One of the benefits that Behaviour & Information Technology (BIT) enjoys over some other scientific journals is that the field is hugely diverse and papers cover a wide range of topics. My hope is that this means that every reader finds that each issue contains at least some papers which are directly relevant to their own interests. I hope too that they find other papers which on first sight may not be relevant, but which turn out to either contain or trigger new ideas and thoughts.
In this issue, two papers have really resonated with me in terms of their relevance to my own experience – the first on fraud and deception and the second on reading papers on screen using Portable Document Format (PDF). Indeed, this latter topic is so important that we have a discussion paper from the Executive Editor and a call for papers for a special issue of BIT on the topic.
The first paper ends the first section of this issue and deals with rogue websites, which spoof genuine journals and steal submission and other fees from unsuspecting authors. I have not actually encountered this myself but I can see how easy it would be to fall into the trap.
The well publicised ‘Nigerian Oil scam’ and its variants usually combine poor spelling or punctuation with unbelievable offers of wealth. It was only recently that I learned that such scams were not aimed at people like me, who would see through them, but at more vulnerable sections of society who might be tempted. The obviousness actually serves as a filter to find the gullible. I find this very distasteful. However, many of the emails which get through my spam filter are much harder to detect. Some are really quite convincing although when I hear from a bank that my account needs to be verified, it’s an obvious scam if I am not actually a customer! So too, winning a lottery that I have never entered, or being selected for such a special deal that it seems to be too good to be true are helpful indicators of fraud. But the scammers are getting more sophisticated and fraudulent journal sites are probably just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to parting us from our cash. I would hate to have to give up internet shopping for fear of fraud but we do all need to be eternally vigilant. One of the proposed prevention approaches that I have heard about is a charge for emails. The amount would be a fraction of a penny and would have no real economic impact on legitimate individuals or businesses but it would stop mass emailing being free. Of course, setting up the systems to support this might be costly and indeed could open a new door for fraud. In the meantime, I guess the message is to trust no-one!
The second topic concerns the use of PDF and reading on screens. Over the years, we have published many papers about reading on screens being more difficult than reading on paper. As the technology has improved so more obvious issues like poorer character contrast, resolution and the need to adopt uncomfortable postures have gradually been eroded. But some people still prefer to read on paper.
I must confess that I don’t. I love my Kindle for extended reading and I am perfectly happy for BIT to have moved away from paper as the main communication channel. My office as editor used to be buried in paper with authors being asked to provide three or four copies to support refereeing and printed proofs being what I used to construct editorials. My office is not exactly paperless, and is certainly not as tidy as I would like, but being able to read papers and construct editorials on computer works well for me.
However, I do find that the idiosyncrasies of PDF can be annoying. I also know that people with disabilities can find ordinary PDF documents unreadable and although there is Universally Accessible PDF (PDF/UA), it does not seem to be widespread. I am therefore looking forward to next year’s special issue which will focus on ‘Improving the Usability and Accessibility of PDF for Better Use as a Communication Medium’. If you can contribute, please do.
Information: quality and access
The first paper in this issue of Behaviour & Information Technology addresses perceptions of information quality dimensions from the perspective of commodity theory. Dennis Fehrenbacher from the Department of Accounting, Monash Business School, Monash University, Australia, seeks to contribute to the information quality (IQ) literature by taking a subjective approach. He investigated the effects of satisfaction and complexity on the perception of IQ dimensions. He found both main effects and interaction effects. His main line of reasoning built on commodity theory as a psychological explanation of the effects of scarcity. Based on this finding, he suggests a feedback loop model, which integrates the research on IQ into the information systems (IS) success literature. He discusses the potential implications of these findings in relation to IS success research.
Next, Paul Watters and Jacqueline Ziegler from the Centre for Information Technology, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand, consider the importance of intentional dissemination of information in information systems. They discuss methods for controlling access to information – as opposed to data – which they believe are still in their infancy, especially in relation to the key ‘decision points’ that need to be made regarding what information users can access when, and under what conditions. Their paper presents the case for access control to be explicitly integrated into models of information behaviour, especially as they relate to information access on the relatively unregulated internet. They report an observational case study relating to information access in Indonesia – which is a highly regulated society. They examined advertising on rogue websites such as gambling, which is strictly regulated in the physical world but is relatively unchecked online. They argue that the absence of effective controls is reflected in the high levels of offending seen online. The extent to which information systems can manage information-seeking behaviour in a way that is consistent with regulatory or policy requirements in the online environment is discussed, with a view to establishing a foundation and terminology to modify information behaviour theory for the online environment.
Maria Uther from the Department of Psychology, University of Winchester, Winchester, and Adrian Banks from the Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Surrey, both in the UK, investigated the influence of sensory and cognitive affordances on the user experience of mobile devices for multimedia language learning applications. A primarily audio-based language learning application – ‘Vowel Trainer’, was chosen against a comparison, text and picture-based language learning application – ‘Learn English for Taxi Drivers’. Impressions of the two applications were assessed on two different devices that have virtually the same interface and identical sound output (when headphones are used), but differ in physical size: the iPhone and the iPad. A mixed design was chosen, with native language as a group factor and device type (iPad vs. iPhone) and language application type (audio vs. video) as within group factors. Assessments of sensory and cognitive affordances were made, along with measurement of learner preferences of each application. Data from 41 participants (21 native English speakers, 20 non-native English speakers) were analysed, revealing device differences in both audio and visual subjective quality ratings, despite only visual quality being affected by the device’s physical limitations. The authors suggest that sensory affordances (indexed by subjective quality) are not simply a function of physical limitations, but are heavily influenced by context. The implications for developing design guidelines for language learning and other multimedia applications are discussed.
Maria-Iuliana Dascalu, Monica Nastasia Mihailescu, and Elena Alice Tanase from the Department of Engineering in Foreign Languages, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Constanta-Nicoleta Bodea from the Department of Economic Informatics and Cybernetics, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, also in Bucharest, Romania, and Patricia Ordoñez de Pablos from the Department of Business Administration and Accountability, Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain, consider the role of educational recommender systems and their application in lifelong learning. They discuss the problem of finding meaningful material amongst the plethora of online sources. They point out that recommender algorithms can be used to make smart decisions in complex information systems and help the users decide upon useful materials. They present a survey of educational recommender systems (RS). Their analysis covers the technology specifications and challenges of each system, in the context of the main trends in the development of RS. An ontology-based educational recommendation mechanism is proposed and its application to lifelong learning is highlighted, indicating that RS can successfully support new learning paradigms.
The last paper in this section deals with the problem of hijacked journals. These are cloned websites, that resemble the homepages of legitimate journals, whose aim is to collect processing and publication fees from unwary authors. Mehdi Dadkhah from the Department of Computer and Information Technology, Foulad Institute of Technology, Fooladshahr, Iran, Tomasz Maliszewski from the Department of Social Sciences, Pomeranian University in Słupsk, Słupsk, Poland and Vyacheslav Lyashenko from the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Management, Department of Informatics, Kharkov National University of RadioElectronics, Kharkov, Ukraine, present a possible solution, They describe an approach intended to prevent the indexing of papers published by hijacked journals in scientific databases by using classification algorithms. They provide an overview of the problem, define key features of hijacked journals, and present a decision tree that can be used to detect hijacked publications.
Usability and accessibility
R. Blasco, T. Blanco, A. Marco, and R. Casas from the Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Ingeniería de Aragón (I3A), and A. Berbegal from Departamento de Ciencias de la Educación, all at the Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain, have developed a user needs identification methodology, which can be used in the early stages of every design project. Their methodology, Needs Identification Methodology for Inclusive Design (NIMID), guides the process of needs identification in inclusive design considering users’ physical, sensorial and cognitive capabilities. NIMID is grounded in Abowd and Beale’s human–computer interaction framework and uses WHO’s International Classification of Functionalities as the taxonomy that provides a common language. The authors describe the application of the methodology in the design of a smart oven for elderly people. They compare NIMID with other methodologies and conclude that its strong points include universality (common international classification of functioning language), systematicity (clearly defined phases and outcomes) and rationality (grounded in well-established interaction theory).
Khaled Moustafa from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France, considers the problems that reading scientific papers in portable document format (PDF)-columned formats on computer screens is sometimes daunting and unfriendly. He argues that this is mainly due to the fact that PDF-columned texts are often truncated from the top or the bottom of pages so that readers have to scroll up– down repeatedly in the same page to get the whole text read. To make the reading process as smooth as possible, PDF viewers should be designed as responsive tools with responsive layouts that should automatically adapt the amount of readable text to the sizes of the displaying monitors so that readers will not waste time in repetitive vertical and horizontal scrolling movements within the same page. In this paper, he proposes a solution that could be implemented in PDF viewers to improve the readability of PDF-columned texts and to make the reading process as flexible and painless as possible.
This issue ends with a discussion paper by Ahmed Çakir, the Executive Editor, on the usability and accessibility of PDF to introduce a call for papers for a special issue of BIT on this topic. The special issue entitled ‘Improving the Usability and Accessibility of PDF for Better Use as a Communication Medium’ is scheduled to appear in early 2017.