The pervasiveness of the Internet has had a significant impact on global politics, economics, and culture. To create a truly effective product in such a saturated digital environment, developers must study what has come before and how they can utilize existing tools to even greater effect. Evaluating Websites and Web Services: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on User Satisfaction explores some of the various approaches to the study and assessment of Internet technologies, providing scholars, researchers, developers, and professionals with critical knowledge and an interdisciplinary perspective on e-services in a variety of functional areas, from government and commerce to social media and education.

"This book explores some of the various approaches to the study and assessment of Internet technologies, providing scholars, researchers, developers, and professionals with critical knowledge and an interdisciplinary perspective on e-services in a variety of functional areas, from government and commerce to social media and education"--

In the age of information, an essential priority in the context of international education is the development of language learning and its inconsistencies. The gap between language and education has intermittently grown through time, with mistaken assumptions about how linguistic shortcomings are being solved around the world. Research on comparative educational approaches to teaching verbiage and the foundation of future language development are instrumental in positively impacting the global narrative of dialectal education. International Approaches to Bridging the Language Gap is a collection of innovative research on the methods and applications of second language teaching as well as social developments regarding intercultural learning. While highlighting topics including curricular approaches, digital competence, and linguistic disparities, this book is ideally designed for language instructors, linguists, teachers, researchers, public administrators, cultural centers, policymakers, government officials, academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on the latest advancements of multilingual education.

This book examines the ways in which quality management methods, tools, and practices help improve an organization’s performance and achieve sustainable competitive advantages. This volume includes quality techniques and tools such as the EFQM Model, SERVPERF model, E-S-Qual scale and the ISO 9001 certification and provide a wide variety of empirical studies in different economic sectors. In the current economic environment, characterized by economic turmoil and fierce competition, quality management has become a key strategy for organizations to overcome today’s challenges. Organizations benefits from implementing quality management systems by following two approaches. First, they implement quality practices aimed at ensuring customer satisfaction by considering consumer expectations and establishing strategies accordingly. Second, organizations improve processes by establishing efficient and effective process management systems that improve productivity, lower costs, reduce unnecessary expenses, eliminate all non-value added activities, and ultimately maximize excellence and customer satisfaction. Quality management thereby provides tools, techniques, and methods for continuous process improvement in both the professional and academic worlds, which, when implemented by organizations in times of crisis, enable more effective administration of activities undertaken by managers. Containing contributions from various academics and scholars, this new book provides cutting edge research, methods and techniques providing a reference manual for academics, scholars, practitioners and policy-makers.

The book presents the state of the art of the Internet of Things (IoT), applied to Human-Centered Design (HCD) projects addressed to ageing users, from the perspective of health, care and well-being. The current focus on the ageing population is opening up new opportunities for the development of niche solutions aimed at the niche category of older users who are beginning to experience physical and cognitive decline but are still independent and need to maintain their autonomy for as long as possible. The combination between the needs expressed by older users and the opportunities offered by the recent innovative technologies related to the Internet of Things allows research institutions, stakeholders, and academia to target and design new solutions for older users, safeguarding their well-being, health, and care, improving their quality of life. This book discusses and analyses the most recent services, products, systems and environments specifically conceived for older users, in order to enhance health, care, well-being and improve their quality of life. This approach is coherent with the percept of AAL or enhanced living environment, looking to the users’ comfort, autonomy, engagement and healthcare. The book describes and analyses aspects of HCD with older users looking to the emerging technologies, products, services, and environments analysed in their actual application in different areas, always concerning the design for the elderly related to the IoT, just as the development of biomonitoring devices, tools for activity recognition and simulation, creation of smart living environments, solutions for their autonomy, assistance and engagement enhancing health, care and wellbeing. The book is intended for researchers, designers, engineers, and practitioners in healthcare to connect academia, stakeholders, and research institutions to foster education, research and innovation.

In the current technological world, Web services play an integral role in service computing and social networking services. This is also the case in the traditional FREG (foods, resources, energy, and goods) services because almost all traditional services are replaced fully or partially by Web services. Handbook of Research on Demand-Driven Web Services: Theory, Technologies, and Applications presents comprehensive and in-depth studies that reveal the cutting-edge theories, technologies, methodologies, and applications of demand-driven Web, mobile, and e-business services. This book provides critical perspectives for researchers and practitioners, lecturers and undergraduate/graduate students, and professionals in the fields of computing, business, service, management, and government, as well as a variety of readers from all the social strata.

As the Internet has evolved to become an integral part of modern society, the need for better quality assurance practices in web engineering has heightened. Adherence to and improvement of current standards ensures that overall web usability and accessibility are at optimum efficiency. Design Solutions for Improving Website Quality and Effectiveness is an authoritative reference source for the latest breakthroughs, techniques, and research-based solutions for the overall improvement of the web designing process. Featuring relevant coverage on the analytics, metrics, usage, and security aspects of web environments, this publication is ideally designed for reference use by engineers, researchers, graduate students, and web designers interested in the enhancement of various types of websites.

Technological advances in the field of IT lead to the creation of new programs intended to merge the advantages of desktop-based programs with the advantages of Web-based programs in order to increase user accessibility and provide effective computer performance. Frameworks, Methodologies, and Tools for Developing Rich Internet Applications presents current research and analysis on the use of JavaScript and software development to establish new programs intended for the Web. With an in-depth look at computer and Web programming, this publication emphasizes the benefits and dynamic qualities of these emerging technologies. This book is an essential reference source for academicians, researchers, students, practitioners, and professionals interested in understanding and applying the advances in the combined fields of Web engineering and desktop programming in order to increase computer users’ visual experience and interactivity.

This book explores the ways in which information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer a powerful tool for the development of smart tourism. Numerous examples are presented from across the entire spectrum of cultural and heritage tourism, including art, innovations in museum interpretation and collections management, cross-cultural visions, gastronomy, film tourism, dark tourism, sports tourism, and wine tourism. Emphasis is placed on the importance of the smart destinations concept and a knowledge economy driven by innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. New modes of tourism management are described, and tourism products, services, and strategies for the stimulation of economic innovation and promotion of knowledge transfer are outlined. The potential of diverse emerging ICTs in this context is clearly explained, covering location-based services, internet of things, smart cities, mobile services, gamification, digital collections and the virtual visitor, social media, social networking, and augmented reality. The book is edited in collaboration with the International Association of Cultural and Digital Tourism (IACuDiT) and includes the proceedings of the Third International Conference on Cultural and Digital Tourism.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on Digital Transformation and Global Society, DTGS 2016, held in St. Petersburg, Russia, in June 2016. The 43 revised full papers and 15 revised short papers, presented together with 3 poster papers and an invited paper were carefully reviewed and selected from 157 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on eSociety: New Social Media Studies; eSociety: eGovernment and eParticipation: Perspectives on ICTs in Public Administration and Democracy; eKnowledge: ICTs in Learning and Education Management; eCity: ICTs for Better Urban (Rural) Planning and Living; eHealth: ICTs in Healthcare; eScience: Big Data Complex Calculations.