The New News: Journalism We Want and Need

Economic pressures on one hand and continuing democratization of news on the other have already changed the news picture in Chicago, as elsewhere in the U.S. The Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times are in bankruptcy, and local broadcast news programs also face economic pressures. Meanwhile, it seems every week brings a new local news entrepreneur from Gapers Block to Beachwood Reporter to Chi-Town Daily News to Windy Citizen to The Printed Blog.In response to these changes, the Knight Foundation is actively supporting a national effort to explore innovations in how information, especially at the local community level, is collected and disseminated to ensure that people find the information they need to make informed decisions about their community's future. The Chicago Community Trust is fortunate to have been selected as a partner working with the Knight Foundation in this effort through the Knight Community Information Challenge. For 94 years, the Trust has united donors to create charitable resources that respond to the changing needs of our community -- meeting basic needs, enriching lives and encouraging innovative ways to improve our neighborhoods and communities.Understanding how online information and communications are meeting, or not, the needs of the community is crucial to the Trust's project supported by the Knight Foundation. To this end, the Trust commissioned the Community Media Workshop to produce The New News: Journalism We Want and Need. We believe this report is a first of its kind resource offering an inventory and assessment of local news coverage for the region by utilizing the interactive power of the internet. Essays in this report also provide insightful perspectives on the opportunities and challenges

User generated content for IMS-based IPTV

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.Web 2.0 services have been on the rise due to improved bandwidth availability. Users can now connect to the internet with a variety of portable devices which are capable of performing multiple tasks. Due to this, services such as Voice over IP (VoIP), presence, social networks, instant messaging (IM) and Internet Protocol television (IPTV) to mention but a few, started to emerge...This thesis proposed a framework that will offer user-generated content on an IMS-Based IPTV and the framework will include a personalised advertising system..

The future of the past: inherent atmospheres

This dissertation is an attempt to extract architecture from the site itself. Michelangelo, the Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer, famously said, Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. He clearly understood his role as the vessel by which an idea came to life in the physical world. In this light, the chosen site is treated much like a block of marble in the hands of a sculptor (the architect) and this dissertation is the documentation of the slow shaping, polishing, and final revealing of an idea. The design is conducted within the speculative future of the Breakwater in Cape Town Harbour. Two main interests are outlined: 1. Landscape: a desire to better understand architecture as the mediator between man and nature, essentially, and to view landscape as architecture and architecture as landscape through the dissolution of convention and the celebration of the imagination. Architectural space is treated as an extension of the site. 2. Rebirth: waste, as a by-product of contemporary consumer culture, is defined as something which no longer has value, something which is superfluous. The technological arm of this investigation is focused on the process of spatially re-imagining the breakwater site through the use de-constructed shipping vessels (machines which have become outdated and can no longer function in the post-industrial/information age). The main focus on landscape and rebirth filters through into the design of the Iziko Cape Town Maritime Museum to accurately represent the project's development from its theoretical founding to its speculative architectural resolution. Overall, this dissertation is focused on pushing the boundaries of spatial experience through the adaptation and re-imagining of a decommissioned ship. We know very well how to make good buildings which are comfortable and comply with council and environmental regulations. This endeavour is aimed at exploring new possibilities

Implications of Computational Cognitive Models for Information Retrieval

This dissertation explores the implications of computational cognitive modeling for information retrieval. The parallel between information retrieval and human memory is that the goal of an information retrieval system is to find the set of documents most relevant to the query whereas the goal for the human memory system is to access the relevance of items stored in memory given a memory probe (Steyvers & Griffiths, 2010). The two major topics of this dissertation are desirability and information scent. Desirability is the context independent probability of an item receiving attention (Recker & Pitkow, 1996). Desirability has been widely utilized in numerous experiments to model the probability that a given memory item would be retrieved (Anderson, 2007). Information scent is a context dependent measure defined as the utility of an information item (Pirolli & Card, 1996b). Information scent has been widely utilized to predict the memory item that would be retrieved given a probe (Anderson, 2007) and to predict the browsing behavior of humans (Pirolli & Card, 1996b). In this dissertation, I proposed the theory that desirability observed in human memory is caused by preferential attachment in networks. Additionally, I showed that documents accessed in large repositories mirror the observed statistical properties in human memory and that these properties can be used to improve document ranking. Finally, I showed that the combination of information scent and desirability improves document ranking over existing well-established approaches

Trusted Computing and Secure Virtualization in Cloud Computing

Large-scale deployment and use of cloud computing in industry is accompanied and in the same time hampered by concerns regarding protection of data handled by cloud computing providers. One of the consequences of moving data processing and storage off company premises is that organizations have less control over their infrastructure. As a result, cloud service (CS) clients must trust that the CS provider is able to protect their data and infrastructure from both external and internal attacks. Currently however, such trust can only rely on organizational processes declared by the CS provider and can not be remotely verified and validated by an external party. Enabling the CS client to verify the integrity of the host where the virtual machine instance will run, as well as to ensure that the virtual machine image has not been tampered with, are some steps towards building trust in the CS provider. Having the tools to perform such verifications prior to the launch of the VM instance allows the CS clients to decide in runtime whether certain data should be stored- or calculations should be made on the VM instance offered by the CS provider. This thesis combines three components -- trusted computing, virtualization technology and cloud computing platforms -- to address issues of trust and security in public cloud computing environments. Of the three components, virtualization technology has had the longest evolution and is a cornerstone for the realization of cloud computing. Trusted computing is a recent industry initiative that aims to implement the root of trust in a hardware component, the trusted platform module. The initiative has been formalized in a set of specifications and is currently at version 1.2. Cloud computing platforms pool virtualized computing, storage and network resources in order to serve a large number of customers customers that use a multi-tenant multiplexing model to offer on-demand self-service over broad network. Open source cloud computing platforms are, similar to trusted computing, a fairly recent technology in active development. The issue of trust in public cloud environments is addressed by examining the state of the art within cloud computing security and subsequently addressing the issues of establishing trust in the launch of a generic virtual machine in a public cloud environment. As a result, the thesis proposes a trusted launch protocol that allows CS clients to verify and ensure the integrity of the VM instance at launch time, as well as the integrity of the host where the VM instance is launched. The protocol relies on the use of Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for key generation and data protection. The TPM also plays an essential part in the integrity attestation of the VM instance host. Along with a theoretical, platform-agnostic protocol, the thesis also describes a detailed implementation design of the protocol using the OpenStack cloud computing platform. In order the verify the implementability of the proposed protocol, a prototype implementation has built using a distributed deployment of OpenStack. While the protocol covers only the trusted launch procedure using generic virtual machine images, it presents a step aimed to contribute towards the creation of a secure and trusted public cloud computing environment

Algarve online destination image: emotion abstraction on tripadvisor

To gain and maintain their competitiveness, destinations should have a strong and positive Destination Image. With the expansion of Web 2.0., social media and travel platforms it has become of foremost importance to acknowledge the strength online travel reviews (OTRs) have. Tourism generated content (TGC) can influence the choice of a destination and therefore shape the online destination image (Liu et al., 2020). The aim of this study is to identify and explore the theoretical and empirical state of the art regarding online destination image. To do so, systematic quantitative literature review (SQLR) has been selected as analysis method. Tripadvisor has been chosen as the main OTR platform since it is the world’s largest travel platform. After SQLR took place, the initial selection criteria identified 173 publications of which, after screening process, 22 final documents have been selected to proceed for further review. Issues addressed were commented throughout next contexts: Information sources; Dimensions of online Destination Image; Emotion abstraction in OTRs; Time and space effect on Destination Image; Stakeholders regarding Destination Image and Unique attributes of Destination Image. After detailed consideration next major findings were addressed: (i) organic information sources (TGC), (ii) (in)congruency of projected and perceived image (iii) Residents as “third side” on a “demand-supply” dichotomy, (iv) shift in dimensions of Destination Image (DI). As well, practical implications have been found. DMOs and marketiers should take into account organic information sources e.g. TGC as they can help them to act timely and enhance positive images of tourism destinations. Moreover, TGC can help them to bridge the gap between projected and perceived image that tourists have of a destination. In addition, enhancing unique attributes of toursim destination with the help of sentiments, especially nostalgia can evoke in tourists positive emotions and therefore positive Destination Image.Para ganhar e manter a sua competitividade, os destinos devem ter uma imagem de destino forte e positiva. A imagem de destino é um conceito complexo e multidimensional e um dos tópicos mais estudados na literatura de turismo. A expansão da Web 2.0., das redes sociais e das plataformas de viagens, veio acentuar a importância das avaliações de viagens on-line (OTRs – online travel reviews). O conteúdo gerado pelo turismo (TGC – tourism generated content) pode influenciar a escolha de um destino e, portanto, moldar a respetiva imagem online (Liu et al., 2020). O objetivo do estudo é analisar a literatura mais recente sobre imagem de destino online. Deste modo, o método de análise selecionado foi o da revisão sistemática e quantitativa da literatura (SQLR – systematic quantitative literature review). Para o efeito, escolheuse o Tripadvisor como a principal plataforma (OTRs) por ser a maior plataforma de viagens do mundo, que ajuda mensalmente 460 milhões de turistas a fazer da sua viagem, a melhor viagem (Tripadvisor, 2022). Foi definido o objetivo específico do estudo e as questões de pesquisa: -Identificar e explorar - No que respeita à Imagem do Destino manifestada nas revisões de turismo online, qual a literatura mais recente? - Quais são os principais elementos da imagem de destino online no Tripadvisor? Procedeu-se à revisão sistemática quantitativa da literatura (SQLR), pelo facto de este método permitir que uma grande quantidade de pesquisas de literatura sejam sistematizadas, abrangentes e com menos desvios à identificação do conhecimento empírico atual (Pickering et. al., 2015). Foram critérios de inclusão na seleção de literatura, todos os artigos publicados entre 2015-2021, em língua inglesa, e que incluíssem as palavras-chave “Imagem de destino” e “Tripadvisor” para a seleção de literatura. Foram usadas duas bases de dados, Scopus e Web of Science (WoS), e identificadas 173 publicações de acordo com os critérios iniciais. Após o processo de triagem, 22 documentos finais foram selecionados para prosseguir com a revisão. Com base nos artigos identificados com os critérios de elegibilidade (22), o resultado do SQLR forneceu uma visão geral das características encontradas no tópico revisto, da imagem de destino, no contexto online no Tripadvisor. Os resultados do SQLR revelaram a distribuição geográfica por país de afiliação dos autores, destinos selecionados, autores, jornais, número de citações, abordagens metodológicas, seleção de dados e técnica de análise de dados. Em relação à imagem de Destino online no Tripadvisor, as questões abordadas foram comentadas ao longo dos próximos contextos: fontes de informação; dimensões da imagem de destino online; abstração de emoções em OTRs; efeito de tempo e espaço na imagem de destino; partes interessadas em relação à imagem de destino e atributos exclusivos da imagem de destino. Após uma análise detalhada, foram abordados os seguintes resultados principais: (i) fontes de informação orgânica (TGC), (ii) (in)congruência da imagem projetada e percebida (iii) Residentes como “terceiro lado” numa dicotomia “procura-oferta”, ( iv) deslocamento nas dimensões do DI. As fontes de informação orgânicas mais detalhadas são as mais frequentes encontradas no TGC no Tripadvisor e estão marcadas como fontes de informação orgânicas solicitadas e não solicitadas (Ferrer-Rosell & Marine-Roig, 2020; Garay & Cànoves, 2016; Garay & Cànoves, 2017; Kladou & Mavragani, 2015; Llodrà-Riera et al., 2015) e os resultados vão ao encontro da classificação de fontes de informação do Gartner (1993). Além disso, as fontes orgânicas parecem ser mais fidedignas uma vez que as pessoas confiam mais nelas, independentemente de serem de pessoas familiares, no caso da família e amigos, ou de conteúdo gerado pelo utilizador/viagem, que parece ter o mesmo efeito. Além disso, para ter uma imagem de Destino forte, é importante ter uma imagem projetada e prevista correspondente. Quanto maior for a diferença/lacuna entre as diferentes fontes de informação, maior será a inconsistência entre a imagem prevista e a projetada, o que pode, no final, levar a turistas insatisfeitos com sentimentos negativos em relação à imagem do Destino. A sugestão é acrescentar (in)congruência à classificação do Gartner (1993) (Ferrer-Rosell & Marine-Roig, 2020; Koufodontis & Gaki, 2020a; Liu et al., 2020; Marine-Roig & Ferrer-Rosell, 2018). Também foi destacada a importância dos moradores locais, pois são cocriadores de imagem. Os moradores locais são geralmente os primeiros a estarem em contato com os turistas, pois podem atuar como prestadores de serviços diretamente no destino turístico ou online nas redes de comunicação social ou na plataforma OTR, como o Tripadvisor. Sugere-se que os moradores locais sejam adicionados como uma nova fonte aos modelos tradicionais de criação de imagem em relação à oferta de um e do lado da procura de outro, por exemplo. Tasci & Gartner (2007) (Garay & Cànoves 2016; Garay & Cànoves, 2017; Smith et al., 2018). Outra coisa que tem sido sugerida é uma mudança do modelo cognitivo-afetivo-conativo das dimensões da imagem para um modelo mais detalhado de Pocok et. al. (1978) que utiliza o modelo designativo-apreciador-avaliativo. Como a dimensão designativa é composta por componentes espaciais e temporais, o próprio modelo pode ser útil para medição de espaço e tempo (Marine-Roig, 2017). Além disso, foram encontradas implicações práticas. Uma das principais implicações é que os DMOs e profissionais de marketing devem ter em conta as fontes de informações orgânicas, como o exemplo do TGC, que pode ajudar a agir em tempo útil e melhorar as imagens positivas dos destinos turísticos. Além disso, o TGC pode ajudar a preencher a lacuna entre a imagem projetada que estão a tentar transmitir e a imagem prevista que os turistas têm de um destino. Além de melhorar os atributos únicos do destino turístico com a ajuda de sentimentos, especialmente a nostalgia, pode evocar no turista emoções positivas e, portanto, imagem positiva do destino. Além disso, sabendo que a imagem do Destino pode mudar ao longo do tempo e do espaço e também durante a crise, os DMOs avaliam suas estratégias de gestão de crise. Existem também algumas limitações para o estudo. Embora o SQLR seja uma forma eficaz de analisar a literatura de forma mais eficaz e abrangente, no caso deste estudo existem algumas melhorias a serem feitas. Como um dos critérios incluídos e elegíveis foi o Tripadvisor, seria interessante ver os resultados realizados em outras redes sociais e plataformas de OTRs como: Booking, Airbnb, Facebook, Instagram etc. talvez fosse melhor conferir o período de tempo ou expandir o período de tempo por, pelo menos, alguns anos. O período de tempo definido foi de 2015 a 2021, mas seria interessante ver, por exemplo. resultados no período de pelo menos 10 anos

A COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK FOR DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF M-LEARNING APPLICATIONS

Human-computer interaction (HCI) communities and Mobile Learning Communities (MLCs) are well aware of the challenges that mobile devices impose when it comes to conducting proper usability and user experience evaluations for M-learning applications. So far there has been limited research on finding appropriate design and evaluation frameworks/methods that can be applied to the usability and user experience of M-learning applications. This thesis proposes a robust framework for mobile learning design and evaluation based on a mobile learning project that developed M-learning apps to train employees in the workplace. Cognitive tests (pre-test/post-test) questionnaires, usage data, and follow-up interviews were used to collect qualitative and quantitative data on learning effectiveness and learner experience with the application. The experimental results and analysis of the collected data demonstrate that the newly proposed framework is a robust framework that can help in designing an efficient, effective and user-friendly M-learning applications that are geared towards creating a better user learning experience.NPRP grant # 4 - 125 - 5 - 016 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation)

Using collaborative web 2.0 tools in enterprise system implementation to assist with change management as a critical success factor

The aim of this paper is to provide enterprise system and BPMS implementers an alternative approach to address those critical success factors that can be supported by new web based collaborative technology and to propose a typical model or configuration to deploy this approach as a methodology. In order to achieve this aim the following objectives are identified: Gain an understanding of enterprise and BPMS systems and the history of failed enterprise system implementations; Identify and analyse the critical success factors of enterprise system implementation with a specific view on those that require communication and collaboration that can be supported by a Web 2.0 technology; Gain an understanding of change management as a critical success factor for enterprise system implementation and the role of communication and collaboration as components of change management; Research the current state of Web 2.0 collaborative technology and determine the components that may be useful to support the specific requirements identified for change management as a critical success factor in enterprise system implementation; Propose a model using Web 2.0 tools in the BPMS deployment; Identify areas to be investigated in future research such as a case study. The application of the principles identified and researched for the model is demonstrated through the application of the principles to a specific case, in this instance the FlowCentric Business Process Management Suite.Dissertation (MIT)--University of Pretoria, 2008.Informaticsunrestricte