Predicting answering behaviour in online question answering communities

The value of Question Answering (Q&A) communities is dependent on members of the community finding the questions they are most willing and able to answer. This can be difficult in communities with a high volume of questions. Much previous has work attempted to address this problem by recommending questions similar to those already answered. However, this approach disregards the question selection behaviour of the answers and how it is affected by factors such as question recency and reputation. In this paper, we identify the parameters that correlate with such a behaviour by analysing the users' answering patterns in a Q&A community. We then generate a model to predict which question a user is most likely to answer next. We train Learning to Rank (LTR) models to predict question selections using various user, question and thread feature sets. We show that answering behaviour can be predicted with a high level of success, and highlight the particular features that inuence users' question selections.

Emerging perspectives on the design, use, and evaluation of mobile and handheld devices

Human-computer interaction is a growing field of study in which researchers and professionals aim to understand and evaluate the impact of new technologies on human behavior. With the integration of smart phones, tablets, and other portable devices into everyday life, there is a greater need to understand the influence of such technology on the human experience. Emerging Perspectives on the Design, Use, and Evaluation of Mobile and Handheld Devices is an authoritative reference source consisting of the latest scholarly research and theories from international experts and professionals on the topic of human-computer interaction with mobile devices. Featuring a comprehensive collection of chapters on critical topics in this dynamic field, this publication is an essential reference source for researchers, educators, students, and practitioners interested in the use of mobile and handheld devices and their impact on individuals and society as a whole. This publication features timely, research-based chapters pertaining to topics in the design and evaluation of smart devices including, but not limited to, app stores, category-based interfaces, gamified mobility applications, mobile interaction, mobile learning, pervasive multimodal applications, smartphone interaction, and social media use.

Analyzing lexical emergence in Modern American English online

This paper introduces a quantitative method for identifying newly emerging word forms in large time-stamped corpora of natural language and then describes an analysis of lexical emergence in American social media using this method based on a multi-billion word corpus of Tweets collected between October 2013 and November 2014. In total 29 emerging word forms, which represent various semantic classes, grammatical parts-of speech, and word formations processes, were identified through this analysis. These 29 forms are then examined from various perspectives in order to begin to better understand the process of lexical emergence.

Leveraging product adopter information from online reviews for product recommendation

The availability of the sheer volume of online product reviews makes it possible to derive implicit demographic information of product adopters from review documents. This paper proposes a novel approach to the extraction of product adopter mentions from online reviews. The extracted product adopters are the ncategorise into a number of different demographic user groups. The aggregated demographic information of many product adopters can be used to characterize both products and users, which can be incorporated into a recommendation method using weighted regularised matrix factorisation. Our experimental results on over 15 million reviews crawled from JINGDONG, the largest B2C e-commerce website in China, show the feasibility and effectiveness of our proposed frame work for product recommendation.

Deconstruction-analysis-explanation:contextualization in professional digital discourse

It is already a truism that emerging communication technologies have changed the landscape of communication in every aspect of our lives, but this is specifically true for how we communicate at work. Advances in communication technologies have enabled a wide range of digital communication modes to be utilized for both internal and external business communication; including audio and visual communication and voice-over protocols, as well as text-based channels, such as email, forums, instant messaging and social media. In spite of the wide range of available audio-visual channels, and despite the ever-increasing popularity of email, real-time text-based communication technologies (instant messaging or IM) are also on the rise (see Mak, 2014; Pazos et al., 2013; Radicati & Levenstein, 2013; and Markman in this volume). The prominence of IM is evident in the rise of this mode of communication, not only as a tool for internal business communication, but as a front-stage channel, particularly for customer service encounters or professional-client conversations (Makarem et al., 2009; Pearce et al., 2013; L. Zhang et al., 2011).

Writing online:a guide to effective digital communication at work

Online writing plays a complex and increasingly prominent role in the life of organizations. From newsletters to press releases, social media marketing and advertising, to virtual presentations and interactions via e-mail and instant messaging, digital writing intertwines and affects the day-to-day running of the company - yet we rarely pay enough attention to it. Typing on the screen can become particularly problematic because digital text-based communication increases the opportunities for misunderstanding: it lacks the direct audio-visual contact and the norms and conventions that would normally help people to understand each other. Providing a clear, convincing and approachable discussion, this book addresses arenas of online writing: virtual teamwork, instant messaging, emails, corporate communication channels, and social media. Instead of offering do and don’t lists, however, it teaches the reader to develop a practice that is observant, reflective, and grounded in the understanding of the basic principles of language and communication. Through real-life examples and case studies, it helps the reader to notice previously unnoticed small details, question previously unchallenged assumptions and practices, and become a competent digital communicator in a wide range of professional contexts.

More Than Words, Brand Destruction in the Online Sphere

The focus of this paper is brand destruction, however in a slightly different sense than the traditional marketing literature depicts it. The concept of brand destruction basically tends to be discussed either (1) as an accidental, counter-productive event in a campaign which leads to the ruining of the brand, or (2) an intentional act by competitors in the market, which results the same breakdown mentioned above. As this paper shows, there are other ways to consider as well, when speaking about brand destruction. An often overlooked type of brand destruction is a rather new phenomenon: destroying the brand by customers or business partners. The adequate scene for this case is the internet itself, especially different social media platforms, e. g. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, etc. Also popular weblogs can play an important role in brand destruction made by customers or business partners (general cases related to social media are depicted in Lipsman – Mud – Rich – Bruich, 2012). This paper presents a couple of cases in the online field and focuses basically on online communicative activities, in which a brand’s negative properties come to discussion. Both Hungarian and foreign examples are easy to find and they all demonstrate the growing power of consumers. This observation led marketing experts to start talking about the ‘smooth seizure of power by consumers’. Whilst the critic of this concept is considered to be relevant, this paper describes the elements and methods of the ‘seizure’ – from an online social point of view. The key of handling brand destruction cases efficiently lies in the role of social media users. They are not only consumers, but the opportunity for producing online contents is in their hands as well – this fact results in the idea of ‘prosumers’. Thus customers on social media platforms must be handled as a ‘critical mass’: as civic warriors with strong weapons in their armoury. No companies are allowed to feel safe, as the slightest error may well be punished by the crowd.

Google’s Antitrust Cases Competition Analysis in New Economy Markets

Today, global economic performance largely depends on digital ecosystems. E-commerce, cloud, social media, sharing economy are the main products of the modern innovative economic systems which are constantly raising new regulatory questions. Meanwhile the United States has an unimpeachable dominance in innovation and new technologies, as well as a large and open domestic market, the EU is only recently discovering the importance of empowering the European digital economy and aims to break down its highly fragmented cross-border online economic environment. As global economy is rapidly becoming digital, Europe’s effort to create and invest in common digital market is understandable. The comprehensive investigations launched by the European Commission into the role of social network, search engine, or sharing economy internet platforms, which are new generation technologies dominated by American firms; or the recent decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union declaring that the Commission’s US Safe Harbor Decision is invalid1 might be considered as part of an anti-American protectionist policy. However, these measures could rather be seen as part of a broader trend to foster European enterprises in technology developments.

The Impact of the Internet in Six Latin American Countries

Access to the Internet has grown exponentially in Latin America over the past decade. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) estimates that in 2009 there were 144.5 million Internet users in South America, 6.4 million in Central America, and 8.2 million in the Caribbean, or a total 159.2 million users in all of Latin America.1 At that time, ITU reported an estimated 31 million Internet users in Mexico, which would bring the overall number of users in Latin America to 190.2 million people. More recent estimates published by Internet World Stats place Internet access currently at an estimated 204.6 million out of a total population of 592.5 million in the region (this figure includes Mexico).2 According to those figures, 34.5 per cent of the Latin American population now enjoys Internet access. In recent years, universal access policies contributed to the vast increase in digital literacy and Internet use in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Costa Rica. Whereas the latter was the first country in the region to adopt a policy of universal access, the most expansive and successful digital inclusion programs in the region have taken hold in Brazil and Chile. These two countries have allocated considerable resources to the promotion of digital literacy and Internet access among low income and poor populations; in both cases, civil society groups significantly assisted in the promotion of inclusion at the grassroots level. Digital literacy and Internet access have come to represent, particularly in the area of education, a welcome complementary resource for populations chronically underserved in nations with a long-standing record of inadequate public social services. Digital inclusion is vastly expanding throughout the region, thanks to stabilizing economies, increasingly affordable technology, and the rapid growth in the supply of cellular mobile telephony. A recent study by the global advertising agency Razorfish revealed significant shifts in the demographics of digital inclusion in the major economies of South America, where Web access is rapidly increasing amid the lower middle class and the working poor.3 Several researchers have suggested that Internet access will bring about greater civic participation and engagement, although skeptics remain unsure this could happen in Latin America. Yet, there have been some recent instances of political mobilization facilitated through the use of the Web and social media applications, starting in Chile when “smart mobs” nationwide demonstrated against former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet when she failed to enact education reforms in May 2006. The Internet has also been used by marginalized groups and by guerrillas groups to highlight their stories. In sum, Internet access in Latin is no longer a medium restricted to the elite. It is rather a public sphere upon which civil society has staked its claim. Some of the examples noted in this study point toward a developing trend whereby civil society, through online grassroots movements, is able to effectively pressure public officials, instill transparency and demand accountability in government. Access to the Internet has also made it possible for voices on the margins to participate in the conversation in a way that was never previously feasible. 1 International Telecommunications Union [ITU], “Information Technology Public & Report,” accessed May 15, 2011, http://www.itu.int/. 2 Internet World Stats, “Internet Usage Statistics for the Americas,” accessed March 24, 2011, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats2.htm 3 J. Crump, “The finch and the fox,” London, UK (2010), http://www.slideshare.net/razorfishmarketing/the-finch-and-the-fox.

Resistance Performances: (Re)constructing Spaces of Resistance and Contention in the 2010-2011 University of Puerto Rico Student Movement

On the night of April 20, 2010, a group of students from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Río Piedras campus, met to organize an indefinite strike that quickly broadened into a defense of accessible public higher education of excellence as a fundamental right and not a privilege. Although the history of student activism in the UPR can be traced back to the early 1900s, the 2010-2011 strike will be remembered for the student activists’ use of new media technologies as resources that rapidly prompted and aided the numerous protests. This activist research entailed a critical ethnography and a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of traditional and alternative media coverage and treatment during the 2010 -2011 UPR student strike. I examined the use of the 2010-2011 UPR student activists’ resistance performances in constructing local, corporeal, and virtual spaces of resistance and contention during their movement. In particular, I analyzed the different tactics and strategies of resistance or repertoire of collective actions that student activists used (e.g. new media technologies) to frame their collective identities via alternative news media’s (re)presentation of the strike, while juxtaposing the university administration’s counter-resistance performances in counter-framing the student activists’ collective identity via traditional news media representations of the strike. I illustrated how both traditional and alternative media (re)presentations of student activism developed, maintained, and/or modified students activists’ collective identities. As such, the UPR student activism’s success should not be measured by the sum of demands granted, but by the sense of community achieved and the establishment of networks that continue to create resistance and change. These networks add to the debate surrounding Internet activism and its impact on student activism. Ultimately, the results of this study highlight the important role student movements have had in challenging different types of government policies and raising awareness of the importance of an accessible public higher education of excellence.

Consumer Perceptions of Sustainability in the Cruise Industry

This thesis addresses the lack of available research regarding consumer perceptions of sustainability in the cruise industry. The study was conducted by administering an anonymous online survey with cruise message board participants and social media users. The survey was available to all consumers, including consumers who have not cruised. The survey focused on general reasons a consumer books a cruise, consumer travel behaviors, sustainability of the cruise industry, and sustainable factors that may impact a consumers’ choice of a cruise line. The goal of this research was to determine any patterns and trends that may emerge regarding consumer perceptions. The findings of the study showed cruise history and demographics have influenced consumer views on sustainability in the cruise industry.

Assessing Organizational Image: Triangulation Across Different Applicant Perceptions, Website, and Facebook Features

This study examined the role of corporate websites and company Facebook profiles in shaping perceptions of organizational image in the recruitment context. A primary purpose of this research was to determine whether or not perceptions of organizational image vary across different web-based recruitment methods, specifically examining corporate websites and social networking (SNW) sites, such as company Facebook profiles. A secondary goal was to determine how these perceptions of image are shaped by the objective components of websites and Facebook profiles. Finally, this study sought to determine the most influential components of websites and Facebook profiles, in terms of impacting image, to better understand how organizations can maximize their web-based recruitment efforts. A total of 102 companies selected from Fortune Magazine’s 2011 top 500 were chosen for the study. Perceptions of organizational personality as well as objective assessments of personality were gathered for each organization in a two phase approach. Results indicate that exposure to corporate websites and company Facebook profiles do influence perceptions of image in different ways. Furthermore, individual components of the websites were identified as key drivers for influencing specific image dimensions, particularly for company Facebook pages. Findings are beneficial for advising practitioners on how to best manage their web-based recruitment sources in order to maximize efficiency. The present study serves to further our understanding of the process through which perceptions of organizational image are influenced by new recruitment sources.

Marketing político e mídias sociais: as estratégias utilizadas no facebook e twitter de Cássio Cunha Lima PSDB/PB, nas eleições de 2014

This dissertation aims to analyze and understand the process and practices of political marketing strategies applied to social media facebook and twitter Cássio Cunha Lima - PSDB candidate for governor of Paraíba, in the 2014 elections The work is divided into three parts . The first two chapters, both of theoretical nature, underlie the discussion about the use of the Internet as a campaign space and political marketing campaign as well as the different communication strategies and electoral marketing already presented in the literature. Following, is dedicated to a topic for the presentation of the methodology and subsequently makes the discussion of empirical data analysis. Finally, we present the conclusions. The analysis takes as its starting point the models Figueiredo et al. (1998) and Albuquerque (1999) to observe the traditional strategies and suggests the inclusion of typically recorded on the Internet strategies. The methodology used for the analysis was the qualitative and quantitative content from variables that we list different campaign strategies. In order to achieve the purpose of this research, we conducted a case study as an analytical object online campaign Cássio Cunha Lima. The case study took place from the construction of a candidate's biographical and political profile, presented and discussed in the text. This research also made use of virtual ethnography. Therefore, were monitored social media facebook and twitter that political, with the help of image capture program - Greenshot by creating pre-defined categories of analysis, for example, calendar, prestige and support, negative campaign , engagement, among others. The period chosen for monitoring the candidate's official profiles was from 24 August to 28 October 2014, because it holds the pre, during and post-election where there was greater candidate drive level and his team marketing in social media selected for analysis. The results indicate that mobilization strategy (online and offline), merged with the promotion schedule, it is predominant in the social media Cassio. They also indicate that they do not show the failure of the campaign of the candidate in 2014.

Cenários de contra-hegemonia no protestantismo brasileiro no contexto da pós-modernidade

Since long ago that the religious manifestations are considered important items in various social media. In this sense, we are interested in understanding the strong denominational plurality, and the emergence of new movements / events and forms of Christianity in Brazil, which therefore is a reflection of what happens in the rest of the globalized world. Such interest is covered by the assumption that religiosity and social media are built on mutual and interconnected way, which allows us to understand that social cosmology presents itself as a fertile space privileged and to verify the interactions pertaining to the binomial: religion and society. The Protestantism is divided into three main streams: Historical, Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal. Each current of Protestantism emerged to adapt to social cosmology of historical ages, from the Reformation to the present day, forming institutions with certain ethical and moral stances. In this sense, it is necessary to research and understand how the historical Protestant, Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal were implanted in Brazil. From this we believe to be interesting problematize accurately the following: How have the processes of formation of strands / evangelical movements in Brazil? These movements are still holding their "classic robes" or hybreeding their borders? What are the modulations in the religious transit demonstrate that this probable hybridization? If there is, indeed, a hybridization between the Evangelical means, we can put it is provoked only by a logic of "market of symbolic goods of religion" in the world today? Nowadays, we are experiencing a period of change cosmological, from Modern to Postmodern (caosmológic). This last is therefore characterized by secularization, the fracture, the mutilation, the diversity of subjectivities. And thinking about is this "spirit of the times" we take as the main its theoretical references of this study, the Italian philosopher and thinker of postmodernity Gianni Vattimo featuring postmodernity with the cosmology of fragile / pensiero debole Thought and post-metaphysical, that is which enhances the appearance of more plural institutions and non-absolute. To do so, he makes use of the philosophies of German, Nietzsche and Heidegger. Finally, it must be said that this grounded theoretical framework, raise the hypothesis that the Protestantism tends to "injure anymore" by the influence of postmodern social episteme, providing thereby the emergence of a new hybrid framework has not yet nominated and can move between the three major currents of world Protestantism, with features in converged aspects of the same.

Cenários de contra-hegemonia no protestantismo brasileiro no contexto da pós-modernidade

Since long ago that the religious manifestations are considered important items in various social media. In this sense, we are interested in understanding the strong denominational plurality, and the emergence of new movements / events and forms of Christianity in Brazil, which therefore is a reflection of what happens in the rest of the globalized world. Such interest is covered by the assumption that religiosity and social media are built on mutual and interconnected way, which allows us to understand that social cosmology presents itself as a fertile space privileged and to verify the interactions pertaining to the binomial: religion and society. The Protestantism is divided into three main streams: Historical, Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal. Each current of Protestantism emerged to adapt to social cosmology of historical ages, from the Reformation to the present day, forming institutions with certain ethical and moral stances. In this sense, it is necessary to research and understand how the historical Protestant, Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal were implanted in Brazil. From this we believe to be interesting problematize accurately the following: How have the processes of formation of strands / evangelical movements in Brazil? These movements are still holding their "classic robes" or hybreeding their borders? What are the modulations in the religious transit demonstrate that this probable hybridization? If there is, indeed, a hybridization between the Evangelical means, we can put it is provoked only by a logic of "market of symbolic goods of religion" in the world today? Nowadays, we are experiencing a period of change cosmological, from Modern to Postmodern (caosmológic). This last is therefore characterized by secularization, the fracture, the mutilation, the diversity of subjectivities. And thinking about is this "spirit of the times" we take as the main its theoretical references of this study, the Italian philosopher and thinker of postmodernity Gianni Vattimo featuring postmodernity with the cosmology of fragile / pensiero debole Thought and post-metaphysical, that is which enhances the appearance of more plural institutions and non-absolute. To do so, he makes use of the philosophies of German, Nietzsche and Heidegger. Finally, it must be said that this grounded theoretical framework, raise the hypothesis that the Protestantism tends to "injure anymore" by the influence of postmodern social episteme, providing thereby the emergence of a new hybrid framework has not yet nominated and can move between the three major currents of world Protestantism, with features in converged aspects of the same.