Colloquiam: Documents published in 2022

The most prominent journalistic innovations in Spain (2010-2020): organizational, industrial and social characteristics and impact

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:10:34 +0100

The emergence of new players and technological platforms, changes in consumer habits, and the transformation of the digital ecosystem accelerated the process of journalistic innovation in the last decade (2010-2020), emphasized by the Covid-19 pandemic. Journalism has undergone a process of permanent change, affecting practices, products, and professionals. In this context, this study identifies the most prominent journalistic innovations, describes their characteristics, and analyzes their impact in terms of the value provided in organization, their scope in the industry, and their contribution to society. To achieve this, semistructured interviews were conducted with a group of experts (n = 22) made up of academics and professionals. Once the innovations (n = 60) from a total of 253 references were coded and added up, the scope of these changes in the organizational, industrial, and societal fields was analyzed to obtain a list of the 20 most relevant. The results indicate that innovation emerges incrementally in how journalism is produced, organized, distributed, and sustained. Some innovations have substantially influenced organization and society, such as the membership model or fact-checking; however, they are still far from being widely adopted in the industry. Data journalism has been catalogued as the most relevant journalistic innovation because it implies changes in production, generates quality journalism, and encourages its implementation by other representatives in the sector.

Transparency of government healthcare websites: a predictive model based on the main public administrations of Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Spain

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:10:17 +0100

Transparency and public accountability are two essential aspects of public administrations because they help to prevent possible cases of corruption and encourage citizen participation. In this sense, transparency is a communicative, not merely administrative or legal, process between public institutions and citizens. The main objective of this study is to identify predictive factors of transparency in government healthcare centers in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Spain in 2021. To do this, we analyzed the websites of 64 public administrations from these countries. Content analysis was applied to assess the presence of 24 indicators on each website. The results for the studied cases reveal an association between the level of transparency and three factors: healthcare systems, internet access, and administration levels. We also identified a predictive factor that should be considered in future studies on the transparency of healthcare websites: the likelihood of decreased transparency was reduced by 91% for public healthcare systems (Ecuador and Spain) as opposed to mixed public –private healthcare systems (Chile and Colombia). We thereby conclude that the involvement of the State, at least in matters related to the healthcare field, favors greater access to information by the community, at the same time as providing greater social responsibility because of substantial communication of the activities carried out by these centers, as well as how and by whom.

WhatsApp and audio misinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:10:01 +0100

Given user choices and the commercial offerings of internet providers, WhatsApp has increasingly become established as a new standard for communication by audio, image, and text. This paper explores the role of misinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic by using content disseminated through WhatsApp, thereby making three main contributions: a discussion about the potential shift toward nontextual and nonvisual forms of misinformation; the new social role of audio, namely related to the critique of policies and political actors during the early stage of the Covid-19 pandemic; and the questioning of the First Draft News disinformation conceptual model by proposing a complementary approach that focuses only on factuality. Conclusions were drawn after conducting a content analysis of 988 units of Covid-19-related audio files, images, videos, and texts shared via WhatsApp during the early stage of the pandemic. A typology was identified to address distinct claims that focus on five different topics (society, policy and politics, health science, pandemic, and other), as well as audio messaging trending as a novel format for spreading misinformation. The results help us to contextualize and discuss a potential shift toward nontextual and nonvisual forms of misinformation, reflecting the increasing adoption of the audio format among WhatsApp users and making WhatsApp a fertile environment for the circulation and dissemination of misinformation regarding Covid-19-related themes. In a society characterized by the rapid consumption of information, the idea that content must have a degree of falsehood to mislead is an indicator of the distance between theoretical models and social reality. This indicator is important to identify true content as potential misinformation on the basis of its factuality.

Promotion of reading in the digital society: the book-trailer of the illustrated nonfiction book as a virtual epitext in the definition of a new discourse

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:09:46 +0100

Within the framework of the information society, we are witnessing a paradigm shift in reading characterized by the convergence of analog and digital supports and the consequent challenges. In this context, the illustrated nonfiction book emerges as a format with great editorial vitality. They are open works subject to the reader’s critical interpretation that move away from the traditional encyclopedic discourse and towards a confluence between art and knowledge. As a way of promoting these books, the book-trailer is defined as a virtual peritext that generates meanings, guides the reading, and projects a model of the reader that is immersed in the culture of the social web. To identify the keys that determine this reader, an exploratory study based on content analysis on the characteristics of the book-trailer of illustrated nonfiction books aimed at children was carried out. A sample of 397 book-trailers from 50 publishing houses was selected for the analysis. The results reveal that the promotion of nonfiction books defines a reading model that emphasizes the physical dimension of reading, the artistic proposal, an interactive, fragmented, free reading that is also guided, the solvency provided by the recognition of authorship, and learning linked to the playful and emotional component through hybridization as the axis of construction. It is concluded that the book-trailer of the illustrated nonfiction book corresponds to a curious and reflective implicit reader in line with the needs posed by the digital society of the 21st century in terms of reading.

Transsexuality in Spanish cybermedia. Presence, preeminence, and topics (2000-2020)

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:09:33 +0100

Transsexuality has found a place in both the Spanish collective mindset and media. To analyze the portrayal of this type of sexual diversity in the media, we evaluated its presence in cybermedia, its preeminence in journalistic texts, and the issues addressed in its media coverage. A quantitative content analysis (N = 24,363) of the journalistic texts published during the period 2000–2020 by 13 generalist Spanish cybermedia was carried out, using both rule-based classification and unsupervised topic modeling. The results highlight an increase in journalistic texts about transsexuality, in which three inflection points and four phases or distribution changes can be distinguished. The preeminence of this topic within the analyzed pieces has also increased, and the issues covered have diversified over the years. Overall, these data confirm the newsworthiness that this type of sexual diversity achieved throughout the first two decades of the twenty-first century. Media attention especially highlights the newsworthiness of aspects such as conflict, the protagonist’s notoriety, or periodicity through anniversary journalism. Likewise, the results also suggest that the media offer an increasingly complex portrayal that favors both the visibility and the understanding of the different dimensions and characteristics that intersect in these realities.

Fan fiction and transmedia literacy practices on Wattpad: exploring the narrative and aesthetic skills of teenagers

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:09:18 +0100

In recent years, Wattpad has become the leading collaborative reading and writing platform allowing young writers to publish their works, some of which belong to the tradition of fan fiction, including stories derived from a source text from popular culture. The main objective of this article is to explore how teenagers reading and writing fan fiction on Wattpad apply transmedia skills related to production and narrative and esthetic reflection. Using a theoretical framework that integrates transmedia literacy, fan fiction communities as affinity spaces, and Wattpad as a tool to promote transmedia reading, we carry out a qualitative study using data collected from workshops, media newspapers, and interviews with adolescents in five different Spanish regions. The results highlight identity-play in the production of the stories, in which fanfics about real-life celebrities from the teenagers’ media universes coexist with original stories inspired by the authors’ personal lives and interests. Likewise, there is a trend toward the hybridization of fan fiction with languages and formats more typical of social media platforms, such as Instagram, with a superficial application of narrative and esthetic transmedia skills related to fan fiction practices.

Factors conditioning the consolidation of e-book lending services in Spanish public libraries

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:09:05 +0100

Despite the investment of economic and human resources made by Spanish public libraries to create digital collections while continuing to play their traditional role as mediators between users, technology, and reading, there are conditioning factors that make it difficult for e-book lending to be integrated as yet another service within those provided by libraries and to be fully accepted by readers. With the aim of identifying the elements underlying the slow consolidation of digital lending, a literature review was carried out to determine the state of the art, mainly in both the USA and Spain, the e-book market aimed at Spanish public libraries is analyzed, the technological difficulties involved in lending and downloading for users are presented, and the influence of the measures adopted by the publishing sector and public administrations are examined. The need to make license commercialization models more flexible, simplify digital rights management systems, and decouple collections from electronic lending platforms, as well as avoid the dispersion of library resources across various interfaces, is highlighted.

Reading and associated competences of information and documentation professionals: the reading behavior of future librarians

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:08:52 +0100

Numerous studies have analyzed the reading habits of university students, demonstrating the benefits of voluntary reading for academic performance. It is thus paradoxical that a large fraction of university students only read instrumentally and are far from adopting stable reading habits. This general situation is repeated among future professionals in the education field, whose personal reading experiences have been proven to have a decisive influence on their training and professional practice. Students on information and documentation degree courses are among the group of future professionals who are strongly linked to reading and who must attain competence in reading and comprehension. The main aim of this study is to use a sample of 214 students on information and documentation degree courses at five Spanish universities to analyze the professional profiles of most interest to them and their relationship with reading, both at a global level and depending on their chosen profile. The results reveal that many students have not identified a clearly defined professional profile. We also confirm findings from other studies on reading habits and behaviors, where it is evident that voluntary reading is not part of their lifestyle, albeit with some differences here between students depending on the professional profile selected. These results support the idea that, although some of these competences do not seem to have a strictly information or documentation nature, given the importance given to them in professional opportunities related to these studies, their reinforcement should be considered in future revisions of such degrees.

Machiavellianism and desire to be a youtuber and/or influencer in the Z and Alpha generations

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:08:37 +0100

As a result of technological innovation and the changing environment, new professions have emerged in recent years. One of these is the influencer, a person who, through their posts on YouTube (the youtubers), Instagram (the instagrammers), and other social networks, influences the thinking and the way of acting of preadolescents and becomes their new reference. This influence has repercussions for their career choices and life project. This research seeks the variables that influence minors to want to exercise professions linked to the use of social networks. To respond to the proposed objectives and hypotheses, and adopting a quantitative approach, a questionnaire was applied to 343 Spanish students in the fifth and sixth grades of primary education. The results show that the Machiavellianism variable is the one that shows the greatest differences between boys and girls who want to be youtubers and/or instagrammers and those who do not. The second most significant variable is narcissism, a characteristic of postmodern society and the digital environment. The rest of the variables studied (self-esteem, school commitment, and dominance) differ to a lesser extent.

Digital scholarly editions: concept, quality standards, and publication tools

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:08:23 +0100

The digital scholarly edition (DSE) concept is reviewed and discussed, as well as the various denominations used to refer to it. The study investigates the scope of the quality standards set for this type of edition and explores the software available for its publication. The work is completed with an evaluative analysis of a sample of applications, delving into their characteristics, the constraints on the user interfaces to which they give access, and how well they meet the standards. The conclusions confirm the urgent need to critically and systematically evaluate edition software. The gradual development of open and interoperable software stands out as a positive result, based on the coding of texts following the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), which optimizes data reuse and preservation. However, the durability of web interfaces and the sustainability of these digital projects require adequate research infrastructures, for which it is proposed to promote synergies with libraries and traditional publishers, among other mediators. Finally, to advance with the adaptation of publishing models to the digital paradigm, the need for the academic community to agree on DSE display formats is underlined, as well as to undertake user studies that guarantee the adaptation of DSEs to the target audience they address.

he book and its industry in the framework of the cultural industries: economic modeling and economic–social characteristics

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:08:09 +0100

The general aim of this research is to validate the hypothesis that the book and its industry, as an integral part of cultural industries, have economic–social characteristics that differentiate them from other industries and merchandise. Once this statement has been corroborated, it is considered that this fact should be taken into account by the academic community, professionals, companies, and those responsible for public administrations when it comes to equating, subsuming, or assimilating the book industry with respect to the creative industries, content industries, entertainment industries, media economics, or copyright industries. The process followed to validate the hypothesis is structured around three objectives: (1) to analyze the main attempts at economic modeling of culture developed over the last 25 years, and how these contemplate the categories of cultural industries and the book industry; (2) to determine by comparison the main socioeconomic characteristics of the cultural industries; (3) to establish in an original way the socioeconomic characteristics of the book industry. For this research, an inductive–deductive method based on three qualitative tools was applied over 29 months (April 2019 to August 2021), including (1) the review, analysis, systematization, and extraction of relevant information through an inductive process of purposefully searching the main sources relating to the objects of study, (2) the establishment of a group of 28 experts who anonymously and systematically debated the different phases of this study in three stages, and (3) in-depth interviews with 43 experts from and on the book industry.

Digital audiobooks for children and young people: characteristics in loan, distribution and sale platforms

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:07:55 +0100

This work aims to analyze, compare and characterize the supply of digital audiobooks for children and young adults through the analysis of sales and distribution platforms and library loan platforms available in Spain, in order to point out their strengths and weaknesses. To this end, data relating to collections and search and organization interfaces have been collected directly from distribution and sale platforms (Storytel, 24Simbols, Odilo and Audioteca), both subscription and unit sale, and national (eBiblio) and regional library loan (eLiburutegia and Galiciale), as well as a selection of 250 selected titles randomly in each of them. The methodology used is descriptive and has allowed us to analyze the offer of digital audiobooks for children and young adults, languages and date of publication, most significant publishers, as well as to evaluate the search systems, the ordering of the contents in the interfaces and the information provided by the descriptions of the different platforms. Based on the data collected, it is concluded that, despite the increase in consumption and publishing of this type of format, titles for children and young adults have a scarce and secondary presence in catalogs, both from publishers and platforms. It is also necessary to adapt the interfaces and adequate classification to improve their visibility and location, and a standardization in the introduction of metadata and expansion of the information provided for each product.

Unidirectionality, partisan promotion and polarization. Activity on Twitter of the candidates for the presidency of the Government of Spain in the 2019 general elections

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:07:39 +0100

This paper analyzes the use of Twitter by the candidates for the presidency of the Government of Spain of the five main parties at the national level –PSOE, PP, Vox, Podemos, and Ciudadanos– during the general elections campaigns held in April and November 2019. The main purpose of this study is to determine the strategies regarding the use of the microblogging network by the leaders, in terms of activity, interaction, and fame, and in terms of topics and discursive development, as well as their similarities and differences. The secondary objective is to study the evolution of these strategies both between the two campaigns and with respect to previous elections. To this end, this research is based on a content analysis methodology that studies quantitative, qualitative, and discursive elements. The results reveal an uneven use of Twitter in terms of frequency of updates, but similar in terms of its unidirectionality, with scarce interaction with other users and a predominance of tweets with their own content over retweets. The dissemination of other people’s content was used almost entirely to promote the candidate’s political party and, to a lesser extent, to interact with journalists. Dialog with citizens was almost always residual, both in retweets and in responses. This utilitarian conception of the microblogging network was accompanied by a polarizing thematic selection, with an almost general preponderance of political over policy issues.

No need for the needle. A qualitative analysis of the antivax movement in Romania

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:07:20 +0100

The antivax movement is now a constant phenomenon with increasing social implications. This study explores how the antivax movement is articulated in Romania on the basis of qualitative analysis applied to interviews. Our pilot study focuses on the opinions of 100 persons who oppose vaccination interviewed between 2017 and 2020. We conducted both face-to-face and online semistructured interviews to trace the factors determining attitudes against vaccination. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first such extended study to target individuals rather than groups or media discourse. We strive to provide a multifaceted view on how the antivax phenomenon is taking shape. Responses varied in style and length, so we needed to systematize the narratives. We filtered the answers using the interpretive net described by Entman (1993), thereby grouping the main narratives into four sections. We then reconstructed the implicit frames used by individuals in interpreting their position. We consider content quality analysis to be a relevant method to reveal the facets and depth of the antivax phenomenon, thereby enabling more complex explanations. We compare the results of this study with rationales stemming from similar investigations conducted around the world and then highlight opinions specific to the Romanian public.

Media reputation in Europe. An empirical analysis of the reputation of the paper press, digital press, radio, and television in ten European countries

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:07:04 +0100

Democracy is considered to be the ideal foundation of societies today. In a democratic society, news media play a highly relevant role as avenues by which public and political powers can interact with society and facilitate civic participation. The public’s perception of the news media’s reputation is a crucial factor for enhancing trust and citizen engagement. This article presents a study of the reputation of the media (paper press, digital press, radio and television) in ten European countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. A quantitative method was applied to the results of a survey conducted to determine the reputation of news media among a sample of the informed population in those countries (1,000 residents of legal age who used media at least two or three times a week). The concept of reputation is thereby characterized in its association with the media, identifying its integrating attributes and assessing its incidence in each type of medium. The results indicate that, although television is the most widely used medium, the printed press enjoys a higher reputation in most of the countries studied, being seen as having the attributes of credibility and informative rigor. This study provides a detailed analysis of the scores given to media reputation attributes in the considered countries. It also offers a ranking of the media with the highest reputation in the countries examined, as well as a description of the reputational position of each medium.

Back to Fukushima: Perceptions and effects of an immersive journalism story

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:06:47 +0100

News media organizations have been experimenting with immersive journalism formats in recent years. The search for new ways to tell stories is driven by technology and has given rise to new –and not so new– forms of expression. The initial enthusiasm has dissipated over the years, so the uncertainty of the future of immersive journalism justifies the study of the most potential ways of using this technology in journalism. This research was carried out in Finland and Spain, and it is based on a textual narrative analysis and a reception study comparing the online article and 360º video versions of the report Fukushima: Contaminated Lives from El país. The results identify the affordances of both formats and confirm that immersive journalism has the capacity to generate a greater emotional effect based on a greater perception of presence, realism and involvement, also having a positive impact on increasing interest and changing opinions on related topics. The narration of online article seems to work better only if there is large amount of information that has to be understood and contextualized. However, authors claim that, instead of an essential break, there are similarities between both formats, which are situated on the same continuum of emotionality and rationality. These findings also indicate that immersive storytelling can be an important part of the emotional or affective turn in contemporary journalism. The sensation of presence and empathy towards distant and complex realities emerge as the main distinguishing values of the kind of immersive journalism that Fukushima: Contaminated lives represents.

Monitoring open access mandates through institutional repositories

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:06:31 +0100

With the support of governments, research funding agencies or academic institutions, Open Access is taking hold in the field of scholarly communication. More and more cases are found where recommendations on Open Access publication are transformed into obligations that researchers must comply with. Plan S, the Spanish Law on Science, Technology and Innovation or several university mandates are some examples of this change in trend. Given this situation, it is necessary to check compliance with these mandates from at least two points of view, on the one hand, to ensure that publications are in Open Access and on the other hand, that they comply with the established deadlines. So far, several attempts have been made to monitor compliance with the mandates from different perspectives, however, few have considered the time frame in which a publication must be in Open Access. To improve this monitoring, we propose the use of existing information in the repositories, such as, information on the funders, date of publication of the work in the academic journal and date of deposit in the repository, as well as the presentation of this information through the OAI-PMH (Open Archive Initiative – Procotol for Metadata Harvesting). In this way, monitoring could be improved at the institutional level. In addition, this information could also be collected by harvesters such as Recolecta, so that they can become a tool for monitoring Open Access publication mandates at the national level.

YouTube as a tool for informal learning

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:06:15 +0100

Social networks are digital media platforms that are frequently used by most of the population. This popularity has facilitated their use in many areas such as learning. This is the case of YouTube, one of the social networks that is most widely used for this purpose. The aim of this study is to enable an evaluation of YouTube’s characteristics as a means of informal learning according to the variables of gender, education, and age. This quantitative study includes descriptive and inferential analyses. Data collection was carried out by means of an ad hoc questionnaire that includes instrumental and pedagogical dimensions. The data were obtained through Google Forms. The sample is made up of 504 people aged 14–60 years from Andalusia (Spain). The results reveal a high evaluation of YouTube as an informal educational resource by the study population in both dimensions observed. Various aspects of both dimensions were shown to be relevant, in particular instrumental aspects such as rapid learning and the adaptation of learning to desired times and spaces, as well as pedagogical aspects such as the use of mobile devices as learning mediators (mlearning) and the personalization of learning through the choice of instructor and the exploration of different ways to learn. The inferential analysis reveals statistically significant differences according to gender in the evaluation of existing thematic channels on YouTube, and in the training items linked to the practicality of learning. Age was the variable with the greatest influence, showing differences in many of the items evaluated..

Software solutions for web information systems in digital humanities: review, analysis and comparative study

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:05:58 +0100

Research in the humanities increasingly depends on how information is structured and managed and how, on the basis of that information, new knowledge is produced. Additionally, participatory approaches, which often rely on web information systems as their supportive infrastructure, have made an impact on the most recent historiographical trends, in particular in the methodological framework of digital humanities. The aim of this paper was to produce, from an operational and implementation perspective, a review of software solutions frequently used to develop web information systems for research projects in humanities and cultural heritage, in order to provide an understanding of the various possibilities available and their positives and limitations, also based on different users’ requirements. An individual and comparative analysis of sixteen different application frameworks commonly used in these fields, either generic or developed for a specific research domain, has been carried out, considering their main functionalities, strengths, and weaknesses. The achieved results facilitate critical and reasoned decision-making among several available options, guiding the makers of those systems, both researcher(s) and developers(s), and providing them also with a common ground of terms and use cases to facilitate their necessary dialogue.

Bachelor, master, and PhD studies in Communication in Spain 50 years after their establishment

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:05:41 +0100

Communication studies in Spain have now become consolidated based on their evolution over the last 50 years. The aim of this paper is to provide an in-depth analysis of the current state of Spanish higher education in Communication. To this end, an analysis is carried out of the structure and composition of the undergraduate and postgraduate degrees (master and PhD studies) in Communication at public and private universities in Spain, paying special attention to the centers that host these studies, the people who contribute to their operation, and their offerings and distribution. Using a descriptive methodology and the content analysis technique, an analysis form is applied to the universities composing the system of Communication studies in Spain, based on their offerings and the information available and accessible on their institutional websites. The results reveal the difficulty of accessing such data and the lack of common criteria (or compliance) for presenting such information on official websites. The results reveal a greater offering at the national level but a wide dispersion of the higher education offering in terms of type, location, type of university, and territorial distribution. We also highlight the gender gap in terms of faculty leadership as well as among teaching staff. We emphasize the phenomenon of double or combined degrees, especially at private universities.
Using a descriptive methodology and the content analysis technique, an analysis form has been applied to the universities that define the Spanish system in Communication studies, based on the offer and information available and accessible on the institutional websites. In this regard, we would like to highlight the difficulty in accessing data and the lack of common criteria (or compliance) for presenting information on the official website.
The results show a greater offer at national level but evidence a dispersion of the higher education offer in terms of typology, places, type of university and territorial distribution. We highlight the gender gap in faculty leadership and among teaching staff. We emphasize the phenomenon of double or combined degrees, especially in private universities.

The past, present, and future of university teaching of online journalism: methods and trends

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:05:25 +0100

La enseñanza universitaria en España del periodismo digital, o ciberperiodismo, ha llegado para quedarse. Desde que, a mediados de los años 1990, se incorporaron las primeras materias sobre esta disciplina en los planes de estudios, hasta el comienzo de la década de 2020, cuando el número de asignaturas supera el centenar, se ha recorrido un largo camino, que ha conducido a la consolidación de esta especialidad. A partir de una revisión documental de los programas docentes de todas las asignaturas vinculadas al ciberperiodismo (n = 119) publicados online por las universidades españolas, así como de una encuesta a sus docentes (n = 51), este estudio revela el perfil de la enseñanza en torno al periodismo digital en España. Los resultados confirman la relevancia y el fortalecimiento académico de la disciplina, aunque ponen de manifiesto asimismo las dificultades de los docentes para mantener sus asignaturas actualizadas, en un contexto de rápidos y continuos cambios en la profesión periodística.

Technical-digital teaching in journalism studies in Spain: toward hybrid generic–specialized training in languages and formats.

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:05:09 +0100

Technological transformations and, especially, the accelerated process of digitalization have changed the profiles and production routines of the media. At the same time, universities have had to adapt their journalism curricula to new training needs. This paper analyzes the evolution of the technical-digital training of the journalism degree in Spain over the last two decades through a comparative study of three stages: before, during, and after the adaptation to the EHEA (2000-2010-2020). The research brings together, as valuable reference material, the curricular offerings of 112 programs and 242 subjects that show the educational evolution of the digital environment over the last 20 years , with a longitudinal and epistemological approach. The trends identified by this diagnostic work confirm, among other aspects, how the design of journalism curricula has evolved at a slow and asynchronous pace in digital training until the last decade and with disparate speeds between universities. Added to this is the conformation of a highly varied epistemological heritage that, beyond the specific names of the subjects, denotes a progressive commitment to digital and multimedia teaching, combining generic hybrid knowledge with more specialized training in terms of languages and formats.

Intellectual and thematic structure of Communication research in Scopus (1980–2020). A comparative perspective among Spain, Europe, and Latin America

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:04:54 +0100

The late incorporation of Spain into the international circuit for the publication of results of scientific research in Communication has not proved to be an obstacle to reaching a level similar to international research in this discipline recently. However, this development is still subject to some obstacles. In this study, we carried out co-word and cocitation analyses of the intellectual and thematic structure of articles published by researchers affiliated with Spanish centers in journals indexed in the Communication category in Scopus and published between 1980 and 2020 (n = 7,422). This enables an analysis of the intellectual and thematic structure of Communication studies between 1980 and 2020 and its evolution. The aim is to contextualize this process, in a broad sense, thus establishing the similarities to and differences from European (n = 33,615) and Latin American (n = 5,160) Communication research during the same period. The results reveal a homogenization of the research interests between Spanish academics and their European counterparts during the last decade, with an emphasis on digital technologies and social networks. The first prominent studies in Spanish research have also appeared, albeit not yet becoming established as such on the international stage during the last decade. It is concluded that Spanish Communication research has developed around Journalism while the other classic disciplines (Audiovisual Communication, and Advertising and Public Relations) have not managed to consolidate a coherent and cohesive thematic and intellectual community to date, mainly due to their greater heterogeneity.

University education in Advertising and Public Relations in Spain after 50 years: what and how we teach

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:04:39 +0100

Fifty years after the introduction of Communication studies into Spanish universities, this article presents the results of a descriptive investigation of on-campus university education in Advertising and Public Relations in Spain, with the dual aim of gaining an understanding of how it is formally, and what and how it is taught. A total of 1,815 teaching guides amounting to 10,224 ECTS credits were compiled for the 41 degree courses taught in 38 training centers. The data collected in coding sheets were statistically analyzed and grouped into 57 variables. The results highlight the majority of private initiatives in university education in this area, and the scarce internationalization with only token use of English in teaching. We observe a significant relative presence of cross-cutting content between Communication and other areas, as well as a clear predominance of Advertising training over Public Relations. The most relevant specialized areas are creativity, and advertising and digital marketing. In teaching, a greater weight of practical activities is observed compared with traditional theoretical or master classes. The evaluation of students is also more based on practical work rather than written tests or examinations on theoretical knowledge. These latter aspects confirm the footprint left by the Bologna Plan and the regulations it drove, although the methodological renovation it advocated has yet to be fully achieved.

Green energy: identifying development trends in society using Twitter data mining to make strategic decisions

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:04:23 +0100

This study analyzes Twitter’s contribution to green energy. More than 200,000 global tweets sent during 2020 containing the terms “green energy” OR “greenenergy” were analyzed. The tweets were captured by web scraping and processed using algorithms and techniques for the analysis of massive datasets from social networks. In particular, relationships between users (through mentions) were determined according to the Louvain multilevel algorithm to identify communities and analyze global (density and centralization) and node-level (centrality) metrics. Subsequently, the content of the conversation was subject to semantic analysis (co-occurrence of the most relevant words), hashtag analysis (frequency analysis), and sentiment analysis (using the Vader model). The results reveal nine main communities and their leaders, as well as three main topics of conversation and the emotional state of the digital discussion. The main communities revolve around politics, socioeconomic issues, and environmental activism, while the conversations, which have developed mostly in positive terms, focus on green energy sources and storage, being aligned with the main communities identified, i.e., on political, socioeconomic, and climate change issues. Although most of the conversations have been about socioeconomic issues, the presence of leading company accounts was minor. The main aim of this work is to take the first steps toward an innovative competitive intelligence methodology to study and determine trends within different scientific fields or technologies in society that will enable strategic decisions to be made.

Criteria for the identification of ineffective open data portals: pretender open data portals

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:04:07 +0100

Open data are considered an essential resource for governments, businesses, and citizens. In that context, open data portals have potential for creating enormous economic growth. Open data portals should allow the reuse of open data, ensure the efficiency of data transmission, and enable professional initiatives based on data reuse. However, there are portals that are inefficient because they do not allow reuse of their data. The objective of this work is to define and identify open data portals that do not offer the possibility for professional reuse of their data. We refer to them as “pretender open data portals”. The following research questions are considered herein: What minimum criteria must an open data portal satisfy to enable professional reuse of open data? How can portals that do not meet these criteria be identified? And, what problems might these portals present, and how they might be solved? The results of an analysis of two samples of open data portals in Spain reveal that 63.8% and 56.1% of the portals analyzed in 2019 and 2021, respectively, can be considered pretender open data portals. The existence of pretender open data portals can have negative economic and social impacts, such as wasting public resources and projecting a negative image of the government’s open data policies. To find coordination mechanisms to develop open data portals that, through the professional re-use of their data can create economic and social value, is one important challenge. The analysis of best practices of open data portals can be also a way to go in deep in the understanding of open data reuse impact not only from a professional standpoint.

Communication strategies in the climate change debate on Facebook. Discourse on the Madrid Climate Summit (COP 25)

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:03:53 +0100

Climate change (CC) has become a topic of great interest in traditional and social media, two valuable sources of information that contribute to discussion on current affairs. Facebook is the social network with the most users in the world and also promotes mobilization, which makes it a platform of great interest for the study of CC communication strategies. The aim of this study is to analyse the content of the messages on CC posted on Facebook by prominent users: the relevance of the topic in the posts as a whole, objectives pursued, type of discourse and the emotions associated with messages. After validating a selection of 10 accounts (Greta Thunberg, Donald Trump, Scott Morrison, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Extinction Rebellion USA, Justin Trudeau, Bernie Sanders, United Nations, Extinction Rebellion UK and Jane Fonda), the methodology was based on content analysis applied to messages on CC (n = 599) posted on Facebook by the selected accounts between 1 November 2019 and 10 January 2020, the period covering the Madrid Climate Summit (COP 25, held in 2019). The results revealed different CC communication strategies. Regarding the presence of CC as a topic, we observed three different strategies: omission, simple mention and high presence. In terms of discourse, we noticed two different strategies: an emotional strategy that was more successful at generating interaction with others, and an analytical strategy that was generally more belligerent in its fight against CC.

Analysis of university studies in Advertising in Spain: an online training proposal for the future professional

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:03:39 +0100

There are abundant research articles on Spanish study plans in the field of journalism, and they are highly suitable for current professional profiles. However, there are fewer in the advertising area, and they focus mainly on specific subjects or universities, are not up to date, and use techniques other than the revision of the syllabus. This article presents the results of a descriptive study analyzing 35 university degrees in Advertising and Public Relations, both presential and online, in Spain to determine their suitability to address the needs of the sector. Of these plans, only three were offered online in the academic year 2019-2020. We analyze the structure of the study plans, the specific competences and skills covered, the profiles of new university entrants, graduation, and employment opportunities. There is a gap in terms of online education offering personalized education to obtain key competences (public speaking, idea generation, and teamwork). This research provides a useful guide for those aiming to design a degree course, specifically in Advertising, identifying good practices and trends in curricular design. The need for transversal training in strategy and creativity is discussed, based on an analytical and creative profile that prepares graduates as advertising and communication management professionals. Creativity continues to be important for the training of Advertising graduates, and new subjects are required to match this multidisciplinary angle. The use of English, new technologies, and data analysis are some of the key subjects to study. The necessary skills include communication, teamwork, and the ability to resolve problems and face difficult situations.

The content offered by media platforms: toward a necessary conceptualization of streaming programming

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:03:26 +0100

The core programming activity of the traditional television business has been strongly impacted by the disruptive alteration of the media ecosystem caused by over-the-top (OTT) platforms. Despite the new programmatic challenges that this suggests, such as conquering global audiences or defining engagement strategies appropriate to new consumer habits, OTTs share the needs of linear television that justified the development of television programming. The main objective of this work is to verify the validity of programming in the new context of nonlinear consumption and to determine the importance of the different factors that determine it. The premise is that programming is an enduring activity, regardless of the structural changes in the ecosystem. The factors that condition the activity linked to the development of the offering and, therefore, the function of the platforms as content providers continue in force. However, the impact of these factors varies depending on the different needs of the platforms in comparison with linear television. A hypothetical–deductive methodology is applied based on a literature review of factors related to television programming, followed by an exploratory and descriptive analysis of the main platforms operating in Spain. The results contribute to the generation of a conceptualization of programming as a fundamental activity in the streaming platform system.

Representation of female beauty in advertising

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:03:11 +0100

Many studies have addressed the effects of the continuous presentation of ideal female beauty by the media and, especially, advertising. Multiple theories have attempted to identify the main mechanisms that cause the detrimental effects of exposure to such an idealized female image in advertising content. However, most such evidence has been correlational, whereas experimental evidence is very limited. Moreover, the impact of minimal exposure to such content has not yet been studied in detail. This experimental study investigates the short-term impact of reduced exposure (by viewing three beauty stereotype-related advertisements) on psychological well-being, body satisfaction, and the possible emergence of weight control behaviors in young women. The results reveal that even such brief exposure was sufficient to negatively influence the emotional well-being of the participants, who reported feeling more uncomfortable, insecure, anxious, and frustrated than women assigned to the control condition. The results of this experimental study thus reveal that advertising can influence the mood and behaviors of young women. In turn, they also reported greater intention to engage in weight and calorie control behaviors. Likewise, a mediation analysis revealed that the effect of such representations of female beauty on weight control behaviors was mediated by the decrease in the emotional well-being of the participants. The social and media implications of this work are discussed.

The beginnings of communication schools in Spain within their international context

Scipedia content — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:02:56 +0100

When the first university schools of journalism and communication started in Spain in 1971, only a few European and North American countries had preferentially adopted an academic model. Variety was their dominant feature, exhibiting diverse professional cultures and sometimes political contexts. In countries with a long journalistic tradition such as the UK, learning on the job was the practice at that time. Labor unions were also prevalently responsible for the training of aspiring journalists in France and Germany. In contrast, in the USA, university journalism schools had been established some decades before. In addition, teaching and research in communication evolved via different paths in those countries that had a more noteworthy influence on Spain. The beginning of university-based schools of communication theoretically contributed to the establishment of a more suitable institutional platform for the delivery of communication research trends in the West. An analysis of historical, political, and institutional contexts converging in Spain in the 1970s is useful to describe how the first university schools were shaped in terms of both their incipient teaching and research challenges. A review of the literature covering both fields in Spain and other countries, along with some previously published archival sources, helps us to frame the case of Spain from a transnational viewpoint that considers the impact of contemporary foreign influences. The resulting broader comparative perspective provides a better overarching understanding of the case, even to the point of measuring the extent to which it can be considered a pioneer in this context.

Autores 2022

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:09:09 +0100

El Anuario ThinkEPI 2022: un año de transición con la mirada puesta en los orígenes

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:08:55 +0100

El volumen 16 del Anuario ThinkEPI, correspondiente a 2022, muestra la vitalidad de una publicación que desde su inicio en 2007 ha tenido como seña de identidad la creación de un espacio para la reflexión y el debate en el ámbito de la Información y la Documentación.

New challenges in records management and digital preservation in engineering firms

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:08:42 +0100

Engineering work and engineering projects generate documents and records essential to the operation and maintenance of our way of life today. Many of the resulting infrastructures, buildings, and products must endure over time, and this is why companies need to maintain records of how things are done and were done. To preserve born-digital information assets in the long term, it is necessary to consider implementing digital preservation practices, which must be carried out in conjunction with proper records management from the moment the documents and content are created and generated.

Curating the truth, curating the lie: two content curation strategies against disinformation

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:08:29 +0100

Two strategies are proposed for dealing with disinformation by using content curation, which we term “curating the truth” and “curating the lie.” The former is the traditional concept of content curation, which seeks to optimize existing content of value. The latter is a curation process linked to supporting the debunking of hoaxes, rumors, and falsehoods. These two strategies are exemplified through four cases of curation posts on Twitter. Various implications are discussed, such as the identification of and access to the sources of hoaxes or the cost of each strategy.

Critical information literacy: A political trend that is increasingly necessary

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:08:15 +0100

We are living in a reality in which the practices of access and use of digital information are saturated with disinformation, fake news, and hate speech that are met with no serious repercussions at either the political or the social level. Critical information literacy, as a movement of information activism with theoretical and practical components, is shown to be an opportunity to contribute to the construction of an informed and ethical society. We present an overview of critical information literacy from its origins, focusing on the educational field and professional practice.

The use and relevance of the university library on the basis of attitudes and practices of early career researchers

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:08:03 +0100

We present the results of the Harbinger project, carried out between 2016 and 2022 in several countries on three continents, which focused on the use that early career researchers make of the resources available through university libraries. These include catalogs, databases, and big deals, as well as alternative platforms such as Google search engines, academic social networks (ResearchGate), and pirate platforms (Sci-Hub). Likewise, the project inquires as to the holdings of institutional repositories and the future that these researchers predict for academic libraries. It concludes with the need for libraries to strengthen communication and support for researchers, taking into account in particular the early career researchers who are the future of science.

Tribulaciones de Garfield en la selección de fuentes para un índice de citas: “What is a journal? What is a book?”

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:07:50 +0100

Durante 31 años Eugene Garfield insertó en las entregas semanales del boletín de sumarios Current Contents columnas con informaciones prácticas y reflexiones sobre investigación y comunicación científica, o sobre la forma de analizarla con las herramientas de la Documentación (Information Science). De forma irregular al principio y posteriormente semana a semana bajo la denominación “Current Comments”, usó esos textos para poner sobre la mesa con una cierta espontaneidad multitud de reflexiones y debates, que en algunos casos mantienen su actualidad a la luz de los acontecimientos presentes. Los textos, agradables de leer, breves y comprensibles a un amplio abanico de lectores, son un testimonio de primer orden de la evolución de la ciencia y del estudio de la misma basado en el análisis de la producción bibliográfica. Todas las columnas publicadas bajo su firma, junto a otros escritos suyos, están reunidas en una obra en 15 volúmenes bajo el título Essays of an information scientist (Garfield, 1977-1993); desde la primera publicada en 1962 bajo el título “The ideal library -- the Informatorium”, a la última en 1993 titulada “From Current Comments to Citation Comments: Continuing a 31-year series of Current Contents Essays with a new focus”.

Sophisticated bibliometrics

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:07:39 +0100

A call to apply a more sophisticated, professional bibliometrics based on technical and scientific quality metrics that overcomes the current easy though incorrect practices in the evaluation processes of scientific activity.

On the brink of the reform of the Spanish academic evaluation system: Recalling the past to avoid mistakes in the present

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:07:27 +0100

This essay provides some reflections on the origin of the current scientific evaluation system in Spain, focusing on an analysis of the system of selection and accreditation of university faculty. This system was put in place to prevent academic inbreeding. The thesis that this is mainly a centralized system is rebutted: although accreditation is indeed centralized, faculty selection is carried out by universities themselves. It is argued that we cannot fully trust universities to establish policies that are immune to localism and nepotism if they are not held fully responsible for their actions. The functional imbalance that exists in Spanish university teaching staff is highlighted. Among the activities currently carried out by university professors (teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and management), research is the most highly valued in evaluation programs. More specifically, publications are key to launch and advance careers in the academic environment. The success of the program of sexenios (six-year assessment periods), which serves not only as an incentive for productivity but also as an instrument to establish scientific reputation and academic hierarchy, has contributed to this situation. Other features of the current evaluation system in Spain are the predominance of individual-level evaluation and the use of bibliometric indicators as the final quality values. The Spanish academic evaluation system chose to give preference to individual-level evaluation. Once again, the origin of this approach can be found in the introduction of teacher and researcher productivity salary supplements in 1989. Spanish academics grew up in a culture of individual-level evaluation where they had to obtain their jobs through competitive examinations and were rewarded with bonuses on the basis of personal achievements. Quantitative criteria appeared as the necessary antidotes to curb nepotism. In a country lacking infrastructure and a culture of evaluation, quantitative indicators ensured objectivity and efficiency in the processes of selection and evaluation of publications, and, indirectly, a minimum amount of rigor and relevance of the research itself. The thoughts exposed here are accompanied by suggestions that might help guide the necessary reform of the scientific evaluation system.

A not-so-novel approach to managing scholarly communication: Applying the principles of records management to the scholarly record

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:07:16 +0100

An aspect that in my view is insufficiently questioned in conversations about the future of scholarly communication is the framing of academic documents as products of a publishing industry (publications). Here, I propose that documents that serve as evidence of scholarly and scientific activities should be primarily understood as records (elements of an archive), with all that this entails. This is compatible both with the public nature of many of these documents and with the need for editing processes. The result would be a true scholarly record that is worthy of its name, something that could not exist in the past because of technical limitations. This radical shift in perspective reveals the need for academic institutions and communities to take responsibility for the governance of scholarly communication processes, a demand recently voiced by several international organizations and expert groups. The approach outlined here intends to place the management of processes in scholarly communication at the same level as any other human activity that generates documents that are considered necessary to keep supporting said activity. In other areas, responsible organizations apply the principles of records management to appraise and implement the workflows that best support the activities of the organization. This is not the case in scholarly communication, where owing to historical reasons, communication is structured around an industry in which a small number of commercial actors have eventually amassed a disproportionate amount of power, ultimately giving rise to models in which a number of sectors of the academic community are systematically excluded on economic grounds. In summary, this work argues that the digital transformation of scholarly communication points to the need for scholarly records management. Initiatives such as the FAIR principles can be framed as steps in this direction.

A risky proposal: turning repositories into mega-journals

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:07:04 +0100

The aim of this communication is to consider the new problems that open-access models are posing for scholarly communication. Double charging, publishers with nonstandard practices, and biases associated with accessing the publishing market are some of the recent problems that the pay-to-publish model is producing. Taking these problems into account, this paper presents a proposal for combining the green and gold models, proposing a solution that could benefit the publishing system, separating it from the commercial sector. The article suggests the creation of journals through repositories, which would permit articles reviewed through open access, whose evaluation process would be supported by the same entities that fund them, to be published removed from commercial interests. The proposal is set out as a debatable idea that discusses the commercial nature of scientific publishing.

Revisiting the CRIS landscape in Spain

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:06:49 +0100

This text is a follow-up to the previous ThinkEPI note on this subject published back in 2019 (De-Castro, 2019). The piece reflects on the two main functions that Current Research Information Systems (CRIS) are aimed to fulfill. These to some extent conflicting functions are in the first place to showcase the research activity conducted within an organization as a practical implementation of Open Science, and then to collect and store institutional research information for internal use in evidence-based decision-making processes. The text argues that both functions are in fact complementary. Moreover, simultaneously pursuing both of them requires an efficient collaboration across systems (technical interoperability) and across the various institutional units involved in the management and administration of CRIS systems (human interoperability). The text explores the present CRIS landscape in Spain under this double-function perspective and highlights some best-practice case studies in terms of this collaboration.

The design of library buildings and the Sustainable Development Goals

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:06:37 +0100

The achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is one of the concerns present in the work of many libraries. In addition to raising awareness, training, collection development, etc., library buildings and infrastructures can also contribute to achieving the goals and objectives set out in the 2030 Agenda. The IFLA, different associations, and organizations have been working along these lines, although the percentage of actions in this vein is still in the minority compared with the other lines mentioned. In this article, the importance of sustainable library buildings is studied, as well as the measures that are being implemented and that seek to contribute to the care of the environment by improving life on the planet

Digital humanities and educational ecosystem: towards a new epistemic structure from digital didactics

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:06:24 +0100

This paper critically addresses the conditioning factors and considerations underlying the projection of Digital Humanities, as an operational discipline, to the field of educational praxis. The colonisation of this new area of competence consolidates the trend of translation of Digital Humanities, from its consideration as a methodological apparatus at the service of research, to the environment of professional praxis in various areas of knowledge. In order to address this issue, a conceptual delimitation is layed out to characterise the Digital Humanities in the academic environment, as opposed to the common use of the concept of ICT in Education. From this perspective, the development of new epistemic cultures is addressed in terms of the new ways of thinking implied by the flows and channels of knowledge reception in digital educational environments, as well as the need to integrate the Digital Humanities into these ecosystems in order to design and implement tools and sources of information semantically adapted to the needs of the environment, in relation to the different curricular requirements or pedagogical perspectives of each academic context. Finally, a brief allusion is made to how all these issues come together in what is known as “digital didactics”, understood as the set of strategies that inspire the new teaching-learning processes, optimising the pedagogical possibilities offered by new technological developments.

The book as a symbol in library design in the digital age

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:06:11 +0100

Library design is no longer centered on the storage of books. Libraries are designed around people and their needs. However, it seems that the physical book continues to be widely used in a representative way, even precluding the use for which it was intended. The book is used as an iconographic symbol that shows that a building is a library. This symbolic function seems to stem from the need to highlight a building’s status as a library. Thus, its librariness is assured thanks to a symbol rather than its function, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Collaborative knowledge and new rurality

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:05:53 +0100

New rurality was created with the aim of creating opportunities through connectivity, mobility, and the personal and professional advancement of women. Given this context, initiatives to provide collaborative solutions are becoming increasingly common and make greater use of dynamics that facilitate the exchange of knowledge, information, and experiences. Associations, the social economy, food cooperatives, cohousing, inclusive projects, and hackathons help create rural communities that are more capable, entrepreneurial, cohesive, and collaborative.

Facebook, reputational crisis and escape to the metaverse

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:05:41 +0100

Facebook was involved in one of the most important scandals of recent years owing to its legal, political, social, and ethical implications. The Cambridge Analytica case, which has still been insufficiently addressed as an object of study in its full complexity, highlights the incalculable value of user data and the potential for their manipulation. This marked the beginning of the decline of Facebook’s reputation owing to a combination of negative situations and that has continued since. This paper analyzes the case and its implications in terms of the concepts of reputation and crisis, highlighting the importance of a positive image and its impact on different stakeholders, and points to the rebranding as Meta as a false closure of a crisis of confidence that continues today.

The value of public library statistics

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:05:12 +0100

Starting from the importance of public library statistics collected in Spain, the value and usefulness of these statistics are analyzed from the different perspectives that the authors have gained throughout our professional careers: librarians, library associations, and researchers. Finally, we conclude that several improvements are necessary to enhance the quality of the data and their value and to achieve the engagement of all those involved in the collection, publication, and analysis of data.

The Plan S Rights Retention Strategy: Are we witnessing the end of embargo periods?

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:04:59 +0100

The proposal made in September 2018 by cOAlition S to progress towards full immediate open access (OA) by signing transformative agreements with publishers was received with understandable skepticism by some relevant actors in countries with lower OA implementation and lower economic resources to address this transition. This text argues that these so-called transformative agreements are bound to be most efficient where green OA is already consolidated and explores the viability of the new Rights Retention Strategy as a corollary of such a strategy.

Toward context metrics: citation classification on the Web of Science

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:04:47 +0100

The purpose of this note is to describe the new citation context classification feature provided by Web of Science, in which citations received by publications are classified into five categories (Background, Basis, Support, Differ, and Discuss). To exemplify the functionality, two case studies have been carried out: one involving a journal (Profesional de la información; 1,604 publications) and the other, an author (Loet Leydesdorff; 341 publications). Both cases reflect the still low coverage of classified citations, which currently limits the use of this functionality. Finally, some of the questions that arise with the use of these context metrics (precision, comprehension, simplification, representativeness, comparability, language, evaluative use, effects, and extrapolation) are discussed.

AI-generated content: opportunities and threats

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:04:34 +0100

In recent years, there has been an exponential growth in developments aimed at the creation of textual, graphic, audio, and audiovisual content using artificial intelligence. These extraordinary technological achievements offer huge potential opportunities but, at the same time, are vulnerable to certain questionable uses that constitute real threats. This paper examines recent initiatives targeting the simulation of human writing, the creation of deepfake videos, voice cloning, and the generation of images from text prompts. Then, the potential benefits of these developments as well as the main dangers resulting from their misuse are discussed

Semantic enrichment of material in the field of Linked Open Data

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:04:21 +0100

The main objective of reconciliation and semantic enrichment strategies for subject matter is described: in line with the philosophy of the semantic web, offering the user different ways to search for similar subjects in other information systems located in different parts of the web. These reconciliation and enrichment techniques must form a hybrid procedure of manual, semiautomatic, and automatic operations involving different programs and applications that enable the processing of large datasets at an affordable final cost for cultural institutions. Its application must follow good practices, guidelines, and recommendations, including the W3C, Europeana, and the FAIR principles. Some of the key vocabulary from Spanish material available on Linked Open Data are analyzed for their multilingual capacities. The importance of having standardized reconciliation services available to select Linked Open Data sources for reconciliation and semantic enrichment is noted. It is concluded that the information systems of cultural institutions must offer functionalities that involve the use of enriched subject authority records for searching, navigating, visualizing, and exporting.

Open access indicators: sources and tools

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:04:08 +0100

Determining the percentage of open access publications available is the most pragmatic indicator for measuring the concreteness of open science policies and can be found in most plans in this field. This note offers a review of the literature published in the last decade about the evolution of open access to the scientific literature and the analysis of open access indicators developed in different countries. The results show that, when creating an open access indicator, it is necessary to make decisions regarding the collection of documents on which the calculation will be carried out, the tool that will be used to determine the availability of open access documents, the definition and typologies of open access being studied, the possible inclusion of additional sources of information, aspects related to timing, and the publication of the documentation necessary to guarantee the reproducibility of the indicator.

Open Communicology and citizen science

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:03:56 +0100

The Digital Age points to the need for an Open Communicology, an applied science of the commons that recognizes the centrality of the subsumption of intellectual work, exploring the decoloniality of knowledge-power from the opening of spaces for cooperation and appropriation of knowledge. These are based on changes in academic production determined by the relevance of the virtual over the face-to-face and the centrality of the social mediation of science, whence the relevance of laying the foundations for a different conception of theoretical practice based on the notion of citizen science. The academic community’s vindication of citizen science presupposes, in this sense, epistemological and cognitive changes, an ethics of the research culture antagonistic to the logic of mercification, and structural political changes in the processes of organization and evaluation of research activity that have to go from the notion of open science to that of complex assemblages based on social experimentation in citizen laboratories.

Data on library and information university education figures in Spain: 2022

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:03:43 +0100

This study offers a detailed snapshot of the current state of library and information university education in Spain. Statistical data are provided regarding both the number and type of university courses, describing existing institutions and the degree levels available while also providing data on student enrolment and teaching faculty.

Changes in library spaces after Covid-19 restrictions

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:03:30 +0100

The restrictions experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic have changed the use of library spaces, potentially affecting their design and even the need for them. We still lack conclusive data to know if library usage will recover. However, professional opinions note that, although digitization will be reinforced, face-to-face attendance will continue to be necessary. There are no examples of libraries planned according to the experiences of the pandemic, but everything seems to indicate that previous architectural trends have been strengthened or will continue to be so.

Against magical thinking regarding bibliometrics

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:03:18 +0100

This work discusses the current debate between the use of qualitative approaches versus the use of quantitative indicators in research evaluation. It argues that too much importance is currently given to the methods and criteria employed in evaluation instead of discussing the most essential issue: the goal that evaluation pursues and how different research activities are valued. To finish, some design problems of the Spanish research evaluation system are highlighted because those problems act as a barrier towards a more contextualized and responsible evaluation system.

Google News returns to Spain: challenges and opportunities for professionals and academics

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:03:06 +0100

The Google News Spain service has been relaunched after 8 years owing to the approval in Congress of the European copyright directive that allows Spanish media to make their own decisions on how to monetize and discover their content. This paper aims to present a review of the challenges and opportunities that the return of Google News Spain represents for professionals in the journalistic sector as well as for academics and scholars of communication, documentation, and web visibility. To this end, an analysis of the operation and new services of Google’s news aggregator is carried out.

Self-plagiarism or text recycling? Some unexpected implications of the digitization of science

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:02:52 +0100

Plagiarism lacks graduation and is not acceptable in any situation, but there are undoubtedly variations in severity. In contrast, so-called self-plagiarism, which really should be called text recycling, can be both ethically and legally acceptable in some situations. It is important to distinguish between these precisely to fight more effectively against plagiarism, on the one hand, and to avoid unfair situations with the use of tools such as originality analysis software on the other. Proposals regarding organizations that deal with the ethics of publications are presented, and a research project focusing on text recycling is also briefly described.

1985: Cinco lecciones inmortales de Moed para bibliómetras profesionales

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:02:39 +0100

El artículo que revisitamos es una de las primeras propuestas de cómo se podrían evaluar universidades o centros de investigación con indicadores bibliométricos. Asimismo, debe ser considerado como uno de los trabajos seminales, es decir aquellos que ponen la semilla para todos los desarrollos posteriores, de la Bibliometría Evaluativa. Por último, el texto pone a rodar lo que autodenomino Escuela Bibliométrica Europea, en contraposición a la americana, ya que se proponen soluciones métricas singulares y alternativas a las contribuciones previas de estadounidenses como Garfield, Small o Narin. El logro de la obra reseñada radica en exponer por vez primera, con precisión artesana, cómo se han calculado indicadores bibliométricos para ayudar a tomar decisiones a gestores universitarios. Nos encontramos también ante el trabajo que sienta las bases del CWTS (Centre for Science and Technology Studies de la Universidad de Leiden, en los Países Bajos): el centro de investigación y empresarial bibliométrico más importante a nivel europeo.
Moed, Henk F.; Burger, W. J. M.; Frankfort, J. G.; Van-Raan, Anthony F. J. (1985). ìThe use of bibliometric data for the measurement of university research performanceî. Research policy, v. 14, n. 3, pp. 131-149. https://doi.org/10.1016/0048-7333(85)90012-5

Structure and economic dimension of the book production process in Spain

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:02:28 +0100

We carry out mesoeconomic and mesoanalytical analyses of the structure and economic dimension of the book production process in Spain. For this report, the following have been carried out: (1) 43 in-depth interviews with experts have been conducted; (2) the information provided by Panorámica de la edición española from 1996 to 2019 has been systematized; (3) financial information from 2,683 companies for the period 2019–2021 has been obtained through the Sistema de Análisis de Balances Ibéricos. The report contains: (1) an original and rigorous way of analyzing the book production process in Spain; (2) novel quantitative and qualitative information about publishing companies, as well as their suppliers of goods and services: editorial services, packagers, graphic arts divisions, the paper industry, and software providers; (3) relevant information about the context in which book production takes place in Spain and the national and international institutions involved.

Riesgos de la aceleración digital: una mirada desde el Marco DIGCOMP2.2 y los derechos digitales de la ciudadanía

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:02:13 +0100

La pandemia de Covid-19 ha acelerado un proceso de transformación digital que, además, se señala como uno de los principales motores de recuperación. Aunque este proceso es imparable y necesario, la velocidad a la que se están desarrollando los acontecimientos puede atropellar a nuestra sociedad en distintos sentidos. Exclusión digital, infodemia, desinformación, adicciones digitales, hiperconexión, ciberacoso, suplantación de identidad, abusos de la privacidad, robo y perdida de datos, phishing o pharming… conforman una larga lista de amenazas digitales que crece cada día y que puede poner en riesgo pilares fundamentales de nuestra sociedad como el acceso a derechos, la convivencia, la cohesión social y, en definitiva, la propia democracia. Mediante esta nota se pretende identificar y describir vulnerabilidades y riesgos personales y sociales derivados de la aceleración digital –entre ellos la falta de competencia digital– y cómo pueden afectar al ejercicio de derechos de las personas. Para generar esta propuesta de forma estructurada nos apoyamos en el Marco europeo de la competencia digital (DIGCOMP2.2) y en la Carta de derechos digitales presentada por el Gobierno de España. El abordaje de los riesgos digitales es complejo dada la amplitud de facetas de la vida a las que afecta y las distintas perspectivas desde las que se puede afrontar, por lo que este ejercicio de síntesis no pretende más que aportar una reflexión crítica que contribuya a un enfoque personal y profesional proactivo del comportamiento y la inclusión digital.

APIs in bibliometric contexts: a basic introduction and comprehensive corpus

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:01:59 +0100

Bibliometrics is facing an intricate universe of data that is constantly changing and expanding, with a wide ecosystem of data sources in which it is easy to get lost. In this complex setting, APIs are positioned as the perfect solution to deal with this heterogeneity and to obtain adapted data. Although APIs have not come as a surprise, it is now time to highlight their value and promote their use, which will make them easier to utilize. In this paper we therefore take a practical approach to APIs in the bibliometrics field. To this end, we provide an introduction to APIs and the new work processes that their use entails. We also offer a corpus in which we compile 49 APIs of interest to bibliometricians, organized by type and access, as well as programming packages in R and Python that facilitate their use.

Televisual nostalgia and segment-based shows: evaluating audiovisual archives

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:01:46 +0100

This paper examines segment-based shows and televisual nostalgia from the perspective of audiovisual documentation. Both phenomena have gained prominence in recent years among entertainment shows and represent a firm commitment to the increase in value of audiovisual archives. Segment-based shows are proposed as a curated audiovisual product. However, within this context of documentary product creation, there is concern that press archives, when compared with television archives, are facing a difficult future.

Effects of digital transformation on information activities and competencies

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:01:32 +0100

This paper assesses the significance achieved by digital transformation, especially concerning the information sector during the Covid-19 pandemic. Once the concept of digital transformation and its attributes have been established, the paper addresses policy and business initiatives that support this transformation and the prevention of the digital divide. Transversal digital competences are then considered as a key enabler when it comes to e-learning and teleworking in university education, and their repercussions when it comes to enabling e-learning and teleworking are also discussed.

Recuperar los objetivos fundacionales de la World Wide Web

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:01:21 +0100

Vista con ojos de hoy, en la propuesta fundacional de la World Wide Web se puede ver que sus objetivos son una realidad. Pero también se puede ver que esos mismos objetivos son, en ciertos contextos, una esperanza que no llega, o una víctima del mal uso. Eso explica que recientemente, su mismo autor, haya propuesto un Contrato para la Web (https://contractfortheweb.org/es) en el que se enuncian nueve principios para que la información llegue a todas las manos, sin excepción, y llegue válida, y sea un instrumento para el bien propio y el comunitario.

Contradictions around reading. The ongoing yes but no…

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:01:10 +0100

Although everyone considers reading to be a basic skill that any person should develop, especially those who are undergoing some kind of training, numerous studies show us a student profile that is not very motivated by the reading practice. These same studies present us with a context full of contradictions. On most occasions, what is desirable is far from reality. In this paper, based on a series of evidence on reading, we would like to invite information and documentation professionals to reflect on some of these contradictions. Our only aim is to make visible a problem that seems to be deeply rooted in conformism and resignation, but on which many decisions can and must still be taken.

Persistent identifier systems’ maturity: opportunities in the Spanish context

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:00:58 +0100

Well-established Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) form a trusted basis for open science. They help to ensure that the entities they refer to are discoverable, accessible, Assessable, Intelligible, Useable, Interoperable. After introducing the role of persistent identifiers in the research infrastructure and in the FAIRification process, different PID systems and their maturity levels are described. Finally, opportunities in the Spanish context are discussed.

¿Qué relevancia tiene Dialnet Métricas en las Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades?

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:00:35 +0100

Para analizar el impacto real de Dialnet Métricas en las Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales se muestran los principales indicadores incluidos en el Portal de Producción Científica de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), comparando los datos que se obtienen de ella con los de otras fuentes. Se toman los datos de todas las facultades relacionadas con Humanidades y Ciencias sociales y se profundiza en el caso de Derecho, ya que es la disciplina peor representada en otras bases de datos. La profundización se realiza con los datos de la Facultad, de los departamentos, de los institutos de investigación y de los grupos de investigación ligados al Derecho; además de con el listado de revistas en las que publica, y los datos de los libros publicados por la Facultad. Como contraste se aportan los datos de todos los departamentos de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales y los de las revistas en las que publica (y es citada) la Facultad de Psicología, que se aparta del patrón de la de Derecho.

Redefining meta-competencies, competencies, and skills of digital journalists

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:00:23 +0100

The digital transition has led journalism and journalists into the scenario that shapes today’s communication ecosystem and that demands new competencies and skills to exercise the profession. In three decades of changes, we have gone from the first digital migration, the emergence of digital-native media, the arrival of blogs, the rise of mobile communication, the emergence of social media networks, the rise of the social web, the application of virtual reality to certain pieces, the emergence of artificial intelligence, etc. to the rise of 5G and blockchain technologies. This transition has meant leaving behind a one-to-many communication model to bring many-to-many communication to the forefront, placing us in a liquid and platformized society. Communication is in the environment, being ubiquitous, while disinformation accompanies us in every movement and the challenges of building better-informed societies are multiplying. Journalists need up-to-date competencies and skills if they want to inform about what is happening in this complex networked society. Curricula are trying to respond to this challenge, while reflections on the best formulas combining sociocultural and sociotechnological competencies and skills are multiplying. After this phase of experimentation, this challenge calls for a renewal of proposals for the second half of the third decade of the millennium.

Reading (of books) outdoors: on practices, metrics and prescriptions

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:00:11 +0100

Reading has a multiple condition subject to very different interpretations depending on the perspectives from which it is approached, but there is a general consensus about its virtues and benefits for the population in general and for the development of culture in particular. The technological changes that it has undergone in the last decade, which involve all the actors in its value chain, have added functionalities, features and modalities that considerably expand the range of available content and its forms of consumption. One can speak of a reading in the open both to designate these new practices and to name the interpretation that is made of them according to the available measurement tools. The problem arises when analyzing the step from the act of reading to the affirmation of "I have read". And this is particularly important in the case of books, assumed in the collective unconscious as the most refined expression of reading practice, because given their chronodegradable condition, in terms of memory, statements about what is read can refer to non-existent works, from the point of view of its weight and the intensity of the memory, as numerous experiences and investigations have shown. Despite everything, reading books constitutes a mobilization of essential skills, especially in the university environment, in which the book is suffering an unappealable displacement in favor of other shorter and cognitively accessible genres, such as scientific articles. For all these reasons, the necessary procedures must be activated in the university to recover the role of prescription and recommendation inherent in teaching practices, especially in the Humanities and Social Sciences, in order to arouse interest and use by students. of a genre relegated to an increasingly less consistent voluntarism.

Trends in the discipline of Information Visualization

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 11:59:56 +0100

Evolution overview of the discipline of information visualization during 2021. We select, on the one hand, various proposals that incorporate innovations regarding visual concepts and resources, and on the other, some examples of visualizations that have attracted attention, not so much for their visual contributions but for the set of data and content they have represented. Finally, to complete this vision of the evolution of this discipline over one year, we address some advances related to the technological development in the field of information visualization.

Impact of Covid-19 on the use of Spanish university libraries during 2020: a web tool for analysis

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 11:59:39 +0100

An analysis of the impact of Covid-19 on the use of Spanish university libraries during 2020 versus 2019 is carried out in this paper. The results have been published in a web tool that allows for deeper analysis of the individual libraries as well as the libraries as a whole. This study is not an evaluation of the libraries themselves but consists of measuring, describing, and quantifying the negative impact that the health crisis had on them during 2020. Visits, loans, user training, and catalog visits are variables that were strongly affected, with a significant positive increase being identified only in visits to library web pages. The use of digital resources according to Counter-compiled data increased considerably in some private university libraries, where possible staff cuts were also identified. The paper concludes by outlining reflections that can be further studied with the experiences of people related to libraries and with additional research, including data for the following years after collection and publication

The state of information in 2021: news about documentation, libraries, internet, digital content and scientific communication

Scipedia content — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 11:58:22 +0100

Compilation of the main Spanish and world events and news produced during 2021 about documentation, libraries, internet, digital content and scientific communication. The notes have been identified and/or written by professionals and academics belonging mostly to the scientific and editorial boards of the Anuario ThinkEPI yearbook and the Profesional de la información journal.

Susceptibility of six insecticides in brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) in Kallar tract of Punjab, Pakistan; 2015-2019

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 11:02:13 +0100

Brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) is an economically important insect pest of rice crop worldwide including Pakistan. The use of chemicals insecticides to control the BPH population has been considered an effective strategy. However, long-term and intensive use of insecticides has resulted in resistance against this pest. In this study, six recommended insecticides were tested against BPH over the period of 2015-2019 to determine the susceptibility level. From 2015-19, susceptibility of BPH was reduced to all tested insecticides. Increasing trend of LC50 values was recorded in fipronil (18.23-35.11 mg/L), imidacloprid (64.22-128.8 mg/L), buprofezin (185.01-315.0 mg/L), chlorantranilipyrole (199.2-263.3 mg/L), pymetrozine (248.2-315.5 mg/L), and nitenpyram (21.07-34.3 mg/L) respectively from 2015 to 2019. Correlation coefficient values indicated a significant relation (P

Characterization of the content of anions and metals of potatoes, tomatoes and onions marketed in Cuenca, Ecuador to obtain a classification model

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 11:01:51 +0100

Due to the accelerated growth of the population, the need for food has increased, this added to the differentiated climatic factors that Ecuador has, causes users to use pesticides and fertilizers in an alarming way, in search of increasing the productivity of crops, exploit an accumulation of residues in food and soil. In this study, the concentrations of metals and ions from fertilizers in four high-consumption products will be limited: INIAP Cecilia and Chaucha Amarilla potatoes, Kidney Tomato and Paiteña Onion found in markets and supermarkets. The metals were determined by inductively coupled plasma spectrometry with mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) and the ions through a UV-visible spectrophotometer. The values found were within the norm. Differences were found between the metal content of the potato between peel and pulp where the latter will appear the highest concentrations. Multivariate statistics showed that the samples are grouped by the planting site and not the type of sample, which shows the importance of the soil and the cultivation process. The generation of a classification model for fed products with the analyzed parameters is discussed.

Integration of the components of Integrated Pest Management in the cultivation of Pisum sativum in the Huánuco region, Peru

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 11:01:32 +0100

The investigation was carried out in two sowing periods of Pisum sativum L, agricultural campaign 2019 and 2021, the registered data correspond to the period 2021 because similar responses to the previous test were obtained. The objective was to comparatively integrate more than one control strategy to regulate pests in the crop. In a completely randomized block design with 3 treatments, 4 replications. Being the treatments: (T0) Without applications, (T1) Zea mays live barriers + color traps + Ruta chalepensis extract + toxic baits, (T2) Lupinus mutabilis live barriers + color traps + Bacillius thuringiensis + toxic baits. Weekly evaluations were carried out to identify the insects and determine the density of each pest species in the crop. All plots share the same pests. In T2, the lowest averages of each species were recorded, being Agrotis sp with 0.67 to 2.33 larvae/plot, Aphis sp between 1.33 to 4 aphids per bud, Bemisia sp with 5 to 7 per leaf, Epitrix sp between 4 to 0/plant and Liriomyza trifolii between 3 to 4 larvae/leaf. It is concluded that the integration of the T2 components are the most efficient in the regulation of pests in bean crops.

Chemical composition of the foliage meal of Tithonia diversifolia

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 11:00:54 +0100

With the objective of determining the nutritional constituents, amino acids and the content of secondary metabolites of the foliage meal of Tithonia diversifolia. For this, plant material was collected 70 days after regrowth. The percentages of DM, CP, P, Ca, Si, CF, NDF, ADF, ADL, Cel, Hcel, CC were determined; amino acid profile (methionine, cystine, methionine + cystine, lysine, threonine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, proline, glycine, alanine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, serine, phenylalanine, arginine, histidine), and content of TT, TP, TCT, TBCT, FCT, Flv, Sap, Alk, Trit and TS. For statistical processing, descriptive techniques (mean and standard deviation) were used. The plant material of Tithonia diversifolia analyzed showed percentages of 22.23, 2.62, 0.013, 45.7, and 29.8% and 6.09 MJ/kg (CP, Ca, P, NDF, ADF and ME). For the secondary metabolites, they presented concentrations of 5.35, 12.38, 13.7, 9.58, 4.15, 24.49, 0.86, 1.36, 7.71 and 10.75 g/kg MS for total tannins, total phenols, total condensed tannins, total bound condensed tannins, free condensed tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, triterpenes and total steroids). The highest concentrations of amino acids were for lysine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, proline, glycine, alanine, valine, leucine, serine and phenylalanine with values of 13-30 g/kg of protein. It is concluded that the foliage meal of Tithonia diversifolia presents an adequate relation in its quality.

Abandoned Solid Waste Final Disposal Sites in the Sotavento Region of the State of Veracruz, Mexico, using GIS tools

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 11:00:37 +0100

In Mexico, when municipal solid waste final disposal sites are closed or complete their life cycle, municipal authorities abandon them without carrying out remediation processes. In the Sotavento Region, state of Veracruz, Mexico, through geographic information systems, interviews with municipalities and field visits, 9 abandoned dumpsites were located: two sanitary landfills, two controlled final disposal sites called controlled dumps, and five uncontrolled final disposal sites known as open-air dumps. The results using Google Earth made it possible to determine that these dumps, as a whole, occupied an area of 366,852 m2, with an accumulated volume of waste of 2,015,500m3 and an estimated quantity of 2,498,571 tons of confined waste without control. Such results represent a series of environmental impacts that are commonly not detected and whose knowledge can be the starting point for its closure in accordance with the applicable Mexican regulations.

Speech recognition based on Spanish accent acoustic model

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 11:00:20 +0100

The objective of the article was to generate an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) model based on the translation from human voice to text, being considered as one of the branches of artificial intelligence. Voice analysis allows identifying information about the acoustics, phonetics, syntax, semantics of words, among other elements where ambiguity in terms, pronunciation errors, similar syntax but different semantics can be identified, which represent characteristics of the language. The model focused on the acoustic analysis of words proposing the generation of a methodology for acoustic recognition from speech transcripts from audios containing human voice and the error rate per word was considered to identify the accuracy of the model. The audios were taken from the Integrated Security Service ECU911 that represent emergency calls registered by the entity. The model was trained with the CMUSphinx tool for the Spanish language without internet connection. The results showed that the word error rate varies in relation to the number of audios; that is, the greater the number of audios, the smaller number of erroneous words and the greater the accuracy of the model. The investigation concluded by emphasizing the duration of each audio as a variable that affects the accuracy of the model.

Open data and open government in the regional and local governments of Peru

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 11:00:04 +0100

The objective of the research is to carry out a review of the literature to establish a theoretical reference framework for the implementation of open data in open government strategies in Peru. For the development of this article, a systematic review of the scientific literature was carried out, articles from the Scopus database between the years 2017 and 2021 were taken into account. As a result of this study, it was determined that there is 1 regional government and 4 regional governments. that have implemented their open data portals, this represents 0.26% of the level of compliance, in addition, the level of compliance with the transparency dimension of open government is 38.16%. It is concluded that the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima complies with all the principles of open data and has a complete implementation in all categories, which can be accessed in different formats.

Physicochemical and biological characterization of leachate from the uncontrolled final disposal site in Tlapacoyan, Veracruz, Mexico

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:59:47 +0100

One of the main problems in Mexico is contamination by leachates that are produced in final waste disposal sites, since they are highly toxic and damage the biota. This research focuses on determining the characteristics of the leachate produced in the uncontrolled final disposal site in the municipality of Tlapacoyan, Veracruz (Mexico). As a result, it was determined that the parameters that cause damage to the biota are total nitrogen (152.759 mg L-1), mercury (0.006 mg L-1), cadmium (0.003 mg L-1), copper (0.052 mg L-1), chromium (0.0731 mg L-1), nickel (0.0524 mg L-1), lead (0.005 mg L-1) and total coliforms (> 2 400 MPN), as they do not meet at least one of the national and international standards of maximum permissible limits. Likewise, it was determined that the leachate produced at this site is of the mature and poorly biodegradable type (BOD/COD=0.018), so that the typical or bioremediation methods are not recommended for its treatment.

Dried muña leaves (minthostachys mollis): Modeling, kinetics and thermodynamic properties

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:59:28 +0100

The muña leaf is consumed as an infusion, it has pharmacological properties and is used to relieve digestive and respiratory symptoms. Therefore, drying is important for preservation and storage until use or processing. The objective of this research was to evaluate the influence of drying temperature on kinetics, diffusion coefficient and thermodynamic properties. We worked with muña leaves that were subjected to different pretreatments (bleached at 1% ascorbic acid, immersion in water at 60 ° C and without pre-treatment) dried at three temperatures (40, 50 and 60 ° C). The effective diffusion coefficient, activation energy, was determined and the drying process was described using eight mathematical models to represent the drying curve. The Logarithmic model was selected as the one with the best fit to represent the drying kinetics of the muña. Activation energy values were similar between treatments. The increase in temperature promotes: decrease in enthalpy and entropy; increase in Gibbs free energy and effective diffusion coefficient. Therefore, it is essential to reduce the water content by drying to maintain the quality of the muña leaves.

Effect of biochar on the development of banana plants (Musa AAA) in farms with organic and conventional agriculture management

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:59:13 +0100

The use of biochar amendments in banana soils has inspired research with the aim of comparing the effects of a biochar obtained from cocoa pods on banana development. The work was carried out on two farms, one under an organic agriculture model (FO) and the other conventional (FC). The doses per treatment in each farm consisted of 10 g (T1), 30 g (T2) and 50 g (T3) of biochar + bioferment with Trichoderma spp.; 100 g of Si2O (FO) and 100 g of urea (FC) were added to this mixture. All treatments were applied to the soil in front of the son. The highest values for plant height were 217.8 cm (FO, T2) and 266.7 cm (FC, T3), in pseudostem thickness the highest means were 41.1 cm (FO, T1) and 52.1 cm (FC, T3), much higher than the control. In bunch weight and number of hands, significant differences (p≤0.05) were obtained in both farms. The results revealed that the treatments had a positive effect on the growth of banana plants compared to the control on both farms.

Soil quality assessment in populated areas near the gold mining zone of Ponce Enriquez

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:58:59 +0100

The objective of the study was to evaluate soil quality in population centers near gold mining areas. The concentration of heavy metals and metalloids (As, Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, and Zn) was analyzed in soil samples collected in public areas, yards, gardens, and cultivation areas. As a result, it was identified that the concentration of Ni and Cr exceeded the maximum permissible limit (MPL) established in the Unified Text of Secondary Environmental Legislation of Ecuador (TULSMA) in 100 % of the samples analyzed, while the concentration of Cu and Zn was higher than the MPL in 90 % of the sites sampled. Cd exceeded the MPL in 64 % of the samples, and As and Pb exceeded the MPL in 26 % and 21 % of the samples, respectively. Cd, As and Pb are elements of special concern due to their high toxicity and significant presence in the study area. Regarding pH analysis, values between 3.31 and 8.21 were obtained, indicating acidic conditions in 60 % of the soil samples, possibly as a result of anthropogenic activity in the area. Strong positive correlations were detected between As-Cd, Cr-Ni, Cu-Ni, and moderate correlations between Cr-Cu and Pb-Zn, which is related to the mineralization of the area. Cluster analysis indicated that cluster C1, characterized by a high content of potentially toxic elements, is mostly located south of the study area. These preliminary results can serve as a baseline for future research in the area, highlighting the importance of soil quality assessment in mining areas.

Insecticidal potential of some indigenous weeds extracts of Bahawalpur Pakistan againstdusky cotton bug (Oxycarenus hyalinipennis) (Costa) (Hemiptera: Lygaidae) under laboratory conditions

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:58:42 +0100

Owing to large scale use of chemical insecticides there is always need to find new alternatives to chemical insecticides. This study evaluated the aqueous extracts of three weeds namely Datura alba (Nees), Withania somnifera (Linnaeus) and Chenopodium album (Linnaeus) for insecticidal potential against Oxycarenus hyalinipennis (Costa) (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) under laboratory conditions. Extracts were prepared from three plant parts e.g., leaves, stems and roots and applied at five concentrations ranging from 1 to 20 %. To check the mortality not because of weed extracts control treatment (water only) was also included as sixth treatment. Mortality of pest insects was assessed after three exposure periods e.g., 24h, 48 hand 72 h. Among the three weeds tested, mortality was more due to extract of D. alba weed which thus proved more toxic compared to other two weeds. Among plant parts, root extracts were more potent than leaves and stem extracts and the more concentration of 20 per cent usually resulted in maximum mortality. Maximum mortality of insects was after 72 h period followed by 48 h and minimum was after 24 h period. However maximum mortality of 60 % in case of D. alba warrants attention towards the options of either increasing concentration (> 20 %) of this extract or to evaluate other extraction type e.g., ethanolic extract to gain maximum mortality against this notorious pest.

Retention of vitamin C in the processing of canned cupuassu pulp (Theobroma grandiflorum)

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:58:26 +0100

The cupuassu pulp is a fruit with a high content of pectins and ascorbic acid harvested in the Amazon of Eastern America for its exquisite characteristics of aroma, flavor and texture; however, the processing of canned food for human consumption in Madre de Dios - Peru is questionable, due to the inadequate handling and heat treatment of the fruit. The objective of the study was to evaluate the stability of the preservation of vitamin C in the processing of canned cupuassu pulp. For this, an experimental design was carried out in four stages: 1) characterization of the fruit, 2) determination of the heat treatment, 3) analysis of the variation of vitamin C and 4) analysis of the canned pulp. The effect of the process was evaluated in triplicate and a Completely Random Design was applied to analyze the statistical differences using the Statgraphys Centurion program. Among the results, it stands out that the pH (3.05 ± 0.50) and acidity (1.54 ± 0.80) of the canning are similar to the raw material. Likewise, a significant increase in soluble solids (Brix) was found with respect to fresh fruit. It is concluded that the total retention of vitamin C of the canned cupuassu pulp was 49.10 %.

Design of a Robot Prototype with Rocker Geometry-Bogie

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:58:10 +0100

In this research a Rocker-Bogie type suspension geometry is designed and validated based on the analysis of the degrees of freedom, for its future implementation within the space exploration industry sector, having as main purpose the collection and transportation of garbage and waste to strategic sectors within the facilities, avoiding obstacles of different levels, although it could also be applied in the industrial, agricultural and mining areas, where a robust and stable system is required. We start by establishing a safety factor, determined through coefficients that involve safety and economy, then we calculate the dimensions and forces to be supported by the structural elements known as Rocker and Bogie, which are responsible for transmitting the support to the chassis as well as providing support to the connections for the axle components and motors for the wheels. The design and calculation of these elements, depends on the robot prototype being able to move through irregular fields avoiding obstacles such as: surface anomalies, potholes, rocks and curbs. For the validation of the prototype design, a static analysis of the structural elements (Rocker and Bogie) is performed by means of the Von Misses parameter, obtaining a high level of safety before rupture. Subsequently, the simulation of the prototype is executed based on a track created in the software, analyzing parameters of speed, acceleration and displacements in the axes X, Y. Finally, the results obtained from the simulation are compared based mainly on height and maximum length between front and rear axles, being crucial the maximum permissible angle of inclination.

Characterization of energy consumption agents in the residential sector of Ecuador based on a national survey and geographic information systems for modelling energy systems

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:57:50 +0100

The residential sector is an example of the challenges that arise when modelling the heterogeneity of the energy system to assess energy policy. Some of the characteristics that influence the supply and demand of energy in the residential sector are the type of consumption, household income, family composition, type of dwelling, the climatic zone of residence, among others. The objective of this research is to characterize the agents of energy consumption in the residential sector of Ecuador. To achieve this goal, this article presents a methodology that combines a national survey (online and door-to-door) with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The survey allows defining the main motivations, investment objectives and decision method of the agents when renewing or maintaining home energy technologies. For this, the agents have been classified based on their income level. GIS allows the agents to be spatially located and to have an estimate of the population that belongs to each agent by income level. The results are presented by income level for each group of agents and the agents are geolocated, characterizing them spatially. The quantitative attributes of each agent are determined in order to be used in energy systems modelling.

Management of Open Government and Use of The Transparency Portal in a Peruvian Public University

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:57:31 +0100

Peruvian universities are obliged to articulate their policies under an Open Government (GA) model according to Law n° 27 806 on Transparency and Access to Public Information, in order to guarantee the transparency of institutional management, through the implementation of tools, as web portals, that guarantee a democratic digital participation. The objective of the study was to determine the relationship between Open Government management and the use of the transparency portal in a Peruvian public university. To do this, a basic research with a quantitative approach and a correlational not experimental design was carried out. A survey was applied through two questionnaires to a sample of 48 workers in charge of publishing information. The results and conclusions reveal that the level of open government management and the use of a transparency portal are acceptable, with a direct correlation (r = 0.5) and with a sig. unilateral equal to 0.000 (p value

Numerical simulation of fluid-structure interaction to predict the response of bladeless wind turbines to wind-induced vibrations in compact cities

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:57:16 +0100

This article presents an analysis of the Fluid-Structure response of bladeless wind turbines that work by induced aeroelastic resonance, which can be used in cities or small towns to form part of sustainable urban planning. In it, numerical simulations of the behavior of the wind and the effect called Von Karman Vortices that it produces when surrounding the structure of the wind turbine are carried out, taking as input data the wind speeds measured by the Mariscal Sucre Meteorological Station in Quito. CFD simulations determine the excitation signal caused by the different existing wind flows, the effects that these oscillations cause on the structure are simulated through a modal study and harmonic response to resonance. The results obtained show a proportional increase in the frequency and amplitude of the vortex shedding to the increase in wind speed, causing different excitation signals that cause the wind turbine to oscillate with amplitudes between 6 and 11 cm. Finally, the transient simulations show that the presence of houses and buildings in the vicinity where the wind turbine is installed causes the direction of the vortex street to vary, as well as alterations in the frequency and amplitude of the excitation.

Modeling and computational simulation of Piptocoma discolor (Pigüe) fluid for combustión optimization in Ecuador

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:56:57 +0100

Computational modeling and simulation represents a competitive and functional tool that effectively supports the study of thermochemical behavior in combustion optimization, guaranteeing reliable results through modeling, design and allowed the validation of excess thermodynamic properties applied for combustion. of the biomass of Piptocoma discolor (pigüe) from the Amazonian region of Ecuador and Latin America. The model parameters were physical, chemical and thermal through computational fluid dynamics in combustion optimization. And the mathematical model of combustion was obtained under the transport method of the species. In the simulation, the variables of primary air flow and moisture content were observed. The variable of the combustion parameters were N2, O2, CO, H, pressure, temperature, humidity, total energy and burning time of the biomass particles. The geometric configuration was developed according to the fundamental principles of CFD within Ansys Fluent to obtain the behavior of speed, turbulence, pressure, etc. of the composition of the optimal fuel 91.75% of a complete combustion and compared to other species that show 86% of the reactions of the combustion of the species.

Telecommuting as a Sustainable Transportation Measure in Ecuador

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:56:41 +0100

The purpose of this article is to provide information to determine that telecommuting in Ecuador can be used as a measure of sustainable transport. Briefly, sustainable development is described, and certain definitions and approaches related to sustainable transport are covered, for instance, the Avoid-Shift-Improve (ASI) approach, as well as the Transport Demand Management (TDM), which serve to validate from a conceptual point of view the application and usefulness of telecommuting. An overview of the current situation in the transport sector in Ecuador is analyzed; the final energy demand; the environmental aspects related to transport, and the amount of public and private employees that are telecommuting. Taking into consideration some hypothesis, such as car ownership rate, the total amount of kilometers driven per year, the assumption of the distance travelled by employees who take public transportation; the assumptions helped to determine the savings that can be obtained through telecommuting in the present time. Therefore, these results would provide adequate information for decision makers to establish a conclusive pronouncement on whether or not support telecommuting as a valid working approach, and to develop the necessary policies to maintain it over time.

Sacha Inchi Energy Bars: Formulation optimization with Statistical Mix Design

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:56:28 +0100

In this work, the optimization results are presented in the formulation of an energy bar of sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis), applying the statistical design of mixtures for the analysis of composition and caloric power in the bar. Energy bars consisting of amaranth, quinoa, dehydrated pineapple, oats, honey and sacha inchi were developed. In each composition, the amounts of honey and sacha inchi were modified, selecting three bars with the greatest difference between their compositions and caloric power. When conducting an acceptability analysis based on the application of a survey, the potential consumers turned out to be people between 19 and 24 years old. In addition to performing an evaluation of the caloric intake to all the bars produced, a compositional or proximal analysis was carried out on the bar with the greatest acceptance, on the basis of which new formulations were developed, maintaining the caloric intake value and validating the acceptance by the consumer in each new formulation. Concluding that there are significant differences regarding the acceptance of the optimized and non-optimized bar, since the non-optimized bar has a higher content of sacha inchi than the non-optimized one (35 % wt and 30 % wt, respectively) and in terms of honey content, the non-optimized bar has a higher content than the optimized one (30 % wt and 20 % wt, respectively). An alternative energy bar was obtained that promotes the consumption of native cereals and lipids that also have a great nutritional contribution.

Literature Review of Reverse Logistic, applications and future trends

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:56:04 +0100

This article presents a review of the literature on Reverse Logistics (RL) research, application cases and exploration. Various databases were used to retrieve articles. This review has allowed to analyze initial concepts of RL and complementary ones with new optics and arguments developed by various authors. The main contribution is the taxonomy proposed in the development of the article. It was made up of relationship of themes and terms found in the literary review. Also, the most important fields of application and future trends in RL have been identified, where it has been determined that it is necessary to extend the analysis of RL towards an economic, social, cultural and environmental perspective.

Multi-stage solar desalination system for water production in coastal areas of Ecuador

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:55:46 +0100

A solar desalination system with heat recovery has been developed for coastal areas of Ecuador with a shortage of freshwater. The prototype consists of a 3-stage distillation tower connected to a flat plate solar collector. The solar energy absorbed by the collector is transferred by natural circulation to the distillation tower, wherein the heat of condensation of water is recovered in each stage to increase distillate output. The modular design of the equipment allows water production to be varied, from a few liters to more than a cubic meter per day. The prototype has few moving parts and can be rapidly disassembled and assembled, greatly facilitating its operation and maintenance. The average monthly production of the desalination unit varies between 4.3 and 5.8 liters per day (2.44 and 3.29 kg/m2). A mathematical model was created to analyze system performance. The accuracy of this model was improved by experimentally evaluating the convection heat transfer coefficients in the distillation tower. A simulation program was developed in Matlab-Simulink to predict the temperature profiles, distillate output, and heat flows in the unit. The simulation results for one day of prototype operation were very satisfactory, with a difference of only 7.7 % between theoretical and experimental data. The simulation was also used to analyze improvements in equipment performance, which determined that freshwater yield could be increased by up to 107 %.

Influence of the Driving Cycle, Type of Vehicle and Travel Conditions in the Cinematic Variables of the Routes in Urban Buses. Case Study Ibarra-Ecuador

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:55:30 +0100

Latin American cities have pollution and traffic problems due to the lack of research and planning in the transport sector. In Ecuador, the characteristics of the transport fleets and their kinematics in the city have not been determined. This study analyzes in detail the kinematic characteristics of each public transport route in the city of Ibarra-Ecuador using GPS georeferencing equipment for each second of travel. 22 urban bus routes were monitored evaluating 186 buses in 832 trips, where it was determined that the average speed, acceleration and deceleration depend mainly on three factors: route, city sector and vehicle model. Other factors such as operator, age of driver, travel times and time slot did not show greater significance in influencing the kinematic variables under study, so it is not considered within the research study.

Luis Arciniega García & Amadeo Serra Desfilis, «Imágenes y espacios en conflicto: las Germanías de Valencia y otras revueltas en la Europa del Renacimiento», València, Tirant lo Blanch, 2021, 453 p.

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:26:26 +0100

Book review: Luis Arciniega García & Amadeo Serra Desfilis, Imágenes y espacios en conflicto: las Germanías de Valencia y otras revueltas en la Europa del Renacimiento, València, Tirant lo Blanch, 2021, 453 p., ISBN: 978-84-18802-50-8.

«Llibre de la Cort del justícia Pere Penedés (Alcoi, 1320)», transcripció, Josep Lluís Santonja i Vicent Cabanes; estudi lingüístic i glossari, Vicent Cabanes, Alcoi, Arxiu Municipal d’Alcoi, 2021, 790 p.

Scipedia content — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:26:15 +0100

Book review: Llibre de la Cort del justícia Pere Penedés (Alcoi, 1320), transcripció, Josep Lluís Santonja i Vicent Cabanes; estudi lingüístic i glossari, Vicent Cabanes, Alcoi, Arxiu Municipal d’Alcoi, 2021, 790 p., ISBN: 0978-84-16186-33-40.