The Role of Electronic Word of Mouth in Shaping Consumer Attitudes

The purpose of this research was to investigate the role of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) in shaping consumer attitudes towards various products and services with concentration on the consumer attitude change. eWOM has long been proven to play an important role in influencing consumer attitudes and has been researched from a variety of perspectives. This study attempts to look deeper into the process of consumer attitude change by applying as the central theory of the study the Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion by Petty and Cacioppo. In the processes of examining the background academic and empirical research the Internet and Web 2.0 are closely depicted in order to understand how throughout the past centuries technology allowed the rise of various mediums where consumers can not only share their opinions online about products and services but also communicate with other consumers. Manuel Castel’s Internet Galaxy, Gildin’s, Carl and Noland’s, Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh and Gremler’s researches on eWOM are the central works that helped to shape both the theoretical and empirical parts of this study. The mixed method approach was chosen as a research method for this study. An online survey was conducted via the Surveymonkey.com platform and eight qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted. The results of the study show that central route queues as text quality and text argumentativeness are more prominent among the research subjects and the peripheral route queues: source credibility and source expertise did not show considerable significance. Also more experience and participation consumers have with user-rating websites and applications more inclined they are to elaborate on the central route cues and are more likely to search for opinions that they consider rational and credible. Also these respondents are less inclined to search for ratings that confirm their existing beliefs about products or services. Less experience/participation they have about eWOM more likely they are to search for reviews confirmatory to their own.

Supervised matching of comments with news article segments

Comments constitute an important part of Web 2.0. In this paper, we consider comments on news articles. To simplify the task of relating the comment content to the article content the comments are about, we propose the idea of showing comments alongside article segments and explore automatic mapping of comments to article segments. This task is challenging because of the vocabulary mismatch between the articles and the comments. We present supervised and unsupervised techniques for aligning comments to segments the of article the comments are about. More specifically, we provide a novel formulation of supervised alignment problem using the framework of structured classification. Our experimental results show that structured classification model performs better than unsupervised matching and binary classification model.

Como aumentar a visibilidade e a credibilidade do parlamentar por meio das mídias sociais?

O surgimento das redes sociais e da Web 2.0 mudou o processo de disseminação da informação em todo o mundo. Estas ferramentas alteraram as relações de comportamento e aproximaram pessoas comuns de agentes públicos e instituições. Com este trabalho propõe-se analisar as melhores estratégias utilizadas na rede para aumentar a visibilidade e consolidar a credibilidade do parlamentar. Para isso, serão analisados os métodos adotados por seis empresas especializadas em mídias sociais, bem como experiências bem-sucedidas de sete políticos que se utilizam desses mecanismos. Entre as técnicas de coleta de dados usadas estão entrevistas qualitativas semiestruturadas e semiabertas. O estudo conclui que as mídias sociais são ferramentas muito poderosas que, quando utilizadas corretamente, trazem muitos benefícios para o mandato do parlamentar e para a conexão eleitoral.

Lowestoft College - Riding the waves of change: How mobile learning has guided learners through rough seas

Over the past six years Lowestoft College has embraced the revolution in mobile learning by welcoming Web 2.0, social media, cloud computing and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). This open attitude to new technologies has led to a marked improvement in student achievement rates, has increased staff and student satisfaction and has resulted in a variety of cost savings for senior management during the current economic downturn.

Lehen Hezkuntzako irakasleen gaitasun digitala hobetzeko proposamena

Lan honen helburua, egungo gizarte eta hezkuntzaren desoreka digitala egiaztatzea eta horri aurre egiteko proposamen bat planteatzea izan da. Hori burutzeko, irakasle talde bati Informazio eta komunikaziorako Tresnen (IKT) inguruko galdera batzuk egin zaizkie, teknologia berriekiko haien jakintza, prestakuntza eta erabilera zeintzuk diren ezagutzeko. Jasotako emaitzak aztertu dira eta irakasle hauen ezjakintasun maila baliabide teknologiko berritzaileekiko altua dela ondorioztatu da, haien gaitasun digitala oso baxua izanda. Hori dela eta, arazo horri irtenbide berritzaile bat bilatu zaio, Lehen Hezkuntzako irakasleen prestakuntzara bideratutako tutorial ezberdinak sortu direlarik, web 2.0-ko baliabide batzuen erabilera zein den azalduz.

Pesquisa-design formação: uma proposta metodológica para a produção de Recursos Educacionais Abertos na cibercultura

Essa pesquisa inspirou-se nos movimentos sociais recentes relacionados à abertura de materiais digitais para compartilhamento, (re) uso e remixagem no ciberespaço. Assim, partimos da seguinte problemática: como desenvolver atos de currículo capazes de contribuir para a produção de Recursos Educacionais Abertos (REA) para a docência e aprendizagem na cibercultura? O objetivo foi desenvolver um dispositivo-metodológico como ato de currículo que atualiza a pesquisa-formação para o design de situações de aprendizagemensino e de artefatos pedagógicos que contemplem a autoria dos praticantes culturais. Para atingir o proposto, foi desenvolvido um dispositivo que atualiza o método da pesquisa-formação para a docência e aprendizagem na cibercultura (SANTOS, 2005; 2014) com alguns princípios da pesquisa-design (GRAVEMEIJER; COBB, 2006; van den AKKER, 1999; BROWN, 1992; COLLINS, 1992; NEWMAN, 1990; KELLY, 2003; RAMOS; STRUCHINER, 2008) para propiciar a produção de artefatos digitais utilizando os recursos oferecidos pelas plataformas da Web 2.0. A pesquisa-design formação, como método e o design interativo aberto como dispositivo, foram criados com o objetivo de sistematizar o processo de construção e implementação de atos de currículos e arquitetar percursos abertos em plataformas da Web 2.0. A metodologia proposta parte da bricolagem da pesquisa-formação multirreferencial na cibercultura com a pesquisa-design. A pesquisa está estruturada em quatro conceitos-tema importantes: a) educar na cibercultura: mídias em destaque; b) Design na Web 2.0: faça você mesmo e de preferência acompanhado; c) Professor-autor e a sua construção epistemológica e metodológica, e; d) Professor-autor em formação: enunciação, negociação e autoria. Essa pesquisa revelou alguns achados nas dimensões referente ao design como produto e processo, método e atos de currículo, que têm a intenção de contribuir para: a) a sistematização de processos de aprendizagemensino, promovendo a produção de artefatos digitais abertos por professores e alunos; b) o design estrutural e proposicional das atividades pedagógicas; c) a formação de sujeitos-autores na cibercultura. Portanto, esta pesquisa contribuiu para a autorização e autonomização dos praticantes culturais através da metodologia pesquisa-design formação bem como a disponibilização de materiais digitais abertos na cibercultura.

Local studies collections online: an investigation in Irish public libraries

Barry, L., Tedd, L.A. (2008). Local studies collections online: an investigation in Irish public libraries. Program: electronic library and information systems, 42(2), 163-186.

Sports programs of the Spanish radio in the social network Facebook: compared study (2010-2015)

Social networks have increasingly become a showcase where the media can be promoted. Like many other media, radio stations have made use of social networks to promote themselves in a better way and, sometimes, to keep more feedback with their listeners. But not all programs make the same use and not all of them have managed to reach in the same way his followers. This article discusses the consolidation in the social networks of the major radio sports programs in Spain. Through a comparative analysis between 2010 and 2015, throughout the text, the authors have tried to observe the evolution of the programs and, at the same time, to establish comparisons between the followers that these programs have on social networks and the number of listeners as EGM.

Analysis of audiovisual production and music scene in Extremadura through YouTube channels

A study on Extremenian music and audiovisual production has been carried out through YouTube media. The purpose of this study is to analyze all audiovisual products and also assessing what broadcasting processes are conducted by creators to publicize their musical and audiovisual works. A quantitative and qualitative study of audiovisual materials of Extremadura bands was done to find out which processes are most suitable to increase the number of viewers for videos.

Blogs as virtual environments for teaching and learning in Higher Education

The transformation of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into knowledge and learning technologies is increasingly becoming a matter of concern. Teaching settings associated with the use of blogs in Higher Education are presented in this paper, proceeding from an innovative learning experience of projects carried out by a group of professors between 2009 and 2013. Both, teachers and students who took part in the subjects that implemented the blog, considered it as helpful resource to create a virtual and learning-teaching environment due to the multiple potentialities it offers. Among some of these potentialities, some stand out: it makes easier the access to knowledge, promotes a more active and reflective learning, expands the social experience of learning, provides evidence about the students’ progress which helps to reorient the teaching-learning process, and encourages the critical judgment. Nevertheless, several problems related with the students’ participation and the teacher’s blog management have been identified.

Uso problemático de las redes sociales en estudiantes universitarios

Los avances que están produciéndose en el ámbito académico con el surgimiento de herramientas de la Web 2.0 y el empleo masivo por parte de los estudiantes de la redes sociales para comunicarse entre ellos, está haciendo que el panorama educativo se encuentre ante unos desafíos a los que tiene que dar respuesta. La investigación que aquí se presenta tuvo como objetivo principal analizar el estado del empleo de la redes sociales por parte alumnado universitario, así como los posibles malos hábitos y usos problemáticos de las mismas. Se utilizó como instrumento de recogida de información un cuestionario “ad hoc” con un total de 23 ítems. Se concluye que el alumnado en general no posee malos hábitos en el empleo de las redes sociales, igualmente los resultados obtenidos ponen de manifiesto que su utilización no está plenamente integrada en las instituciones universitarias de educación superior, así como que los estudiantes no las emplean/usan como herramienta fundamental para las resolución de cuestiones académicas.

Collaborative artistic laboratories. Transfrontier spaces of cultural production

The appearance of the open code paradigm and the demands of social movements have permeated the ways in which today’s cultural institutions are organized. This article analyzes the birth of a new critical and cooperative spatiality and how it is transforming current modes of cultural research and production. It centers on the potential for establishing the new means of cooperation that are being tested in what are defined as collaborative artistic laboratories. These are hybrid spaces of research and creation based on networked and cooperative structures producing a new societal-technical body that forces us to reconsider the traditional organic conditions of the productive scenarios of knowledge and artistic practice.

Repackaging Prostate Cancer Support Group Research Findings: An e-KT Case Study

n the context of psychosocial oncology research, disseminating study findings to a range of knowledge “end-users” can advance the well-being of diverse patient subgroups and their families. This article details how findings drawn from a study of prostate cancer support groups were repackaged in a knowledge translation website—www.prostatecancerhelpyourself.ubc.ca—using Web 2.0 features. Detailed are five lessons learned from developing the website: the importance of pitching a winning but feasible idea, keeping a focus on interactivity and minimizing text, negotiating with the supplier, building in formal pretests or a pilot test with end-users, and completing formative evaluations based on data collected through Google™ and YouTube™ Analytics. The details are shared to guide the e-knowledge translation efforts of other psychosocial oncology researchers and clinicians.