Academic Medical Libraries and Accessibility Challenges The Conformance of the Websites with the WCAG2 1

Website accessibility is a key factor in meeting individuals’ needs and expectations. Considering the lack of research on the accessibility of Iranian medical libraries’ websites, the aim of the present study is to evaluate the compliance of the central library websites of Iranian universities of medical sciences using the latest WCAG2.1 guideline. The research includes all the 51 homepages of the central libraries of Iranian medical universities. The accessibility evaluation of each homepage performed using “Webaccessibility” automated testing tool. The Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance was performed to explore the association of the compliance score of libraries’ websites among the three categories of medical universities. The findings of the present study revealed that none of the central library websites of the Iranian medical sciences universities are fully compliant with WCAG2.1, and the mean compliance score of accessibility was 77.26 ± 5.862 percent. The low accessibility of the library websites may result in making online information services and resources inaccessible and unusable to users who are disabled. Therefore, it is necessary for library managers and website designers to solve the accessibility problems and improve the accessibility of the websites to make them accessible for all users.

The Role of Personal Characteristics in Online Behaviors

Personal characteristics were studied as the determinants of forwarding online content behavior using data collected from a sample of 386 individuals. Personal characteristics included: gender; age; experience with online information services; level of consumption of online content; and the 16 personality traits. With the exception of gender and 15 of the personality traits, these personal characteristics significantly influenced forwarding behavior with no significant differences between males and females. Although not acting as significant determinants for forwarding behavior these 15 personality traits enabled the development of profiles for individuals with characteristics that did significantly influence forwarding behavior. These results represent new findings with respect to forwarding behavior and provide important theoretical and practical insights.

Why pay? An empirical study of paid-for SQA sites in China

Purpose The once failed paid-for social question and answer (SQA) service is in full swing in China. The traditional profit model, which typically relies on advertising, is abandoned in this case. Instead, users have to pay for content and service. The purpose of this paper is to explore why users are willing to pay in paid-for SQA sites. Design/methodology/approach This study carried out 14 valid semi-structured interviews to investigate “why did they pay.” The interviewees are users of three popular paid-for SQA sites. The qualitative data were obtained from valid interviews and processed through thematic analysis. Findings The analysis revealed five overarching themes: paying for the answerer’s heterogeneous resource, paying for more credible answer, the cognition of the question, the price is affordable and expecting potential revenue. The five themes and their sub-themes constitute the motivation for why users would pay in paid-for SQA. Practical implications As a new business model for online information services, paid-for SQA sites are facing fierce competition from traditional ones. The findings not only indicate the importance of establishing a reciprocal network relationship among users, but also provide a better understanding of users’ needs and demands for paid-for SQA services. The results are helpful for paid-for SQA sites to conduct a differential competitive strategy according to the user’s paying motivation. Originality/value To authors’ knowledge, this is the first study, which provides primary-source data and valuable insights into users’ paying motivation in the context of new paid-for SQA sites in China.

‘Just having a computer doesn’t make sense’: The digital divide from the perspective of mothers with a low socio-economic position

The introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been shown to play a role in reinforcing existing social inequalities. This study aims to gain insights into the perspectives, experiences and needs of disadvantaged groups with respect to ICT. In the Netherlands, a relatively large and important group of non-users are mothers with a low socio-economic position (SEP). Little attention has been paid to understanding why mothers with a low SEP scarcely use ICTs. In an explorative participatory study in Amsterdam, using observations, interviews and focus groups, our results show that reinforcing factors related to poverty, motherhood, the complexity of ICT and being first-generation immigrant influence access. The mothers’ needs are multifaceted and go beyond the simple distribution of ICT devices. ICT education should be tailored and integrated into existing social services and the daily lives of the mothers. Moreover, policymakers should pay attention to adapting the online information services to the mothers’ strengths.

Introduction to “Specialised portals, online information services, scholarly online networks: the impact of e-infrastructures on science communication and scholarly community building”

While most researchers still primarily use emails and simple websites for professional communication, the number of specialised online portals, information services and scholarly social online networks is constantly growing. This development led to the 6th workshop organized by the team of openTA, an online portal for technology assessment. This issue of JCOM pools commentaries on the workshop which deal with questions such as: what are the criteria of successful digital infrastructures? Which potential for changing workflows or scholarly interaction and collaboration patterns do we ascribe to digital infrastructures?

Actions improving the image of a nurse in electronic media. Opinion of students at medical courses

Aim. The aim of study was to define actions improving the image of nurses in electronic media. Material and method. 219 women and 44 men took part in a survey. They were the students of the following courses: nursing, medical rescue, obstetrics, medicine, dentistry, pharmaceutics, physiotherapy, public health. The studies were undertaken with use of own questionnaire in 2015. Results. Majority of respondents 64,6% (n=169) stated that improvement of image of their own profession belongs to the nurses, and only 35,4% (n=93) respondents indicated that the professional organizations of nurses and midwives have their impact on it. According to the students, the most crucial action that should be undertaken by professional organizations in order to improve the image of profession in electronic media was the improvement of wages and working conditions (72,2%, n=189) and better promotion of the profession in electronic media (73,8%, n=193). The nurses can influence the improvement of their image in media by taking care of the good opinion about the profession by setting good example (32%, n=84), and also by creating blogs, social forum, online information services, etc. (26,2%, n=69). Conclusions. According to the respondents, the image of a nurse in electronic media is shaped by the television and radio. The mentioned media tend to present nursing environment in a negative light. The data analysis shows that according to the respondents, the professional organizations of nurses and midwives and nurses themselves should be responsible for improvement of the situation. In order to improve the image, the nurses should promote professional achievements, change the stereotype used in shows and movies, and familiarize the public with the profession. The following branches of mass media should be used: internet websites, television and radio.