Stigmergy in Web 2.0: a model for site dynamics

Building Web 2.0 sites does not necessarily ensure the success of the site. We aim to better understand what improves the success of a site by drawing insight from biologically inspired design patterns. Web 2.0 sites provide a mechanism for human interaction enabling powerful intercommunication between massive volumes of users. Early Web 2.0 site providers that were previously dominant are being succeeded by newer sites providing innovative social interaction mechanisms. Understanding what site traits contribute to this success drives research into Web sites mechanics using models to describe the associated social networking behaviour. Some of these models attempt to show how the volume of users provides a self-organising and self-contextualisation of content. One model describing coordinated environments is called stigmergy, a term originally describing coordinated insect behavior. This paper explores how exploiting stigmergy can provide a valuable mechanism for identifying and analysing online user behavior specifically when considering that user freedom of choice is restricted by the provided web site functionality. This will aid our building better collaborative Web sites improving the collaborative processes

Web site structure mining using social network analysis

Purpose – Web sites are typically designed attending to a variety of criteria. However, web site structure determines browsing behavior and way-finding results. The aim of this study is to identify the main profiles of web sites’ organizational structure by modeling them as graphs and considering several social network analysis features. Design/methodology/approach – A case study based on 80 institutional Spanish universities’ web sites has been used for this purpose. For each root domain, two different networks have been considered: the first is the domain network, and the second is the page network. In both cases, several indicators related to social network analysis have been evaluated to characterize the web site structure. Factor analysis provides the statistical methodology to adequately extract the main web site profiles in terms of their internal structure. Findings – This paper allows the categorization of web site design styles and provides general guidelines to assist designers to better identify areas for creating and improving institutional web sites. The findings of this study offer practical implications to web site designers for creating and maintaining an effective web presence, and for improving usability. Research limitations/implications – The research is limited to 80 institutional Spanish universities’ web sites. Other institutional university web sites from different countries can be analyzed, and the conclusions could be compared or enlarged. Originality/value – This paper highlights the importance of the internal web sites structure, and their implications on usability and way-finding results. As a difference to previous research, the paper is focused on the comparison of internal structure of institutional web sites, rather than analyzing the web as a whole or the interrelations among web sitesMinisterio de Educación y Ciencia DPI2007- 60128Junta de Andalucía. Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa P07-TIC-0262

Select Criteria for Evaluating Commercial Web Presence

In this study, we set out to analyze the effectiveness of today’s commercial Web sites, using select criteria considered unique to effective Web design. A random sample of 43 Virginia bank Web sites represented the study. Each site was evaluated based on the same criteria. The results s how fragmentation in Web sites, ranging from those considered “mere presence” to sites that were loaded with multimedia, interactive audio and video, and truly effective customization, speed, and scalability. Few lessons can be learned for improving Web presence on the Internet

Web Design that is Friendly to Older Adults – Effects of Perceptual, Cognitive and Motor Functions and Display Information on Web Navigation Time –

Older internet users are increasing more and more world widely. The information accessibility standard for Web contents (JIS X 8341-3) had been established. Although many researchers are pursuing the usability of Web site, we cannot design a usable Web site only by improving Web pages. One of the reasons is inferred that we didn’t consider perceptual, cognitive, and motor functions especially of older adults in the design of Web pages. The aim of this study was to propose a method to evaluate perceptual, cognitive, and motor ability and to explore the effect of perceptual, cognitive and motor abilities, and display information on Web navigation. We proposed a method to calculate display information on the basis of number of links. It was explored how display information, age, and the test score of perceptual, cognitive, and motor abilities influenced Web navigation time. This effect was examined using a multiple regression analysis. Display information influenced Web navigation performance for both young and older adults. The more the quantity of display information was, the longer the Web navigation time was. In addition to this tendency, the depth of display layer was found to affect the Web navigation time especially for older adults. We found that the perceptual, cognitive, and motor abilities of older adults, in particular, the spatial memory, spatial rotation ability, and mouse operation ability, led to longer Web navigation time. These results implies the necessity of designing Web site for older adults that considers the decline of perceptual, cognitive, and motor ability

The Influence of Web Design and Brand Impression on Purchase Interest of Online Shopping Site OLX.CO.ID

Through the study, the researchers would like to identify the influence of Web Design and Brand Impression on Purchase Interest of the costumers toward the online shopping site OLX.CO.ID. The research is conducted due to the improving interest among the e-commerce businessmen, including the OLX.CO.ID. Within the conduct of the study, the researchers employed two independent variables, namely Web Design and Brand Impression, and one dependent variable, namely Purchase Interest. Then, the respondents for the study were selected by implementing the purposive sampling technique; in total, there were 120 respondents that had been selected for the conduct of the study. The data that had been gathered from the respondents were analysed by using the Partial Least Square (PLS) technique. The results of the study show that Web Design has positive and significant influence on Purchase Interest with the significance value of probability 5.942 and, similarly, Brand Impression has positive and significant influence on Purchase Interest with the significance value of probability 5.059 for the online shopping site OLX.CO.ID. Keyword: Web Design, Brand Impression, Purchase Interest DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/67-07 Publication date: April 30th 202

Analyzing Key Database And Network Issues Of An Institution: A Case Study Of The Proposed MSIS Lab In Dakota State University

The project deals with the implementation of a MSIS lab for Dakota State University. I have divided this project into 3 chapters. The MSIS lab concentrates in various networking and database issues as well as some project management skills and concepts. Chapter 1 of the project report is an outline of the project management skills and the overall concepts of the project. Chapter 2 is based upon the networking concepts in subnetting, Intranet design and performance analysis of NT and web server using ITS 4.0. The key concepts in this report will be in the design aspects of a subnetting of a network using class C network and finding the corresponding network and host addresses using a JavaScript program. This part of the report also tries to list the design considerations on building an intranet with web-enabled features. The main issue will be the creation of a www based web site with a corresponding URL. A DNS name was created for the translation of the host IP to the URL addresses. A similar FTP site was also created for the Intranet. A prototype of this proposed site has been generated by considering our networking course as a pilot project. The other part in this section was in the performance monitoring of an ITS 4.0 web server and some guidelines in improving the performance of the web server. This part also implemented some of the guidelines to improve the performance for an TIS server to host multiple web pages and FTP sites. Analyzing log files has always been a challenge for web administrators as it can generate a lot of details regarding the performance and security features of the web site. Log files traditionally are text based files and can be read easily but as the web sites grow in number, the log files starts to grow in size and in a busy site generating reports and storing them in a sequential manner becomes an arduous task, so if this log file was mapped to a relational database then the storing of the log files will be more ordered and structural. This is helpful in generating reports through queries. The parameters that can be generated by these log files include the client\u27s IP address, login time, page, bytes sent and received. By using efficient SQL statements various reports can be generated. Chapter 3 of the project deals with the database design. This part discusses the need for an efficient backup and recovery system for an ORACLE 8i server. This part also covers the need of a well-tuned ORACLE server. I have also analyzed some tuning parameters for a DSS and OLAP applications using ORACLE

About Being Accessible: Your Communication from a Universal Design Perspective

This session will touch on several aspects of universal design for accessibility, including multiple means of representation, the use of at-tags, and captioning and transcription. Some of the hardware and software tools that help make content more widely accessible will be described, including browse plug-ins that render web site pages in a dyslexia-friendly font. We will touch on the proposed 508 Standards refresh, and offer links to content describing the nature of these changes. Several resources for improving document accessibility will be offered

The Sydney west knowledge portal: Evaluating the growth of a knowledge portal to support translational research

BACKGROUND: The Sydney West Translational Cancer Research Centre is an organization funded to build capacity for translational research in cancer. Translational research is essential for ensuring the integration of best available evidence into practice and for improving patient outcomes. However, there is a low level of awareness regarding what it is and how to conduct it optimally. One solution to addressing this gap is the design and deployment of web-based knowledge portals to disseminate new knowledge and engage with and connect dispersed networks of researchers. A knowledge portal is an web-based platform for increasing knowledge dissemination and management in a specialized area. OBJECTIVE: To measure the design and growth of an web-based knowledge portal for increasing individual awareness of translational research and to build organizational capacity for the delivery of translational research projects in cancer. METHODS: An adaptive methodology was used to capture the design and growth of an web-based knowledge portal in cancer. This involved stakeholder consultations to inform initial design of the portal. Once the portal was live, site analytics were reviewed to evaluate member usage of the portal and to measure growth in membership. RESULTS: Knowledge portal membership grew consistently for the first 18 months after deployment, before leveling out. Analysis of site metrics revealed members were most likely to visit portal pages with community-generated content, particularly pages with a focus on translational research. This was closely followed by pages that disseminated educational material about translational research. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary data from this study suggest that knowledge portals may be beneficial tools for translating new evidence and fostering an environment of communication and collaboration