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Copyright of Doxa Comunicación is the property of Fundacion Universitaria San Pablo - CEU 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.)

With the development of communication technology that makes online transactions easier, there is also an increased risk of disintermediation—sellers and buyers circumventing a platform to transact directly—in online two-sided marketplaces. Such disintermediation may lead to significant revenue loss for online platforms. However, it remains unclear how the characteristics of platforms affect their vulnerability to disintermediation. Using the blockade of Skype in mainland China as a natural experiment, this study examines how online communication technologies affect disintermediation and transaction outcomes in a large U.S. online freelance marketplace. The results show that restricting this alternative communication technology, which platforms struggle to monitor, reduces disintermediation by around 18%. This effect is potentially due to economic frictions in transactions, as the reduction in disintermediation is greater for high-transaction-cost jobs, such as time-sensitive jobs, communication-intensive jobs, and high-skilled jobs, as well as for cost-sensitive users, such as experienced users and personal users as opposed to enterprise users. With these results, platforms can reduce disintermediation risks when making investment and market entry decisions. This paper was accepted by D. J. Wu, information systems. Funding: This work was supported by the Strategic Management Society [SRF Dissertation Research Grant]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.02736. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa, many people are homeless or doing informal work for which they receive small amounts of cash from caring individuals. The world is moving towards cashless transactions, but devices are needed to support that move. Many people in need cannot afford such devices and usually receive cash, but fewer donors carry cash. Consequently, people in need receive less informal financial support. We propose a system that allows donors to give digital vouchers that can be redeemed at participating stores and institutions of care. This study aimed to investigate the use of blockchain technology in digital voucher management and to demonstrate the application of smart contracts to disintermediate the value transfer process specific to the donation process. A demonstrator was built to include a front end for the user to interact with and a back end containing the application logic, which was built on the Polygon blockchain, a second-layer solution for the Ethereum blockchain. The model included tokenising vouchers as non-fungible tokens, and the smart contracts governed their logic and the conditions to be met. The demonstrator was validated using smart contract and unit tests to evaluate the security and functionality. While the model was not implemented in reality, a fully functioning demonstrator was developed. The platform achieved the aim of disintermediating the voucher management process. A real-world implementation could help many in need to receive tokens for food, shelter and clothing from direct, individual donors. Significance: We developed an architecture for a digital voucher donation management system that enables individual donors to transfer cashless vouchers to recipients in need. The recipients can then exchange the vouchers for necessities such as shelter, food and clothing. Such a system will become essential in the near future as we move towards a cashless society. The proposed system is safe because it is based on blockchain technology.

Today's public sphere is increasingly shaped by a dynamic, global, cross-cutting digital landscape, mostly ruled by social media and algorithms. Individuals are the raw material, the product, in this digital scenario, insofar as they generate and create information that coexists and is consumed alongside the information generated by the media outlets. In this context, this study focusses on an international sample from three countries (Spain, Colombia, and Costa Rica) to study the youngest information consumption, the trust they relay in media used to get informed, and their perceptions. The research was articulated from a quantitative methodological approach, focusing on a descriptive and correlational perspective. The results show interesting and innovative outcomes that point out that country origin does not constitute a significative factor when describing consumption patterns related to social media. It was confirmed in the study that these scenarios seem to become the new gatekeepers for young people, who barely consume traditional media such as press or radio broadcast. The lack of trust in the media that they consume to get informed is a matter of awareness, and digital literacy is described to be the most appropriated solution in a transformative normality in which young people do not consume information from traditional media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disruptive change affecting information industry entails not only a loss of influence over society but also implies the proliferation of all kind of doubtful veracity contents that contribute to undermine the solidity of democratic institutions on an international scale and in the European Union in particular. The analysis of a project such as IJ4EU allows a better understanding of the singularities that collaborative investigative journalism adopts nowadays as a formula to increase efficiency in the flow of cross-border news content and the quality of journalism and as an initiative that transcends the concrete fact of the mere informative action and enters into the strengthening of democracy betting on the generation of deep changes in the methods of working and in the very structure of the system that must occur in the mid and long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key issue for the design of online marketplaces is addressing leakage. Buyers may use the marketplace to discover a seller or to obtain certain conveniences, but the seller may then want to take transactions off the marketplace to avoid transaction fees. Assuming buyers are heterogenous in their switching cost or inconvenience cost of purchasing directly, we provide a model in which there is partial leakage in equilibrium. We use the model to analyze the trade-offs associated with different strategies the marketplace can use to attenuate the effects of leakage: investing in transaction benefits, limiting communication, charging referral fees, using price-parity clauses, introducing seller competition on the marketplace, and hiding sellers that try to induce too much leakage. This paper was accepted by Joshua Gans, business strategy. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4757. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The failure of major banks in 2023, such as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Signature Bank, First Republic Bank, and Credit Suisse, points to the continuing need for financial institutions to price liquidity risk properly and for financial systems to find alternative sources of liquidity in times of dire need. Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), fiat-backed stablecoins (fsCOINs), and synthetic central bank digital currencies (sCBDCs) could offer improvements, but each comes with its own set of problems and conditions. Prior research reaches conflicting conclusions about the effect that each of these three financial assets has on systemic bank liquidity and fails to adequately address their net benefits relative to each other. This paper addresses these issues, including those connected to financial disintermediation, bank runs, outsourcing central bank activities, financial interoperability, cash equivalents, maturity transformation, required reserves, and changes in nations' monetary bases. After addressing the strengths and weaknesses of fsCOINs and CBDCs, we conclude that sCBDCs provide the most significant net liquidity benefits when risks and returns are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Central Bank (E.C.B.) anticipates including a holding limit of about e3,000 per user within the design of its potential retail central bank digital currency for the Eurozone, the digital euro. This is principally motivated by concerns regarding compliance with regulations related to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism and the disintermediation of banks as credit intermediaries. This paper argues that these concerns are unwarranted, and, in any case, the holding limit would not be an effective solution to these concerns. The digital euro could be introduced with unlimited holdings by individual users in conformity with E.U. law and while maintaining banks as credit intermediaries in the Eurozone financial system.

Political spectacularization is a broad global phenomenon challenging contemporary digital political communication under new features that define interactive digital narratives. In this sense, the use of politainment formulas in digital contexts to reconnect the electorate with political leaders and institutions through a more direct and interactive communication deserves further understanding of its implications on the devaluation of political information and the loss of democratic quality. This thematic issue sheds some light on how the spectacularization of political communication, which increasingly takes place in online contexts, affects and is affected by these processes, where entertainment is crucial to engage citizens. In this editorial, we provide a short overview of how research on politainment has started to shift its attention away from traditional media toward the wide array of lenses of politainment among digital platforms. The articles in this thematic issue reflect this shift but also show its consequences in terms of political engagement. Finally, we outline further research steps, which should establish a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of the complex relationship between political communication, entertainment, and new digital communication formulas, which is crucial to advance knowledge in the field.

Too often, regional, rural and remote cities and towns are configured in deficit to the metropolis. As local newspapers have closed, how are local stories gathered, understood, published and disseminated? The objective of this article probes how women leaders in the media industries deploy their lived experiences to re/shape, reimagine and sustain regional, rural and remote life through digitizing community leadership. We explore how technology provides new opportunities to share stories of women’s strength and capacity to build new pathways between information and citizens. Using original interviews, we investigate how women in these locations use the internet and digitization to share stories of their communities and culture to metropolitan environments in the absence of truly local news outlets, bypassing traditional news media and taking control of how their stories are told. This approach to the research demonstrates that alternative modes of ‘writing back’ are emerging. Certainly, analogue injustices overlay digital inequalities. However, the opportunities and potential for resistance and interventions are revealed and disseminated the courage, direction and gumption of women summoning a different mode of media leadership that is critiques and transforms traditional models of ownership, production, and consumption. The implications of this paper are important, as we offer a fresh model to think about regional media and regional media leadership. Yet the value of this research transcends media, summoning a model of social, cultural, and economic transformation, through digitization, disintermediation and deterritorialization.

Copyright of Societá Mutamento Politica is the property of Firenze University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Societá Mutamento Politica is the property of Firenze University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The failure of major banks in 2023, such as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Signature Bank, First Republic Bank, and Credit Suisse, points to the continuing need for financial institutions to price liquidity risk properly and for financial systems to find alternative sources of liquidity in times of dire need. Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), fiat-backed stablecoins (fsCOINs), and synthetic central bank digital currencies (sCBDCs) could offer improvements, but each comes with its own set of problems and conditions. Prior research reaches conflicting conclusions about the effect that each of these three financial assets has on systemic bank liquidity and fails to adequately address their net benefits relative to each other. This paper addresses these issues, including those connected to financial disintermediation, bank runs, outsourcing central bank activities, financial interoperability, cash equivalents, maturity transformation, required reserves, and changes in nations’ monetary bases. After addressing the strengths and weaknesses of fsCOINs and CBDCs, we conclude that sCBDCs provide the most significant net liquidity benefits when risks and returns are considered.

The concept of "disintermediation" is one of the instruments used to interpret recent developments in politics and communication, especially in digital media. Our thesis is that the concept of "disintermediation" can be considered from two different perspectives. On the one hand, it can be interpreted in the strict historically established sense. On this basis it may be argued that the internet has contributed to "disintermediate" traditional intermediaries, surpassing in part the traditional intermediaries of the twentieth century (such as journalists). On the other, "disintermediation" can be seen in broader, etymological, absolute and non-relative terms. In this sense, the concept of "disintermediation" is no longer appropriate and consequently, based on experimental results and a theoretical analysis of small and large digital intermediaries, we shall propose the concept of "neointermediation." This article presents the characteristics of neointermediaries, which are concentrating more and more power and are of two sizes: small and large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain technology was initially implemented for cryptocurrencies in 2009, but it caught the undivided attention of multiple industries such as finance, supply chain management, healthcare, and governments. This research was set out to investigate and evaluate six benefits of blockchain for marketing: fostering disintermediation, combating click fraud, reinforcing trust and transparency, enhancing privacy protection, empowering digital marketing security, and enabling creative loyalty programs. An empirical study in the form of an online survey was conducted to examine the realization of benefits in practice. The research concluded that blockchain does indeed provide promising benefits for marketing, but that depends on whether marketers use public (permissioned) blockchain or private (permissioned) blockchain, and also the ability of the blockchain community to resolve fundamental challenges and pending issues such as scalability, speed, interoperability, and privacy, besides several many others.

The relevance of social networks as agenda setters and prosumers as simultaneous content creators and consumers outside the media encourage political communication to focus on the use of digital platforms as part of their direct persuasive strategy towards the user-voter. This research analyses the first-level agenda and the political discourse on Twitter as a space of micro-segmentation to delve into the strategy of personalisation, polarisation, and the emotional discourse of political candidates during the election period. To test this process of disintermediation, a case study on the six main candidates for elections of the Region of Madrid during the election campaign (April-May 2021) has been conducted. The method combines a content and discourse analysis concerning the tweets published b y the political representatives on their Twitter profile during this period (N=817), as well as the videos (N=637) and images (N=202) that accompany them. The codification was carried out using a self-developed software that allows users to download the tweets, obtain the interactions and classify the messages according to four categories: the source of the tweet; the topic, differentiating between political issues and citizen concerns according to the CIS (2021); the framing; and the multimedia storytelling elements. The main results confirm that, in disintermediated political communication in social networks, political leaders use a personalist, polarised and emotional discourse, with high engagement concerning multimedia storytelling. The research confirms a discourse about politics, but not about policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

That the End of History is over is no longer in dispute, but drift and decay, rather than a restarting of History proper, is the order of the day. In this article, critical discussions of The End of the End of History by Daniel Zamora, Anton Jäger, Nicholas Kiersey and Richard Sakwa are responded to. Zamora's focus on the displacement of social conflict outside the workplace is discussed as a feature of political disintermediation, creating a boundless sort of politics. An alternative to Jäger's proposed term, 'hyperpolitics', is then advanced, as a means of leaving open the possibility of greater politicisation in the future. A defence of the way left-populist movements are cast as essentially 'anti-political' is then ventured, in opposition to Kiersey. Sakwa's criticisms of our historicism are then turned on their head, before we consider the impact that the Ukraine war may have on History's putative return. By way of conclusion, the dichotomies of resignation versus autonomy, and compliance versus social purpose, are discussed as the pivots on which History's return will be decided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fast-growing, market-driven demand for cryptocurrencies worries central banks, as their monetary policy could be completely undermined. Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could offer a solution, yet our understanding of their design and consequences is in its infancy. This non-technical paper examines how The Bahamas has designed the Sand Dollar, the first real-world instance of a retail CBDC. It contrasts the Sand Dollar with definition-based specifications. The author then develops a scenario analysis to illustrate commercial bank risks. In this process, the central bank becomes a deposit monopolist, leading to high funding risks, disintermediation risks, and solvency risks for the commercial banking sector. This paper argues that restrictions and caps will be the new specifications of a regulatory framework for CBDCs if disintermediation in the banking sector is to be prevented. The anonymity of CBDCs is identified as a comparative disadvantage that will affect their adoption. These findings provide insight into governance problems facing central banks and coherently lead to the design of the Sand Dollar. This paper concludes by suggesting that combating cryptocurrencies is a task that cannot be solved by a CBDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity markets are going through a comprehensive transformation that includes the large-scale appearance of intermittent renewable generators (RGs). To handle the local effects of new RGs on the distribution grid, the more efficient utilization of distributed local flexibility (LF) resources is necessary. However, the optimal market design is not yet known for LF products. This paper investigates a novel cost allocation mechanism in the context of this market challenge. The mechanism is designed to provide several important advantages of peer-to-peer trading without creating barriers to practical application. It provides partial disintermediation. The acquisition of LF remains the responsibility of the DSO, while the financial costs of the transaction are covered on power exchanges (PXs). To provide this functionality, the clearing algorithm of the PX in question has to incorporate a novel feature we call the Payment Redistribution Technique. This technique allows the buyers' expenses to be larger than the sellers' income, and the difference is used to finance flexibility costs. Its mathematical formulation is presented and analyzed in detail, considering computational efficiency and accuracy. Afterward, a realistic case study is constructed to demonstrate the operation of the algorithm and its energy market effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have confirmed profound mental health concerns within PhD student cohorts. Phrases like ‘imposter syndrome’ pepper student narratives of their candidature. This article explores one intervention in this tale of mental health concerns, attrition and disappointment. Exploring a born-digital writing community termed the Write Bunch, we investigate how communities can be formed that enable support and success, compassion and excellence. This study is particularly noteworthy because the interruptions of COVID-19 were managed through already existing support structures.

Purpose – Blockchain technology is provoking significant disruptions, thereby affecting supply chain management. This study endeavoured to advance research regarding blockchain-based supply chain traceability by identifying the opportunities and limitations that accompany the adoption of public blockchains. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to contribute to contemporary supply chain research by an assessment of blockchain technology and its linkages to traceability. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is conceptual. The authors summarised the relevant literature on the concepts of supply chain traceability, conceptualised key elements exclusive to the public blockchain and highlighted opportunities and limitations in implementing traceability using blockchains. Findings – Incompatibilities were identified between general traceability and the public blockchain. However, when embracing the blockchain's privacy model, the blockchains can support information exchange in supply chains where vulnerability towards third parties, the confidentiality of information, or the privacy of participants are concerns. Furthermore, the public blockchain can support areas of supply chains where institutional interest is lacking. Originality/value – This is one of the first papers in an international supply chain management journal to critically analyse the intersection of specific blockchain characteristics and supply chain traceability requirements. The authors thereby add to the discussion of designs for a disintermediated, peer-to-peer models and guide researchers and practitioners alike in exploring the application of disruptive change from blockchain technologies. By setting focus on the privacy model, the paper identifies the potential application and future research approaches to exploit the elementary strength of the blockchain.

Blockchain technology was initially implemented for cryptocurrencies in 2009, but it caught the undivided attention of multiple industries such as finance, supply chain management, healthcare, and governments. This research was set out to investigate and evaluate six benefits of blockchain for marketing: fostering disintermediation, combating click fraud, reinforcing trust and transparency, enhancing privacy protection, empowering digital marketing security, and enabling creative loyalty programs. An empirical study in the form of an online survey was conducted to examine the realization of benefits in practice. The research concluded that blockchain does indeed provide promising benefits for marketing, but that depends on whether marketers use public (permissioned) blockchain or private (permissioned) blockchain, and also the ability of the blockchain community to resolve fundamental challenges and pending issues such as scalability, speed, interoperability, and privacy, besides several many others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MICE Tourism is a segment of the tourism industry that deals with the organisation of Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions, which are experiencing a major process of disintermediation. This article applies the principal-agent problem in the theory of agency to analyse MICE disintermediation. It uses a dominant/sequential qual-QUAN mixed methods approach. Firstly, through interviews with MICE professionals to validate the research variables, test sample and questionnaire. Then, quantitative research using a survey sent to 365 MICE stakeholders in Europe. The opinions of hoteliers were compared with those of other MICE stakeholders to analyse disintermediation and determine the role of hoteliers in this new scenario. Our findings confirm a trend of partial disintermediation in which hotel bookings are the most disintermediated service and hoteliers are the stakeholders that pose a more proactive and aggressive attitude towards disintermediation. This paper is of interest for MICE stakeholders to better understand their position in the value chain and interpret the process of disintermediation. Its originality is based on the fact that it gathers the opinions of all MICE agents with a special focus on the perspective of its most dominant actor: the hotel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the internet and social media have established themselves as primary sources of information and have become an integral part of political communication. The speed with which news is published and circulated, and the possibility, especially with mobile devices, of consuming information from anywhere, even while involved in other activities, have caused the internet to become central to many current events. It's increasingly important to question the quality and variety of the information that's available online. This is the topic that's becoming more and more central to political debate because, as is also true for traditional media, making accurate information available is one of the essential conditions not only for being able to choose the best products and services in several markets, but for making informed political choices as well. Therefore, proper functioning of the information market has important externalities which affect both the political system and the proper functioning of many financial sectors. After decades of expansion in information markets, it's clear that a simple quantitative increase in the amount of information available isn't enough to prevent individuals from being insuf- ficiently or poorly informed, and it rather introduces issues regarding the trustworthiness, quality, and relevance of the information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital entrepreneurship through the employment of smartphones and other handheld device applications is an innovative form of customer approach. Particularly, in the cultural marketing sector, new technologies, such as social media, YouTube channels, and mobile applications may increase the artists' visibility and attract new partnerships and audiences. In this framework, entrepreneurs-musicians who attended a seminar on Management of Cultural Heritage, Communication and Media in Greece were asked to promote their activities through the creation of a smartphone application. After having completed their endeavor and further evaluated it, they participated in qualitative research based on the theory of experts' interviews, as a case study. The aim of this paper, through thematic analysis of the conducted interviews, is to reflect upon the dynamics of new technologies in music entrepreneurship. As derived by the analysis, the use of mobile applications may effectively approach prospective partnerships and audiences, especially if combined with other contemporary forms of communication, and results in presenting enhanced professionalism. Audience engagement, which is an issue that is sought while attempting to optimize promotion processes, may be achieved if a further practice is performed. As the research was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for this form of making publicly known their artwork was considered essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the impact of digital media on political campaigns towards disintermediated political communication in Africa. It highlights that, due to the proliferation of digital media, political communication processes have drastically shifted away from traditional formats to more adaptable and personalised platforms linked to digital citizenship. It further discusses the characterisation of African political campaigns and its impact on democratisation. Application of the Adaptive structuration and Media richness theories is employed to explicate the role of information technologies in facilitating societal change. The article argues that, disintermediation in political campaigns results from unfettered access to alternative means of information with potential to diminish the power of the “voice”; stimulate new forms of political consciousness; cultivate optimisation of political engagement and yield truism through verification of political information both pre and post elections. It concludes that digital media have radically changed how the electorate participate in African politics, meanwhile cascading its ability to empower citizens to redefine their sense of political space in a disintermediated environment.

In a 2016 acceptance speech during the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards, actor and activist Jesse Williams used the phrase "gentrifying our genius" to refer to the insidious process of misappropriating the cultural and artistic productions of Black creators, inventors, and innovators. In that speech, he poignantly and unapologetically condemned racial discrimination and cultural misappropriation. This Article chronicles the nefarious history of the creative disempowerment of creators of color and then imagines an empowering future for those who successfully exploit their creations by fully leveraging copyright ownership and transfer termination. To that end, I reference the considerable scholarship of Professor K.J. Greene, which explores and challenges cultural misappropriation of Black musicians and composers, and build upon my own scholarship that explores the copyright transfer termination right as a potential legal tool for social and economic justice for creatives of color. I also reference an empirical study titled U.S. Copyright Termination Notices 1977- 2020 : Introducing New Datasets, to explore data and extrapolations regarding likely impacts of § 203 terminations since 2013. In this Article, I explore the paths of artists who leveraged opportunity through assignments and licenses and, later, artists who exercised their termination rights to secure a better deal with the original transferee, terminated and entered into contracts with other transferees, or went it alone and exploited their copyrights on their own. The termination right clearly benefits all copyright creators; however, members Of marginalized and disenfranchised communities may stand to benefit even more from the second bite of the copyright apple. I assert that utilizing blockchain's decentralized technology, smart contracts, and non-fungible token standards can better protect Black artists against disenfranchisement at the hands Of a codified system Of intentional friction to discourage or deny the reclamation of rights. Accordingly, in Part H, I examine the history in America and throughout the African diaspora of cultural misappropriation and critique the gentrification of Black creative genius. I explore gentrification as it is applied more broadly to real property and then discuss its application to intellectual property, generally, and copyright specifically. In Part III, I discuss the subject matter Of copyright protection and the nature and mechanics of the transfer termination right. Specifically, I examine the history, purpose, and congressional intent of the right, as well as the method and the complexities of timing Of notice and termination. In Part IV, 1 examine the pre-window fervor and speculation of stakeholder commentators around the likely impact of § 203 terminations prior to 2013. I examine the actual impact since 2013 and a forecast Of likely trends, as described in the termination notices study, written by Joshua Yuvaraj, Rebecca Giblin, Daniel Russo-Batterham & Genevieve Grant. Finally, in Part V, I discuss the role that blockchain technology, smart contract code, and non-fungible token standards could play in automating codified protections. Removing the educational and legalistic barriers to exercising one's termination rights and automating the transfer termination process could ensure that all artists have actual-not theoretical-rights, especially disenfranchised creatives victimized first by powerful industry intermediaries and then by the copyright regime created by those same industry stakeholders (and blessed by Congress) to protect industry, rather than creator, interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the remarkable trend of multisided platforms (MSPs) in the travel industry with the help of which travel agencies (TAs) and global distribution systems (GDSs) can reinforce their intermediary roles. Orthodox TAs face the threats of disintermediation because of the ever faster-changing developments in information and communication technologies, such as the emergence of metasearch engines, online travel agencies, direct bookings on airline websites and the widespread of mobile applications for travel related bookings. GDSs face similar threats of disintermediation from low-cost carriers and legacy carriers, as these carriers promote and encourage direct bookings via their official websites or via the new distribution capability. Design/methodology/approach – This is a casestudy-oriented research, and the case selected is a MSP based in Turkey. The data are gathered using semi-structured interviews conducted from 15 international representatives of this MSP in different countries. Interviews were conducted either physically at the MSP’s headquarters in Antalya, Turkey, or virtually using Zoom application from January to October 2019. Findings – The paper portrays the significance of MSPs in terms of their contributions toward the reintermediation of the two important intermediaries, namely, TAs and GDSs in the travel industry supply chain. Both of them are prone to the dangers of disintermediation because of the developments in technology, networking and communication channels; the worldwide accessibility of the stakeholders to the internet; and the direct reach of suppliers to consumers. The deteriorating role of TAs and GDSs is reignited by the successful launch, deployment and adoption of MSPs in the ecosystem of the travel industry. Originality/value – This paper offers an insight into the prevailing trend of MSPs in business to business (B2B) trading from the perspective of two main intermediaries, TAs and GDSs, in the supply chain of the travel industry. The paper in a novel way compiles the data from the interviews to shed light on the adoption of MSPs by intermediaries in their business models to reintermediate themselves because the sole reliance of intermediaries on orthodox business models is pushing them on to the verge of disintermediation.

The contemporary electoral campaign, that became increasingly permanent with the Net, suggests studying the field of political communication in terms of strategies for social media activities. By a quantitative content analysis approach, in this paper it is proposed an examination of behaviors from political leaders of Lega, M5S and PD for Facebook and Twitter posts during the 2018 campaign for national elections. The expected results of this study aim to recap leadership and disintermediation values of each political actor analyzing the differences marked out from the multidimensional analysis in terms of selected issues, posting methods, and, more in general, communication strategies.

The digital acceleration has transformed the media, narratives, information consumption, and the configuration of public opinion. The rise of social networks and users’ fascination with participation have precipitated the process of disintermediation. We are living through a shift in opinion-making, with multiplying content, sources and stories that are often contradictory or simply false. The internet has put the world within our reach, but it is a world that is skewed by algorithms. In this disinformation society, the debate over ideas has become fragmented and polarised, which has in turn contributed to eroding democracy. Issue 124 of Revista CIDOB d'Afers Internacionals reflects on disinformation and power, freedom of expression and lies, the influence of electoral hoaxes, the communication strategies of populism, the purported new discursive authorities, and the political and legislative changes undertaken in the EU and in Ukraine to combat disinformation.

Public conversation has been digitalised. The internet offers us a horizontal, decentralised space with superabundant content, while at the same time a process of disintermediation has accelerated, ending the monopoly of the traditional interpreters of reality. Information and opinion are mixed and confused and new content is hybridised. The perception of facts is mediated by emotions and truths are chosen freely. This transformation is explained not only by the crisis in traditional media systems, but also by the new algorithmic order that largely controls the selective predetermination of information. How is the democratic system affected by public debate taking place in privately owned technological spaces? Who controls this digitised space? The true existential challenge posed to democracy by the creation of new power systems and new social inequalities will be settled by datafication and algorithmic governance.

Copyright of Pasos: Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural is the property of Universidad de La Laguna, Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales 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.)

Copyright of Cuadernos.info is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Facultad de Comunicaciones 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 entire period after the global financial crisis unfolded, lenders suffer losses due to ultra-low interest rates, while entrepreneurs suffer from a shortage of bank loans. The emergence and accelerated development of various forms of crowdfunding, i.e, in literal translation – “funding by the crowd” has become a logical solution to the problem. The evolution of one of its varieties — namely, debt crowdfunding — is the research subject of this article. Studying activities of crowdfunding platforms allows to select six basic business models, only three of which operate on the basis of simple matching of lenders with borrowers (P2P is a model for mediation in unsecured borrowing, a balance and hybrid model). The three most recent business models of crowdfunding platforms are associated with securitizing loans, issuing transit securities and selling loans entirely. Analysis of the economic essence of the new types of platform operations gives grounds for concluding that the so-called “disintermediation” period of the market is ending, being replaced by the expansion of new financial engineering products with the corresponding subsequent development of this market.

Companies increasingly tender knowledge-intensive tasks using crowdsourcing platforms to gain access to scarce knowledge and skills otherwise out of reach, and in this way, gaining competitive advantage. Despite its potential, existing crowdsourcing platforms encounter several challenges, including (1) fragmentation of expertise, as there are many platforms, (2) distrust between task providers and crowdsourcing participants, as identity and past performance are often not known, and (3) inability to learn from experience due to a lack of openness. A reference architecture for blockchain-based knowledge-intensive crowdsourcing platforms to mediate transactions between demand and supply of knowledge is designed in this paper to overcome these challenges. A design science research method is followed to develop the architecture. The reference architecture shows how blockchain and smart contract components can be integrated to support and coordinate knowledge-intensive crowdsourcing activities. By removing traditional e-commerce intermediaries, blockchain reduces search friction, knowledge transfer costs, and cheating by task providers or crowdsourcing participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The former Article 13 (now Article 17) of the European directive on copyright and the internet (Directive EC2019/790) has been under negotiations since 2016 and was finally approved in 2019. In Portugal, however, the issue was mostly absent from public scrutiny and debate until November 2018. In that month, the issue arose to a prominent level, both in news media and in social media, following a wave of alerts issued by various young youtubers, incentivized by YouTube management. In this paper, we engage in the discussion concerning disintermediation, studying the way in which such alerts spread both in news media and social media, and understanding the role played by the users of social media platforms in modelling the social relevance and the social discourse of the issue of copyright and the internet. To do so, we used digital methods, collecting and analysing data from Twitter, YouTube and from online news media, mapping Article 13 discussions and identifying key actors in each field, as well as the connections between them. The results show that the ease of access provided by platforms such as Twitter or YouTube converts some users to prominent influencers and that, in some cases, those influencers are able to shift and model the public discourse about relevant collective issues.

The former Article 13 (now Article 17) of the European directive on copyright and the internet (Directive EC2019/790) has been under negotiations since 2016 and was finally approved in 2019. In Portugal, however, the issue was mostly absent from public scrutiny and debate until November 2018. In that month, the issue arose to a prominent level, both in news media and in social media, following a wave of alerts issued by various young youtubers, incentivized by YouTube management. In this paper, we engage in the discussion concerning disintermediation, studying the way in which such alerts spread both in news media and social media, and understanding the role played by the users of social media platforms in modelling the social relevance and the social discourse of the issue of copyright and the internet. To do so, we used digital methods, collecting and analysing data from Twitter, YouTube and from online news media, mapping Article 13 discussions and identifying key actors in each field, as well as the connections between them. The results show that the ease of access provided by platforms such as Twitter or YouTube converts some users to prominent influencers and that, in some cases, those influencers are able to shift and model the public discourse about relevant collective issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a platform improves trust between the two sides of its market to facilitate matching and transactions, it faces an increased risk of disintermediation: with sufficient trust, the two sides may circumvent the platform to avoid the platform's fees. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between increased trust and disintermediation by leveraging a randomized control trial in an online freelance marketplace. We find that enhanced trust increases the likelihood of high-quality freelancers being hired. However, when the trust level is sufficiently high, it also increases disintermediation, which offsets the revenue gains from the increase in hiring high-quality freelancers. We also identify heterogeneity across clients and freelancers in their tendencies to disintermediate. We discuss strategies that platforms can use to mitigate the tension between trust building and disintermediation. This paper was accepted by Chris Forman, information systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work analyses blockchain-mediated decentralization based on a systematic review of the scholarly understanding of the term ‘decentralization’ across multiple disciplines from computer to political sciences, examining how its various meanings are reflected in popular discourse on blockchains and distributed ledgers. The paper aims to capture the rigorous cross-domain understanding of decentralization and its most important features, and to map the commonalities and differences between it and some closely related concepts such as distribution, disintermediation and peer-to-peer (P2P). Across all domains, decentralization appears to be used as a solution to problems requiring non-trivial coordination across heterogeneous stakeholders. Blockchain-mediated decentralization appears to have unique characteristics reflecting an idiosyncratic set of authority-related values prevalent in so-called “crypto” online communities. Within blockchain space, the article argues against the binary positioning of “decentralization” and “centralization,” proposing a dialectical approach and arguing that a system’s authority allocation is a quality positioned on a spectrum between purely decentralized and completely centralized, noting how a blockchain set-up could simultaneously both have facets that are significantly centralized and others that are not. The authors document their systematic review findings and propose a framework for understanding blockchain-mediated decentralization, suggesting a definition, and outlining new directions for further human-centric research into distributed ledger technologies and for designing decentralized ecosystems.