Marcas portuguesas: uma metodologia para a afirmação e avaliação dos seus impactos

O processo de criação de marcas – branding – decorre da intervenção de um diversificado número de especialistas de áreas científicas distintas como são: a da comunicação, da publicidade, do marketing e das relações públicas. O designer, apesar de ser um dos mais significantes actores no processo de construção da marca é, geralmente, relegado para o plano de fazedor das coisas esteticamente úteis. As razões deste facto podem ser encontradas neste estereótipo que constrange o entendimento sobre a vocação do designer, desvalorizando- se o seu papel de conceptualizador e não respeitando os seus argumentos. A flexibilidade do seu pensar analítico, criativo e sistémico associado à acção direccionada para a mudança leva à consideração de que o Designer é um agente multifacetado e, numa equipa, é um membro agregador de diversas sensibilidades. A síntese que opera através do desenho permite ao designer colocar-se numa posição de dinamização e, porventura, de liderança de carácter identitário. Tendo em conta o exposto o designer necessita de metodologias de apoio ao seu desempenho que lhe permitam realizar o trabalho para o qual está vocacionado. Enquadrado pela lógica sistémica da comunicação institucional, essas metodologias potenciam a observação, análise e avaliação da marca, uma vez que está focalizada na recolha das orientações dos destinatários da marca – cidadãos e consumidores. Conhecer como percepcionam a marca, qual a relação que mantêm com ela e como reagem à forma como a marca comunica é o desafio da metodologia criada. Deste modo, o designer poderá contribuir para a desconstrução dos estereótipos referidos, reforçar a sua posição no mercado de trabalho e afirmar a sua diferença face aos especialistas das áreas complementares com quem intervém. A tese que se apresenta tem por finalidade elaborar uma metodologia para a afirmação e avaliação dos impactos da marca, no sentido de conhecer as orientações de quem melhor sabe lidar com a marca - o público-alvo. E, integrar toda a informação no processo decisão que o designer protagoniza.

U-TRACER® - the use of communication technology in higher education - an information visualization tool for the context of Portuguese public higher education

Information Visualization is gradually emerging to assist the representation and comprehension of large datasets about Higher Education Institutions, making the data more easily understood. The importance of gaining insights and knowledge regarding higher education institutions is little disputed. Within this knowledge, the emerging and urging area in need of a systematic understanding is the use of communication technologies, area that is having a transformative impact on educational practices worldwide. This study focused on the need to visually represent a dataset about how Portuguese Public Higher Education Institutions are using Communication Technologies as a support to teaching and learning processes. Project TRACER identified this need, regarding the Portuguese public higher education context, and carried out a national data collection. This study was developed within project TRACER, and worked with the dataset collected in order to conceptualize an information visualization tool U-TRACER®. The main goals of this study related to: conceptualization of the information visualization tool U-TRACER®, to represent the data collected by project TRACER; understand higher education decision makers perception of usefulness regarding the tool. The goals allowed us to contextualize the phenomenon of information visualization tools regarding higher education data, realizing the existing trends. The research undertaken was of qualitative nature, and followed the method of case study with four moments of data collection.The first moment regarded the conceptualization of the U-TRACER®, with two focus group sessions with Higher Education professionals, with the aim of defining the interaction features the U-TRACER® should offer. The second data collection moment involved the proposal of the graphical displays that would represent the dataset, which reading effectiveness was tested by end-users. The third moment involved the development of a usability test to the UTRACER ® performed by higher education professionals and which resulted in the proposal of improvements to the final prototype of the tool. The fourth moment of data collection involved conducting exploratory, semi-structured interviews, to the institutional decision makers regarding their perceived usefulness of the U-TRACER®. We consider that the results of this study contribute towards two moments of reflection. The challenges of involving end-users in the conceptualization of an information visualization tool; the relevance of effective visual displays for an effective communication of the data and information. The second relates to the reflection about how the higher education decision makers, stakeholders of the U-TRACER® tool, perceive usefulness of the tool, both for communicating their institutions data and for benchmarking exercises, as well as a support for decision processes. Also to reflect on the main concerns about opening up data about higher education institutions in a global market.

Tracing the use of Communication Technologies in Higher Education

This chapter presents a comprehensive view of the main activities and findings of a research project entitled TRACER-Portuguese Public Higher Education Use of Communication Technologies, which focused on how the information about the use of Communication Technologies in Higher Education Institutions  can be collected, systematized, processed, and deployed to stakeholders. The project was carried out between 2011 and 2014 and its main results are a consolidated proposal of an analysis model to address the use of Communication Technologies in Higher Education institutions, as well as the U-TRACER® tool. This Web-based tool provides support to the process of collecting, processing, and deployment of data related with the use of Communication Technologies in a specific Higher Education or in a group of institutions, based on institutional or geographical criteria.