1 Introduction

This special section has the goal to discuss the academic research and practical findings on all aspects of data analysis using computer science processes universally. It provides a global forum for the investigation and reporting of diverse issues that affect data analysis: the role, scope, and impact on decision-making and strategies of organizations and in society.

It includes the main aspects of the data analysis, as organizational issues, technological developments, educational issues, and analytical techniques that foster or inhibit evidence-based decision-making in organizations and in society and the papers present original research contributions, case studies and demonstrations with original scientific results, methodological aspects, concepts and approaches in the multidisciplinary field of data analysis using computer science.

The thematic scope of this special section includes scientific issues relating to the data analysis organization and implementation, or to the utility and usability of novel input/output computer systems, provided that contributes to new knowledge for universal access.

Specifically the special section contributes for (a) technological developments: mobile technology, virtual environments, augmented reality, assistive technology, computer vision, image processing, automation and robotics, architectures and other tools for universal data analysis and access, social networking, accessible media, cloud computing for deployment, scalability to big data analysis and universal access, innovative techniques to support big data analysis, identification of technological barriers to access and data analysis that are not addressed by existing research; (b) apps for data analysis in organizations: multi-platform facilities universally accessible, organizational and technological issues for data analysis, technological developments and analytical techniques for data analysis in order to facilitate decision-making; (c) universal e-education: mobile learning, eLearning, social media in education, new learning models; and case studies: empirical studies and data analysis and data access for all citizens, methodologies for data analysis accessibility, universal data accessibility guidelines, best practice, evaluation techniques and tools, perceptions of data analysis efficiency to end user for decision-making and scenarios conception.

2 Development of the special section

In this special section, we showcase extended versions of a series of selected papers previously presented at The 2015 World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (WorldCIST’15) held at Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal, between the 1st and 3rd of April 2015. The special section is focused on research work to enhance data analysis in the context of universal access and accessibility and was also open to other authors who submitted thematically related contributions.

The event represents the third global conference for researchers and practitioners to present and discuss recent results and innovations, current trends, professional experiences and challenges of modern Information Systems and Technology research, technological innovations, developments and applications. All WorldCIST’15 conference papers had undergone a “blind review” process by at least two members of the Program Committee. After further reviews, a set of ten high-quality papers were selected, copyedited, and finally released in this special section.

3 Papers in the special section

A summary of the aims of these papers is provided in the following.

The paper “Creating Virtual Exhibition Rooms from Emigration Digital Archives” [1] discusses the creation of Virtual Exhibition Rooms (VER) from ontological descriptions of the Emigration Digital Archives. They present the data retrieved from documents and stored in a digital repository, and then they propose the use of the CIDOC conceptual reference model (CIDOC-CRM) ontology. The authors of the article “The Electronic Record in the school-family relationship: Perceptions of Teachers and Guardians” [2] studied a new form of communication between the school and the family, through an Electronic Record (ER), using a questionnaire to analyse the perceptions of teachers and guardians towards the adoption of an ER. In the article “A comparison of research data management platforms: Architecture, flexible metadata and interoperability” [3] made an overview of current platforms that can be used for data management purposes and which was designed for institutional repositories and digital libraries. The authors of “Using NVivo to Assess a Program of Goal Corrected Empathic Attunement Skills: A Case Study in the Context of Higher Education” [4] focuses on the use of NVivo10 in the process of assessing a developmental program in Goal Corrected Emphatic. In “Comparative Study on Skills Needed by Organizations and effectively developed in eLearning Management Courses” Sousa and González-Loureiro [5] investigates the skills developed in higher education management courses through an eLearning platform. The article “Methodology for Data and Information Quality Assessment in the Context of Emergency Situation Awareness” [6] presents a new methodology to improve the capabilities of Situation Assessment system by enriching knowledge about situations with reliable metadata, to provide powerful resources to support decision-makers in emergency response systems. In “Meta-model of Information Visualization Based on Treemap” [7] describes an information visualization classification approach based on Treemap, in order to identify the best information visualization model for a given problem. The authors propose a meta-model based on Treemap visualization methods and present a case study with the information contained in the periodic table visualization meta-model. Finally, the author of the article “Patent Information Visualization: The Use of Social Media for its Selective Dissemination and to Leverage Innovation” [8] describes the project for the development and implementation of a theoretical support model for the creation of an information system that will allow the dissemination and visualization of scientific and technical information contained in patent documents.

As the special section editors, we would like to take this opportunity to thank the various authors for their papers and the reviewers for their comments and suggestions.

We are also grateful to Constantine Stephanidis, UAIS Editor-in-Chief, for his support and encouragement throughout the editorial process. Finally, we also would like to thank the support of The Iberian Association for Information Systems and Technologies (AISTI) for this special section to be a reality.

Maria José Sousa, Universidade Europeia and University of Coimbra, Portugal, and Álvaro Rocha, University of Coimbra, Portugal, Guest Editors UAIS.

Maria José Sousa is a Professor at Universidade Europeia—Laureate International Universities, and at ISEG/IDEFE, Universidade de Lisboa. She is also a Post Doc researcher at University of Coimbra and received her Ph.D. degree in Management from Aveiro University. Her research interests are in the fields of Information Systems Management, Information Technologies in Education, Management and Innovation. In addition to her research expertise, she has extensive practical experience in public and private organizations. She is a researcher at Business Research Unit, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal, and at the CIEO—Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, University of Algarve. She is also an associate member of AISTI (Iberian Association for Information Systems and Technologies) and a member of the scientific committee of RISTI (Iberian Journal of Information Systems and Technologies).

Álvaro Rocha holds Habilitation in Information Science, PhD in Information Systems and Technologies, MSc in Information Management, and Bachelor in Computer Science.

He is Professor of Information Systems and Software Engineering at University of Coimbra, researcher at CISUC (Centre for Informatics and Systems of the University of Coimbra) and a collaborator researcher at LIACC (Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science) and at CINTESIS (Center for Research in Health Technologies and Information Systems). His main research interests are Information Systems Planning and Management, Information Systems Quality, Requirements Engineering, Software Engineering, e-Government, e-Health, and Information Technology in Education.

He is President of AISTI (Iberian Association for Information Systems and Technologies), Chair of IEEE Portugal Section Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society Chapter, and Vice-President of ADI-PME (Association for the Development and Innovation in the Small and Medium Enterprises). He is also the Editor-in-Chief of JISEM (Journal of Information Systems Engineering & Management) and the Editor-in-Chief of RISTI (Iberian Journal of Information Systems and Technologies). And he is Vice-Chair of Experts in the Horizon 2020 of the European Commission, Expert in the COST—intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in Science and Technology, Expert in the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, and General Chair of WorldCIST (World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies).

4 List of the reviewers

  • Álvaro Rocha, University of Coimbra, Portugal.

  • Ana Paula Afonso, ISCAP, IPP, Portugal.

  • António Briones, Universidad Politecnica de Cartagena, Spain.

  • Claudio Gottschalg Duque, Universidade de Brasilia, Brazil.

  • Eduardo Chagas, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Brazil.

  • Eduardo Guillén, University of Coruña, Spain.

  • Filipe Sá, University of Vigo, Spain.

  • George Jamil, Brazil em Rede, Brazil.

  • Ivo Dias, Universidade Europeia, Portugal.

  • João Carlos Silva, IPCA, Portugal.

  • Joaquim Gonçalves, IPCA, Portugal.

  • José Pita Castelo, University of Vigo, Spain.

  • Leonardo Botega, Centro Universitário Eurípides de Marília, Brazil.

  • Maria José Angélico, ISCAP, IPP, Portugal.

  • Maria José Sousa, Universidade Europeia, Portugal.

  • Patrícia Leite, IPCA, Portugal.

  • Paulo Teixeira, IPCA, Portugal.

  • Sérgio Maravilhas, Fundação Visconde de Cairu, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

  • Vítor Santos, Nova IMS, Portugal.