A large scale study of reader interactions with images on Wikipedia

Wikipedia is the largest source of free encyclopedic knowledge and one of the most visited sites on the Web. To increase reader understanding of the article, Wikipedia editors add images within the text of the article’s body. However, despite their widespread usage on web platforms and the huge volume of visual content on Wikipedia, little is known about the importance of images in the context of free knowledge environments. To bridge this gap, we collect data about English Wikipedia reader interactions with images during one month and perform the first large-scale analysis of how interactions with images happen on Wikipedia. First, we quantify the overall engagement with images, finding that one in 29 pageviews results in a click on at least one image, one order of magnitude higher than interactions with other types of article content. Second, we study what factors associate with image engagement and observe that clicks on images occur more often in shorter articles and articles about visual arts or transports and biographies of less well-known people. Third, we look at interactions with Wikipedia article previews and find that images help support reader information need when navigating through the site, especially for more popular pages. The findings in this study deepen our understanding of the role of images for free knowledge and provide a guide for Wikipedia editors and web user communities to enrich the world’s largest source of encyclopedic knowledge.

Detection of Hidden Communities in Twitter Discussions of Varying Volumes

The community-based structure of communication on social networking sites has long been a focus of scholarly attention. However, the problem of discovery and description of hidden communities, including defining the proper level of user aggregation, remains an important problem not yet resolved. Studies of online communities have clear social implications, as they allow for assessment of preference-based user grouping and the detection of socially hazardous groups. The aim of this study is to comparatively assess the algorithms that effectively analyze large user networks and extract hidden user communities from them. The results we have obtained show the most suitable algorithms for Twitter datasets of different volumes (dozen thousands, hundred thousands, and millions of tweets). We show that the Infomap and Leiden algorithms provide for the best results overall, and we advise testing a combination of these algorithms for detecting discursive communities based on user traits or views. We also show that the generalized K-means algorithm does not apply to big datasets, while a range of other algorithms tend to prioritize the detection of just one big community instead of many that would mirror the reality better. For isolating overlapping communities, the GANXiS algorithm should be used, while OSLOM is not advised.

Sustainability of water facilities under community based management in Zimbabwe

Community Based Management (CBM) has been envisaged as a panacea to sustainability challenges faced in the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector globally. In spite of this approach having success stories, studies have shown that failures are also being recorded. This study investigated the sustainability of rural water supply facilities under the CBM approach in Chipinge District of Zimbabwe. The specific objectives were to assess the technical, financial and institutional factors influencing sustainability. A cross sectional study design was used. Data was collected using Focus Group Discussions, Key Informant Interviews, household questionnaires and an observation checklist. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS and Microsoft Excel while qualitative data was analysed using the thematic approach. Results showed that the technical factors which are influencing sustainability are age of the water facility, frequency of carrying out preventive maintenance and existence of external support. Regression analysis showed a positive linear correlation between age and breakdown frequency (R2 = 0.46) and the odds of obtaining a breakdown decreased as the frequency of preventive maintenance increased. User communities were contributing inadequate O&M funds resulting in long downtimes. Non-functionality of WPCs negatively influenced sustainability. The study recommends training of user communities on CBM and technical skills.

Anomaly Detection for the Centralised Elasticsearch Service at CERN

For several years CERN has been offering a centralised service for Elasticsearch, a popular distributed system for search and analytics of user provided data. The service offered by CERN IT is better described as a service of services, delivering centrally managed and maintained Elasticsearch instances to CERN users who have a justified need for it. This dynamic infrastructure currently consists of about 30 distinct and independent Elasticsearch installations, in the following referred to as Elasticsearch clusters, some of which are shared between different user communities. The service is used by several hundred users mainly for logs and service analytics. Due to its size and complexity, the installation produces a huge amount of internal monitoring data which can be difficult to process in real time with limited available person power. Early on, an idea was therefore born to process this data automatically, aiming to extract anomalies and possible issues building up in real time, allowing the experts to address them before they start to cause an issue for the users of the service. Both deep learning and traditional methods have been applied to analyse the data in order to achieve this goal. This resulted in the current deployment of an anomaly detection system based on a one layer multi dimensional LSTM neural network, coupled with applying a simple moving average to the data to validate the results. This paper will describe which methods were investigated and give an overview of the current system, including data retrieval, data pre-processing and analysis. In addition, reports on experiences gained when applying the system to actual data will be provided. Finally, weaknesses of the current system will be briefly discussed, and ideas for future system improvements will be sketched out.

Digital library services: perceptions and expectations of user communities and librarians in a New Zealand academic library

<p>Digital services provided on demand by academic libraries offer simple and fast access to collections and services tailored to users' information needs from anywhere in the world through computer networks in an online environment. This case study was conducted at the Victoria University of Wellington Library. It has investigated the extent of and reasons for different perceptions and expectations relating to digital services between different user communities, and between users and librarians. The research, which sheds light on the users' satisfaction of the digital services, follows Taylor's (1986) user-centered and value-added theories, and Parasuraman's (1988) Gap Model. In addition, some evaluation indicators used in this research were also extracted and revised from some previous evaluation models (e.g., SERQUAL). Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in this research. Questionnaire surveys collected data on the perceptions and expectations of the digital services from the perspectives of undergraduates, postgraduates, academic staff and librarians individually. The comparative results from the survey data identified variations of perceptions and expectations between users communities, and between users and librarians. Issues raised in the questionnaires were explored in more depth through follow-up interviews with librarians. The research concluded with a range of recommendations for ways to improve the digital services offered by the VUW Library with a view to helping the Library meet the information needs of its user communities.</p>

Digital library services: perceptions and expectations of user communities and librarians in a New Zealand academic library

<p>Digital services provided on demand by academic libraries offer simple and fast access to collections and services tailored to users' information needs from anywhere in the world through computer networks in an online environment. This case study was conducted at the Victoria University of Wellington Library. It has investigated the extent of and reasons for different perceptions and expectations relating to digital services between different user communities, and between users and librarians. The research, which sheds light on the users' satisfaction of the digital services, follows Taylor's (1986) user-centered and value-added theories, and Parasuraman's (1988) Gap Model. In addition, some evaluation indicators used in this research were also extracted and revised from some previous evaluation models (e.g., SERQUAL). Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in this research. Questionnaire surveys collected data on the perceptions and expectations of the digital services from the perspectives of undergraduates, postgraduates, academic staff and librarians individually. The comparative results from the survey data identified variations of perceptions and expectations between users communities, and between users and librarians. Issues raised in the questionnaires were explored in more depth through follow-up interviews with librarians. The research concluded with a range of recommendations for ways to improve the digital services offered by the VUW Library with a view to helping the Library meet the information needs of its user communities.</p>

#JusticeforGeorgeFloyd: How Instagram Facilitated the 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests

We present and analyze 1.13 million public Instagram posts during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, which erupted in response to George Floyd’s public murder by police on May 25. Our aim is to understand the growing role of visual media, through a comprehensive view of the spatial (where) and temporal (when) dynamics, the visual and textual content (what), and the user communities (who) that drove the social movement. Using network and time-series analysis, results reveal New York, California, and Minnesota evolved as the epicenters of online social interaction. Our results also make two theoretical contributions. Social movements traditionally typologize posts as discrete instances of mobilization, organization, or conversation. The semantic analysis of 1.69 million photos show these functions are folded together visually. Second, we discuss how pre-existing meme groups and international organizations stood in solidarity to critically assist information dissemination. Together, these analyses demonstrate the precarious nature of protest journalism, and how international content creators, journalists, and everyday users co-evolved with social media to report on one of America’s largest-ever human rights movements.

AOIR ETHICS PANEL 2: PLATFORM CHALLENGES

This panel is one of two sessions organized by the AoIR Ethics Working Committee. It collects five papers exploring a broad (but in many ways common) set of ethical dilemmas faced by researchers engaged with specific platforms such as Reddit, Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, and private messaging platforms. These include: a study of people's online conversations about health matters on Reddit in support of a proposed situated ethics framework for researchers working with publicly available data; an exploration into sourcing practices among Reddit researchers to determine if their sources could be unmasked and located in Reddit archives; a broader systematic review of over 700 research studies that used Reddit data to assess the kinds of analysis and methods researchers are engaging in as well as any ethical considerations that emerge when researching Reddit; a critical examination of the use of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk for academic research; and an investigation into current practices and ethical dilemmas faced when researching closed messaging applications and their users. Taken together, these papers illuminate emerging ethical dilemmas facing researchers when investigating novel platforms and user communities; challenges often not fully addressed–if even contemplated–in existing ethical guidelines. These papers are among those under consideration for publication in a special issue of the Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society associated with the AoIR Ethics Working Committee and AoIR2021.

A 3D Printed Vitrification Device for Storage in Cryopreservation Vials

Sperm cryopreservation by vitrification is a promising approach for small-bodied animals such as zebrafish (Danio rerio). However, most vitrification tools adopted in aquatic research were initially designed for applications other than sperm (such as human embryo freezing) and, thus, pose challenges for adoption to sperm vitrification. Three-dimensional (3D) printing combined with open hardware sharing is an emerging strategy to address challenges in the development of cryopreservation tools. The goal of this study was to develop a 3D printed Vitrification Device for Cryo-Vials (VDCV) that can be integrated with the existing vial storage systems. The VDCV combined the vitrification and handling components to achieve functions of sample handling, vitrification, storage, and identification. The vitrification component featured a base, a stem, and a loop. A total of 36 configurations with various loop lengths (8, 10, and 12 mm); loop widths (2.0, 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 mm); and support structures (open, transverse, and axial) of the VDCD prototypes were designed, fabricated, and tested. Device handling orientations (horizontal and vertical holding angles prior to and during freezing) were also investigated. Computer simulations estimated that the cooling rate of the samples ranged from 0.6–1.5 × 105 °C/min in all the configurations. Prior to freezing, loops with axial supports produced a minimum of 92% film retention. The overall trends of full vitrification occurrence were observed: horizontal plunging > vertical plunging, and axial support > transverse support and open loop. A loop length of 8 mm had the highest overall vitrification occurrence (86–100%). No significant differences (p = 0.6584) were shown in a volume capacity (5.7–6.0 µL) among the three supporting configurations. A single unit of VDCV can provide loading efficiencies of about 6 × 107 sperm/vial, pooling of samples from 3–6 males/vial, and fertilization for 1800 eggs/vial. The VDCV are low-cost (<$0.5 material cost per unit) and can be customized, standardized, securely labeled, and efficiently stored. The prototypes can be accessed by user communities through open-fabrication file sharing and fabricated with consumer-level 3D printers, thus facilitating community-level standardization.