Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Feb 2, 2021
Date Accepted: Jul 10, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Aug 3, 2021
Development of a COVID-19 Web Information Transmission Structure Based on a Quadruple Helix Model: Webometric network approach using Bing
ABSTRACT
Background:
Developing an understanding of the social structure and phenomenon of the pandemic information sources worldwide is immensely significant.
Objective:
Based on the quadruple helix model, this study aimed to construct and analyze the structure and content of the Internet information sources of COVID-19 from the perspective of time and space.
Methods:
By sorting second top-level domain (STLD), we divide the structure of network information sources into four levels: the government, educational organizations, companies, and non-profit organizations. This paper analyzes the structure of information sources and the evolution of information content, at each stage.
Results:
The results of the structural analysis indicate that the online sources of information in Asia were more diverse than those in other regions in February, 2020. As the pandemic spread in April, the information sources in non-Asian regions began to diversify, and the information source structure became even more diversified in July. With the spread of the pandemic, an increasing number of countries, including not only the government authorities of high concern, but also commercial and educational organizations began to produce and provide significant amounts of information and advice. Non-profit organizations also produced information, but to a lesser extent. The impact of the virus spread from the initial public level of the government to many levels within the society. After April, the government's role in the COVID-19 network information was central. The results of content analysis show that there was an increased focus on discussion regarding public health-related campaign materials at all stages. With the change of the stage, the information content also changed. In the early stages, the basic situation of the virus and its impact on health attracted most of the attention. Later, the content was more focused on prevention measures. The business and policy environment have also changed from the beginning of the pandemic, and the social changes caused by the pandemic have also become a popular topic of discussion. Additionally, the mined online documents indicated that the changes of network information content explained some of the social phenomena such as, the flow of capital.
Conclusions:
It is important to understand the social structure and communication environment of pandemic information sources worldwide. This study puts forth that the quadruple helix not only has research significance in the field of scientific cooperation, but can also be used to conduct effective research regarding web information during crisis period. This is significant for further development of quadruple helix model in medical Internet research area.
Citation
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.