The English language is the most dominant language in the Western world and its influence can be noticed in every aspect of human communication. It’s increasing diffusion, especially since the turn of the century, is hard to measure with conventional means. The present research studies the use of language in websites of European Union (EU) member states, in order to collect data about the prevalence of the English language in the different countries and regions of the European Union. To achieve a realistic representation of today’s landscape of the European Web, this study uses a vast population of websites and a representative sampling size and methodology. By analyzing and processing the findings from over 100,000 websites from every country in the EU, a solid foundation is set that is used to explore the dominance of the English language in the European World Wide Web in general. This is the first study that examines the presence of English content in the websites of all EU member countries and provides statistical evidence regarding the ratio of English content availability for each country. Conclusively, the results of the research demonstrate that the English language is available on more than one quarter of all websites of non-English speaking EU member states. Moreover, it is available in the vast majority of multilingual and bilingual websites, while at the same time being the only language that is available in a number of monolingual websites. In addition, it is shown preference over the national language in a significant number of cases. A moderate negative correlation is found between a member state’s population and the availability of English in these countries’ websites and the same holds true for a member state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Both these correlations indicate that smaller countries tend to provide more content in English in order to establish a stronger presence in the international environment. Taking into account the role of language in the expression of national identity, this study provides data and insights which may contribute to the discussion about the changes underway in the national identity of EU member states.

Since the dawn of the new millennium and even earlier, a coordinated effort has been underway to expand the World Wide Web into a machine-readable web of data known as the Semantic Web. The field of art and culture has been one of the most eager to integrate with the Semantic Web, since metadata, data structures, linked-data, e.g., the Getty vocabularies project and the Europeana LOD initiative—and other building blocks of this web of data are considered essential in cataloging and disseminating art and culture-related content. However, art is a constantly evolving entity and as such it is the subject of a vast number of online media outlets and journalist blogs and websites. During the course of the present study the researchers collected information about how integrated the media outlets that diffuse art and culture-related content and news are to the Semantic Web. The study uses quantitative metrics to evaluate a website’s adherence to Semantic Web standards and it proceeds to draw conclusions regarding how that integration affects their popularity in the modern competitive landscape of the Web.

The present study focuses on using qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate the functionality, user experience (UX), and aesthetic approach offered by an academic multi-site Web ecosystem consisting of multiple interconnected websites. Large entities in various industry fields often have the need for an elaborate Web presence. In an effort to address the challenges posed by this need specifically in the field of academia, the authors developed, over a period of many years, a multi-site ecosystem within the Ionian University, which focuses on interconnectivity and a collaborative approach to academic content management. This system, known as “Publish@Ionio”, uses a singular content management infrastructure to allow for the creation of content for different websites that share both information and resources while at the same time allowing for individual variations in both functionality and aesthetics. The ecosystem was evaluated through quantitative data from its operation and qualitative feedback from a focus-group interview with experts, including website editors and administrative staff. The collected data were used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the multi-site approach based on the actions and needs of the individuals in charge of generating content. The study led to conclusions on the advantages that interoperability offers in terms of digital and human resource management, the benefits of a unified aesthetic approach that allows for variability, and the necessity of collaborative content management tools that are tailored to the content’s nature.

The last decade has been a time of great progress in the World Wide Web and this progress has manifested in multiple ways, including both the diffusion and expansion of Semantic Web technologies and the advancement of the aesthetics and usability of Web user interfaces. Online media outlets have often been popular Web destinations and so they are expected to be at the forefront of innovation, both in terms of the integration of new technologies and in terms of the evolution of their interfaces. In this study, various Web data extraction techniques were employed to collect current and archival data from news websites that are popular in Greece, in order to monitor and record their progress through time. This collected information, which took the form of a website’s source code and an impression of their homepage in different time instances of the last decade, has been used to identify trends concerning Semantic Web integration, DOM structure complexity, number of graphics, color usage, and more. The identified trends were analyzed and discussed with the purpose of gaining a better understanding of the ever-changing presence of the media industry on the Web. The study concluded that the introduction of Semantic Web technologies in online media outlets was rapid and extensive and that website structural and visual complexity presented a steady and significant positive trend, accompanied by increased adherence to color harmony.

Digital art repositories strive to disseminate works of art through the World Wide Web and to reach the widest possible global audience. To that end, providing an optimal user experience (UX) is essential. Usability is the cornerstone of UX in all interactions between the visitor and the platform, but at the same time, as virtual places of art and culture, digital art repositories aim to also provide an aesthetically pleasing interface that stimulates the senses. These goals are not always aligned, and how end users perceive the interplay between aesthetics and usability is an important factor in creating a balanced UX. This study presents a streamlined methodology for the collection of visitor insights concerning aesthetics and usability, taking advantage of the attention tracking capabilities of the iMedius platform. The iMedius Form Builder digital research tool allows the collection of both self-reported feedback through survey replies and candid data through gaze and mouse tracking, thus creating a robust dataset that can lead to interesting insights. An interactive questionnaire investigating user reaction to three different digital art repositories is presented, and feedback from higher education students from the fields of digital art and media is presented and analyzed in detail. Through this analysis, interesting insights are derived regarding striking a balance between high usability and memorable aesthetics.