Comunicación Institucional Online: un Modelo para el Análisis de Usos de las Potencialidades de la web 2.0. El Caso de la Gripe A

Web applications are often the visible face of good or bad strategies for modernization and innovation in institutions. Typically, there is a low level of technological appropriation. It is common to find that while citizens consume and co-develop applications 2.0, institutions provide information through static websites without interaction possibilities. This paper presents a methodological tool used to analyze from the standpoint of communication, the effective use and exploitation of the potential of Web 2.0 in institutional websites. This tool is based on an to evaluate the quality and visibility of the contents and the use of potential and resources of Web 2.0. The paper also includea the results of the application of this tool to the website of the Department of Health http://www.informaciongripea.es/

The Persuasive Roles of Digital Games

The model was designed to explain the different ways in which digital games can be used to influence the attitude of players

A Conceptual Model for the Study of Persuasive Games

In this paper I propose a new theory for the study of persuasiveness within digital games. This theory aims to make visible how persuasiveness can be structured within digital games and to be useful to identify specific aspects of games' persuasiveness that might not be obvious to the naked eye, by giving them order and conferring them intelligibility. The theory that I propose here is based on the hypothesis that multiple persuasive dimensions can be used within digital games to convey persuasive messages. In order to defend this hypothesis I introduce the concept of 'persuasive structures', which I use to describe how persuasive communication works within digital games. The definition of this concept relies on a conceptual model that is based on the proposition that persuasiveness within digital games can be developed through three different persuasive levels and that in each of the three persuasive levels it is possible to find different persuasive dimensions

Comunicación Institucional Online: un Modelo para el Análisis de Usos de las Potencialidades de la web 2.0. El Caso de la Gripe A

Web applications are often the visible face of good or bad strategies for modernization and innovation in institutions. Typically, there is a low level of technological appropriation. It is common to find that while citizens consume and co-develop applications 2.0, institutions provide information through static websites without interaction possibilities. This paper presents a methodological tool used to analyze from the standpoint of communication, the effective use and exploitation of the potential of Web 2.0 in institutional websites. This tool is based on an to evaluate the quality and visibility of the contents and the use of potential and resources of Web 2.0. The paper also includea the results of the application of this tool to the website of the Department of Health http://www.informaciongripea.es/

The Persuasive Roles of Digital Games: The Case of Cancer Games

Using behavioral scientist B. J. Fogg’s conceptual framework on the role computer technology plays for users as a starting point, this article argues that persuasion through digital games can be approached from three different perspectives: digital games as media for persuasion, digital games as tools for persuasion and digital games as social actors for persuasion. In this article, I use five cancer gaming cases to illustrate how these three different persuasive roles can be used to accomplish different persuasive goals. In this respect, I explain how each of these persuasive roles digital games can play in the process of persuasion can serve to support cancer patients to face three different challenges: (1) lack of information about the treatment or the disease itself, (2) lack of motivation to start or continue with the treatment, and (3) difficulties in coping with the treatment or the disease. The analysis of these games is theoretical in nature and is done to illustrate my arguments. The categorization proposed in this article can be used as an analytical approach for the study of persuasive gaming strategies

Persuasive Gaming: Identifying the different types of persuasion through games

The academic study of persuasion through digital games started from a game-centric approach by trying to understand how persuasiveness can be structured within digital games. However, players' performances and the context in which games are played also have an important role in the process of persuasion. The role of these two factors has been the focus of attention in recent research on persuasive games through studies that try to find a balance between players’ preferences and needs and persuasive goals. The objective of this paper is to broaden the understanding of the potential of persuasive gaming practices by providing a theoretical framework that serves to structure previous theoretical approaches on how digital games can be used to persuade players. This theoretical framework serves to explain the different types of persuasion that can be established through digital games, which contributes to better understand how serious games should be designed to respond to different types of serious goals. The three types of persuasion proposed here are: exocentric persuasion, as a game-centric approach for persuasion; endocentric persuasion, as a player-centric approach for persuasion; and game-mediated persuasion, as a contextcentric approach for persuasion

Benefits and factors influencing the design of intergenerational digital games

The main purpose of this paper is to review the benefits and factors to be taken into consideration for the design of intergenerational digital games. We conducted a systematic in Scopus, Web of Science, PsicInfo, Pubmed and Science Direct, finally including 16 empirical studies written in English. The identified benefits were found to fall into four main categories, i.e., (1) reinforcing family bond, (2) enhancing reciprocal learning (3) increasing understanding of the other generation and (4) reducing social anxiety. According to the literature, two types of factors are important to take into consideration: player-centric and game-centric factors. We identified the nature of the interactions between older (55–81 year-olds) and younger players (4–22 year-olds), their motivations to play digital games and the difference in abilities as the main player-centric factors to take into account when designing intergenerational games. The most relevant game-centric factors were found to be goal-related and space-related forms of interaction. To gain more insight into how specific benefits of playing digital games are related to a type of game, gender or age of the participant, additional empirical studies (comparative analyses), that take these factors into account are needed

Using an Ice-skating Exergame to Foster Intercultural Interaction Between Refugees and Dutch children

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether an ice-skating exergame can stimulate intercultural social interaction between refugees and Dutch children in controlled play sessions organized at elementary schools. We conducted an exploratory qualitative study based on observations of exergame play sessions and structured interviews conducted after the play sessions. A total of 58 child

Creating an Index to Calculate the Level of Convergence of a Medium

Since the end of 1990's, media are undergoing great changes brought by digital technology, with the objective to optimize resources and enrich contents. The concept of convergence has a relevant significance in this process. We see the convergence as an integrating process of traditional separated media outlets and modes of communication that affect business, technology, professionals, and audiences at all stages of production, delivery, and consumption of contents of any kind (information, entertainment, and advertising). This paper provides a methodological tool for calculating an index over which reflects the level of convergence of a medium. This proposal, fruit of the work of a collective research project -which is currently carried out by a numerous group of Spanish scholars with public funding (see for details our website _www.infotendencias.com/objetivos_)-, is based on the following variables: relationships among newsrooms, media polyvalence, type of collaboration on contents development, and type of contents delivery