Social Networking Capabilities Research Articles

Rethinking teaching and learning pedagogy for education in the twenty-first century: blended learning in music education

ABSTRACTIn an increasingly technologically driven world, there is proliferate discussion among education and government authorities about the necessity to rethink education in the twenty-first century. The evolution of technology and its pervasive influence on the needs and requirements of society is central to this mindset. Innovations in online applications and social networking capabilities have accelerated in accessibility and popularity. As technological devices become commonplace, it is understandable that curriculum documents and education policies around the globe are littered with statements about Information and Communication Technology (ICT) expectations and achievement level standards. There is no argument about the presence of technology or that it should be embedded in education. However, there is a case to be made about revealing the potential of technology for teaching and learning and the necessary associated pedagogical considerations. This article explores the outcomes of an online music education project used in a blended learning context to provide high quality music learning resources to Australian rural and remote schools.

Social Network Analysis using Interest Mining: A Critical Review

Background/Objectives: Social Networking has been entertaining people for sharing their common ideas and proposals which are analyzed through social relations among them. The problem in the field of social network analysis is the absence of adequate computing resources to handle huge amount of data on World Wide Web. Therefore, users are unable to gather needed information correctly and thereby, the aim is to locate right information at the right time and delivering it to distinct group of people. Methods: Present paper gives the insight into the existing deployment of social network analysis and various ranking techniques which have been devised by various researchers for the social networking capabilities over the network. In order to accomplish the aim, virtual environment can be created for social network analysis. This analysis can be performed by various mining methods such as opinion mining, expert mining, etc. and ranking techniques like object average rating, neighbour variance rating, random rating and many more. Although these techniques optimize the information overload problem accordingly, still there is a need for expert identification. Findings: The future enhancement for social network analysis includes collaborative thinking. Social Network Analysis gathers people having similar interest by creating collaboration among users. This collaboration leads to resource sharing in an efficient manner after the creation of virtual environment. Furthermore, the field of social network analysis may take a turn to link analysis and its various algorithms like Page Rank, Weighted Page Rank and Weighted Page Content Rank which will further help in finding the expert and enhances the information effectively. Application/Improvements: The application to social network analysis is to discover the network of innovators in a regional economy, enhancing dark web analysis and spam behaviour detection. The arduous task of expert identification is an upcoming trend that can be implemented through virtual environment.

Social networks and decision-making for coastal land-use planning, development and adaptation response

ABSTRACTSea-level rise has become a front-and-centre policy and management challenge for governments, planners and coastal managers. Local government coastal adaptation responses to climate change impacts and sea-level rise is critical. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the powerful role of social networks in the uptake of science in coastal decision-making. A case study is presented from metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia, to examine how an urban coastal development deemed susceptible to coastal hazards was approved. The social network that formed around the proposed development, with its informal connections and shared cultural values, influenced the decision which suited the needs of the network but did not align with provisions in state coastal protection policy. This paper provides an insight into the strategic capability of social networks and the case presented highlights the potential of social network analysis techniques to better understand the complexity of coastal decision-making processes.

Interoperation based Business Process Management over Crossing Social Networks

Due to the fact that people rely on social networking tools more and more in their work, it is necessary to integrate them with industrial Business Process Management (BPM) systems. Different from the widely exploited methodology by BPM system venders that furnishes social network capability to BPM suites, this paper decouples the two parts and binds them with a middle component. Such loosely coupled approach has the advantage of multiple crossing social networks and existing BPM tools can all be adhered together, which means great flexibility and working convenience. The method also enables people to seamlessly incorporate their work with frequently used public social networking tools (e.g. Facebook, twitter, Instagram, Weibo, etc.). At the end, the paper presents a prototype implementation of this method.

Extending HydroShare to enable hydrologic time series data as social media

The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science Inc. (CUAHSI) hydrologic information system (HIS) is a widely used service oriented system for time series data management. While this system is intended to empower the hydrologic sciences community with better data storage and distribution, it lacks support for the kind of ‘Web 2.0’ collaboration and social-networking capabilities being used in other fields. This paper presents the design, development, and testing of a software extension of CUAHSI's newest product, HydroShare. The extension integrates the existing CUAHSI HIS into HydroShare's social hydrology architecture. With this extension, HydroShare provides integrated HIS time series with efficient archiving, discovery, and retrieval of the data, extensive creator and science metadata, scientific discussion and collaboration around the data and other basic social media features. HydroShare provides functionality for online social interaction and collaboration while the existing HIS provides the distributed data management and web services framework. The extension is expected to enable scientists to access and share both national- and laboratory-scale hydrologic time series datasets in a standards-based web services architecture combined with social media functionality developed specifically for the hydrologic sciences.

A photomosaic image generation method using photo annotation in a social network environment

With the growing use of social networking services, various applications have been developed to utilize their vast capabilities. Photomosaic techniques, which combine many images to create a new rendering of an input image, can benefit from the capabilities of social networks. In this study, we propose a method that generates a photomosaic image by considering social network context. Our algorithm creates a photomosaic that incorporates photos posted by other users in the users network . We enable the matching function to easily select photos from the albums of users who are connected to the owner of the input image, by computing the closeness of those connections. Moreover, our technique allows the photos in the albums of friends who are annotated in the source image to be matched more effectively.

Social Network and Adaptive Capabilities Among Malaysian Born Global Firms

The purpose of the research is to understand the mediating factor of Social Network and Adaptive Capabilities to the Relationship between Malaysian Born Global Entrepreneur’s Behaviours on International Performance. In the global market’s environment, there is full of uncertainty impact that may affect the entrepreneur’s international performance. Social network, adaptive capabilities and the firm behaviour is affecting the outcome of firm’s performance. The dependent variable of this research is firm performance, the independent variable of this research is Born Global firm’s behaviour and the moderating variables of this research are social network and adaptive capabilities. Based on the collected data, the research concluded that there was a significant relationship for social network and adaptive capabilities on the relationship between born global entrepreneur’s behaviours that influence in firm’s international performance. The study is geographically localized and limited to testing a sample of small medium enterprise (SMEs), Malaysian service and manufacturing firms with a minimum of 5 employees and no more than 150 employees, and also have internationalize their business activity; example like import, export, franchise, direct investment and other international business activity.

Perceived Effectiveness of Social Networks for Job Search

AbstractOne of the most common uses of the capabilities of social networks is for professional, and business purposes. The literature presents conflicting evidence as to the effectiveness of different networks for professional purposes. Therefore, our primary research aim is to conduct a comparative investigation of the effectiveness and factors which influence the effectiveness of different social networks for finding a job. This study focuses on the two most popular networks, Facebook and LinkedIn; the former is not intended specifically for professional purposes while the latter is. To this end, we conducted a user study based on over 220 responses to a questionnaire especially designed for this goal. In our analysis, we distinguish and compare between the users’ perceptions and attitudes toward the effectiveness of the network and its actual helpfulness for finding a job in past experience. Our results indicate that different demographic and network usage variables influence the attitude to effectiveness and helpfulness of the networks. Thus, users with lower incomes preferred Facebook, while more educated users with higher incomes perceived LinkedIn as more effective. Interestingly, we found that despite the fact that LinkedIn was perceived as significantly more effective for finding a job by the majority of the users, the actual helpfulness of the two networks was assessed as quite similar. Our findings provide direct evidence for bridging social capital increase by online social networks. This study has practical implications and recommendations that will enable job candidates to improve their job-hunting strategies.

OSL Platform: A Link to Open-access Scientific Information and Structured Data

: 07 Jan 2015 K E Y W O R D S: Open Science Open Access to Scientific Data Semantic Search Life Sciences Pilot Services Evaluation of Science A B S T R A C T The rapidly growing wealth of published scientific work, produced by re-searchers and scholars, has resulted in a pressing need for more effective processes towards reviewing scientific articles and research data, organizing data journals, as well as for improved tools and techniques for bibliographic analysis and management of scientometrics. The ongoing EU research project OpenScienceLink aims to address these needs, as well as offer a wide range of opportunities for better collaboration between researchers, by introducing a web-based Platform which offers efficient and intelligent applications and services for exploiting open access scientific information in the biomedical domain. The Platform is empowered by the semantic and social networking capabilities of three leading edge background infrastructures, which have been adapted and integrated for the scope of the project. In this paper, we present the five pilot services that are provided by the OpenScienceLink project. All five services are integrated into the web-based OpenScienceLink platform that is publicly accessible at http://www.opensciencelink.org.

Communication and interpretation of emotional distress within the friendships of young Irish men prior to suicide: a qualitative study.

The potential for young men in crisis to be supported by their lay networks is an important issue for suicide prevention, due to the under-utilisation of healthcare services by this population. Central to the provision of lay support is the capability of social networks to recognise and respond effectively to young men's psychological distress and suicide risk. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore young men's narratives of peer suicide, in order to identify how they interpreted and responded to behavioural changes and indications of distress from their friend before suicide. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted during 2009/10 with 15 Irish males (aged 19-30 years) who had experienced the death by suicide of a male friend in the preceding 5 years. The data were analysed using a thematic approach. Through the analysis of the participants' stories and experiences, we identified several features of young male friendships and social interactions that could be addressed to strengthen the support available to young men in crisis. These included the reluctance of young men to discuss emotional or personal issues within male friendships; the tendency to reveal worries and emotion only within the context of alcohol consumption; the tendency of friends to respond in a dismissive or disapproving way to communication of suicidal thoughts; the difficulty of knowing how to interpret a friend's inconsistent or ambiguous behaviour prior to suicide; and beliefs about the sort of person who takes their own life. Community-based suicide prevention initiatives must enhance the potential of young male social networks to support young men in crisis, through specific provisions for developing openness in communication and responsiveness, and improved education about suicide risk.

Social Network and Device Aware Personalized Content Recommendation

In this paper, we propose a user social network and device capabilities aware recommender system to personalize content to the current device of a user. The proposed recommender system presents some novelties that are not provided in existing collaborative and content-based filtering. First of all, we incorporate the user social network data to find similar users not only using the conventional similarities approach but also based on the social importance of the users. Furthermore, it considers the user access device to ensure that the device is capable to stream and display. We present an approach that considers user experienced items, users direct trust and the capability of contributing to the content network for finding similarity. We improve the accuracy, precision and recall of the conventional recommender system. The proposed system can be used anywhere; however, we mainly focus on IPTV content personalization.

A real-time emergency response scenario using Web 2.0 (Yammer) technology

AbstractWeb 2.0 technologies, such as Facebook, YouTube and MySpace, are freely available web-based applications commonly associated with information sharing and community activities, as well as user-centred design. The social networking capability of Web 2.0 enables group activities and academic interactivity, and offers networking opportunities between tutors and students. This paper reports the research findings of a case study seeking to evaluate student perceptions of incorporating a Web 2.0 micro-blogging tool called Yammer into teaching. This involved closed group discussions facilitating a real-time emergency response scenario for an eruption of Mt Vesuvius. The scenario involved students role-playing as a ‘Hazard Analyst Officer”, responding to the changing environmental and social information provided before and during the eruption. Staff played a role as key stakeholders in the communications pathway. The student experience was quantified through questionnaires and focus group methodologies to ...

Network portal: a database for storage, analysis and visualization of biological networks

The ease of generating high-throughput data has enabled investigations into organismal complexity at the systems level through the inference of networks of interactions among the various cellular components (genes, RNAs, proteins and metabolites). The wider scientific community, however, currently has limited access to tools for network inference, visualization and analysis because these tasks often require advanced computational knowledge and expensive computing resources. We have designed the network portal (http://networks.systemsbiology.net) to serve as a modular database for the integration of user uploaded and public data, with inference algorithms and tools for the storage, visualization and analysis of biological networks. The portal is fully integrated into the Gaggle framework to seamlessly exchange data with desktop and web applications and to allow the user to create, save and modify workspaces, and it includes social networking capabilities for collaborative projects. While the current release of the database contains networks for 13 prokaryotic organisms from diverse phylogenetic clades (4678 co-regulated gene modules, 3466 regulators and 9291 cis-regulatory motifs), it will be rapidly populated with prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms as relevant data become available in public repositories and through user input. The modular architecture, simple data formats and open API support community development of the portal.

Adolescent Asthma Self‐Management: Patient and Parent‐Caregiver Perspectives on Using Social Media to Improve Care

Self-management of asthma can now leverage new media technologies. To optimize implementation they must employ a consumer-oriented developmental approach. This study explored benefits of and barriers to improved asthma self-management and identified key elements for the development of a digital media tool to enhance asthma control. Between August 2010 and January 2011, 18 teens with asthma and 18 parent-caregivers participated in semistructured in-depth interviews to identify mechanisms for improving asthma self-management and propose characteristics for developing a digital media tool to aid such efforts. Teens and caregivers enumerated physician-recommended strategies for asthma management as well as currently employed strategies. Both groups thought of a potential digital media solution as positive, but indicated specific design requirements for such a solution to have utility. Whereas most participants perceived mobile platforms to be viable modes to improve asthma self-management, interest in having social networking capabilities was mixed. A digital media product capable of tracking conditions, triggers, and related asthma activities can be a core element of improved asthma control for youth. Improved asthma control will help decrease school absenteeism.

Evolving technologies require educational policy change: Music education for the 21st century

<p>There is growing discussion among education and government authorities on rethinking education in the 21st century. This increasing area of interest has come in response to the evolution of technology and its effect on the future needs and requirements of society. Online applications and social networking capabilities have accelerated in popularity, revealing their potential. The recognised benefits of technology for the use of music education have resulted in collaborative projects and learning and teaching that is not constricted by walls or location. Music education can be accessible to all young people through a combination of social media, blogging and interactive creative musical activities to engage students in all locations, including rural and remote areas. In this 21st century classroom, music education includes online resources, digital learning, in-school workshops, online master classes and live concert streaming where a range of musical styles are explored. This article explores the learning and teaching outcomes of <em>Project Music X</em>, an online music education project designed to fill an important gap in the provision of music education programs in regional and remote schools using a range of web 2.0 technologies. Technology in this context does not only align with the thinking of young people, but also provides a platform for students in remote and rural areas to engage with high quality music education and performance experiences that they would otherwise not have access to.</p>

Using Educational Social Networking Sites in Higher Education: Edmodo through the Lenses of Undergraduate Students

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, Google+, MySpace, have been used intensively and effortlessly by students currently. Thus, the use of such SNS paves the way for questioning how these sites can be effectively used in educational environments. Since the SNSs in educational environments are potentially used, Educational Social Networking Sites (ESNSs) in the market such as Edmodo, Ning, Elgg, which are innovative educational environments with social networking capabilities, have also been employed in education. The aim of this study is to determine why the undergraduate students use the Internet, SNSs and Edmodo which is an ESNS and to investigate their views about these tools. In this context, Edmodo was used within the scope of an undergraduate course. And in order to collect data about this experience, interviews with 15 students and a focus group interview with 7 students were performed. In analysis and interpretation of the data used, both uses and gratifications theory and diffusions of innovations theory were taken into consideration. As a result, it was found that the students expressed their likes about Edmodo’s features of assignment, quiz, poll and announcement / sharing. The study also reveals that the students also expressed their thoughts about the contributions of Edmodo to educational environments.

Virtual Patient Stories as a Facilitator of IPE: A Pilot Study

Learning Together With Cases (LTWC) was a pilot project designed to create a series of stand-alone, media rich online modules. We describe how interprofessional groups of pre-licensure students from medicine, nursing and occupational therapy used one case, including the social networking capabilities, to achieve a rich interprofessional community of learning.

Design an AR Application in Finding Preferred Dining Place With Social Network Capability (ARAFEPS)

Location Based Service (LBS) application help people in finding places or point of interest. However, spatial information in LBS is presented as a map in a small mobile device screen which makes the user difficult to understand and to find the location they need. It is possible that user might have disorientation in finding the place although they are presented with correct map. ARAFEPs (Augmented Reality Assistant to Finding Preferred Dining Place) is an Augmented Reality application to support its user to find the nearest and preferred dining place such as restaurant, fast food and food court. It is developed using Layar AR as platform. It presents the user with spatial information in a way that user could aware and understand the places surround them. Additional and relevant information that are presented in AR aids users to decide which dining place fits the needs of the user.

The contingent value of marketing and social networking capabilities in firm performance

Recent research shows a continued interest by scholars in understanding the extent that firms develop and deploy marketing capability in an effort to enhance their market- and financial-based performance. In conjunction with the marketing literature, relational governance scholars suggest that social networks can provide access resources and knowledge required to perform business activities which assist in achieving performance objectives. Yet, the literature is almost silent about the extent that social networks assist market-oriented firms in their efforts to develop superior marketing capability to enhance performance. The findings from a survey of 160 firms in an emerging Middle Eastern economy show that market-oriented firms are better at developing and deploying marketing capability when the levels of business, political, and academic ties are high.

ASIS&T annual meeting plenary speaker: Edward chang: Mobile opportunities

AbstractEditor's SummaryAt a plenary session of the 2012 ASIS&T Annual Meeting, Edward Chang touched on recent information technology developments and explored emerging innovations. Vice president of research at hTC Corporation and past research director at Google in China, Chang recalled Google's page ranking for Web 1.0 and subsequent efforts to support mobile access, user‐generated content and pushing information for Web 2.0. Advances in human computer interaction, especially sensors in cellphones, enable a higher level of location‐based computation. Natural language processing backed by massive data and computation power supports interpretation and even translation of spoken queries to yield semantically and situationally relevant returns. Advances in location‐based services permit highly precise data delivery. Cellphone sensors can even monitor stress, detect health changes and provide security alerts. Though privacy is a critical outstanding issue, the combined capabilities of cloud computing, infrastructure, big data, social networks and cellphone sensors are leading to evolutionary and revolutionary changes.