Computer-mediated Technologies Research Articles

Effect of having and switching multiple avatars on the operator's right to talk and receive social support.

People with communication difficulties encounter several challenges in their daily online interactions, such as a limited right to talk (RoT), insufficient social support (SS), and a low sense of being attended to (SoBA). Computer-mediated technologies are limited in addressing such problems owing to their limited capacity in transferring verbal and nonverbal cues between users. In this study, to address the limited RoT, low SS, and low SoBA challenges, we proposed a robotic video conference system with two teleoperated robot avatars. The proposed system was compared with another robotic video conference system that adopts only one teleoperated robot avatar. In the field experiment, 37 participants took part in two discussion sessions using each system type, where RoT, SS, and SoBA were adopted as the measured indices. The proposed system significantly increased the users' RoT and SS compared with other robotic video conference systems. This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating the effect exerted by the type of robotic video conference adopted on users' feelings about RoT, SS, and SoBA.

Exploring Factors Affecting Graduate Students' Satisfaction toward E-Learning in the Era of the COVID-19 Crisis.

Background: Shifting the educational system from a traditional to an online context during COVID-19 necessitated several considerations to assure students’ satisfaction with e-learning. Aim: This study aims to explore the factors influencing students’ satisfaction with e-learning during the COVID-19 crisis. In particular, it tests multiple mediations, student factors, and system quality between students’ satisfaction and each course evaluation and instructor’s performance. Methodology: In this cross-sectional study, 258 undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in online courses at multiple Malaysian universities were recruited using non-probabilistic purposive sampling. Data were collected using a questionnaire that assessed four factors that influenced students’ satisfaction with e-learning during the COVID-19 crisis (i.e., instructor performance, course evaluation, student factors, and system quality) and analyzed using the partial least squares route structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Results: The results indicated that the four factors were significantly associated with students’ satisfaction with e-learning during COVID-19. Student factors and system quality were the most factors predicting students’ satisfaction with e-learning. Findings indicate statistically significant relationships between the instructor’s performance, student factors, course evaluation, and system quality on students’ satisfaction. Furthermore, the results depict that both course evaluation and system quality serially mediate the relationship between instructors’ performance and students’ satisfaction. Conclusion: This study finds that improving and enhancing student factors and system quality is critical for students’ satisfaction with e-learning. Furthermore, e-learning platforms should contain new advances of computer-mediated technologies that enable collaboration, which is a critical factor in the success of e-learning systems.

Analysis of Digital Photography Technology in the Era of Big Data

The term “Digital Photography” has been a relatively new research topic in the field of computer-mediated technology. Although Digital Photography emerged thirty years ago, continuous developments and upgradations are being recorded frequently. Advanced technologies like Digital Technology transformed all the technology into digital mode. The field of photography underwent several developments in terms of camera quality, image quality, image clarity, image transfer, image storage, and other sensitive surfaces. Most of the studies confirmed that digital photography permitted the photographer to record videos at high resolutions. All the developments in the field of Digital Photography have largely contributed to the concept of modern photography and enabled the photographers to produce high-quality images. It also helped photographers enhance their photography skills and accomplish their tasks. All the transformations in the field of Digital Technology happened at a pace, and it was extremely difficult. Therefore, the current paper sheds light on the developmental stages of digital photography. It also highlights the significance of digital photography technology in the era of big data.

Есть ли жизнь офлайн, или О проблемах номинации невиртуальной действительности

The paper is devoted to analysis of the lexical units used in English and Russian for the purpose of nominating virtual and non-virtual reality. Special attention is paid to the study of ways to designate human life activity outside of computer-mediated technologies. It is proved that the presence of only one form of human life activity for many millennia did not cause a nominative need to assign a specific characteristic to a phenomenon that has no ontological alternative. The emergence of a technologized virtual environment has provoked the need to differentiate two forms of modern life and two chronological layers: the era before the Internet and after it’s invention. As a result, the adjective online, which characterizes the secondary form of existence, was used as a relative onomasiological base for naming genetically and chronologically primary forms of being. The initial technological dichotomy online / offline has undergone semantic widening, acquiring the status of a global ontological dichotomy online-life / offline-life. In the recent period of time, a number of synonymous units have appeared in English and Russian, denoting virtual and real forms of life activity. In addition to borrowings and calques translated from English, Russian widely uses its own language tools and original nominative techniques, among which the processes of neosemantization and univerbalization are most productive.

Digital Technologies and Social Media in Tourism

Computer-mediated technologies allow individuals, companies, nongovernmental organizations, governments, and other organizations to view, create, and share information, ideas, career interests in virtual communities and networks. For the tourism industry it is essential to create interesting content on social media at all stages of the journey. The aim of the paper was to highlight the role of social media in the tourism industry, to reveal how mobile applications affect tourism, and how tourists benefit from using social networks while traveling. The purpose was to show the best practices in promoting consumer relations through social media and social media channels, and what role social media plays in many aspects of tourism, especially in terms of information retrieval and decision making. The research revealed which search engine Georgian tourists use to get information throughout their travel and whether they usually use social media platforms to buy a tourism product. Using qualitative and quantitative (population-based) methods, the results of the study showed that travellers in Georgia actively use social media for ideas and inspiration, at the same time to buy tourism products. Social media is not just about disseminating information, it can also influence tourists’ expectations and decisions. The research shows the importance of an online tourism domain in the context of travel planning through a search engine. Therefore, stakeholders in the tourism industry should pay attention to the impact of social media to improve the reliability of their information and services.

Transgender Microcelebrity Activists: Self-broadcasting as Politics

This research is a qualitative study of Natalie Wynn and Blaire White, two transgender women who empower themselves via social media. Through microcelebrity practices, these two figures have garnered audiences online to disseminate ideas pertaining to their political ideologies. I examine the transgender microcelebrities’ Instagram accounts and YouTube videos via Jerslev’s framework for microcelebrity practices based on observations of self-celebrification on YouTube. The observed content was then examined through a political activist lens using framework from Daskal on digital rights. Participatory technologies become a tool for mobilization and information sharing. Broadcasting one’s experiences and how they relate to larger dialectics of a minority group is political in nature. This self-representation is significant for minority groups that lack sufficient mainstream approval and media representation. This study cannot define what success looks like for a digital activist, as it would be difficult to find and measure qualitative actions directly resulting from self-broadcasting. As more communication takes place on computer-mediated technologies, it must be acknowledged these interactions do not take place within a vacuum, and effects are felt offline, even if we cannot measure each instance of influence from watching a 40-minute video on YouTube.

Individuated Media in the Informational Era

As the Industrial Era wanes and the Informational Era dawns, a new genus of media has arisen from the unprecedented capabilities of computer-mediated technologies to provide simultaneously to massive numbers of consumers individualized selections of news stories, entertainment, and other information, according to each consumer’s own unique mix of needs, interests, tastes, and beliefs. This genus, which this paper terms Individuated Media, has reach equal or exceeding that of the Industrial Era media products and services colloquially known as Mass Media; yet can be differentiated from such traditional media because each consumer simultaneously receives a customized, even bespoke, feed of contents, unlike the uniform edition or program schedule that the consumers of a Mass Media service would all simultaneously receive. This paper considers recognizing Individuated Media as a distinctly new genus of media and begins to examine this new media’s affects upon the sustainability of traditional media theories, doctrines, practices, and business models in this century.

Computer-Mediated Communication and Child/Adolescent Friendship Quality after Residential Relocation

The experience of residential relocation can affect children and adolescents in various ways. It often affects their close social relationships, and this is especially true when these individuals are no longer in close proximity to their family members and friends. Although face-to-face communication may be limited after relocation, computer-mediated communication can assist in maintaining and developing existing relationships. It may even help individuals initiate new social relationships. In the present study, we investigated the role of communication behavior with friends for perceived friendship quality among children and adolescents who recently experienced residential relocation. Based on a representative survey study of families in Germany, we selected parents having moved with their child (8 to 14 years) to another village or town within the last 24 months. In total, 57 parents who had recently moved – majority of whom were mothers – allowed their child to participate in the phone interview. These participants were, on average, 11 years of age, and 58% of them were male. The children answered questions about their communication behavior and the friendships they had with their three current best friends. Using multilevel analysis, we found that children and adolescents who more often communicated face-to-face with their friends also more intensively used computer-mediated technologies to stay in touch. However, the findings further revealed that computer-mediated communication has the potential to remove limitations in existing friendships in the event of relocation. In the following discussion, implications are examined regarding the role of new communication technologies for families with enhanced mobility requirements.

Digital Contemplative Community in Pandemic Times

In this collage, I reflect on my Radical Dharma community gatherings and examine how they are helping me to (re)imagine community and connection during pandemic times. Using the theoretical frameworks of Critical Race Theory (CRT) (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001) and Dis/ability Critical Race Studies (DisCrit) (Annamma, Connor, & Ferri, 2013), I explore through my artwork the following questions: How is COVID-19 changing the way I, as a disabled Latina mother-scholar, relate to others in person and over digital space? Is physical distancing creating more social isolation and separation? Or is it paradoxically making me more attune to the pain, needs, and wants of my fellow beings on this planet? How does this ultimately impact my scholarship? Through the use of meditation, journaling, and reflecting on our virtual meetings, I tried to express within the collage our coming to terms with change and grief within the context of the pandemic and the current Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests on police brutality. I argue that we are in the midst of creating a virtual fugitive space (Stovall, 2015), where we can (re)imagine what community can look like post-pandemic through embodied contemplative practice and collective care (Piepzna-Samarasinha, 2018). We are using computer-mediated technology (e.g., Zoom, Slack, Teamwork Projects) to not only work on community mending (Ortiz, 2018) for communities of color, but also their (and our) liberation. 

Student satisfaction with use of an online peer feedback system

We contribute to the growing evidence of the positive effect of use of online peer feedback tools on students’ teamwork skills development. We do so by exploring individual and contextual factors underlying satisfaction with using a peer feedback system alongside team projects. Employing path analytical framework and bootstrap methods, we analysed data from an international sample of 100 project teams in management studies. Drawing on procedural justice theory, we theorised and found support that students’ uncertainty avoidance orientation and virtuality in collaboration were positively related to their satisfaction with use of a peer feedback system. Such satisfaction in turn allowed them to be more effective team members. Our findings provide evidence for higher education institutions and instructors considering the adoption of online peer feedback systems alongside teamwork in their curricula. Specifically, peer feedback appears to be effective in the development of teamwork skills and students appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback to their peers in a structured and dedicated environment. Our findings are timely and of important practical significance as educational institutions increasingly rely on the use of computer-mediated technology during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guidance on the use of social media in reproductive medicine practice

The term "social media" refers to computer-mediated technologies that enable individuals and communities to gather, communicate, network, and share information. These technologies represent useful tools for enabling individual providers and their clinics to broadcast content that educates, informs, advertises, and narrates content to a larger audience. There are multiple benefits to maintaining a presence on social media, either as an individual physician or as a clinic, but several pitfalls deserve consideration as well. This guidance document does not endorse any specific cloud-based platform or service, though some are mentioned for the purposes of illustration.

Integrating the Social Media Engine with Large-scale Open Access Repositories: A Discussion

The Social Media Engine relies on interactive computer-mediated technologies and the increased impact, readership, and alt-metrics present in open access repositories—while fostering public engagement, open social scholarship, and social knowledge creation by matching readers with publications. In this paper I focus on a discussion that explores the possibilities of integrating a search engine that ranks its results according to trends in social media with large-scale open access repositories. Ultimately, this discussion aims to explore the implications of creating tools to emphasize the connections between documents that can be treated as objects of study as well.

SOCIAL MEDIA : YOUNGSTER’S AFFINITY AND ITS IMPACT ON E-COMMERCE

Social media are interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation or sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. Social media has offered a new platform for peer pressure with both positive and negative communication. From Face book comments to likes on Instagram, how the youth communicate and what is socially acceptable is now heavily based on social media. It’ growth drifts reflect that more and more students of different age groups and educational levels are catching on and using social networking platforms. In parallel, demands and realistic expectations of youngsters or university students in an age of digital social media are enormously changing at a rapid pace. Researcher made an attempt to study the various aspects and statistcs related to Internet and social media its penetration, users etc. Researcher also study about the impact of Social Media on E-Commerce. Researcher made an attempt to study the various aspects and statistcs related to Internet and social media its penetration, users etc. Researcher also study about the impact of Social Media on E-Commerce. A sample of one hundred and twenty-five persons was taken for study from Tirunelveli District and the opinion of the youngsters was collected regarding the social media with the help of an Interview Schedule. The data collected were analyzed with the help of percentage analysis, one-way ANOVAs, one sample pair test, and independent chi-square. The researcher used IBM-SPSS version20 software for analysis and interpretation of data. ANOVAs test concluded that there are no significant differences in the opinion of the respondents of different age groups in Academia.edu, face book, Google+, snap chat, YouTube, twitter and so on. It is suggested that the youngsters should focus and filter the most essential social media platforms so that the life will be balanced at both ends of career and relaxation. They should make the right choice concerning the use of social media networks for personal, academic and professional networking in different contexts. Proper awareness building will help them to choose the best for the survival and relaxation.

Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions of Virtual Classes and the Effectiveness of Virtual Classes in Enhancing Communication Skills

The use of the Internet is increasing the possibilities for language learning and teaching (Sallbego & Tumolo, 2015). Virtual classes use computer-mediated technology to facilitate learning, teaching, and communication processes. The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers’ and students’ perceptions of English as a foreign language (EFL) virtual classes. Moreover, it also aims to highlight the effect of this kind of class on enhancing communication skills. Therefore, the main research question is about the perceptions that students and teachers have of EFL virtual classes. This study conducted in the Female English Department at King Khalid University in Abha. The participants were thirty teachers and students who were divided into two equal groups (fifteen in each group). Regarding that, participants answered a particular questionnaire. The results show that the majority of the students and teachers possess positive attitudes toward teaching and learning through EFL virtual classes. Moreover, they also agree with the significant role of virtual courses in enhancing communication skills. Thus, implementing EFL virtual classes can be recommended as beneficial. This study states some recommendations in light of its findings.

A multi-method investigation of the personality correlates of digital aggression

Digital aggression (DA) refers to the use of computer-mediated technologies to harm others. A handful of previous studies have provided mixed results regarding the personality correlates of DA. We clarified these findings by analyzing the associations between three measures of DA (behavioral, Twitter, and self-report) and the Big Five traits using data from 1167 undergraduate participants. Big Five personality trait measures predicted all three DA measures, but results varied across particular assessments of DA. These results point to possible moderators and potentially important differences within the broader construct of DA.

The role of social platforms in establishing brand awareness for B2C e-commerce: empirical study

Social media are computer-mediated technologies that facilitate and create an online environment. Hence, firms can use such media as an effective marketing and advertising tool to reach different categories of customers locally and globally and create brand awareness. Little evidence is available of how social media tools influence the creation of brand awareness among consumers. Also, not all companies are successful in this endeavour. Therefore, more research is essential in this domain. In response, this paper offers a good opportunity to seek and study the key factors that might participate in establishing such behaviour and proposes a model for such phenomena. Results of the study showed that e-WOM, user-generated-content, and product quality have a positive significant impact on customer's establishment of brand awareness. The results contribute to understanding of the value-enhancing potential of social media campaigns and demonstrate how the perception of brands is influenced through this new communication channel.

The role of social platforms in establishing brand awareness for B2C e-commerce: empirical study

Social media are computer-mediated technologies that facilitate and create an online environment. Hence, firms can use such media as an effective marketing and advertising tool to reach different categories of customers locally and globally and create brand awareness. Little evidence is available of how social media tools influence the creation of brand awareness among consumers. Also, not all companies are successful in this endeavour. Therefore, more research is essential in this domain. In response, this paper offers a good opportunity to seek and study the key factors that might participate in establishing such behaviour and proposes a model for such phenomena. Results of the study showed that e-WOM, user-generated-content, and product quality have a positive significant impact on customer's establishment of brand awareness. The results contribute to understanding of the value-enhancing potential of social media campaigns and demonstrate how the perception of brands is influenced through this new communication channel.

Motivating Online Social Support Provision to Patients with Complex Chronic Diseases: A Technological-Affordance Approach

This study examines the topic of motivating social support provision for patients with complex chronic diseases (CCD) from a technological- affordance approach. Utilizing an online survey (N = 281) of patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), this study shows that certain technological affordances of computer-mediated technologies could trigger psychological reactions, which then drive social support provision for IBS patients in online health communities. Community building significantly promotes support provision by enhancing one’s sense of community, and so does agency building via improving one’s self-agency. In addition, browsing significantly promotes social support provision as individuals are more likely to be exposed to emotional support-seeking messages when technology allows users to freely move through and obtain information. As a result, they are more inclined to offer support in response. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Teachers' and Students' Perceptions of Virtual Classes and the effectiveness of Virtual Classes in Enhancing Communication Skills

The use of the Internet is increasing the possibilities for language learning and teaching (Sallbego & Tumolo, 2015). Virtual classes use computer-mediated technology to facilitate learning, teaching, and communication processes. The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers’ and students’ perceptions of English as a foreign language (EFL) virtual classes. Moreover, it also aims to highlight the effect of this kind of class on enhancing communication skills. Therefore, the main research question is about the perceptions that students and teachers have of EFL virtual classes. This study conducted in the Female English Department at King Khalid University in Abha. The participants were thirty teachers and students who were divided into two equal groups (fifteen in each group). Regarding that, participants answered a particular questionnaire. The results show that the majority of the students and teachers possess positive attitudes toward teaching and learning through EFL virtual classes. Moreover, they also agree with the significant role of virtual courses in enhancing communication skills. Thus, implementing EFL virtual classes can be recommended as beneficial. This study states some recommendations in light of its findings.

Data Fusion and Machine Learning in Medical Diagnosis: A Bird Eye View

With the invent of computer-mediated technologies, urge of medical diagnosis, surveillance system and the rapid development in satellite and sensor networks, demands an efficient data fusion techniques, methodologies and machine learning algorithms. Expert system and Data fusion has materialized as a promising research area for medical diagnosis in the upcoming years. In Data fusion, information may be in various nature: it ranges from measurements to verbal reports. Data fusion is a framework for analysis of data sets such that different datasets can interact and inform each other. Machine learning together with data fusion provides results with high accuracy and prediction. This paper presents a comparative analysis of existing expert systems for medical diagnosis which uses data fusion and machine learning algorithms to diagnose various diseases.