In 2021, the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through the FCCN Unit, once again distinguished innovative research work on the information preserved by Arquivo.pt, with a total of 15,000€ in prizes. Three works were distinguished for the way they use the historical information preserved by this service. Learn more about each of the projects.
The winners of the 4th edition
The big winners of the 2021 edition of the Arquivo.pt - the award that distinguishes innovative works that are based on the information accessible through this FCCN Unit service and that preserves millions of pages collected from the web since 1996. In its 4th edition, this award aims to demonstrate the usefulness of Arquivo.pt, as well as to reinforce the importance of preserving information published on the web.
1st Prize | Major Minors
The big winner of the 2021 edition was the project "Major Minors", by Paulo Martins and Leandro Costa, which won a prize of 10,000€. The platform created by these researchers from the University of Minho aims to map the representation of minority groups in the Portuguese media landscape. To this end, "Major Minors" consists of an ontological database that aggregates press clippings with reference to social minorities. "In the future, we would like to expand [the platform]", referred Paulo Martins to the newspaper Público, alluding to the possibility of replicating the concept for other issues or applications.
2nd Prize | Politiques
The tool "Politiques", created by David Batista, was awarded the second prize (worth €3,000). The work consists of a platform that allows searching for relations of support or opposition between political personalities and parties. These connections are established through the analysis of news headlines preserved at Arquivo.pt. According to the author, the database includes about 1400 Portuguese personalities affiliated to political parties and with public positions in Portugal, among others. "I thought that Arquivo.pt had lots of data and that the contest was open, " David Batista told Público, explaining the origin of the project.
3rd Prize | front pages of Portuguese online newspapers
The third prize was awarded to the work "Front pages of Portuguese online newspapers", by designer Susana Parreira, who received a prize of 2,000€. As the name indicates, the project consists of a platform that performs an interactive analysis of the graphic design of the first pages of Portuguese online newspapers over time. The work also received an honourable mention awarded by the media partner Jornal Público. According to the author, the tool may be applied in research or in a classroom context.
This same project received an Honourable Mention award from our media partner, the Público newspaper.
What is the Arquivo.pt Award
The purpose of the annual Arquivo.pt Award is to promote practical applications or complete research studies based on the information accessible through Arquivo.pt, which demonstrate the usefulness of this public service and the importance of preserving the information published on the web.
For this reason, works may focus on themes from any area (e.g. Education, History, Sociology, Communication, Health, Informatics), as long as this service is used as the main source of information.
To find out more follow the social networks(Facebook and Twitter) or visit page.
What is Arquivo.pt
Arquivo.pt is a research infrastructure that archives and preserves web pages published in Portugal since 1996 and has an online search service that provides access to all the archived information. The main goal of this FCCN unit service is to preserve the information published on the web for memory, study and research, with open access to the entire population.
With a connection to the world of research illustrated by the presence of Arquivo.pt in Registry of Research Data Repositories, a platform used by international researchers as a source of open data, this service has been developing several activities to identify online data related to Research & Development (R&D) projects, in order to preserve them in a systematic way.
We recommend reading the article Arquivo.pt: The role of digital preservation in open science.
