Paz Moral, Pilar Gonzalez and Beatriz Plaza
Online advertising such as Google AdWords gives small and medium-sized enterprises access to new markets at reduced costs. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the visibility…
Abstract
Purpose
Online advertising such as Google AdWords gives small and medium-sized enterprises access to new markets at reduced costs. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the visibility and performance of a website and to test the effectiveness of online marketing using the data provided by Google Analytics.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a class of econometric time series models with unobservable components, Structural Time Series Models (STSM). The authors allow for time-varying trends to take into account the non-stationary behaviour displayed by time series. The authors illustrate the model using daily data from a local tourist website. Three specific questions are addressed: do paid keywords campaigns increase the volume and quality of search traffic? Do paid keywords affect the volume and quality of the unpaid traffic? How do paid and unpaid keywords perform?
Findings
The results for the case study show that: first, online campaigns affect traffic volume positively but their effectiveness on traffic quality is uncertain; second, paid keywords do not affect the volume and quality of unpaid traffic; third, the increase in traffic volume is not always due to the paid keywords and the lowest quality visits come from paid traffic.
Practical implications
This analysis may help webmasters to design successful online advertising strategies.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the development of user-friendly methodologies to monitor website performance. The analysis shows that STSM is a suitable methodology to test the effectiveness of online campaigns and to assess the changes over time in the performance of a website.
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The aim of this paper is to develop a new user‐friendly in‐house tracking methodology for academics to analyse the effectiveness of visits (return visit behaviour and length of…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to develop a new user‐friendly in‐house tracking methodology for academics to analyse the effectiveness of visits (return visit behaviour and length of sessions) depending on their traffic source: direct visits, referring site entries and search engine visits. In other words, how deep do visitors navigate into the web site? Which is their internal performance depending on their traffic source?
Design/methodology/approach
This paper addresses these questions by time series analysis of Google Analytics data. Some statistical matters with regard to the use of Google Analytics data in combination with time series methodology are fine‐tuned.
Findings
Return visits are the main engine for nurturing session length, but which type of traffic source nurtures these return visits? In order to answer this question, an important distinction must be made between “total return visits” and “marginal return visits”. Site entries stay longer to the extent their “marginal return effectiveness” is higher. For our particular web site direct visits are the most effective ones, followed by search engine visits and only thirdly link‐entries.
Research limitations/implications
This methodology is critical for an effective web site traffic source monitoring and benchmarking that may lead to better web site strategies.
Originality/value
The importance of this paper is not the particular web site but the new methodology tested to arrive at these results, an experiment that could be repeated with different web sites.
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Nadia Alaily-Mattar, Vincent Baptist, Lukas Legner, Diane Arvanitakis and Alain Thierstein
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to propose a methodology to empirically investigate the longitudinal development of social media content concerning buildings…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to propose a methodology to empirically investigate the longitudinal development of social media content concerning buildings characterized by iconic architecture and second, to report on the application of this methodology.
Design/methodology/approach
We collected and analyzed empirical data of social media content shared via Instagram between 2011 and 2019 on 16 buildings that can be considered iconic architecture projects. Using an automated pipeline, we collected and processed 264,000 posts and 140,000 images from Instagram for the selected case studies. By studying the posting activity of Instagram users through time series analysis and conducting content analysis of the social media posts by means of both image classification and topic modeling, we report on the development of users’ capturing and reception of the selected case studies on Instagram over time.
Findings
First, we identify two distinct time patterns of social media content: instantly popular buildings whose popularity fades over time and buildings that gradually gain popularity over time. Second, we distinguish differences in the content of social media posts: some buildings are primarily covered for their architectural features and others for their cultural function and facilities.
Originality/value
Using empirical investigation of Instagram data on iconic architectural projects, we have identified a correlation: buildings primarily posted for their architecture are generally also the ones to gain instant online popularity that subsequently faded over time. In contrast, buildings primarily posted for their function and facilities slowly gained popularity on the social media platform over time.
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This chapter outlines and explains the development of the Abandoibarra megaproject, focusing in particular on the key role of the Bilbao Ría 2000 – an innovative cross…
Abstract
This chapter outlines and explains the development of the Abandoibarra megaproject, focusing in particular on the key role of the Bilbao Ría 2000 – an innovative cross institution, public–private partnership, responsible for coordinating the transfer of land between public and private agents. The chapter critically assesses the impact of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the centerpiece in the Abandoibarra scheme. The narrative is based on fieldwork conducted by the author in the city of Bilbao. The chapter utilizes scholarly research, official sources, and reports in the news media to support the arguments. The chapter questions the viability of revitalization schemes based on urban megaprojects. Applying some of the elements in the revitalization mix to most cities may be unavoidable due to rapid and acritical adoption of policy discourses from center to periphery, but expecting to replicate one city's success in another context may prove extremely hard. The motivations of the Basque political elite to attract a Guggenheim museum go beyond the potential (and we might add, limited) urban regeneration benefits of a building, and can only be understood within the political context of the Basque Country and its relations with Spain. The case of Bilbao's revitalization has attracted significant attention as of late. This chapter uncovers the key issues surrounding Bilbao's transformation and puts the process in the context of capitalist globalization and the formation of globalizing cities.
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Craig Webster, David Jacobson and Kelsey Shapiro
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the position of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot professionals in the hotel and tourism industry on the island of Cyprus with regards to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the position of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot professionals in the hotel and tourism industry on the island of Cyprus with regards to their expectations regarding the benefit of a political solution to the Cyprus problem on the island.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses data from two surveys in both political entities of the island. One survey is a survey of hotel owners, managers of hotels and travel agencies in both political entities on the island. The other is semi-structured interview with leading professionals in the hospitality and tourism industry in both political entities.
Findings
The surveys indicate that there is an expectation from professionals in both entities that tourism will benefit all following a solution, with large increases in incoming tourism to Cyprus.
Practical implications
The findings indicate that there are substantial expectations that there will be benefits for all following a solution to the Cyprus problem.
Originality/value
This is a first future-oriented paper regarding the expectations of major players in the hotel and tourism industry in both political entities on the island.
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Beatriz Maturana, Ashraf M. Salama and Anthony McInneny
The highly contagious coronavirus and the rapid spread of COVID-19 disease have generated a global public health crisis. Crises are being addressed at various local and global…
Abstract
Purpose
The highly contagious coronavirus and the rapid spread of COVID-19 disease have generated a global public health crisis. Crises are being addressed at various local and global scales through social distancing measures and guidelines, emerging working and living patterns and the utilisation of technology to partially replace physical learning environments. The purpose of this article is to capture the key messages of the contributions published in this special edition of Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, Volume 15, Issue 1, March 2021. Reviewing more than 70 submissions, 15 articles have been identified that are contributed by 35 scholars, educators and practitioners from 12 countries. The article calls for the need to embed trans-disciplinarity in current and future built environment research.
Design/methodology/approach
Driven by the fact that architecture, urban design and planning and built environment studies interact and have direct correlation with public health and virus spread. The approach to develop and present the key messages of the contributions is premised on three areas: (a) the pandemic condition as it relates to the built environment, (b) analytical reflections on the emerging themes and (c) the diversity and complexity embedded in these themes.
Findings
While some contributions speak to the particularities of their contexts, others address regional or global parameters. The enquiry into architectural research, architectural education and architectural design indicates some of the important methods and tools to address the accelerated adoption, adaption and redesign needed to create a new and better normal which embeds flexibility, adaptability and continuous learning. The papers represent brilliant investiture to address the momentous insinuations the COVID-19 condition has on the built environment.
Research limitations/implications
The diversity of implications reveals potential alternative futures for urbanity and society and the associated education and practice of future built environment professions. While the contributions invite us to critically envisage possibilities for future research and collective action, critical fast-track empirical research is needed to address how health is an integral component in the production of architecture and urban environments.
Originality/value
The diversity, complexity, depth and breadth of the contribution convey important insights on people, health and the spatial environments that accommodate both. Trans-disciplinarity, as it relates to research and action and to the production of urban environments, is viewed as a form of learning involving co-operation among different parts of society, professionals and academia in order to meet complex challenges of society such this pandemic condition. This approach has enabled the identification of three future research areas in architecture urbanism that include implications of virus spread on urban environments, how spatial and social distancing measures and protocols are altering our understanding of spatial design.
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Beatriz Maturana, Anthony McInneny and Marcelo Bravo
Within Santiago, Chile's capital city, Barrio is a fundamental urban concept: an identity of place that defines a social space more than the territorial boundary of a designated…
Abstract
Within Santiago, Chile's capital city, Barrio is a fundamental urban concept: an identity of place that defines a social space more than the territorial boundary of a designated area. Nearly 30 years of sustained, economic growth have positioned Chile, and Santiago with 40% of the country's population, as a tourist, financial and investment centre for South America. After a general decline of the inner-city area during the time of dictatorship (1973-1990), three inner-city residential barrios are being re-defined by their social and urban heritage as part of the “coolest” city of South America. These residential barrios possess the social characteristics of an urban unit within the concept of an ethical city—autonomy, conviviality, connectivity and diversity—and, in form and use, the basis of urban cultural tourism, a living heritage of residential architecture, public space and urban culture. The spatial and economic transformation of these barrios shifts the existing dynamic between the residents' social capital and the barrios' symbolic capital to the question of whose rights and interest should prevail. Through a literature review, policy review and an analysis of morphology and land use of three barrios, this article draws lessons to assist a re-thinking of the development of this urban, social-spatial unit of Chilean cities.
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With the passage of the Caribbean Basin Initiative in 1983, there has been an increased interest in obtaining information useful to businesses considering expansion in the region…
Abstract
With the passage of the Caribbean Basin Initiative in 1983, there has been an increased interest in obtaining information useful to businesses considering expansion in the region. This selective guide to current sources addresses that interest.
Oscar A. Martínez-Martínez, Carlos Andrade Guzmán, Javier Reyes-Martínez, Claudia Campillo-Toledano and María Beatriz Romero-González
Mexico is going through an accelerated increment of the older adults population, which added to the conditions of poverty, places them in a high degree of vulnerability. Bearing…
Abstract
Purpose
Mexico is going through an accelerated increment of the older adults population, which added to the conditions of poverty, places them in a high degree of vulnerability. Bearing this in mind, the aim of this paper is to identify which categories or factors generate the perception of subjective well-being (SWB) in older adults in Mexico.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study was carried out in four Mexican states: Mexico City, Tamaulipas, State of Mexico and Oaxaca. Each state presents different levels of social well-being. The study participants were selected using the snowball method. In total, 41 in-depth interviews were carried out, which were analyzed with a thematic analysis approach.
Findings
Results show that older people’s SWB is related to different elements like family bonds, having good physical and mental health, personal development and practicing religion.
Research limitations/implications
Results represent experiences only for people interviewed in the states in which interviews were conducted, not representing national scope. Future studies can expand the territorial scope to have a higher comprehension regarding SWB in older adults.
Originality/value
These findings have implications in the design of public policies and programs, for improving the delivery of social and economic services to older adults within the Mexican context.
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This chapter explores how scholars have conceptualized the relationship between Latin American populism and democracy. It analyzes different approaches to populism such as…
Abstract
This chapter explores how scholars have conceptualized the relationship between Latin American populism and democracy. It analyzes different approaches to populism such as modernization and dependency theory, and current approaches that focus on discourse analysis and/or political strategies. The chapter focuses on the current wave of radical populism to explore the continuities and differences between “classical” populism of leaders such as Juan Perón, the “neopopulism” of Alberto Fujimori, and the radical populism of Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales, and Rafael Correa.