Online Communities Research Articles

Morocco's Webinars Ignite Global Academic Resilience in Doctoral Research

General Background: The COVID-19 pandemic triggered significant disruptions in education worldwide, compelling a shift to online learning across various contexts, including in Morocco. Specific Background: In response to this challenge, the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences at Mohammed V University in Rabat initiated the "Language, Culture, and Society" (LCS) webinar series. This program provided a virtual platform for doctoral students, aiming to sustain academic progress and emotional well-being during the crisis. Knowledge Gap: Despite the proliferation of online educational initiatives during the pandemic, there is limited research on how such programs specifically impact doctoral students' academic and psychological resilience. Aims: This article aims to explore the transformative role of the LCS webinar series in enhancing the academic journey and personal growth of doctoral students, particularly in alleviating challenges such as despair and reader's block. Results: The LCS webinars emerged as a crucial support mechanism, facilitating academic discourse, skill development, and psychological reinforcement. The program significantly contributed to restoring confidence, refining research trajectories, and fostering a culture of collaboration among an international online community. Novelty: This study provides a unique narrative reflection on the impact of a specific online educational program during a global crisis, emphasizing the dual academic and psychological support offered to doctoral students. Implications: The findings underscore the importance of online platforms in higher education, particularly in crisis contexts. The success of the LCS webinars suggests that similar initiatives could be replicated to support doctoral students globally, offering sustained academic and emotional support through accessible, high-quality online resources. Highlights: Webinar Impact: Enhanced academic progress and growth. Psychological Support: Overcame despair with emotional reinforcement. Global Collaboration: Fostered international scholarly connections. Keywords: COVID-19, online learning, doctoral students, webinars, academic resilience

THEORY OF RECEPTION AND CRITICISM OF FILMS BASED ON THE RECEPTION AND CRITICISM OF THE FILM “ANNA KARENINA” (1997)

The word reception means the acceptance of foreign ideas, norms and values or behaviors. Reception history elaborates the reception that a literary text, a film, or in this case an adaptation of a novel, has found in its audience over time. This paper delves into the core concepts of film reception theory, shedding light on how audiences interpret and actively engage with cinematic narratives. The theoretical part includes different perspectives, recognizing that audience responses are shaped by individual experiences, cultural contexts, and societal influences. This study also delves into the concept of criticism, whether that from the audience or from theorists and critics. This study after the theoretical part of the reception elaborates the reception and criticism of the film Anna Karenina (1997) directed by Bernard Rose. As an adaptation of the novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1887), criticism and reception in this case focuses, among other things, on the stallings and deviations of the adapted story. Additionally this paper addresses the evolving landscape of film reception in the digital age, considering the impact of online communities, social media and interactive platforms on audience engagement. This study aims to contribute to the ongoing discourse on film reception theory by providing insights into the multifaceted nature of audience engagement and its implications for the wider field of film studies. During this study, I came to the conclusion that coded messages and pre-existing expectations also influence the audience’s reception of a film. The coded message is deciphered by the audience based on the knowledge they possess and not the way the producer thought. In this case, the producer too should not convey messages that are not easily decoded by the audience.

Enhancing taxonomy-based extraction: Leveraging information from online community platforms for digital skills demand identification in job ads

The rapid technological changes have revolutionised how we function, including how we search for work and what skills we need to be equipped with to perform the tasks at the workplace. As employers more often recruit using online job advertisements, their content becomes a natural source of information for analytical purposes on the skills demanded in the labour market, especially for analysing emerging skills like digital. There are still some challenges with the extraction of information from online content. However, the extraction improvements go hand in hand with new technological developments like natural language processing techniques. This article presents the experimental method of updating the classification of digital skills to keep it up to date for information extraction applied to online job advertisements. The evaluation proved this method successfully identified terms related to programming skills but failed to identify terms associated with artificial intelligence sufficiently. The latter is related to the fact that the AI field is among the fastest developing areas of technology advancement, and new terms (e.g. Chatgpt) always appear.

A Gateway API-Based Data Fusion Architecture for Automated User Interaction with Historical Handwritten Manuscripts

To preserve handwritten historical documents, libraries are choosing to digitize them, ensuring their longevity and accessibility. However, the true value of these digitized images lies in their transcription into a textual format. In recent years, various tools have been developed utilizing both traditional and AI-based models to address the challenges of deciphering handwritten texts. Despite their importance, there are still several obstacles to overcome, such as the need for scalable and modular solutions, as well as the ability to cater to a continuously growing user community autonomously. This study focuses on introducing a new information fusion architecture, specifically highlighting the Gateway API. Developed as part of the μDoc.tS research program, this architecture aims to convert digital images of manuscripts into electronic text, ensuring secure and efficient routing of requests from front-end applications to the back end of the information system. The validation of this architecture demonstrates its efficiency in handling a large volume of requests and effectively distributing the workload. One significant advantage of this proposed method is its compatibility with everyday devices, eliminating the need for extensive computational infrastructures. It is believed that the scalability and modularity of this architecture can pave the way for a unified multi-platform solution, connecting diverse user environments and databases.

Importance of powder diffraction raw data archival in a curated database for materials science applications.

In recent years, there is a significant interest from the crystallographic and materials science communities to have access to raw diffraction data. The effort in archiving raw data for access by the user community is spearheaded by the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) Committee on Data. In materials science, where powder diffraction is extensively used, the challenge in archiving raw data is different to that from single crystal data, owing to the very nature of the contributions involved. Powder diffraction (X-ray or neutron) data consist of contributions from the material under study as well as instrument specific parameters. Having raw powder diffraction data can be essential in cases of analysing materials with poor crystallinity, disorder, micro structure (size/strain) etc. Here, the initiative and progress made by the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDDR) in archiving powder X-ray diffraction raw data in the Powder Diffraction FileTM (PDFR) database is outlined. The upcoming 2025 release of the PDF-5+ database will have more than 20 800 raw powder diffraction patterns that are available for reference.

Exploring the Landscape: The Societal Impact of Social Media Marketing

In the digital age, social media marketing has drastically altered social connections and customer behavior. With an emphasis on how social media marketing influences consumer attitudes, cultural norms, and mental health, this study explores the numerous ways that social media marketing impacts society. As businesses utilize Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter more and more to communicate with big audiences, understanding these consequences is critical. The study aims to determine how social media marketing affects, among other aspects of society, social interactions, cultural perspectives, consumer behavior, and mental health. The study makes use of secondary data collection methods, including a comprehensive survey of the literature. Thematic analysis is used to find patterns and gather data. Significant research demonstrates that social media marketing significantly increases consumer involvement through customized campaigns and user-generated content, which fortifies brand loyalty and influences consumer behavior. It does, however, also reinforce cultural norms and prejudices while offering the possibility of societal transformation. Virtual communities are known to be altering social interactions, but using them excessively might lead to social isolation. Negative pressure to maintain idealized online personas and constructive criticism are both hazardous to mental health. The growing importance of influencer marketing is emphasized, but so are privacy and ethical issues around data collection and targeted advertising. With cutting-edge technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence, social media marketing is set to undergo yet another revolution. The study offers several recommendations, such as enhancing the personalization of marketing campaigns, utilizing user-generated content, balancing cultural representation, lessening the detrimental effects of social interactions, prioritizing mental health, addressing ethical and privacy issues, ensuring that influencer marketing is genuine, and embracing emerging technologies. Future research on these processes is warranted, focusing on the moral implications and challenges of developing technologies. This in-depth investigation highlights how important it is to act ethically and continuously adapt to the ever-changing world of social media marketing.

Robust image classification system via cloud computing, aligned multimodal embeddings, centroids and neighbours

We propose a framework for a cloud-based application of an image classification system that is highly accessible, maintains data confidentiality, and robust to incorrect training labels. The end-to-end system is implemented using Amazon Web Services (AWS), with a detailed guide provided for replication, enhancing the ways which researchers can collaborate with a community of users for mutual benefits. A front-end web application allows users across the world to securely log in, contribute labelled training images conveniently via a drag-and-drop approach, and use that same application to query an up-to-date model that has knowledge of images from the community of users. This resulting system demonstrates that theory can be effectively interlaced with practice, with various considerations addressed by our architecture. Users will have access to an image classification model that can be updated and automatically deployed within minutes, gaining benefits from and at the same time providing benefits to the community of users. At the same time, researchers, who will act as administrators, will be able to conveniently and securely engage a large number of users with their respective machine learning models and build up a labelled database over time, paying only variable costs that is proportional to utilization.

Exploring the Role of Social Media in Promoting Healthy Consumption

This research seeks to investigate how interactions on social media influence the collaborative creation of value in promoting healthy consumption. To gain a more profound understanding of the process of social media communication and its impact on generating shared value, we employed the Stimuli-Organism-Response (SOR) model to formulate our hypotheses. Our study drew upon a survey conducted across five countries and regions (Canada, Malaysia, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States). By utilising Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), we tested these hypotheses. The results of our research indicate that social media communication significantly enhances the quality of relationships within online communities, subsequently influencing the creation of value in the context of healthy consumption. The findings show individuals who maintain good relationships within their social media networks and believe they can obtain not only important information but also are more likely to share information about their own experiences regarding healthy consumption. We conclude the paper by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Exploring Sentiment Analysis and Visitor Satisfaction along Urban Liner Trails: A Case of the Seoul Trail, South Korea

Increasing public health awareness has stressed the significance of the mental and physical benefits of outdoor activities. Government involvement and support for urban redevelopment projects in Korea, such as Seoul Dulle-gil, connected previously disconnected green spaces. Despite the ecological and cultural importance of urban spaces, their impact on residents and tourists and their role in exploring the city’s dynamic remains limited. This study aims to evaluate how green space activities engage in sustainable land management and offer insights into surrounding communities. A quantitative big data research method was employed, analyzing 3995 online blog post reviews using Python code, and sentiment analysis conducted with pandas and KoNLPy’s Okt library. The results indicated that sentiment scores were generally higher in sections located south of the Han River. Among the eight trail courses, courses 6, 3, 4, and 5, located south of the Han River, exhibited higher sentiment scores compared to courses 7, 8, 2, and 1, located north of the Han River, which showed lower satisfaction levels. Among the 16 characteristics influencing visitor satisfaction, the study emphasized the importance of potential space maintenance to enhance trail user safety and community well-being, contributing to sustainable land management.

Online paedophiles and the criminal justice experience: A qualitative perspective

BackgroundOnline forums provide a conduit for anonymous communication within deviant subcultures, such as online paedophiles. This helps to build virtual communities of support. ObjectiveThis study explores the experience of paedophiles in the criminal justice system as reported by those who experienced it on such a forum. By analysing and understanding the experiences disclosed by these individuals, we may be able to design more targeted prevention strategies and treatment options.Participants and Setting.Data are from one online forum discussion thread that includes 595 online forum posts by 212 unique usernames ranging over 11 years from 2012 to 2023. This forum claims to be an anonymous “therapeutic community” for paedophiles and does not allow the sharing of media (e.g., videos or images). MethodsThis study uses an inductive approach to analyse the posts and discover the perspective and concerns of users who have experienced or are faced with prosecution and punishment. ResultsSeven main themes emerged from the posts on this thread: support and praise, techniques of neutralisation, life in prison, anxiety and mental health, relationships, therapy, and difficulties post-prison. ConclusionsThe forum provided an important source of support among a virtual community of people who shared similar sexual interest in children and feel rejected and demonised by mainstream society. The thread functioned like an “echo chamber” that reinforced a positive view of users' deviant interest. Individuals who had been prosecuted for their offending were returning to the forum, which may encourage reoffending. Parole boards and probation officers may need to consider limiting or restricting access to the Internet, particularly the Tor network, when setting release conditions. Implications for treatment focus on challenging the justifications and excuses used by paedophiles.

User Communities: The Missing Link to Foster KIBS’ Innovation

In today’s knowledge-driven economy, collaboration among stakeholders is essential for the framing of innovative trends, with knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) playing a core role in addressing market demand. Users’ involvement in shaping products and services has been considered in innovation ecosystem frameworks. Fewer risks in service/product development, and more sustainability and market acceptance, are a few of the benefits arising from including the user community (UC) in innovation partnerships. However, the need for resources, absorptive capacity and tacit knowledge, among other capabilities, is often a reason for overlooking this important contributor. KIBS possess a vast knowledge base, cater to digital tools, and mediate and propel innovation with different partners, benefiting from exclusive cognitive proximity to remix extant knowledge with emergent information from communities into new products and services. The aim of this study is to assess and quantify the effect of the collaboration with UC through three active forms of collaboration (co-creation, mass customization, and personalization) on different innovation types developed in KIBS. The significance of the user community was proven across all innovation types. Robustness analysis confirmed the results for both P-KIBS and T-KIBS. P-KIBS may be better suited to co-creation policies for product and service innovation, personalization of processes, and organizational and marketing innovations. T-KIBS can focus on mass customization, ensuring good innovation success. Additionally, co-creation with user community is best for product innovation.

Identifying Three Psilocybin Use Patterns by Frequency and Quantity.

Patterns of psilocybin use in non-clinical settings are not well described in the literature. Psilocybin use can involve infrequent, large (i.e., macro) doses that produce hallucinogenic effects. In addition, some people report psilocybin use at particularly small (i.e., micro), sub-perceptual doses. Given the heterogeneity in reported use metrics, we sought to determine whether there are identifiable patterns of psilocybin use based on participants' self-described typical use frequencies and quantities and to describe how demographic characteristics are associated with each pattern of use. Participants were recruited from online communities via Reddit.com. We used Latent Profile Analysis to discern psilocybin use patterns defined by frequency and quantity of use. The analytic sample consisted of 664 participants (75.6% US residents; 83.1% white; 67.2% male). The Chipper Profile (18%) was associated with approximately 1-4 annual uses and using between 0.75g and 1.0g of dehydrated, psilocybin-containing mushrooms. The Tripper Profile (64%) was associated with approximately 2-6 annual uses and self-reported use quantities between 2-4g. The Microdoser Profile (18%) was related to substantively higher psilocybin use frequencies than the other profiles (between 2-4 times a week) and a lower range of preferred quantities (between 0.25g - 0.75g). Additionally, profiles differed by certain demographic measurements, lifetime psilocybin use, and timing of psilocybin use. Psilocybin use in non-clinical settings is heterogeneous. We identified three profiles that differed on frequency and quantity of use and their associated demographic characteristics. Next steps are to identify factors that affect one's likelihood of experiencing particular use outcomes and to explore use variability.

Digital Communication Strategies in Building Online Communities: A Case Study in Remote Work Communities (KKR)

Digital Communication Strategies in Building Online Communities: A Case Study in Remote Work Communities (KKR)

Life After News? How an Online Community of Journalists Discuss Stress and Provide Social Support

ABSTRACT Journalists have been leaving the industry in droves due to stress and burnout. This study examines an online community of journalists discussing their “Plan B” to understand what they identify as job stressors, as well as how they, as a community, discuss the health impact of these stressors. Guided by concepts of social support, we attempt to understand the strategies they employ to deal with the stressors. We found that the journalists collectively articulate their hopes and convictions on the functions and future of journalism. Next, they empower one another by providing emotional, informational, instrumental and appraisal support. Lastly, the journalists build their collective competence by discussing the skills and values needed for new beginnings. This study provides insight into how journalists provide community support, as well as how the field can reform the profession and retain journalists at a time where they are needed now, more than ever.

What does it mean to be queer in Wikidata? Practices of gender representation within a transnational online community

Abstract The continuing digitization and datafication that our society is undergoing are having a significant impact on our daily lives, giving rise to new possibilities but also entailing significant risks for people who are discriminated against or marginalized. Queer communities are particularly affected by these processes; therefore, it is crucially relevant to research transnational digital projects that involve them. In the Wikidata Gender Diversity (WiGeDi) project, we are looking at practices of gender representation in the Wikidata knowledge base, a collaborative online project managed by a worldwide community. Working from the idea that gender is a complex social construct, we investigate how the Wikidata community has approached the complex issue of modeling and populating gender data, progressing from a very narrow interpretation of gender as a binary to a representation that is more inclusive of a multiplicity of gender identities.

Analysis of Generation Z Communication Identity in Novo Club Online Community Members

Analysis of Generation Z Communication Identity in Novo Club Online Community Members

Design of a Digital Platform for Carbon Generalized System of Preferences Communities Based on the TAO Model of Three-Way Decisions

The increasing carbon dioxide emissions from human activities present a significant global concern, with approximately two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to household activities. The Carbon Generalized System of Preferences (CGSP) has emerged as a pivotal mechanism to incentivize voluntary carbon reduction in community households. This paper examines the development of a community digital management platform designed to incentivize voluntary carbon reduction at the community level, highlighting the critical role of reducing emissions in urban community life to meet carbon peak and neutrality targets. This study employs the TAO model of Three-Way Decision to establish a closed-loop operational framework for the CGSP digital platform. The platform features a Trisection mechanism to record and quantify low-carbon behaviors, an Action mechanism to classify and reward community members, and an Outcome mechanism to assess overall community carbon reduction achievements. Additionally, a user interface tailored for community users is developed to enhance platform accessibility. The proposed platform presents a practical and innovative solution for exploring emission reduction potential in urban communities. By systematically recording low-carbon behaviors, providing targeted rewards, and conducting comprehensive assessments, the platform aims to guide community residents in adopting sustainable practices. This study offers a valuable reference for the digital transformation, intelligent system construction, and development of new urban functional units within communities.

EMPOWERING LANGUAGE LEARNING: THE CRITICAL ROLE OF MODERATORS IN DUOLINGO’S GERMAN DISCUSSION BOARDS

Asynchronous discussion boards provide learners with an online platform to collaborate and communicate. This study aims to investigate the pivotal role of moderators in managing and enhancing the dynamics of asynchronous discussion boards in Duolingo’s German language learning environment. There are nearly nine million individuals who use Duolingo to learn German. This study implemented netnography to examine six moderators on Duolingo German language discussion boards. From an initial potential pool of 12 participants, two participants were chosen at random from three levels of engagement: high, moderate, and lower, for a total of six moderators. Moderators who commented at least 150 times were considered highly engaged; those with at least 25 comments were moderately engaged, and those with fewer than 25 comments were lower engaged. Data collection involved analyzing comments posted between 2013 and 2022. The study examined the frequency of comments, number of language badges, German course level, total posts, and years using Duolingo. However, activities occurring ‘behind the scenes,’ such as deleting inappropriate comments and providing feedback to developers, were not analyzed. The analysis covered 26 discussion boards, with five boards per participant, except for one user. Thematic analysis was used to identify patterns in moderator behavior and its impact on learner engagement. This methodology supported the investigation of how Duolingo German moderators oversee asynchronous discussion boards, allowing us to analyze and understand the evolving needs and engagement levels of learners within this online community. The results of the netnography showed that there were three themes. The findings support past research, which suggests the moderator role extends beyond mere oversight, providing management of online discussion boards, contributing significantly to the success of language learning programs, and enhancing the overall learning experience.

A development of collegial supervision model through gallery walk and virtual community to improve teacher's ability

A development of collegial supervision model through gallery walk and virtual community to improve teacher's ability

How Does an Online Mental Health Community on Twitter Empower Diverse Population Levels and Groups? A Qualitative Analysis of #BipolarClub.

Social media, including online health communities (OHCs), are widely used among both healthy people and those with health conditions. Platforms like Twitter (recently renamed X) have become powerful tools for online mental health communities (OMHCs), enabling users to exchange information, express feelings, and socialize. Recognized as empowering processes, these activities could empower mental health consumers, their families and friends, and society. However, it remains unclear how OMHCs empower diverse population levels and groups. This study aimed to develop an understanding of how empowerment processes are conducted within OMHCs on Twitter by identifying members who shape these communities, detecting the types of empowerment processes aligned with the population levels and groups outlined in Strategy 1 of the Integrated People-Centred Health Services (IPCHS) framework by the World Health Organization (WHO), and clarifying members' involvement tendencies in these processes. We conducted our analysis on a Twitter OMHC called #bipolarclub. We captured 2068 original tweets using its hashtag #bipolarclub between December 19, 2022, and January 15, 2023. After screening, 547 eligible tweets by 182 authors were analyzed. Using qualitative content analysis, community members were classified by examining the 182 authors' Twitter profiles, and empowerment processes were identified by analyzing the 547 tweets and categorized according to the WHO's Strategy 1. Members' tendencies of involvement were examined through their contributions to the identified processes. The analysis of #bipolarclub community members unveiled 5 main classifications among the 182 members, with the majority classified as individual members (n=138, 75.8%), followed by health care-related members (n=39, 21.4%). All members declared that they experience mental health conditions, including mental health and general practitioner members, who used the community as consumers and peers rather than for professional services. The analysis of 547 tweets for empowerment processes revealed 3 categories: individual-level processes (6 processes and 2 subprocesses), informal carer processes (1 process for families and 1 process for friends), and society-level processes (1 process and 2 subprocesses). The analysis also demonstrated distinct involvement tendencies among members, influenced by their identities, with individual members engaging in self-expression and family awareness support and health care-related members supporting societal awareness. The examination of the #bipolarclub community highlights the capability of Twitter-based OMHCs to empower mental health consumers (including those from underserved and marginalized populations), their families and friends, and society, aligning with the WHO's empowerment agenda. This underscores the potential benefits of leveraging Twitter for such objectives. This pioneering study is the very first to analyze how a single OMHC can empower diverse populations, offering various health care stakeholders valuable guidance and aiding them in developing consumer-oriented empowerment programs using such OMHCs. We also propose a structured framework that classifies empowerment processes in OMHCs, inspired by the WHO's Strategy 1 (IPCHS framework).