The Internet as opportunity and challenge in contemporary social movements

This paper explores the relationship between the rise of “new” social movements (15-M and Occupy) and the Internet. The new social media gives rise to new kinds of social movements  which embed this technology from the moment of conception. The future of social movements will be characterised by movinets, which will have the effect of developing new efficient ways of activism. The movinets, with their embedded technology and capacity to circulate ideas among different spheres of reality, have a potential to alter the dynamics of social mobilisation.

D6.1 – Ecosystem Software Platform with Underlying Software Repository, Digital Library and Media Archive

The objective of D6.1 is to make the Ecosystem software platform with underlying Software Repository, Digital Library and Media Archive available to the degree, that the RAGE project can start collecting content in the form of software assets, and documents of various media types. This paper describes the current state of the Ecosystem as of month 12 of the project, and documents the structure of the Ecosystem, individual components, integration strategies, and overall approach. The deliverable itself is the deployment of the described components, which is now available to collect and curate content. Whilst this version is not yet feature complete, full realization is expected within the next few months. Following this development, WP6 will continue to add features driven by the business models to be defined by WP7 later on in the project.

Emergence and Innovation in Digital Learning: Foundations and Applications

Educational systems worldwide are facing an enormous shift as a result of sociocultural, political, economic, and technological changes. The technologies and practices that have developed over the last decade have been heralded as opportunities to transform both online and traditional education systems. While proponents of these new ideas often postulate that they have the potential to address the educational problems facing both students and institutions and that they could provide an opportunity to rethink the ways that education is organized and enacted, there is little evidence of emerging technologies and practices in use in online education. Because researchers and practitioners interested in these possibilities often reside in various disciplines and academic departments the sharing and dissemination of their work across often rigid boundaries is a formidable task. Contributors to Emergence and Innovation in Digital Learning include individuals who are shaping the future of online learning with their innovative applications and investigations on the impact of issues such as openness, analytics, MOOCs, and social media. Building on work first published in Emerging Technologies in Distance Education, the contributors to this collection harness the dispersed knowledge in online education to provide a one-stop locale for work on emergent approaches in the field. Their conclusions will influence the adoption and success of these approaches to education and will enable researchers and practitioners to conceptualize, critique, and enhance their understanding of the foundations and applications of new technologies.

O setor cerâmico e a era digital

Numa sociedade em que a globalização, as novas tecnologias, o social media, e as alterações sócio-culturais ditam as regras da nossa vida, o foco na diferenciação revela-se fundamental. O comportamento das empresas e dos consumidores tem sofrido alterações nos últimos anos, desde que a internet foi introduzida no seu quotidiano. As empresas passaram a abordar o mercado de forma diferente, o que por sua vez alterou de forma radical o modo como os consumidores interagem com estas, o que acrescentou uma nova dinâmica na relação de ambas as partes e consequentemente permitiu criar um processo interativo de aprendizagem mútua. Focada não somente nos conceitos teóricos da área de Marketing Digital, o presente relatório pretende caracterizar e analisar o processo de adoção desta vertente do marketing pela empresa Aleluia Cerâmicas, contribuindo no final com um conjunto de sugestões de melhoria futura que poderão proporcionar o aumento da satisfação dos clientes e o aumento da produtividade.

Usefulness of social tagging in organizing and providing access to the web: An analysis of indexing consistency and quality

This dissertation research points out major challenging problems with current Knowledge Organization (KO) systems, such as subject gateways or web directories: (1) the current systems use traditional knowledge organization systems based on controlled vocabulary which is not very well suited to web resources, and (2) information is organized by professionals not by users, which means it does not reflect intuitively and instantaneously expressed users’ current needs. In order to explore users’ needs, I examined social tags which are user-generated uncontrolled vocabulary. As investment in professionally-developed subject gateways and web directories diminishes (support for both BUBL and Intute, examined in this study, is being discontinued), understanding characteristics of social tagging becomes even more critical. Several researchers have discussed social tagging behavior and its usefulness for classification or retrieval; however, further research is needed to qualitatively and quantitatively investigate social tagging in order to verify its quality and benefit. This research particularly examined the indexing consistency of social tagging in comparison to professional indexing to examine the quality and efficacy of tagging. The data analysis was divided into three phases: analysis of indexing consistency, analysis of tagging effectiveness, and analysis of tag attributes. Most indexing consistency studies have been conducted with a small number of professional indexers, and they tended to exclude users. Furthermore, the studies mainly have focused on physical library collections. This dissertation research bridged these gaps by (1) extending the scope of resources to various web documents indexed by users and (2) employing the Information Retrieval (IR) Vector Space Model (VSM) - based indexing consistency method since it is suitable for dealing with a large number of indexers. As a second phase, an analysis of tagging effectiveness with tagging exhaustivity and tag specificity was conducted to ameliorate the drawbacks of consistency analysis based on only the quantitative measures of vocabulary matching. Finally, to investigate tagging pattern and behaviors, a content analysis on tag attributes was conducted based on the FRBR model. The findings revealed that there was greater consistency over all subjects among taggers compared to that for two groups of professionals. The analysis of tagging exhaustivity and tag specificity in relation to tagging effectiveness was conducted to ameliorate difficulties associated with limitations in the analysis of indexing consistency based on only the quantitative measures of vocabulary matching. Examination of exhaustivity and specificity of social tags provided insights into particular characteristics of tagging behavior and its variation across subjects. To further investigate the quality of tags, a Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) was conducted to determine to what extent tags are conceptually related to professionals’ keywords and it was found that tags of higher specificity tended to have a higher semantic relatedness to professionals’ keywords. This leads to the conclusion that the term’s power as a differentiator is related to its semantic relatedness to documents. The findings on tag attributes identified the important bibliographic attributes of tags beyond describing subjects or topics of a document. The findings also showed that tags have essential attributes matching those defined in FRBR. Furthermore, in terms of specific subject areas, the findings originally identified that taggers exhibited different tagging behaviors representing distinctive features and tendencies on web documents characterizing digital heterogeneous media resources. These results have led to the conclusion that there should be an increased awareness of diverse user needs by subject in order to improve metadata in practical applications. This dissertation research is the first necessary step to utilize social tagging in digital information organization by verifying the quality and efficacy of social tagging. This dissertation research combined both quantitative (statistics) and qualitative (content analysis using FRBR) approaches to vocabulary analysis of tags which provided a more complete examination of the quality of tags. Through the detailed analysis of tag properties undertaken in this dissertation, we have a clearer understanding of the extent to which social tagging can be used to replace (and in some cases to improve upon) professional indexing.

A VOICE OF THEIR OWN: MUSIC AND SOCIAL COHESION IN TURKISH ALEVI LIFE

This dissertation examines the role that music has played in the expression of identity and revitalization of culture of the Alevis in Turkey, since the start of their sociocultural revival movement in the late 1980s. Music is central to Alevi claims of ethnic and religious difference—singing and playing the bağlama (Turkish folk lute) constitutes an expressive practice in worship and everyday life. Based on research conducted from 2012 to 2014, I investigate and present Alevi music through the lens of discourses on the construction of identity as a social and musical process. Alevi musicians perform a revived repertoire of the ritual music and folk songs of Anatolian bards and dervish-lodge poets that developed over several centuries. Contemporary media and performance contexts have blurred former distinctions between sacred and secular, yet have provided new avenues to build community in an urban setting. I compare music performances in the worship services of urban and small-town areas, and other community events such as devotional meetings, concerts, clubs, and broadcast and social media to illustrate the ways that participation—both performing and listening—reinforces identity and solidarity. I also examine the influence of these different contexts on performers’ musical choices, and the power of music to evoke a range of responses and emotional feelings in the participants. Through my investigation I argue that the Alevi music repertoire is not only a cultural practice but also a symbol of power and collective action in their struggle for human rights and self-determination. As Alevis have faced a redefined Turkish nationalism that incorporates Sunni Muslim piety, this music has gained even greater potency in their resistance to misrecognition as a folkloric, rather than a living, tradition.

Estratégias de conteúdo digital. O caso de um estágio na Nata Design

Dissertação de Mestrado, Marketing, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Algarve, 2016

Between the Graduate School and Cataloging: How a Digital Collections Center Contributes Quality to the ETD Process

This presentation was given at the 2015 USETDA (United States Electronic Theses and Dissertations Association) conference in Austin, Texas explores the history of Digital Collections Center at Florida International University and where and how it functions in the process of publishing, archiving, and promoting the university's electronic theses and dissertations. Additionally, the functionality of Digital Commons is discussed along with the use of Adobe Acrobat for creating archival quality PDFs. The final section discusses promotion techniques used via social media for increased discoverability of ETDs.

A Digital Collection Center's Experience: ETD Discovery, Promotion, and Workflows in Digital Commons

This presentation was given at the Digital Commons Southeastern User Group conference at Winthrop University, South Carolina on June 5, 2015. The presentation discusses how the digital collections center (DCC) at Florida International University uses Digital Commons as their tool for ingesting, editing, tracking, and publishing university theses and dissertations. The basic DCC workflow is covered as well as institutional repository promotion.

Análise da imagem projectada e percebida do destino Lisboa através da fotografia digital. A rede Instagram como nova resposta para a recolha de dados.

O Turismo e a Fotografia têm uma relação muito estreita, sendo, para muitos turistas, a prática fotográfica um elemento essencial na experiência turística. Esta relação é, desde há muito, explorada pelas Organizações de Gestão do Destino (OGD) na vertente de promoção do destino e da sua imagem projectada, uma vez que as fotografias são uma forma de materializar uma ideia/imagem em relação a um determinado local, de aproximar o turista da experiência real, motivando-o à compra. No entanto é menos comum que as organizações do destino partam da fotografia para compreender o turista. Actualmente e com a rápida e abrangente disseminação de informação típica da era digital, os utilizadores/consumidores/visitantes têm um papel tão ou mais importante que as OGD’s na construção da imagem de um destino. É fundamental que as organizações não só percebam qual o tipo de informação que está a ser gerada entre os utilizadores, como que monitorizem preferências que surgem no seio das redes sociais, podendo deste modo antever tendências e, consequentemente criar novas estratégias, não só em termos de marketing e promoção, como de planeamento de negócio, especialmente no que respeita ao posicionamento e diferenciação perante a concorrência. Para ser possível monitorizar esta informação é necessário medir os seus indicadores, sendo importante criar estratégias e ferramentas de recolha. O que se pretende, a partir deste estudo, é defender a viabilidade da fotografia digital enquanto objecto de estudo, uma vez que é uma aliada na compreensão da imagem projectada pela OGD’s, mas também, e a cada vez mais, da imagem percebida e projectada pelos visitantes, a partir do conteúdo gerado pelos turistas. Tomamos como caso de estudo a cidade de Lisboa, a qual conhece nos últimos anos um grande impulso na sua atractividade turística. Tendo como base estudos similares relacionados com outros destinos construímos um sistema metodológico apoiado em estudos análogos, e no desenvolvimento de software de recolha de dados a partir de uma rede social de partilha de imagens – o Instagram. Foi possível recolher uma amostragem de imagens de Lisboa criadas por turistas, bem como o lote de imagens usadas por uma OGD para promoção de Lisboa. Após o nosso processamento de dados, foi possível efectuar uma análise de conteúdo dessas imagens chegando ao conjunto de atributos que caracteriza o seu conteúdo. Esse conteúdo foi então comparado, de modo a concluirmos sobre a semelhança ou disparidade entre as imagens usadas para promover Lisboa e aquelas que parecem transmitir aquilo que em Lisboa realmente impressiona. As principais conclusões apontam para uma concordância entre os atributos mais frequentes das fotografias tiradas por OGD e Turistas. Porém existe discordância entre os atributos menos importantes, isto é, menos presentes. A metodologia utilizada abre novos caminhos na utilização de fotos de redes sociais para estudo do comportamento do turista e da imagem do destino.

A stakeholder perspective on heritage branding and digital communication

How does an archaeological museum understand its function in a digital environment? Consumer expectations are rapidly shifting, from what used to be a passive relationship with exhibition contents, towards a different one, in which interaction, individuality and proactivity define the visitor experience. This consumer paradigm is much studied in fast moving markets, where it provokes immediately measurable impacts. In other fields, such as tourism and regional development, the very heterogeneous nature of the product to be branded makes it near to impossible for only one player to engage successfully. This systemic feature implies that museums, acting as major stakeholders, often anchor a regional brand around which SME tend to cluster, and thus assume responsibilities in constructing marketable identities. As such, the archaeological element becomes a very useful trademark. On the other hand, it also emerges erratically on the Internet, in personal blogs, commercial websites, and social networks. This forces museums to enter as a mediator, authenticating contents and providing credibility. What might be called the digital pull factor poses specific challenges to museum management: what is to be promoted, and how, in order to create and maintain a coherent presence in social media? The underlying issue this paper tries to address is how museums perceive their current and future role in digital communication.

Plan digital : estrategias digitales para negocios

En el presente documento se desarrollará un Plan Digital de Medios con el cuál se pretende impulsar un producto que será lanzado al mercado por la empresa de Nairo Quintana, la cual construye y comercializa bicicleta y accesorios para toda la familia y todo tipo de terreno. El producto innovador que revolucionará la industria, será un casco, cuyo objetivo principal es proporcionar a su portador los más altos niveles de seguridad, diseño y calidad, generando al consumidor experiencias de uso gratificantes, por su confort y tecnología aerodinámica. De igual forma, se busca conquistar nuevos mercados y audiencias, por medio de una cuidadosa segmentación de mercado basada en variables que permitan enfocarse en el nicho de consumidores más atractivos para dicho producto. Así mismo, cabe resaltar que esta estrategia digital aunque se enfoca en la promoción del casco, también pretende enriquecer el reconocimiento y posicionamiento de la marca, al igual que todas las líneas de producto con las que esta cuenta.

Plan de medios y posicionamiento digital

El principal objetivo de este trabajo de grado ha sido diseñar un plan estratégico de medios digitales para el lanzamiento de un nuevo producto para una compañía. En este trabajo, se han establecido parámetros como presupuesto, qué tipos de medios digitales serán usados y el porqué de ellos, se estableció las actividades por cada red social a usar y se muestra la relación costo – beneficio de realizar pauta publicitaria en redes sociales.

Digital Service Act: garantire un ambiente online sicuro e responsabile

Il Digita Service Act (DSA) è una delle due parti di una proposta di legge che si prefigge come obiettivo quello di modernizzare e rendere più efficace la Direttiva sul commercio elettronico. I sevizi online non sempre sono usati in modo consono: basti pensare alle tecniche di “nudging” (il pilotare le scelte di un utente inconsciamente) o la numerosa presenza di contenuti illegali e disinformativi presenti sulle piattaforme di social media. La proposta di legge, avanzata dalla Commissione europea, si pone come obiettivo la risoluzione di queste problematiche, proponendo una serie di obblighi e restrizioni per evitare che l’utenza online subisca un’esperienza negativa. Allo scopo di capire quali siano i pensieri degli stakeholders riguardo la proposta del DSA, è stata condotta un’analisi statistica su un dataset di 110 file, ognuno dei quali rappresenta un feedback di uno stakeholder, tramite gli algoritmi Wordfish ed MCA.

Digital Marketing: caratteristiche e rilevanza nelle aziende

All’interno della tesi analizzo le principali caratteristiche che con l’evoluzione del Web e l’aumento della connettività, permettono alle aziende di incrementare la funzione del digital marketing, in modo tale da effettuare una comunicazione più efficace, attraverso l’utilizzo di strumenti e tecniche precise.