Accessible Digital Resources

Accessible etexts from curriculum materials for those with print impairments - strategies for conversion and reading using assistive technologies.

Digital resources and their role in advanced service provision:a VRIN analysis

Purpose: We examine the role of digital resources in the context of advanced service provision to determine their strategic potential. Approach: We conduct a theoretical review of the literature to identify digital resources which we subsequently analyse with regards to their value, rarity, inimitability and non-substitutability (VRIN). Findings: Our analysis shows that the strategic value of the digital resources is unlocked through their complementarity. Value: The research has implications for the management of advanced services and contributes towards the grounding of servitization research in the wider economic and management theory.

Áudio digital: uma abordagem ao áudio pela perspectiva de ensino

A sociedade contemporânea tem acompanhado a evolução da Internet, ligando cada vez mais pessoas que exigem mais dela a cada dia que passa e desencadeando uma proliferação tecnológica nunca antes observada. A utilização de recursos, como vídeo e áudio na Internet, tem ganho nos últimos anos um crescente interesse. No entanto, constata-se a carência ou falta de recursos educativos digitais na área do áudio, que sejam capazes de apresentar uma pedagogia eficiente face a um tema muito complexo e extenso, para todos aqueles que queiram aprender de forma mais aprofundada o áudio como componente de engenharia. Na internet, sites de vídeos como Youtube ensinam a usar software de edição de áudio como Audacity, conceitos sobre som e áudio. Contudo, todos estão espalhados, sendo que a maior parte deles não possui fundamentos científicos ou uma bibliografia que acompanhe os conteúdos que leccionam. A proposta desta investigação é pesquisar sobre conhecimentos e recursos de áudio, integrando-os num produto Learning Object, Investigar noções teóricas sobre o som, equipamentos e técnicas usadas na área, assim como obter melhores resultados num espaço para a gravação que o aluno poderia fazer, aglomerando esses conceitos num protótipo mediamente desenvolvido. Foi necessária uma investigação extensa nesta área e avaliar e investigar a possibilidade de um recurso educativo, como o DALCH, capaz de proporcionar uma aprendizagem efectiva dos conceitos relacionados com áudio, que é um conceito complexo. Uma vez realizada essa investigação, foi necessário desenvolver, testar e avaliar um produto Learning Object, que apresentasse o áudio na sua globalidade, desde conceitos básicos até conceitos inerentes à própria produção. Foi possível aferir que esta solução pode contribuir para a formação desses alunos mediante uma experiência de aprendizagem agradável e intuitiva.

Outsourcing das actividades de marketing digital nas PME

Dissertação de Mestrado Apresentado ao Instituto de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Marketing Digital, sob orientação de Professor Doutor Freitas Santos

Seqins: a sequencing tool for educational resources

The teaching-learning process is increasingly focused on the combination of the paradigms “learning by viewing” and “learning by doing.” In this context, educational resources, either expository or evaluative, play a pivotal role. Both types of resources are interdependent and their sequencing would create a richer educational experience to the end user. However, there is a lack of tools that support sequencing essentially due to the fact that existing specifications are complex. The Seqins is a sequencing tool of digital resources that has a fairly simple sequencing model. The tool communicates through the IMS LTI specification with a plethora of e-learning systems such as learning management systems, repositories, authoring and evaluation systems. In order to validate Seqins we integrate it in an e-learning Ensemble framework instance for the computer programming learning.

LSP communication in a digital age: the outcomes of teaching and learning in tertiary education

This paper discusses the changes brought by the communication revolution in teaching and learning in the scope of LSP. Its aim is to provide an insight on how teaching which was bi-dimensional, turned into a multidimensional system, gathering other complementary resources that have transformed, in a incredibly short time, the ways we receive share and store information, for instance as professionals, and keep in touch with our peers. The increasing rise of electronic publications, the incredible boom of social and professional networks, search engines, blogs, list servs, forums, e-mail blasts, Facebook pages, YouTube contents, Tweets and Apps, have twisted the way information is conveyed. Classes ceased to be predictable and have been empowered by digital platforms, innumerous and different data repositories (TILDE, IATE, LINGUEE, and so many other terminological data banks) that have definitely transformed the academic world in general and tertiary education in particular. There is a bulk of information to be digested by students, who are no longer passive but instead responsible and active for their academic outcomes. The question is whether they possess the tools to select only what is accurate and important for a certain subject or assignment, due to that overflow? Due to the reduction of the number of course years in most degrees, after the implementation of Bologna and the shrinking of the curricula contents, have students the possibility of developing critical thinking? Both teaching and learning rely on digital resources to improve the speed of the spreading of knowledge. But have those changes been effective to promote really communication? Furthermore, with the increasing Apps that have already been developed and will continue to appear for learning foreign languages, for translation among others, will the students feel the need of learning them once they have those Apps. These are some the questions we would like to discuss in our paper.

Projeto de uma biblioteca digital conjunta entre o México e Portugal: uma ponte para apoiar a investigação e o ensino em biblioteconomia e áreas afins

Apresenta-se um projeto em curso entre a ESEIG/IPP (Portugal) e o IIBI/UNAM (México) para a criação de uma biblioteca digital na área da Biblioteconomia e dos Estudos de Informação. Considerando a missão educacional das instituições envolvidas, são analisados os conceitos conexos Ambientes Virtuais de Pesquisa e Aprendizagem nos quais a biblioteca digital fundamenta alguns dos seus princípios. É apresentado o modelo de biblioteca digital que sustenta o projeto e são caracterizadas as instituições participantes. Faz-se ainda uma reflexão sobre a conceção e o estabelecimento de uma política de informação, de modo a proporcionar um substrato para a criação e utilização dos recursos e serviços entre as comunidades envolvidas no projeto. Por fim, são apresentados os objetivos da biblioteca digital e diretrizes para a criação e partilha dos recursos digitais.

O contributo da narrativa digital para o desenvolvimento da fala num caso de Rubinstein-Taybi: estudo de caso

Dissertação de mestrado em Ciências da Educação (área de especialização em Tecnologia Educativa)

Building the ‘Digital’ Library: Routes to Managing our Institutional Digital Learning, Teaching and Research Assets Together

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Diffusion of digital innovation in construction: a case study of a UK engineering firm

The UK government is mandating the use of building information modelling (BIM) in large public projects by 2016. As a result, engineering firms are faced with challenges related to embedding new technologies and associated working practices for the digital delivery of major infrastructure projects. Diffusion of innovations theory is used to investigate how digital innovations diffuse across complex firms. A contextualist approach is employed through an in-depth case study of a large, international engineering project-based firm. The analysis of the empirical data, which was collected over a four-year period of close interaction with the firm, reveals parallel paths of diffusion occurring across the firm, where both the innovation and the firm context were continually changing. The diffusion process is traced over three phases: centralization of technology management, standardization of digital working practices, and globalization of digital resources. The findings describe the diffusion of a digital innovation as multiple and partial within a complex social system during times of change and organizational uncertainty, thereby contributing to diffusion of innovations studies in construction by showing a range of activities and dynamics of a non-linear diffusion process.

Characteristics of Digital Sustainability

The concept of digital sustainability is mentioned in research on digital preservation as well as on openness topics. Both streams of literature point out the necessary discussion how to create, use, and regulate digital resources in order to maximize their value for our society today and in the future. This paper therefore reviews current work on digital sustainability, presents a list of six charac-teristics how to define digitally sustainable goods, and draws the link to aspects of e-government.

Functional and discrete digital sustainability within the sustainable development goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present the new global agenda by the United Nations for the next 15 years from 2016 to 2030. In this research paper we examine how digital resources may contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. Based on a broad literature review we argue functional digital sustainability supports the SDGs while discrete digital sustainability is required to create and progress knowledge necessary to advance the SDGs. First we explain the perspectives of functional and discrete sustainability; secondly we map the two perspectives onto the 17 SDGs with examples incorporating both perspectives of digital sustainability. We conclude that digital sustainability should encompass both perspectives in order to exploit the full potential of information systems in regard to sustainability transformations.

Perceptions of Usability and Usefulness in Digital Libraries

This paper provides an overview of a case study research that investigated the use of Digital Library (DL) resources in two undergraduate classes and explored faculty and students’ perceptions of educational digital libraries. This study found that students and faculty use academic DLs primarily for textual resources, but turn to the open Web for visual and multimedia resources. The study participants did not perceive academic libraries as a useful source of digital images and used search engines when searching for visual resources. The limited use of digital library resources for teaching and learning is associated with perceptions of usefulness and ease of use, especially if considered in a broader information landscape, in conjunction with other library information systems, and in the context of Web resources. The limited use of digital libraries is related to the following perceptions: 1) Library systems are not viewed as user-friendly, which in turn discourages potential users from trying DLs provided by academic libraries; 2) Academic libraries are perceived as places of primarily textual resources; perceptions of usefulness, especially in regard to relevance of content, coverage, and currency, seem to have a negative effect on user intention to use DLs, especially when searching for visual materials.

Green education using open educational resources (OER): setting up a green OER repository

A wealth of open educational resources (OER) focused on green topics is currently available through a variety of sources, including learning portals, digital repositories and web sites. However, in most cases these resources are not easily accessible and retrievable, while additional issues further complicate this issue. This paper presents an overview of a number of portals hosting OER, as well as a number of “green” thematic portals that provide access to green OER. It also discusses the case of a new collection that aims to support and populate existing green collections and learning portals respectively, providing information on aspects such as quality assurance/collection and curation policies, workflow and tools for both the content and metadata records that apply to the collection. Two case studies of the integration of this new collection to existing learning portals are also presented.

Share.TEC Portal: How the Metadata Repositories of Educational Resources Meet the Users’ Expectations

This is an extended version of an article presented at the Second International Conference on Software, Services and Semantic Technologies, Sofia, Bulgaria, 11–12 September 2010.