EMPOWERING THE USERS IN ACADEMIC LIBRARY FOR A BETTER FUTURE

The main purpose of this paper is to enlighten the basic concept of user empowerment. The important role of the academic libraries and library professionals is to empower the students, research scholars and faculties for maximize and effective use of academic resources to enable them to develop skills & ability for self-empowering This paper discuss about the need of user empowerment, teaching tool & techniques, role of library professionals in user empowerment in academic library.

Determinants of Self-Service Analytics Adoption Intention

The increasing popularity of self-service analytics (SSA) is empowering business users to analyze data and generate actionable insights autonomously. While there are many benefits to SSA tools, there is a scarcity of research on the factors influencing their adoption in business organizations. This article presents an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) that incorporates the task-technology fit (TTF), compatibility, and user empowerment as critical antecedents of users' intention to adopt SSA tools for reporting and analytics tasks. To test the proposed model, data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 211 business users working in different industries in Jordan. The collected data were analysed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results of this study demonstrate that the task-technology fit, compatibility, and user empowerment are significant predictors of users' perceptions of usefulness and ease of use of SSA tools. Both of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have a positive effect on users' intention to adopt SSA tools. Collectively, all these factors account for 51.6 percent of the variance in the behavioral intention. The findings of this study provide several key implications for research and practice, and thus should contribute to the design and adoption of more user-accepted SSA tools and applications.

PODCASTING AND PERSONAL BRANDS: MAPPING A THEORETICAL PATH FROM PARTICIPATORY EMPOWERMENT TO INDIVIDUAL PERSONA CONSTRUCTION

This research paper critically analyses the The Osher Günsberg Podcast to illustrate a theoretical disconnect between dominant Web 2.0 theories and the contemporary practice of using the podcast to construct a networked branded persona. I trace the history of early theorisations of the medium, first regarded by leading scholars as a tool for user empowerment in the ‘participatory turn’ in media studies before examining how it is employed by media personalities to establish transmedia personal brands; a particular phenomenon emerging at the forefront of a renewed interest in podcasting by traditional media stakeholders. I argue that this disconnect reveals a need for scholars who study the podcast to now draw on the emerging field of persona studies, which offers a range of new tools that will be useful in analysing the continued evolution of podcasting under its new market pressures and potentials.

eHealth: advantages, disadvantages and guiding principles for the future. (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Information and communication technologies have changed the way we access, analyse and use health information. eHealth is a new concept that has been in use for almost two decades. Nevertheless, even today, there is little consensus on eHealth definitions, its main advantages or disadvantages and the future development of eHealth research. OBJECTIVE This paper aims to define the concept of eHealth, recognise its main advantages and potential harms or challenges and acknowledge the aspects of eHealth that need to be explored in future research. METHODS A literature review was conducted by searching all peer-reviewed articles published prior to February 2019 in PubMed. The search was conducted using the following keywords: «eHealth», «eHealth definition», «eHealth advantages», «eHealth problems» and «eHealth future». Of the numerous articles retrieved we analysed the titles, their abstracts, the language and if we could access full-text versions. We were able to select one hundred articles that included contents related to our objectives. RESULTS Of the one hundred articles reviewed, twenty studies contained eHealth definitions. The more mentioned aspects, within the definitions, were the information and communication technologies, health care delivery, the Internet and the importance of being user centred. Twenty nine articles mentioned advantages. The literature showed that the main advantage was that eHealth improved the accessibility to health information, followed by the chance of tailoring the health interventions. Other themes that emerged were user empowerment or the opportunity to reduce costs. Seventy three articles mentioned eHealth disadvantages. The most quoted was the poor quality of the information available, followed by the user’s difficulty to properly evaluate that quality, the existence of technical or not easily understandable information, or the risk of potential harms. Forty articles mentioned recommendations for future eHealth research. The most cited proposals were to improve user’s health and eHealth literacy, and health care providers implication in eHealth development and delivery. CONCLUSIONS Despite not finding consensus around the eHealth definition, we have found some features that can help to define eHealth as the delivery of user centred health care services through information and communication technologies, mainly Internet. The main advantages of using eHealth services are the improvement of accessibility to health, the opportunity to tailor the interventions, user empowerment and cost-effectiveness. Among the literature there are concerns about quality, information being intelligible, the digital divide or the risk of potential harms. Most mentioned guidelines for the future are to improve user’s health and eHealth literacy, health care providers implication in eHealth development and delivery, and the need of more research about the effectiveness of the eHealth interventions.

Effect of Key User Empowerment, Purchasing Strategy, Process Integration,Production System to Operational Performance

This study examines the influence of key user empowerment on the operational performance through the mediating role of process integration, purchasing strategy and production system. The questionnaires were distributed to 120 manufacturing companies domiciled in East Java Region. Of the 120, 70 questionnaires are valid for further analysis. Data analysis used Partial Least Square (PLS) version 3.0. The finding are as follows: Key user empowerment affects the process integration. Key user empowerment influence the purchasing strategy. Process integration affects the purchasing. Process integration also influence the production system. Purchasing strategy provide support in the company's production system. Process Integration affects the company's operational performance. Purchasing strategy does not affect the operational performance. Purchasing strategy has an impact on company performance through a production system. The production system provides an increasein company performance. In summary, the key user empowerment has a direct and indirect impact on operational performance through process integration, purchasing strategy, and the production system. This study enriches the current research in supply chain management and provide an insight for the manager in improving the operational performance.

Blockchain Technologies for Private Data Management in AmI Environments

Blockchain enables the creation of distributed ledgers as a type of database that is shared, replicated, and synchronized among the members of a network. In this paper we analyze how distributed ledgers can be used for empowering end-users to self-manage their own data, enabling third parties to access those data under a cryptographic management model. We propose a use case where both blockchain and smart contracts are employed by using cryptographic technology to enable user empowerment of data management in AmI. Finally, we analyze strengths and weaknesses of the proposed scenario.