PROPOSAL FOR A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT TO ANSWER THE INFORMATION NEEDS OF USERS IN THE DAILY AND TICKETS CONCESSIONS SECTOR AT THE FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF RIO GRANDE DO NORTE
information science; information and knowledge management; virtual assistant; chatbot; design science research.
Informational overload and artificial intelligence are paradigmatic phenomena of current
times. Information professionals see Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies as an ally in
coping with cognitive overload, whether by optimizing access, processing or organizing
information. This study aimed to design a virtual assistant that offers assistance to users of the
Daily and Ticket Concessions Sector of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte
(UFRN), satisfying their basic informational needs regarding the processes of payment of
daily rates and purchase of airline tickets. The Design Science Research (DSR) research
method was used, which was developed in order to confer relevance and rigor to the research
that aims at the design and construction of artifacts. The data that supported the virtual
assistant project were collected from the attendance record of the most used communication
channel between the administrative sector and its users, an instant messaging application.
After mapping the informational flows and analyzing the data collected in the attendance
record, it will be possible to identify the main intentions of the users, which will allow the
specification of the functionalities of the proposed system.