Thermoluminescence dating of Brazilian indigenous ceramics

Two indigenous ceramics fragments, one from Lagoa Queimada (LQ) and another from Barra dos Negros (BN), both sites located on Bahia state (Brazil), were dated by termoluminescence (TL) method. Each fragment was physically prepared and divided into two fractions, one was used for TL measurement and the other for annual dose determination. The TL fraction was chemically treated, divided in sub samples and irradiated with several doses. The plot extrapolation from TL intensities as function of radiation dose enabled the determination of the accumulated dose (D(ac)), 3.99 Gy and 1.88 Gy for LQ and BN, respectively. The annual dose was obtained through the uranium, thorium and potassium determination by ICP-MS. The annual doses (D(an)) obtained were 2.86 and 2.26 mGy/year. The estimated ages were similar to 1375 and 709 y for BN and LQ ceramics, respectively. The ages agreed with the archaeologists` estimation for the Aratu and Tupi tradition periods, respectively.

Development of high quality university web sites: benefits to users and the learning organisation

In recent years, the online delivery of educational material has received much attention by researchers. University web sites are being used to supplement the delivery of knowledge in traditional bricks and mortar environments or as stand-alone external courses. The function of a university web site also has broader applications that can provide strategic benefits to the organisation as a whole. An Internet presence based on a high quality, easy to use web site can provide universities with a credible, professional image. This is particularly important as students and other users of university web sites expect the same high level of quality in these sites as they do from the sites of commercial organisations. This paper explores the various roles that a web site can provide to benefit higher education organisations and their customers. In addition, the paper outlines the results of a study of university web site users that identifies specific web site design features that are considered essential for a high quality university site that will meet the needs of students and other stakeholders in a university environment. By adopting these design principles, universities will be able to improve the quality of their web sites and ultimately, increase user satisfaction. Moreover, an understanding of the various roles that a web site can perform will allow universities to fully utilise the benefits of developing and maintaining an online presence while retaining their traditional role as knowledge managers.

Trends and guidelines in online privacy policy

Online privacy policies (OPP) are important mechanisms for informing online consumers about the level of information privacy protection afforded when visiting web sites. To date, societal mechanisms and technologies have been the focus of attempts to improve the quality and effectiveness of OPPs. We present findings from a longitudinal, empirical study of online privacy policies. Our research found that although online privacy policies have improved in quality and effectiveness since 2000, they still fall well short of the level of privacy assurance desired by consumers. This study analyses trends in OPPs over the two years of the study, identifying areas of deficiency and improvements, and offering a solution in the form of a detailed set of guidelines for organisational online privacy policy. Our study adds to existing theory in this area and, more immediately, will assist businesses concerned about the effect of privacy issues on consumer web usage.

Adding value to online privacy for consumers: remedying deficiences in online privacy policies with an holistic approach

We present findings from a longitudinal, empirical study of online privacy policies. Our research found that although online privacy policies have improved in quality and effectiveness since 2000, they still fall well short of the level of privacy assurance desired by consumers. This study has identified broad areas of deficiency in existing online privacy policies, and offers a solution in the form of an holistic framework for the development, factors and content of online privacy policies for organizations. Our study adds to existing theory in this area and, more immediately, will assist businesses concerned about the effect of privacy issues on consumer Web usage.

Security in the online e-learning environment

This paper addresses the role of security in the collaborative e-learning environment, and in particular, the social aspects of security and the importance of identity. It represents a case study, completed in Nov 2004, which was conducted to test the sense of security that students experienced whilst using the wiki platform as a means of online collaboration in the tertiary education environment. Wikis, fully editable Web sites, are easily accessible, require no software and allow its contributors (in this case students) to feel a sense of responsibility and ownership. A comparison between two wiki studies will be made whereby one group employed user login and the other maintained anonymity throughout the course of the study. The results consider the democratic participation and evolution of the work requirements over time, which in fact ascertains the nonvalidity of administrative identification.

LAN cafes: cafes, places of gathering or sites of informal teaching and learning?

Despite the interest of sociologists and educational researchers in Internet café as sites for new cultural and social formations and informal learning, thus far little attention has been paid to the function of café owners, managers and other staff in the mediation and co-construction of those spaces. Drawing from interviews with managers of commercial Internet café in Australia specialising in LAN (Local Area Network) gaming, this article seeks to examine their role and their attitudes more closely; in particular with regard to school-aged users of their facilities. We contend that LAN café are liminal spaces situated at the margins of Australian culture and located at the junctions between home, school and the street, online and offline spaces, work and play. The roles of LAN café managers are similarly ambiguous: in many ways they can be regarded as informal teachers facilitating the process of informal learning.

An online environment for value added learning : more than you bargained for

Online web-based technologies are increasingly being used in educational and professional contexts to create an effective environment for teaching or professional learning. A number of studies have explored the intersections between on and off line teaching and learning, participants’ perceptions, and claims of connectedness and community fostered by online sites (Jones, 1998; Rheingold, 1995; Soderstrom, 2006). This paper will outline the development, functionality and usefulness of the online environment (Drupal) installed and used to support the Australian Government Summer School for Teachers of English. It includes an analysis of the virtual environment (social software) established for the Summer School. The research project aimed to determine what aspects of an online environment supported the success of this national professional development activity that incorporated physically present, and online communication, connection, and collaboration between 200 teachers over a period of seven months. In this paper the site manager explains their role and perspective of the potential of social software for learning.

Designing online usability strategies for multicultural Australia

The research found that multicultural societies need to acknowledge the importance of online usability as a social justice, access and equity issue. For effective usability, government public access websites need to be informed by the language and cultural needs of the diverse target groups, best realised through a user-centred design methodology. Utilising the thesis' research an accompanying website "The women of Scylla : a digital odyssey" was designed and included via the enclosed CD-ROM.

Students' use of online academic resources within a course web site and its relationship with their course performance : an exploratory study

Prior research suggests that the online provision of course materials can have a positive impact on students' examination performance. This study adds to the existing literature by investigating the link between the students' use of different forms of online course provisions and tools (i.e. course materials, links and discussion forums) and the final examination performance of students in a second year undergraduate accounting course. Findings indicate a positive association between the number of online files viewed by students, the number of online discussion messages posted by them, and their examination performance. A significant relationship was not found between examination performance and the amount of time spent on the subject's web site, the viewing of links to web sites that were not core to the course being studied, or the passive reading of discussion messages. These findings support the benefits to be gained by providing course materials online and encouraging students to access the materials posted and to participate actively in online discussion.

OST : A transaction based online social trust model for social network and file sharing security

The continuous growth of the users pool of Social Networking web sites such as Facebook and MySpace, and their incessant augmentation of services and capabilities will in the future, meet and compare in contrast with today's Content distribution Networks (CDN) and Peer-to-Peer File sharing applications such as Kazaa and BitTorrent, but how can these two main streams applications, that already encounter their own security problems cope with the combined issues, trust for Social Networks, content and index poisoning in CDN? We will address the problems of Social Trust and File Sharing with an overlay level of trust model based on social activity and transactions, this can be an answer to enable users to increase the reliability of their online social life and also enhance the content distribution and create a better file sharing example. The aim of this research is to lower the risk of malicious activity on a given Social Network by applying a correlated trust model, to guarantee the validity of someone's identity, privacy and trustfulness in sharing content.

The online identity : towards a hermeneutic phenomenological approach

In order to better understand how artists working in countercultural or ‘fringe’ creative practice use social media to create online persona I am using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to investigate the lived experience of both online and offline persona creation by tattoo artists, street artists, craftivists, and slam poets. The use of phenomenology to investigate artists’ lived experience is particularly appropriate, as ‘artists are involved in giving shape to their lived experience, the products of art are, in a sense, lived experienced transformed into transcended configurations’ (Van Manen 2006: 74). This paper will outline the methodological underpinnings of this project, using these underpinnings to explore the benefits offered by phenomenology to internet studies.

Understanding how people use online social media sites to construct personas can benefit greatly from understanding the lived experience of those who use these technologies, the decisions they make in persona construction, and the online/offline, public/private continuums. A phenomenological approach ‘seeks to revel and richly portray the nature of human phenomena and the experiences of those who live through them’ (Grace & Ajjawi 2010: 197) and offers both the researchers and the participants a way to interrogate and interpret the experience of constructing online personas. A phenomenological approach allows for ‘an intimate awareness and deep understanding’ (Saldana, Leavy & Bertvas 2011: 8) of the experience of persona construction in online and offline spaces, and could equally be used to interrogate other aspects of internet use. 

Online scams and fraud: Australians lose over $90 million in 2014

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Australians gave more than $90 million to scammers in 2014, which is a slight increase on the 2013 figures. And while dating and romance scams still make up a large proportion of the fraud being committed, the most complaints to the ACCC are related to advance fee fraud – those scams where you receive a message from someone who needs your help to get money out of a foreign bank account.

O valor para o consumidor virtual : análise da utilização da internet por meio de web sites de empresas

A rápida expansão da Internet vem trazendo conseqüências substanciais para a sociedade, na forma como as pessoas se relacionam, estudam, trabalham, adquirem e consomem produtos e serviços. Para as empresas é inquestionável a importância da adequação deste novo meio aos seus compostos de marketing, principalmente no sentido de estabelecer um canal de comunicação que possa conectá-las ainda mais aos seus clientes. Porém, para que esta aproximação ocorra, é necessário que sejam conhecidos os desejos e valores que norteiam e influenciam o processo de compra do consumidor online. Esta dissertação busca, justamente, uma aproximação entre estas duas questões: por um lado, as iniciativas de marketing das empresas, por meio de seus Web sites; por outro, os valores que influenciam o comportamento dos consumidores virtuais. O objetivo consiste em comparar as ações de marketing realizadas pelas empresas, por meio de seus Web sites, com o valor para o cliente manifestado pelos consumidores. Para atingir tal objetivo, optou-se por um estudo com múltiplas fontes de coletas de dados e triangulação de dados na análise. Primeiramente, foram realizadas entrevistas pessoais, individuais e em profundidade com 05 (cinco) consumidores de Internet, visando identificar os valores subjetivos relacionados ao consumo no ambiente online. Nesta fase da pesquisa foi utilizado o Modelo de Valor para o Cliente de Woodruff e Gardial (1996). Em seguida, foram analisados Web sites de empresas, a fim de detectar a coerência existente entre os pontos considerados de valor pelos consumidores e as estratégias e ações efetivamente implementadas pelas empresas. Optou-se pela utilização do modelo de Ho (1997), cujo trabalho propõe um método de avaliação de Web sites a partir da perspectiva de valor criado para o consumidor. Os resultados demonstraram que, apesar do crescimento da Internet, alguns desses valores ainda estão latentes, com pouca ou nenhuma iniciativa das empresas no sentido de supri-los.

Comportamento do consumidor online: perfil, uso da internet e atitudes

O trabalho tem como objetivo geral buscar um melhor entendimento do comportamento de compra online e, para tal, valeu-se de cinco objetivos específicos. O primeiro objetivo tratou da ordenação e sistematização do conhecimento sobre esse assunto e, através de seu atingimento, foi possível perceber que o comportamento de compras online tem sido explicado na literatura científica por 3 grandes grupos de variáveis: perfil do consumidor, tipo de uso que faz da Internet e atitude em relação a essa mídia. Também foi possível reduzir de 28 para 13 as variáveis relevantes na explicação desse tipo de consumo. O segundo objetivo tratou de investigar as características que diferenciam compradores de não-compradores e aqui foi possível identificar que compradores online têm perfil socioeconômico mais elevado, viajaram mais para o exterior, conhecem mais o idioma inglês e recebem salários mais altos. Também valorizam mais a conveniência, são mais inovadores, têm menor aversão ao risco e uma orientação experiencial menor, ou seja, necessitam menos ver e pegar o produto antes de decidir comprar. Esses consumidores também têm mais locais de acesso à rede, consideram ter maior conhecimento sobre a Web e a utilizam mais para e-mails, operações bancárias e para levantar informações sobre produtos e serviços. Tendem a enxergar a Internet mais útil e divertida do que os não-compradores. O terceiro objetivo tratou de identificar diferentes segmentos de consumidores online e 5 grupos distintos surgiram. Entre os não-compradores caracterizou-se os grupos Internet não é comigo, Gosto da Internet, mas não sei se vou comprar e o Estou quase lá. Entre os compradores foi possível encontrar os grupos Estou testando e Fãs de carteirinha. Percebeu-se que os cinco grupos formam um contínuo que representa um caminhar em direção às compras online, guardando semelhanças com a Teoria da Difusão das Inovações. O quarto objetivo buscou desenvolver um modelo que estimasse como a probabilidade de consumo online é afetada pelo perfil, uso da Internet e atitudes. Segundo esse modelo, tal probabilidade é maior quando o consumidor acessa a Internet de mais lugares; utiliza a rede para banking, levantar informações sobre produtos e serviços e buscar ofertas; viaja mais para o exterior; conhece mais o idioma inglês; possui mais bens digitais; está mais envolvido com a Internet; vê mais utilidade da na rede; acha importante poder comprar sem sair de casa; tem mais propensão ao risco; não se julga muito inovador; e, mais importante, tem baixa orientação experiencial, dispondo-se a comprar sem ver e pegar o produto antes. O quinto objetivo era oferecer sugestões de cunho prático a gerentes e empreendedores e entre elas é possível destacar as seguintes: 1) Constatou-se a necessidade dos sites também terem elementos hedônicos, não apenas utilitários; 2) Os produtos de mais aceitação para venda online são os de busca, seguidos, na ordem, pelos tipo experiência-2, tipo experiência-1 e, por último, confiança; 3) Uma maior percepção de segurança online leva a mais compras e maior freqüência de compras; 4) Os achados descritos no quarto objetivo podem servir para localizar potenciais consumidores online; 5) As descobertas do terceiro objetivo podem orientar o processo de conversão e manutenção de compradores online.