Farah Nadia Azman

Online crowdsourcing has emerged as economic solutions for digitally literate modern society. The use of non-standard employees is what defines the gig economy, in which the hired crowds execute short-term, on-demand micro job assignments for a range of people or companies. Despite the existence of several local crowdsourcing app in the market, there is lack of study on the interaction model of a micro tasking online crowdsourcing platform for handworkers such as plumbing and piping, furniture and household items repairs, installation, electrical repairs, house modelling, carpeting and more. Hence, a prototype of virtual middleman system for handworker crowdsourcing is developed. The technical requirements and design principles of a web-based handworker crowdsourcing system are identified. Evaluation results of functionality, usability, interface and compatibility testing are presented. Essentially, this study contributes to the body of literature by granting a transferable technical requirements and economical potential of virtual middleman system for handworker crowdsourcing. However, the system was tested in a controlled environment with a limited user base, which may not fully represent real-world usage scenarios. Hence, subsequent study should incorporate performance indicators such as task completion rate, latency, or long-term user engagement.

BACKGROUND Youth vaping remains alarmingly prevalent and represents a growing public health challenge worldwide. Despite growing attention, the effectiveness of scalable prevention strategies remains uncertain. As adolescents are increasingly immersed in digital environments, innovative, interactive interventions are needed to engage them and influence health behaviours. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to assess the effect of a theory-driven digital game-based learning intervention (VapGaMo) in preventing vaping intention among adolescents. METHODS A two-arm parallel cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted among 13- to 15-year-old Malaysian early adolescents. Schools were randomly assigned (1:1) to VapGaMo (a single 90-minute, facilitator led videogame grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior) or control group (attention-matched online flash game). Outcomes were assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and 3 months follow-up. The primary outcome was vaping intention at 3 months; secondary outcomes included knowledge, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. Intention-to-treat analyses were performed using generalized estimating equations, with clustering of participants within schools appropriately accounted for. RESULTS A total of eight schools (n = 370 students) completed the baseline assessment, with equal allocation to the intervention and control groups (4 schools and 185 students per arm). Compared with the control group, students in the intervention group showed a significant reduction in vaping intention (β = −0.28 [95% CI −0.47 to −0.08], p = 0.004) and a significant improvement in vaping-related knowledge (β = 1.52 [95% CI 0.75, 2.28], p < 0.001) at the 3-month follow-up. Immediate post-intervention improvements were also observed in attitudes towards vaping and perceived behavioral control. CONCLUSIONS Digital game-based learning intervention (VapGaMo) effectively reduced vaping intention, improved vaping-related knowledge, changing attitude and perceived behavioral control. These findings support the potential of the innovative theory-driven, game-based interventions as scalable and engaging approaches for adolescent vaping prevention. CLINICALTRIAL thaiclinicaltrials.org (TCTR20241222001) INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2025-110419

Recent advancement of authoring tools has fostered a widespread interest towards using comics as a Digital Storytelling medium. This technology integrated learning approach is known as learner-generated comic production; where learners constructively produce digital stories in a form of educational comics. However, there were concerns towards the obstacles and challenges of producing learner-generated comics. Hence, a conceptual production model of learner-generated comic was proposed to guide learners in designing and developing digital educational comics. Accordingly, as the decision making stage for validating the proposed model, expert review method was adopted. Results of expert review were coded and classified into flexibility, understandability, completeness, generality, and usability aspects, aligning with dimension of conceptual model characteristics. Consequently, a final appraisal cycle with experts was conducted to approve the revised and redesigned LGC production model based on expert review. In summary, the experts concluded that the proposed model replicates the process of learner-generated comic production very well, visually and descriptively. Suggestion of future research is put forward.