Conference Report Digital Engagement Conference: A Roadmap for the Future of Festivals, July 9-11 2014, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Poole, Dorset, United Kingdom

Purpose – The Digital Engagement Conference was an event designed to provide an academic roadmap that suggested future areas of research in the study of digital engagement within festivals by consulting with academics and practitioners with a range of skills and expertise. Presentations and discussions were led by experts in the fields of marketing, tourism, computer science and the arts. This paper summarizes the presentations and discussions of the three-day conference and highlights their potential to shape the future use of social media platforms for festival marketing, management and evaluation. Design / methodology / approach – Summaries of the presentations, research papers and discussion arising are presented. Findings – The conference highlighted the challenge and tremendous opportunities which arise from festival audiences engaging with events online. Presentations from academics, practitioners as well as students all confirmed that this phenomenon is here to stay and that festival organizers and other festival stakeholders need to understand its implications in order to develop effective digital engagement strategies. The resulting roadmap for the future indicates that increasing knowledge should be the priority in the short term, whilst in the long-term integrating data and leveraging digital engagement by festival audiences by developing new funding models ought to be the focus. Originality / value – The Digital Engagement Conference was unique not only because of its focus on the future but also because of the platform used for conference participation. Live streaming via Ustream was the principle means by which attendees participated in the conference rather than visiting the conference venue. Live streaming, instead of being used to augment attendance, as the in the case with many academic conferences, was the default attendance mode. The conference also came close being 100% digital. The majority of the pre event communication, registration, signage and delegate conference packs were in digital form. Additionally, the three days did not end with providing participants with the papers presented as proceedings but with a road map for future research

Remarkable macrolichens in the urban area of Aachen and the north-western Eifel Mountains

Es wird über Großflechtenfunde, speziell epiphytische Arten, aus dem Aachener Stadtgebiet und der nordwestlichen Eifel berichtet. Zu den folgenden Arten werden genauere Angaben zu Fundorten gemacht: Bryoria fuscescens, Flavoparmelia soredians, Hyperphyscia adglutinata, Hypotrachyna afrorevoluta, Hypotrachyna revoluta s. str., Melanohalea laciniatula (= Melanelia laciniatula), Parmelia submontana, Parmelina pastillifera, Physconia distorta, Physconia enteroxantha, Physconia perisidiosa, Punctelia borreri, Ramalina fastigiata, Sphaerophorus globosus, Tuckermanopsis chlorophylla (= Cetraria chlorophylla), Usnea dasypoga (= Usnea filipendula) und Xanthomendoza fallax (= Xanthoria fallax). Diese und weitere Arten werden anhand von Fotos dargestellt.The article reports on macrolichens, especially epiphytic species, from the urban area of Aachen and the northwestern Eifel Mountains. Localities of the following species are presented: Bryoria fuscescens, Flavoparmelia soredians, Hyperphyscia adglutinata, Hypotrachyna afrorevoluta, Hypotrachyna revoluta s. str., Melanohalea laciniatula (= Melanelia laciniatula), Parmelia submontana, Parmelina pastillifera, Physconia distorta, Physconia enteroxantha, Physconia perisidiosa, Punctelia borreri, Ramalina fastigiata, Sphaerophorus globosus, Tuckermanopsis chlorophylla (= Cetraria chlorophylla), Usnea dasypoga (= Usnea filipendula) and Xanthomendoza fallax (= Xanthoria fallax). These and further species are illustrated on the basis of pictures

Destination EWOM: A Macro and Meso approach

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that describes the characteristics and the underlying drivers of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) at destination level. Tweets about a destination were collected while the destination hosted a hallmark event for 5 years(2011-2015). In each year, interactions on Twitter were analysed using macro and meso-level social network analysis to identify the network structure and hubs of eWOM activity. A K means clustering algorithm was then applied to create clusters of nodes with similar characteristics and eWOM content within each cluster was analysed using automated content analysis. The resulting model indicates that destination and event eWOM maintains a macro network structure in which a small number of accounts or hubs influence information sharing. Hub characteristics evolve over time, whereas eWOM content can fluctuate in response to high profile destination activities

Community crosstalk: An exploratory analysis of destination and festival eWOM on Twitter

Research suggests that festivals can promote a destination via online word-of-mouth (eWOM) on socialmedia, even though the nature of this effect is not yet fully understood. Using a combination of Social Network Analysis and text analysis (qualitative and quantitative), this article examines eWOM at a tourism destination (Bournemouth) when a festival (Bournemouth Air Show 2013) is staged. The Communities of Interest of eWOM interactions on Twitter were captured and analysed to understand the structure and content of eWOM. Findings indicate that key users are usually already prominent individuals and that festivals act as both a direct generator as well as an online animator of eWOM. Finally, network size, span and scope may be useful indicators when comparing eWOM networks

#ILovePortland 2019

A public consultation focussed on the Isle of Portland’s ‘loveability’ and the key opportunities and challenges for b-side and its stakeholders to build resilience in 2019 and beyond. The content of this report is intended to be a contribution to building the resilience of b-side as arts organisation on the isle of Portland and to identify future directions for its geo-tourism strategy and fund-raising initiatives. The material presented herein and the views expressed were produced through a consultation process which consisted of a series of workshops with local residents, businesses, charities, government and other organisations. The text represents the interpretation of the findings and the views of the authors and should not be regarded as representing the collective views of b-side or their funders. Compiling of this report was done with the utmost care. However, the authors and the organisations they represent are not liable for any damage resulting from the information provided in this publication

Project management maturity in the age of big data

While the area of project management maturity (PMM) is attracting an increased amount of research attention, the approaches to measuring maturity fit within existing social science conventions. This paper aims to examine the potential contribution of new data collection and analytical approaches to develop new insights in PMM. This paper takes the form of a literature review. Findings suggest that the current trends of rapidly growing digital data collection and storage may have the potential to develop approaches to PMM assessment that overcome the limitations of existing qualitative and quantitative approaches

Tourism and the COVID-(mis)infodemic: Letter to the Editor

In addition to being formally defined as a pandemic, COVID-19 has been classified as an “infodemic” and “(mis)infodemic”. As an "infodemic", the information environment on COVID-19 is constantly evolving, with emerging scientific findings, political responses, media coverage, and individual impressions all shared on social media Initial positions on behaviours and potential treatments were presented and then discarded due to low efficacy or improper research procedures. Further, there has been a fragmented geopolitical response with differing political systems exhibiting varying approaches to decisionmaking and health outcomes which has lead to confusion of the public. As a "misinfodemic", COVID-19 discussions have also attracted actors seeking to share misinformation enabled and exacerbated by social media networks, which include willful distortions as well as conspiracy theories. Combined, this (mis)infodemic can change risk perceptions of travel resulting in travel patterns based on technological, regulatory and perceived behavioural homophily

From WOM to aWOM - The evolution of unpaid influence: A perspective article

Purpose. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) natural language processing may see the emergence of algorithmic word of mouth (aWOM), content created and shared by automated tools. As AI tools improve, aWOM will increase in volume and sophistication, displacing eWOM as an influence on customer decision-making. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the socio technological trends that have encouraged the evolution of informal infulence strategies from WOM to aWOM. Design/methodology/approach. This paper examines the origins and path of development of influential customer communications from word of mouth (WOM) to electronic word of mouth (eWOM) and the emerging trend of aWOM. The growth of aWOM is theorized as a result of new developments in AI natural language processing tools along with autonomous distribution systems in the form of software robots and virtual assistants. Findings. aWOM may become a dominant source of information for tourists, as it can support multimodal delivery of useful contextual information. Individuals, organizations and social media platforms will have to ensure that aWOM is developed and deployed responsibly and ethically. Practical implications. aWOM may emerge as the dominant source of information for tourist decision-making, displacing WOM or eWOM. aWOM may also impact online opinion leaders, as they may be challenged by algorithmically generated content. aWOM tools may also generate content using sensors on personal devices, creating privacy and information security concerns if users did not give permission for such activities. Originality/value. This paper is the first to theorize the emergence of aWOM as autonomous AI communication within the framework of unpaid influence or WOM. As customer engagement will increasingly occur in algorithmic environments that comprise person–machine interactions, aWOM will influence future tourism research and practice