We are the Change that we Seek: Information Interactions During a Change of Viewpoint

There has been considerable hype about filter bubbles and echo chambers influencing the views of information consumers. The fear is that these technologies are undermining democracy by swaying opinion and creating an uninformed, polarised populace. The literature in this space is mostly techno-centric, addressing the impact of technology. In contrast, our work is the first research in the information interaction field to examine changing viewpoints from a human-centric perspective. It provides a new understanding of view change and how we might support informed, autonomous view change behaviour. We interviewed 18 participants about a self-identified change of view, and the information touchpoints they engaged with along the way. In this paper we present the information types and sources that informed changes of viewpoint, and the ways in which our participants interacted with that information. We describe our findings in the context of the techno-centric literature and suggest principles for designing digital information environments that support user autonomy and reflection in viewpoint formation

The use of public Web portals by undergraduate students

The study explored how and why 144 randomly selected undergraduates’ from a large university in the U.S. use public Web portals such as Yahoo! or MSN. Demographic and use variables regarding information about particular portal features were collected with a standardized questionnaire including open-ended and closed questions from June to October 2002. All but two respondents were users of public Web portals. A second phase consisted of eight tape-recorded focus groups with 42 participants. In addition, 39 individual follow-up interviews were conducted. The questionnaire data were analyzed using Chi-Square (α = 0.05) to test hypotheses for statistical significance. The focus groups, interviews, and open-ended questions were content analyzed and identified a variety of problems that undergraduates faced using portals. The study provides empirical data about undergraduates’ characteristics, e.g., gender, major, classification, GPA, computer and network experience, times of portal use, and use of personalization in relation to the use of public Web portals and the possession of personal home pages. The study sheds light on why and how undergraduates seek information on public Web portals, what they do on these sites, and reasons for using and not using portals and particular portal features. According to the introduced Popularity Index of Public Web Portals, Yahoo! and MSN were the most popular portals, while searches, e-mail, world and national news were the most popular features for undergraduates using these sites. About 50% of the participants used personalization. Personalizers used portals to a greater extent and were satisfied. Lack of personalization and other factors were a reason for limited use of portals. Demographic variables such as gender, age, and major did not show statistical significance for the use of public Web portals, while use variables such as Internet access at home, frequency of portal use, and the possession of a personal home page showed significant relationships. Frequent redesign, privacy concerns, and unsolicited advertising were among reasons for limited use. The study’s results contribute to a better understanding of undergraduates’ information needs and behavior on public Web portals. The findings have implications for libraries, universities, governments, Web content developers, and marketers.Informatio

Understanding Mobile Apps Continuance Usage Behavior and Habit: An Expectance-Confirmation Theory

With the growing development of information technology and the wireless telecommunication network nowadays, mobile devices have been expanding rapidly and have been emerging as important tools for consumers. Using m-services and applications (apps) on mobile devices becomes custom in people’s daily lives. This study proposes a theoretical model to explore the continued usage behavior for smartphone. The objective of this study is to explore how perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and confirmation influencing satisfaction and habit of consumers, and in turn influencing continued usage behavior, as well as the moderating effect of three characteristics of m-commerce. The proposed model will empirically be tested using survey method and collecting data from smartphone users in longitudinal setting. The structural equation modeling technique will be used to evaluate the causal model and confirmatory factor analysis will be performed to examine the reliability and validity of the measurement model. The findings of this study are expected to illustrate how factors influence individuals to use m-services and mobile apps and become a habit, as well as how these habits influence continued smartphone usage

Web Design Attributes in Building User Trust, Satisfaction, and Loyalty for a High Uncertainty Avoidance Culture

In this study, we attempt to evaluate the user pref6 erences for web design attributes (i.e., typography, color, content 7 quality, interactivity, and navigation) to determine the trust, sat8 isfaction, and loyalty for uncertainty avoidance cultures. Content 9 quality and navigation have been observed as strong factors in 10 building user trust with e-commerce websites. In contrast, inter11 activity, color, and typography have been observed as strong de12 terminants of user satisfaction. The most relevant and interesting 13 finding is related to typography, which has been rarely discussed 14 in e-commerce literature. A questionnaire was designed to collect 15 data to corroborate the proposed model and hypotheses. Further16 more, the partial least-squares method was adopted to analyze the 17 collected data from the students who participated in the test (n 18 = 558). Finally, the results of this study provide strong support to 19 the proposed model and hypotheses. Therefore, all the web design 20 attributes were observed as important design features to develop 21 user trust and satisfaction for uncertainty avoidance cultures. Al22 though both factors seem to be relevant, the relationship between 23 trust and loyalty was observed to be stronger than between satis24 faction and loyalty; thus, trust seems to be a stronger determinant 25 of loyalty for risk/high uncertainty avoidance culture

Consumer attitudes toward personalization features and intention to purchase online

In this study, a model of attitude toward personalization and purchase intention is developed to investigate how consumer attitudes and intention to purchase using personalization features are influenced by privacy and security concerns and by previous online purchase experiences. The behavioral intention model (Fishbein, 197 5) has been adopted for theoretical model building. To collect data, an e-mail survey was distributed to 7,000 online consumers who had at least online shopping experience and a sample of 1140 usable responses were used for data analysis. The results indicated that 1) attitudes toward personalization features were important determinants of consumer intentions to purchase online, 2) consumer concerns about privacy and security had a significant influence on consumer attitudes toward personalization features, and 3) previous online purchase experience had no influence on consumer attitudes toward personalization features. Implications and directions for future research are discussed

The Influence of Psychographic Beliefs on Website Usability Requirements

Designing websites that are responsive to customer needs is a critical prerequisite for the success of online services. To date, much research has focused on understanding which design requirements can be successfully applied to a website’s design. However, there has been limited research examining why some requirements may have more or less importance to customers. In addition to demographic characteristics, we propose that psychographic characteristics influence usability-related requirements. To develop our research model and hypotheses, we draw from usability literature and research in consumer behavior concerned with customers’ prevailing beliefs about technology. Conceptualizing customer beliefs should not only help distinguish between positive and negative processes but also help further investigate their consequences. To explore the relationship between customer characteristics (i.e., gender and technology beliefs) and usability requirements, we use a usability procedure based on the Microsoft Usability Guidelines (MUG). MUG identifies multiple design requirements that are expected to increase the usability of sites. We present the results of our study involving 215 participants. Overall, our results suggest that negative beliefs may play a larger role in influencing usability requirements than positive beliefs. And, the results suggest that prior Web experience moderates the relationship between beliefs and requirements

Privacy and Legal Automation: The DMCA as a Case Study

Advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, computing capacity, and big data analytics are creating exciting new possibilities for legal automation. At the same time, these changes pose serious risks for civil liberties and other societal interests. Yet, existing scholarship is narrow, leaving uncertainty on a range of issues, including a glaring lack of systematic empirical work as to how legal automation may impact people’s privacy and freedom. This article addresses this gap with an original empirical analysis of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which today sits at the forefront of algorithmic law due to its automated enforcement of copyright through DMCA notices at mass scale. With literally millions of such notices sent daily, this automation has been criticized for causing large scale chilling effects online, yet few empirical studies have examined this issue in depth. This article does so with a mixed-method empirical legal study synthesizing findings from a survey--with over 1000 participants in a nationally representative sample--with findings from a content analysis of 500 Google Blogs and 500 Twitter accounts targeted by DMCA notices. The study offers a number of new insights, including (1) the DMCA notice and takedown system is likely working for rights-holders with major platforms like Google and Twitter effectively processing the vast majority of DMCA notices they are receiving; (2) DMCA notices may be having broader chilling effects on internet users across a range of activities, with women and the economically disadvantaged likely disproportionately impacted; (3) how the provision of legal information as to internet users\u27 rights can mitigate these chilling effects; and (4) the effectiveness of automated DMCA notices as compared to non-automated ones. The article explores the implications of these findings, including for copyright, algorithmic law, and lays the foundations a privacy theory of automated law and its governance