What causes users to switch from a local to a global social network site? The cultural,social, economic,and motivational factors of Facebook’s globalization

This study investigates what causes local users to switch or not to switch from a domestic to a global social network site (SNS), Facebook. In the prediction model using cultural, social, economic factors, and motives for using SNS, we found in S. Korean users that, along with entertainment motives, the expected benefit of a new global SNS was a positive predictor of transition to Facebook. The western cultural values of a global SNS and the sunk costs of using a local SNS were negative predictors of the intention to use Facebook as the main platform of online social networking. Given that global SNSs force anti-localization policies related to privacy protocols and relationship styles, the results highlight the fact that cultural values are a critical factor for resisting globalization of SNSs.     

Will the experience of playing a violent role in a video game influence people’s judgments of violent crimes?

The present study investigates the impact of the experience of role playing a violent character in a video game on attitudes towards violent crimes and criminals. People who played the violent game were found to be more acceptable of crimes and criminals compared to people who did not play the violent game. More importantly, interaction effects were found such that people were more acceptable of crimes and criminals outside the game if the criminals were matched with the role they played in the game and the criminal actions were similar to the activities they perpetrated during the game. The results indicate that people’s virtual experience through role-playing games can influence their attitudes and judgments of similar real-life crimes, especially if the crimes are similar to what they conducted while playing games. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Does the use of social networking sites increase children’s risk of harm?

Although research findings have been equivocal as to whether the use of social networking sites (SNSs) increases experiences of online risk among children, the affordances of SNS lend support to this possibility, attracting much policy and public concern. The present article examines whether the use of such services increases the risks that children and young people encounter by analyzing data from a random stratified sample of approximately 1000 internet-using children aged 9–16 years in each of 25 European countries. Four hypotheses were formulated and tested. The first hypothesis, namely that children who use social networking sites will encounter more risks online than those who do not, is supported by the data. The second hypothesis stated that SNS users with more digital competence will encounter more online risk than those with less competence; this was also supported, despite being counter to common assumptions. Thirdly, we hypothesized that SNS users with more risky SNS practices (e.g. a public profile, displaying identifying information, with a very large number of contacts) will encounter more online risk than those with fewer risky practices: this too was supported by the data; thus what matters for risk is how SNS are used, a useful point for awareness-raising initiatives. The fourth hypothesis stated that SNS users with more digital competence in using the internet will experience less harm associated with online risk. The data did not support this hypothesis, since digital competence did not reduce the probability of children saying that they have been bothered or upset by something on the internet. Finally, the study found that, although this had not been predicted, whether or not risks are experienced as harmful depends on the specific relation between risks and platforms (website, instant messaging, gaming or social networking). We call on future research to explore how particular affordances sustain particular communicative conditions and, in turn, are responded to differently by children. The research and policy implications of the findings are discussed.     

How to manage creativity time? Results from a social psychological time model lab experiment on individual creative and routine performance

Companies have long used various approaches for organizing their employees' time for creative and routine tasks in order to improve innovative performance. In this paper, we examine how work schedule autonomy affects individuals' creative and routine performance. We then evaluate non‐commissioned time models. Results of laboratory experiments with 233 participants reveal that while average routine performance is not affected by schedule autonomy, the effect of schedule autonomy on creative performance depends on the subject's impulsiveness. There is evidence of an inverse relationship between schedule autonomy and creative performance among subjects of low impulsiveness. Hence, our results indicate that the optimal management policy depends on the manager's focus on creative or routine performance and the types of employees the manager supervises. For routine performance, the creativity time model has no significant impact.     

Social compensation or rich-get-richer? The role of social competence in college students’ use of the Internet to find a partner

Online dating continues to grow rapidly in popularity every day, yet the role of social competence in online dating behavior remains unclear. This study was designed to expand previous research and conduct a comprehensive investigation on how social competence is associated with college students’ online dating behaviors, perceptions, and attitudes. Two hypotheses were tested: The social compensation hypothesis (SCH)—socially incompetent individuals would engage in more online dating, and the rich-get-richer hypothesis (RGRH)—socially competent individuals would use online dating more than their incompetent counterparts. The results showed that incompetent individuals, despite their ability to see benefits in online dating, did not show a favorable attitude towards online dating. They indicated a more frequent use of and a stronger preference for face-to-face dating compared to online dating, which contradicted the SCH. There were weak associations between competence traits and online dating behavior. Socially competent individuals perceived less benefit and showed less interest in online dating, which disconfirmed the RGRH.     

Robot ethics? Not yet: A reflection on Whitby’s “Sometimes it’s hard to be a robot”

Science fiction stories seductively portray robots as human. In present reality (early 21st century) robots are machines, even though they can do many things far better than humans (fly, swim, play chess to name a few). Any ethics for or of robots is therefore a seductive mix of fiction and reality. The key issue for rational discourse is to provide a rigorous framework for reasoning about the issues, including identifying flaws in the framework. We find such meta-reasoning in discussion about robot ethics to be ready for improvement.

This paper takes its inspiration from B. Whitby, “Sometimes it’s hard to be a robot: A call for action on the ethics of abusing artificial agents,” Interacting with Computers, this issue, 2008.     

The Effect of a Humanoid Robot’s Emotional Behaviors on Users’ Emotional Responses: Evidence from Pupillometry and Electroencephalography Measures

ABSTRACT

The design of humanoid robots’ emotional behaviors has attracted many scholars’ attention. However, users’ emotional responses to humanoid robots’ emotional behaviors which differ from robots’ traditional behaviors remain well understood. This study aims to investigate the effect of a humanoid robot’s emotional behaviors on users’ emotional responses using subjective reporting, pupillometry, and electroencephalography. Five categories of the humanoid robot’s emotional behaviors expressing joy, fear, neutral, sadness, or anger were designed, selected, and presented to users. Results show that users have a significant positive emotional response to the humanoid robot’s joy behavior and a significant negative emotional response to the humanoid robot’s sadness behavior, indicated by the metrics of reported valence and arousal, pupil diameter, frontal middle relative theta power, and frontal alpha asymmetry score. The results suggest that humanoid robot’s emotional behaviors can evocate users’ significant emotional response. The evocation might relate to the recognition of these emotional behaviors. In addition, the study provides a multimodal physiological method of evaluating users’ emotional responses to the humanoid robot’s emotional behaviors.     

I. How close are Europe’s bankers to creating a cross-border purse?

In January 2002, Euro notes and coins become everyday currency across the European Union and national currencies begin to be phased out. The smart card industry says it could be ready in 2002 with the technology to provide an electronic purse, which could be used instead of cash throughout Europe. But Europe’s bankers have still to agree on a common purse. Can the log-jam be broken in time ?     

‘Can I afford to help?’ How affordances of communication modalities guide bystanders' helping intentions towards harassment on social network sites

When bystanders want to help victims of harassment on social network sites, they can be guided by the affordances of different communication modalities in order to make a communicative choice. Elaborating on the data of a previous experimental study with 453 adolescents, we compared bystanders’ behavioural intentions to help the victim according to their ‘mediacy’ (via communication technologies (CT) or face-to-face) and their ‘privacy’ (in public or in private). Furthermore, we investigated whether the context of the harassing incident (incident severity, identity and behaviour of other bystanders) influenced the ‘mediacy’ and ‘privacy’ of bystanders’ helping intentions. The results showed that in general bystanders had higher behavioural intentions to help the victim in private (vs. in public) and via CT (vs. face-to-face). While incident severity influenced the ‘mediacy’ of bystanders’ helping intentions, the identity and behaviour of other bystanders affected the ‘privacy’ of their helping intentions.     

Should I stay or should I go? The moderating effect of self-image congruity and trust on social networking continued use

Recent reports show that although users of large online social networks (such as Facebook) score low in terms of satisfaction, they manage to retain, or even increase, their user base. This study sheds an exploratory light on the reuse behaviour of online social network services (SNS). Specifically, we investigate the moderating effects of self-image congruity and trust on the relationship between satisfaction and continuance to use online SNS. To capture post-adoption behaviour of SNS users, we employ the expectation–confirmation model as a core structure for our theoretical model. The model is empirically tested using survey data collected from 288 Facebook users. Results reveal a possible trend suggesting that users perceiving a high match of the SNS with their self-image will be more loyal even if they experience low satisfaction levels. The same trend has been extracted for trust and its moderating effect on the relationship between satisfaction and usage continuance intention. This paper concludes with a discussion on the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.     

How does WeChat’s active engagement with health information contribute to psychological well-being through social capital?

Universal Access in the Information Society - This study aims to examine how the users’ engagement with health information benefits their well-being and to demonstrate the underlying...     

Pursue or shoot? Effects of exercise-induced fatigue on the transition from running to rifle shooting in a pursuit task

To investigate to what degree exercise-induced fatigue influences behavioural choices, participants' transition from running to rifle shooting in a pursue-and-shoot task was assessed. Participants ran on a treadmill and chased a target in a virtual environment and were free to choose when to stop the treadmill and shoot at the target. Fatigue increased progressively throughout the 20-minute test. Results indicated that shooting accuracy was not affected by fatigue. However, the distance to the target at which participants decided to shoot showed a U-shaped relationship with fatigue, R² = 0.884, p = 0.013. At low fatigue levels (ratings of perceived exertion [RPE] < 6.5), the distance to the target at which participants shot decreased, whereas at higher fatigue levels (RPE > 6.5) shooting distance increased again. At high levels of fatigue, participants stopped running sooner, aimed at the target longer and shot less often. Findings indicate that physiological parameters influence not only perception but also actual transitions between different actions.     

Who interacts on the Web?: The intersection of users’ personality and social media use

In the increasingly user-generated Web, users’ personality traits may be crucial factors leading them to engage in this participatory media. The literature suggests factors such as extraversion, emotional stability and openness to experience are related to uses of social applications on the Internet. Using a national sample of US adults, this study investigated the relationship between these three dimensions of the Big-Five model and social media use (defined as use of social networking sites and instant messages). It also examined whether gender and age played a role in that dynamic. Results revealed that while extraversion and openness to experiences were positively related to social media use, emotional stability was a negative predictor, controlling for socio-demographics and life satisfaction. These findings differed by gender and age. While extraverted men and women were both likely to be more frequent users of social media tools, only the men with greater degrees of emotional instability were more regular users. The relationship between extraversion and social media use was particularly important among the young adult cohort. Conversely, being open to new experiences emerged as an important personality predictor of social media use for the more mature segment of the sample.     

Evaluating Algeria’s social and economic development using a series of night-time light images between 1992 to 2012

ABSTRACT

After social and economic problems, Algeria regained its night-time light (NL) brightness as this analysis of space-borne images shows. We evaluate the advancement of artificial light sources and the socioeconomic development between 1992 to 2012 for all 48 provinces. Image calibration improved the consistency and comparability of the DMSP-OLS data. Light detected from gas flaring has been separated to focus on light from human settlements. We then estimated the relationship between night-time light and selected socioeconomic parameters (SEP). Night-time light growth (NLG) and night-time light annual growth (NLAG) indices are calculated at the national, regional and provincial level. Considering the Oil price crash and the Algerian Civil Concord, we take a detailed look at these historic events in Algeria. Our main findings are: (A) The total night-time light (TNL) for human settlements grew nationwide by 128%, (B) night-time light data correlates with socioeconomic parameters such as population, and electric power consumption, (C) the oil price crash resulted in slower night-time light growth, while the Algerian Civil Concord and the end of the crises led to increased TNL, (D) because of government investment, the High Plateaus are the fastest growing region since the end of the crises, (E) space-borne night-time light data can consistently fill the information gap when data from official sources are not available. Government and policy-making bodies may benefit from the presented findings allowing them to oversee and address provincial inequalities and economic development.     

A simpler counterexample to a long-standing conjecture on the complexity of Bryantʼs apply algorithm

In 1986 in his seminal paper Bryant has introduced Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams (OBDDs) as a dynamic data structure for the representation and manipulation of Boolean functions which allow efficient algorithms for important operations like synthesis, the combination of two Boolean functions by a Boolean operator, and equivalence checking. Based on his empirical evaluation he has conjectured that his apply algorithm for the synthesis works in linear time with respect to the input and output size. Recently in 2012, Yoshinaka et al. have presented a counterexample which contradicts this conjecture but their example has the drawback that the chosen variable ordering for the OBDD representation of the input and output is bad. Therefore, they have raised the question whether Bryant?s conjecture may still stand for reasonable variable orderings. Here, a negative answer is given by presenting a simple counterexample which works for such kind of variable orderings.     

A standard on human response to vibration — one of a new breed?

Human response to vibration is used as an example for consideration of the requirements of standards in the human factors field. It is suggested that standards relating to people may be concerned primarily with the design of equipment for optimum satisfaction of users, and that this demands a different approach to standards if they are to be effective. It is argued that a clear distinction should be made between standards intended to protect people from harmful conditions, standards intended to minimise the risk of people being harmed, and standards intended to give advice and information. In the case of human response to vibration it is suggested that standards should relate to agreed methods of measurement and assessment, limitations to preserve health, limitations to be applied in specific situations in order to prevent the risk of accidents, together with a data base for designers to work from.     

Limits and opportunities for mathematizing communicational conduct for social robotics in the real world? Toward enabling a robot to make use of the human’s competences

Given the widespread goal of endowing robotic systems with interactional capabilities that would allow users to deal with them intuitively by using means of natural communication, the text addresses the question to which extent it would be possible to mathematize (aspects of) social interaction. Using the example of a robotic museum guide in a real-world scenario, central challenges in dealing with the situatedness and contingency of human communicational conduct are shown using fine-grained video analysis combining the robot’s internal perspective with the user’s view. On a conceptual level, the text argues to consider human and robot as one ‘interactional system’ that jointly solves a practical (communicational) task. This opens up the perspective to integrate the human’s interactional competences and adaptability in the design and modeling of interactional building blocks for HRI. If we provide the technical system with systematic resources to make use of the human’s competences, the limits of mathematization might gain an interesting twist. Through careful design of the robot’s conduct, a powerful resource exists for the robot to pro-actively influence the users’ expectations about relevant subsequent actions, so that the robot could contribute to establishing the conditions which would be most beneficial to its own functioning.     

Calculation of self‐luminous neutral scale: how many neutral steps can you see on that display?

One of the dimensions of visual perception usable for information display is neutral scale, the achromatic aspect of colour. An existing neutral scale calculation, CIE L*, relates reflected luminance to lightness magnitude and discrimination. But there is no similar international standard calculation for self‐luminous displays. In this article, we introduce a candidate self‐luminous neutral‐scale calculation, to complement CIE L*. We particularly examine its low‐contrast gain, the degree of crispening. This low‐contrast gain is a function of the background luminance, from which the target contrast is an increment or decrement. We demonstrate the use of the calculation to predict matches of neutral scale across different background luminances, and to model the successive thresholds of the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine Gray Scale Display Function. Finally, the proposed self‐luminous neutral scale is calculated to show the maximum number of discriminable differences, and the associated optimum background luminance, in representative ranges of display luminance.     

Paradigm lost … paradigm gained: a hermeneutical rejoinder to Banville and Landry’s ‘Can the Field of MIS be Disciplined?’

This study offers an alternative interpretation to Banville and Landry’s (B&L, 1989) Can the Field of MIS Be Disciplined?, the canonical text that argued persuasively against the adoption of the Kuhnian view of scientific progress for the information systems (IS) field. Much has transpired in the quarter of a century since its publication, which provides us with new sources of understanding about paradigms and how they relate to the challenges faced by the IS field. On the basis of the hermeneutical principles of tradition, prejudice, temporal distance, history of effect and application, this study describes the context from which B&L was written, its dependence on Whitley’s (1984) The Intellectual and Social Organization of the Sciences, and examines several of its claims and assertions. In contrast to B&L, this study finds the Kuhnian model of scientific progress well suited for a multidisciplinary and pluralistic field like IS and concludes with guidelines on how to reclaim the more transformative aspects of the paradigm concept, engender a culture of contextual borrowing from reference disciplines, and encourage conceptual development and autonomous theory construction.     

A discipline for a stage? A Shakespearean reflection on the research <Emphasis Type="Italic">plot</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">performance</Emphasis> of the Information Systems field

The different traditions of European and North American Information Systems research are highlighted and traditional means of measuring research quality (including citation patterns and journal impact factors) are questioned. Shakespearean metaphors are used to highlight these distinctions. The article concludes with a call for greater diversity and appreciation of alternative research traditions and cultures, and of the journals that publish such research.