawing on regulatory focus theory, this study develops a research model to explain and differentiate how live streaming and static pictures affect cross-border purchase intentions through the motivation systems associated with different desired end states (i.e., accessing benefit and avoiding uncertainty). Partial least squares approach and relative importance analysis were used to test the model with 272 survey participants. The empirical results show that both product presentation modes can enhance cross-border purchase intentions through regulatory focus. More interestingly, it shows that static pictures are better at reducing perceived uncertainty, whereas live streaming is more effective at increasing perceived desirability, in leading to higher cross-border purchase intentions. This study contributes to differentiating the impacts of different product presentation modes in attracting cross-border purchase intentions from a regulatory focus perspective and provides practical implications for cross-border e-commerce providers and sellers to leverage distinct product presentation modes to attract consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As rock music became popular among Chinese youth, many "hardcore" rock fans strongly resisted the popularization of rock culture, criticized the publicity stunt of rock musicians, and insisted on using cassette tapes or CDs rather than live-streaming services in music consumption. This article employs mediatization theory to explain the different and contested perceptions of Chinese rock among fans. Through examining the development of music storage medium and rock fans' experience of using them during the past three decades, this study illustrates how music storage medium has played a significant role in the long-term transformation of Chinese rock culture, shows how the patterns of cultural transformation are shaped by the logic of media, and argues that the transformation from perceiving rock as a hardcore underground culture to a popular genre just like other music is a process of mediatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on complexity theory and applying the method of fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this study tested and identified the configuration effects of perceived values and virtual place attachment on purchase intention in tourism living streaming. Analyses on a sample of 583 experienced tourism live streaming audience members revealed six configurations, which can be summarized in three typical combinational paths: i.e. 'emotional value-place identity', 'convenience – place identity' and 'price – place attachment'. Emotional transmission, price, convenience (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use), place dependence and place identity form various combination paths through different configurations. The study provides management and marketing implications for streamers or tourism enterprise managers to design and implement effective tourism live streaming programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, rural tourism promoting has experienced unusual development opportunities due to the positive effects of live streaming. Despite the previous literature emphasizing the importance of rural tourism live streams, the current study investigates the interaction effect between different types of broadcasters and rural tours on potential tourists' travel intentions. Through a controlled experimental design with 194 participants, this study found that the congruence between broadcasters and rural tours significantly influences potential tourists' travel intentions. Specifically, when villager (vs. celebrity) broadcasters recommend local culture tours in live streaming, potential tourists' travel intentions are significantly higher, and this effect is mediated by internalization. On the other hand, when celebrity (vs. villager) broadcasters recommend natural ecology tours, potential tourists' travel intentions are significantly higher, and this effect is caused by identification. This study contributes to the literature on rural tourism and provides practical implications for tourism marketers and broadcasters seeking to maximize the effectiveness of their promotion in live streaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Live streaming has recently become a popular direct selling channel which offers small, self-employed sellers unseen levels of consumer interaction and engagement. While the extant research focused on consumer motivation and intention to shop via live streaming, little is known from the seller's perspective. Indeed, the potential advantages of live streaming commerce are accessible to everyone, but sellers experience different levels of success with this medium. Using a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach, this study analyses Facebook data of live streaming sellers to assess the nature and extent of engagement metrics, and delineate the dynamic, interactive live streaming sales process. We identify four sales approaches and twelve strategies adopted in acquiring and retaining customers. This typology of sales approach representing seller-focused antecedents is mapped against the relationship process and outcomes to provide a framework for understanding relationship mechanisms in live streaming commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online teaching has come to play an increasingly important role in higher education, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Being unable to be on campus with face-to-face teaching can be challenging. This article provides a possible option of how first-year engineering students at NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) adapt to mastering higher mathematics. The purpose of the research is to see whether a more 'face to face' experienced online teaching technological method will have a positive impact on student engagement, as well as exam performance. We refer to this new method as 'TeachUs' in this paper for the sake of convenience. This method gives eye contact experience for the students, which has been shown to improve engagement. The surveys of the student groups confirmed the preference of this teaching method as compared to conventional screen sharing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, governments have paid much more attention to online learning platforms. This study establishes a high-performance agricultural digital learning platform (hereafter referred to as the Platform), in an attempt to (1) achieve learning diversity, improve users' learning ability and willingness to learn, and unblocking geo-restrictions, and (2) design cloud-based e-learning materials and assess their learning effectiveness through the use of satisfaction surveys. A cloud-based high-efficiency online course platform for the agricultural community uses a real-time streaming analysis to determine the network string flow during users' video playback and enables dynamic allocation to obtain the best server effectiveness. Users can remain motivated while taking high-quality online courses. With the establishment of cloud-based course materials, and the specificity of agricultural information, we hope to improve users' learning motivation and learning effectiveness. Furthermore, this study uses satisfaction surveys and the UTAUT model to assess the research findings according to whether the users' performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions have a positive impact on the perceived satisfaction and perceived usefulness. We verified this point and inferred that digital learning can support the agricultural community significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to investigate the way in which the Chinese audience decides to pay for the live streaming of the English Premier League when there are also other choices from both legal and illegal sites. Following a Critical Realist position, Glaserian Grounded Theory is employed to analyse qualitative data collected through 24 semi-structured interviews to scrutinise how a willingness to pay is influenced. 15 influential factors emerged following the data analysis and were subsequently grouped into four core categories, two of which relate to external factors and the other two are specific to the interviewees. In addition, four attributes of perception are also identified through consistent comparative analysis. Our findings prompt a discussion concerning the essential role of audience interpretation, rather than other factors per se, in shaping their WTP, which has implications for promotional campaigns and points to areas in which further research could be conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study of North Xiazhu Village in China examines how algorithmic practices and the construction of physical and symbolical places mutually shape and constitute one another in the context of a new phenomenon: livestreaming villages. Such villages have emerged as a result of the widespread popularity of social media featuring algorithmic recommendations. Algorithmic practices—defined as users' individual or collective strategies and actions in response to the algorithmic mechanisms that distribute traffic—have become key variables in the place-making of livestreaming villages. By analyzing how algorithmic practices are formed, implemented, shared, organized, and interwoven with place-making, this paper seeks to examine how the traditional village of North Xiazhu has transformed into a livestreaming village. Meanwhile, this paper seeks to broaden our understanding of the social opportunities facilitated by new technologies, recognizing the constitutive role of algorithmic practices in the making of places and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though the emerging live streaming industry has attracted growing attention, the dominant yanzhi category where streamers mostly interact with the audience through amateur talent shows and casual chats has not been widely investigated. To decode the mechanism behind the popularity of yanzhi streamers, this study draws on Dual Coding Theory (DCT) to posit that age estimated from a streamer's face and voice can influence the level of viewer engagement. To validate our hypothesized relationships, 274 one-minute video records ahead of a viewer commenting or/and gifting were collected and analyzed via deep learning algorithms. Analytical results attest to the negative effects of both facial and vocal age on viewer engagement, while their interaction has a positive impact on viewer engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expanding gaming industry now includes a large group of consumers who watch others play games. On Twitch.tv – the leading platform for gameplay streaming – influencers livestream themselves playing games while viewers watch and interact with them. Previous research suggests that social interaction may be critical for a successful stream but has not studied gameplay streams as Interaction Rituals, a model describing how interaction lead to social motivation. Analysis of four gameplay streams shows how the streamer, through inclusion strategies and active viewer participation, promote viewer engagement in a way that resembles the mechanisms of offline Interaction Rituals. The model, therefore, appears to be useful for understanding how successful gameplay streams draw a returning audience through producing positive social emotions and parasocial attachment to the group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the theory of affective news to examine social media live streaming during the 2019 Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement. We argue that this specific form of affective news was enabled by the affordances of the Facebook Live platform, collectively produced by journalists who were not bound by conventional detached practices and audiences who actively engaged in emotional reactions and discussions, and offering an immersive, unpredictable, sensational, and dramatic experience of collective witnessing through the unique content and format. This case enriches our understanding of the emotional turn of journalism and provides implications for digital journalism and social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Service Industries Journal is the property of Routledge 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.)

The potential for business opportunities live streaming services has attracted attention from individuals and businesses. Limited studies have explored the factors associated with the purchase intention of shoppers in live-streaming contexts. The purpose of this study was to examine whether social media technology readiness, perceived value, and social presence influence shoppers' purchase intention in live-streaming contexts. The results indicated that social media technology readiness and perceived value had a significant and positive effect on purchase intention. A thorough discussion and future research suggestions are provided to obtain a better understanding of the behavioral intention of shoppers in live-streaming contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study systematically explores and assesses why the nascent leisure pursuit of following giant pandas on live streaming platforms, which is credited as the dullest yet most mesmerising pastime in the internet age, is being embraced by a fast growing niche fan base. In particular, the concepts of cuteness, relating to the likeability of the pandas, and generativity, epitomised by one's concern and care for future generations, are introduced to respectively account for the co-effects of recreational and serious facets of this unique leisure genre. Research results from structural modelling conclude that the platform subscribers' perceptions of cuteness, being mediated by their generative inclinations, affected positively their perceived values of the platform, which, in turn, exerted a positive effect on their behavioural intentions. This study contributes to research on multispecies leisure and serves as practical reference for better realising the ecological and social values of giant panda live streaming in the post pandemic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Celebrities' self-disclosures about their mental health issues can enhance public awareness of mental illness such as depression. As online live streaming becomes a popular choice for media entertainment, microcelebrities such as video streamers may have similar influence over their audience. Using an online survey (N = 474), this study examined how exposure to streamers' depression disclosures affected the viewer's perceptions toward the streamers and depression. We also examined how parasocial relationships, parasocial interactions, and identification with streamers were associated with 1) the viewers' perceived authenticity and credibility toward the streamers, 2) as well as increases in the viewers' perceived prevalence, risk susceptibility, and risk severity about mental health. The study demonstrates a strong association between streamers' health disclosures and public awareness regarding depression. The study extends previous studies around celebrity influencers as a promising opportunity for reducing social stigma around mental health discussions. The study also advances our theoretical understanding of microcelebrities' social influence in a new media context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Service Industries Journal is the property of Routledge 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.)

The Chinese live-streaming industry is attracting an increasing number of young Chinese women into a new form of entertainment work, as camgirls. Despite the generally poor salary, these women believe that the added benefits of being a camgirl (gifts, sponsorship, internet fame) offer a better option for advancement than being dagongmei (factory workers). This article reports on camgirls working on the IT platform, Momo, framed by my personal experiences and observations as a camgirl. Camgirls represent a special kind of digital entertainer (labourer). They do not sell sex per se, rather they titillate their male patrons by selling sexual innuendo, and engaging in live-streamed games which often result in their degradation and misery (maican). These games aim to seduce patrons into gift giving, intimacy and rescue via becoming a camgirl's dage (big brother). While these digital relationships last, they feed camgirls' aspirations, but when they inevitably fail, the camgirls' work becomes 'desperational' in order to attract their former patrons and regain lost ground. Through camgirls' narratives, I explore the intersection of camgirls' aspirations and desperation within the context of heterosexual relationships and the dark side of Digital China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will discuss the impact of COVID-19 on Chinese cultural industries, in particular independent music based on live interviews with musicians, venue owners, labels and others in the Chinese music industry. On the one hand there are many state employees in the cultural industries, who are somewhat protected from immediate employment impacts; on the other there are many private sector companies, especially in Music, TV and Film, who have been severely impacted. China's social protections are not high, but at the same time neither are expectations of state help in terms of loss of income. In the music industry, the closing of all venues has had an inordinate impact on the already suffering "independent" sector (mainly due to lockdowns), with many music venues especially not expected ever to re-open. We ask whether the crisis forces the sector to re-evaluate its cultural value positioned in a heightened commercialised music industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the ongoing gamblification of engagement mechanisms on the live streaming website Twitch.tv (Twitch). Twitch is the market-leading platform for live broadcast of digital games and digital gambling, with two million content creators reaching around one hundred and fifty million viewers per month. Streamers use a variety of monetization techniques to encourage fan engagement while generating revenue: this includes incorporating chance-based elements and unpredictable rewards, part of the ongoing broader convergence of gambling and gaming products. The primary research objective for this study is to investigate the chance-based mechanics in these stream interaction and engagement services, how they work, and how these mechanics fit within elements of traditional legal definitions of gambling: consideration, chance, and prize. Understanding how game spectators engage with streamers helps establish a foundation for understanding how emerging forms of media engagement fit within a policy landscape that might not be designed for technology-driven gambling and gaming consumption. The themes that emerge here have important implications for streamers who monetize, stream extension developers who operate in spaces where certain game mechanics may fall into gambling or other consumer protection oversight, and regulatory authorities who maintain that oversight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A central theme in media research has been the transition from traditional broadcast media, like television and radio, to social media and streaming services. For both researchers and practitioners in the field, a crucial concern has been how to understand the emerging forms of flexibility and interactivity that characterize the use of new media platforms. This article adds to this work by analyzing new viewing and audience practices of the streaming platform Twitch, addressing how emergent ways of viewing and engaging with broadcasts both challenges and revitalizes established concepts from television audience studies. For some years, researchers and media analytics have been discussing to which extent Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and other on-demand streaming services represents the death of linear-TV [see, e.g., Lotz, A. D. (2014). The television will be revolutionized. New York, NY: New York University Press; Lotz, A. D. (2017). A treatise on internet-distributed television. Michigan, MI: Maize Books; Buonanno, M. (2016). (Not yet) the end of television: Editor's introduction [Special issue]. Media and Communication, 4(3), 95–98]. Conventional wisdom dictates that only sports and other great events will uphold the flow, linearity and liveness of traditional television. However, our analysis shows how linear-TV is re-emerging in other, novel forms as well. Central to the analysis is the concepts of 'spatial switching' and 'affective switching', which is used to illuminate the ways in which Twitch practices and infrastructures introduces new dimensions of flexibility, convenience and user-control to flow, liveness and linear-TV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although studies on gay dating apps have shown the ways through which technical features intervene in sexual sociality, seldom do they shed light on the central feature that undergirds their use ‒ algorithms. This article examines Blued, China's largest gay dating app, aiming to unfold the data structure and algorithms that navigate the use of its two prime functionalities: browsing and live streaming. Rather than seeing users as passive audiences that are subject to being measured and calculated based on algorithmically filtered information, this article argues that users can act on the data they provide to dating apps to influence and shape the algorithmic dating outcomes. For Blued browsing, gay men are datafied with numbers and tags for users to sort and filter. For Blued live, gay men are evaluated by the yanzhi algorithm, which literally means 'value of a person's face', for users to pinpoint dating goals. By gaming the data and shaping their algorithmic outcomes, an algorithmic sociality is animated through the filter browsing and the yanzhi metric. In this way, algorithms have become ritual tools for gay sociality on Blued. This article ends by opening up critiques on the justification of social biases lurking inside this algorithmic sociality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-2010s, live streaming has become an increasingly prominent facet of the cultural and commercial landscape of video games. Twitch, the largest streaming platform, reports that more than two million streamers broadcast on their site monthly. This article addresses gender-based harassment in video game live streaming, a widespread problem, especially for women streamers. Here, we deconstruct the discriminatory discourse that surrounds the bodies of women streamers, with a focus on the term "titty streamer." "Titty streamer" is a derogatory label applied by detractors to women streamers who are perceived as drawing undeserved attention from viewers by presenting their bodies in sexualized ways. To delineate and critique how this term is being deployed in the cultures that surround Twitch, we perform a qualitative analysis of comments in forum threads in the Twitch subreddit (r/Twitch). Our analysis reveals that the term "titty streamer" is far more than a dismissible, juvenile insult. The term serves as a window onto underlying cultural logics and anxieties from within gamer culture about labor and legitimacy in live streaming, as well as larger issues of how women's bodies are perceived, performed, and policed in and through video games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pandemic, in-person, video production, online worship, live streaming Keywords: Pandemic; online worship; live streaming; in-person; video production EN Pandemic online worship live streaming in-person video production 4 6 3 01/07/22 20211001 NES 211001 As a denominational worship consultant for nearly thirteen years, and a freelance consultant since 2018, I've witnessed and been part of many conversations (and debates) about online worship. The worship consultant side of me questions whether we, or any congregation, should be putting out publicly viewable video content that isn't up to even basic public standards of video, sound, and content production quality. [Extracted from the article]

This paper presents an exploratory case study on the nascent "virtual gifting" feature of China's live streaming platforms. At the nexus of technological infrastructure, social organization, and interpersonal relations, the authors aim to explicate the complex dynamics between the gift economy and the commodity economy in the context of the increasingly platformized Chinese society. This paper will first discuss how the platform infrastructure is geared toward maximizing content monetization through virtual gifting. The paper then examines how corporatized streamer guilds foreground the moneymaking capacity of virtual gifting at the expense of its potential for building communitarian and reciprocal relationships. Based on these structural dynamics, the commodification of virtual relations is further analyzed to demonstrate how the hegemonic construct of virtual gifting is perceived and reproduced at the individual level. The paper concludes by offering a reconsideration of the role of critical communication studies in turning the tide of China's live streaming industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I explore economic and inclusion opportunities for people with disabilities and mental health issues afforded by 'live streaming' ‒ the live broadcast of one's activities over the internet to a globally dispersed audience. In both 2016 and 2017, the leading live streaming platform Twitch.tv broadcast over 500,000 years of video, which were produced by over two million regular broadcasters ('streamers'), and consumed by an audience of several hundred million viewers. Streamers can profit, up to and including a full-time living 'wage' for those at the highest levels. Numerous successful streamers with chronic health issues have discussed the personal and professional benefits streaming brings them. Utilising data from a research project with 100 interviews, alongside approximately 500 hours of ethnographic observation, this paper examines the experiences of live streaming for broadcasters with disabilities, mental health issues, or physical health issues. Firstly, I explore the positive elements of streaming for these broadcasters, focusing on the many conditions represented in this demographic, and the benefits streaming gives for inclusion and community. Secondly, I consider the negative experiences of these streamers, focused on entanglements of health and technology that make their streaming lives potentially more challenging than their colleagues. Thirdly, I focus on the economic opportunities, and the potential for entrepreneurial activity, the platform affords. I conclude the analysis by exploring how these aspects make live streaming a potentially exemplary emancipatory and entrepreneurial space for these individuals, but not one without challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inception of live streaming technology has rapidly changed the way in which sporting events are transmitted. The unauthorised retransmission of live sports telecasts over the Internet has become one of the main concerns in sports media, where broadcasters have lost billions of dollars' worth of sports broadcasting contracts and sponsorship deals. The scale of this problem has caused serious harm, both to sports rights-holders and to broadcasters. Legislative reforms are required in order to balance the public's ever-increasing desire for convenient ways to view digital materials against the legal rights of the owners of the material, while also aiming to maintain a forward-looking perspective in an attempt to foresee potential technological advancements that may pose considerable challenges to the traditional copyright law. This article analyses how the concept of live streaming of live sports has changed the legal landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most academic research on and discussions about paratexts define them as texts or artifacts that surround a central text, lending that central text meaning, framing and shaping how we understand it. Researchers who study games and game culture have examined how materials such as walkthroughs, game guides, and Let's Play videos function as paratexts to shape how we understand what a particular videogame might be like and how best to play it. Yet sometimes texts become paratexts themselves when the object of study shifts. In this short essay I explore situations where the (seemingly) central object becomes de-centered, where the game becomes the paratext for other texts. These cases demonstrate the danger in "fixing' some texts as central and others as peripheral. By discussing the worlds of game modding and professional streamers on Twitch.tv, I argue for flexibility in when a text might become a paratext and vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students expect flexibility when choosing their classes. Online and blended courses are a common class format now seen in universities and schools worldwide. Another element being used for these online classes is the use of live, synchronous streaming, where students view instructors' lectures in real time. Live streaming outside of the classroom is becoming more popular and made readily available for consumer use through mobile devices and freely available platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. With their increasingly busy schedules, medical students and professionals typically rely more on online versions of library instruction. Webinars and other virtual meeting platforms have frequently been used to disseminate online instruction in real time and provide chat features which allow instructors to engage with viewers. Libraries have used webinar platforms and can go beyond instruction and integrate live streaming further by broadcasting lectures, events, and other activities students might appreciate "attending". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]