Joanne Kuzma

Accessibility Design Issues with UK E-government Sites

The research seeks to provide the audience and Web designers with a higher level of awareness about the level of accessibility problems within the e-government sector, specifically a sampling of 130 sites of the UK members of Parliament. The study applies the results of an online accessibility testing tool to analyze the compliance levels of both UK disability law and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The research also show which guideline errors are the most prevalent among the sites and raises awareness about the issues of access in e-government. Although the UK’s Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) of 1995 provides equality in access of Web sites to people with disabilities, the results of this study show that total openness of sites to these customers is not widespread and the vast majority of sites display similar non-compliance errors among the guidelines. For each of these issues, there are published methods that Web designers can implement to improve the accessibility rankings of their sites and provide greater openness to users with disabilities.

Using social networks as a catalyst for change in global higher education marketing and recruiting

Higher education institutes (HEIs) throughout the world are recognising the potential of using social networking as an outreach method for their marketing and recruiting campaigns and can serve as a catalyst for strategic change within the education sector. This study researched 90 universities in Asia, Africa and Europe to their use of social networking for educational recruiting and marketing. Results showed that HEIs in certain geographic areas do use it, but results are inconsistent among the globe. The innovative functionality provided by social networking has challenged HEI officials who may be inexperienced at utilising the full potential of these sites to better serve the school and its stakeholders. However, it is important that HEIs integrate the use of social media into their marketing programmes in order to better reach their intended audiences and provide for a more successful education experience for students.

Web Vulnerability Study of Online Pharmacy Sites

Consumers are increasingly using online pharmacies, but these sites may not provide an adequate level of security with the consumers’ personal data. There is a gap in this research addressing the problems of security vulnerabilities in this industry. The objective is to identify the level of web application security vulnerabilities in online pharmacies and the common types of flaws, thus expanding on prior studies. Technical, managerial and legal recommendations on how to mitigate security issues are presented. The proposed four-step method first consists of choosing an online testing tool. The next steps involve choosing a list of 60 online pharmacy sites to test, and then running the software analysis to compile a list of flaws. Finally, an in-depth analysis is performed on the types of web application vulnerabilities. The majority of sites had serious vulnerabilities, with the majority of flaws being cross-site scripting or old versions of software that have not been updated. A method is proposed for the securing of web pharmacy sites, using a multi-phased approach of technical and managerial techniques together with a thorough understanding of national legal requirements for securing systems.

Commercialization Strategy in Managing Online Presence in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Industry

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as Drones, originally gained international prominence for warfare and surveillance. Today, Drones are commercially made and distributed to the general public. Academic researchers have studied the technical aspects of Drones. However, with the public interest and demands for Drones, there is a need to study commercialization of Drones, specifically management issues and strategies. The purpose of this article is to shed some light on the commercialization of Drones by reviewing websites of companies that market Drones. We identified four countries where businesses have been established to capitalize on the public demand for Drones. We selected twenty-five companies in each of the four countries. Each of the selected companies sponsored websites aimed at capitalizing on the potential Drone market. We conducted a content analysis of each of the 100 company’s websites. The results of our content analysis identified two significant variables that differentiate advanced, or nascent commercial endeavours from those companies making a “sort-of attempt” to get on the Drone bandwagon. Our analysis identified two significant variables that distinguished the websites on mature Drone companies. The two variables: attention to legal compliance; and insurance coverage. Our analysis of website data supports our conclusion that a Drone company website should effectively communicate their management position regarding two crucial issues: legal compliance and insurance coverage.

Children and geotagged images: quantitative analysis for security risk assessment

This paper investigates the levels of geocoding images with children pictures and discusses privacy and safety issues that may affect children. This study analysed the number of geocoded images of childrens pictures on Flickr, a popular image-sharing site. For 50 of the top most expensive residential zip codes in the USA, the number of images that had geolocation tags was counted. Results showed significant number of images with childrens faces that had geotagged information. The location information could possibly be used to locate a childs home or other location based on information publicly available on Flickr. Publishing geolocation data raises concerns about privacy and security of children when such personalised information is available to internet users who may have dubious reasons for accessing this data. People should understand the implications of this technology and post only appropriate data to protect themselves and their children.

An Examination of Privacy Policies of US Government Senate Websites.

US Government websites are rapidly increasing the services they offer, but users express concerns about their personal privacy protection. To earn users trust, these sites must show that personal data is protected, and the sites contain explicit privacy policies. This research studied privacy policy protection of 50 US Senate sites and found that few had comprehensive elements of privacy policies and a general lack of protection of personal data that could be obtain from the website. The study reviewed which specific privacy elements are most often mishandled, as well as suggestions for improving an overall online privacy practice.

Empirical Study of Cyber Harassment among Social Networks

The growth of Online Social Networking sites has brought new services and communication methods to consumers. However, along with benefits, serious problems such as online cyber harassment have recently come to the forefront of the electronic media. This behavior can have significant negative effect on individuals, businesses and the social networks. Some sites have begun to provide some levels of protection and create specific anti-harassment policies in their terms of service along with implementing protection technologies. However, these protective measures are not consistent among social media, leaving some consumers at greater risk. This study analyzed 60 worldwide social sites and determined the level of cyber-harassment protection. It reviewed statistical differences among geographical-based social networks. The results showed significant gaps among various social networks, but suggests methods for improving consumer safeguards to provide consistent levels of protection.

CAPTCHA accessibility study of online forums

The rise of online forums has benefited disabled users, who take advantage of better communications and more inclusion into society. However, even with accessibility laws that are supposed to provide disabled people the same equal access as non-disabled users, sites have erected technical barriers, such as CAPTCHAs that prevent users from taking full advantage of site capability. This study analyses 150-online forums to determine if sites use CAPTCHAs, and what types are used. Each variety presents accessibility problems to disabled users and the results of the research show that most sites use text-based CAPTCHAs, but rarely provide alternatives that would help users with visual disabilities. The research presents alternatives that site designers may wish to consider in order to allow more disabled users to access their sites.

Effects of Social Media Platform Preference: a Country Comparison of Online University Reputations

Managing an online reputation is critical to higher education. Universities cannot afford to lose enrolment numbers by neglecting to monitor, control, promote and enhance their online presence. It is critical that universities measure their social media reputation scores and presence on the web, as well as those of their competitors. Universities need to continuously review their social engagement strategy and online reputation to ensure they maximize all opportunities to maintain, and improve student enrolment and retention. Universities have embraced social media to enhance their brand reputation. This study examines the use of social media and its effects from a global perspective. It analysed 90 universities in three geographical areas to assess the impact and level of online social media, especially as it relates to “university brand reputation.” Results of the study indicated there was a wide variation among the three geographical regions, and within countries in the three geographical regions. Use of social media communication tools such as Twitter and Google+ by active users also varied widely depending upon country and region.

Flash vulnerabilities analysis of US educational websites

With the increase in online and web learning, schools are building the number of web-based applications using media like Flash. However, sites that use Flash and other types of media encounter problems with security. Issues are raised with how to protect personal data that are entered via these sites. The purpose of this study is to determine if Flash-based web application at US educational institutions protect the personal data of their consumers, and what levels of security vulnerability are shown. The research also shows the main types of security problems that are shown in the schools sites. To mitigate these vulnerabilities and provide a higher level of security during development, technical, procedural and managerial recommendations are presented.