Large Audience Research Articles

GAZE DIRECTION MONITORING MODEL IN COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

This paper focuses on the research and application of eye movement and gaze direction analysis in online testing systems. The practical novelty of the proposed model of monitoring the direction of gaze in a computer-based knowledge control system lies in the possibility of automated remote control over a large audience of students. The practical significance lies in creating the same conditions for computer testing for all students and increasing the correspondence of knowledge level to the received test results. The implemented and tested system is relevant and necessary in higher educational institutions, particularly in Ukraine, where remote education has emerged as the safest means of acquiring knowledge. This is especially true for fields of study where practical tasks and laboratory work do not necessitate a student's physical presence at the institution. That is why the application of the latest information technologies is extremely important. The dynamic authentication based on the sequence of eye movements proposed in the model allows error-free user's eye area detection for further analysis of the test subject's behavior. The proposed authentication method excludes the need to enter passwords or CAPTCHAs, ensures the speed of determining the user's presence. Further analysis of the user's direction of vision includes responding to the information received, such as skipping a question or the need for re-authorization. Question skipping occurs when the system decides that the user has not been looking at the screen for an extended period (looking sideways, down, up for more than 30 seconds). Re-authentication becomes necessary if the user exits the test or if there is a user replacement. Real-time gaze control capability is implemented by using massive parallel processing system (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card) for calculations. The analysis of the results obtained shows that the proposed approach allows gaze detection at different illumination ranges (from 0.3 lux to 10,000 lux), as well as to detect states of the user's eyes that violating test rules for further system response (skipping a question or re-authentication request).

Exploring relationality in African knowledge systems as a contribution to decoloniality in sustainability science

ABSTRACT The current solutions offered by Western sustainability science to address prevailing global environmental destruction and social injustice are still largely embedded in the Western knowledge system established by colonisation, limiting the efficacy of these solutions for a large part of the planet. Conversely, it may be reasonable to imagine that the concept of relationality is beneficial in all cultures and knowledge systems. Relationality, elementally referring to a web of relationships, as considered from an African Indigenous and local knowledge perspective, could play an important role in decolonising Western sustainability science. Two valuable approaches, namely ubuntu (humanness) and ukama (relatedness), as predominantly observed in southern Africa, are essentially immersed in human-nature relationality. This type of relationality considers everything as interconnected, and therefore that nothing happens in isolation, and that the well-being of humans is inextricable from the well-being of nature. The way relationality is approached in African Indigenous knowledge systems is inclusive, holistic and perpetual, broadening its usefulness to a large audience, making it a sensible contributor to decoloniality in sustainability science. A collective knowledge could emerge, including cooperative, multidirectional interactions with different types of information from diverse human and non-human sources, increasingly eradicating the relational divide among knowledge systems caused by persistent colonial discourse and attitudes.

Artificially disinformed and radicalised: How AI produced disinformation could encourage radicalisation

Key digested messageThe rapid advancements in artificial intelligence technologies have enhanced the ability for individuals who want to generate a substantial amount of seemingly genuine discussions, images and/or videos that are tailored to promote specific narratives. Unfortunately, this advancement has also provided a valuable tool for actors who seek to promote potentially harmful ideologies and share disinformation to large online audiences. By leveraging AI, these individuals can significantly enhance their recruitment efforts and bolster their perceived credibility, by producing seemingly legitimate but artificially fabricated evidence that supports their proposed narrative. This pressing issue is discussed in terms of its potentially negative consequences on the encouragement of radicalisation in users exposed to this artificially produced disinformation. Not only does it pose a risk to the integrity of people’s perception of truth, but it also has the potential to exacerbate the likelihood of radicalisation occurring.

Public Diplomacy of Indonesia Towards Turkey Through The Youtube Platform Endonezya Evi

Globalization brings changes to all fields including the practice of state public diplomacy, changes occur in public diplomacy media that use social media, one of which is YouTube used by Indonesia through the Endonezya Evi Platform in Turkey, this change occurs because the use of conventional media previously used by Indonesia through the Indonesian Cultural House has shown a decline in Turkish public attention so that new media is needed that is more easily accepted by the Turkish public. Evi's Endonezya platform was deemed easier to access and did not require a large amount of money to run. <The purpose of this article is to find out whether the Endonezya Evi Platform can be used in the practice of Indonesian public diplomacy in Turkey and how it impacts. <The method used in this article is descriptive analysis by examining the Endonezya Evi Platform used by Indonesia. This article shows that the Endonezya Evi Platform is a new media that can be used in the practice of Indonesian public diplomacy because it can reach a large audience and does not require large costs and the Endonezya Evi Platform fulfills the components of public diplomacy so that it can be used as a tool in the practice of Indonesian public diplomacy in Turkey.

‘Thanks for being here with us’: Para-social interaction and the effects of pundit talk on the Hannity and Maddow shows

Contemporary American television news centers pundits as key voices in national political discourse. The most prominent pundits anchor their own programs, often during primetime hours, reaching large audiences . This paper analyzes pundits’ performance of a type of news talk that is designed to appear unscripted and therefore authentic, enhancing parasocial interaction (PSI) with viewers and affirming pundits’ roles as experts. Data collected from two of the most-watched pundit-helmed news shows— Hannity and The Rachel Maddow Show—suggests that pundits use greeting tokens, personal pronouns, repetition, and rhetorical questions during their opening monologues. We discuss the mechanisms through which punditry may contribute to political polarization by creating emphasis frames.

Mass Political Information on Social Media: Facebook Ads, Electorate Saturation, and Electoral Accountability in Mexico

Abstract Social media’s capacity to quickly and inexpensively reach large audiences almost simultaneously has the potential to promote electoral accountability. Beyond increasing direct exposure to information, high saturation campaigns—which target substantial fractions of an electorate—may induce or amplify information diffusion, persuasion, or coordination between voters. Randomizing saturation across municipalities, we evaluate the electoral impact of non-partisan Facebook ads informing millions of Mexican citizens of municipal expenditure irregularities in 2018. The vote shares of incumbent parties that engaged in zero/negligible irregularities increased by 6–7 percentage points in directly-targeted electoral precincts. This direct effect, but also the indirect effect in untargeted precincts within treated municipalities, were significantly greater where ads targeted 80%—rather than 20%—of the municipal electorate. The amplifying effects of high saturation campaigns are driven by citizens within more socially-connected municipalities, rather than responses by politicians or media outlets. These findings demonstrate how mass media can ignite social interactions to promote political accountability.

A Comparative Study of Islam and Christianity's View of Nature

Some Western intellectuals, such as M. White, attribute the current environmental crises to a religious view of the environment, and believe that religious teachings about the environment have destroyed natural gifts in the world today. This needs to be reviewed and analyzed. The infiltration of some Aristotelian philosophical ideas of Ancient Rome into the body of Christian thought reinforces the views of people like M. White. While the ideas originated from the Greek school of Alexandria, inspired by Socratic thought, there has always been a loving view of nature, and nature has considered the embodiment of the gods which this thought has also been influential in some Christians in Europe. But the Oriental schools, and at the top of them the comprehensive school of Islam, have never been competitive and angry view with nature and have considered it a beautiful image of the divine creation. Therefore, the slogan of land destruction is due to a religious view, which is a false slogan. The propagation of Oriental rulings and teachings can have a large audience in the world and eliminate these biased attacks.

Challenges and practices in international sport federations to gain and maintain legitimacy

Introduction International sport federations (IFs) are today part of complex ecosystems (Bayle, 2023). As governing bodies, they are regulators and define and sanction sporting and participation rules. IFs are further organizers of international sport events, some of which attract large audiences and investments. In this role, IFs have to satisfy diverging demands of multiple stakeholders (Chappelet, 2021). Additionally, IFs have become important social, economic and political actors. They are employers and as such contribute to the local economy and have a corporate social responsibility. And with sport being increasingly interwoven with money, power, politics and state interests, IFs also influence and are influenced by geopolitics. This has entailed corruption and self-enrichment on one side of the spectrum, and it enabled peace processes and development on the other side. In this complex web of mission, expectations and pressures, how do IFs gain/maintain legitimation? Methods Using literature research and desk research, we first focus on the role and mission of IFs since their creation and illustrate an overview of the changing expectations against which IFs sought/seek legitimacy (historical timeline). Reflecting the conceptual model of Bayle and Clausen (2023, under review) on IFs’ organizational performance and its operationalization, we then map explicit and implicit performance indicators that derive from IFs’ mission and the multiple social, economic and political activities they have embraced over the past decades. Based on this mapping, we discuss IFs’ strategies to meet expectations and pressures that result from these performance indicators. We conclude the presentation with an assessment of the interrelation between expectations towards IFs, strategies developed by IFs, and internal/external performance control mechanisms based on five interviews. Results The social, political, and economic influence of IFs is largely recognized today. Yet, their legitimacy as non-profit governing bodies of sport in the eyes of prominent stakeholders (e.g., IOC, governments, sponsors) is currently reduced to their ability to comply with dominant governance and sustainability frameworks. As a result of this narrow focus, academics and practitioners have developed a good understanding and monitoring mechanisms of IFs’ governance practices. On the other hand, IFs’ performance and legitimacy from a mission and purpose perspective is greatly understudied. Discussion/Conclusion One of the challenges in defining performance indicators for IFs is their broad societal mission. Firstly, the impact of IFs’ activities to contribute to some sort of societal betterment is difficult to measure. And secondly, the priorities of societal issues change (e.g., poverty, health, climate). Any performance measurement system for IFs therefore needs to be dynamic to address both IFs’ mission and evolving external expectations.

Support system for village teachers’ professional development

AbstractIn the proposed work, studies of supporting rural teachers were analysed and the main directions of professional self‐development of a village teacher were identified. The program aims to assist village teachers in professional self‐development. A program to support the self‐development of rural teachers was proposed, which was experimentally tested on 246 teachers in primary and secondary schools in Hebei and Shandong provinces (China). The results of the application of the program were determined using a survey to identify the development of various components of the professional development of teachers themselves. The objective results of an increase in the academic success of students were also checked. These data show the effectiveness of the program we have developed in improving all components of the professional development of teachers and the possibility of its application to a large audience of teachers in rural areas. The practical significance of this work is the possibility of applying the proposed system of support for the self‐development of teachers. The practical application of the study is to further develop and actualize the issue of the connection between the academic and professional performance of students in schools and the level of creative thinking of teachers in rural areas.

“Kejetia Preaching”: An Analysis of Contemporary Phenomena of Street Preaching in Kumasi, Ghana

Street preaching/evangelism is one of the activities undertaken by Christians to broadcast or spread the gospel. It is one of the forms of making disciples of all nations and winning souls for Christ in accordance with the Great Commission of making disciples if all nations (Matt. 28:18-20). In Ghana and some other parts of Africa, street preaching is a common phenomenon. Arguably, street preachers have a larger audience than “pulpit preaching” at the Sunday service. While Sunday service preaching is mostly confined to the chapel and focuses on members of a particular church, street preaching targets and reaches people of varied denominational and religious backgrounds. Though a common practice, street preaching comes with a number of theological, ethical and pastoral issues which need scholarly analysis. The purpose of this paper is to critically assess street preaching from theological, ethical and pastoral perspectives and to recommend ways in which potential pitfalls may be addressed. The paper employed qualitative and historical-descriptive research designs to describe the current state of the exercise and its impact on the soul-winning ministry and Christianity in general. In addition to the data collected from the field through interviews and participant observation, the paper used secondary sources such as books, journal articles and dissertations. After a careful analysis of the subject matter the paper established that even though street preaching is a legitimate and effective way of spreading the gospel, it may contribute negatively to the qualitative growth of the church due to the lack of proper theological/ministerial training of most of these preachers and the resulting unbiblical and unethical practices that sometimes characterize this enterprise. To avert the situation, the paper made recommendations for the nation (Ghana), church and preachers to enhance the qualitative growth of the Christian community through effective and biblically-sound preaching. Keywords: Ghana, Evangelism, Street Preaching, Christians

Social media “stars” vs “the ordinary” me: influencer marketing and the role of self-discrepancies, perceived homophily, authenticity, self-acceptance and mindfulness

PurposeSocial media influencers have become constant companions of a large audience of young consumers, but a crucial yet underexplored area of examination relates to the implications of exposure to influencers for an individual’s self-concept. This study aims to examine if and how individuals experience self-discrepancies when exposed to influencers and the impact of such discrepancies on their affect, cognition and behaviors toward the influencers and the brands they endorse.Design/methodology/approachThe authors thematically analyze 17 semistructured interviews, develop a conceptual model and present a set of hypotheses. The hypotheses are tested by analyzing survey data from 503 respondents using structural equation modeling.FindingsIndividuals actively engage in comparisons with influencers’ virtual self-presentation and treat them as emblematic of an ideal self. The associated self-discrepancy can lead to both negative and positive affect, but while the latter has a positive impact on e-word of mouth (WOM) and purchase intent, the former has a negative impact. Perceived homophily dampens the impact of exposure to influencer content on discrepancy and strengthens the link between discrepancy and positive affect. Self-acceptance and mindfulness positively moderate the impact of discrepancy on positive affect and negatively on negative affect. Perceived authenticity strengthens the impact of positive affect on e-WOM and dampens the impact of negative affect on purchase intention.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors contribute to the literature on self-discrepancies by identifying a consumer context where, in addition to the theoretically predicted negative affect, an individual may experience more positive emotions like feeling motivated or inspired because of the perceived attainability of an influencer as an ideal self. The authors contribute to the influencer marketing literature by examining the influencer–follower relationship and its implications for an individual’s self-concept, including the role played by perceived homophily and authenticity. The authors also contribute to the literature on consumer well-being and identify the role of self-acceptance and mindfulness in shaping consumer experiences.Practical implicationsThe authors provide a nuanced analysis of the impact of influencer marketing on consumer behavior with a focus on its impact on an individual’s self-concept. The authors argue for the role of perceived homophily and authenticity in shaping favorable consumer behavior outcomes and offer evidence for more inclusive approaches to marketing.Originality/valueThe authors identify the influencer–follower relationship as a unique social exchange where the source of self-discrepancy is also a homophilic solution provider for achieving one’s ideal self and report both positive and negative effects as outcomes of experiencing a self-discrepancy induced by a target perceived as more attainable. The authors situate understandings of perceived homophily and authenticity along these relationships and identify self-acceptance and mindfulness as mechanisms used by individuals to deal with discrepancies.

The expressive function of public policy: renewable energy mandates signal social norms.

Addressing collective action problems requires individuals to engage in coordinated and cooperative behaviours. Existing research suggests that individuals' propensity to work together depends in part on their belief that others support the cause in question. People form their expectations about prevalent beliefs and behaviours from many sources. To date, most of the literature has focussed on how socialnorm perceptions are inferred from peers or summary statistics. We explore an understudied source of norm information: the passage of policies by democratically elected institutions. Institutional signals, such as the setting of defaults, national laws or policies, can act as coordination devices, signalling or prescribing social norms to large audiences. However, their expressive function is likely to depend on whether the institution is seen as accountable to the public. In two highly powered, pre-registered experiments (N = 11 636), we examine the role of policy signals as a source of social norm information. In Study 1, Americans randomly assigned to learn that their state passed a 100% renewable energy mandate believe that a greater percentage of their state's residents support such a mandate. In Study 2, we replicate this effect for national policy and show that the influence is moderated by information about whether the government represents the will of the people. This article is part of the theme issue 'Social norm change: drivers and consequences'.

The Effectiveness of Influencer Marketing in Promoting Sustainable Lifestyles and Consumer Behaviours

Influencer marketing is a kind of marketing across social media platforms involving endorsements, recommendations, support, and product placement from influencers. Influencers are usually people online that have a large following on social media and use this identity to influence the opinions and behaviours of their audience. Influencer marketing is a powerful tool to reach the people in this generation, and that can also be used to promote sustainable lifestyles and consumer behaviour. Influencers have the potential and effectiveness to alter consumer mindsets. When influencers promote sustainable products and practices, they can reach a large audience and positively impact the environment. Although the effectiveness of influencer marketing depends on some factors including the credibility and trustworthiness of the influencer, the content of the message given by them, and the target audience, the impact nevertheless is huge. This study uses a survey questionnaire to gather data on 200 consumers in India. The primary responses were collected all over India using a structured questionnaire consisting of questions to understand consumer behaviour, sustainability, and the role of an influencer marketer. It examines influencer marketing exposure, purchase behaviour, and brand perception. The review of literature for this topic focuses on the impact of influencer marketing on sustainable lifestyles and consumer behaviour between 2000-2023. There are certain challenges and ethical implications concerning influencer marketing that are explored in the paper, along with people's responses and acceptability towards a sustainable lifestyle. The empirical study also focused on the effectiveness of influencer marketing in promoting sustainable lifestyles and consumer behaviours. Influencer marketing can be a valuable tool for promoting sustainable lifestyles and consumer behaviour in this generation. Incorporating influencer marketing as a tool has two faces and it is essential to understand both aspects.

The Popularity Gap: Effects of Social Status on the Visibility of Lifestyle Sports Stars on Instagram

Social media provides athletes with opportunities to enhance their personal brands, engage with fans, and access professional opportunities. Several studies have examined how athletes use social media to attract and engage large audiences. Less is known about the social forces that enable and constrain their popularity. Drawing on expectation states theory, this study considers how athletes’ social status affects their follower counts and engagement rates on Instagram. Based on a content analysis of 6240 images posted on Instagram by 112 professional disc golfers, we show that the gender, sport dominance, and physical attractiveness of athletes affect their popularity, controlling for their strategic efforts to self-brand. These findings offer new insight into the ongoing debate over social media’s impact on long-standing inequalities in the media-sport industry.

Use of the Language Power in Law Enforcement: A Forensic Linguistic Review

This article aims to increase knowledge and insight into the language of power in law enforcement. Media is a means of communication to convey a message or opinion to a large audience. The language commonly used in the media often looks a little impolite or even tends to be rude. It seems that people pay less attention to the language used, hence they are not aware that their words or writing may be demanded by other readers. In this research, a qualitative descriptive method is used semantically, because the writer focuses on researching the meanings of the language used. In this case, what is meant by focusing on the meaning of research is that this research will interpret the data one by one to get the results of the research. Research data is limited to one source, namely the Novel (Dari Balik Lima Jeruji). This research is forensic linguistic research and was analyzed combining two ways, namely linguistically and legally. Linguistic analysis in this study is only limited semantically, while legal analysis uses the law. The results of this study show that there is an abuse of the language of power by law enforcement officials in upholding the law.
 Keywords: media, linguistic, forensic, dispensation of justice

Influencer Mix Strategies in Livestream Commerce: Impact on Product Sales

A new trend in influencer marketing is livestream commerce, which combines influencers’ live video streaming with e-commerce. Little is known, though, about how firms should develop their influencer strategies to maximize product sales. Given a budget constraint, marketers may choose to employ a single, “big” influencer with a large number of followers or several small influencers. They may also employ a combination of both big and small influencers when their budget is adequate. Analyzing data from 1.3 million livestreams on TikTok, the authors find a negative interaction effect between big and small influencers when employed together due to decreased trust in big influencers and substitution effects. Further analysis reveals that livestream sales generated by a big influencer are adversely affected by small influencers who promoted the same product previously, but not the other way around. In addition, big influencers can reach a much larger audience, whereas small influencers are more effective at increasing the audience's conversion rates. Big and small influencers are also different in terms of how product and campaign characteristics moderate their sales effectiveness. Finally, the scenario analysis explores how the profitability of influencer strategies hinges on the influencer mix and their costs. This research is one of the first to investigate the sales effectiveness of influencer marketing and to provide general guidelines for developing influencer mix strategies.

An Exploration on the Evolution and Future of Practical Shooting Teaching in IPSC

Beginning in the year 2000 and drawing a large audience of shooting fans, IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation) practical shooting has emerged as a new event in competitive sports. The researchers discovered that social setting and popularity had a significant influence on how practical shooting in IPSC developed. Despite the fact that the number of people participating in IPSC practical shooting is growing every year, little study has been done on the formation process and training program. Consequently, the aim of this study was to gather comprehensive data on IPSC practical shooting in order to gain a deeper understanding of the development and training process of the sport. In order to achieve this goal, this study will use a variety of research methods, including questionnaires, field observations, and in-depth interviews. Through these methods, the study will collect a large amount of data, including participants' age, gender, training time, training frequency, competition results, etc. This data will provide comprehensive information on IPSC practical shooting training and competitions, leading to a better understanding of the sport's training system and formation mechanisms.

General Attitude Scale for Social Media Influencers

This study aims to develop and validate a scale measuring consumers’ attitudes towards social media influencers (SMIs). In this sense, the study population consisted of social media users who followed at least one social media influencer. The survey method was used as the data collection tool in the study. While creating the scale items, relevant literature as well as expressions and some sentences obtained from short interviews with consumers who use social media and follow at least one social media influencer were used. As part of the research, 821 surveys were accepted as valid and evaluated. After pretesting studies on a group of 258 people, the scale was retested with a new sample of 821 people. The skewness and kurtosis values were between +1.96 and -1.96. The sample had a normal distribution. The EFA analysis revealed that the scale item distribution was compatible with the pretest analysis. Although no random distribution was found with parallel analysis, Kaiser–Guttman analysis was also performed to control the distribution of random scales into their subdimensions. The EFA results showed that the developed scale provided appropriate values. KMO=0.896, Bartlett’s sphericity test=0.000, Bartlett’s<0.05, Cronbach’s alpha=0.889, AVE=0.585, and CR=0.934. As a result of CFA, the values for the goodness of fit were found to be appropriate (x2 (df)=3.144; p=0.000, RMSEA=0.051; CFI=0.994; GFI=0.990; SRMR=0.014; AVE=0.580; CR=0.933), and it was observed that there were no items below the factor value of 0.50. As a result of the invariance analysis, it was understood that the developed scale had invariance properties and was suitable for use with a large audience, as the ∆CFI value was less than 0.01 between both samples. The General Attitudes Scale towards social media influencers has a single factor and consists of six items. The factor loading values of the scale items ranged between 0.53 and 0.90. In this research, it was determined that social media influencers had a significant impact on the participants. The general attitudes of the participants as part of the study had a significant effect on their social media influencers.

Boudica, the Warrior Queen, as seen through DevianArt: Why pop culture proves to be so informative

The paper aims to investigate the image of the Warrior Queen Boudica (Boudicca, Boadicea) in contemporary pop culture through the lens of the website DeviantArt (®), providing valuable information about the countries and the gender of the creators, along with the possibility of studying the creative scene in real-time by artists who are most often not professionals but young creators and even more importantly, young female creators. From a general point of view, Boudica-the-Warrior is winning the battle in the other representations of Boudica and certainly over Boudica-the-Mother. But while there is hardly any difference when it comes to carrying weapons, this is not the case for the portrayal of aggression. Here, the rate is twice as high among male contributors. The difference is even greater for the sexualization of Boudica’s body. Several general trends observed for Boudica are also true for Cleopatra. Each is represented more often standing alone. Each is more often described as a powerful embodiment of strong women: in arms for Boudica, with felines for Cleopatra. And in each case, their images have been simplified in order to be understood by large audiences. A sexualized Egyptian (i.e. pharaonic) woman is now necessarily Cleopatra. The same holds true for Boudica: a warrior woman with red hair and blue paint on her visage seems only to refer to her.

Траєкторія розвитку соціальних мереж

The article is devoted to the analysis of the history of the development of social media. The aim of the article is understanding of their economic and social significance in the process of transformation of the modern paradigm of communications and their interaction in advertising. Analyzing, systematizing and summarizing the scientific works of many experts, the definition of «social media network» was considered, which reflects various approaches and interpretations of this concept in the context of modern communication technologies. As a result of the study, the powerful evolution of communica-tion technologies that took place during the last decades is outlined. The authors demonstrated that social networks enable individuals, companies, organizations and governments to interact with large audiences, which, in turn, opens up wide opportunities in promoting a product to the market. This study examined the history of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and others, as they are or were among the most popular social networks among Internet users. Brand promotion in social networks is an integral tool that opens up prospects for businesses and individuals in creating a positive image, inte-raction with consumers and instant spread of information, quick response to changing market condi-tions. The study also notes the variety of types of ad integration, ranging from traditional banner ads to more specialized forms such as targeted ads. This study will allow entities interested in advertising their products and services to understand the existing relationship between the development of social media and Internet marketing strategies, which, in turn, will help business structures to adapt to changes in consumer habits and technological trends. Prospects for further research in this direction can be seen in the analysis of the efficiency of the implementation of marketing strategies in social media.