Indicadores qualitativos para avaliação do potencial semântico de portais do conhecimento de universidades

Abstract

Semantic portals, as sociotechnical artifacts, are oriented by a set of people and technologies interconnected to provide information with high added value. For university portals to become semantic, it is necessary to have semantic technologies and specific conditions that can be analyzed using indicators. The aim of this study was to propose qualitative indicators to assess the semantic potential of university knowledge portals according to the precepts of the Actor-Network Theory. The research included a bibliometric survey, systematic and content analysis and a field research sending a questionnaire to technology and information coordinators from the 69 Brazilian federal universities, in order to identify the technologies and human resources available on the portal of each institution. The questionnaires were applied from June to September 2021, with 42 responses being obtained. Data processing was performed through descriptive statistical analysis and the 40 variables listed were validated by a panel of experts who ratified the content of the proposed indicators. The mapping of the portal actors’ network was carried out to list the human and non-human actors, their interests and interrelationships. The analysis of the features of the portal network evidenced the weak and strong ties related to the credibility of the parameters reflected in daily practice and also those related to technological innovation and which are fundamental for the evolution of portals as a sócio-technical system. As a result, a set of 18 qualitative indicators was proposed that can be used as a management tool for creating or improving university knowledge portals. It’s inferred that the use of these indicators can improve the retrieval of information that supports the construction of knowledge and also strengthen the communication and sharing processes from the portals interface.