scholarly journals Dynamics and biases of online attention: the case of aircraft crashes

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 160460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth García-Gavilanes ◽  
Milena Tsvetkova ◽  
Taha Yasseri

The Internet not only has changed the dynamics of our collective attention but also through the transactional log of online activities, provides us with the opportunity to study attention dynamics at scale. In this paper, we particularly study attention to aircraft incidents and accidents using Wikipedia transactional data in two different language editions, English and Spanish. We study both the editorial activities on and the viewership of the articles about airline crashes. We analyse how the level of attention is influenced by different parameters such as number of deaths, airline region, and event locale and date. We find evidence that the attention given by Wikipedia editors to pre-Wikipedia aircraft incidents and accidents depends on the region of the airline for both English and Spanish editions. North American airline companies receive more prompt coverage in English Wikipedia. We also observe that the attention given by Wikipedia visitors is influenced by the airline region but only for events with a high number of deaths. Finally we show that the rate and time span of the decay of attention is independent of the number of deaths and a fast decay within about a week seems to be universal. We discuss the implications of these findings in the context of attention bias.

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-31
Author(s):  
Massimo Candela ◽  
Antonio Prado

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments introduced several social restrictions. As of 18 March 2020, more than 250 million people were in lockdown in Europe. This drastically increased the number of online activities. Due to this unprecedented situation, some concerns arose about the suitability of the Internet network to sustain the increased usage. Italy was severely hit by the first wave of the pandemic and various regions underwent a lockdown before the main country-wide one. The Italian network operators started sharing information about improvements carried out on the network and new measures adopted to support the increase in Internet usage. In this report, by means of a questionnaire, we collect information and provide a quantitative overview of the actions undertaken by network operators in Italy. The attitude of Italian operators was synergic and proactive in supporting the changed market conditions caused by the public health emergency.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-26
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Campaña ◽  
Raquel Ortega

Internet use reduces the isolation or exclusion of individuals in specific socio-economic groups and, consequently, increases the quality of life, with this being especially the case for the elderly. Knowing that the elderly are becoming particularly active in dedicating time to the Internet, we provide evidence of the time that Spanish individuals aged 65 and older dedicate to two online activities: search and communications. We estimate a SUR model with data from the STUS for 2009-2010. Our main results indicate that being male has a positive influence on the time devoted to search on the Internet. Furthermore, time devoted to both Internet activities increases with higher levels of education and at the highest level of individual health.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Seifert ◽  
Stefan T Kamin ◽  
Frieder R Lang

Abstract Background and Objectives Increasing numbers of older adults use the internet, but relatively little is known about the range and determinants of different online activities among older internet users. This study explores the interplay between technology-related biographical experiences and subjective technology adaptivity to explain the variability of internet use. Older adults who report having had more biographical experiences with technologies were expected to use a greater range of online activities. In addition, subjective technology adaptivity was expected to serve as a mediator of this relationship. Research Design and Methods The analyses are based on a sample of 707 community-dwelling older participants of the University of the Third Age between 60 and 95 years of age (mean age = 72.49 years; 48% female) who use the internet. The measures include self-reports of online activities, technology-related biographical experiences, subjective technology adaptivity, and personal characteristics (age, gender, education, income, living-together status, and subjective health). Correlations and a path model with mediator effects were used to explore the research hypothesis. Results The bivariate effects on the variability of internet use showed that study subjects participated in a greater range of online activities when they lived together with other people and were male, younger, and had higher levels of subjective technology adaptivity, technology-related biographical experiences, and educational level. The direct effects on the mediator show higher levels of subjective technology adaptivity for people who reported greater technology-related biographical experiences and for those who reported higher levels of subjective health. Discussion and Implications The results show that the positive association between people’s past experiences with and stances toward technology in their own lifetimes and their range of diverse internet activities is mediated by subjective technology adaptivity. The findings also help to illustrate which biographical factors and which current individual factors explain differences in actual online behavior.


1994 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 808-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick C. Shaw ◽  
Pierre J. Lespérance

Museum and field restudy of Cryptolithus from all known geographic and stratigraphic occurrences in eastern North America shows that the principal variable character in this genus is the number of fringe pit arcs. Because this character varies within populations and even single individuals, it cannot be used to distinguish the earlier, typologically defined species of the genus. Instead, a neotype is designated here for the type species, Cryptolithus tessellatus Green, 1832, and morph designations are used for all pit arc variants. Over the time span considered, the species increased the number of pit arcs, but the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms responsible cannot be identified with certainty.


Asian Survey ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 727-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jongpil Chung

Abstract By comparing major online activities in China and South Korea, this article analyzes how the leaders of China and South Korea have influenced the use of the Internet and how the Internet has made it possible for individuals and groups to have their views reflected in policy making processes.


Author(s):  
Mark D. Griffiths

AbstractThis commentary critiques the recent paper by Montag et al. (2019) and (i) argues that there are a number of issues that are presented as contemporary but have been discussed in the internet addiction literature for over 20 years, (ii) argues that generalized internet use disorder (IUD)/smartphone use disorder (SmUD) and specific IUD/SmUD may mean different things to different scholars, (iii) suggests that online activities that involve content creation often utilize nonmobile devices, and (iv) suggests that there are some potentially problematic online behaviors that are not included as major activities in the proposed in Montag et al.‘s taxonomy of internet-related problematic behaviors.


Author(s):  
Ευαγγελία Kαραμανώλη ◽  
Σπυρίδων Τάνταρος ◽  
Βασίλης Παυλόπουλος

Over the past two decades, internet use has been increased significantly worldwide. The present study aims at examining the associations between internet use in emerging adulthood and crucial developmental dimensions during this age period, namely life satisfaction, identity development, and attachment style. Previous studies have shown that there is a high risk of excessive internet use during emerging adulthood. Five hundred men and women aged 18 to 25 years participated in the study. They completed (a) The Internet Addiction Test (Young, 1998), (b) The Life Satisfaction Scale (Diener et al.,, 1985), (c) The Dimensions of Identity Development Scale (Luyckx et al., 2008), and (d) The Relationship Scales Questionnaire (Griffin & Bartholomew, 1994). Hours of daily use, specific online activities and socio-demographic variables were also assessed. The results of the research showed that the excessive use of the internet is significantly related to hours of daily use and to specific online activities. Men made significantly more use of the internet than women. Those who were not satisfied with their current life conditions, were engaged in exploration in breadth, ruminative exploration and avoided or felt uncomfortable with close interpersonal relationships, were more likely to resort to excessive internet use. These results have implications for future studies regarding excessive internet use in relation to young people’s quality of life.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Milena Tepavicharova ◽  
Lyudmila Dikova

Introduction. Social media steadily and constantly envelops all aspects of peoples' lives. Thus it is of crucial importance to investigate and measure social media activities' impact on their inclusion in the formation of today’s and future societies as more and more online activities have been incorporated in real life personal and professional activities. Aim and tasks. This article explores the new trends in people’s activities at the workplace and outlines the main concerns regarding keeping the line between personal and professional online activities. Results. Social media are now an integral part of the everyday life of modern man. Since a person spends most of their day at work or in pursuit of their profession, they also seek to engage in personal activities within the working day (talking on the phone with family or friends, shopping online, reading news etc.). A user is created with features specific to the internet generation. This new type of user has specific features that allow researchers to talk about the emergence of a next-generation user. The Next Generation User is a person who has access to the Internet from multiple locations and devices.The rapid penetration of social media in people's everyday life implies a greater impact on all users' real-life and online activities. Evidence of the latter can be found in very common situations when users upload photos or videos from parties or events in real time not always tacking into consideration the possible outcomes for their personal and professional lives. Conclusions. Managers consider that workers should focus more not only on the technical limitation of the exchange in of information on social media but also on a better personal judgment about the nature and volume of the shared information. The intensity of social media activities of the workers is monitored actively by employers and coworkers alike and can be seen as an indicator of low efficiency or irresponsible personality. With the fast development of wireless mobile telecommunications technology and the growing multitude of mobile apps online activities become a real threat for workers’ productivity and the development of workplace culture.


PMLA ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 116 (5) ◽  
pp. 1405-1414
Author(s):  
David S. Miall

Along with many other aspects of north american culture, literary studies is being swept into the digital age. In considering what this might mean, I examine in particular how the Internet, with its many and protean conveniences for literature, is beginning to supplant the library, that traditional bastion of the text. The prospects for literature are not necessarily favorable. While libraries have been attempting to adapt to the Internet, the nature of the digital medium and some of the rhetoric that has attended it invoke troubling questions, raising the possibility that central features of literary studies may be in danger of being disregarded or marginalized. The digitizing of literature affects how we read and what we read, methods of study, the preservation of the archive, and the forms taken by new writing, some of which is specifically designed to exploit the electronic medium. In this paper I offer a sketch of the problems, possibilities, and paradoxes that we face as literary scholars.


2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-91
Author(s):  
Preston C. Calvert ◽  
Edmond J. FitzGibbon

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