Sentiment Analysis of Portuguese Political Parties Communication

Costa, C. J., Aparicio, M., & Aparicio, J. (2021). Sentiment Analysis of Portuguese Political Parties Communication. In Proceedings of the 39th ACM International Conference on the Design of Communication (SIGDOC '21) (pp. 63-69). Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). https://doi.org/10.1145/3472714.3473624Political communication in social media has gained increasing importance in the last years. In this study, we analyze the political parties’ communication on Twitter and understand the sentiment of their communication. First by identifying their communication performance regarding the daily number of tweets, favorite tweets, number of retweets per day and per political party. We present a sentiment analysis by the political party using tweets data. In this study, we propose an explanatory model with the main drivers of retweets. To conduct this study, our approach used data analysis and machine learning techniques methods. Results indicate the main determinants that influence future retweets of political posts globally. Here we present a comparison of the communication content between tweets posts and the political parties’ programs available on their institutional websites. We identify the similarities between tweets and formal programs per party and among all parties. This study contributes to analyze the coherence and effectiveness of the political parties’ communication.authorsversionpublishe

Applications of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence

Costa, C. J., & Aparicio, M. (2023). Applications of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. Applied Sciences (Switzerland), 13(15), 1-3. [9015]. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13159015 --- The authors acknowledge financial support via ADVANCE-CSG from the Fundação para a Ciência and Tecnologia (FCT Portugal) through research grant number UIDB/04521/2020, and we gratefully acknowledge the financial support from FCT—Fundação para a Ciencia e Tecnologia, I.P., (Portugal), national funding through research grant UIDB/04152/2020—Centro de Investigação em Gestão de Informação (MagIC).Data science and artificial intelligence have emerged as pivotal disciplines in the era of big data and automation. With the ability to analyze massive datasets, uncover patterns, and predict outcomes, these technologies have found applications in numerous sectors, revolutionizing how we interact with information and make decisions. Here, we highlight some of the most significant applications of data science and AI and their impact on various industries.publishersversionpublishe

Full Paper: Blockchain Technology Adoption: Factors Influencing Intention and Usage

Blockchain technology is already being discussed as an emerging trend for the upcoming years. Researchers and organizations are beginning to recognize the potential benefits of this technology and are exploring how it can disrupt our world. However, the reality is that there has not been much progress in getting blockchain from a concept to widespread adoption. This study aimed to investigate the factors that influence the adoption of blockchain technology. We proposed a model that incorporated relevant features to blockchain technology adoption, specifically the role of Trust and Security as mediating variables. Data was collected using a questionnaire administered to people working in companies independently of their technology usage. Structural equation modeling using partial least squares (SEM-PLS) was used to analyze the data and construct the model. Results indicated that performance expectancy, social influence, and trust positively influenced people’s actual use or intention to adopt blockchain technology. Additionally, environmental concerns had a negative effect on the intention to adopt. These findings suggest that individuals are more likely to adopt blockchain technology when they perceive it as valuable and trustworthy and receive support from their social networks

Factors Influencing Intention and Usage

Cesario, F., Costa, C. J., Aparicio, M., & Aparicio, J. T. (2023). Blockchain Technology Adoption: Factors Influencing Intention and Usage. In A. R. da Silva, M. M. da Silva, J. Estima, C. Barry, M. Lang, H. Linger, & C. Schneider (Eds.), Information Systems Development, Organizational Aspects and Societal Trends (ISD2023 Proceedings) Instituto Superior Técnico. https://aisel.aisnet.org/isd2014/proceedings2023/managingdevops/1/ --- Funding: The authors acknowledge financial support via ADVANCE- CSG from the Fundação para a Ciência and Tecnologia (FCT Portugal) through research grant numbers UIDB/04521/2020; research grant UIDB/04152/2020—Centro de Investigação em Gestão de Informação (MagIC); and research grant UI/BD/153587/2022.Blockchain technology is already being discussed as an emerging trend for the upcoming years. Researchers and organizations are beginning to recognize the potential benefits of this technology and are exploring how it can disrupt our world. However, the reality is that there has not been much progress in getting blockchain from a concept to widespread adoption. This study aimed to investigate the factors that influence the adoption of blockchain technology. We proposed a model that incorporated relevant features to blockchain technology adoption, specifically the role of Trust and Security as mediating variables. Data was collected using a questionnaire administered to people working in companies independently of their technology usage. Structural equation modeling using partial least squares (SEM-PLS) was used to analyze the data and construct the model. Results indicated that performance expectancy, social influence, and trust positively influenced people’s actual use or intention to adopt blockchain technology. Additionally, environmental concerns had a negative effect on the intention to adopt. These findings suggest that individuals are more likely to adopt blockchain technology when they perceive it as valuable and trustworthy and receive support from their social networks.authorsversionpublishe

An open-source solution

Correia, R., Vieira, J., & Aparicio, M. (2019). Community radio stations sustainability model: An open-source solution. Radio Journal, 17(1), 29-45. https://doi.org/10.1386/rjao.17.1.29_1Community radio stations are important social-inclusion structures, empowering communities through media access and production, reinforcing their ties with the wider civil society. The free and open-source software movement has been established since the 1980s, founded on the freedom to use, to study, to share and to improve a software’s source code. It focuses on sharing knowledge, enabling action within a community towards a common goal. With millions of projects and market dominance in specific areas of IT, open source is one of the most successful community movements of our time. In this article, we argue that theoretical frameworks and other insights drawn from the open-source movement can be valuable tools for understanding and critically analysing the designated community radio sphere in terms of technology, content creation and community management to provide a sustainable broadcast practice, expanding already-existing inclusive environments and potentiating empowerment through participation.publishe

Trends in the e-Learning Ecosystem: A Bibliometric Study

E-Learning systems play an important role in our society; they facilitate instructors in the teaching process and also enable learners to access knowledge. Although, e-learning is not the first concept that refers to the use computerized systems in the learning process. This paper describes a bibliometric study. In this paper, we present the e-learning related concepts and position them in time. This study describes an evolutional systematic search study in various scientific digital libraries and compared the results. We also present the new e-learning growth trends and identified concepts that are emerging in the ecosystem of e-learning.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Digital Evolution: blockchain field research

Bernardino, C., Costa, C. J., & Aparicio, M. (2022). Digital Evolution: blockchain field research. In 2022 17th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI): proceedings (pp. 1-6). (CISTI 2022. 17th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies, 22-25 June 2022, Madrid, Spain). IEEE. ISBN: 978-9-8933-3436-2. https://doi.org/10.23919/CISTI54924.2022.9820035Blockchain is a relatively new technology supported by a decentralized database that received special attention at the research level in the last years due to its fundamental characteristics. Numerous researchers have applied blockchain studies in many fields, but the scope is very large and there is no delimitation of new and emergent trends. The method used to better understand the evolution and impact of blockchain technology was a bibliometric analysis. A search was conducted at digital Elsevier’s database with a single keyword blockchain, and 23383 articles were collected. The study uses cluster analysis method, allowing to construct and visualize bibliometric networks and to build co-occurrences networks. The results indicate that there are positive correlations between countries, that China and the United States are part of the most influential cluster. Indicates also emerging developments in the areas of governance, industry, decision-making processes, management, internet of things, information security, and a new hot topic, energy.authorsversionpublishe

A conceptual framework to implement gamification on online courses of computer programming learning: implementation

Piteira, M., Costa, C. J., & Aparicio, M. (2017). A conceptual framework to implement gamification on online courses of computer programming learning: implementation . In 10th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI2017) (pp. 7022-7031). (ICERI2015 Proceedings). IATED Academy.On the last years, gamification has studient in variuous contexts, such as marketing, health, sports and education. According to literature, gamification integrates "elements of game design in non-game context", with the objective of increasing users' engagement in certain activities. Therefore gamification integration on information systems should follow a formal and clear design process. However, these gamification design processes for specific contexts are not still defined. Thus, based on a literature review the authors proposed in a previously conducted study a framework for the implementation of gamification in online courses of computer programming learning. The framework is composed of the following dimensions: target audience, general goals, learning outcomes, topics, contents, gamification, cognitive absorption, flow, and personality. In the scope of this paper, authors present and describe the implementation of the conceptual framework. In order to achieve the objective, an online course of fundamentals of programming was designed and implemented, based on the previously proposed framework having then been launched a questionnaire to the students who attended the online course. The student's attitudes towards game elements have been identified.authorsversionpublishe

key determinants of e-commerce usage and repurchase intention

Aparicio, M., Costa, C. J., & Moises, R. (2021). Gamification and reputation: key determinants of e-commerce usage and repurchase intention. Heliyon, 7(3), [e06383]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06383Nowadays, companies know that keeping customers engaged is essential to increase their loyalty. The main goal of this study is to understand the impact of gamification and reputation on the intention of repurchase in e-commerce. Gamification corresponds to the regular usage of game elements in non-game context. This study purposes a theoretical model indicating the determinants of repurchase intention. Here we present an empirical study (survey collected data) within a real e-commerce usage context. Data were analysed with SEM/PLS method. Results indicate a positive impact of trust on the intention to use of e-commerce, on buy frequency and on repurchase intention. Ease of use, usefulness of e-commerce platforms affect intension to use. We verified the impact of reputation on trust, as well as the impact of gamification on the effective use of the e-commerce platforms. Results indicate that gamified e-commerce websites determine usage and use positively influences repurchase intention in e-commerce context. Gamification, e-commerce, Repurchase intention, Information systems modelpublishersversionpublishe