Adding Context to Social Tagging Systems

Many of the features of Web 2.0 encourage users to actively interact with each other. Social tagging systems represent one of the good examples that reflect this trend on the Web. The primary purpose of social tagging systems is to facilitate shared access to resources. Our focus in this paper is on the attempts to overcome some of the limitations in social tagging systems such as the flat structure of folksonomies and the absence of semantics in terms of information retrieval. We propose and develop an integrated approach, social tagging systems with directory facility, which can overcome the limitations of both traditional taxonomies and folksonomies. Our preliminary experiments indicate that this approach is promising and that the context provided by the directory facility improves the precision of information retrieval. As well, our synonym detection algorithm is capable of finding synonyms in social tagging systems without any external inputs

MRBench: A Benchmark for MapReduce Framework

MapReduce is Google’s programming model for easy development of scalable parallel applications which pro-cess huge quantity of data on many clusters. Due to its conveniency and efficiency, MapReduce is used in various applications (e.g., web search services and on-line analytical processing.) However, there are only few good benchmarks to evaluate MapReduce implementa-tions by realistic testsets. In this paper, we present MRBench that is a bench-mark for evaluating MapReduce systems. MRBench fo-cuses on processing business oriented queries and con-current data modifications. To this end, we build MR-Bench to deal with large volumes of relational data and execute highly complex queries. By MRBench, users can evaluate the performance of MapReduce systems while varying environmental parameters such as data size and the number of (Map/Reduce) tasks. Our ex-tensive experimental results show that MRBench is a useful tool to benchmark the capability of answering critical business questions.

Determining Visitor Engagement through Augmented Reality at Science Festivals: An Experience Economy Perspective

Augmented reality (AR) has been increasingly implemented to enhance visitor experiences, and tourism research has long understood the importance of creating memorable experiences, leading to the research era of experience economy. Although technology-enhanced visitor engagement is crucial for science festivals, research focusing on visitor engagement through AR using the experience economy perspective is limited. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine how the educational, esthetics, escapist and entertainment experience using AR affect visitor satisfaction and memorable experience, and eventually, lead to visitor engagement with science experiences in the context of science festivals. A total of 220 data inputs were collected as part of the European City of Science festivities and Manchester Science Festival 2016 and analyzed using structural equation modelling. Findings show that the four realms of experience economy influence satisfaction and memory and, ultimately, the intention for visitor engagement with science research at science festivals. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are presented and discussed

Enhancing Art Gallery Visitors’ Learning Experience using Wearable Augmented Reality: Generic Learning Outcomes Perspective

The potential of ICT-enhanced visitor learning experience is increasing with the advancement of new and emerging technologies in art gallery settings. However, studies on the visitor learning experience using wearable devices, and in particular those investigating the effects of wearable augmented reality on the learning experience within cultural heritage tourism attractions are limited. Using the Generic Learning Outcomes framework, this study aims to assess how the wearable augmented reality application enhances visitor’s learning experiences. Forty-four volunteers who were visiting an art gallery were divided into two groups, an experimental group and a control group. Following their visit to the gallery, the volunteers, who had and had not used wearable computing equipment, were interviewed, and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings revealed that the wearable augmented reality application helps visitors to see connections between paintings and personalise their learning experience. However, there are some drawbacks such as lack of visitor-visitor engagement and the social acceptability

Embodiment of Wearable Augmented Reality Technology in Tourism Experiences

The increasing use of wearable devices for tourism purposes sets the stage for a critical discussion on technological mediation in tourism experience. This paper provides a theoretical reflection on the phenomenon of embodiment relation in technological mediation and then assesses the embodiment of wearable augmented reality technology in a tourism attraction. The findings suggest that technology embodiment is a multidimensional construct consisting of ownership, location, and agency. These support the concept of technology withdrawal, where technology disappears as it becomes part of human actions, and contest the interplay of subjectivity and intentionality between humans and technology in situated experiences such as tourism. It was also found that technology embodiment affects enjoyment and enhances experience with tourism attractions

A Practical Single-Register Wait-Free Mutual Exclusion Algorithm on Asynchronous Networks

Abstract. This paper is motivated by a need of practical asynchronous network systems, i.e., a wait-free distributed mutual exclusion algorithm (WDME). The WDME algorithm is very appealing when a process runs on asynchronous network systems and its timing constraint is so restricted that the process cannot perform a local-spin in a wait-queue, which forces it to abort whenever it cannot access the critical region immediately. The WDME algorithm proposed in this paper is devised to eliminate the need for processes to send messages to determine whether the critical region has been entered by another process, an unfavorable drawback of a naive transformation of the shared-memory mutual exclusion algorithm to an asynchronous network model. This drawback leads to an unbounded message explosion, and it is very critical in real network systems. Design of the WDME algorithm is simple, and the algorithm is practical enough to be used in current distributed systems. The algorithm has O(1) message complexity which is suboptimal between two consecutive runs of critical section.

Are More Choices Better? Examining the Impact of Choice Capacity in Online Dating Platform

Online matching platforms require new approaches to market design since firms can now control many aspects of search and interaction process through various IT-enabled features. While choice capacity—the size of choice set and the number of choices a platform offers to its customers—is one of the key design features of online matching platforms, there has been lack of understanding of its impact on engagement and matching outcomes. In this study, we examine the effect of different choice capacities on the number of choices and matches on the platform by conducting a randomized field experiment in collaboration with an online dating platform. We find that providing higher choice capacities to male and female users have different effect on choice behaviors and matching outcomes. We find that while increasing the choice capacity of male users yields the highest number of choices, increasing the choice capacity of female users turns out to be the most effective way to increase matching outcomes