Ci2 Website
The institutional website for the Ci2 research center, started as a MSc course (Software Engineering) project and continued with MSc theses work and ongoing maintenance.
Overview
The Ci2 Website represents the institutional web presence for Ci2, the Smart Cities Research Center at IPT. The project started as a course project (MEI-IoT/Software Engineering) and has continued with MSc theses work and ongoing maintenance.
Context
Research centers need a functional and well-maintained online presence to communicate and manage their data, i.e., researchers, publications and projects clearly. The previous solution was not a proper CRIS and was difficult to maintain, so a new website was developed with a content management approach, responsive design, and clear information architecture aligned with the center’s research activities and communication needs.
What was built
A modern Current Research Information System (CRIS) website built with Ruby on Rails, featuring a content management system for easy updates on core information (e.g., researcher profiles, publications, projects), responsive design for accessibility, and automatic fetching of metrics from external sources (e.g., quartiles, citations) to showcase the center’s research impact.
Evolution
This project shows how DataLab work can grow over time. What began as a course project by Luís Costa, Paulo Peixoto and Ricardo Medeiros has been continued and expanded by Paulo Peixoto to a fully working CRIS as part of his MSc thesis. During the first semester Paulo analysed research information systems in use by other institutions and studied interoperability mechanisms related to the PTCRIS. During the second semester he implemented the core CRIS, including data management and metrics fetching. The current iteration, carried forward by Tomás Silva, focuses on improving user experience and adding further content management capabilities, namely, interaction with platforms like ORCID and CIÊNCIAVITAE.