Journal articles on the topic 'Cross-platform messaging'

The key to the success of cervical cancer control programs is screening followed by adequate treatment. The socio-economic status gap and the low level of education lead to limited awareness and understanding of women of childbearing age. Increasing the capacity of knowledge of women of childbearing age through health education either directly or indirectly is important. Therefore, there is need to develop health education by utilizing the rapidly growing media today such as through the application of cross platform messages on smartphones. This study aims to analyze the effect of the application of health education on detection of cervical cancer through the application of cross-platform messages to increase knowledge and attitude of Women in Childbearing Age. A quasi-experimental research of pre-posttest design with control groups conducted consisting of 72 subjects of Women in Childbearing Age. Fogg's Behavior Model was the conceptual framework that guided the development of the cross-platform messaging intervention. A series of checklist from expert panel conducted to inform the development of the cross-platform messaging intervention. The messages are delivered for a 7-day period in the morning. Data collection using a checklist instrument. Univariable analysis through Rasch and bivariable modeling using numerical categorical comparative test, difference using T test. Findings revealed a significant increase in participants’ knowledge and attitude of cervical cancer screening. Women of Childbearing Age whose health education through cross-platform application has a 3.5 times probability of knowledge and good attitude compared to women of childbearing age who are not getting health education through cross-platform applications. Health education through cross-platform messaging services can be a cheap and effective method to improve the knowledge and attitude of women of childbearing age, as well as reaching individuals who have never done early detection of cervical cancer.

The main research work and its technical characteristics of this article are: Apply Java language, MySQL database to complete the design and development of instant messaging software on the basis of cross-platform Qt development framework and Android operating system, reflecting the cross-platform design ideas; the introduction of a multi-threaded server based on decision tree and decision-making mechanism, after the original user message encrypted MD5 algorithm, information is placed in UDP packets for network transmission, so that the system has excellent time response and security feature. In order to optimize the man-machine interface, with the QT development platform, the client adopt the popular MVC design pattern and decorative design pattern.

Instant Messaging – IM platforms spread the communication instant among their users in a fast, low cost and multimedia way. This paper presents the development and evaluation process of SPLIMBo, an open source Software Product Line that allows the production of cross-platform IM bots in a "write once, run anywhere" perspective. It is based on a Product Line Architecture that provides adapters to interact with distinct IM platforms, bot sessions defined by IM feature configurations, and a relational data bus able to integrate IM data from deployed adapters and bot sessions. As evaluation process, the LibrasZap IM game development based on SPLIMBo was described, and a comparative analysis with available bot builders was performed. They confirmed the SPLIMBo ability to build local and configurable bots being available for multiple IM platforms.

Refining and petrochemical processing facilities utilize various process control applications to raise productivity and enhance plant operation. Client–server communication model is used for integrating these highly interacting applications across multiple network layers utilized in distributed control systems. This paper presents an optimum process control environment by merging sequential and regulatory control, advanced regulatory control, multivariable control, unit-based process control, and plant-wide advanced process control into a single collaborative automation platform to ensure optimum operation of processing equipment for achieving maximum yield of all manufacturing facilities. The main control module is replaced by a standard real-time server. The input/output racks are physically and logically decoupled from the controller by converting them into distributed autonomous process interface systems. Real-time data distribution service middleware is used for providing seamless cross-vendor interoperable communication among all process control applications and distributed autonomous process interface systems. Detailed performance analysis was conducted to evaluate the average communication latency and aggregate messaging capacity among process control applications and distributed autonomous process interface systems. The overall performance results confirm the viability of the new proposal as the basis for designing an optimal collaborative automation platform to handle all process control applications. It also does not impose any inherent limit on the aggregate data messaging capacity, making it suitable for scalable automation platforms.

Recent progress in Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) promotes multi-apps environment by creating islands of communication apps where users of one website or service cannot easily communicate with those of another. We describe the architecture and implementation of a multi-platform system to do user reachability in multiple communication services where users decide how they want to be reached on multiple apps, e.g. in an organization that has voice-over-IP, web conferencing and messaging from different vendors. We argue for user and endpoint driven reachability policies and cross-app interactions, instead of pair-wise service federation or global location service. Our architecture separates the user contacts from reachability apps, and has several independent and non-interoperable WebRTC-based apps for two-way and multi-party multimedia communication. Our software is implemented using HTML5 and JavaScript, and using a cross-platform development tool, runs as native apps on mobile as well as personal computers. Our flexible implementation can be used for enterprise or personal communications, or as a white-labeled app for consumers of a business.

In the current scenario of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of false information has spread through social networks. This study aimed to characterize the types of fake news in health and the factors that influence its sharing. This is a descriptive cross-sectional observational study conducted by health scholars who analyzed the messages received in the WhatsApp network and the sociodemographic characteristics of sharers in the year 2020. Results: The level of education influences the spread of false news, and family members have a higher frequency of sharing these news. As for the type of content of fake news, the fabricated content and false context stood out as the most shared ones. The characteristic of the group of researchers may have influenced the receivement of a smaller amount of fake news, since they are able to recognize and refute

Abstract Background During the initial days of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, hospital-wide practices rapidly evolved, and hospital employees became a critical population for receiving consistent and timely communication about these changes. Objectives We aimed to rapidly implement enterprise text messaging as a crisis communication intervention to deliver key COVID-related safety and practice information directly to hospital employees. Methods Utilizing a secure text-messaging platform already routinely used in direct patient care, we sent 140-character messages containing targeted pandemic-related updates to on-duty hospital employees three times per week for 13 weeks. This innovation was evaluated through the analysis of aggregate “read” receipts from each message. Effectiveness was assessed by rates of occupational exposures to COVID-19 and by two cross-sectional attitudinal surveys administered to all text-message recipients. Results On average, each enterprise text message was sent to 1,997 on-duty employees. Analysis of “read” receipts revealed that on average, 60% of messages were consistently read within 24 hours of delivery, 34% were read in 2 hours, and 16% were read in 10 minutes. Readership peaked and fell in the first week of messaging but remained consistent throughout the remainder of the intervention. A survey administered after 2 weeks revealed that 163 (79%) users found enterprise texts “valuable,” 152 (73%) users would recommend these texts to their colleagues, and 114 (55%) users preferred texts to email. A second survey at 9 weeks revealed that 109 (80%) users continued to find texts “valuable.” Enterprise messaging, in conjunction with the system's larger communication strategy, was associated with a decrease in median daily occupational exposure events (nine events per day premessaging versus one event per day during messaging). Conclusion Enterprise text messages sent to hospital-employee smartphones are an efficient and effective strategy for urgent communications. Hospitals may wish to leverage this technology during times of routine operations and crisis management.

Flood disaster is very common, especially in Jakarta City. One way to control water debit is to create a dam or reservoir. In each reservoir there is a water gate which serves to dispose of unwanted water gradually or continuously according to the water volume present in the dam. The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Jakarta City needed a system that can monitor any existing water gates of the reservoir, this is to facilitate water gate inspectors to provide information. By using firebase cloud messaging technology that will be applied in the application of push-based android water doors. The application will provide notification and water gate data in real time, making it easier for users to get data in real time. Firebase Cloud Messaging is a cross platform solution that allows you to send messages reliably at no cost. In addition, the use of API as a processing medium to pull data from the web BPBD, optimize its function to mobile android. BPBD as the agency that tackling the disaster can know the state of the environment quickly and accurately. Applications created not only made for BPBD only but the general public can also to know the condition of the water gate. In addition, there are also ways of handling floods and what to do at each level of water level.For the next, this application can add other technollgy also IoT technology.

Since different equipment manufacturers may define a set of data transmission protocols of their own types, the high-density three-dimensional Internet of Things landscape garden landscape platform needs to provide a unified data transmission interface for the business system. It needs to complete the analysis, storage, and reformatting of different data transmission protocols on the high-density three-dimensional Internet of Things landscape service platform. In this paper, based on the conversion analysis between the MLD model of the landscape perception layer of the high-density three-dimensional Internet of Things landscape and the automata scheduling model, the conversion of the MLD model of the entire landscape perception layer of the high-density three-dimensional IoT landscape and the automata scheduling model is realized. Based on the hierarchical automata high-density three-dimensional Internet of Things landscape, this paper studies the global task scheduling and control automata model and the local scheduling automata model in the task, as well as the landscape perception layer rapid scheduling mechanism of independent scheduling strategy. This can be used for different levels of systems to ensure that the perception layer system is orderly, reliable, and fast. They complete the construction of jdk environment, web server, Mongo DB server, MQTT server, JMS server, etc., on the cloud platform. Combined with the landscape, a set of test platforms was built to test the functions and performance indicators of the visualization system cloud platform. The test results show that the cloud platform can realize cross-platform terminal access, end-to-end instant messaging, heterogeneous data processing and storage, etc. It has strong scalability and high processing performance and has application and reference value.

AimsClinicians struggle to provide information to each other that supports safe patient transitions, especially across acute and community care jurisdictions. They need flexible communication tools to improve care coordination. Island Health introduced a Secure Mobile and Clinical Communication Solution (SMaCCS) to address these challenges in 2018. In this study we evaluated the SMaCCS system to understand the (1) volume and flow of healthcare communication, (2) degree of adoption and accessibility of the system and (3) user experience.MethodsThis was a prospective, cross-sectional, observational study. Island Health Information Management/Information Technology (IMIT) selected Vocera Collaboration Suite as the secure messaging platform. We invited healthcare providers in various roles in the hospital and community to use SMaCCS for their daily communications and system and survey data were collected between February and August 2018. System data and survey data were used to determine outcomes.ResultsA Sankey diagram represents the volume and flow of communication. A total of 2542 messages were sent and 79% of conversations included more than a single message. Eighty-one per cent of participants agreed that using a secure communication tool made them feel more comfortable sharing patient information. Most users (65%) perceived that the application was a useful method for transmitting simple information.ConclusionHowever, our study showed that different occupational roles require different frequencies and volumes of communication and there are numerous barriers to adoption that must be addressed before secure messaging can be an effective, ubiquitous method of clinical communication.

48 Background: Free cross-platform instant messaging is a popular way of communicating in Panama. Is it possible to apply this in Palliative Care (PC)? Methods: This is a descriptive transversal study of some problems we could solve internally with the help of this cell phone-based application. The universe is the total of consultations of the PC Pediatric Support Team in Panamá Children’s Hospital to the National Program of PC from May 2016 to July 2018. First, we developed a chat group, so all 55 members of the national palliative program can share specific information related to PC topics. We describe the most common problems that we can solve with the help of instant messaging technology such as: 1. Presentation of cases at the time of their going-back home from the hospital-team to the community-team. 2. Presentation of urgent cases to the National Aero-Naval Force to be transported by boat or plane. 3. Education of mothers on specific problems they have at home. Results: We had 113 consultations in pediatric palliative care group. Of those, 78% had to be presented to the community-health-care-center (88 cases). The time-of-response was in the range of 5-120 minutes. We had to arrange sanitary transportation by boat or plane in 14% of the cases. Of those cases we obtained a response by the Aero-Naval force in less than 24 hours. We solved specific palliative symptom problems such as: fever, administration of the rescue dose, mucositis, and coping problems in some patients that lived more than two hours from the nearest health-center. For this we used educational videos made for this purpose. Conclusions: Instant messaging technology is used for the provision of palliative care communication, safety transportation and clinical problem solving. It had to be used in conditions that protect the privacy of patients and families. This current study suggest that this is a new opportunity that must be considered for its efficiency in solving specific problems.

Instant Message is currently the most popular way to communicate on the Internet, so various Instant Messaging software are continuously appearing; Service providers offer more and more communication service nowadays. Java programming language (Java 2 Standard Edition) is one of popular programming languages. With its features of cross-platform, security, multi-threaded capability, Socket Programming, data flow concepts and so on, Java has its own distinctive and functional advantages. Therefore, based on the research and analysis of LinuxQQ, with the Java language and J2EE, this paper designs an instant messenger—JICQ (Java for I seek you), and then analyzes its architecture, modules, as well as its key technologies. During the design and modeling process of instant messenger system, the UML and method of object-oriented analysis and design are used. Furthermore, the modeling tool of Rose is included. Based on the system j2se1.5, j2ee1.4, the Eclipse development tool in the development process, and refactoring development method, the system design is optimized. Due to these factors, the system is safe, efficient and practical in different operating system platforms.

This case study examines USA Wrestling’s (USAW) social media use during the 2014 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Wrestling Championships. During the three days of the event, a cross-platform content analysis of USAW’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram accounts formed the foundation of the case analysis. In addition, real-life qualitative interviews were conducted with employees involved with the national governing body’s (NGB) social media implementation plan. Students will be asked to develop social media-based messaging to reach and engage the NGB’s potential stakeholders, based on USAW’s communication strategy outcomes during the NCAA championships. The case provides students with the opportunity to: (a) analyze nonprofit sport organizations, (b) investigate how communication and marketing efforts differ in a not-for-profit environment, and (c) identify to what extent social media sites provide a cost-effective option to entities of similar status. To further support the pivotal role of social media within a sport organization’s overall marketing and communication mix, managerial implications pertaining to stakeholder identification and engagement strategies are included in the analysis.

Background: The CrossFit Open is a physical activity competition that allows athletes from across the world to compete in fitness challenges online, whereby participants document their progress via an event website. No apparent studies have examined participant event sponsorship in a case where sponsor messages are delivered primarily via an event website. Furthermore, current research has yet to consider the differential impact of audience athletic identity on sponsor messaging in such a context. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between CrossFit Athletic Identity (CAI) and the ability to recall and recognize official sponsors of a participant event conducted on an online platform. Methodology: A cross-sectional research design was used with a convenience sample (n=170) of CrossFit Open participants from 36 affiliates in the South Central United States. A concurrent treatment validation with a subset of four participants utilized laboratory eye-tracking to evaluate the attention and viewing patterns within the CrossFit online platform. Results: CAI was not a significant predictor for sponsor recognition or recall (α = 0.05). Only one of the case study participants had a recorded brand image fixation (0.29 seconds) during the eye-tracking assessments of their typical website interaction. Conclusion: While CAI was not associated with improved sponsor recognition and recall, the assessment of the participant website interactions suggest that participants in this study were not likely exposed to sufficient sponsor images. This highlights the need for critical evaluation of event website designs using eye-tracking or some other metric of visual exposure.

The use of social-networking application such as WhatsApp in learning writing enables students to foster individual learning experiences during the class and after the class. WhatsApp itself has a special feature to create the specific group in order to bound the members and intimate the interaction among lecturer and students relating to the course matters. This current study generally explores the students’ perceptions in experiencing WhatsApp Group Chat in learning writing. This qualitative research was conducted in one of universities in Lampung province, Indonesia. The subjects were 28 second year undergraduate students who enrolled writing course. The data used were questionnaire, interview, and observations. The findings present the multitude of views that most students significantly showed positive result to use WhatsApp Group in their writing class. By experiencing WhatsApp Group Chat in their learning writing, the students admitted that it is user-friendly and easy to use because it can intensify the interaction with the other group members during the class and after the class, be effective in submitting the writing assignment by uploading the file in the group, get the lecturer’s feedback directly after submitting the writing assignment, and freely ask and share the writing materials. However, some students also revealed that there were some technical problems found when they used the WhatsApp Group Chat such as abundant chats, poor signal, and junks notification. Nevertheless, learning writing through these cross-platform instant messaging might broaden the student’s self-learning experiences.Keywords: Students’ experience, WhatsApp Group, writing class

ObjectiveTo assess the attitude of people living with type 1 diabetes toward the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to facilitate access to diabetes healthcare professionals (HCPs).Research design and methodsWe conducted a cross-sectional online survey in two European tertiary diabetes care centers in London, UK, and Vienna, Austria, and from online diabetes platforms. Participants were asked about general options of online diabetes care and were presented with three scenarios (teleconference, online chat and telemonitoring of continuous glucose monitoring traces).ResultsIn total, 294 people (59% female; 78 British, 164 Austrians, 47 Germans, 5 from other countries; 45±15 years) who had been living with type 1 diabetes for 26±14.5 years participated. The vast majority of participants were insulin pump (and/or glucose sensor) users (84%) and reported good glycemic control (31% with hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) <7% and 51% with HbA1c 7%–8%). ICT was generally acceptable for counseling, with email/online messaging services and online health platform the most preferred options (74% and 53%). Study participants expressed a neutral to positive attitude toward the combined theme scores (relationship with HCP; confidence using technology; trust in data protection; intrusion of patient privacy; general acceptance of ICT in healthcare). UK participants showed more positive attitudes toward ICT across all theme scores than participants from Austria and Germany, but there were no gender-related differences.ConclusionsThis online survey identified a highly ICT-astute group of people with type 1 diabetes, already using technology for insulin delivery, for whom online supported clinical diabetes care would be a viable and welcomed option.

Due to the existing extensive curricula of English for Dental Purposes (EDP) courses and absence of enough weekly hours to cover them in Iran, there is a limited insufficient exposure to English to improve students’ English communication skills to the levels necessary for their future career. Therefore, there have been needs to appraise the present teaching approaches and reform the configuration and context of EDP classes to yield highest profit for their students. The study was designed to address issues central to the perception and expectations of students in regard the use and the impact of the social medium, WhatsApp. As part of this impression, a spectrum of procedures has been depicted to employ this cross-platform messaging application. This research was conducted among 70 2nd year dentistry students at Kashan University of Medical Sciences, in a course called English for Dental Purposes (EDP). The descriptive research project employing a qualitative and quasi-experimental study was chosen to collect data using a valid and reliable pretest-posttest design. Two groups 35 subjects were randomly selected via simple random sampling. The control group was taught by conventional method, while the experimental group was taught through the proposed whatsApp assisted language learning approach in a blended way. A paired t-test was utilized to compare the results of each group and an independent sample t-test was utilized to compare the results in control and experimental group. The f-ratio value is 7.88138; the t-value is 2.80738. The p-value is .006512 and the result is significant at p < .01. Therefore, there are good reasons to think WhatsApp-based method of teaching EDP as a more effective approach than the face to face method . The Likert scale questionnaire descriptively analyzed via SPSS 16.00 version revealed experimental group had generally positive attitudes towards Apps-based teaching of academic materials. This media helps students get to be more capacitated in EDP, advances the class learning of English for Dental Purposes, enhances students' knowledge more satisfactorily, motivates them to gain a positive impact and willingness in their class activities and had resulted in more continuity in study and self-confidence. So, it deserves considering the incorporation of the new application i.e. WhatsApp effectively in the curriculum of EDP pedagogies as an educational means.

Background During pandemics, effective containment and mitigation measures may also negatively influence psychological stability. As knowledge about COVID-19 rapidly evolves, global implementation of containment and mitigation measures has varied greatly, with impacts to mental wellness. Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health needs of health care workers and other workers may help mitigate mental health impacts and secure sustained delivery of health care and other essential goods and services. Objective This study assessed the self-reported prevalence of stress, anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in health care workers and other workers seeking support through Text4Hope, an evidence-based SMS text messaging service supporting the mental health of residents of Alberta, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods An online cross-sectional survey gathered demographic (age, gender, ethnicity, education, relationship, housing and employment status, employment type, and isolation status) and clinical characteristics using validated tools (self-reported stress, anxiety, depression, and contamination/hand hygiene obsessive-compulsive symptoms). Descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis were used to compare the clinical characteristics of health care workers and other workers. Post hoc analysis was conducted on variables with >3 response categories using adjusted residuals. Logistic regression determined associations between worker type and likelihood of self-reported symptoms of moderate or high stress, generalized anxiety disorder, and major depressive disorder, while controlling for other variables. Results Overall, 8267 surveys were submitted by 44,992 Text4Hope subscribers (19.39%). Of these, 5990 respondents were employed (72.5%), 958 (11.6%) were unemployed, 454 (5.5%) were students, 559 (6.8%) were retired, 234 (2.8%) selected “other,” and 72 (0.9%) did not indicate their employment status. Most employed survey respondents were female (n=4621, 86.2%). In the general sample, the 6-week prevalence rates for moderate or high stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms were 85.6%, 47.0%, and 44.0%, respectively. Self-reported symptoms of moderate or high stress, anxiety, and depression were all statistically significantly higher in other workers than in health care workers (P<.001). Other workers reported higher obsessive-compulsive symptoms (worry about contamination and compulsive handwashing behavior) after the onset of the pandemic (P<.001), while health care worker symptoms were statistically significantly higher before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (P<.001). This finding should be interpreted with caution, as it is unclear the extent to which the adaptive behavior of health care workers or the other workers might be misclassified by validated tools during a pandemic. Conclusions Assessing symptoms of prevalent stress, anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive behavior in health care workers and other workers may enhance our understanding of COVID-19 mental health needs. Research is needed to understand more fully the relationship between worker type, outbreak phase, and mental health changes over time, as well as the utility of validated tools in health care workers and other workers during pandemics. Our findings underscore the importance of anticipating and mitigating the mental health effects of pandemics using integrated implementation strategies. Finally, we demonstrate the ease of safely and rapidly assessing mental health needs using an SMS text messaging platform during a pandemic. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) RR2-10.2196/19292

Purpose Social media have recently become an important strategic marketing tool to increase firm value. Based on an integrated theoretical framework, this study aims to examine the market reaction at the time of the creation of a Twitter platform for 312 firms from the Fortune 500 firms. Design/methodology/approach To test the hypotheses related to the effect of social media platforms on firm value, the event history analysis (EHA) was used, also known as event study, usually designed to examine the impact of a historical phenomenon for the US Fortune 500 firms that developed a Twitter platform. Findings A significant market reaction was found around the starting date of Twitter activities for the subsample of firms that are not contaminated by any other corporate announcements, but not for the overall sample. The market reaction is higher for firms with two-way interaction strategies rather than one-way messaging in both the uncontaminated subsample and the overall sample. It is higher in smaller firms, firms with losses and those with a family and/or a dominant shareholder. Further, firms in the contaminated subsample are likely to follow a two-way strategy after a positive revision of their earnings per share. We have run several robustness checks, including cross-validation on a holdout sample, and these findings remain consistent. Research limitations/implications The integrated theoretical framework is another significant contribution. To our knowledge, this is the first study across disciplines that integrates the social exchange theory (SET), social representation theory (SRT), social network analysis (SNA), social identity theory (SIT), signaling theory (ST) and the impression management theory (IMT) into one framework that is built around information as a resource and social interaction. Practical implications The results suggest that Twitter can be used to add value if firms interact and reciprocate with the various stakeholders. Social implications Firms using social media must interact and reciprocate with the various stakeholders. Originality/value This research is different than the published research on this topic in that it examines the impact on stock prices of the introduction of a specific social media platform, i.e. Twitter. The present results of the paper add to the prior research on database marketing and show that marketing “with” the customer is adding more value than marketing “to” the customer. The use of the net extends the scope of database marketing into a certain form of interaction marketing with “face-to-face” interaction within the relationships between the firm and its customers. Finally, the conditions under which social media platforms are used in an interactive manner are shown, and depicts that firms are more likely to use a two-way interactive strategy following a one-year period of positive momentum.

Background Existing health disparities based on race and ethnicity in the United States are contributing to disparities in morbidity and mortality during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. We conducted an online survey of American adults to assess similarities and differences by race and ethnicity with respect to COVID-19 symptoms, estimates of the extent of the pandemic, knowledge of control measures, and stigma. Objective The aim of this study was to describe similarities and differences in COVID-19 symptoms, knowledge, and beliefs by race and ethnicity among adults in the United States. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey from March 27, 2020 through April 1, 2020. Participants were recruited on social media platforms and completed the survey on a secure web-based survey platform. We used chi-square tests to compare characteristics related to COVID-19 by race and ethnicity. Statistical tests were corrected using the Holm Bonferroni correction to account for multiple comparisons. Results A total of 1435 participants completed the survey; 52 (3.6%) were Asian, 158 (11.0%) were non-Hispanic Black, 548 (38.2%) were Hispanic, 587 (40.9%) were non-Hispanic White, and 90 (6.3%) identified as other or multiple races. Only one symptom (sore throat) was found to be different based on race and ethnicity (P=.003); this symptom was less frequently reported by Asian (3/52, 5.8%), non-Hispanic Black (9/158, 5.7%), and other/multiple race (8/90, 8.9%) participants compared to those who were Hispanic (99/548, 18.1%) or non-Hispanic White (95/587, 16.2%). Non-Hispanic White and Asian participants were more likely to estimate that the number of current cases was at least 100,000 (P=.004) and were more likely to answer all 14 COVID-19 knowledge scale questions correctly (Asian participants, 13/52, 25.0%; non-Hispanic White participants, 180/587, 30.7%) compared to Hispanic (108/548, 19.7%) and non-Hispanic Black (25/158, 15.8%) participants. Conclusions We observed differences with respect to knowledge of appropriate methods to prevent infection by the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Deficits in knowledge of proper control methods may further exacerbate existing race/ethnicity disparities. Additional research is needed to identify trusted sources of information in Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black communities and create effective messaging to disseminate correct COVID-19 prevention and treatment information.

BackgroundSmoking is a plausible risk factor for COVID-19 progression and complications. Smoking cessation digital platforms transcend pandemic-driven social distancing and lockdown measures in terms of assisting smokers in their quit attempts.ObjectiveThis study aims to examine trends in the number of visitors, followers, and subscribers on smoking cessation digital platforms from January to April 2020 and to compare these traffic data to those observed during the same 4-month period in 2019. The examination of prepandemic and postpandemic trends in smoking cessation digital platform traffic can reveal whether interest in smoking cessation among smokers is attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsWe obtained cross-sectional data from daily visitors on the SmokeFree website; the followers of six SmokeFree social media accounts; and subscribers to the SmokeFree SMS text messaging and mobile app interventions of the National Cancer Institute’s SmokeFree.gov initiative platforms, which are publicly available to US smokers. Average daily percentage changes (ADPCs) were used to measure trends for the entire 2020 and 2019 study periods, whereas daily percentage changes (DPCs) were used to measure trends for each time segment of change within each 4-month period. Data analysis was conducted in May and June 2020.ResultsThe number of new daily visitors on the SmokeFree website (between days 39 and 44: DPC=18.79%; 95% CI 5.16% to 34.19%) and subscribers to the adult-focused interventions QuitGuide (between days 11 and 62: DPC=1.11%; 95% CI 0.80% to 1.43%) and SmokeFreeTXT (between days 11 and 89: DPC=0.23%; 95% CI 0.004% to 0.47%) increased, but this was followed by declines in traffic. No comparable peaks were observed in 2019. The number of new daily subscribers to quitSTART (ie, the teen-focused intervention) trended downward in 2020 (ADPC=−1.02%; 95% CI −1.88% to −0.15%), whereas the overall trend in the number of subscribers in 2019 was insignificant (P=.07). The number of SmokeFree social media account followers steadily increased by <0.1% over the 4-month study periods in 2019 and 2020.ConclusionsPeaks in traffic on the SmokeFree website and adult-focused intervention platforms in 2020 could be attributed to an increased interest in smoking cessation among smokers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Coordinated campaigns, especially those for adolescents, should emphasize the importance of smoking cessation as a preventive measure against SARS-CoV-2 infection and raise awareness of digital smoking cessation platforms to capitalize on smokers’ heightened interest during the pandemic.

Background With conflicting information about COVID-19, the general public may be uncertain about how to proceed in terms of precautionary behavior and decisions about whether to return to activity. Objective The aim of this study is to determine the factors associated with COVID-19–related concerns, precautionary behaviors, and willingness to return to activity. Methods National survey data were obtained from the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project, an ongoing cross-sectional weekly survey. The sample was provided by Lucid, a web-based market research platform. Three outcomes were evaluated: (1) COVID-19–related concerns, (2) precautionary behaviors, and (3) willingness to return to activity. Key independent variables included age, gender, race or ethnicity, education, household income, political party support, religion, news consumption, number of medication prescriptions, perceived COVID-19 status, and timing of peak COVID-19 infections by state. Results The data included 125,508 responses from web-based surveys conducted over 20 consecutive weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic (comprising approximately 6250 adults per week), between March 19 and August 5, 2020, approved by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Institutional Review Board for analysis. A substantial number of participants were not willing to return to activity even after the restrictions were lifted. Weighted multivariate logistic regressions indicated the following groups had different outcomes (all P<.001): individuals aged ≥65 years (COVID-19–related concerns: OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.93-2.18; precautionary behaviors: OR 2.38, 95% CI 2.02-2.80; return to activity: OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.37-0.46 vs 18-40 years); men (COVID-19–related concerns: OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.70-0.75; precautionary behaviors: OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.67-0.81; return to activity: OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.88-2.12 vs women); taking ≥4 medications (COVID-19–related concerns: OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.40-1.54; precautionary behaviors: OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.20-1.555; return to activity: OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.69-0.81 vs <3 medications); Republicans (COVID-19–related concerns: OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.38-0.42; precautionary behaviors: OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.40-0.50; return to activity: OR 2.22, 95% CI 2.09-2.36 vs Democrats); and adults who reported having COVID-19 (COVID-19–related concerns: OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.12-1.39; precautionary behaviors: OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.52-0.81; return to activity: OR 3.99, 95% CI 3.48-4.58 vs those who did not). Conclusions Participants’ age, party affiliation, and perceived COVID-19 status were strongly associated with their COVID-19–related concerns, precautionary behaviors, and willingness to return to activity. Future studies need to develop and test targeted messaging approaches and consider political partisanship to encourage preventative behaviors and willingness to return to activities.

Background Despite the potential and interest of using technology for delivering specialized psychiatric services to young adults, surprisingly limited attention has been paid to systematically assess their perspectives in this regard. For example, limited knowledge exists on the extent to which young people receiving specialized services for a first-episode psychosis (FEP) are receptive to using new technologies as part of mental health care, and to which types of technology-enabled mental health interventions they are amenable to. Objective The purpose of this study is to assess the interest of young adults with FEP in using technology to receive mental health information, services, and supports. Methods This study uses a cross-sectional, descriptive survey design. A convenience sample of 67 participants between the ages of 18 and 35 were recruited from two specialized early intervention programs for psychosis. Interviewer-administered surveys were conducted between December 2013 and October 2014. Descriptive statistics are reported. Results Among the 67 respondents who completed the survey, the majority (85%, 57/67) agreed or strongly agreed with YouTube as a platform for mental health-related services and supports. The top five technology-enabled services that participants were amenable to were (1) information on medication (96%, 64/67); (2) information on education, career, and employment (93%, 62/67); (3) decision-making tools pertaining to treatment and recovery (93%, 62/67); (4) reminders for appointments via text messaging (93%, 62/67); and (5) information about mental health, psychosis, and recovery in general (91%, 61/67). The top self-reported barriers to seeking mental health information online were lack of knowledge on how to perform an Internet search (31%, 21/67) and the way information is presented online (27%, 18/67). Two thirds (67%; 45/67) reported being comfortable in online settings, and almost half (48%; 32/67) reported a preference for mixed formats when viewing mental health information online (eg, text, video, visual graphics). Conclusions Young people diagnosed with FEP express interest in using the Internet, social media, and mobile technologies for receiving mental health-related services. Increasing the awareness of young people in relation to various forms of technology-enabled mental health care warrants further attention. A consideration for future research is to obtain more in-depth knowledge on young people’s perspectives, which can help improve the design, development, and implementation of integrated technological health innovations within the delivery of specialized mental health care.

Background Knowledge of the quantity and quality of apps related to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is lacking. In addition, no directory has been established listing all the apps developed to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective The aim of this study was to identify smartphone apps designed to address the COVID-19 pandemic and to analyze their characteristics. Methods We performed an observational, cross-sectional, descriptive study of all smartphone apps associated with COVID-19. Between April 27 and May 2, 2020, we searched the App Store (iOS) and Google Play Store (Android) for COVID-19 apps. The search terms used were coronavirus, COVID-19, and SARS-COV-2. The apps were downloaded and evaluated. The variables analyzed were name, platform, country, language, category, cost, update date, size, version, number of downloads, developer, and purpose. Purpose was further classified into the following categories: news, general information, self-diagnosis, contact tracing, notices to contacts, notification of close cases, awareness, helplines, monitoring of clinical parameters, recording of symptoms and treatment, and messaging with health care professionals. Results We identified 114 apps on the investigated platforms. Of these, 62/114 (54.4%) were on Android and 52/114 (45.6%) were on iOS. Of the 114 apps, 37 (32.5%) were developed in Europe, 32 (28.1%) in Asia, and 30 (26.3%) in North America. The most frequent languages were English (65/114, 57.0%), Spanish (34/114, 29.8%), and Chinese (14/114, 12.3%). The most common categories were health and well-being/fitness apps (41/114, 41.2%) and medicine apps (43/114, 37.7%). Of the 114 apps, 113 (99.1%) were free. The mean time between the date of the analysis and the date of the last update was 11.1 days (SD 11.0). Overall, 95 of the 114 apps (83.3%) were intended for the general population, 99 apps (7.9%) were intended for health professionals, and 3 apps (2.6%) were intended for both. Regarding the type of developer, 64/114 apps (56.1%) were developed by governments; 42/114 (64.1%) were developed by national governments, and 23/114 (35.9%) were developed by regional governments. The apps with the highest number of downloads (100,000+) were developed by governments (P=.13), except for the World Health Organization app (500,000+). The purposes of the apps available in Western languages (107/114, 93.9%) were determined; the most common purposes were general information about COVID-19 (66, 64.0%), COVID-19 news (53, 51.0%), recording of symptoms (53, 51.0%), and contact tracing (51, 47.7%). More than one purpose was identified for 99/107 apps (92.5%). Conclusions This paper offers a comprehensive and unique review of all available COVID-19 apps. Governments have adopted these tools during the pandemic, and more than half of the apps were developed by government agencies. The most common purposes of the apps are providing information on the numbers of infected, recovered, and deceased patients, recording of symptoms, and contact tracing.

Background:Proprioception sense might be deteriorated due to joint related diseases. Different exercise programs were shown beneficial for improving proprioception sense. However, the effect of exercise on cervical position error was not investigated in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA).Objectives:To investigate the effect of cervical stabilization exercises on cervical position error in patients with axSpA.Methods:Thirty-nine patients with axSpA were randomly allocated into two groups as exercise group (n: 20, 11 males) and control group (n: 19, 12 males). All patients were evaluated regarding to physical characteristics (age, body-mass index), disease activity (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index), functional status (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index), and spinal mobility (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index). Cervical position error was evaluated in flexion, extension, rotation and lateral flexion directions and was calculated using a special formula (1). All evaluations were performed at baseline and after six weeks. Exercise group performed a progressive home-based cervical stabilization exercise program, while the control group did not receive any exercise intervention. Exercise adherence control and exercise progression was delivered by sending messages and video instructions via a freeware and cross-platform messaging service (WhatsApp Messenger) in a weekly basis.Results:Baseline physical and disease related characteristics were similar between groups (p>0.05, table 1). Exercise group showed significant improvements in all directions related to cervical proprioception following six weeks (p<0.05, Table 2), however, no improvements were observed in the control group (p>0.05, Table 2).Table 1.Comparison of the Groups at BaselineExercise Group (n: 20)Median (IQR 25/75)Control Group (n: 19)Median (IQR 25/75)p*Physical CharacteristicsAge (years)40.5 (36.0/52.5)44.0 (39.0/49.5)0.496Body-Mass Index (kg/m2)27.5 (24.5/30.2)26.8 (23.6/29.3)0.569Disease Related CharacteristicsBASDAI (score)2.0 (1.0/3.3)1.8 (1.3/2.5)0.687BASMI Total (score)2.9 (1.7/4.1)2.3 (1.8/3.1)0.127BASFI (score)1.8 (0.6/2.9)1.2 (1.0/2.2)0.496*Mann-Whitney U Test, IQR 25/75: Interquartile range 25/75, BASDAI: Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index, BASMI: Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index, BASFI: Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index, p<0.05.Table 2.In-Group Comparison of Cervical Position Sense ErrorBeforeMedian (IQR 25/75)AfterMedian (IQR 25/75)p*Exercise Group (n: 20)Flexion(o)4.9 (2.2/7.0)2.8 (1.7/3.8)0.033Extension(o)4.5 (3.3/6.4)3.1 (1.8/4.8)0.040Right Rotation(o)5.2 (3.0/8.9)3.7 (1.9/4.7)0.006Left Rotation(o)4.3 (2.5/5.0)2.8 (2.2/3.3)0.017Right Lateral Flexion(o)4.9 (3.3/6.8)2.3 (1.8/3.7)0.009Left Lateral Flexion(o)4.3 (2.1/6.7)2.0 (1.5/3.4)0.010Control Group (n: 19)Flexion(o)6.3 (3.5/7.3)5.2 (3.8/7.0)0.856Extension(o)5.5 (4.5/7.3)4.1 (3.3/8.2)0.809Right Rotation(o)6.4 (4.3/9.0)5.5 (3.0/8.5)0.472Left Rotation(o)5.4 (3.5/7.9)5.0 (3.5/7.2)0.778Right Lateral Flexion(o)5.9 (3.6/8.4)4.3 (2.7/7.7)0.717Left Lateral Flexion(o)3.8 (2.4/5.6)4.9 (2.9/5.7)0.904*Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, IQR 25/75: Interquartile range 25/75,o: degree, p<0.05.Conclusion:A six-week cervical stabilization exercise program is beneficial for impaired cervical proprioception sense in patients with axSpA.References:[1]Dugailly P-M, De Santis R, Tits M, Sobczak S, Vigne A, Feipel V. Head repositioning accuracy in patients with neck pain and asymptomatic subjects: concurrent validity, influence of motion speed, motion direction and target distance. European Spine Journal. 2015;24:2885-2891.Disclosure of Interests:None declared

Data Transfer Service (DTS) is an open-source project that is developing a document-centric message model for describing a bulk data transfer activity, with an accompanying set of loosely coupled and platform-independent components for brokering the transfer of data between a wide range of (potentially incompatible) storage resources as scheduled, fault-tolerant batch jobs. The architecture scales from small embedded deployments on a single computer to large distributed deployments through an expandable ‘worker-node pool’ controlled through message-orientated middleware. Data access and transfer efficiency are maximized through the strategic placement of worker nodes at or between particular data sources/sinks. The design is inherently asynchronous, and, when third-party transfer is not available, it side-steps the bandwidth, concurrency and scalability limitations associated with buffering bytes directly through intermediary client applications. It aims to address geographical–topological deployment concerns by allowing service hosting to be either centralized (as part of a shared service) or confined to a single institution or domain. Established design patterns and open-source components are coupled with a proposal for a document-centric and open-standards-based messaging protocol. As part of the development of the message protocol, a bulk data copy activity document is proposed for the first time.

With the change in Internet technologies we have observed profusion of information flow in the modern society. With the essence of social media networking, an innovative approach has been observed while sharing messages either on public or on private platform amongst its user. Nowadays WhatsApp messenger is a proprietary cross-platform instant messaging client for smart phones that operates under a subscription business model. However the users of WhatsApp are very much concerned with the features and its uses along with its privacy policy while using it. Paper sets out to study the topological characteristics of WhatsApp, its power as an innovative medium of information sharing and social convergence along with several other positive as well as negative dimensions of its usage. Data associated with this paper was collected from the users of this App in the form of questionnaire and on the basis of observed figures; we have inspected the feature and characteristics in association of WhatsApp and its usage.

This presentation focuses on the documentation and mediation of the January 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump in an effort to overturn the certification of Joseph Biden’s electoral victory. We analyzed videos participants recorded and shared through a variety of social networking, live-streaming, and messaging applications. We offer a cross-platform descriptive analysis of footage transmitted from participants during the Capitol Riots from seven different platforms: the social networking sites Facebook, Twitter, and Parler; the live-streaming sites DLive, Twitch, and Periscope; and the messaging application Snapchat. In examining this range of platforms and applications, we argue not just for the importance of attending to the documentation of violent protests, but to also account for the broad spectrum of possibilities at play across the ecology of digital video-sharing platforms in building digitally networked publics. This analysis allows us to provisionally argue that the Capitol Rioters were not only interested in particular political outcomes; they were also interested in mediated outcomes that were consciously drawing from the structured affordances of their smartphones and their online networks to create many different media spectacles that were distributed across an ecology of platforms.

Abstract Background Telemedicine has become an integral part of health care delivery in recent years. One of the leading applications for this use is WhatsApp — a free smartphone application that allows instant messaging with pictures and videos. This study analyzed the emerging role of WhatsApp on reducing the need for referrals to medical specialists and to compare the views of physicians regarding WhatsApp consultations. Methods A cross-sectional study based on an anonymous web-survey was conducted among PCPs and medical specialists working in the Israel Defense Forces Medical-Corps during September and October, 2019. Results Of 201 participants, 153 were PCPs and 48 were medical specialists. 86.9 % of PCPs and 86.5 % of specialists used WhatsApp every day in professional settings. Added workload, potential breaching of patient confidentiality and lack of full documentation of consultations were the main concerns among physicians using the application. 60.7 % of PCPs and 95.7 % of specialists stated that these consultations have reduced the need for in-person appointments at least once a week. Conclusions In times of COVID-19 that require social distancing, WhatsApp provides a simple, readily available platform for consultations between healthcare providers, even to the extent of rendering some in-person appointments unnecessary. Healthcare organizations should address the matters troubling healthcare providers, mainly patient confidentiality and lack of documentation in patients’ medical records, while providing adequate compensation for those providing the service during and after work hours.

Whatsapp, a social media app that allows instant, cross- platform messaging facility for the users to send or receive text messages, voice calls, video calls, images, documents and user location in just a single click from any location of the country. It makes the system of communication highly secure by providing the feature of end-to-end encryption. However, there are many cases observed where fake news or inaccurate information spread/ escalate like a world fire on Whatsapp. Concerning the problem (situation), we have tried to estimate the spread of Fake news on Whatsapp based on the Analytic Modeling, considering the number of feasible authors those are relevant for spreading of fake news (S), the wide variety of coetaneous authors who are highly active for posting the fake information (I), the range of authors who got the right information (R) through TV channels, newspaper etc who are inactive to spread the fake information. The conclusion came to be as unsteady because of the results that showed the trend of speeding fake news will be more in next upcoming years due to lack of awareness among the users.

Technology growth in facebook, whatsapp, instagram has become famous and widely used in diverse social media groups. The intention of facebook is to make the universe widely open and to stay connected. The recent mission of facebook is to stay connected with friends, colleagues, family through sharing photos, videos, stories etc. to show the daily events in the world, which provides the mean to share and express the feelings on what matters to them. Cross platform Instant messaging applications like Telegram and WhatsApp Messenger that smart phone users to establish a ubiquitous technology to exchange text, image, video and audio messages for free. This flexible technology explores more opportunities for risk and benefit for the modern era. Terrorism has increased in certain fragile parts of the world and they attack remotely. New technologies like Artificial intelligence, Machine learning autonomous and semi-autonomous systems are used by terrorist group to attack the network. These groups use social media weapons like facebook, whatsapp, Instagram to spread their information on the social network. It is essential to detect, pre-empt, prevent and eliminate the terrorism through technological spear. Terrorist groups are utilizing the internet as a platform together and convince the sin less people to take part in terrorist activities by infuriating them through web pages that inspired is enchanted individuals to take part in terrorist activities. The detection of terrorist activities needs enormous human effort. To reduce the human effort, our implement system detects the terrorist groups in social media using data mining algorithm. The intention of this work is to is to reduce the terrorism spread and to remove the terrorism related accounts effortlessly.

Technology growth in facebook, whatsapp, instagram has become famous and widely used in diverse social media groups. The intention of facebook is to make the universe widely open and to stay connected. The recent mission of facebook is to stay connected with friends, colleagues, family through sharing photos, videos, stories etc. to show the daily events in the world, which provides the mean to share and express the feelings on what matters to them. Cross platform Instant messaging applications like Telegram and WhatsApp Messenger that smart phone users to establish a ubiquitous technology to exchange text, image, video and audio messages for free. This flexible technology explores more opportunities for risk and benefit for the modern era. Terrorism has increased in certain fragile parts of the world and they attack remotely. New technologies like Artificial intelligence, Machine learning autonomous and semi-autonomous systems are used by terrorist group to attack the network. These groups use social media weapons like facebook, whatsapp, Instagram to spread their information on the social network. It is essential to detect, pre-empt, prevent and eliminate the terrorism through technological spear. Terrorist groups are utilizing the internet as a platform together and convince the sin less people to take part in terrorist activities by infuriating them through web pages that inspired is enchanted individuals to take part in terrorist activities. The detection of terrorist activities needs enormous human effort. To reduce the human effort, our implement system detects the terrorist groups in social media using data mining algorithm. The intention of this work is to is to reduce the terrorism spread and to remove the terrorism related accounts effortlessly.

Background: In the era of Internet of Things (IoT) automation of home and security systems was becoming remarkably easy. Many research works have been also conducted to bring the most convenient way of automating the home appliances and security systems but insignificant research has been carried out in providing the most comprehensive and autonomous or self-controlled home automation. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive solution to mitigate the existing need. End users can interact with household appliances in a variety of means irrespective of platforms used and their geographical location through smartphone application developed. Using their speech as input users can also operate the electrical appliances via voice commands. In addition to the mobile application and voice command, by integrating some cloud services an attractive web interface would be provided as another alternative for better data presentation and analysis. The autonomous feature would allow the home to monitor and control its environment by itself through installed sensors, sharing data into one another and taking a relevant measurement without a need for human intervention Method: In order to achieve those performances the work will deploy an MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) messaging protocol to enable the modules easily communicates one another. Results: Multiple alternative means of controlling and interacting with home appliances was provided. Both autonomous mode and safe mode features would make the system to behave and run autonomously. Conclusion: The paper also embraces the presentation for an application of multiway, cross-platform and user oriented home automation and security system as well as convenient means of controlling and monitoring household electrical appliances.

Introduction: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has surfaced as a public health emergency and the world has witnessed the evolution of unprecedented measures for slowing down the disease progression and reducing the morbidity/mortality associated with the disease. In such scenario healthcare workers assume the most vital and the most vulnerable responsibilities. Aim: To investigate the awareness of undergraduate students of pre-final and final year, interns and postgraduate students in Shyam Shah Medical College, Rewa, MP towards COVID-19 and the sources on which the respondents depend for acquiring information through a web based questionnaire. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, conducted from 25th April to 1st May 2020 based on a close-ended, time bound, online questionnaire containing 16 questions based on aetiology, mode of transmission, risk factors, signs, symptoms, treatment and prevention of COVID-19. It was administered to a total of 320 students of which final respondents were 183 (112 undergraduate students and 71 post graduate students and interns) as a Google form through a cross platform messaging application namely WhatsApp. Data about the information sources and the perceived reliability of the respondents on them was also obtained. The filled information was evaluated and the collected data was presented as frequencies and percentages. Awareness was graded as good when the respondents were able to answer more than 75% (>12) questions correctly, average when they answered >50% and ≤75% (9-12) answers correctly and poor when they could answer ≤50% (≤8) questions correctly. Continuous variables were presented as mean±SD. Student’s Independent t-test was performed to compare the mean awareness level of both groups. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of a total of 320 students to whom the questionnaire was sent, 183 participated in the survey (response rate=57.1%). The study revealed a good awareness level of the respondents towards COVID-19 (mean score >12) in both the groups (undergraduate/postgraduate). The percentage of correct answers for entire study population for awareness related questions was 82.24%. The difference in awareness level between undergraduate students in comparison to interns and postgraduate students was found to be statistically significant (p<0.001). The respondents obtained maximum information from the official government websites (mean=3.6) and had maximum confidence on the same for the credibility of data (mean=3.9). Conclusion: The awareness level of the students was found to be good. To cope up with this new emerging infectious disease, the health care workers must remain updated with all recent developments. Comprehensive educational programs focused on field epidemiology, infection control practice and public health are the need of the hour.

Abstract Background In Ontario Canada, the Healthy Kids Community Challenge (HKCC) is a program intended to reduce the prevalence and prevent childhood overweight and obesity through community-based initiatives to improve health behaviours. Guided by the RE-AIM framework and Durlak and DuPre’s Ecological Framework for Understanding Effective Implementation, the evaluation focused on two objectives: 1) to describe the organization of the program at the community level; and, 2) to identify opportunities for improvement through an early assessment of factors contributing to implementation. Methods Participants (n = 320) – members of the HKCC local steering committee, including the local project manager – completed a cross-sectional survey using SurveyMonkey and descriptive statistics were calculated. A sample (20%) of qualitative open-ended responses was thematically analyzed. Results Results indicated strong respondent agreement that the HKCC enhanced individual knowledge of access to health-promoting programs (88.3%) and messaging regarding healthy behaviours for healthy kids, with less for its effectiveness in reducing weight (53.1%). There was a high-level of adherence to HKCC social marketing messages and overall program structure, with few Local Project Manager reports of adaptations to theme one (9.2%) and theme two messages (15.4%). Fewer Local Project Managers (50%) reported the existence of private partnerships. While most respondents agreed they had the appropriate information to complete mandatory reporting, the usefulness of the HKCC online networking platform was in question (only 47% of Local Project Managers agreed that it was useful). Results reveal sufficient funding from the province to support program implementation, with a moderate level of local political commitment (63% of respondents). Conclusions Results indicate that the HKCC was considered beneficial for enhancing access to health promoting programs, could be feasibly implemented with adherence to centrally-developed social marketing messages, and was amendable to local adaptation. Despite this, few private partnerships were reported. Going forward, there is opportunity to further evaluate factors contributing to HKCC program implementation, particularly as it relates to buy-in from intervention providers, and strategies for forming private sector partnerships to support long-term program sustainability.

Introduction I am on the phone with a journalist discussing my research into anti-vaccination. As the conversation winds up, they ask a question I have come to expect: "how big do you think this is?" My answer is usually some version of the following: that we have no way of knowing. I and my fellow researchers can only see the information that is public or in the sunlight. How anti-vaccination information spreads through private networks is dark to us. It is private and necessarily so. This means that we cannot track how these conversations spread in the private or parochial spaces of Facebook, nor can we consider how they might extend into other modes of mediated communication. Modern communication is a complex and multiplatform accomplishment. Consider this: I am texting with my friend, I send her a selfie, in the same moment I hear a notification, she has DMed me a relevant Instagram post via that app. I move to Instagram and share another post in response; we continue our text message conversation there. Later in the day, I message her on Facebook Messenger while participating in a mutual WhatsApp group chat. The next day we Skype, and while we talk, we send links back and forth, which in hindsight are as clear as hieroglyphics before the Rosetta stone. I comment on her Twitter post, and we publicly converse back and forth briefly while other people like our posts. None of these instances are discrete conversational events, even though they occur on different platforms. They are iterations on the same themes, and the archival properties of social media and private messaging apps mean that neither of you forgets where you left off. The conversation slides not only between platforms and contexts but in and out of visibility. Digitally mediated conversation hums in the background of daily life (boring meetings, long commutes and bad dates) and expands our understanding of the temporal and sequential limits of conversation. In this article, I will explore digitally-mediated cross-platform conversation as a problem in two parts, and how we can understand it as part of the 'dark social'. Specifically, I want to draw attention to how 'dark' online spaces are part of our everyday communicative practices and are not necessarily synonymous with the illicit, illegal, or deviant. I argue that the private conversations we have online are also part of the dark social web, insofar as they are hidden from the public eye. When I think of dark social spaces, I think of what lies beneath the surface of murky waters, what hides behind in backstage areas, and the moments between platforms. In contrast, 'light' (or public) social spaces are often perceived as siloed. The boundaries between these platforms are artificially clean and do not appear to leak into other spaces. This article explores the dark and shadowed spaces of online conversation and considers how we might approach them as researchers. Conversations occur in the backchannels of social media platforms, in private messaging functions that are necessarily invisible to the researcher's gaze. These spaces are distinct from the social media activity analysed by Marwick and boyd. Their research examining teens' privacy strategies on social media highlights how social media posts that multiple audiences may view often hold encoded meanings. Social media posts are a distinct and separate category of activity from meditated conversations that occur one to one, or in smaller group chat settings. Second is the disjunction between social media platforms. Users spread their activity across any number of social media platforms, according to social and personal logics. However, these movements are difficult to capture; it is difficult to see in the dark. Platforms are not hermeneutically sealed off from each other, or the broader web. I argue that understanding how conversation moves between platforms and in the backstage spaces of platforms are two parts of the same dark social puzzle. Conversation Online Digital media have changed how we maintain our social connections across time and space. Social media environments offer new possibilities for communication and engagement as well as new avenues for control. Calls and texts can be ignored, and our phones are often used as shields. Busying ourselves with them can help us avoid unwanted face-to-face conversations. There are a number of critiques regarding the pressure of always-on contact, and a growing body of research that examines how users negotiate these demands. By examining group messaging, Mannell highlights how the boundaries of these chats are porous and flexible and mark a distinct communicative break from previous forms of mobile messaging, which were largely didactic. The advent of group chats has also led to an increasing complication of conversation boundaries. One group chat may have several strands of conversation sporadically re-engaged with over time. Manell's examination of group chats empirically illustrates the complexity of digitally-mediated conversations as they move across private, parochial, and public spaces in a way that is not necessarily temporally linear. Further research highlights the networked nature of digitally mediated interpersonal communication and how conversations sprawl across multiple platforms (Burchell). Couldry (16, 17) describes this complex web as the media manifold. This concept encompasses the networked platforms that comprise it and refers to its embeddedness in daily life. As we no longer “log on” to the internet to send and receive email, the manifold is both everywhere and nowhere; so too are our conversations. Gershon has described the ways we navigate the communicative affordances of these platforms as “media ideologies" which are the "beliefs, attitudes, and strategies about the media they [individuals] use" (391). Media ideologies also contain implicit assumptions about which platforms are best for delivering which kinds of messages. Similarly, Burchell argues that the relational ordering of available media technologies is "highly idiosyncratic" (418). Burchell contends that this idiosyncratic ordering is interdependent and relational, and that norms about what to do when are both assumed by individuals and learnt in their engagement with others (418). The influence of others allows us to adjust our practices, or as Burchell argues, "to attune and regulate one's own conduct … and facilitate engagement despite the diverse media practices of others" (418). In this model, individuals are constantly learning and renegotiating norms of conversation on a case by case, platform by platform basis. However, I argue that it is more illuminating to consider how we have collectively developed an implicit and unconscious set of norms and signals that govern our (collective) conduct, as digitally mediated conversation has become embedded in our daily lives. This is not to say that everyone has the same conversational skill level, but rather that we have developed a common toolbox for understanding the ebb and flow of digitally mediated conversations across platforms. However, these norms are implicit, and we only have a partial understanding of how they are socially achieved in digitally-mediated conversation. What Lies Beneath Most of what we do online is assumed not to be publicly visible. While companies like Facebook trace us across the web and peer into every nook and cranny of our private use patterns, researchers have remained focussed on what lies above in the light, not below, in the dark. This has meant an overwhelming focus on single platform studies that rely on the massification of data as a default measure for analysing sentiment and behaviour online. Sociologically, we know that what occurs in dark social spaces, or backstage, is just as important to social life as what happens in front of an audience (Goffman). Goffman's research uses the metaphor of the theatre to analyse how social life is accomplished as a performance. He highlights that (darkened) backstage spaces are those where we can relax, drop our front, and reveal parts of our (social) self that may be unpalatable to a broader audience. Simply, the public data accessible to researchers on social media are “trace data”, or “trace conversation”, from the places where conversations briefly leave (public) footprints and can be tracked and traced before vanishing again. Alternatively, we can visualise internet researchers as swabbing door handles for trace evidence, attempting to assemble a narrative out of a left-behind thread or a stray fingerprint. These public utterances, often scraped through API access, are only small parts of the richness of online conversation. Conversations weave across multiple platforms, yet single platforms are focussed on, bracketing off their leaky edges in favour of certainty. We know the social rules of platforms, but less about the rules between platforms, and in their darker spaces. Conversations briefly emerge into the light, only to disappear again. Without understanding how conversation is achieved and how it expands and contracts and weaves in and out of the present, we are only ever guessing about the social dynamics of mediated conversation as they shift between light, dark, and shadow spaces. Small things can cast large shadows; something that looms large may be deceptively small. Online they could be sociality distorted by disinformation campaigns or swarms of social bots. Capturing the Unseen: An Ethnomethodological Approach Not all data are measurable, computable, and controllable. There is uncertainty beyond what computational logics can achieve. Nooks and crannies of sociality exist beyond the purview of computable data. This suggests that we can apply pre-digital social research methods to capture these “below the surface” conversations and understand their logics. Sociologists have long understood that conversation is a social accomplishment. In the 1960s, sociologist Harvey Sacks developed conversation analysis as an ethnomethodological technique that seeks to understand how social life is accomplished in day-to-day conversation and micro-interactions. Conversation analysis is a detailed and systematic account of how naturally-occurring talk is socially ordered, and has been applied across a number of social contexts, including news interviews, judicial settings, suicide prevention hotlines, therapy sessions, as well as regular phone conversations (Kitzinger and Frith). Conversation analysis focusses on fine-grained detail, all of the little patterns of speech that make up a conversation; for example, the pauses, interruptions, self-corrections, false starts, and over-speaking. Often these too are hidden features of conversation, understood implicitly, but hovering on the edges of our social knowledge. One of the most interesting uses of conversational analysis is to understand refusal, that is, how we say 'no' as a social action. This body of research turns common-sense social knowledge – that saying no is socially difficult – into a systemic schema of social action. For instance, acceptance is easy to achieve; saying yes typically happens quickly and without hesitation. Acceptances are not qualified; a straightforward 'yes' is sufficient (Kitzinger and Frith). However, refusals are much more socially complex. Refusal is usually accomplished by apologies, compliments, and other palliative strategies that seek to cushion the blow of refusals. They are delayed and indirect conversational routes, indicating their status as a dispreferred social action, necessitating their accompaniment by excuses or explanations (Kitzinger and Frith). Research by Kitzinger and Frith, examining how women refuse sexual advances, illustrates that we all have a stock of common-sense knowledge about how refusals are typically achieved, which persists across various social contexts, including in our intimate relationships. Conversation analysis shows us how conversation is achieved and how we understand each other. To date, conversation analysis techniques have been applied to spoken conversation but not yet extended into text-based mediated conversation. I argue that we could apply insights from conversation analysis to understand the rules that govern digitally mediated conversation, how conversation moves in the spaces between platforms, and the rules that govern its emergence into public visibility. What rules shape the success of mediated communication? How can we understand it as a social achievement? When conversation analysis walks into the dark room it can be like turning on the light. How can we apply conversation analysis, usually concerned with the hidden aspects of plainly visible talk, to conversation in dark social spaces, across platforms and in private back channels? There is evidence that the norms of refusal, as highlighted by conversation analysis, are persistent across platforms, including in people's private digitally-mediated conversations. One of the ways in which we can identify these norms in action is by examining technology resistance. Relational communication via mobile device is pervasive (Hall and Baym). The concentration of digitally-mediated communication into smartphones means that conversational norms are constantly renegotiated, alongside expectations of relationship maintenance in voluntary social relationships like friendship (Hall and Baym). Mannell also explains that technology resistance can include lying by text message when explaining non-availability. These small, habitual, and often automatic lies are categorised as “butler lies” and are a polite way of achieving refusal in digitally mediated conversations that are analogous to how refusal is accomplished in face-to-face conversation. Refusals, rejections, and, by extension, unavailability appear to be accompanied by the palliative actions that help us achieve refusal in face-to-face conversation. Mannell identifies strategies such as “feeling ill” to explain non-availability without hurting others' feelings. Insights from conversation analysis suggest that on balance, it is likely that all parties involved in both the furnishing and acceptance of a butler lie understand that these are polite fabrications, much like the refusals in verbal conversation. Because of their invisibility, it is easy to assume that conversations in the dark social are chaotic and disorganised. However, there are tantalising hints that the reverse is true. Instead of arguing that individuals construct conversational norms on a case by case, platform by platform basis, I suggest that we now have a stock of common-sense social knowledge that we also apply to cross-platform mediated communication. In the spaces where gaps in this knowledge exist, Szabla and Blommaert argue that actors use existing norms of interactions and can navigate a range of interaction events even in online environments where we would expect to see a degree of context collapse and interactional disorganisation. Techniques of Detection How do we see in the dark? Some nascent research suggests a way forward that will help us understand the rhythms of cross-platform mediated conversation. Apps have been used to track participants' messaging and calling activities (Birnholtz, Davison, and Li). This research found a number of patterns that signal a user's attention or inattention, including response times and linguistic clues. Similarly, not-for-profit newsroom The Markup built a Facebook inspector called the citizen browser, a "standalone desktop application that was distributed to a panel of more than 1000 paid participants" (Mattu et al.). The application works by being connected to a participant's Facebook account and periodically capturing data from their Facebook feeds. The data is automatically deidentified but is still linked to the demographic information that participants provide about themselves, such as gender, race, location, and age. Applications like these point to how researchers might reliably collect interaction data from Facebook to glimpse into the hidden networks and interactions that drive conversation. User-focussed data collection methods also help us, as researchers, to sever our reliance on API access. API-reliant research is dependent on the largesse of social media companies for continued access and encourages research on the macro at the micro's expense. After all, social media and other digital platforms are partly constituted by the social acts of their users. Without speech acts that constitute mediated conversation, liking, sharing GIFs, and links, as well as the gaps and silences, digital platforms cease to exist. Digital platforms are not just archives of “big data”, but rather they are collections of speech and records of how our common-sense knowledge about how to communicate has stretched and expanded beyond face-to-face contexts. A Problem of Bots Ethnomethodological approaches have been critiqued as focussing too much on the small details of conversation, on nit-picking small details, and thus, as unable to comment on macro social issues of oppression and inequality (Kitzinger and Frith 311). However, understanding digitally-mediated conversation through the lens of talk-as-human-interaction may help us untangle our most pressing social problems across digital platforms. Extensive research examines platforms such as Twitter for “inauthentic” behaviour, primarily identifying which accounts are bots. Bots accounts are programmed Twitter accounts (for example) that automatically tweet information on political or contentious issues, while mimicking genuine engagement. Bots can reply to direct messages too; they converse with us as they are programmed to act as “humanly” as possible. Despite this, there are patterns of behaviour and engagement that distinguish programmed bot accounts, and a number of platforms are dedicated to their detection. However, bots are becoming increasingly sophisticated and better able to mimic “real” human engagement online. But there is as yet no systematic framework regarding what “real” digitally mediated conversation looks like. An ethnomethodological approach to understanding this would better equip platforms to understand inauthentic activity. As Yang and colleagues succinctly state, "a supervised machine learning tool is only as good as the data used for its training … even the most advanced [bot detection] algorithms will fail with outdated training datasets" (8). On the flipside, organisations are using chat bots to deliver cognitive behavioural therapy and assist people in moments of psychological distress. But the bots do not feel human; they reply instantly to any message sent. Some require responses in the form of emojis. The basis of therapy is talk. Understanding more accurately how naturally-occurring talk functions in online spaces could create more sensitive and genuinely therapeutic tools. Conclusion It is easy to forget that social media have largely mainstreamed over the last decade; in this decade, crucial social norms about how we converse online have developed. These norms allow us to navigate our conversations, with intimate friends and strangers alike across platforms, both in and out of public view, in ways that are often temporally non-sequential. Dark social spaces are a matter of intense marketing interest. Advertising firm Disruptive Advertising identified the very spaces that are the focus of this article as “dark social”: messaging apps, direct messaging, and native mobile apps facilitate user activity that is "not as easily controlled nor tracked". Dark social traffic continues to grow, yet our understanding of why, how, and for whom trails behind. To make sense of our social world, which is increasingly indistinguishable from online activity, we need to examine the spaces between and behind platforms, and how they co-mingle. Where are the spaces where the affordances of multiple platforms and technologies scrape against each other in uncomfortable ways? How do users achieve intelligible conversation not just because of affordances, but despite them? Focussing on micro-sociological encounters and conversations may also help us understand what could build a healthy online ecosystem. How are consensus and agreement achieved online? What are the persistent speech acts (or text acts) that signal when consensus is achieved? To begin where I started, to understand the scope and power of anti-vaccination sentiment, we need to understand how it is shared and discussed in dark social spaces, in messaging applications, and other backchannel spaces. Taking an ethnomethodological approach to these conversational interactions could also help us determine how misinformation is refused, accepted, and negotiated in mediated conversation. Focussing on “dark conversation” will help us more richly understand our social world and add much needed insight into some of our pressing social problems. References Burchell, Kenzie. "Everyday Communication Management and Perceptions of Use: How Media Users Limit and Shape Their Social World." Convergence 23.4 (2017): 409–24. Couldry, Nick. Media, Society, World: Social Theory and Digital Media Practice. Polity, 2012. Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Penguin, 1990. Gershon, Ilana. The Breakup 2.0: Disconnecting over New Media. Cornell University Press, 2010. Hall, Jeffrey A., and Nancy K. Baym. "Calling and Texting (Too Much): Mobile Maintenance Expectations, (Over)dependence, Entrapment, and Friendship Satisfaction." New Media & Society 14.2 (2012): 316–31. Hall, Margaret, et al. "Editorial of the Special Issue on Following User Pathways: Key Contributions and Future Directions in Cross-Platform Social Media Research." International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction 34.10 (2018): 895–912. Kitzinger, Celia, and Hannah Frith. "Just Say No? The Use of Conversation Analysis in Developing a Feminist Perspective on Sexual Refusal." Discourse & Society 10.3 (1999): 293–316. Ling, Rich. "Soft Coercion: Reciprocal Expectations of Availability in the Use of Mobile Communication." First Monday, 2016. Mannell, Kate. "A Typology of Mobile Messaging's Disconnective Affordances." Mobile Media & Communication 7.1 (2019): 76–93. ———. "Plural and Porous: Reconceptualising the Boundaries of Mobile Messaging Group Chats." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 25.4 (2020): 274–90. Marwick, Alice E., and danah boyd. "Networked Privacy: How Teenagers Negotiate Context in Social Media." New Media & Society 16.7 (2014): 1051–67. Mattu, Surya, Leon Yin, Angie Waller, and Jon Keegan. "How We Built a Facebook Inspector." The Markup 5 Jan. 2021. 9 Mar. 2021 <https://themarkup.org/citizen-browser/2021/01/05/how-we-built-a-facebook-inspector>. Sacks, Harvey. Lectures on Conversation: Volumes I and II. Ed. Gail Jefferson. Blackwell, 1995. Szabla, Malgorzata, and Jan Blommaert. "Does Context Really Collapse in Social Media Interaction?" Applied Linguistics Review 11.2 (2020): 251–79.

Preface<br />The last eight months (May to December of 2011) have been very hectic for the UIC Research and Development Center since there were three research forums that we organized to facilitate the dissemination of 18 studies that appear in this issue (Volume 17 Number 2 October 2011) of our faculty research journal. The bulk of work that Ms. Emma V. Sagarino and I had to finish is hard to describe but we are thankful that despite of such challenge, we still finally get hold of this issue. Of course, the Research Committee and the Panel of Reviewers as well as all the writers are very significant to this effort. Without them, the release of this issue would have not been made possible. A million thanks to all of you!<br /><br />This particular issue is divided into six sections, namely Health, Engineering &amp; Engineering Education, Curriculum &amp; Instruction, Social Sciences, Science &amp; Math Education, and Information Technology<br />Education.<br /><br />Three studies on Health led by Marlon B. Sepe, S. Ma. Remegia M. Cirujales and Emma V. Sagarino report about an innovative technology that can ensure a safe drinking water and alleviate poverty to the people in rural communities, the working conditions of Filipino nurses abroad, and the status of women’s health in selected banana plantations, respectively.<br /><br />The UIC Engineering Faculty has managed to complete three studies delving into the safety practices in engineering field and current instructional strategies directly affecting the engineering curricula. The researchers for Engineering and Engineering Education are Bryant S. Arante, Renan P. Limjuco collaborating with Fr. Francisco G. Glover and Isagani M. Mendez, and Neil C. Capricho with Michael M. Obenque and Fe Monique F. Musni. <br /><br />In the section Curriculum and Instruction, two studies concerning the intensification of instruction, curriculum, and research in UIC were authored by Alvin O. Cayogyog who worked with Reynaldo O. Cuizon, and Emma V. Sagarino with Deogracia B. Corpuz. The first study tackled constructs such as Capability, Culture, and Passion for research and their relationships to each other, while the second investigation analyzed the 5-year performance of the UIC BS in Accountancy graduates in CPA board examinations.<br /><br />Meanwhile, three research articles appear in Social Sciences section. One of them was done by Mona L. Laya and Jason N. Marquez, who described in their work the brand of leadership that is epitomized by Rodrigo<br />R. Duterte. Then, Bienvinido E. Infante and Maribeth Q. Galindo, leading the Social Science Faculty, documented the multi-faceted experiences of foreign students in UIC, and the team of Alvin O. Cayogyog and Ariel E. San Jose investigated the lived philosophies of LGU Officials in reference to their human core faculties.<br /><br />The section for Science and Math Education accommodates the scholarly works of Adorico M. Aya-ay, Orcheliza L. Paramo, and Renan P. Limjuco who shared the findings of their own investigations about the distribution and relative abundance of medium-sized arboreal mammals at Mt. Mahuson, Mount Apo, development and validation of teacher’s laboratory competence evaluation instrument, and creative learning enrichment for mathematics appreciation, respectively, to elevate the quality of science and mathematics education in the university.<br /><br />Three ICT researchers were highlighted in the section Information Technology Education. Shenna Rhea A. Maranguit, et. al., conducted a study entitled Developing a Server-Side Scripting Language Converter for Translating ColdFusion to PHP, while Eric John G. Emberda, et. al., completed their work Developing a Web Proxy Server Application to Minimize Cross-Site Scripting Attacks. Exander T. Barrios, et.al., contributed two different studies. They are entitled A Consolidated Web Browser Interface Using Multiple Browser Libraries for Testing Web Designs and Implementing Symmetric Cryptography on SMS Messaging for Generic Phone Using J2ME Platform. These four studies deal with software development which aims to offer new features to the existing applications available in the Internet. The designs were conceptualized involving several stages and upon consultation with software developers in the region as well as with the intended users of the proposed technologies.<br /><br />

Abstract Background Although existing studies have described patterns of social media use in healthcare, most are focused on health professionals in one discipline. Population health requires a multi-disciplinary approach to ensure diversity and to include diverse stakeholders. To date, what is known about using social media in population health is focused on its potential as a communication tool. This study aims to investigate patterns of use and perceived value of social media usage among stakeholders in population health practice, policy, or research. Methods We conducted a web-based survey of delegates attending the Singapore Population Health Conversations and Workshop. We designed a 24-item questionnaire to assess 1) social media use in terms of type of platform and frequency of use; 2) perceptions of social media relevance and impact on population health; and 3) top three areas in population health that would benefit from social media. We used descriptive and logistic regression analyses to assess the relationships between variables. Results Of the 308 survey respondents, 97.7% reported that they use social media in some form. Messaging (96.8%) was the most dominant activity when using social media. Challenges in implementing social media for population health were time investment by health care professionals (56.2%) and patient adoption (52.9%). The top three population health areas that would benefit most from using social media were the promotion of healthy behaviors (60.7%), community engagement (47.7%), and preventive care (40.6%). Older respondents (> = 40 years) were less likely to view social media as useful for the promotion of healthy behaviors (OR = 0.34; 95% CI: 0.19–0.60). Non-social/healthcare professionals were more likely to consider social media to be useful for community engagement (OR = 1.74; 95% CI: 1.10–2.76). For preventive care, older respondents (OR = 0.51; 95% CI: 0.32–0.82) and non-social/healthcare professionals were less likely to view social media as useful (OR = 0.61; 95% CI: 0.38–0.97). Conclusions Our findings suggest that it may be important to select the specific care areas that would benefit most from using social media. The time investment needed by population health professionals should be fully addressed in planning to maximize the application and potential value of social media.

The Australian Government has been actively evaluating how best to merge the functions of the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) and the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) for around two years now. Broadly, the reason for this is an attempt to keep pace with the communications media transformations we reduce to the term “convergence.” Mounting pressure for restructuring is emerging as a site of turf contestation: the possibility of a regulatory “one-stop shop” for governments (and some industry players) is an end game of considerable force. But, from a public interest perspective, the case for a converged regulator needs to make sense to audiences using various media, as well as in terms of arguments about global, industrial, and technological change. This national debate about the institutional reshaping of media regulation is occurring within a wider global context of transformations in social, technological, and politico-economic frameworks of open capital and cultural markets, including the increasing prominence of international economic organisations, corporations, and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Although the recently concluded FTA with the US explicitly carves out a right for Australian Governments to make regulatory policy in relation to existing and new media, considerable uncertainty remains as to future regulatory arrangements. A key concern is how a right to intervene in cultural markets will be sustained in the face of cultural, politico-economic, and technological pressures that are reconfiguring creative industries on an international scale. While the right to intervene was retained for the audiovisual sector in the FTA, by contrast, it appears that comparable unilateral rights to intervene will not operate for telecommunications, e-commerce or intellectual property (DFAT). Blurring Boundaries A lack of certainty for audiences is a by-product of industry change, and further blurs regulatory boundaries: new digital media content and overlapping delivering technologies are already a reality for Australia’s media regulators. These hypothetical media usage scenarios indicate how confusion over the appropriate regulatory agency may arise: 1. playing electronic games that use racist language; 2. being subjected to deceptive or misleading pop-up advertising online 3. receiving messaged imagery on your mobile phone that offends, disturbs, or annoys; 4. watching a program like World Idol with SMS voting that subsequently raises charging or billing issues; or 5. watching a new “reality” TV program where products are being promoted with no explicit acknowledgement of the underlying commercial arrangements either during or at the end of the program. These are all instances where, theoretically, regulatory mechanisms are in place that allow individuals to complain and to seek some kind of redress as consumers and citizens. In the last scenario, in commercial television under the sector code, no clear-cut rules exist as to the precise form of the disclosure—as there is (from 2000) in commercial radio. It’s one of a number of issues the peak TV industry lobby Commercial TV Australia (CTVA) is considering in their review of the industry’s code of practice. CTVA have proposed an amendment to the code that will simply formalise the already existing practice . That is, commercial arrangements that assist in the making of a program should be acknowledged either during programs, or in their credits. In my view, this amendment doesn’t go far enough in post “cash for comment” mediascapes (Dwyer). Audiences have a right to expect that broadcasters, production companies and program celebrities are open and transparent with the Australian community about these kinds of arrangements. They need to be far more clearly signposted, and people better informed about their role. In the US, the “Commercial Alert” <http://www.commercialalert.org/> organisation has been lobbying the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to achieve similar in-program “visual acknowledgements.” The ABA’s Commercial Radio Inquiry (“Cash-for-Comment”) found widespread systemic regulatory failure and introduced three new standards. On that basis, how could a “standstill” response by CTVA, constitute best practice for such a pervasive and influential medium as contemporary commercial television? The World Idol example may lead to confusion for some audiences, who are unsure whether the issues involved relate to broadcasting or telecommunications. In fact, it could be dealt with as a complaint to the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman (TIO) under an ACA registered, but Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF) developed, code of practice. These kind of cross-platform issues may become more vexed in future years from an audience’s perspective, especially if reality formats using on-screen premium rate service numbers invite audiences to participate, by sending MMS (multimedia messaging services) images or short video grabs over wireless networks. The political and cultural implications of this kind of audience interaction, in terms of access, participation, and more generally the symbolic power of media, may perhaps even indicate a longer-term shift in relations with consumers and citizens. In the Internet example, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Internet advertising jurisdiction would apply—not the ABA’s “co-regulatory” Internet content regime as some may have thought. Although the ACCC deals with complaints relating to Internet advertising, there won’t be much traction for them in a more complex issue that also includes, say, racist or religious bigotry. The DVD example would probably fall between the remits of the Office of Film and Literature Classification’s (OFLC) new “convergent” Guidelines for the Classification of Film and Computer Games and race discrimination legislation administered by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC). The OFLC’s National Classification Scheme is really geared to provide consumer advice on media products that contain sexual and violent imagery or coarse language, rather than issues of racist language. And it’s unlikely that a single person would have the locus standito even apply for a reclassification. It may fall within the jurisdiction of the HREOC depending on whether it was played in public or not. Even then it would probably be considered exempt on free speech grounds as an “artistic work.” Unsolicited, potentially illegal, content transmitted via mobile wireless devices, in particular 3G phones, provide another example of content that falls between the media regulation cracks. It illustrates a potential content policy “turf grab” too. Image-enabled mobile phones create a variety of novel issues for content producers, network operators, regulators, parents and viewers. There is no one government media authority or agency with a remit to deal with this issue. Although it has elements relating to the regulatory activities of the ACA, the ABA, the OFLC, the TIO, and TISSC, the combination of illegal or potentially prohibited content and its carriage over wireless networks positions it outside their current frameworks. The ACA may argue it should have responsibility for this kind of content since: it now enforces the recently enacted Commonwealth anti-Spam laws; has registered an industry code of practice for unsolicited content delivered over wireless networks; is seeking to include ‘adult’ content within premium rate service numbers, and, has been actively involved in consumer education for mobile telephony. It has also worked with TISSC and the ABA in relation to telephone sex information services over voice networks. On the other hand, the ABA would probably argue that it has the relevant expertise for regulating wirelessly transmitted image-content, arising from its experience of Internet and free and subscription TV industries, under co-regulatory codes of practice. The OFLC can also stake its claim for policy and compliance expertise, since the recently implemented Guidelines for Classification of Film and Computer Games were specifically developed to address issues of industry convergence. These Guidelines now underpin the regulation of content across the film, TV, video, subscription TV, computer games and Internet sectors. Reshaping Institutions Debates around the “merged regulator” concept have occurred on and off for at least a decade, with vested interests in agencies and the executive jockeying to stake claims over new turf. On several occasions the debate has been given renewed impetus in the context of ruling conservative parties’ mooted changes to the ownership and control regime. It’s tended to highlight demarcations of remit, informed as they are by historical and legal developments, and the gradual accretion of regulatory cultures. Now the key pressure points for regulatory change include the mere existence of already converged single regulatory structures in those countries with whom we tend to triangulate our policy comparisons—the US, the UK and Canada—increasingly in a context of debates concerning international trade agreements; and, overlaying this, new media formats and devices are complicating existing institutional arrangements and legal frameworks. The Department of Communications, Information Technology & the Arts’s (DCITA) review brief was initially framed as “options for reform in spectrum management,” but was then widened to include “new institutional arrangements” for a converged regulator, to deal with visual content in the latest generation of mobile telephony, and other image-enabled wireless devices (DCITA). No other regulatory agencies appear, at this point, to be actively on the Government’s radar screen (although they previously have been). Were the review to look more inclusively, the ACCC, the OFLC and the specialist telecommunications bodies, the TIO and the TISSC may also be drawn in. Current regulatory arrangements see the ACA delegate responsibility for broadcasting services bands of the radio frequency spectrum to the ABA. In fact, spectrum management is the turf least contested by the regulatory players themselves, although the “convergent regulator” issue provokes considerable angst among powerful incumbent media players. The consensus that exists at a regulatory level can be linked to the scientific convention that holds the radio frequency spectrum is a continuum of electromagnetic bands. In this view, it becomes artificial to sever broadcasting, as “broadcasting services bands” from the other remaining highly diverse communications uses, as occurred from 1992 when the Broadcasting Services Act was introduced. The prospect of new forms of spectrum charging is highly alarming for commercial broadcasters. In a joint submission to the DCITA review, the peak TV and radio industry lobby groups have indicated they will fight tooth and nail to resist new regulatory arrangements that would see a move away from the existing licence fee arrangements. These are paid as a sliding scale percentage of gross earnings that, it has been argued by Julian Thomas and Marion McCutcheon, “do not reflect the amount of spectrum used by a broadcaster, do not reflect the opportunity cost of using the spectrum, and do not provide an incentive for broadcasters to pursue more efficient ways of delivering their services” (6). An economic rationalist logic underpins pressure to modify the spectrum management (and charging) regime, and undoubtedly contributes to the commercial broadcasting industry’s general paranoia about reform. Total revenues collected by the ABA and the ACA between 1997 and 2002 were, respectively, $1423 million and $3644.7 million. Of these sums, using auction mechanisms, the ABA collected $391 million, while the ACA collected some $3 billion. The sale of spectrum that will be returned to the Commonwealth by television broadcasters when analog spectrum is eventually switched off, around the end of the decade, is a salivating prospect for Treasury officials. The large sums that have been successfully raised by the ACA boosts their position in planning discussions for the convergent media regulatory agency. The way in which media outlets and regulators respond to publics is an enduring question for a democratic polity, irrespective of how the product itself has been mediated and accessed. Media regulation and civic responsibility, including frameworks for negotiating consumer and citizen rights, are fundamental democratic rights (Keane; Tambini). The ABA’s Commercial Radio Inquiry (‘cash for comment’) has also reminded us that regulatory frameworks are important at the level of corporate conduct, as well as how they negotiate relations with specific media audiences (Johnson; Turner; Gordon-Smith). Building publicly meaningful regulatory frameworks will be demanding: relationships with audiences are often complex as people are constructed as both consumers and citizens, through marketised media regulation, institutions and more recently, through hybridising program formats (Murdock and Golding; Lumby and Probyn). In TV, we’ve seen the growth of infotainment formats blending entertainment and informational aspects of media consumption. At a deeper level, changes in the regulatory landscape are symptomatic of broader tectonic shifts in the discourses of governance in advanced information economies from the late 1980s onwards, where deregulatory agendas created an increasing reliance on free market, business-oriented solutions to regulation. “Co-regulation” and “self-regulation’ became the preferred mechanisms to more direct state control. Yet, curiously contradicting these market transformations, we continue to witness recurring instances of direct intervention on the basis of censorship rationales (Dwyer and Stockbridge). That digital media content is “converging” between different technologies and modes of delivery is the norm in “new media” regulatory rhetoric. Others critique “visions of techno-glory,” arguing instead for a view that sees fundamental continuities in media technologies (Winston). But the socio-cultural impacts of new media developments surround us: the introduction of multichannel digital and interactive TV (in free-to-air and subscription variants); broadband access in the office and home; wirelessly delivered content and mobility, and, as Jock Given notes, around the corner, there’s the possibility of “an Amazon.Com of movies-on-demand, with the local video and DVD store replaced by online access to a distant server” (90). Taking a longer view of media history, these changes can be seen to be embedded in the global (and local) “innovation frontier” of converging digital media content industries and its transforming modes of delivery and access technologies (QUT/CIRAC/Cutler & Co). The activities of regulatory agencies will continue to be a source of policy rivalry and turf contestation until such time as a convergent regulator is established to the satisfaction of key players. However, there are risks that the benefits of institutional reshaping will not be readily available for either audiences or industry. In the past, the idea that media power and responsibility ought to coexist has been recognised in both the regulation of the media by the state, and the field of communications media analysis (Curran and Seaton; Couldry). But for now, as media industries transform, whatever the eventual institutional configuration, the evolution of media power in neo-liberal market mediascapes will challenge the ongoing capacity for interventions by national governments and their agencies. Works Cited Australian Broadcasting Authority. Commercial Radio Inquiry: Final Report of the Australian Broadcasting Authority. Sydney: ABA, 2000. Australian Communications Information Forum. Industry Code: Short Message Service (SMS) Issues. Dec. 2002. 8 Mar. 2004 <http://www.acif.org.au/__data/page/3235/C580_Dec_2002_ACA.pdf >. Commercial Television Australia. Draft Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice. Aug. 2003. 8 Mar. 2004 <http://www.ctva.com.au/control.cfm?page=codereview&pageID=171&menucat=1.2.110.171&Level=3>. Couldry, Nick. The Place of Media Power: Pilgrims and Witnesses of the Media Age. London: Routledge, 2000. Curran, James, and Jean Seaton. Power without Responsibility: The Press, Broadcasting and New Media in Britain. 6th ed. London: Routledge, 2003. Dept. of Communication, Information Technology and the Arts. Options for Structural Reform in Spectrum Management. Canberra: DCITA, Aug. 2002. ---. Proposal for New Institutional Arrangements for the ACA and the ABA. Aug. 2003. 8 Mar. 2004 <http://www.dcita.gov.au/Article/0,,0_1-2_1-4_116552,00.php>. Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. Feb. 2004. 8 Mar. 2004 <http://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/negotiations/us_fta/outcomes/11_audio_visual.php>. Dwyer, Tim. Submission to Commercial Television Australia’s Review of the Commercial Television Industry’s Code of Practice. Sept. 2003. Dwyer, Tim, and Sally Stockbridge. “Putting Violence to Work in New Media Policies: Trends in Australian Internet, Computer Game and Video Regulation.” New Media and Society 1.2 (1999): 227-49. Given, Jock. America’s Pie: Trade and Culture After 9/11. Sydney: U of NSW P, 2003. Gordon-Smith, Michael. “Media Ethics After Cash-for-Comment.” The Media and Communications in Australia. Ed. Stuart Cunningham and Graeme Turner. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2002. Johnson, Rob. Cash-for-Comment: The Seduction of Journo Culture. Sydney: Pluto, 2000. Keane, John. The Media and Democracy. Cambridge: Polity, 1991. Lumby, Cathy, and Elspeth Probyn, eds. Remote Control: New Media, New Ethics. Melbourne: Cambridge UP, 2003. Murdock, Graham, and Peter Golding. “Information Poverty and Political Inequality: Citizenship in the Age of Privatized Communications.” Journal of Communication 39.3 (1991): 180-95. QUT, CIRAC, and Cutler & Co. Research and Innovation Systems in the Production of Digital Content and Applications: Report for the National Office for the Information Economy. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, Sept. 2003. Tambini, Damian. Universal Access: A Realistic View. IPPR/Citizens Online Research Publication 1. London: IPPR, 2000. Thomas, Julian and Marion McCutcheon. “Is Broadcasting Special? Charging for Spectrum.” Conference paper. ABA conference, Canberra. May 2003. Turner, Graeme. “Talkback, Advertising and Journalism: A cautionary tale of self-regulated radio”. International Journal of Cultural Studies 3.2 (2000): 247-255. ---. “Reshaping Australian Institutions: Popular Culture, the Market and the Public Sphere.” Culture in Australia: Policies, Publics and Programs. Ed. Tony Bennett and David Carter. Melbourne: Cambridge UP, 2001. Winston, Brian. Media, Technology and Society: A History from the Telegraph to the Internet. London: Routledge, 1998. Web Links http://www.aba.gov.au http://www.aca.gov.au http://www.accc.gov.au http://www.acif.org.au http://www.adma.com.au http://www.ctva.com.au http://www.crtc.gc.ca http://www.dcita.com.au http://www.dfat.gov.au http://www.fcc.gov http://www.ippr.org.uk http://www.ofcom.org.uk http://www.oflc.gov.au Links http://www.commercialalert.org/ Citation reference for this article MLA Style Dwyer, Tim. "Transformations" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture <http://www.media-culture.org.au/0403/06-transformations.php>. APA Style Dwyer, T. (2004, Mar17). Transformations. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture, 7, <http://www.media-culture.org.au/0403/06-transformations.php>

Introduction This article is a study in anxiety with regard to social online spaces (SOS) conceived of as dark. There are two possible ways to define ‘dark’ in this context. The first is that communication is dark because it either has limited distribution, is not open to all users (closed groups are a case example) or hidden. The second definition, linked as a result of the first, is the way that communication via these means is interpreted and understood. Dark social spaces disrupt the accepted top-down flow by the ‘gazing elite’ (data aggregators including social media), but anxious users might need to strain to notice what is out there, and this in turn destabilises one’s reception of the scene. In an environment where surveillance technologies are proliferating, this article examines contemporary, dark, interconnected, and interactive communications for the entangled affordances that might be brought to bear. A provocation is that resistance through counterveillance or “sousveillance” is one possibility. An alternative (or addition) is retreating to or building ‘dark’ spaces that are less surveilled and (perhaps counterintuitively) less fearful. This article considers critically the notion of dark social online spaces via four broad socio-technical concerns connected to the big social media services that have helped increase a tendency for fearful anxiety produced by surveillance and the perceived implications for personal privacy. It also shines light on the aspect of darkness where some users are spurred to actively seek alternative, dark social online spaces. Since the 1970s, public-key cryptosystems typically preserved security for websites, emails, and sensitive health, government, and military data, but this is now reduced (Williams). We have seen such systems exploited via cyberattacks and misappropriated data acquired by affiliations such as Facebook-Cambridge Analytica for targeted political advertising during the 2016 US elections. Via the notion of “parasitic strategies”, such events can be described as news/information hacks “whose attack vectors target a system’s weak points with the help of specific strategies” (von Nordheim and Kleinen-von Königslöw, 88). In accord with Wilson and Serisier’s arguments (178), emerging technologies facilitate rapid data sharing, collection, storage, and processing wherein subsequent “outcomes are unpredictable”. This would also include the effect of acquiescence. In regard to our digital devices, for some, being watched overtly—through cameras encased in toys, computers, and closed-circuit television (CCTV) to digital street ads that determine the resonance of human emotions in public places including bus stops, malls, and train stations—is becoming normalised (McStay, Emotional AI). It might appear that consumers immersed within this Internet of Things (IoT) are themselves comfortable interacting with devices that record sound and capture images for easy analysis and distribution across the communications networks. A counter-claim is that mainstream social media corporations have cultivated a sense of digital resignation “produced when people desire to control the information digital entities have about them but feel unable to do so” (Draper and Turow, 1824). Careful consumers’ trust in mainstream media is waning, with readers observing a strong presence of big media players in the industry and are carefully picking their publications and public intellectuals to follow (Mahmood, 6). A number now also avoid the mainstream internet in favour of alternate dark sites. This is done by users with “varying backgrounds, motivations and participation behaviours that may be idiosyncratic (as they are rooted in the respective person’s biography and circumstance)” (Quandt, 42). By way of connection with dark internet studies via Biddle et al. (1; see also Lasica), the “darknet” is a collection of networks and technologies used to share digital content … not a separate physical network but an application and protocol layer riding on existing networks. Examples of darknets are peer-to-peer file sharing, CD and DVD copying, and key or password sharing on email and newsgroups. As we note from the quote above, the “dark web” uses existing public and private networks that facilitate communication via the Internet. Gehl (1220; see also Gehl and McKelvey) has detailed that this includes “hidden sites that end in ‘.onion’ or ‘.i2p’ or other Top-Level Domain names only available through modified browsers or special software. Accessing I2P sites requires a special routing program ... . Accessing .onion sites requires Tor [The Onion Router]”. For some, this gives rise to social anxiety, read here as stemming from that which is not known, and an exaggerated sense of danger, which makes fight or flight seem the only options. This is often justified or exacerbated by the changing media and communication landscape and depicted in popular documentaries such as The Social Dilemma or The Great Hack, which affect public opinion on the unknown aspects of internet spaces and the uses of personal data. The question for this article remains whether the fear of the dark is justified. Consider that most often one will choose to make one’s intimate bedroom space dark in order to have a good night’s rest. We might pleasurably escape into a cinema’s darkness for the stories told therein, or walk along a beach at night enjoying unseen breezes. Most do not avoid these experiences, choosing to actively seek them out. Drawing this thread, then, is the case made here that agency can also be found in the dark by resisting socio-political structural harms. 1. Digital Futures and Anxiety of the Dark Fear of the darkI have a constant fear that something's always nearFear of the darkFear of the darkI have a phobia that someone's always there In the lyrics to the song “Fear of the Dark” (1992) by British heavy metal group Iron Maiden is a sense that that which is unknown and unseen causes fear and anxiety. Holding a fear of the dark is not unusual and varies in degree for adults as it does for children (Fellous and Arbib). Such anxiety connected to the dark does not always concern darkness itself. It can also be a concern for the possible or imagined dangers that are concealed by the darkness itself as a result of cognitive-emotional interactions (McDonald, 16). Extending this claim is this article’s non-binary assertion that while for some technology and what it can do is frequently misunderstood and shunned as a result, for others who embrace the possibilities and actively take it on it is learning by attentively partaking. Mistakes, solecism, and frustrations are part of the process. Such conceptual theorising falls along a continuum of thinking. Global interconnectivity of communications networks has certainly led to consequent concerns (Turkle Alone Together). Much focus for anxiety has been on the impact upon social and individual inner lives, levels of media concentration, and power over and commercialisation of the internet. Of specific note is that increasing commercial media influence—such as Facebook and its acquisition of WhatsApp, Oculus VR, Instagram, CRTL-labs (translating movements and neural impulses into digital signals), LiveRail (video advertising technology), Chainspace (Blockchain)—regularly changes the overall dynamics of the online environment (Turow and Kavanaugh). This provocation was born out recently when Facebook disrupted the delivery of news to Australian audiences via its service. Mainstream social online spaces (SOS) are platforms which provide more than the delivery of media alone and have been conceptualised predominantly in a binary light. On the one hand, they can be depicted as tools for the common good of society through notional widespread access and as places for civic participation and discussion, identity expression, education, and community formation (Turkle; Bruns; Cinque and Brown; Jenkins). This end of the continuum of thinking about SOS seems set hard against the view that SOS are operating as businesses with strategies that manipulate consumers to generate revenue through advertising, data, venture capital for advanced research and development, and company profit, on the other hand. In between the two polar ends of this continuum are the range of other possibilities, the shades of grey, that add contemporary nuance to understanding SOS in regard to what they facilitate, what the various implications might be, and for whom. By way of a brief summary, anxiety of the dark is steeped in the practices of privacy-invasive social media giants such as Facebook and its ancillary companies. Second are the advertising technology companies, surveillance contractors, and intelligence agencies that collect and monitor our actions and related data; as well as the increased ease of use and interoperability brought about by Web 2.0 that has seen a disconnection between technological infrastructure and social connection that acts to limit user permissions and online affordances. Third are concerns for the negative effects associated with depressed mental health and wellbeing caused by “psychologically damaging social networks”, through sleep loss, anxiety, poor body image, real world relationships, and the fear of missing out (FOMO; Royal Society for Public Health (UK) and the Young Health Movement). Here the harms are both individual and societal. Fourth is the intended acceleration toward post-quantum IoT (Fernández-Caramés), as quantum computing’s digital components are continually being miniaturised. This is coupled with advances in electrical battery capacity and interconnected telecommunications infrastructures. The result of such is that the ontogenetic capacity of the powerfully advanced network/s affords supralevel surveillance. What this means is that through devices and the services that they provide, individuals’ data is commodified (Neff and Nafus; Nissenbaum and Patterson). Personal data is enmeshed in ‘things’ requiring that the decisions that are both overt, subtle, and/or hidden (dark) are scrutinised for the various ways they shape social norms and create consequences for public discourse, cultural production, and the fabric of society (Gillespie). Data and personal information are retrievable from devices, sharable in SOS, and potentially exposed across networks. For these reasons, some have chosen to go dark by being “off the grid”, judiciously selecting their means of communications and their ‘friends’ carefully. 2. Is There Room for Privacy Any More When Everyone in SOS Is Watching? An interesting turn comes through counterarguments against overarching institutional surveillance that underscore the uses of technologies to watch the watchers. This involves a practice of counter-surveillance whereby technologies are tools of resistance to go ‘dark’ and are used by political activists in protest situations for both communication and avoiding surveillance. This is not new and has long existed in an increasingly dispersed media landscape (Cinque, Changing Media Landscapes). For example, counter-surveillance video footage has been accessed and made available via live-streaming channels, with commentary in SOS augmenting networking possibilities for niche interest groups or micropublics (Wilson and Serisier, 178). A further example is the Wordpress site Fitwatch, appealing for an end to what the site claims are issues associated with police surveillance (fitwatch.org.uk and endpolicesurveillance.wordpress.com). Users of these sites are called to post police officers’ identity numbers and photographs in an attempt to identify “cops” that might act to “misuse” UK Anti-terrorism legislation against activists during legitimate protests. Others that might be interested in doing their own “monitoring” are invited to reach out to identified personal email addresses or other private (dark) messaging software and application services such as Telegram (freeware and cross-platform). In their work on surveillance, Mann and Ferenbok (18) propose that there is an increase in “complex constructs between power and the practices of seeing, looking, and watching/sensing in a networked culture mediated by mobile/portable/wearable computing devices and technologies”. By way of critical definition, Mann and Ferenbok (25) clarify that “where the viewer is in a position of power over the subject, this is considered surveillance, but where the viewer is in a lower position of power, this is considered sousveillance”. It is the aspect of sousveillance that is empowering to those using dark SOS. One might consider that not all surveillance is “bad” nor institutionalised. It is neither overtly nor formally regulated—as yet. Like most technologies, many of the surveillant technologies are value-neutral until applied towards specific uses, according to Mann and Ferenbok (18). But this is part of the ‘grey area’ for understanding the impact of dark SOS in regard to which actors or what nations are developing tools for surveillance, where access and control lies, and with what effects into the future. 3. Big Brother Watches, So What Are the Alternatives: Whither the Gazing Elite in Dark SOS? By way of conceptual genealogy, consideration of contemporary perceptions of surveillance in a visually networked society (Cinque, Changing Media Landscapes) might be usefully explored through a revisitation of Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon, applied here as a metaphor for contemporary surveillance. Arguably, this is a foundational theoretical model for integrated methods of social control (Foucault, Surveiller et Punir, 192-211), realised in the “panopticon” (prison) in 1787 by Jeremy Bentham (Bentham and Božovič, 29-95) during a period of social reformation aimed at the improvement of the individual. Like the power for social control over the incarcerated in a panopticon, police power, in order that it be effectively exercised, “had to be given the instrument of permanent, exhaustive, omnipresent surveillance, capable of making all visible … like a faceless gaze that transformed the whole social body into a field of perception” (Foucault, Surveiller et Punir, 213–4). In grappling with the impact of SOS for the individual and the collective in post-digital times, we can trace out these early ruminations on the complex documentary organisation through state-controlled apparatuses (such as inspectors and paid observers including “secret agents”) via Foucault (Surveiller et Punir, 214; Subject and Power, 326-7) for comparison to commercial operators like Facebook. Today, artificial intelligence (AI), facial recognition technology (FRT), and closed-circuit television (CCTV) for video surveillance are used for social control of appropriate behaviours. Exemplified by governments and the private sector is the use of combined technologies to maintain social order, from ensuring citizens cross the street only on green lights, to putting rubbish in the correct recycling bin or be publicly shamed, to making cashless payments in stores. The actions see advantages for individual and collective safety, sustainability, and convenience, but also register forms of behaviour and attitudes with predictive capacities. This gives rise to suspicions about a permanent account of individuals’ behaviour over time. Returning to Foucault (Surveiller et Punir, 135), the impact of this finds a dissociation of power from the individual, whereby they become unwittingly impelled into pre-existing social structures, leading to a ‘normalisation’ and acceptance of such systems. If we are talking about the dark, anxiety is key for a Ministry of SOS. Following Foucault again (Subject and Power, 326-7), there is the potential for a crawling, creeping governance that was once distinct but is itself increasingly hidden and growing. A blanket call for some form of ongoing scrutiny of such proliferating powers might be warranted, but with it comes regulation that, while offering certain rights and protections, is not without consequences. For their part, a number of SOS platforms had little to no moderation for explicit content prior to December 2018, and in terms of power, notwithstanding important anxiety connected to arguments that children and the vulnerable need protections from those that would seek to take advantage, this was a crucial aspect of community building and self-expression that resulted in this freedom of expression. In unearthing the extent that individuals are empowered arising from the capacity to post sexual self-images, Tiidenberg ("Bringing Sexy Back") considered that through dark SOS (read here as unregulated) some users could work in opposition to the mainstream consumer culture that provides select and limited representations of bodies and their sexualities. This links directly to Mondin’s exploration of the abundance of queer and feminist pornography on dark SOS as a “counterpolitics of visibility” (288). This work resulted in a reasoned claim that the technological structure of dark SOS created a highly political and affective social space that users valued. What also needs to be underscored is that many users also believed that such a space could not be replicated on other mainstream SOS because of the differences in architecture and social norms. Cho (47) worked with this theory to claim that dark SOS are modern-day examples in a history of queer individuals having to rely on “underground economies of expression and relation”. Discussions such as these complicate what dark SOS might now become in the face of ‘adult’ content moderation and emerging tracking technologies to close sites or locate individuals that transgress social norms. Further, broader questions are raised about how content moderation fits in with the public space conceptualisations of SOS more generally. Increasingly, “there is an app for that” where being able to identify the poster of an image or an author of an unknown text is seen as crucial. While there is presently no standard approach, models for combining instance-based and profile-based features such as SVM for determining authorship attribution are in development, with the result that potentially far less content will remain hidden in the future (Bacciu et al.). 4. There’s Nothing New under the Sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9) For some, “[the] high hopes regarding the positive impact of the Internet and digital participation in civic society have faded” (Schwarzenegger, 99). My participant observation over some years in various SOS, however, finds that critical concern has always existed. Views move along the spectrum of thinking from deep scepticisms (Stoll, Silicon Snake Oil) to wondrous techo-utopian promises (Negroponte, Being Digital). Indeed, concerns about the (then) new technologies of wireless broadcasting can be compared with today’s anxiety over the possible effects of the internet and SOS. Inglis (7) recalls, here, too, were fears that humanity was tampering with some dangerous force; might wireless wave be causing thunderstorms, droughts, floods? Sterility or strokes? Such anxieties soon evaporated; but a sense of mystery might stay longer with evangelists for broadcasting than with a laity who soon took wireless for granted and settled down to enjoy the products of a process they need not understand. As the analogy above makes clear, just as audiences came to use ‘the wireless’ and later the internet regularly, it is reasonable to argue that dark SOS will also gain widespread understanding and find greater acceptance. Dark social spaces are simply the recent development of internet connectivity and communication more broadly. The dark SOS afford choice to be connected beyond mainstream offerings, which some users avoid for their perceived manipulation of content and user both. As part of the wider array of dark web services, the resilience of dark social spaces is reinforced by the proliferation of users as opposed to decentralised replication. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) can be used for anonymity in parallel to TOR access, but they guarantee only anonymity to the client. A VPN cannot guarantee anonymity to the server or the internet service provider (ISP). While users may use pseudonyms rather than actual names as seen on Facebook and other SOS, users continue to take to the virtual spaces they inhabit their off-line, ‘real’ foibles, problems, and idiosyncrasies (Chenault). To varying degrees, however, people also take their best intentions to their interactions in the dark. The hyper-efficient tools now deployed can intensify this, which is the great advantage attracting some users. In balance, however, in regard to online information access and dissemination, critical examination of what is in the public’s interest, and whether content should be regulated or controlled versus allowing a free flow of information where users self-regulate their online behaviour, is fraught. O’Loughlin (604) was one of the first to claim that there will be voluntary loss through negative liberty or freedom from (freedom from unwanted information or influence) and an increase in positive liberty or freedom to (freedom to read or say anything); hence, freedom from surveillance and interference is a kind of negative liberty, consistent with both libertarianism and liberalism. Conclusion The early adopters of initial iterations of SOS were hopeful and liberal (utopian) in their beliefs about universality and ‘free’ spaces of open communication between like-minded others. 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In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, where income has become precarious and Internet use has soared, the influencer industry has to strategise over new ways to sustain viewer attention, maintain income flows, and innovate around formats and messaging, to avoid being excluded from continued commercial possibilities. In this article, we review the press coverage of the influencer markets in Australia, Japan, and Korea, and consider how the industry has been attempting to navigate their way through the pandemic through deviations and detours. We consider the narratives and groups of influencers who have been included and excluded in shaping the discourse about influencer strategies in the time of COVID-19. The distinction between inclusion and exclusion has been a crucial mechanism to maintain the social normativity, constructed with gender, sexuality, wealth, able-ness, education, age, and so on (Stäheli and Stichweh, par. 3; Hall and Du Gay 5; Bourdieu 162). The influencer industry is the epitome of where the inclusion-exclusion binary is noticeable. It has been criticised for serving as a locus where social norms, such as femininity and middle-class identities, are crystallised and endorsed in the form of visibility and attention (Duffy 234; Abidin 122). Many are concerned about the global expansion of the influencer industry, in which young generations are led to clickbait and sensational content and normative ways of living, in order to be “included” by their peer groups and communities and to avoid being “excluded” (Cavanagh). However, COVID-19 has changed our understanding of the “normal”: people staying home, eschewing social communications, and turning more to the online where they can feel “virtually” connected (Lu et al. 15). The influencer industry also has been affected by COVID-19, since the images of normativity cannot be curated and presented as they used to be. In this situation, it is questionable how the influencer industry that pivots on the inclusion-exclusion binary is adjusting to the “new normal” brought by COVID-19, and how the binary is challenged or maintained, especially by exploring the continuities and discontinuities in industry. Methodology This cross-cultural study draws from a corpus of articles from Australia, Japan, and Korea published between January and May 2020, to investigate how local news outlets portrayed the contingencies undergone by the influencer industry, and what narratives or groups of influencers were excluded in the process. An extended discussion of our methodology has been published in an earlier article (Abidin et al. 5-7). Using the top ranked search engine of each country (Google for Australia and Japan, Naver for Korea), we compiled search results of news articles from the first ten pages (ten results per page) of each search, prioritising reputable news sites over infotainment sites, and by using targeted keyword searches: for Australia: ‘influencer’ and ‘Australia’ and ‘COVID-19’, ‘coronavirus’, ‘pandemic’; for Japan: ‘インフルエンサー’ (influensā) and ‘コロナ’ (korona), ‘新型コロ ナ’ (shin-gata korona), ‘コロナ禍’ (korona-ka); for Korea: ‘인플루언서’ (Influencer) and ‘코로나’ (corona) and ‘팬데믹’ (pandemic). 111 articles were collected (42 for Australia, 31 for Japan, 38 for Korea). In this article, we focus on a subset of 60 articles and adopt a grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss 5) to manually conduct open, axial, and close coding of their headline and body text. Each headline was translated by the authors and coded for a primary and secondary ‘open code’ across seven categories: Income loss, Backlash, COVID-19 campaign, Misinformation, Influencer strategy, Industry shifts, and Brand leverage. The body text was coded in a similar manner to indicate all the relevant open codes covered in the article. In this article, we focus on the last two open codes that illustrate how brands have been working with influencers to tide through COVID-19, and what the overall industry shifts were on the three Asia-Pacific country markets. Table 1 (see Appendix) indicates a full list of our coding schema. Inclusion of the Normal in Shifting Brand Preferences In this section, we consider two main shifts in brand preferences: an increased demand for influencers, and a reliance on influencers to boost viewer/consumer traffic. We found that by expanding digital marketing through Influencers, companies attempted to secure a so-called “new normal” during the pandemic. However, their marketing strategies tended to reiterate the existing inclusion-exclusion binary and exacerbated the lack of diversity and inequality in the industry. Increased Demand for Influencers Across the three country markets, brokers and clients in the influencer industry increased their demand for influencers’ services and expertise to sustain businesses via advertising in the “aftermath of COVID-19”, as they were deemed to be more cost-efficient “viral marketing on social media” (Yoo). By outsourcing content production to influencers who could still produce content independently from their homes (Cheik-Hussein) and who engage with audiences with their “interactive communication ability” (S. Kim and Cho), many companies attempted to continue their business and maintain their relationships with prospective consumers (Forlani). As the newly enforced social distancing measures have also interrupted face-to-face contact opportunities, the mass pivot towards influencers for digital marketing is perceived to further professionalise the industry via competition and quality control in all three countries (Wilkinson; S. Kim and Cho; Yadorigi). By integrating these online personae of influencers into their marketing, the business side of each country is moving towards the new normal in different manners. In Australia, businesses launched campaigns showcasing athlete influencers engaging in meaningful activities at home (e.g. yoga, cooking), and brands and companies reorganised their marketing strategies to highlight social responsibilities (Moore). On the other hand, for some companies in the Japanese market, the disruption from the pandemic was a rare opportunity to build connections and work with “famous” and “prominent” influencers (Yadorigi), otherwise unavailable and unwilling to work for smaller campaigns during regular periods of an intensely competitive market. In Korea, by emphasising their creative ability, influencers progressed from being “mere PR tools” to becoming “active economic subjects of production” who now can play a key role in product planning for clients, mediating companies and consumers (S. Kim and Cho). The underpinning premise here is that influencers are tech-savvy and therefore competent in creating media content, forging relationships with people, and communicating with them “virtually” through social media. Reliance on Influencers to Boost Viewer/Consumer Traffic Across several industry verticals, brands relied on influencers to boost viewership and consumer traffic on their digital estates and portals, on the premise that influencers work in line with the attention economy (Duffy 234). The fashion industry’s expansion of influencer marketing was noticeable in this manner. For instance, Korean department store chains (e.g. Lotte) invited influencers to “no-audience live fashion shows” to attract viewership and advertise fashion goods through the influencers’ social media (Y. Kim), and Australian swimwear brand Vitamin A partnered with influencers to launch online contests to invite engagement and purchases on their online stores (Moore). Like most industries where aspirational middle-class lifestyles are emphasised, the travel industry also extended partnerships with their current repertoire of influencers or international influencers in order to plan for the post-COVID-19 market recovery and post-border reopening tourism boom (Moore; Yamatogokoro; J. Lee). By extension, brands without any prior relationships with influencers, whcih did not have such histories to draw on, were likely to have struggled to produce new influencer content. Such brands could thus only rely on hiring influencers specifically to leverage their follower base. The increasing demand for influencers in industries like fashion, food, and travel is especially notable. In the attention economy where (media) visibility can be obtained and maintained (Duffy 121), media users practice “visibility labor” to curate their media personas and portray branding themselves as arbiters of good taste (Abidin 122). As such, influencers in genres where personal taste can be visibly presented—e.g. fashion, travel, F&B—seem to have emerged from the economic slump with a head start, especially given their dominance on the highly visual platform of Instagram. Our analysis shows that media coverage during COVID-19 repeated the discursive correlation between influencers and such hyper-visible or visually-oriented industries. However, this dominant discourse about hyper-visible influencers and the gendered genres of their work has ultimately reinforced norms of self-presentation in the industry—e.g. being feminine, young, beautiful, luxurious—while those who deviate from such norms seem to be marginalised and excluded in media coverage and economic opportunities during the pandemic cycle. Including Newness by Shifting Format Preferences We observed the inclusion of newness in the influencer scenes in all three countries. By shifting to new formats, the previously excluded and lesser seen aspects of our lives—such as home-based content—began to be integrated into the “new normal”. There were four main shifts in format preferences, wherein influencers pivoted to home-made content, where livestreaming is the new dominant format of content, and where followers preferred more casual influencer content. Influencers Have Pivoted to Home-Made Content In all three country markets, influencers have pivoted to generating content based on life at home and ideas of domesticity. These public displays of homely life corresponded with the sudden occurrence of being wired to the Internet all day—also known as “LAN cable life” (랜선라이프, lan-seon life) in the Korean media—which influencers were chiefly responsible for pioneering (B. Kim). While some genres like gaming and esports were less impacted upon by the pivot, given that the nature and production of the content has always been confined to a desktop at home (Cheik-Hussein), pivots occurred for the likes of outdoor brands (Moore), the culinary industry (Dean), and fitness and workout brands (Perelli and Whateley). In Korea, new trends such as “home cafes” (B. Kim) and DIY coffees—like the infamous “Dalgona-Coffee” that was first introduced by a Korean YouTuber 뚤기 (ddulgi)—went viral on social media across the globe (Makalintal). In Japan, the spike in influencers showcasing at-home activities (Hayama) also encouraged mainstream TV celebrities to open social media accounts explicitly to do the same (Kamada). In light of these trends, the largest Multi-Channel Network (MCN) in Japan, UUUM, partnered with one of the country’s largest entertainment industries, Yoshimoto Kogyo, to assist the latter’s comedian talents to establish a digital video presence—a trend that was also observed in Korea (Koo), further underscoring the ubiquity of influencer practices in the time of COVID-19. Along with those creators who were already producing content in a domestic environment before COVID-19, it was the influencers with the time and resources to quickly pivot to home-made content who profited the most from the spike in Internet traffic during the pandemic (Noshita). The benefits of this boost in traffic were far from equal. For instance, many others who had to turn to makeshift work for income, and those who did not have conducive living situations to produce content at home, were likely to be disadvantaged. Livestreaming Is the New Dominant Format Amidst the many new content formats to be popularised during COVID-19, livestreaming was unanimously the most prolific. In Korea, influencers were credited for the mainstreaming and demotising (Y. Kim) of livestreaming for “live commerce” through real-time advertorials and online purchases. Livestreaming influencers were solicited specifically to keep international markets continuously interested in Korean products and cultures (Oh), and livestreaming was underscored as a main economic driver for shaping a “post-COVID-19” society (Y. Kim). In Australia, livestreaming was noted among art (Dean) and fitness influencers (Dean), and in Japan it began to be adopted among major fashion brands like Prada and Chloe (Saito). While the Australian coverage included livestreaming on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and Douyin (Cheik-Hussein; Perelli and Whateley; Webb), the Japanese coverage highlighted the potential for Instagram Live to target young audiences, increase feelings of “trustworthiness”, and increase sales via word-of-mouth advertising (Saito). In light of reduced client campaigns, influencers in Australia had also used livestreaming to provide online consulting, teaching, and coaching (Perelli and Whateley), and to partner with brands to provide masterclasses and webinars (Sanders). In this era, influencers in genres and verticals that had already adopted streaming as a normative practice—e.g. gaming and lifestyle performances—were likely to have had an edge over others, while other genres were excluded from this economic silver lining. Followers Prefer More Casual Influencer Content In general, all country markets report followers preferring more casual influencer content. In Japan, this was offered via the potential of livestreaming to deliver more “raw” feelings (Saito), while in Australia this was conveyed through specific content genres like “mental or physical health battles” (Moore); specific aesthetic choices like appearing “messier”, less “curated”, and “more unfiltered” (Wilkinson); and the growing use of specific emergent platforms like TikTok (Dean, Forlani, Perelli, and Whateley). In Korea, influencers in the photography, travel, and book genres were celebrated for their new provision of pseudo-experiences during COVID-19-imposed social distancing (Kang). Influencers on Instagram also spearheaded new social media trends, like the “#wheredoyouwannago_challenge” where Instagram users photoshopped themselves into images of famous tourist spots around the world (Kang). Conclusion In our study of news articles on the impact of COVID-19 on the Australian, Japanese, and Korean influencer industries during the first wave of the pandemic, influencer marketing was primed to be the dominant and default mode of advertising and communication in the post-COVID-19 era (Tate). In general, specific industry verticals that relied more on visual portrayals of lifestyles and consumption—e.g. fashion, F&B, travel—to continue partaking in economic recovery efforts. However, given the gendered genre norms in the industry, this meant that influencers who were predominantly feminine, young, beautiful, and luxurious experienced more opportunity over others. Further, influencers who did not have the resources or skills to pivot to the “new normals” of creating content from home, engaging in livestreaming, and performing their personae more casually were excluded from these new economic opportunities. Across the countries, there were minor differences in the overall perception of influencers. There was an increasingly positive perception of influencers in Japan and Korea, due to new norms and pandemic-related opportunities in the media ecology: in Korea, influencers were considered to be the “vanguard of growing media commerce in the post-pandemonium era” (S. Kim and Cho), and in Japan, influencers were identified as critical vehicles during a more general consumer shift from traditional media to social media, as TV watching time is reduced and home-based e-commerce purchases are increasingly popular (Yadogiri). However, in Australia, in light of the sudden influx of influencer marketing strategies during COVID-19, the market seemed to be saturated more quickly: brands were beginning to question the efficiency of influencers, cautioned that their impact has not been completely proven for all industry verticals (Stephens), and have also begun to reduce commissions for influencer affiliate programmes as a cost-cutting measure (Perelli and Whateley). While news reports on these three markets indicate that there is some level of growth and expansion for various influencers and brands, such opportunities were not experienced equally, with some genres and demographics of influencers and businesses being excluded from pandemic-related pivots and silver linings. Further, in light of the increasing commercial opportunities, pressure for more regulations also emerged; for example, the Korean government announced new investigations into tax avoidance (Han). Not backed up by talent agencies or MCNs, independent influencers are likely to be more exposed to the disciplinary power of shifting regulatory practices, a condition which might have hindered their attempt at diversifying their income streams during the pandemic. Thus, while it is tempting to focus on the privileged and novel influencers who have managed to cling on to some measure of success during the pandemic, scholarly attention should also remember those who are being excluded and left behind, lest generations, cohorts, genres, or subcultures of the once-vibrant influencer industry fade into oblivion. References Abidin, Crystal. “#In$tagLam: Instagram as a repository of taste, a burgeoning marketplace, a war of eyeballs.” Mobile Media Making in an Age of Smartphones. Eds. Marsha Berry and Max Schleser. New York: Palgrave Pivot, 2014. 119-128. <https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137469816_11>. 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Yadorigi, Yuki. “【第7回】コロナ禍のなかで生まれた光明、新たなアプローチによるコミュニケーション [Episode 7: A Light Emerged during the Corona Crisis, a Communication Based on a New Approach].” C-Station 28 Apr. 2020. <https://c.kodansha.net/news/detail/36286/>. Yamatogokoro. “アフターコロナの観光・インバウンドを考えるVol.4世界の観光業の取り組みから学ぶ、自治体・DMOが今まさにすべきこと [After Corona Tourism and Inbound Tourism Vol. 4: What Municipalities and DMOs Should Do Right Now to Learn from Global Tourism Initiatives].” Yamatogokoro 19 May 2020. Yoo, Hwan-In. "코로나 여파, 연예인·인플루언서 마케팅 활발 [COVID-19, Star-Influencer Marketing Becomes Active].” SkyDaily 19 May 2020. <http://www.skyedaily.com/news/news_view.html?ID=104772>. Appendix Open codes Axial codes 1) Brand leverage Targeting investors Targeting influencers Targeting new digital media formats Targeting consumers/customers/viewers Types of brands/clients 2) Industry shifts Brand preferences Content production Content format Follower preferences Type of Influencers Table 1: Full list of codes from our analysis