E-service portal for freelance community: case study in photography business

This study revealed the limitations of freelancers’ inability to perform portfolios and biographies, their performance ratings to a large community of customers. The difficulties were evident in searching for reliable, qualified and experienced freelancers from multi-channel information sources. These limitations might impact the ability of freelancers selected by customers to perform the required task to the customers’ satisfaction. This research focused on the case study of the freelance community for photography business in southern of Thailand. This aims to establish an online facility in which freelance photographers can publicize their services and performance to potential customers. The concepts entailed in web portals and e-services were the key elements in the development and ensured that its functions worked efficiently. The study employed qualitative methods were used to assess the current practices of web portal and thus determining the requirements for the e-service web portal for freelance community. The practical contribution is that it can aid the effective design and implementation of an e-service web portal for the freelance community of photography business, and it is a massive step towards promoting the freelance community in Thailand.

Designing Effective eHealth Interventions for Underserved Groups: Five Lessons From a Decade of eHealth Intervention Design and Deployment

Despite the proliferation of eHealth interventions, such as web portals, for health information dissemination or the use of mobile apps and wearables for health monitoring, research has shown that underserved groups do not benefit proportionately from these eHealth interventions. This is largely because of usability issues and the lack of attention to the broader structural, physical, and psychosocial barriers to technology adoption and use. The objective of this paper is to draw lessons from a decade of experience in designing different user-centered eHealth interventions (eg, web portals and health apps) to inform future work in leveraging technology to address health disparities. We draw these lessons from a series of interventions from the work we have done over 15 years in the Viswanath laboratory at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, focusing on three projects that used web portals and health apps targeted toward underserved groups. The projects were the following: Click to Connect, which was a community-based eHealth intervention that aimed to improve internet skills and health literacy among underserved groups by providing home access to high-speed internet, computer, and internet training classes, as well as a dedicated health web portal with ongoing technical support; PLANET MassCONECT, which was a knowledge translation project that built capacity among community-based organizations in Boston, Lawrence, and Worcester in Massachusetts to adopt evidence-based health promotion programs; and Smartphone App for Public Health, which was a mobile health research that facilitated both participatory (eg, surveys) and passive data (eg, geolocations and web-browsing behaviors) collection for the purpose of understanding tobacco message exposure in individuals’ built environment. Through our work, we distilled five key principles for researchers aiming to design eHealth interventions for underserved groups. They are as follows: develop a strategic road map to address communication inequalities (ie, a concrete action plan to identify the barriers faced by underserved groups and customize specific solutions to each of them), engage multiple stakeholders from the beginning for the long haul, design with usability—readability and navigability—in mind, build privacy safeguards into eHealth interventions and communicate privacy–utility tradeoffs in simplicity, and strive for an optimal balance between open science aspirations and protection of underserved groups.

Assessment of E-Government Portals

This research revealed the importance of public service web portals for an e-government information system. An e-government portal is interacting with its administrators, citizens, businesses and other governments helping them increase their operations performance. The authors have developed, modeled, formulated and compared an efficient assessment framework for e-government portals. In order to accomplish such task many quantitative factors and indicators were taken under consideration; also, other frameworks have been studied and compared. The authors focused on the web portals services quantity that the interested parties should use, in order to create an well designed public services’ web portal. This research provides a framework model to evaluate the basic common digital public services that a government offers to its interactive stakeholders, so that all other countries across the world can predefine weaknesses and strengths, improve existing or formulating new e-services. The importance of the assessment framework model is thoroughly explained through the results.

The contribution of state web portals to the transparency of the vaccination process against COVID-19 in Brazil

The article aimed to characterize the contribution of Brazilian state web portals to the transparency of the vaccination process against COVID-19. This research is descriptive, undertaken through a documentary study with a quali-quantitative approach. The purpose of the investigation comprises the web portals of the 26 Brazilian states and the Federal District. The study was guided by the application of the COVID-19 Vaccination Transparency Index (ITVC-19). The study data were obtained in six surveys carried out from the analysis of the portals, using content analysis as the processing technique. The constancy of some states at higher and lower levels (i.e., the extremes) and the evolution of others going from lower to higher levels was observed. Although the vast majority of web portals of Brazilian states contribute to the transparency of the vaccination against COVID-19, there are still states the portal of which, for being at opaque, low, or intermediary levels, seem to exist more due to a dominant technological imperative and less to favor the transparency of government actions. The study has a direct theoretical implication when it enables the development of an index that contributes to analyzing the transparency in the vaccination process against COVID-19. It is assumed that, in the future, the index may also be used for new studies on vaccination campaigns, not just this one restricted to the pandemic context. Consequently, it contributes to bridging the gap in the literature, notably the national literature. The practical contribution is also demonstrated by the provision of a diagnosis that, albeit specific, may be used by public managers interested in advancing vaccination transparency.

'Critical Study Of Konkan Territory Of Maharashtra State w.s.r. To The Concept Of Desha ln Ayurveda'

Background- Desha Pariksha (examination) has been mentioned in the Charaka Samhita (cha.vi.8/84) which is considered as the oldest and the most authentic treatise of Ayurveda. Ayurveda has described three types of Desha viz. Jangl , Anup and Sadharan. Desha also known as Bhumi refers to the natural inhabitant of an individual. Desha is one of the factors which have to be assessed in ascertaining the Hetu (etiological factors) and also in deciding the treatment. Climate, diseases, food, treatment and so many factors may vary according to desh (habitat). An attempt has been made to critically analyse the konkan region of the state Maharashtra considering present climate conditions and geography in comparison to the concept of Ayurvedic desha description. Methods- Authentic government web portals of this region have been visited to know the present climatic situations. Various research papers were also reviewed to discern the territory from other parts of the state. Conclusion- After scrutinizing the facts over the past few years; it has been found that most of the regions of konkan fall under excess rainfall terrain. Flora and fauna is similar to that of wetland. The Konkan region of the Maharashtra State can be compared with Anup desha in Ayurveda.

Pemanfaatan Travel Writing Sebagai Sumber Informasi Bagi Wisatawan Nusantara

The era of information and communication technology provides opportunities and convenience for tourists to meet their needs of self-actualization by telling their experiences through writing, so-called travel writing. Travel writing can be used as a source of information to guide some potential tourists in planning their travels. Furthermore, it can also increase the number of domestic tourists’ visit to several tourist destinations spread across the nation. This research, through the descriptive qualitative approach, aims to thoroughly describe the phenomenon of the use of travel writing as the source of travel information. The informants in this research were 7 people. The data were collected through in-depth interview and questionnaire. The research results shows that magazines, newspapers and web portals have high credibility, while travel blogs have an objective and reliable. There were 5 characteristics of travel writing which expected by the reader such as simple writing, clear language, photo display, facts, and have value of benefits

A Web Screening on Educational Initiatives to Increase Citizens’ Literacy on Genomics and Genetics

IntroductionPopulation awareness and empowerment in omics sciences represent a fundamental driver to increase the adoption of evidence-based approaches in personalized medicine. In this context, a pivotal role is played by citizens’ literacy, and educational initiatives carried out in this context are key assets to drive future effective interventions. With the present study, we summarized the educational initiatives conducted worldwide aimed at increasing citizens’ literacy in omics sciences.Materials and MethodsWe conducted a web search of the educational initiatives aimed at improving citizens’ literacy in omics sciences undertaken worldwide, by using three search engines (Google, Bing, and Yahoo Search), in English and in Italian languages.ResultsWe identified five initiatives in Europe, 22 in non-European countries, and 13 in Italy. Overall, the majority (69%) were web-based initiatives, while 31% required in-person attendance. The online initiatives included web pages for reading, online lessons/courses, web portals, videos/short movies, animations, and apps for mobile devices. The residential initiatives, on the other hand, included exhibitions, seminars, courses, symposia, information stands in public places, guided visits to research laboratories, and interactive laboratories. All the initiatives were highly heterogeneous in terms of methodologies and the topics addressed.Discussion and ConclusionOverall, we identified a variety of initiatives aimed at improving citizens’ literacy in omics sciences, with the largest majority carried out in the United States and being web-based. Our results showed heterogeneity among the initiatives as to the dealt topics and the adopted methods. Further research is needed, however, to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of educational initiatives to improve citizens’ literacy in omics sciences.

Commerce Web-Portal Redesigning Based on Usability Evaluation

Redesigning of the whole portal or some of its webpages does not always lead to a positive result despite the designers' expectations. Nowadays the opinion on how to carry out the redesign of web portals varies. A web portal being in service and in a wide use, a sudden change in its design may result in a drop of the number of clients. The usability evaluation has become important to make a decision on what design of webpages to choose. The paper proposes a method to redesign of commercial web-portals which is based on usability evaluation of some webpages. The evaluation can be undertaken by surveying the staff of the business organization where such a web portal is being developed. The hierarchy made of the Choquet integrals aggregates the results of the questionnaire and allows for the interdependencies between individual metrics of usability. Then, a decision about the redesign of a certain webpage is made on the basis of the aggregated results. The described experiment has shown a great impact of this innovative approach.