Online Communication Platforms Research Articles

Solidarity Building in Antagonistic Political Discourse on GhanaWeb

The advancement of technology has seen the growth of online news platforms where users can interact and share their views in the comments section. The comments section, therefore, has become a site for the expression of divergent views, leading to linguistic practices such as verbal attacks. This study sourced data from GhanaWeb, an online news platform that focuses on sociopolitical occurrences in Ghana, to demonstrate how users rely on insults, alongside other strategies like endorsement, irrelevancy claims, ill-wishes and unpalatable questions to create enmity with the out-group and build solidarity with the in-group. It was also found that there were cases where two participants or commenters who seem to share the same viewpoint were challenged by a third participant. This study makes a fair contribution to the emerging research on the linguistic practices on online communication platforms and highlights areas for further inquiry.

Untangling the Web: The Impact of Social Media Miscommunication on Workplace Dynamics

Social media miscommunication refers to situations where messages, information, or intentions are not conveyed or understood as intended due to the nature of online communication platforms. This can happen for several reasons. Social media miscommunication can have several consequences in the workplace, potentially affecting individuals and the overall work environment. Tackling social media miscommunication requires a combination of awareness, effective communication strategies, and a commitment to maintaining a positive and respectful online presence. Last and most importantly, we need to keep in our mind that social media is a public forum, and our interactions can have a lasting impact. By approaching online communication with thoughtfulness and respect, we can help minimize the potential for miscommunication and maintain positive relationships in our digital ecosystem.

What can we learn from pandemic educational methods?: military general practice trainees’ attitudes to feedback from recorded consultations

ABSTRACT Background Recorded consultations are a useful tool for developing consultation skills for general practice speciality trainees (GPSTs). Historical barriers to utility include a lack of recording equipment and trainee discomfort. Widespread use of online communication platforms during the pandemic led to the introduction of the Recorded Consultation Assessment (RCA), prompting an exploration of its impact on GPSTs’ attitudes and acceptability of using recorded consultations for feedback. Aim This sequential explanatory mixed methods study explored attitudes of military GPSTs towards using recorded consultations for feedback to develop consultation skills, and identify factors influencing GPST attitudes. Methods Participants of this study completed a questionnaire, followed by a representative sample focus group. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse quantitative data, reflexive thematic analysis was employed for qualitative data. Triangulation was conducted using a meta-matrix. Results Results indicated agreement among respondents on the usefulness of recorded consultations for developing consultation skills, particularly communication skills. Perceived trainer attitudes significantly influence the GPST utility of this tool. The RCA positively impacted attitudes, providing familiarity, free access to easy-to-use online recording platforms, simplified consenting procedures, secure data storage, and improved feedback quality from trainers. Conclusion Pre-pandemic studies cited equipment access and consent procedures as barriers to utilising recording as a method of feedback. The pandemic and RCA introduced online resources and imperative to utilise this method, resulting in largely positive GPST learning experiences. As we move away from the RCA it is important to retain institutional memory of the benefits gained from feedback using recorded methods.

어린이집 교사가 인식한 디지털 역량의 중요도-실행도 분석

This study aimed to explore the contents for the education and training to enhance the digital competencies of childcare teachers through Importance Performance Analysis (IPA), which compares the importance of digital competencies perceived by childcare teachers with their own evaluation of their competencies, i.e., the level of performance. As a result of analyzing the survey data of 397 childcare teachers, it was confirmed that the respondents perceived their own competencies (performance) as relatively low compared to the importance of digital competencies. In addition, it was found that in order to foster the digital competencies of childcare teachers, it is an urgent task to include in education and training the production of digital content for teaching and learning of young children, the creation of a digital environment suitable for young children, the management of SNS information, and the collection and analysis of digital data. Tasks that require gradual improvement include a positive attitude toward the production of digital content, the utilization and reconstruction of digital content, the evaluation of virtual/augmented reality content suitable for young children, the use of online communication platforms, the ethical awareness of digital works and communication, the understanding of changes in the digital society, and efforts to foster digital competencies. Finally, it was suggested that the current status and needs of digital competencies of childcare teachers should be specifically reflected when organizing and operating digital education and training programs for the teachers.

Timely, Granular, and Actionable: Designing a Social Listening Platform for Public Health 3.0

Every day, patients access and generate online health content through a variety of channels, creating an ever-expanding sea of digital data. At the same time, proponents of public health have recently called for timely, granular, and actionable data to address a range of public health issues, stressing the need for social listening platforms that can identify and compile this valuable data. Yet previous attempts at social listening in healthcare have yielded mixed results, largely because they have failed to incorporate sufficient context to understand the communications they seek to analyze. Guided by activity theory to design HealthSense, we propose a platform for efficiently sensing and gathering data across the web for real-time analysis to support public health outcomes. HealthSense couples theory-guided content analysis and graph propagation with graph neural networks (GNNs) to assess the relevance and credibility of information, as well as intelligently navigate the complex online channel landscape, leading to significant improvements over existing social listening tools. We demonstrate the value of our artifact in gathering information to support two exemplar public health tasks: (1) performing postmarket drug surveillance for adverse reactions and (2) addressing the opioid crisis by monitoring for potent synthetic opioids released into communities. Our results across data, user, and event experiments show that effective design artifacts can enable better outcomes across both automated and human decision-making contexts, making social listening for public health possible, practical, and valuable. Through our design process, we extend activity theory to address the complexities of modern online communication platforms, where information resides not only in the collection of individual communication activities but also in the complex network of interactions among them.

The unconscious online: An exploration into the emotional experience and behaviours of virtual working

The new normal in the wake of the global Covid pandemic means that more organisations are working virtually. Whilst this new working environment offers opportunities, a particular challenge relates to working together, mediated through technologies, whilst being physically apart. Online communication platforms have emerged as dominant virtual places of social, professional, and educational encounters. Spurred on by the researchers’ experiences of using these platforms at work, an online exploratory research project was developed to examine how the design affordances and constraints of these platforms influence the emotional experiences and behaviours of those using them. The researchers applied their own backgrounds to the study of unconscious processes at work in social systems to the exploration of these platforms. Self‐selecting, psychodynamically informed practitioners were invited to join three online exploratory studies. These pilots aimed to study the conscious and unconscious influence of the online platforms (Zoom and Microsoft Teams) on the groups’ perceptions, emotions, and behaviours. An adaptation of group relations methodology was used to allow processes to develop naturally within carefully designed boundaries of time, space, and roles. Key themes identified from direct observations, using researchers’ free-floating attention and subjective experiences, related to role, identity, and presence.

Ethical Challenges in Digital Communications: Online Privacy, Security, and Responsibility

Social media and online communication platforms have increased significantly in today's digital era. However, these developments raise ethical challenges regarding online privacy, security and responsibility. These issues include data breaches, misuse of personal information, and the spread of inappropriate or misleading content. This research aims to identify and analyze the main ethical challenges in digital communication. Specifically, this research focuses on privacy, data security, and responsibility in sharing and using the information on the Internet. This research aims to develop a framework to address these ethical issues to increase trust and security in digital communications. This research uses a qualitative approach by collecting data through in-depth interviews and document analysis. The results of the study show that there are significant concerns regarding the handling of personal data by large and small platforms. Respondents emphasized the importance of transparency and clarity in privacy policies and the need for user education about online security. The research also identified the need for stricter ethical standards and more effective regulations to protect users. The conclusion of this research is to confirm that ethical challenges in digital communication require severe attention and coordinated action. The proposed framework includes increasing user awareness, strengthening regulations, and developing technologies that support privacy and security. Implementing these recommendations is expected to increase integrity and trust in digital communications and protect individuals' rights online.

Active Chat Monitoring and Suspicious Chat Detection Over Internet

In the digital age, the proliferation of online communication platforms has facilitated unprecedented levels of connectivity and interaction. However, this interconnectedness has also introduced new challenges, particularly in ensuring the safety and security of users in online environments. One critical area of concern is the monitoring and detection of suspicious activities within chat platforms, where malicious actors may engage in harmful behaviors such as cyberbullying, harassment, or illicit activities. This research paper focuses on the development and implementation of active chat monitoring techniques for the detection of suspicious behavior over the internet. By leveraging advancements in natural language processing (NLP), machine learning, and data analytics, this study aims to explore effective methodologies for real-time monitoring and analysis of chat conversations to identify potentially harmful content. The paper will delve into various approaches for detecting suspicious patterns, including keyword analysis, sentiment analysis, and anomaly detection algorithms. Additionally, considerations for privacy, ethics, and legal implications surrounding chat monitoring will be discussed. Ultimately, this research endeavors to contribute to the enhancement of online safety measures by providing insights into the design and implementation of proactive monitoring systems capable of identifying and mitigating risks in virtual communication spaces. Keywords— Active Chat Monitoring, cybersecurity, user experience, digital era, security, user-controlled, effectiveness, evolving threat, Chat content analysis, Threat intelligence.

A New Hybrid Approach for Image Security using Steganography and Encryption

In today's digital age, ensuring the security and confidentiality of image data is paramount, particularly with the proliferation of online communication and storage platforms. This project proposes a hybrid approach for enhancing image security by synergistically integrating encryption and steganography techniques. The combination of these two methods aims to fortify the protection of digital images against unauthorized access and tampering. Encryption ensures the confidentiality of image content by converting it into an unintelligible form using robust cryptographic algorithms. Concurrently, steganography conceals the encrypted data within the image itself, embedding it imperceptibly into the pixels or metadata. The synergy of encryption and steganography not only safeguards the integrity of image data but also adds an additional layer of concealment, making it arduous for adversaries to detect and decipher sensitive information. Through this project, the efficacy of the hybrid approach will be evaluated through experimentation and analysis, with the ultimate goal of providing a comprehensive solution for image security in various applications and contexts.

Active Chat Monitoring and Suspicious Chat Detection Over Internet

In today's digital landscape, the proliferation of online communication platforms has brought about unprecedented opportunities for interaction and collaboration. However, this vast virtual space also presents challenges in ensuring safety and security, particularly concerning the monitoring of chat activities and the detection of suspicious behaviour. This research paper investigates the methods and technologies employed proactive chat monitoring and random chat across the web. The paper begins by examining the importance of monitoring chat platforms to prevent various forms of malicious activities, including cyberbullying, fraud, terrorism, and other illicit behaviours. It then delves into the techniques utilized for real-time monitoring of chat conversations, such as keyword filtering, sentiment analysis, and natural language processing algorithms. Furthermore, the paper explores the principles behind suspicious chat detection, highlighting the indicators of potentially harmful or illegal activities within chat communications. This includes analysing patterns of conversation, identifying anomalous behaviour, and integrating machine learning models to improve detection accuracy. Moreover, the research discusses the ethical considerations and privacy concerns associated with active chat monitoring, emphasizing the need for transparent policies and safeguards to protect user privacy while ensuring effective security measures. Keywords: Active chat monitoring, Suspicious chat detection, Online communication platforms, Cybersecurity, Malicious activities, Keyword filtering, Sentiment analysis, Natural language processing algorithms.

A survey on multi-lingual offensive language detection.

The prevalence of offensive content on online communication and social media platforms is growing more and more common, which makes its detection difficult, especially in multilingual settings. The term "Offensive Language" encompasses a wide range of expressions, including various forms of hate speech and aggressive content. Therefore, exploring multilingual offensive content, that goes beyond a single language, focus and represents more linguistic diversities and cultural factors. By exploring multilingual offensive content, we can broaden our understanding and effectively combat the widespread global impact of offensive language. This survey examines the existing state of multilingual offensive language detection, including a comprehensive analysis on previous multilingual approaches, and existing datasets, as well as provides resources in the field. We also explore the related community challenges on this task, which include technical, cultural, and linguistic ones, as well as their limitations. Furthermore, in this survey we propose several potential future directions toward more efficient solutions for multilingual offensive language detection, enabling safer digital communication environment worldwide.

The Role of Pragmatics in Cross-Cultural Communication

Purpose: The general purpose of this study was to explore the role of pragmatics in cross-cultural communication.
 Methodology: The study adopted a desktop research methodology. Desk research refers to secondary data or that which can be collected without fieldwork. Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in executive’s time, telephone charges and directories. Thus, the study relied on already published studies, reports and statistics. This secondary data was easily accessed through the online journals and library.
 Findings: The findings reveal that there exists a contextual and methodological gap relating to pragmatics in cross-cultural communication. The study provided valuable insights into the pivotal role of pragmatics in facilitating effective communication across diverse cultural contexts. By exploring principles such as speech acts, politeness strategies, and implicature, the research enhanced understanding of how language is used and interpreted in cross-cultural interactions. The findings underscored the importance of pragmatic competence and cultural sensitivity in achieving mutual understanding. Furthermore, the study highlighted the need for incorporating pragmatic awareness training into educational curricula and policymaking efforts to promote cultural inclusivity and cooperation. Overall, the study's contributions deepen our understanding of cross-cultural communication dynamics and offer practical guidance for navigating cultural differences in an interconnected world.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Speech Act theory, Politeness theory and Relevance theory may be used to anchor future studies on the role of pragmatics in cross-cultural communication. The study provided several key recommendations that contributed to both theory and practice in the field of intercultural communication. These recommendations included incorporating pragmatic competence training into educational curricula, implementing cross-cultural training programs in organizations, developing initiatives and policies to promote intercultural understanding, considering cultural factors in online communication platforms, engaging in reflective practices to enhance awareness of cultural differences, and establishing cross-cultural pragmatics as a distinct field of study. These suggestions aimed to enhance individuals' ability to navigate cross-cultural interactions effectively, promote inclusivity and mutual understanding in diverse settings, and advance theoretical knowledge in the field of intercultural communication.

Adoption of technology enabled care to support the management of children and teenagers in rheumatology services: a protocol for a mixed-methods systematic review

IntroductionCOVID-19 catalysed a rapid move to provide care away from the hospital using online communication platforms. Technology enabled care (TEC) continues to be an important driver in progressing future healthcare...

Service delivery and quality assurance in administrative units of higher education institutions during the pandemic

In the challenging backdrop of the pandemic, educational institutions, particularly teacher education entities, found themselves at a crossroads. Administrative services, traditionally seen as the backbone of these institutions, underwent significant shifts. Using a tool inspired by the Area X. Administration section of the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines (AACCUP) instrument and grounded in the principles of Kivistö and Pekkola (2017), this study adopts a mixed-method approach to dissect these transitions. Our research unveils a robust move towards digitization, emphasizing the growing role of online learning and communication platforms in the modern educational business model. However, this digital embrace brings forth challenges, especially in areas like resource allocation, supply chain management, and stakeholder communication, which demand innovative business solutions. The findings underscore the need for ongoing improvement, adaptability, and the integration of modern business practices in the educational sector. This research serves as a roadmap, offering actionable insights for institutions aiming to optimize their administrative functions amidst changing business landscapes. Furthermore, it sets the stage for future researchers, emphasizing the blend of traditional educational values with contemporary business strategies, and encourages a more profound exploration of how educational institutions can navigate and thrive in today’s dynamic business environment.

Toxic Comment Classification based on Personality Traits Using NLP

Concerns about the frequency of harmful remarks have been raised by the growth of online communication platforms, which makes it difficult to create inclusive and safe digital spaces. This study explores the creation of a strong framework that uses machine learning algorithms and natural language processing (NLP) methods to categorise harmful comments. In order to improve the accuracy and comprehensiveness of categorization, the study investigates the integration of personality trait analysis in addition to identifying hazardous language. A wide range of online comments comprised the dataset that was gathered and put through extensive preparation methods such as text cleaning, lemmatization, and feature extraction. To facilitate the training and assessment of machine learning models, textual data was converted into numerical representations by utilising TF-IDF vectorization and word embeddings. Furthermore, personality traits were extracted from comments using sentiment analysis and language clues, which linked linguistic patterns with behavioural inclinations. The study resulted in the development and assessment of complex categorization models that combined features from textual content and inferred personality traits. The findings show encouraging associations between specific personality qualities and the use of toxic language, providing opportunities to identify subtle differences in toxic comment contexts. In order to provide insights into developing more sophisticated and successful methods of reducing toxicity in online discourse, this study outlines the methodology, major findings, and consequences of incorporating personality traits analysis into the classification of toxic comments.

Exploring the Influence of Technology, Lifestyle and Flexible Working Arrangements on Cyber Psychology among Employees at a Malaysian Investment Holding Company

This study explores the relationship between cyberpsychology and its influencing factors among employees at an investment holding company (which will be addressed as XYZ Berhad). Understanding the impact of technology, lifestyle, and flexible working arrangements on employees' psychological well-being and behavior is crucial in today's digital workplace. With the prevalence of remote work and flexible arrangements, it becomes essential to examine how these factors influence employees' cyberpsychology experiences. Using a quantitative correlational approach, data was collected from 123 participants out of a total employee population of 174 at XYZ Berhad. The survey utilized Likert scale items to assess respondents' perspectives on technology usage, lifestyle choices, flexible working arrangements, and cyberpsychology. The findings reveal significant relationships between cyberpsychology and the influencing factors. Technology has a strong positive relationship, indicating its substantial impact on employees' psychological well-being and work behaviors. Similarly, lifestyle choices show a moderate positive relationship, highlighting the relevance of personal lifestyle preferences in shaping cyberpsychological experiences. Additionally, flexible working arrangement displays a medium positive relationship, underscoring the importance of work arrangements in influencing employees' psychological responses. The study recommends implementing awareness programs to help employees manage the psychological effects of technology usage and promoting the usage of online communication platforms to foster a positive organizational culture. Guidelines for employees working under flexible arrangements are advised to support their well-being and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

The Role of Online Communication Platforms in Maintaining Social Connectedness When Face-to-face Communication is Restricted

Social connectedness, an indicator of psychological well-being, requires social interaction and communication among individuals. Prior research usually examined the relationship between the use of online communication channels and the sense of social connectedness under the circumstances where face-to-face communication was readily available. Pandemic provided an excellent setting to study the sole effect of the use of online communication on social connectedness as online communication was not accompanied by in-person communication due to restrictions such as lockdowns. Seizing the opportunity, this study aims at investigating the relationship between the use of online communication platforms and social connectedness at a time when face-to-face communication was not an option and individuals employed online communication channels heavily. To this end, a survey was conducted online on 406 college students in Turkey in November- December 2022 to present retrospective analyses. The findings indicate while face-to-face communication is the prime component to build social connectedness, the use of online communication channels, particularly WhatsApp, social networking sites, video call helped to maintain social bonds among individuals when in-person communication was virtually absent. The research provides insights on how different communication channels can promote social connectedness with varying degrees depending on their social presence.

A numeric-based machine learning design for detecting organized retail fraud in digital marketplaces

Organized retail crime (ORC) is a significant issue for retailers, marketplace platforms, and consumers. Its prevalence and influence have increased fast in lockstep with the expansion of online commerce, digital devices, and communication platforms. Today, it is a costly affair, wreaking havoc on enterprises’ overall revenues and continually jeopardizing community security. These negative consequences are set to rocket to unprecedented heights as more people and devices connect to the Internet. Detecting and responding to these terrible acts as early as possible is critical for protecting consumers and businesses while also keeping an eye on rising patterns and fraud. The issue of detecting fraud in general has been studied widely, especially in financial services, but studies focusing on organized retail crimes are extremely rare in literature. To contribute to the knowledge base in this area, we present a scalable machine learning strategy for detecting and isolating ORC listings on a prominent marketplace platform by merchants committing organized retail crimes or fraud. We employ a supervised learning approach to classify postings as fraudulent or real based on past data from buyer and seller behaviors and transactions on the platform. The proposed framework combines bespoke data preprocessing procedures, feature selection methods, and state-of-the-art class asymmetry resolution techniques to search for aligned classification algorithms capable of discriminating between fraudulent and legitimate listings in this context. Our best detection model obtains a recall score of 0.97 on the holdout set and 0.94 on the out-of-sample testing data set. We achieve these results based on a select set of 45 features out of 58.

Patients' Readiness Towards Teledentistry in the Malaysian Urban Population Attending an Undergraduate Teaching University.

Introduction: COVID-19 disease has resulted in suspension of all nonurgent routine dental treatments. In view of COVID-19 situation, social distancing, movement restriction orders, and affected health care systems, there is an urgent need to resume and deliver oral health care remotely. Hence, alternative means of dental care should be available for both patients and dentists. Therefore, this study aims to assess patients' readiness for teledentistry in Malaysian urban population attending an undergraduate teaching university. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 631 adult patients visiting the Faculty of Dentistry, SEGi University, from January 2020 to May 2021 in Selangor, Malaysia. A validated, self-administered, 5-point Likert scale online questionnaire comprising five domains was administered. (1) Patients' demographics and dental history, (2) patients' access to teledentistry, (3) patients' understanding towards teledentistry, (4) patients' willingness, and (5) barriers in using teledentistry were used to collect the required information. Results: Six hundred and thirty-one (n = 631) participants responded to the questionnaire. Ninety percent of patients were able to connect to Wi-Fi services independently and 77% participants were comfortable using online communication platforms. Seventy-one percent of the participants agreed that video and telephone clinics can reduce chances of infection rather than face-to-face consultation during the pandemic. Fifty-five percent of patients felt that virtual clinics would save time and 60% thought it could reduce travelling costs. Fifty-one percent showed their willingness to use video or telephone clinics when implemented at onsite clinics. Conclusion: Our study shows the readiness of patients to accept teledentistry as an alternative method of oral care if appropriate training and education are provided. The results of this study have prompted an increase in patients' education and shown a need to train clinicians and patients to integrate this technology at SEGi University. This might facilitate unhindered dental consultation and care in all situations.

Global entrepreneurship research and practice in the post‐pandemic world

AbstractSome people have forgotten the recent COVID‐19 pandemic, but for many, the memories are still vivid in terms of the effects of the health crisis on society. Globally, almost all parts of the world had significant changes made to their way of life due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, which included social and economic effects. Many countries closed their international borders for a long period of time, which had a profound influence on the degree of internationalization occurring within these regions. Owing to the need for social distancing, there were rapid changes to digital business practices and the resulting increased usage of online communication platforms. The aim of this editorial is to highlight how global entrepreneurship research and practice in the post‐COVID‐19 world have changed in terms of research and practitioner practices. This is important as we seek to progress society through positive interaction in the business environment. Suggestions for future managerial and academic practices regarding global entrepreneurship are stated.