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The purpose of this paper is to describe a pilot experiment to establish a web site to enable people undergoing therapy, or having similar problems, to communicate with one another – in effect, the cyber equivalent of a therapeutic community.

Software for a dating web site was adapted as a low cost means of driving the site. It provided for chatrooms, group discussions on topics of mutual interest, notice boards on which questions, responses, articles and poems could be posted and blogs. A volunteer Steering Group worked on the project launch and thereafter manned the site and monitored the project. User feedback indicated that a cyber community could meet the psychological needs of the participants and provide useful support, particularly between visits to a therapist. A surprising outcome was the feeling of community developed by written exchanges, i.e. blogs and forum notice boards. Direct on-line contact generated anxiety in some people, but most found it beneficial.

The paper confirms that such a site would be a useful supplement to other therapeutic services available, and would not be expensive to establish or run, but needed the backing of the NHS or a large medical charity to ensure that the number of users would be at a viable level in the long term.

As far as the author is aware the paper reports the first ever study of the potential use of a cyber therapeutic community.

The maritime industry is increasingly impacted by the Internet of things (IoT) through the automation of ships and port activities. This increased automation creates new security vulnerabilities for the maritime industry in cyberspace. Any obstruction in the global supply chain due to a cyberattack can cause catastrophic problems in the global economy. This paper aims to review automatic identification systems (AISs) aboard ships for cyber issues and weaknesses.

The authors do so by comparing the results of two receiver systems of the AIS in the Port of Houston; the JAMSS system aboard the Space Station and the “Harborlights” system for traffic control in the Port.

The authors find that inconsistent information is presented on the location of same ships at the same time in the Port. Upon further investigation with pilots, the authors find that these inconsistencies may be the result of the strength of power with which an AIS is transmitted. It appears the power may be reduced to the AIS in port but that it varies within port and varies by pilot operators. This practice may open the AIS system for tampering.

Further, this inconsistency may require further policy regulation to properly address cyber information in a port.

The purpose of this paper is to present an emergent conceptual framework for examining virtual communities.

Established theories and models of community, social networks, information exchange, and information sharing behaviours are explored with the goal of determining their usefulness in conceptualising virtual communities.

Explored theories and models are inter‐related and expanded to form a tiered conceptual framework for examining virtual communities. This framework also acknowledges the affective contexts in which virtual communities operate.

The presented conceptual framework may inform information professionals tasked with creating, maintaining, and improving corporate, educational, research, and other information systems. It may also be of use to researchers who seek to build theory that attempts to explain phenomena observable in virtual communities.

In contrast to models and frameworks which focus on analysing individual components and attributes of virtual communities, the presented framework provides a holistic starting point for understanding inter‐related structural, cognitive, behavioural and affective dimensions of online communities

To evaluate the impact of rural renaissance projects aimed at overcoming issues of accessibility and out‐migration of the younger, more economically active population and to consider what young people feel about education, training and rural living in Ryedale, North Yorkshire.

Twenty Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) 5 projects focus on the 10‐29 age group to improve their confidence, employability and opportunities to encourage them to remain in, or return to, Ryedale. Research includes interviews with project managers and a survey of Year 11 students in four secondary schools to reveal views on education, jobs and rural living. The 320 replies are compared with 378 from a 2001 survey.

Educational attainment is rising. Young people expect to remain in education post‐16, but leave Ryedale for educational and employment opportunities. Job aspirations suggest mismatches between requirements and availability, especially in skilled professional, associate professional and technical fields. Ryedale is increasingly perceived as a pleasant, secure environment; many wish to stay or return eventually.

The surveys feature Year 11 pupils. Further work might examine different age groups, areas and factors encouraging young people to stay in rural areas.

The SRB 5 projects produced positive impacts, however, scope remains for greater representation of young peoples' needs and inputs into local services and decision‐making.

The paper offers a temporal comparison of surveys and projects related to young people in a rural area. It is of value to policy‐makers and educationalists examining young peoples' perceptions and out‐migration influences.

The purpose of this paper is to present challenges and opportunities of e‐government implementation in South Africa with special reference to service delivery and implications for libraries.

The paper is based on an in‐depth literature review from government documents, presidential state of the nation addresses, global and nation reports on e‐government, and reports on service delivery concerns in South Africa.

The Government of South Africa has put in place enabling policies, poverty alleviation programmes, ICT infrastructures and regulatory frameworks which as yet have not been effectively leveraged to enhance service delivery to its citizens. Furthermore, libraries have yet to make any attempts to benefit from the emergence of e‐government in South Africa.

There is a need to infuse an e‐government ethos in poverty alleviation programmes in order to enhance service delivery. At the moment there is a lack of synergy between the two in South Africa. Additionally, South African ICT infrastructure is under‐utilised to enhance service delivery. Libraries have the opportunity using e‐government infrastructure to improve the provision of information services to the people.

Service delivery remains a priority for the post‐apartheid South African government, and the paper reveals that a disconnect exists between the e‐government vision and the poverty alleviation programmes aimed at enhancing the standard of living of the people. Libraries in South Africa have yet to leverage e‐government to provide information services and the paper may assist them in doing so.

The negative influence of gamification on online communities has received little attention in the available literature. The study examines the adverse effects of gamification during engaging in online communities.

Gap-spotting methods were used to develop the research questions, followed by model development using the social exchange and social-network theories. Data were collected from 429 samples. The study applied partial least squares structural equation modeling to test the research hypotheses followed by ANN application.

The study identified five factors related to gamification that have a significant adverse effect on the mental and emotional well-being of the users. Furthermore, the results of PLS-SEM were then compared through an artificial neural network (ANN) analytic process, revealing consistency for the model. This research presents a theoretical contribution by providing critical insights into online gamers' mental and emotional health. It implies that gamification can even bring mental and emotional disturbance. The resulting situation might lead to undesirable social consequences.

The result highlights the managerial and social relevance from the perspective of a developing country. As respondents are becoming more engrossed in online gaming, managers and decision-makers need to take preventive measures to overcome the dark side of online gaming.

The present study shows that the dark side of gamification has some adverse effects on human mental and emotional health. The study's findings can be used to improve gamification strategies while engaging online communities.

Addresses the rapid expansion of computer connectivity and the opportunities provided for criminals to exploit security vulnerabilities in the online environment.

International efforts to combat cyber‐crime are reviewed by evaluating the forms of mutual legal assistance (MLA) now in place.

Cyber‐crime is often traditional crime (e.g. fraud, identify theft, child pornography) albeit executed swiftly and to vast numbers of potential victims, as well as unauthorised access, damage and interference to computer systems. Most detrimental are malicious and exploit codes that interrupt computer operations on a global scale and along with other cyber‐crimes threaten e‐commerce. The cross‐national nature of most computer‐related crimes have rendered many time‐honoured methods of policing both domestically and in cross‐border situations ineffective even in advanced nations, while the “digital divide” provides “safe havens” for cyber‐criminals. In response to the threat of cyber‐crime there is an urgent need to reform methods of MLA and to develop trans‐national policing capability.

The international response is briefly outlined in the context of the United Nations (UN) Transnational Organised Crime Convention (in force from September 2003) and the Council of Europe's innovative Cyber‐crime Convention (in force from July 2004). In addition, the role of the UN, Interpol, other institutions and bi‐lateral, regional and other efforts aimed a creating a seamless web of enforcement against cyber‐criminals are described.

The potential for potent global enforcement mechanisms are discussed.

Cyber security has never been more important than it is today in an ever more connected and pervasive digital world. However, frequently reported shortages of suitably skilled and trained information system (IS)/cyber security professionals elevate the importance of delivering effective Security Education,Training and Awareness (SETA) programmes within organisations. Therefore, the purpose of this study is the questionable effectiveness of SETA programmes at changing employee behaviour and an absence of empirical studies on the critical success factors (CSFs) for SETA programme effectiveness.

This exploratory study follows a three-stage research design to give voice to practitioners with SETA programme expertise. Data is gathered in Stage 1 using semi-structured interviews with 20 key informants (the emergence of the CSFs), in Stage 2 from 65 respondents to a short online survey (the ranking of the CSFs) and in Stage 3 using semi-structured interviews with nine IS/cyber security practitioners (the emergence of the guiding principles). Using a multi-stage research design allows the authors to propose and evaluate the 11 CSFs for SETA programme effectiveness.

This study conducted a mean score analysis to evaluate the level of importance of each CSF within two independent groups of IS/cyber security professionals. This multi-stage analysis produces a ranked list of 11 CSFs for SETA programme effectiveness, while the difference in the rankings leads to the emergence of five CSF-specific guiding principles (to increase the likelihood of delivering an effective SETA programme within an organisational context). This analysis also reveals that most of the contradictions/differences in CSF rankings between IS/cyber security practitioners are linked to the design phase of the SETA programme life cycle. While two CSFs, “maintain quarterly evaluation of employee performance” (CSF-DS6) and “build security awareness campaigns” (CSF-EV1), represent the most significant contradiction in this study.

The 11 CSFs for SETA programme effectiveness, along with the five CSF-specific guiding principles, provide a greater depth of knowledge contributing to both theory and practice and lays the foundation for future studies. Therefore, the outputs of this study provide valuable insights on the areas that practice needs to get right to deliver effective SETA programmes.

In spite of growing research interest in cyber security, inter-firm based cyber risk studies are rare. Therefore, this study aims to investigate cyber risk management in supply chain contexts.

Adapting a systematic literature review process, papers from interdisciplinary areas published between 1990 and 2017 were selected. Different typologies, developed for conducting descriptive and thematic analysis, were established using data mining techniques to conduct a comprehensive, replicable and transparent review.

The review identifies multiple future research directions for cyber security/resilience in supply chains. A conceptual model is developed, which indicates a strong link between information technology, organisational and supply chain security systems. The human/behavioural elements within cyber security risk are found to be critical; however, behavioural risks have attracted less attention because of a perceived bias towards technical (data, application and network) risks. There is a need for raising risk awareness, standardised policies, collaborative strategies and empirical models for creating supply chain cyber-resilience.

Different types of cyber risks and their points of penetration, propagation levels, consequences and mitigation measures are identified. The conceptual model developed in this study drives an agenda for future research on supply chain cyber security/resilience.

A multi-perspective, systematic study provides a holistic guide for practitioners in understanding cyber-physical systems. The cyber risk challenges and the mitigation strategies identified support supply chain managers in making informed decisions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic literature review on managing cyber risks in supply chains. The review defines supply chain cyber risk and develops a conceptual model for supply chain cyber security systems and an agenda for future studies.

Cyber-bullying is a form of harassment that is perpetrated using electronic media. The practice has become increasingly common especially with the growing ubiquity of social media platforms. Most cyber-bullying cases inevitably occur on Facebook because it is the most preferred social media platform. However, little is known about cyber-bullying research in Kenya. This paper aims to analyse the quantity, quality, visibility and authorship trends of scholarly publications on cyber-bullying from and/or about Kenya.

This study was conducted as a systematic literature review. A meta-analysis approach was used. Bibliometrics approaches were used to conduct the analysis. Data on the publications was collected from Google Scholar using Harzing's “Publish or Perish” software and then analysed and presented using Microsoft Excel, Notepad and VOSviewer.

The study yielded 359 research publications on cyber-bullying in Kenya. There was a gradual increment in the number of publications, peaking in 2018. Nearly half of the publications have not been cited indicating low uptake of research on cyber-bullying in Kenya. It also emerged that most of the research has been published on subscription channels thereby restricting their visibility, access and use. Minimal collaboration in research on cyber-bullying in Kenya was also observed since 67.4% of the publications were written by a single (one) author. The authors conclude that the quantity, quality and visibility of research on cyber-bullying in Kenya is low.

This is an empirical study. The findings can be used to promote and mainstream research on cyber-bullying in Kenya.