Uso e desenvolvimento de sistemas de organização do conhecimento pelas corporações: criação de um modelo conceitual para o domínio da exploração mineral

Abstract

The recovery of information has been one of the fundamental issues of Information Sciences. Thus, over time, several models, standards and systems have been developed for organizing information and knowledge in a way that makes data from bibliographic databases and information products accessible. The foundational theme of this research is the field of Knowledge Organization within corporations, motivated by the necessity for organizing knowledge within the Exploration and Mineral Projects department at Vale S.A. The goal is to create a conceptual model of the knowledge domain of mineral exploration to support information recovery systems that store knowledge within this context. The issue raised regards investigating which would be the proper conceptual model to support the indexation and improve retrieval of information in corporate information systems. The general goal is to develop a conceptual model of the knowledge domain of mineral exploration through extending the value chain diagram with new categories. The specific objectives are i) To present previous research done in the utilization of Knowledge Organization Systems in corporate environments; ii) Identify the main strategies and methodologies for developing conceptual models; iii) Identify existing categories in related knowledge organization systems that could subsidize the development of a conceptual model in the mineral exploration domain; iv) Include relevant categories identified in the value chain of Exploration and Mineral Projects at Vale, constituting the conceptual model for mineral exploration. As a general objective this is categorized as a case study for the board of Exploration and Mineral Projects at Vale. This is applied research, in which the goal is to generate knowledge for practical purposes, and exploratory, where the intention is to discover a new kind of focus for the problems presented. This paper has a qualitative approach, and the logical basis of research is the inductive method. The research presents two nuclei of observation, the first regarding the whole theoretical scope, where bibliographic research and content analysis was conducted, and the second and main nucleus regarding the practical nature which intends to develop a conceptual model in Mineral Exploration. The project is considered to have succeeded the proposed objectives. Regarding the general goal, the conceptual model has been developed and prototyped for the future elaboration of a KOS (Knowledge Organization System), which has been named MEKOS --Mineral Exploration Knowledge Organization System. The specific objectives aimed to answer the raised questions also demonstrated satisfactory results. It is believed that the development of a KOS for the area of Mineral Research is of great importance, considering the ever-growing economy surrounding commodities. Actions towards standardizing the knowledge of Mineral Exploration will support the indexation and recovery of information, which in turn help to improve productivity, foment research and generate new knowledge.