Australian dispute exposes big tech's power and fears

Significance Facebook on February 17 cut off its users from Australian news, in protest against the proposed legislation. News publishers want ‘big tech’ that earn advertising revenue from their news to pay for the journalism. They currently earn digital revenue from the click-through traffic that Facebook and Google dribble in their direction. Impacts Facebook's ability to block news in Australia entirely and at scale contrasts sharply with its other dilatory content moderation efforts. Without a settlement, Facebook risks Australia widening the draft law to include other Facebook ad-supported properties, eg, Instagram. Publishers are unlikely to devote all the money received from big tech to expanding newsroom budgets. Canada intends to adopt Australia's approach as it drafts its own legislation in coming months.

Significance It praised his coverage of civil-military relations in the country despite it apparently causing him and his employer, the Dawn Media Group (DMG), to come under pressure. Impacts More Pakistani activists will express their views in social media rather than print or broadcast forms, though this would also entail risks. The country’s media industry will contract, with many outlets likely to see advertising revenue curtailed. Pakistani academia could become increasingly marked by self-censorship.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-148
Author(s):  
Giwoong Bae ◽  
Hye-Jin Kim

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation between average ratings (viewership) and the volume and valence of electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) for early episodes of TV shows. Design/methodology/approach Linear regression was performed in which the dependent variable is average TV ratings and main independent variables are volume and valence of e-WOM. The study used a Breusch–Pagan test to detect heteroscedasticity. Accordingly, the model is analyzed using heteroscedasticity-consistent standard error estimators. Findings The results show that the volume of the early e-WOM does not significantly contribute to explaining average ratings, but the valence does. Originality/value Because the advertising revenue of television broadcasters is determined according to expected TV ratings, the average ratings should be predicted as early as possible. This study shows that analyzing early e-WOM helps predict average ratings.


Significance Rustavi-2 is Georgia's leading TV station for viewers and advertising revenue. Closely associated with the opposition United National Movement (UNM) and labelled a "machine of lies" by the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) coalition leadership, Rustavi-2 has been a thorn in the government's side. An unexpected legal challenge from businessman Qibar Khalvashi aimed at regaining ownership is widely seen as a GD-inspired move to hobble Rustavi-2 well before the 2016 parliamentary elections. Impacts Having vilified Rustavi-2 on numerous occasions, the government will struggle to assert its neutrality. The affair highlights palpable stagnation in today's Georgia. Without clearer EU and US intervention, democratic standards will slide.


Author(s):  
Jeeyun Oh ◽  
Mun-Young Chung ◽  
Sangyong Han

Despite of the popularity of interactive movie trailers, rigorous research on one of the most apparent features of these interfaces – the level of user control – has been scarce. This study explored the effects of user control on users’ immersion and enjoyment of the movie trailers, moderated by the content type. We conducted a 2 (high user control versus low user control) × 2 (drama film trailer versus documentary film trailer) mixed-design factorial experiment. The results showed that the level of user control over movie trailer interfaces decreased users’ immersion when the trailer had an element of traditional story structure, such as a drama film trailer. Participants in the high user control condition answered that they were less fascinated with, absorbed in, focused on, mentally involved with, and emotionally affected by the movie trailer than participants in the low user control condition only with the drama movie trailer. The negative effects of user control on the level of immersion for the drama trailer translated into users’ enjoyment. The impact of user control over interfaces on immersion and enjoyment varies depending on the nature of the media content, which suggests a possible trade-off between the level of user control and entertainment outcomes.


Mousaion ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-54
Author(s):  
Wanyenda Leonard Chilimo

 There is scant research-based evidence on the development and adoption of open access (OA) and institutional repositories (IRs) in Africa, and in Kenya in particular. This article reports on a study that attempted to fill that gap and provide feedback on the various OA projects and advocacy work currently underway in universities and research institutions in Kenya and in other developing countries. The article presents the findings of a descriptive study that set out to evaluate the current state of IRs in Kenya. Webometric approaches and interviews with IR managers were used to collect the data for the study. The findings showed that Kenya has made some progress in adopting OA with a total of 12 IRs currently listed in the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) and five mandatory self-archiving policies listed in the Registry of Open Access Repositories Mandatory Archiving Policies (ROARMAP). Most of the IRs are owned by universities where theses and dissertations constitute the majority of the content type followed by journal articles. The results on the usage and impact of materials deposited in Kenyan IRs indicated that the most viewed publications in the repositories also received citations in Google Scholar, thereby signifying their impact and importance. The results also showed that there was a considerable interest in Swahili language publications among users of the repositories in Kenya.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlyn Johnston ◽  
William E. Davis

In the present study, we examined how the influence of exercise-related social media content on exercise motivation might differ across content type (with images vs. without images) and account type (individual vs. corporate). Using a 2 × 2 within-subjects experimental design, 229 participants viewed a series of 40 actual social media posts across the four conditions (individual posts with images, corporate posts with images, individual posts without images, and corporate posts without images) in a randomized order. Participants rated the extent to which they felt each social media post motivated them to exercise, would motivate others to exercise, and was posted for extrinsic reasons. Participants also completed other measures of individual differences including their own exercise motivation. Posts with images from individuals were more motivating than posts with images from corporations; however, corporate posts without images were more motivating than posts without images from individuals. Participants expected others to be similarly motivated by the stimuli, and perceived corporate posts as having been posted for more extrinsic reasons than individuals’ posts. These findings enhance our understanding of how social media may be used to promote positive health behaviors.


2000 ◽  
Vol 93 (supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 120-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chihiro Ohye ◽  
Tohru Shibazaki ◽  
Junji Ishihara ◽  
Jie Zhang

Object. The effects of gamma thalamotomy for parkinsonian and other kinds of tremor were evaluated. Methods. Thirty-six thalamotomies were performed in 31 patients by using a 4-mm collimator. The maximum dose was 150 Gy in the initial six cases, which was reduced to 130 Gy thereafter. The longest follow-up period was 6 years. The target was determined on T2-weighted and proton magnetic resonance (MR) images. The point chosen was in the lateral-most part of the thalamic ventralis intermedius nucleus. This is in keeping with open thalamotomy as practiced at the authors' institution. In 15 cases, gamma thalamotomy was the first surgical procedure. In other cases, previous therapeutic or vascular lesions were visible to facilitate targeting. Two types of tissue reaction were onserved on MR imaging: a simple oval shape and a complex irregular shape. Neither of these changes affected the clinical course. In the majority of cases, the tremor subsided after a latent interval of approximately 1 year after irradiation. The earliest response was demonstrated at 3 months. In five cases the tremor remained. In four of these cases, a second radiation session was administered. One of these four patients as well as another patient with an unsatisfactory result underwent open thalamotomy with microrecording. In both cases, depth recording adjacent to the necrotic area revealed normal neuronal activity, including the rhythmic discharge of tremor. Minor coagulation was performed and resulted in immediate and complete arrest of the remaining tremor. Conclusions. Gamma thalamotomy for Parkinson's disease seems to be an alternative useful method in selected cases.


2000 ◽  
Vol 93 (supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 113-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Hung-Chi Pan ◽  
Wan-Yuo Guo ◽  
Wen-Yuh Chung ◽  
Cheng-Ying Shiau ◽  
Yue-Cune Chang ◽  
...  

Object. A consecutive series of 240 patients with arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) treated by gamma knife radiosurgery (GKS) between March 1993 and March 1999 was evaluated to assess the efficacy and safety of radiosurgery for cerebral AVMs larger than 10 cm3 in volume. Methods. Seventy-six patients (32%) had AVM nidus volumes of more than 10 cm3. During radiosurgery, targeting and delineation of AVM nidi were based on integrated stereotactic magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and x-ray angiography. The radiation treatment was performed using multiple small isocenters to improve conformity of the treatment volume. The mean dose inside the nidus was kept between 20 Gy and 24 Gy. The margin dose ranged between 15 to 18 Gy placed at the 55 to 60% isodose centers. Follow up ranged from 12 to 73 months. There was complete obliteration in 24 patients with an AVM volume of more than 10 cm3 and in 91 patients with an AVM volume of less than 10 cm3. The latency for complete obliteration in larger-volume AVMs was significantly longer. In Kaplan—Meier analysis, the complete obliteration rate in 40 months was 77% in AVMs with volumes between 10 to 15 cm3, as compared with 25% for AVMs with a volume of more than 15 cm3. In the latter, the obliteration rate had increased to 58% at 50 months. The follow-up MR images revealed that large-volume AVMs had higher incidences of postradiosurgical edema, petechiae, and hemorrhage. The bleeding rate before cure was 9.2% (seven of 76) for AVMs with a volume exceeding 10 cm3, and 1.8% (three of 164) for AVMs with a volume less than 10 cm3. Although focal edema was more frequently found in large AVMs, most of the cases were reversible. Permanent neurological complications were found in 3.9% (three of 76) of the patients with an AVM volume of more than 10 cm3, 3.8% (three of 80) of those with AVM volume of 3 to 10 cm3, and 2.4% (two of 84) of those with an AVM volume less than 3 cm3. These differences in complications rate were not significant. Conclusions. Recent improvement of radiosurgery in conjunction with stereotactic MR targeting and multiplanar dose planning has permitted the treatment of larger AVMs. It is suggested that gamma knife radiosurgery is effective for treating AVMs as large as 30 cm3 in volume with an acceptable risk.


2000 ◽  
Vol 93 (supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 96-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jong Hee Chang ◽  
Jin Woo Chang ◽  
Yong Gou Park ◽  
Sang Sup Chung

Object. The authors sought to evaluate the effects of gamma knife radiosurgery (GKS) on cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) and the factors associated with complete occlusion. Methods. A total of 301 radiosurgical procedures for 277 cerebral AVMs were performed between December 1988 and December 1999. Two hundred seventy-eight lesions in 254 patients who were treated with GKS from May 1992 to December 1999 were analyzed. Several clinical and radiological parameters were evaluated. Conclusions. The total obliteration rate for the cases with an adequate radiological follow up of more than 2 years was 78.9%. In multivariate analysis, maximum diameter, angiographically delineated shape of the AVM nidus, and the number of draining veins significantly influenced the result of radiosurgery. In addition, margin radiation dose, Spetzler—Martin grade, and the flow pattern of the AVM nidus also had some influence on the outcome. In addition to the size, topography, and radiosurgical parameters of AVMs, it would seem to be necessary to consider the angioarchitectural and hemodynamic aspects to select proper candidates for radiosurgery.


2000 ◽  
Vol 93 (supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 90-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark E. Linskey

✓ By definition, the term “radiosurgery” refers to the delivery of a therapeutic radiation dose in a single fraction, not simply the use of stereotaxy. Multiple-fraction delivery is better termed “stereotactic radiotherapy.” There are compelling radiobiological principles supporting the biological superiority of single-fraction radiation for achieving an optimal therapeutic response for the slowly proliferating, late-responding, tissue of a schwannoma. It is axiomatic that complication avoidance requires precise three-dimensional conformality between treatment and tumor volumes. This degree of conformality can only be achieved through complex multiisocenter planning. Alternative radiosurgery devices are generally limited to delivering one to four isocenters in a single treatment session. Although they can reproduce dose plans similar in conformality to early gamma knife dose plans by using a similar number of isocenters, they cannot reproduce the conformality of modern gamma knife plans based on magnetic resonance image—targeted localization and five to 30 isocenters. A disturbing trend is developing in which institutions without nongamma knife radiosurgery (GKS) centers are championing and/or shifting to hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for vestibular schwannomas. This trend appears to be driven by a desire to reduce complication rates to compete with modern GKS results by using complex multiisocenter planning. Aggressive advertising and marketing from some of these centers even paradoxically suggests biological superiority of hypofractionation approaches over single-dose radiosurgery for vestibular schwannomas. At the same time these centers continue to use the term radiosurgery to describe their hypofractionated radiotherapy approach in an apparent effort to benefit from a GKS “halo effect.” It must be reemphasized that as neurosurgeons our primary duty is to achieve permanent tumor control for our patients and not to eliminate complications at the expense of potential late recurrence. The answer to minimizing complications while maintaining maximum tumor control is improved conformality of radiosurgery dose planning and not resorting to homeopathic radiosurgery doses or hypofractionation radiotherapy schemes.


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