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The paper aims to present a methodology for analyzing the pedagogical content of video games and to present the findings of one such analysis.

The pedagogical analysis presented here consists of three parts – an introduction to the new media of video games, a method for analyzing video games, and lastly, the results of analyzing the pedagogical content of the video game Portal.

The analysis uncovered significant pedagogical content and useful methodologies used in the design of the video game Portal.

The pedagogies and design methods used in the game Portal can help librarians engage and educate students of the gaming generation in information literacy tasks.

This paper provides a model for pedagogical analysis of the video game medium and practical techniques taken from an excellent representative of that medium.

To address the key problem of lack of use in the advancement of open government data (OGD) portals from the aspect of good usability, which is an essential prerequisite to the acceptance and usage of a portal, this paper aims to develop a usability framework including design principles and criteria for OGD portals and to discover problems in the present usability design.

This study builds the usability framework by extending usability principles for general websites to address the specific needs of OGD portals. Criteria for each principle are developed accordingly based on the literature. A comparative heuristic evaluation involving five expert evaluators and 13 Chinese province-level OGD portals has been carried out to test the capability of the usability framework.

A usability framework with 24 principles and 63 criteria has been built. The heuristic evaluation shows OGD portals performed better in meeting general principles than the OGD portals specific ones. Insufficient help functions weakened OGD portals' usability. Similarities and differences were found of Chinese OGD portals compared with similar studies in the United States.

This paper proposed a usability framework for OGD portals and proved its capability in recognizing usability problems and its causes by carrying out a comparative heuristic evaluation in China. By comparing the evaluation results with other studies in the United States, the findings and lessons learnt in this study can thus be shared across international borders.

The main purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a survey carried out in Southern African Development Community (SADC) universities to explore their knowledge portal practices and ignite debate on best practices regarding the importance, design and management of knowledge portals in developing world contexts.

The main data collection instrument was a questionnaire which was largely quantitative except one question was qualitative for additional comments.

The major finding of this study is that only one out of ten participating universities had a knowledge portal. Furthermore, what other participating universities have in place as web sites can only be described realistically as “extended web sites”.

Initially, the main purpose of this study was to explore SADC university knowledge portals and based on the findings ascertain the best practices prevailing among SADC universities. This purpose could not be fully achieved as most SADC participating universities do not have knowledge portals. Instead, they have extended web sites; hence, most responses are based on university extended web sites. Thus, the study reports on one case of a knowledge portal and describes how “extended web sites” might fit as foundational knowledge portals. Since the study was limited in its sample size (ten universities), it has implications for generalisation of the research findings.

This paper provides a theoretical framework for designing an effective university knowledge portal and creates the awareness of the importance of knowledge portals in universities. Also, the paper fills a gap in the literature on knowledge portals, and clarifies the difference between a knowledge portal and a web site.

This study aims to investigate the impact of experience product portal page aesthetics on bounce rate.

This research collected data from an online shop selling original design furniture on Taobao.com. It employed deep learning algorithm and manual coding to operationalize image and text aesthetics.

The empirical results indicate that text aesthetics has a U-shaped relationship with bounce rate, whereas the relationship between image aesthetics and bounce rate is insignificant. Moreover, the U-shaped relationship between text aesthetics and bounce rate is weakened by image aesthetics.

This study addresses an important but understudied topic – the bounce rate of experience products in the context of e-commerce. Although the high bounce rate has increasingly gained attention from practitioners, there remains a scarcity of research that addresses the effect of product portal page aesthetics in the specific context of experience products. The authors theorize product portal page aesthetics as the design elements of an e-commerce website and deeply analyzed the role of product portal page aesthetics by classifying it into text aesthetics and image aesthetics. The authors’ findings provide implications for online sellers and platforms to effectively design product profile pages to reduce the bounce rate.

This study aims to explore the opportunities offered by interactive and situated learning (e-learning and m-learning) in support of education for sustainability in disciplines of the built environment.

The paper illustrates the development of an online portal and a mobile app aimed at promoting students’ motivation and engagement with sustainability in design, and discusses the outcomes of their testing, investigating users’ acceptance, comparing academic results and analysing feedback.

The findings add empirical evidence to the view that information and communication technology-enhanced pedagogies can substantially contribute to the agenda of sustainability in higher education, primarily due to their affordance of interactive communication and contextualisation of knowledge, while guaranteeing flexible time and pace of learning.

The study solely focused on the development and testing of e-learning and m-learning tools to foster students’ competence of sustainability in design studio work. The tools trialled were mostly at their prototypical stage and their testing included a relatively short-term evaluation and a narrow, self-selected, user base. However, the approach and findings are felt to be applicable to a much wider range of educational contexts.

Interactive and situated pedagogical methods and tools have the potential to prompt a departure from transmissive educational models, encompassing at once theoretical, experiential and analytic learning processes. This is of value to education for sustainability in disciplines of the built environment due to the requirement to holistically consolidate multi-/inter-/trans-disciplinary knowledge into a coherent design whole.

The purpose of this study is to explore open data portals as data literacy learning environments. The authors examined the obstacles faced and strategies used by university students as non-expert open data portal users with different levels of data literacy, to inform the design of portals intended to scaffold informal and situated learning.

The authors conducted an observational user study, in which 14 student participants grouped by self-reported data literacy measures carried out assigned tasks in an open data portal. Data were collected through screen capture, think-aloud protocols and post-session interviews.

Participants experienced numerous challenges in finding and using data, with some variation shown between the different literacy groups. The higher data literacy group primarily faced challenges using unfamiliar tools, which may be addressed by improving system usability, while the lower data literacy group struggled due to gaps in basic understanding, which may be addressed by increasing point of need instruction and guidance. Participants used several learning strategies but primarily relied upon trial and error, which was less effective for low data literacy users.

This study is unique in comparing open data portal use among adult students across data literacy levels through an empirical user study. It contributes methodologically by proposing an instrument for data literacy assessment. It offers a novel perspective on information systems as sites for informal learning and skills development, beyond the immediate goals of system use, and offers concrete suggestions for the future design of open data portals for students and non-expert, citizen users.

The purpose of this article is to present a conceptual model for the design of a scholarly web portal at the University of Tébessa, with which it is hoped that scholarly work stations that combine local and remote holdings, tools and documents will be created. Today, with access to enormous quantities of information facilitated by the web, boundaries between remote and local source documents become invisible. This is of extreme interest for libraries in Algeria, whose local holdings are very limited.

An outlined conceptual model of library portal architecture, with ontological classifications and relationships is presented. The model comes from applying literature reviews to the needs and specifications of the authors and leads to a detailed breakdown of the planning and implementation process.

Three findings in particular are worth noting. First, the contribution of web services to the seamless utility of a scholarly portal is indispensable: interoperable features, formats and protocols can be carefully customized. Second, the conceptual model assists not only in visualization but in implementation phases of the process from assessment of user needs and behaviors through interface creation and ongoing maintenance. Third, a method for recycling (or “porting”) existing applications in constructing new library services is a key component.

Though this library portal is conceived for an Algerian library, which will ultimately benefit from inclusion in a nationwide network, Réseau Régional Inter Bibliothèques Universitaires (RIBU), the conceptual model may guide anyone interested in aggregating online information resources into a single, seamless terminal.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the findings of an audit of community information (CI) portals to provide an overview of how CI is being organised and presented on the web by aggregating services, and how CI is being shaped and shared in community networks. It also investigates the role that public libraries play in online CI provision.

The research sampled CI portals online within the Australian web domain (.au). An audit of 88 portals was undertaken to establish the scope, role and usefulness of the portals. The audit included a comprehensive usability analysis of a sub set of 20 portals evaluated for 20 different heuristics based on Nielsen's heuristic model.

The research finds that the challenge facing portals is not a lack of information, it is the need to improve the mediation between the community services and people that CI portals promise useful and usable information for. While public libraries remain integral to the provision of CI in their geographical area, they now form part of a larger online network for CI provision, involving a wide range of organisations.

The paper discusses the ways CI portals contribute to the provision of information about community services and identifies areas where improvements are needed. In particular, it discusses how these sites function as part of larger CI networks and where more innovative, and more standardised, design could lead to greater levels of engagement and utility.

This study aims to explore the key factors in achieving an efficient e-government portal management system from a citizen perspective. Accordingly, this study focuses on explaining how an e-government portal should manage its digital public services for citizens efficiently.

This study employs a qualitative research design. As a sample case, this study preferred to analyze the Turkish e-government portal. The data is based on available open access data and information from the Turkish e-government portal, which is called e-Government Gateway in practice. In addition, the data of TURKSTAT (Turkish Statistical Institute) were used to determine the general profile of citizens about Internet skills and usage. Then, the data is analyzed by descriptive content analysis.

As a result of descriptive findings, user type, digital platform options, security and access options, and digital public service classification are all found as important factors for providing a well-designed e-government portal system from a citizen perspective. Especially, citizens should be informed about using options and service categories and types to be accessed by the e-government portal. Social media tools are efficient factors when informing citizens about the e-government portal and communicating with them.

This study provides an original model to explain how the Turkish e-government portal works from a citizen perspective. However, there are some limitations to the study. The findings and suggestions are based on the Turkish e-government portal and its digital public service management. Also, this study evaluates the efficiency of the e-government portal management from a citizen perspective. Future studies can investigate e-government portal management for different countries by different approaches or research designs.

Based on the Turkey case, it is determined that creating an e-government portal with having up-to-date public services, including both web-based and mobile-based platforms, will support the adoption and use of e-government portals.

The digital transformation of government is almost the main issue for policymakers in the world. But, this transformation process has some risk factors as well as challenges. To overcome these challenges, policymakers should design flexible and adaptable digital portals and systems to provide easy-to-use and self-use options for the citizens.

This study reveals key factors for efficient e-government portal management by providing descriptive evidence from Turkey. The main contribution of this study is expected to give practical implications and to guide other countries about the adoption of efficient e-government portals by citizens.