Web Futures: Inclusive, Intelligent, Sustainable The 2020 Manifesto for Web Science

International audienceThis Manifesto was produced from the Perspectives Workshop 18262 entitled "10 Years of Web Science" that took place at Schloss Dagstuhl from June 24-29, 2018. At the Workshop, we revisited the origins of Web Science, explored the challenges and opportunities of the Web, and looked ahead to potential futures for both the Web and Web Science. We explain issues that society faces in the Web by the ambivalences that are inherent in the Web. All the enormous benefits that the Web offers-for information sharing, collective organization and distributed activity, social inclusion and economic growth-will always carry along negative consequences, too, and 30 years after its creation negative consequences of the Web are only too apparent. The Web continues to evolve and its next major step will involve Artificial Intelligence (AI) at large. AI has the potential to amplify positive and negative outcomes, and we explore these possibilities, situating them within the wider debate about the future of regulation and governance for the Web. Finally, we outline the need to extend Web Science as the science that is devoted to the analysis and engineering of the Web, to strengthen our role in shaping the future of the Web and present five key directions for capacity building that are necessary to achieve this: (i), supporting interdisciplinarity, (ii), supporting collaboration, (iii), supporting the sustainable Web, (iv), supporting the Intelligent Web, and (v), supporting the Inclusive Web. Our writing reflects our background in several disciplines of the social and technical sciences and that these disciplines emphasize topics to various extents. We are acutely aware that our observations occupy a particular point in time and are skewed towards our experience as Western scholars-a limitation that Web Science will need to overcome

The World Wide Web

An encyclopedic review of the World Wide Web, its origins, workings, and current statu

Accounting firms’ use of social media platforms.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Social media can be described as a phenomenon that has completely transformed the world on both professional and personal levels. It has considerably improved relations, encouraged new affiliations and created entirely new avenues and approaches to business. The constant growth of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn serve as an indication of the potential reach that an organisation can obtain by strategically and methodically utilising these platforms. Research has proven that despite the wide array of social media platforms available, social media is not very widely utilised by accountants. This has raised the question, “Can social media be beneficial to the accounting profession?” This study aimed to explore the current social media trends and with the aid of interviews, determine if social media is a viable and effective solution for accountants in terms of engagement with stakeholders, marketing as well as for general collaboration. Due to the nature of the study, the qualitative approach was adopted. A –semi-structured interview schedule was constructed and participants were asked a series of 16 questions. All participants held senior positions and were the most suitable to assist with the study. Six companies were approached and selected to fulfil the objectives of the study. The data collected led to the conclusion that whilst social media has been implemented in accounting firms, there is no distinct social media plan in existence, nor has social media been prioritised. Furthermore, the participants did not have any expectations from social media, it was merely employed to create awareness with the hope of attracting new clientele. These findings culminated in a number of recommendations being documented in order to assist and encourage accounting firms to implement social media. It is recommended that accounting firms create social teams, who will serve to keep clients abreast of latest developments as well as counteract negative publicity. Further, accounting firms should identify their target audience and aim to maximise their coverage. They can also exploit the most popular social media platforms, and aim to expand their range as widely as possible

Applicability of artificial intelligence in e-commerce fashion platforms

A inovação tecnológica e a democratização da inteligência artificial (IA) têm vindo a alavancar o potencial de sucesso em todas as áreas que conhecemos hoje, com expectativas do que ainda está para vir. A presente dissertação propõe uma análise das aplicações da IA na indústria da moda, particularmente nas plataformas de marcas de moda do comércio eletrónico, e de que forma está a ter impacto na esfera pessoal do consumidor, particularmente no processo de tomada de decisão dos consumidores da Geração Z. O âmbito da IA tem vindo a evoluir de tal forma que permitiu às empresas não só melhorar a sua oferta e a procura dos clientes, como também proporcionar uma experiência de compra que vai para além da “seleção e compra” mecânica: os pontos de contacto impulsionados pela IA influenciam e enriquecem cada fase do processo de tomada de decisão, seja de forma mais positiva ou negativa. Em última análise, esta dissertação pretende proporcionar ao leitor um melhor conhecimento sobre a IA e o comércio eletrónico de moda, bem como delinear o seu impacto no comportamento online do consumidor.Technological innovation and democratization of artificial intelligence (AI) have been leveraging the potential success in every field we know today, while more is yet to come. The following dissertation proposes an analysis of AI achievements within the fashion industry, particularly in e-commerce fashion brand platforms, and how it is impacting the consumer personal sphere, particularly the decision-making process of Gen-Z consumers. The field of AI has been evolving in such a way that allows companies to not only improve their supply and customer demand, but also provide a shopping experience that goes beyond the mechanical “select and buy“: AI-driven touchpoints influence and enrich each stage of the decision-making process, whether more positively or negatively. Ultimately, this dissertation intends to provide the reader a better knowledge of AI and fashion e-commerce joining applications, and to delineate its impact on the online customer journey

A Case Study: Motivational Attributes of 4-H participants engaged in Robotics

Robotics has gained a great deal of popularity across the United States as a means to engage youth in science, technology, engineering, and math. Understanding what motivates youth and adults to participate in a robotics project is critical to understanding how to engage others. By developing a robotics program built on a proper understanding of the motivational influences, the program can be built on a foundation that addresses these influences. By engaging more youth in the robotics program, they will be able to envision a future for themselves as a high-school or college graduate, in addition to a viable employee with marketable skills in tough economy. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the underlying motivational attributes or factors that influenced 4-H youth, parents, volunteers, and agents to participate in the Mississippi 4-H robotics project. Specifically, this research focuses on two unique counties in Mississippi with very diverse populations. Interviews with participants, observation, and document analysis which took place occurred over the course of a robotics year – October to July. This study sought to identify motivational attributes of participants in the robotics project. Once identified these attributes could be used when developing new program curricula or expanding into new counties in Mississippi. Data analysis revealed that there are many unique motivational factors that influence participants. Among these factors, (1) the desire to build and construct a robot, (2) competition and recognition, (3) desire for future success and security, (4) safe place to participate and build relationships, (5) teamwork, (6) positive role models, and (7) encouragement

The dynamics of influence : the video content production strategies used by fitness digital influencers on social media

Esta dissertação destaca o papel dos influenciadores digitais de fitness no que diz respeito às estratégias de produção de conteúdo de vídeos de treino no Instagram e no YouTube, com o intuito de persuadir pessoas a começarem ou a continuarem a praticar exercício físico. A revisão da literatura expõe os conceitos de Internet, world wide web e web 2.0 no contexto do sistema de comunicação contemporâneo; média digitais e redes sociais; user-generated content e produser; as plataformas Instagram e YouTube; o cenário do mobile; as características do vídeo, juntamente com os conceitos da economia da atenção e microvídeos; a revolução do fitness; e líderes de opinião, práticas de micro-celebridades e de selfbranding para explicar a figura do influenciador digital. De forma a responder à pergunta da pesquisa “quais são as estratégias de produção de vídeo utilizadas por influenciadores digitais de fitness nas redes sociais para persuadir o público a começar ou a continuar a praticar exercício físico?”, foram aplicados métodos qualitativos: entrevistas em profundidade a influenciadores digitais de fitness Portugueses e Americanos, análise de vídeos e análise de conteúdo categorial das entrevistas e dos vídeos selecionados. Ficou claro que, enquanto elas são transversais tanto a Portugal como aos Estados Unidos da América, foi possível distinguir várias estratégias diferentes, como o uso de micro-vídeos de “demonstrações de exercícios”; “how-to/ tutoriais”; e “motivacionais”, com a prática de exercícios físicos em ambientes de treino como o elo comum. Afinal, a melhor maneira de fazer com que alguém comece ou continue a treinar é, de facto, demonstrando que tipo de exercícios é que se pode fazer e como.This dissertation highlights the role of fitness digital influencers, regarding the content production strategies of workout videos on Instagram and YouTube, in order to convince people to start or continue to work out. The theoretical framework introduces the notions of the Internet, world wide web and web 2.0 in the context of the contemporary communication system; digital and social media; user-generated content and the produser; the platforms Instagram and YouTube; the mobile landscape; the characteristics of video along with the concepts of attention economy and micro-videos; the fitness revolution; and opinion leaders, micro-celebrity and self-branding practices to explain the figure of the digital influencer. As a means of answering the research question “which are the video production strategies used by fitness digital influencers on social media in order to persuade their audience into starting or continuing to work out?”, qualitative methods were applied: in-depth interviews to Portuguese and American fitness digital influencers, videos’ analysis, and categorial content analysis of the interviews and selected videos. It became clear that, while they were transversal to both Portugal and the United States of America, it was possible to distinguish several different strategies, such as the use of “exercise demonstrations”; “how-to/ tutorials”; and “motivational” micro-videos, with the practice of physical exercise in workout environments as the common feature. After all, the best way to get someone to start or continue to work out is, indeed, by demonstrating what type of exercises they can do and how

A Specific Elsewhere: Locating Masculinity in Jack Kerouac's On The Road

In travelling across the postwar United States, Jack Kerouac hoped to revive what he perceived as the lost essence of America. Kerouac’s travels – many of which were shared with his friend Neal Cassady – represented a resistance to the postwar social ideal, an exchange in spatial systems that mobilised him beyond the confines of suburban conformity to experience the more marginalised aspects of American society. This dissertation offers an interpretative exploration of the ways in which Kerouac’s chronicling of his travels in On the Road: The Original Scroll presents images of, and the search for, a subjectively authentic experience of white American masculinity. Drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources, I establish a chronology of American political and cultural responses to the American male self, offering examinations of relevant discourse from the Revolutionary period to the twentieth century. I explore the role of gender in the formation of the presented ideals and identity of the United States, and offer discussion of the entwining of masculinity with the ethos and protocols of the American Frontier, a theatre of experience on which Kerouac’s prose explicitly draws in its presentation of American masculinity. In exploring Kerouac’s work directly, I address the literary presentation of Neal Cassady as the personification of subjectively revered masculine archetypes, highlighting a range of paradoxes, contradictions, and purported binary distinctions that position the white American male outside of a definitive and sustained performance of masculinity in the text. My discussion examines Kerouac’s prose against concurrent social expectations of gender, considering the ways in which the intersection of Cold War tensions, wider literary and philosophical tradition, and American popular culture all come to bear on both his presentation of white American masculinity, and his own authorial voice

A Specific Elsewhere: Locating Masculinity in Jack Kerouac's On The Road

In travelling across the postwar United States, Jack Kerouac hoped to revive what he perceived as the lost essence of America. Kerouac’s travels – many of which were shared with his friend Neal Cassady – represented a resistance to the postwar social ideal, an exchange in spatial systems that mobilised him beyond the confines of suburban conformity to experience the more marginalised aspects of American society. This dissertation offers an interpretative exploration of the ways in which Kerouac’s chronicling of his travels in On the Road: The Original Scroll presents images of, and the search for, a subjectively authentic experience of white American masculinity. Drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources, I establish a chronology of American political and cultural responses to the American male self, offering examinations of relevant discourse from the Revolutionary period to the twentieth century. I explore the role of gender in the formation of the presented ideals and identity of the United States, and offer discussion of the entwining of masculinity with the ethos and protocols of the American Frontier, a theatre of experience on which Kerouac’s prose explicitly draws in its presentation of American masculinity. In exploring Kerouac’s work directly, I address the literary presentation of Neal Cassady as the personification of subjectively revered masculine archetypes, highlighting a range of paradoxes, contradictions, and purported binary distinctions that position the white American male outside of a definitive and sustained performance of masculinity in the text. My discussion examines Kerouac’s prose against concurrent social expectations of gender, considering the ways in which the intersection of Cold War tensions, wider literary and philosophical tradition, and American popular culture all come to bear on both his presentation of white American masculinity, and his own authorial voice

Expectations and expertise in artificial intelligence: specialist views and historical perspectives on conceptualisation, promise, and funding

Artificial intelligence’s (AI) distinctiveness as a technoscientific field that imitates the ability to think went through a resurgence of interest post-2010, attracting a flood of scientific and popular expectations as to its utopian or dystopian transformative consequences. This thesis offers observations about the formation and dynamics of expectations based on documentary material from the previous periods of perceived AI hype (1960-1975 and 1980-1990, including in-between periods of perceived dormancy), and 25 interviews with UK-based AI specialists, directly involved with its development, who commented on the issues during the crucial period of uncertainty (2017-2019) and intense negotiation through which AI gained momentum prior to its regulation and relatively stabilised new rounds of long-term investment (2020-2021). This examination applies and contributes to longitudinal studies in the sociology of expectations (SoE) and studies of experience and expertise (SEE) frameworks, proposing a historical sociology of expertise and expectations framework. The research questions, focusing on the interplay between hype mobilisation and governance, are: (1) What is the relationship between AI practical development and the broader expectational environment, in terms of funding and conceptualisation of AI? (2) To what extent does informal and non-developer assessment of expectations influence formal articulations of foresight? (3) What can historical examinations of AI’s conceptual and promissory settings tell about the current rebranding of AI? The following contributions are made: (1) I extend SEE by paying greater attention to the interplay between technoscientific experts and wider collective arenas of discourse amongst non-specialists and showing how AI’s contemporary research cultures are overwhelmingly influenced by the hype environment but also contribute to it. This further highlights the interaction between competing rationales focusing on exploratory, curiosity-driven scientific research against exploitation-oriented strategies at formal and informal levels. (2) I suggest benefits of examining promissory environments in AI and related technoscientific fields longitudinally, treating contemporary expectations as historical products of sociotechnical trajectories through an authoritative historical reading of AI’s shifting conceptualisation and attached expectations as a response to availability of funding and broader national imaginaries. This comes with the benefit of better perceiving technological hype as migrating from social group to social group instead of fading through reductionist cycles of disillusionment; either by rebranding of technical operations, or by the investigation of a given field by non-technical practitioners. It also sensitises to critically examine broader social expectations as factors for shifts in perception about theoretical/basic science research transforming into applied technological fields. Finally, (3) I offer a model for understanding the significance of interplay between conceptualisations, promising, and motivations across groups within competing dynamics of collective and individual expectations and diverse sources of expertise