Internet usage is increasing every year, and so do the different online activities on the internet. Online shopping is one of the most popular activities on the internet and is continuing to grow. This study investigated if visual information influences consumer behaviour on e-retail websites when shown together with non-imagery information. The study also looks at whether or not the visual information that is being presented is a factor for consumers behaviour, and if the quality of the image matters in purchase intent. Another point of view in this study was whether or not imagery information in e-retail would increase the consumer attitude towards the design and if the type of visual information mattered. A significant difference was found in purchase intent for products having imagery information, regardless of the quality. Attitudes towards e-retail designs with high-quality product images were also found to be significantly more positive over both no- and low-quality images. The findings of this study fills the gap whether or not visual stimuli influence consumers when displayed to products without visual stimuli. The type of product imagery information being displayed is also a factor for consumer enjoyment. High-quality visual information is perceived  better compared to designs with low-quality and non-imagery product information.

This article introduces a n-gram-based approach to automatic classification of Web services using a multilayer perceptron-type artificial neural network. Web services contain information that is useful for achieving a classification based on its functionality. The approach relies on word n-grams extracted from the web service description to determine its membership in a category. The experimentation carried out shows promising results, achieving a classification with a measure F=0.995 using unigrams (2-grams) of words (characteristics composed of a lexical unit) and a TF-IDF weight.

The purpose of this research is to provide companies with how they can affect customer’s trust through tools found within the three technological factors on mobile applications or websites. A research gap was discovered by the researchers due to the lack of in-depth exploration regarding this topic and took the opportunity to do research within this field. This research undertook a qualitative research approach with a deductive nature, this was done by using a theoretical sample technique with theories on what factors affect customers' trust on mobile applications and websites. When collecting information for this research, 14 unstructured in-depth interviews were conducted online. With the help of the interviews the researchers could gather rich in-depth information to explore the research question. The main theoretical findings of this research are the three personas, Branded Betty, Aesthetical Alexia and Recommended Rob. Each persona is representative of a customer and they are each stimulated by the technological tools differently to trust a mobile application or website.

This thesis discusses the topic of anti-corruption, non-governmental, non-profit organisations (NGOs), and specifically the relationship between their transparency and their sources of financial income. Inasmuch as the activities of such NGOs are of general public interest, and their output should therefore be available to everyone, this thesis focuses on the transparency of these organisations on the Internet as the most accessible medium. The theoretical part of the thesis scrutinises some key concepts, such as anti-corruption NGO, accountability, transparency and organisational resources. The research sample includes 23 organisations who declare to be fighting against corruption and data collection was carried out via the Internet. The goal of this thesis was to analyse the transparency of Czech anti-corruption NGOs since such an analysis has not been carried out to date. An overview of financing and transparency of the organisations under investigation was based on an analysis of their web pages and annual reports. The index of transparency shows the accessibility of information and its correlation with the structure of financial resources determines how various financial resources are related to the organisation's transparency. In the resultant discussion, the findings introduced in the theoretical...

This study aims to explore students’ use of study guide websites when assigned novels and similar literary works in the EFL classroom in Swedish upper secondary schools. The study is based on the mixed-method approach and the findings reveal that all students that participated in the questionnaire and the interviews used study guide websites in a sense. By further exploring the reasons behind the use of these websites, three categories were discovered based on the conducted interviews: time, comprehension and interest. The findings also reveal that a few students used the study guide websites as an aid, other students used them to substitute reading the assigned literary work, while a few students used the study guide websites both as an aid and as a substitute. Finally, the study concludes that all the participants from the interviews acknowledge that study guide websites cannot substitute literary works entirely and even though they acknowledge the use of them, they do not believe that these websites include enough detailed information about the literary work.

The master's thesis is devoted to the analysis of the impact of the dissemination of information and disinformation in media about the disease caused by the COVID-19 virus in the Czech Republic in the period 02/2020-02/2021. The aim of the thesis is to analyse selected news portals and identifying the possible impact of the information on the Internet on public behaviour. The purpose of the theoretical part is a brief definition of the basic concepts, mapping the course of information in the Czech Republic and comparison with similar situations from the past. Subsequently, the theoretical part contains a description of the means of communication used to inform citizens about the event. The aim of the practical part is to show how the course of the spread of the COVID-19 virus influenced the traffic to online news websites, what articles appeared in the Internet environment, and finally I focus on the analysis of whether there was a change in the behaviour of citizens in the Internet environment in the form of traffic to news websites, retail sales and changes in work habits.

This study examined how images of people of different genders and ethnicities were represented on Fortune Global 500 website front-screens. The front-screens produced 975 images of men and women. The images were analyzed using frequency counts and a six-point Body Index Scale. A major finding was that images of Caucasians dominated Fortune Global 500 front-screens. Caucasians represented 66.3 percent of the total images. Another major finding was that images of men were depicted more frequently than images of women on Fortune Global 500 website front-screens. Images of men comprised 51.9 percent of the total iamges, whereas images of women accounted for 48.1 percent of the images. The face-ism theory, which asserts that images of men and Caucasians are cropped to emphasize their intellect and dominance and images of women and people of minority ethnicities are cropped placing emphasis on their bodies, was not supported in this study.

Sedan införandet av dataskyddsförordningen GDPR den 25 maj 2018 har internetanvändare i alla EU/ESS länder blivit mötta av en förfrågan om godkännande av cookies vid varje besök av en ny hemsida. Frågan ska enligt lag tydligt informera användare om att cookies används, i vilket syfte och hur länge de sparas. Beväpnad med denna information ska användaren sedan ha möjlighet att ta ett välinformerat beslut om hen godkänner webbplatsens användning av cookies och därmed insamlingen av hens personuppgifter. Denna lagstiftning gäller för samtliga webbplatser oavsett offentlig eller privat avsändare och avser att skapa ett skydd för varje individs digitala integritet. Cookies har använts i funktionssyfte sedan internets begynnelse men har under de senare åren använts med stor framgång primärt i marknadsföringssyfte i form av riktad marknadsföring av kommersiella webbplatser. Det finns stor vinning för många företag att användare godkänner dessa cookie-förfrågningar vilket gör att stor vikt läggs vid hur dessa förfrågningar designas. Dark Patterns är ett begrepp på former av konverteringsinriktad design som används för att få användare att utföra handlingar som ej gynnar dem i längden, men som skapar mervärde för aktören bakom. Dessa designval används flitigt över hela internet och har även identifierats i cookie-förfrågningar. Följande studie undersöker hur dessa cookie-förfrågningar är utformade, vilka dark patterns som finns att identifiera i deras gränssnitt samt användares inställning till 15 statliga respektive 15 kommersiella webbplatser. Data för studien har samlats in genom en kvantitativ enkätundersökning med 102 respondenter samt en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av samtliga webbplatser. Empiri från tidigare forskning har använts för att jämföra och styrka studiens slutsats. Användningen av dark patterns har identifierats på både statliga och kommersiella webbplatser men i en högre grad i den sistnämnda. Dessa designval har visats påverka användarens interaktion med förfrågan på ett sätt som är positivt för aktören. Studien har däremot även visat att en lika stor faktor för användarens medvetna beslut är det anseende aktören för webbplatsen har. Avslutningsvis visar studien att dagens internetanvändare generellt är trötta på konstanta förfrågningar med samma eller liknande information, och vad som var avsett att skapa en trygghetskänsla hos användaren har i stället bara blivit ett evigt störningsmoment. / Since the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on May 25th, 2018, users in EU/EEC countries have encountered cookie approval requests upon accessing new websites. By legal demand, these cookie prompts must provide information on the use of cookies, their purpose, and the duration of data retention. With this knowledge, users are expected to make informed decisions regarding their consent to the website's cookies and data collection utilization. This legislation applies universally to all websites, regardless of their public or private nature, to protect individuals’ digital privacy. While cookies have served functional purposes since the early days of the Internet, their recent substantial adoption for targeted marketing by commercial websites has provided significant advantages for many companies. Consequently, precise attention is placed on the design of these cookie requests themselves. Dark Patterns represent a form of conversion-oriented design tactics employed to impact users to perform certain actions that may not be beneficial in the long term but generate value for the entity implementing them. These design choices are prevalent across the internet and have also been identified within the context of cookie prompts. This study observes the design elements of such cookie prompts, identifies the presence of dark patterns within their interfaces, and examines user attitudes toward these prompts. The research analyzes 15 government websites and 15 commercial websites through a qualitative content analysis that uncovers hidden information. As a complement, an additional quantitative survey was formed by collecting data from 102 respondents. The study leverages empirical evidence from previous research to strengthen its findings and comparisons. Findings show that the use of dark patterns on both government and commercial websites is evident, with a more noticeable occurrence on commercial ones. These design choices have been observed to influence user interactions with the requests to favor the sender implementing the dark patterns. However, the research also demonstrates that the senders' reputation equally influences users' conscious decision-making process. In conclusion, the study indicates that contemporary internet users generally experience weariness due to persistent requests featuring repetitive or similar information. What was initially intended to instill a sense of user security has instead become an enduring source of disruption.

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