Popular Sites Research Articles

Crumbled Cookies: Exploring E-commerce Websites? Cookie Policies with Data Protection Regulations

Despite stringent data protection regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and other country-specific laws, numerous websites continue to use cookies to track user activities, raising significant privacy concerns. This study aims to investigate the compliance of e-commerce websites with these regulations from a cookie perspective and explore potential variations in cookie policies across different countries. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of 360 popular e-commerce websites (44,323 cookies) across multiple countries, examining cookie attributes and their potential links to privacy and security breaches. Our findings revealed that 73% of third-party cookies function as tracker cookies, with around 40% breaching lifecycle regulations. Additionally, 85% are vulnerable to potential cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, while only 349 out of 44,323 adhere to robust measures aimed at combating cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks. We also discovered instances of masquerading cookies, where third-party cookies disguise themselves as first-party cookies, enabling unauthorized user tracking without consent. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to comprehensively analyze the compliance of e-commerce websites with the GDPR, CCPA, and country-specific regulations concerning cookie policies across different jurisdictions. Our findings highlight the urgent need for uniform and consistent cookie policies across websites and jurisdictions, as well as robust enforcement mechanisms and increased transparency to ensure compliance with data protection regulations. This research contributes to the ongoing discourse on privacy protection and underscores the importance of addressing the challenges posed by insecure cookie practices in the e-commerce sector.

Privacy practices of popular websites in Saudi Arabia

AbstractPreserving users’ privacy while exploring the Internet is a continuous challenge. Regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, and PDPL have been introduced to counter privacy-invasive trends. This paper introduces a framework for inspecting the state of popular websites in preserving the privacy of their visitors. The framework can be used to analyze websites in both Arabic and English languages. We use it to report the current state of popular websites in Saudi Arabia. We examined the state of these websites three months before the official enforcement of the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL). Therefore, the paper shows the degree of alignment for popular websites in Saudi Arabia with PDPL. We analyze 723 websites and explore their utilization of cookies. We examined whether these websites inform their visitors of cookie usage and obtain visitors’ consent. We assess whether these websites detail their privacy policies to their visitors. Our results demonstrated that approximately 85% of websites that use cookies don’t display cookie banners or policies to their visitors, potentially depriving users from their PDPL-specified rights such as being informed of data collection. Our analysis shows that 39% of the scanned websites do not follow the PDPL requirement of providing privacy policies, precluding users from knowing how their collected data will be handled and how they can exercise their rights under PDPL. In summary, our analysis highlights alarming practices that can potentially violate PDPL requirements.

The structure and content of the religious tourism destination image construct: an exploratory netnography of travelers’ reviews of Makkah and Medina

Purpose This paper aims to examine the structure and content of religious tourism destination image through the reviews of visitors to Makkah and Medina, two of the world’s most popular Muslim pilgrimage sites. Design/methodology/approach This is an exploratory netnographic study of the 913 reviews posted on TripAdvisor from 2018 to 2022. The structure (dimensions and attributes) and content (variables) comprising the construct of religious tourism destination image emerge through manual thematic analysis and confirmed through content analysis. Findings Religious tourism destination image is a three-dimensional – cognitive, affective and conative – construct comprising both religion-specific, generally sacred and secular variables in a single, indivisible crystallization of experience. Practical implications Destination marketing organizations and marketers of tourism enterprises should regularly analyze visitor reviews posted on social media and carefully manage all variables of the religious tourism destination image, specifically stressing the religious aspect. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic analysis of the structure and content of religious tourism destination image based on detailed consumer evaluations and unprompted storytelling.

Типы оформления заимствованных слов в якутоязычных интернет-источниках

This article is devoted to one of the current problems of the spelling of the modern Yakut language – the problem of spelling words borrowed from the Russian language. The purpose of the study is to identify the types of writing typical for spelling of loanwords in the Yakut language. The materials for the analysis were Yakut language publications on the Internet. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the very formulation of the problem and in the fact that it is the first study of loanwords in the texts of popular Internet sites in modern linguistics and is aimed at theoretically substantiating the peculiarities of spelling and trends at the present stage of the development of the literary language. The results showed that the loanwords spelled with a partial violation of the phonetic norms of the Yakut language and preserving the shape of the prototype do not comply with spelling rules and the dictionary and lead to loosening of its spelling norms.

The IPCC in the hybrid public sphere: divergent responses to climate mitigation solutions in mainstream and social media

In April 2022 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its report on the mitigation of climate change, which included detailed discussion of the wide range of solutions at the personal, societal and governmental level needed to reduce emissions. The report generated extensive societal debate and interest in mainstream and social media. Using manual text analysis, we examined 66 articles on more than 20 popular English-language online news sites in the UK and USA and the 56 most shared posts or tweets on Facebook and Twitter about the report. First, we found that the mainstream media faithfully reported the IPCC’s priority messages, and often included the IPCC’s own critique of some solutions, such as Carbon Dioxide Removal, as compared to critiques from other sources. The coverage represented a sharp break with the historical tradition of focusing on the negative, disaster-focused impacts of climate change in favor of more positive, solutions-based reporting. Secondly, in sharp contrast, many of the most widely-shared social media posts did not closely follow the IPCC’s main messages. Less than a quarter of the posts contained the summary message of the report, and about half mentioned no solutions at all. Instead they focused on the direness of the situation and the urgency with which action needs to be taken. Finally, there was a very low presence of voices from the organized climate countermovement, who often question the need to take far-reaching and rapid mitigation action. We discuss the significance of our results for future research and for practical action.

“Like shagging a dead fish”: misogyny and consent in online sex buyers’ reviews

ABSTRACT The subject of this paper is sex buyers’ (or punters’) reviews published on a popular and long-established escort review site in the UK. It examines these reviews in light of the legal definition of consent in England and Wales and within a framework of misogyny. The social implications of this online phenomenon are explored in relation to “review culture”, the gig economy, and the impact of big tech platforms. Through feminist digital ethnography, combined with large-scale discourse and corpus analysis, it reveals prominent discursive patterns within this online community, as well as ideological stances shared with other groups in the Manosphere. The findings show that reviewers express the most misogynistic sentiments when women disrupt their fantasies, thus pointing to the extent this digital technology grants them power over women’s freedom in the sex industry. This study contributes to existing research on sex buyers’ communities by conceptualising punters’ reviews as misogynistic tools that keep women subordinated to men, and by sparking a critical debate about the effectiveness of the consent framework, versus a misogyny-based framework, in determining sexual violence.

Performance of Artificial Intelligence Chatbots in Responding to Patient Queries Related to Traumatic Dental Injuries: A Comparative Study.

Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have become increasingly prevalent in recent years as potential sources of online healthcare information for patients when making medical/dental decisions. This study assessed the readability, quality, and accuracy of responses provided by three AI chatbots to questions related to traumatic dental injuries (TDIs), either retrieved from popular question-answer sites or manually created based on the hypothetical case scenarios. A total of 59 traumatic injury queries were directed at ChatGPT 3.5, ChatGPT 4.0, and Google Gemini. Readability was evaluated using the Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) scores. To assess response quality and accuracy, the DISCERN tool, Global Quality Score (GQS), and misinformation scores were used. The understandability and actionability of the responses were analyzed using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Printed Materials (PEMAT-P) tool. Statistical analysis included Kruskal-Wallis with Dunn's post hoc test for non-normal variables, and one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post hoc test for normal variables (p < 0.05). The mean FKGL and FRE scores for ChatGPT 3.5, ChatGPT 4.0, and Google Gemini were 11.2 and 49.25, 11.8 and 46.42, and 10.1 and 51.91, respectively, indicating that the responses were difficult to read and required a college-level reading ability. ChatGPT 3.5 had the lowest DISCERN and PEMAT-P understandability scores among the chatbots (p < 0.001). ChatGPT 4.0 and Google Gemini were rated higher for quality (GQS score of 5) compared to ChatGPT 3.5 (p < 0.001). In this study, ChatGPT 3.5, although widely used, provided some misleading and inaccurate responses to questions about TDIs. In contrast, ChatGPT 4.0 and Google Gemini generated more accurate and comprehensive answers, making them more reliable as auxiliary information sources. However, for complex issues like TDIs, no chatbot can replace a dentist for diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care.

Application of Fuzzy - AHP - Topsis Model Integration to Select Green C2C Websites in Online Shopping

In today's digital age, online shopping has become an indispensable part of daily life. The strong development of e-commerce platforms helps consumers easily search and choose products from around the world with just a few clicks. Making purchasing decisions is not simple when buyers have to consider many factors such as price, quality, brand and many other factors. To support smart consumers in shopping, the study applied the Fuzzy - AHP - Topsis integrated model to evaluate purchasing criteria on 4 popular C2C websites: Shopee, Tiki, Lazada and Sendo.

Analytical skills for accounting students in a data-driven job market: Australian evidence

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the essential analytical skills required by accounting students to succeed in a rapidly evolving data-driven job market. Specifically, the study explores the role of data analytics, visualisation and software proficiency (e.g. Excel, Power BI) in the contemporary Australian accounting industry. The scope extends to providing recommendations for academia, professional bodies and employers on how accounting education can better align with the dynamic needs of the business environment by integrating these skills into curricula and professional development programmes. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected from Australian job listings incorporating accounting and data analytics tasks from popular job advertisement websites such as Seek, Indeed and Monster. Using the keyword “Data Analyst”, information was gathered on skills demanded, technology proficiency, industry sectors, professional qualifications and salary expectations. The data set comprised 73 observations across various job requirements and characteristics variables. Findings Critical analytical skills sought by accounting professionals in the current job market include extracting insights from big data, solving complex business problems, effective communication and data visualisation. Proficiency in tools like Microsoft Excel, SQL and Power BI is paramount. Originality/value This study enriches the literature by providing comprehensive insights into the contemporary demands for accounting analytics skills. It highlights the importance of integrating technology into accounting education and the varying skill requirements across industries. Additionally, it offers implications for professional qualifications and underscores the necessity for continuous monitoring and adaptation of accounting curricula to meet evolving industry needs.

A Study on Data Scraping of Cosmetic Products from E-Commerce Website

The popularity of cosmetic products has snowballed over the past few years. Hence, there have been many more brands and makeup products on the market, especially in the online market. To analyze the online marketing trends in the Indian cosmetic industry, we have used some of the most popular Indian websites like Amazon, Flipkart, Ulta and Sephora to scrape the product data. This dataset also contains the ingredients of these products, which can be further analyzed

Chinese Consumers' Satisfaction with Online Shopping Platforms

With the rapid development of Internet technology, China's online shopping industry is also expanding rapidly, becoming an important part of global e-commerce. This article investigates Chinese consumers' satisfaction levels with Taobao, Jingdong (JD.com), and Pinduoduo, three of the country's most popular e-commerce sites. The article reviews the historical development of these platforms, their market positioning, and some of the unique spending habits of Chinese consumers. This paper analyzes several key factors that affect consumer satisfaction, including delivery accuracy, price, information quality, payment convenience, and security. The way that these aspects are handled by each platform greatly affects the buying experience of users. Technological innovations on platforms such as Taobao, such as AI-driven recommendations, have dramatically improved user experience and satisfaction. Jingdong has improved its delivery efficiency and customer satisfaction by building its own logistics system, and Pinduoduo's logistics are both slightly inadequate in comparison. However, Jingdong's logistics during peak hours still needs to be improved. The paper also points out that while price is a very important factor for consumers when choosing a platform, Pinduoduo still needs to find a balance between low price and service quality. Lastly, future studies can explore how cross-border e-commerce and the behavioral inclinations of various user groups could impact the platform's subsequent development stage. These findings suggest that continued attention to these factors can provide online shopping platforms with strategies to increase consumer satisfaction and improve service quality, as well as provide new ideas for academic research.

Engaging men aged 18-24 in Learning Development through social media

Our usage data demonstrates that men aged 18-24 have lower rates of engagement with Learning Development. Furthermore, statistics show that men are more likely to drop out of university than their female counterparts (Hillman and Robinson, 2016). A possible reason for this could be the social stigma around seeking help that generally effects men. In contrast, evidence suggests men aged 18-24 engage with social media readily; the most popular sites being Instagram, with around 14 million users in 2023, and TikTok, which has around 9.1 million users. Data from January 2023 suggests that the number of men engaging with social media is significantly increasing (Kemp, 2023). Learning Development Student Mentors at the University of Northampton have been exploring how social media use can be harnessed to increase engagement with our services. Holding a unique position to be change agents as they are active both as students and staff members, they enable Learning Development to create links with ‘hard to reach’ students such as men aged 18-24. This talk will discuss the interview findings in relation to men’s use of, and engagement with, social media and the types of content with which men engage, and considers how Learning Development might use these insights to improve engagement with our services. This session would be of interest to Learning Developers who wish to discuss and explore engaging men aged 18-24 using social media.

A Study on the Correlation between Danmaku Videos and Audiences’ Repetitive Viewing Behaviours - A Case Study of Bilibili Danmaku Video Network Videos

With the rise of online video platforms, Danmaku videos have steadily gained popularity among young people. Danmaku’s instantaneous, synchronous, targeted, and cumulative features offer viewers a novel viewing experience, improve the social and interactive aspects of video views, and even impact the frequency with which users watch videos again. As a popular video website at present, Bilibili provides rich video content for audiences and supports the Danmaku function. This study targets Bilibili Danmaku videos and focuses on how Danmaku videos affect the audience’s viewing motivation and experience as the research theme. Descriptive statistics and result analysis were utilized in this study to investigate the reasons behind repeat viewing and the effect of the Danmaku on the viewing experience. Questionnaires were employed to gather viewing data from video audiences in the Bilibili life division. According to the findings of the study, Danmaku greatly improves the overall viewing experience for viewers as well as their enjoyment of the show and sense of community. The study concludes that Danmaku facilitates the audience’s behavioral decisions of repetitive viewing to a certain extent. This study provides an empirical analysis to explore the role of Danmaku in video viewing behavior and makes strategic recommendations for video platforms to improve user experience and foster community engagement.

When TCM debate meets Covid-19 discourse

Abstract The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed medical discourse to the forefront of everyday communication, but limited scholarly attention has been given to its intersection with social-mediated language use in the Chinese context. From a corpus-pragmatic view, we examined textual data collected from Zhihu, the most popular Chinese community question-answering site. Our analysis focused on the linguistic mechanism of evidential expression in social-mediated debates on Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Within the realm of medical scientific discussion, we identified a prevailing epistemic stance of doubt and uncertainty towards the efficacy of TCM, emphasising its socio-political significance. We also demonstrated how the ‘source of knowledge’ value and the ‘speaker commitment’ value of evidentiality interact at the semantic-pragmatic interface. Our findings shed light on a promising research trajectory for sociolinguistic intervention in the formal, descriptive line of evidentiality research, thus, advancing existing corpus pragmatics literature on evidentiality and epistemics in social-mediated communication.

Blurring the lines: the vague boundary between mainstream and deviant internet pornography tags for at-risk viewers

ABSTRACT Illegal material is increasingly appearing on popular mainstream websites. Many commentators worry about the impact of such material on adolescents' psycho-sexual development and the potential for some legal pornography to act as a gateway to child sexual exploitation material for users of any age. In this study, we collected publicly available data from a popular legal pornography website to assess the risk of adolescent exposure to content that may hinder healthy psycho-sexual development. We analysed over 27 million customer searches involving 149 video tags from this site. Five international experts on the effects of pornography rated the tags, categorising them into five overlapping genres: mainstream, incestuous, underage, aggressive and non-consensual. They also assessed the potential risk each genre posed. Our analysis found a significant positive correlation between the harm ratings and the frequency of tags used as search terms. Additionally, eleven of the twelve tags with the highest mean risk scores involved potential underage and/or incestuous content. This study highlights a concerning relationship between the harm ratings of various pornographic genres and their popularity as search terms. While exploratory, these results emphasise the need for regulatory measures to address the presence of harmful material on mainstream websites. PRACTICE IMPACT STATEMENT The study has practical implications for the regulation of potentially harmful pornography by legal pornography sites. The sites should (a) control the use of tags and how new tags are developed in order to prevent content creators from advertising potentially illegal material, (b) vet all content before it is uploaded for public consumption, and (c) implement screening systems to retrospectively find and eradicate all illegal or harmful content already in their collection.

Impact of Ad Blockers on Computer Power Consumption while Web Browsing: A Comparative Analysis

This study explores the impact of various ad blockers on power consumption during web browsing, focusing on different types of online content. By analyzing power use across ten popular websites, the study assesses the performance of five widely utilized ad blockers: AdBlock, AdBlock Plus, uBlock, uBlock Origin, and uBlock Origin Lite. Power consumption was measured under controlled conditions, comparing scenarios with and without ad blockers to gain insight into their efficiency. The findings indicate substantial differences in power savings, with some ad blockers significantly reducing power usage, particularly on media-heavy sites, while others unexpectedly increased consumption under certain conditions. The study underscores the potential of ad blockers to enhance power efficiency in digital environments, highlighting the importance of optimizing ad-blocking techniques to reduce the environmental impact of online activities. Through comprehensive analysis and comparison, this research offers insights into selecting effective ad blockers to minimize power consumption, promoting more sustainable web browsing practices.

The Impact of Mothers’ Smartphone Use, eHealth Literacy, Maternal Role Performance Confidence, and Online Social Support on Health Promotion Behavior for Infants and Toddlers

Background: This study aimed to identify the factors influencing health promotion behaviors for infants and toddler, focusing on the time spent by mothers using smartphone, eHealth literacy, maternal role performance confidence, and online social support.Methods: This study surveyed 136 women who gave birth to a child in 2023. For this study, recruitment announcements were made on popular parenting websites. Multiple regression analysis was performed to identify the factors affecting health promotion behaviors.Results: The mean age of the participants was 33.8 years, and the mean age of the children was 13.3 months old. Mothers spent 20.2 hours weekly on smartphone to access health information. A total of 86.7% of the respondents indicated that they primarily used the Internet to make health decisions. Factors that influenced health promotion behaviors were role performance confidence (β=0.54, P&lt;0.001), eHealth literacy (β=0.18, P=0.015), online social support (β=0.16, P=0.022), and time spent on smartphone (β=-0.17, P=0.006), with an explanatory power of 51.3% (F=29.43, P&lt;0.001).Conclusions: To improve the health promotion behaviors of mothers for their infants and young children, it is believed that interventions that increase confidence in their roles, online social support, and eHealth literacy are required, and that smartphone screen time should be limited. These baseline data can guide the development of effective intervention programs to improve healthcare for infants and toddlers.

Comparative analysis of the availability of popular social networking sites

In the era of growing number of Internet users and the importance of social media, ensuring the accessibility of these platforms for all audiences has become a crucial aspect of digital inclusion. This article presents a study on the accessibility of Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok using Google Lighthouse and eye tracking. Two hypotheses were analyzed: H1, assuming a relationship between accessibility scores and the time to the first eye fixation on key elements of social networks, and H2, suggesting a relationship between accessibility and performance. Eye tracking research on a sample of 15 people showed that high accessibility does not always translate to ease of use, and no significant correlation between accessibility and platform performance was found.

&lt;em&gt;Recetas de las Américas&lt;/em&gt;: A Case Study in Hugo Static Site Generator for Bilingual Web Publishing

This article describes Recetas de las Américas, a static web project for historic newspaper recipes made with the static site generator Hugo. Static sites offer opportunities for robust online publishing without large computational, financial, or technical resources but are not without their own challenges and constraints. This paper presents Recetas de las Américas, discusses the place of static sites in the context of minimal computing, and examines the utility of Hugo for multilingual online publishing, including comparison between Hugo and other static site generators. Static publishing follows minimal computing principles and is a valuable tool for increasing access to digital publishing. Recently, static websites have experienced a renaissance thanks to the development of static site generators such as Jekyll, Hugo, Gatsby, 11ty, and Next.js among others which automate the tedious process of creating each static webpage. Unlike some other popular static site generators, Hugo’s multilingual capabilities are built-in, decreasing dependencies and complexity. This further lowers barriers to multilingual scholarly publishing, potentially increasing participation by historically marginalized communities as publishers and readers. Recetas de las Américas is a valuable case study in using the static site generator Hugo to publish a bilingual Spanish/English website. By sharing our workflow and lessons learned we hope to help others create their own multilingual static websites.

The Role of English Language Skills in the Tourism Industry in the 4.0 Era in Kuningan District, West Java Province

Through communication media, English plays a significant role in the sustainable tourism sector with the goal of promoting foreign travel, service, effective communication between foreign visitors and tourism actors, and the surrounding community, all of which are ultimately related to the growth of local tourism in the industrial era's sustainable tourism sector. 4.0 Tourist actors need to be fluent in English, especially in the vernacular, which includes basic discussion, linguistic proficiency, and basic conversation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the advantages of English- speaking culture in West Java Province's sustainable tourism sector during the Industrial Era 4.0. Descriptive qualitative analysis is the analytical technique employed. This study demonstrates the necessity of English-speaking culture in Kunuingan District, West Java Province's sustainable tourism industry in the industrial era 4.0 in order to promote the province's local tourist destinations overseas, increase the number of foreign visitors, and facilitate English-language communication. The ability to speak effectively in English is crucial for both those who work in the tourism business and those who live near popular tourist sites.