Digital Information Environment Research Articles

Health information seeking and health literacy in midwife-led care and the modern information environment

Abstract Background This review reports on how midwives are affected by the modern digital information environment, including health misinformation, and how their knowledge or competencies assist them in navigating this for themselves and their clients, especially those who are more vulnerable and experience inequities in healthcare. Methods Leveraging a PRISMA-based systematic review, the project identifies the facilitators and barriers that the modern digital information environment poses to midwives and the care they provide to their clients. The search strategy of the peer-reviewed literature examines articles related to midwives and misinformation, social media, information environment, digital health, health information, migrant women and other related keywords that surface in searches. The timeframe from which published articles will be identified for possible inclusion are from Jan 1, 2020 to March 31, 2024. Results Both midwives and the clients they care for experience challenges in navigating the digital information environment and addressing health-related misinformation on reproductive health and pregnancy-related topics. Conclusions Midwives should receive strengthened training on digital literacy to improve the care they provide to clients and help their clients navigate a confusing and rapidly evolving information environment. Through digital and in-person interactions with their clients, midwives can improve their clients’ digital information, and health literacies.

The Effectiveness of an Educational Intervention on Countering Disinformation Moderated by Intellectual Humility

<span lang="EN-US">There is an ongoing debate among scholars on how to tackle disinformation. Media education initiatives to increase literacy are effective ways to counter disinformation. Hence, the European Commission (2022) published <em>Guidelines for Teachers and Educators on Tackling Disinformation and Promoting Digital Literacy Through Education and Training</em>. The present research looked at the role of social media literacy in increasing awareness of the role of social media in spreading disinformation. We developed an educational intervention based on the European Commission guidelines. We investigated its impact on perceived social media literacy, the intention to share fake news on social media, and general conspiracy beliefs. We conducted a within-subject (two times measurement: before the educational intervention and one week after) +1 experiment with <em>N</em> = 127 young adults (aged 18 to 23). After filling in an initial survey, the experimental group received a 15-minute educational intervention on the role of social media for disinformation dissemination in complex digital information environments. One week later, all participants completed the second survey to assess perceived social media literacy and general conspiracy beliefs. In both surveys, participants saw three Instagram posts from a fictitious media outlet to express potential intentions to share on social media. Among the three posts, two showed false information. Findings showed that educational intervention produces a significant increase in perceived social media literacy and a decrease in general conspiracy beliefs. Intellectual humility moderates the impact of educational intervention on algorithmic awareness.</span>

A Multi-Stakeholder Approach for Leveraging Data Portability to Support Research on the Digital Information Environment

A Multi-Stakeholder Approach for Leveraging Data Portability to Support Research on the Digital Information Environment

La Persona y el Marketing Científico Digital

Introduction: Examines the implications of marketing in improving content related to scientific production, focusing on Academic Search Engine Optimization (ASEO) and highlighting the role of Digital Scientific Marketing. Methodology: It presents the constructive stages of Digital Scientific Marketing from the ASEO perspective, considering the Author dimension and the formal and informal channels that constitute digital information environments. Results: Describes the stages of Planning, Persona Definition, Content Creation and Definition, Content Distribution, Content Evaluation, and Result Measurement for the application of Digital Scientific Marketing in the ASEO context. Conclusion: The application of Digital Scientific Marketing requires reflection on the target audience and the proper delivery of content, taking into account social media metrics and effective audience engagement. Integrating Digital Scientific Marketing with Academic Search Engine Optimization (ASEO) provides new perspectives for scientific research, aiming to reach audiences beyond the specialized public. This approach can foster research in various knowledge areas and lead to the development of new lines of investigation.

ELECTRONIC DIGITAL VIRTUALIZATION IN CRIMINOLOGY: OBJECTS AND FORMS OF RESEARCH; CRIMINALISTIC SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE CRIMINAL PROCESS

The purpose of the study. The article analyzes the manifestations of electronic digital virtualization in criminology, which is reflected both in the expansion of the range of objects of its research, and in the emergence of new types and forms (methodological, hardware-man-made) research in this field. The results of forensic practice make it possible to counteract the criminalization of the electronic digital virtual sphere and become potentially and actually, after their appropriate regulatory and legal formalization, a source of new objective evidence in the fight against criminal manifestations in the electronic digital information and communication environment. Conclusions. Domestic criminology, in the process of a dynamic transition of society from the industrial stage of development to the information one, acquires innovative areas and objects of research, including and in a virtual environment, which is accompanied by the generation and implementation of types and forms of research with virtualization elements. The results of forensic research in a virtual environment should be guaranteed to be able to become a source of objective evidence in the domestic criminal process, which requires the dynamic development of the legislative framework in this area, which at present is very much limited only to the field of computer-technical expertise.

Correlations between representation theory andintentionality theory

The Theories of Representation and Intentionality have emerged from various fields of knowledge, including Psychology, Philosophy, and Cognitive Sciences. Within the realm of Information Science, the concept of Information Representation has gained widespread acceptance, while studies on Intentionality Theory remain relatively limited. In light of the post-custodial paradigm, informational subjects are recognized as active participants in the socio-informational landscape, employing their intentionality to produce, organize, represent, and seek information across diverse digital information environments. This research endeavors to identify the correlations between Representation and Intentionality Theories within the context of Information Science, examining their contributions to Information Findability. Information Findability encompasses a theoretical-practical approach to designing, implementing, and evaluating information environments. This study adopts a bibliographical and exploratory approach, employing qualitative methods and utilizing databases such as the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) Periodicals Portal, the Information Science Database (BRAPCI), and Google Scholar. The research findings reveal correlations between Representation and Intentionality Theories, highlighting the significance of these theoretical underpinnings in enhancing Information Findability. In conclusion, the study underscores the need for further exploration of Intentionality in Information Science, given the scarcity of research in this area and its relevance in incorporating the informational subject's perspective into the concept of Information Findability.

Blockchain-Based Quality Assurance System for Academic Programs

Nowadays, technology is increasingly being adopted in different kinds of businesses to process, store, and share sensitive information in digital environments that include enormous numbers of users. However, this has also increased the likelihood of cyberattacks and misuse of information, potentially causing severe damage. One promising technology, which can provide the required security services with an improved level of efficiency, is blockchain. This research explores the use of Ethereum blockchain and smart contracts to create a secure and efficient quality assurance system (QAS) for academic programs. By utilizing blockchain and smart contracts, the proposed approach improves the integrity and reliability of sensitive information processed by the QAS, promotes transparency and governance, and reduces the time and effort required for quality operations. The current approach uses an additional access control layer to further enhance user privacy. Smart contracts automate various quality transactions and saves time and resources, and hence increases the efficiency of the QAS. The interplanetary file system (IPFS) is used to address the challenge of size limitations in blockchain. Additionally, this research investigates the use of various cryptographic schemes to provide robust security services at the application layer. The experimental results showed that the use of a hybrid cryptosystem relying on an Elliptic curve digital signature and AES encryption (AES_ECCDSA) outperforms other counterparts’ cryptosystems using an RSA digital signature and AES encryption (AES_RSADSA) and Elliptic Curve Integrated Encryption Scheme (ECIES) in terms of speed. The performance results showed that AES_ECCDSA consumes 188 ms to perform the required cryptographic operations for a standard-quality document with a size of 8088 KB, compared to the 231 ms and 739 ms consumed by the AES_RSADSA and ECIES schemes, respectively. This study presents a prototype implementation of the blockchain-based QAS, which outlines the processing model and system requirements for key QAS processes. It has been found that the cost and time required for blockchain operations vary depending on the size of the input data—a larger data size requires more time and costs more to process. The results of the current study showed that the time delay for blockchain transactions ranges from 15 to 120 s, while the cost ranges from USD 50 to USD 400. This research provides evidence that blockchain and smart contract technologies have the potential to create a secure, efficient, and trustworthy QAS environment for academic programs.

Examining the impact of digital information environments, information processing, and presumed influence on behavioral responses to COVID-19 misinformation in Asia

This study examines exposure to, perception of, and behavioral responses to misinformation about COVID-19 on social media from the influence of presumed influence (IPI) framework. To understand how the digital information environment of a society shapes the spread and responses to pandemic misinformation, four culturally similar Asian cities—Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taipei—were selected, generating a sample of 4094 respondents. Our findings suggest a paradox—the more information respondents in the four cities have access to, the less likely they are to view misinformation on COVID-19 and accept it as true without elaboration. Moreover, the study extends IPI theory by demonstrating negative emotions as a mechanism that mediates the relationship between perceived social impact and behavioral intentions. That is, the more respondents perceived misinformation to be harmful, the more negatively they felt about misinformation, which led to greater likelihood of taking restrictive, promotional, and corrective actions.

The Same Views, the Same News? A 15-Country Study on News Sharing on Social Media by European Politicians

The Same Views, the Same News? A 15-Country Study on News Sharing on Social Media by European Politicians

Photographic narrative as a factor in overcoming witness trauma

The research aims to explore the multifunctional potential of photography in overcoming the traumatic experience of witnessing violence and brutality. The paper presents how photography can be used in rehabilitation practices for those who have lived through war. It outlines the tendencies of the modern digital information environment (cross-media, interactivity) that enhance the "restorative" functions of photography in overcoming psycho-emotional and socio-cultural crisis reactions.
 It has been found that photography’s narrative nature can enhance the viewer’s experience of interacting with their emotions and memories, while also providing a therapeutic effect by mitigating the pain of reflecting on cruelty. The article uses examples of war-related content to demonstrate how storytelling technology can provide a variety of tools for audience participation in the development of collective restorative experiences, particularly through photographic flash mobs.
 The structural-functional method was used to work with factual material and identify the role of war photography in the discourse of trauma/post-trauma, clarifying its therapeutic potential. It is well-established that photographs can serve as a means of recording and providing evidence of a crime, facilitating the expression of collective identity and social cohesion. Similarly, the sharing of unprofessional, user-generated visual content on social media can be seen as a form of testimony that elicits strong public reactions. Photography plays a key role in helping people to go through the grieving process by perpetuating and honouring the dead, constructing ‘places of memory’ and ‘portraits of grief’.
 The study aims to determine the role of photography in shaping the visual environment, in which the act of ‘seeing’ constructs a system of restorative practices to overcome the negative psycho-emotional consequences of traumatic events provoked by war.

Democracy and digital disintegration: Platforms, actors, citizens

Abstract The digital transformations of contemporary media systems have had severe consequences for democracy and public debates. This introductory article addresses key challenges of what we refer to as varieties of “digital disintegration” within democratic societies. The eight contributions in the special issue are thematised in three parts. The first part explores disintegration within the context of political communication during elections, including data-driven campaigning, populism, and politicised forms of news production. The second part delves into the role of alternative news curators, audience polarisation, and issues of self-censorship in digital information environments. The third part centres on deliberative norms connected to content moderation of user comments within legacy media and the consequences digitalisation has had on journalistic sourcing practices and source diversity over time. The contributions offer valuable empirical insights, as well as new lines of thinking concerning democracy and digital and disintegrative transformations in the Nordic region and beyond.

Dissemination of RT and Sputnik Content in European Digital Alternative News Environments: Mapping the Influence of Russian State-Backed Media Across Platforms, Topics, and Ideology

The study investigates the dissemination of news content from two Russian state-backed media outlets, RT and Sputnik, within digital alternative news environments in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. We investigate these media outlets as parts of a Russian “sharp power” strategy, aimed at establishing informational influence within Western news environments. The analysis includes over 3.4 million social media posts containing URLs to RT and Sputnik content, published between January 2019 and March 2022. Drawing on a combined network analytical and computational text analysis approach, we examine the dissemination of RT and Sputnik content across a range of social media platforms (Twitter/X, Facebook, Telegram, VKontakte, Gab, Instagram, Reddit, 4chan, and YouTube). In the Danish and Swedish environments, the dissemination of content into core domestic alternative news communities is limited, primarily taking place on Facebook and, to a lesser extent, on Twitter/X. Fringe platforms such as Telegram, Gab and VKontakte facilitate a wider spread of content within domestic alternative news environments in German-speaking environments, predominantly among right-wing digital clusters. Within German-speaking alternative news environments, the shared content from RT and Sputnik primarily addresses domestic issues, such as COVID-19 policies and vaccines. In contrast, Danish- and Swedish-speaking alternative news environments emphasize foreign policy matters, including the Russian–Ukraine War, WikiLeaks, and Western military actions. These findings contribute to research on foreign state-media operations in digital information environments by focusing on both content and sharing patterns.

Educational Video Intervention to Improve Health Misinformation Identification on WhatsApp Among Saudi Arabian Population: Pre-Post Intervention Study.

Health misinformation can adversely affect individuals' quality of life and increase the risk of mortality. People often fail to assess the content of messages before sharing them on the internet, increasing the spread of misinformation. The problem is exacerbated by the growing variety of digital information environments, especially social media, which presents as an effective platform for spreading misinformation due to its rapid information-sharing capabilities. Educational interventions have been developed to help consumers verify the validity of digital health information. However, tools designed to detect health misinformation on social media content have not been validated. Given the increased use of social media platforms, particularly WhatsApp, it is crucial to develop tools to help consumers assess the credibility of messages and detect misinformation. The main objective of this study is to develop and assess an educational tool aimed at educating consumers about detecting health misinformation on WhatsApp. The secondary objective is to assess the association between demographic factors and knowledge levels. The study used a single-arm, pre-post intervention design to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational video in improving participants' ability to detect health-related misinformation in WhatsApp messages. In the first phase, an educational video intervention was developed and validated. In the second phase, participants were invited to complete a web-based survey that consisted of pre-evaluation questions, followed by the educational video intervention. Subsequently, they were asked to answer the same questions as the postevaluation questions. The web-based survey received 485 responses. The completion rate was 99.6% (n=483). Statistically significant associations existed between knowledge level and age, gender, employment, and region of residence (P<.05). The video intervention did elicit a statistically significant change in the participants' abilities to identify misinformation in WhatsApp messages (z=-6.887; P<.001). Viewing the video was associated with increased knowledge about the following concepts: checking the "forwarded" label (P<.001), looking for spelling and grammatical errors (P<.001), analyzing the facts (P=.03), checking links (P=.002, P=.001), and assessing the photos and videos (P<.001). There was a statistically significant difference in knowledge level before and after the intervention (P<.001). This study developed and evaluated the effectiveness of an educational video intervention to improve health misinformation identification on WhatsApp among the Saudi Arabian population. The results indicate that educational videos can be valuable tools for improving participants' abilities to identify misinformation. The outcomes of this research can contribute to our understanding of what constitutes an effective tool for enhancing health misinformation awareness. Such interventions may be particularly useful in combating misinformation among Arabic-speaking populations on WhatsApp, which may ultimately improve eHealth literacy. Limiting the prevalence and impact of misinformation allows people to make better-informed health decisions.

Beyond Competition: Designing Data Portability to Support Research on the Digital Information Environment

Beyond Competition: Designing Data Portability to Support Research on the Digital Information Environment

11.L. Workshop: Digital health literacy of schoolchildren and teachers in Germany

Abstract Background Digital health literacy is an evolving concept and an interdisciplinary field of study. Digital health literacy describes the ability of people to find, understand, appraise, and apply digital health information and services. Recently, the concept has gained increased attention in European public health and health policy making. Digitalization of society and health care, the rise of digital communication technologies, the impact of digital health on public health, and the advent of artificial intelligence have all contributed significantly to the increasing uptake of digital health literacy. Children and adolescents frequently access health information sources on the Internet and Social Media these days and virtually interact with peers on health matters. Through digital health literacy, they can learn to better navigate these digital information environments and manage health information and services. In order for children and youth to become digitally health literate, it is important to address the development of digital health literacy as early as in schools. However, not only the competencies of schoolchildren matter but that of teachers are likewise important, and so are teaching and learning environments provided within schools. In Germany, digital education and literacy have become a mandatory requirement for schools and are addressed as cross-cutting topics in different school subjects. Both students and teachers are trained and educated in this new school topic. This new educational concept shares many similarities with digital health literacy and allows using these intersections to address digital health literacy in the school. However, evidence is scarce and not much is known about the state of digital health literacy in students and teachers, and even less is known about whether and to what extent digital health literacy is taught in schools. Objectives The goal of this workshop is to present first time findings from a unique German multi-centre, nation-wide school study on digital health literacy in students and teachers conducted in 16 federal states. (i) The first presentation will introduce an adaption of an instrument to measure digital health literacy of schoolchildren in Germany. (ii) The second presentation will introduce first time representative results of schoolchildren's digital health literacy. (iii) The third presentation will have its focus on the learning opportunities in schools concerning digital health literacy from the perspective of schoolchildren. (iv) The fourth presentation will illuminate evidence from the perspective of teaching digital health literacy in schools from the perspective of school teachers and associations with their own digital health literacy. The format of this workshop will be 4x8-minute presentations followed by a 20-minute panel discussion, reflecting the relevance of the results to public health research, practice and policy. Key messages • Digital health literacy has become an important public health topic, which must be addressed as early as in schools. • Targeted curriculum opportunities are important to effectively promote digital health literacy but interventions must address both students and teachers.

The relationship between teacher candidates' lifelong learning tendencies and their digital competencies

Digital competencies and lifelong learning tendencies are among the features that every teacher candidate should have. Therefore, carrying out research on both lifelong learning trends and digital competencies can contribute to the development and updating of teacher education programs. In this context, the aim of this research is to analyses the relationship between lifelong learning tendencies and digital competencies of teacher candidates. In this research, scanning model from descriptive research models and explanatory model from relational research methods were used. The sample of this research consists of 287 teacher candidates selected by simple random sampling method from among teacher candidates studying at this state university. In this study, two scales were used to determine the relationship between the lifelong learning tendencies of teacher candidates and their digital competencies. The first of these scales is the “Lifelong Learning Tendency Scale”. The second scale used in the research is the "Digital Competency Scale". There is a significant and moderate relationship between the lifelong learning tendencies scale in general and the competencies of using basic internet tools and the competencies of acquiring and using information in digital environment. Since there is a moderately significant relationship between lifelong learning tendencies and digital competence, these two concepts should be reflected in teacher education programs in a way that supports each other, without considering each other separately.

КОММУНИКАТИВНАЯ ЛИЧНОСТЬ СТУДЕНТА ТЕХНИЧЕСКОГО ВУЗА В ПАРЕМИЧЕСКОМ ДИСКУРСЕ

The article provides a literature analysis on the problem of the formation of a communicative personality as an actual stage in the development of a linguistic personality. The definition of communicating personality and communicative personality concepts is given. The influence of the digital information environment on the nature of thinking and response of students in an associative experiment is described. The aim of the article is to describe the students’ communicative personality features which are revealed in the paremic discourse. The material of the study is neoparemia, a speech behavior product of the associative experiment participants. Neoparemias are presented in verbal and intercode form. The main research methods are theoretical (analysis of literature on the problem) and empirical (method of directed associative experiment). The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the communicative personality is studied for the first time from the standpoint of the analysis of neoparemias – products of the speech behavior of associative experiment participants. The results of the experiment can be useful for socio- and psycholinguists, as well as for communication science researchers and modern paremiology representatives.

The role of information skewness in shaping extremist content: A look at four extremists

Introduction. Extremism—distinct from activism—poses a serious threat to the healthy functioning of a society. In the contemporary world, the ability of extremists to spread their narratives using digital information environments has increased tremendously. Despite a substantial body of research on extremism, our understanding of the role of information and its properties in shaping extremist content is sketchy. Method. To fill this gap, the current research has used ‘content analysis’ and ‘affective lexicon’ to identify and categorise terms from the publicly available online content of four extremists – two groups and two individuals. The property of information skewness provided the deciphering lens through which the categorised content was assessed. Analysis. Contextual categories of information relevant to all the extremists were developed to analyse the content meaningfully. Six categories of religion, ideology, politics-history, cognition, affection, and conation provided the framework used to analyse and deductively categorise the data using content analysis. The affective lexicon developed by Ortony et al. (1987) was used to identify words belonging to the categories of cognition, affection (emotions and feelings), and conation (behaviour/actions). Results. The findings reveal that the property of information skewness plays a significant role in shaping extremist content and two aspects of this property (a) intensity and (b) positivity or negativity can be used to (1) classify extremists into meaningful categories and (2) identify generalisable information strategies of extremists. Conclusions. It is hoped that the findings of this research will inform future enquiries into the role of information and its properties in shaping extremist content and help security agencies to effectively engage in information warfare with extremists.

유럽인권법원의 판례상 통신감청에 관한 연구

The pace of progress in digital technology is difficult to predict. At the same time, the growing threat of serious crime raises questions about the tension between “individual freedom” and “public safety” more acutely than ever. The conflict between the two is clearly revealed in the discussion of the state's surveillance of communications. The European Court of Human Rights has so far guaranteed the right to respect for privacy “offline” and the right to freedom of expression. In particular, it is noteworthy that in the ruling on May 25, 2021, the judgment was made in connection with the current situation transferred to “cyberspace”. Until recently, the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights regarding the Internet have not been so prominent. However, it is no exaggeration to say that the European Court of Human Rights is now facing new challenges due to technological advances. Data movement on the Internet transcends national borders, and data theft by government agencies is possible due to the opaque route. There is no question that the scope of surveillance is much broader and that it gives access to the core areas of privacy. The European Court of Human Rights stated that wiretapping is possible only when there is “serious suspicion against the person being monitored.” General and unrestricted surveillance violates the European Convention on Human Rights. Above all, it cannot be denied that in recent years, it is inevitable to grant wide-ranging powers to intelligence agencies to respond to threats to national security. As is well known, it would be difficult to imagine even a moment of everyday life freed from today's information and communication technology. Against the background of this digital stage, techniques that ensured encryption and anonymity, such as the dark web and telegram, appeared. Therefore, it is self-evident that finding and responding to clues in the field is virtually impossible. In line with this situation, it is necessary to legally prepare appropriate countermeasures for the security authorities. At the same time, the European Court of Human Rights emphasizes that legal and technical safeguards must be secured to prevent abuse and violation of fundamental rights. Ultimately, in order to collect information related to serious crimes or acts of terrorism in today's information and communication environment connected to the Internet of Things, corresponding regulations must be prepared. This is the principle of equality of arms. From this point of view, the general authority to collect information regulated by the Act on the Performance of Duties by Police Officers and “Regulations on Information Collection and Processing” is not only incompatible with today's digital information and communication environment, but it is difficult to avoid criticism that it is a way that is far behind in comparison. In future legislation, disclosure and non-disclosure (secret) means should be separated, and in the case of non-disclosure, stricter requirements should be set in consideration of the high degree of violation of fundamental rights.

Digital Library Services in University Libraries in Nigeria: A Literature Study

Digitization of information resources for making digital library is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-readable) format. The result is the representation of an object, image, sound, document, or signal (usually an analog signal) obtained by generating a series of numbers that describe a discrete set of points or samples. The result is called digital representation or, more specifically, a digital image, for the object, and digital form, for the signal. On the one hand it can be argued that dramatic changes have been made at academic libraries in response to the new digital information environment. Most academic libraries, including University Libraries in Nigeria, offers a wide range of digital services and resources. But on the other hand, at a closer examination, one will find that these services and resources are mainly organized according to traditional library principles. In this case a guiding principle for the digital library need to be set up to create systematic and well organized general services and e-resources, for example subject specific gateway services. Thus, the digital part of the library functioned as an extension of the traditional library, an enterprise on the side with relatively high priority in this digital age, especially for of e-journals