Mapping the information resources of a university science, technology and innovation observatory using the Infomapping method

Abstract:

This research approaches the delineation of information resources, which are essential for the informational environment of university observatories of science, technology, and innovation. Its general objective is to identify the appropriate informational resources for the installation and operation of a university observatory of science, technology, and innovation. It is characterized as a descriptive and exploratory research as to the objectives, and documentary and case study as to the means. In the results were applied the four steps of the Infomapping method for mapping the information resources of the OtletCI Observatory. The application of the first step allowed the identification of 42 possible entities of information resources, being (23) belonging to the category sources, (07) to the category services and (12) to the category systems; in the last step the number of entities of information resources was reduced to 20 and these entities were categorized into three groups: (1) the information sources; (2) the activities; and (3) the instruments. It concludes that, the results achieved by this research represent an expansion of the structural and operational understanding regarding the functioning of a science, technology, and innovation observatory, with a focus on higher education institutions.

Keywords:
informational environment; science; technology; and innovation; information resource entities; Infomapping; OtletCI Observatory