Open data are currently a “hot” topic and are linked to greater openness and transparency in a country. Nowadays governments around the world are posting their datasets on online portals so they can become accessible from anyone. These online portals provide information from areas such as: health, transport, education, environment, politics etc. The rapid development of open data portals makes it necessary to evaluate their accessibility and ease of use. One of the biggest challenges that Open Data Portals face when being evaluated, is delivering a better user experience. Based on what other authors have said in relation to this, these portals still do not provide a good support for non-technical users resulting in an unpleasant experience for them.        Aims: This paper aims to discover problems that users come across when they navigate in a specific open data portal in terms of the feelings and emotions they receive from it. A number of evaluations found within related literature are discussed and then an assessment framework is developed to evaluate the user experience of Open Data Portals. Methodology: Based on the research question, an interpretive paradigm and a qualitative approach have been used to conduct the study. Interviews, observations and questionnaires represent the methods for data collection. An inductive content analysis is applied for the analysis of the qualitative data.  Empirical findings: After interviewing 2 technical users and observing or sending questionnaires to 11 students, 5 dimensions are recognized as having an influence on the experience that a user get when navigating an Open Data Portal. They include: Quality of Data, Accessibility, Interactivity, Complexity and Trust.  Conclusions: The study showed that people encounter difficulties on performing specific tasks because of the lack of support. The data has to be updated and modified to provide quality and accuracy. Improvements are requisite in user engagement and privacy issues. Further research is needed to be done for the application of the proposed framework in a specific Open Data Portal.

[pt] O fenômeno da globalização e o crescente avanço tecnológico, a partir do uso massivo da internet, trouxe a necessidade da criação de mecanismos competitivos ao novo modelo mercadológico desregulamentado. A geração de vantagem competitiva torna-se essencial no posicionamento das organizações frente ao desafio de adaptação à nova ordem mundial. Nesse contexto emergente da tecnologia como sustentáculo da gestão do conhecimento empresarial, os portais corporativos passam a ter importância vital no modelo da organização moderna. A presente dissertação analisa o tema, confrontando as diversas definições disponíveis na literatura acadêmica atual, e suas nuances de aplicabilidade prática com base nos desafios, modelos de negócios, arquitetura desejável e resultados possíveis. No centro da análise dar-se-á foco à utilização de portais com referência aos processos de aquisição corporativa, exemplificando as principais características dessa ferramenta, com base no estudo de caso em uma empresa de energia, na abordagem dos elementos motivadores à adoção, contextos tecnológicos e empresariais, histórico do processo de implantação e as mudanças decorrentes da adoção da plataforma. O estudo foi baseado na vivência do autor com a proximidade à empresa de energia e nas percepções qualitativas colhidas com os executivos da alta administração e colaboradores desta corporação. Por fim, como síntese do estudo, são oferecidos insights da situação real sustentada na referência acadêmica, como mais uma proposta de análise das lições aprendidas, oportunidades de ganho e visão de futuro na decisão de escolha pela ferramenta de portais corporativos de compras. / [en] The globalization process and technological advances from the massive use of internet has brought the need for competitive mechanisms in order to be adressed by the deregulated marketing scenario. The generation of competitive advantage is essential to organizations positioning which are facing the challenge of adapting to the new world order. In this context of emerging technology as a cornerstone of knowledge management business, corporate portals now have vital importance in the model of the modern organization. This dissertation analyzes the subject, comparing the various settings available in the current academic literature and nuances of practical applicability, as its challenges, business models, desirable architecture and possible results. The center of the analysis will give focus to guide the use of portals with reference to the corporate acqusitions processes, illustrating the main characteristics of this type of tool based on a case study in a brazilian energy company, in addressing the motivating adoption factors on the basis of technological and business contexts, history of the deployment process and the changes resulting from adaptation to the technologic model. The study was based on the experience of the author by the proximity to the company and the qualitative insights gathered with executives from top management and employees of this corporation. Finally, as a synthesis of the study are offered insights into the real situation in sustained academic reference, as a further proposal for the analysis of lessons learned, opportunities to gain and future vision into the decision among the choices for the procurement corporate portals.

Oman has adopted e-government services, but according to the United Nations E-Government Development Index classification, such services are not fully utilised. E-government classification of Oman shows a lack that motivated this research. The aim is to provide a framework that can help the Omani government to better implement e-government services. As a result, Oman classification is expected to be improved. Such framework may also help similar developing countries in implementing their e-government services. This work aimed to address both; government and citizens prospective, also aiming to help conducting a sold research a good implementable framework. Therefore, an interview with 21 government participations from different institutions was conducted followed by citizens that attracted 400 qualified responses. The research process has led to the suggestion of using another approach of e-government services, the unified e-services portals. The outcomes of this research show; both government and citizens are in favour of using unified definitions in portals. In addition, a proposed framework is presented based on supported findings that is believed to better utilising e government services hence leading to improve ranking. It is also believed that the UN assessing committees would benefit from the unified approach. Simply, it unifies the definition of each service based on the published academic definitions and work. The evaluation of the proposed framework is outside this research and can be addressed by a further research as recommended. Implementing the unified approach portals is another front that attracts implementation and evaluation.

This study is the first report of Saudi patients in the literature on electronic personal health records (ePHRs). It investigates patients’ attitudes and expectations regarding ePHRs in Saudi Arabia. It also gives insights about addressing the gap between the interest and the utilization of ePHRs by presenting information about patients’ preferences for ePHR features and activities. The findings show higher interest rates in ePHR use compared to other studies with similar sample frame in developed countries. They also indicate high levels of perceived usefulness of ePHRs on patients’ health and healthcare. More research is needed to explore the ePHR privacy concerns of patients and the key factors in improving the use of ePHRs among specific populations such as the elderly and those patients with chronic disease. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / This study is the first report of Saudi patients in the literature on electronic personal health records (ePHRs). It investigates patients’ attitudes and expectations regarding ePHRs in Saudi Arabia. It also gives insights about addressing the gap between the interest and the utilization of ePHRs by presenting information about patients’ preferences for ePHR features and activities. More research is needed to explore the ePHR privacy concerns of patients and the key factors in improving the use of ePHRs among specific populations.

The paper deals with the issue of getting acquainted and looking for a partnership with the aid of new technologies. The main goal is to show the impact of new media on the mate selection and, above all, to describe the course of a particular way of getting acquainted which is new to the Czech society, that is speed dating. The so-called mediated dating services - online dating portals and speed dating - are assessed in a comparative way. The empirical part is based on the analysis of dating websites and dating agencies. KEYWORDS: speed dating, online dating portals, mediated dating, mate selection, marriage market

A gestão do conhecimento (GC) é fundamental em grupos de pesquisa, pois as atividades dos grupos são diretamente relacionadas com a criação contínua do conhecimento. Para auxiliar e apoiar a GC podem ser implantados sistemas computacionais em que as informações são organizadas e sistematizadas de forma a serem facilmente recuperadas e reutilizadas, apoiando a criação, registro e difusão de conhecimentos. Apesar da importância da GC em organizações de pesquisa, há poucos estudos sobre a implantação de sistemas nessas organizações. A maioria das experiências é relatada em empresas de manufatura e serviços. O objetivo deste trabalho é descrever uma experiência de implantação de um sistema de apoio à GC em uma rede de pesquisas no âmbito nacional, denominada Instituto Fábrica do Milênio. Ela reúne pesquisadores de diferentes áreas ligadas à manufatura. Para atingir esse objetivo fez-se a descrição da implantação do sistema, o levantamento das práticas de GC e dos mecanismos de comunicação nos grupos de pesquisa que constituem a rede. O método empregado foi uma combinação de pesquisa de campo do tipo participante-observador, na descrição da implantação, e entrevista em profundidade, na identificação das práticas e desafios de cada grupo. Como resultado, o trabalho confirma a importância dos sistemas de apoio à GC para melhoria da eficiência das redes de pesquisa, apresenta diretrizes e cuidados que precisam ser tomados na implantação e aponta para necessidades futuras de pesquisa na área. O trabalho inclui também uma lista das melhores práticas de GC observadas na rede estudada. / Knowledge management (KM) is fundamental for research groups, since its activities are directed related with the continuous knowledge creation. Information systems can be applied to support KM, where information is organized and systemized in order to facilitate recovering and reuse. Although KM is essential for research organizations, there are few studies that contemplate systems application on these organizations, the majority of which relate to manufacturing and servicing companies. This work\'s objective is to describe the implantation of a knowledge management system in a nationally extended research network called Institute Factory of Millennium (IFM). It joins researchers from different areas related to manufacturing. To reach this objective, this work describes the system\'s implantation, the identification of KM practices and the communication mechanisms used in the research groups that arrange the net. The adopted methods are a field research participant-observation to describe the implantation, and interviews to identify the practices and challenges on each group. The results confirm the knowledge management system\'s importance for improvement of the research nets\' eficiency, show directions and pitfalls during the implantation, and point out future necessities on this research area. This work also indicates a KM best practices list observed in the studied network.

A gestão empresarial, de uma forma em geral, enfrenta novos contextos quanto à sua estrutura organizacional que suporte a dinâmica do mercado, que incentive a aprendizagem, que esteja antecipada as tendências de consumo e necessidades dos clientes; e que possa ser criativa o suficiente para promover a inovação. Neste sentido, o conhecimento se torna um recurso estratégico para as empresas. Este estudo teve como objetivo propor diretrizes para um portal colaborativo para a transferência do conhecimento no contexto de ambientes de desenvolvimento de empreendimentos inovadores visando a melhoria no processo de inovação e desenvolvimento dos negócios das empresas incubadas. Quanto ao desenvolvimento, baseado em estudos norteadores sobre gestão do conhecimento, transferência do conhecimento para aspectos da colaboração e portais, foi aplicada a metodologia de modelagem organizacional Enterprise Knowledge Development (EKD). Os resultados abordaram três perspectivas: o modelo do estado atual, a análise das necessidades de mudança e o modelo do estado futuro, que apresentam em principal, o modelo de componentes e requisitos técnicos que norteiam as diretrizes para o portal colaborativo, para a transferência do conhecimento, integrado aos objetivos organizacionais, regras do negócio, atores e recursos. / The corporate management, in a general way, faces new contexts for their organizational structure wich supports the market dynamics, wich encourages learning, that is in advance to consumer trends and customer needs, and wich can be creative enough to foster innovation. In this way, knowledge becomes a strategic resource for companies. This research aims to propose guidelines for a collaborative portal for knowledge transfer in the context of innovative projects development in order to improve the innovation process and the development of business of incubated companies. Regarding development, based on guiding studies on knowledge management, knowledge transfer for collaboration aspects and portals, was applied the organization modeling methodology Enterprise Knowledge Development (EKD). The results discussed three perspectives: the as-is model, needs-for-change analysis and the to-be model, in which presents mainly the technical components and requirements model that provide the guidelines for collaborative portal for knowledge transfer, integrated with organizational goals, business rules, actors and resources.

O processo de desenvolvimento de produto é reconhecido pela literatura como sendo de importância estratégica, mas, apesar disso, existe uma grande dificuldade para se gerenciar este processo, devido a existência de diversas visões parciais sobre sua abrangência e importância, as quais dificultam a integração entre os profissionais que atuam nessa área. No campo de ensino e pesquisa esse fenômeno também ocorre, pois o desenvolvimento de produtos é tratado de maneira incompleta pelas diferentes áreas de conhecimento especializado, criando visões parciais que apresentam linguagem e características próprias, as quais dificultam um entendimento comum dos aspectos desse processo. Para enfrentar esta situação, esse trabalho apresenta a experiência de grupos de pesquisa que formaram uma comunidade de prática em desenvolvimento de produtos, chamada PDPNet (Product Development Process Network), visando minimizar essas visões parciais. Para isso, os membros de tal comunidade envolveram-se no desenvolvimento de iniciativas e atividades conjuntas e têm a sua disposição um portal de conhecimentos para favorecer a sinergia entre os membros, apoiando o ambiente voltado à cooperação e facilitando a troca e criação de conhecimentos, o que é objetivo primordial de uma comunidade de prática. Este trabalho visa relatar e analisar criticamente as características principais da PDPNet, enfocando sua formação, estabelecimento, gestão das iniciativas e atividades para criação de conhecimentos, bem como a tecnologia de informação utilizada. Com esse trabalho, espera-se divulgar essa experiência para o meio acadêmico e empresarial interessado, de forma que suas práticas possam ser propagadas e as dificuldades consideradas. Além disso, espera-se que a análise crítica permita obter subsídios para que seus principais benefícios e dificuldades possam ser identificados e tratados pelos gestores da comunidade. / The product development process is recognized by literature as being of strategically importance, but a great difficulty exists to manage this process due to the existence of several partial visions concerning its scope. This causes some problems to integrate the professionals who work with this area. In the education & research field this phenomenon also occurs, as the product development process is incompletely treated by the different areas of specialized knowledge, creating also partial visions that have their own language and characteristics. This makes it difficult to establish a commom agreement of the aspects involved and they are not understood as complementary visions. To face this problem, this work presents the experience of some research groups that have built a community of practice on product development process in order to minimize these partial visions. The community of practice is called PDPNet (Product Development Process Network) and its practioners have been involved in a set of initiatives and joint activities. They have at hand a knowledge management portal to stimulate its members\'s synergy, supporting the cooperation environment and facilitating the exchange and creation of knowledge, which is the main objective of a community of practice. Thus, this work aims to present and to analyze the main characteristics of the PDPNet, focusing on its formation, establishment, management of the initiatives and activities for knowledge creation and management, as well as the information technology used. With this work, it is expected to disseminate the PDPNet experience for interested people from academic and organization environment, so that its success practices and difficulties can be known. Moreover, it is expected that the critical analysis give subsidies so that its main benefits and difficulties can be identified and treated by the community managers.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Regensburg, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-164).

Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Knowledge is increasingly being recognised as the key element to an organisation’s sustainability and competitiveness. Knowledge assets refer to organisational resources made of or incorporating knowledge. These assets ultimately create the ability for an organisation to carry out a process or an activity aimed to create and/or deliver value. Knowledge assets are identified as firstly, Human Capital Assets, which are embodied in the employees of an organisation whose talent and experience create the products and services that can be sold. Secondly, Structural Capital Assets refers to knowledge that is captured or institutionalised within the structure, processes and culture of the organisation. Finally, Customer Capital Assets which refers to the combined value of the relationships with customers, suppliers, industry associations and markets and their customers perception of value of an organisation. Information technology is also recognised as an enabling tool to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing as it enables knowledge and information flows. In particular, the use of enterprise portals as an information technology enabling platform can provide secure, customised, personalised and integrated access for employees, customers and business partners to dynamic knowledge assets from a variety of sources in a variety of formats, with an increasing focus on business performance. The research focuses on how organisations can effectively manage their knowledge assets using enterprise portals and how managing these assets can complement organisational core capabilities and competences. Theoretical insights from Boisot’s I-Space framework are used as the foundation for analysis of the behaviour of information flows and the creation and diffusion of knowledge within organisations. The role of technologies as enabling partners in this process are examined and management of knowledge assets through the processes of codification, abstraction and diffusion is investigated. Competitive advantage does not flow automatically from the possession of knowledge assets. An organisation has to know how to extract value from them and extracting value from knowledge assets requires an ability to manage them. The Boisot I-Space framework provides constructive and dynamic processes, namely codification, abstraction and diffusion that significantly improve the ability to manage knowledge assets. When these processes are integrated into the way an Enterprise Portal is designed and used by an organisation, the ability to manage human, structural and customer capital assets is improved. Furthermore, the opportunity for enhanced support of an organisation’s capabilities and core competences can be achieved and hence the prospect for improved business performance can be realised. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kennis word toenemend herken as die sleutelelement in ‘n onderneming se volhoubaarheid en mededingendheid. Kennisbates verwys na organisatoriese bates wat bestaan uit kennis of wat kennis bevat. Hierdie bates verleen uiteindelik aan ‘n ondernemening die vermoëns om ‘n proses of handeling uit te voer wat daarop gerig is om waarde te skep en/of te lewer. Kennisbates word eerstens uitgeken as Menslike Kapitaalbates, wat gesetel is in die werknemers van ‘n organisasie, wie se talente en ervaring die produkte en dienste skep wat verkoop kan word. Tweedens verwys Strukturele Kapitaalbates na die kennis wat in die strukture, prosesse en kultuur van die onderneming vasgevang of geïnstitusionaliseer is. Ten slotte verwys Kliëntekapitaalbates na die saamgestelde waarde van ‘n onderneming se verhoudings met kliënte, leweransiers, bedryfsverenigings en markte, tesame met kliënte se persepsie van die waarde van daardie onderneming. Inligtingstegnologie word ook beskou as ‘n hulpmiddel vir die fasilitering van die oordrag en deling van kennis deurdat dit die vloei van kennis en inligting aanhelp. In die besonder kan die gebruik van ondernemingsportale, as ‘n platform vir die bevordering van inligtingstegnologie, aan werknemers, kliënte en sakevennote veilige, persoonlike en integrale toegang bied tot dinamiese kennisbates uit ‘n reeks bronne en in ‘n verskeidenheid formate, met toenemende ingesteldheid op ‘n onderneming se prestasies. Die navorsing hieronder ondersoek in besonder die manier waarop ondernemings hulle kennisbates doeltreffend kan bestuur deur ondernemingsportale te gebruik en hoe die bestuur van hierdie bates organisatoriese kernvaardighede en vermoëns kan aanvul. Teoretiese insigte uit Boisot se “ ISpace”- raamwerk word gebruik as basis vir die ontleding van inligtingvloei en van die skepping en verspreiding van kennis in organisasies. Die rol van tegnologieë as hulpmiddel in hierdie proses en die bestuur van kennisbates deur middel van kodifisering, abstraksie en diffusie word ondersoek en ontleed. Mededingende voorsprong vloei nie nie vanself uit die besit van kennisbates nie - ‘n onderneming moet leer hoe om waarde daaruit te put en dié proses vereis die vermoë om kennisbates te bestuur. Die Boisot “I-Space”-raamwerk verskaf konstruktiewe en dinamiese prosesse, naamlik kodifisering, abstraksie en diffusie, wat die vermoë om kennisbates te bestuur aansienlik verbeter. Wanneer dié prosesse geïntegreer word in die wyse waarop ‘n Ondernemingsportaal deur ‘n onderneming ontwerp en aangewend word, word sy vermoë om menslike, strukturele en kliëntekapitaalbates te bestuur verbeter. Daarbenewens kan die moontlikheid van verbeterde steun vir ‘n onderneming se vermoëns en kernvaardighede op geïntegreerde wyse bewerkstellig word en die vooruitsigte op verhoogde besigheidsprestasie sodoende verwerklik word.