Abstract:

This project was developed as part of an international cooperation program between Siauliai State College (Lithuania) and the Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration (Portugal), which results in a double degree agreement for the bachelor’s degree students in Information Management (Lithuania) and bachelor degree students in Science and Technologies of Documentation and Information (Portugal). Nowadays almost everyone has access to the internet and a mobile phone, so companies are adopting different ways to attract customers. Not only the use of applications and social media have grown but also sales applications. Due to the pandemic many companies started using other ways to communicate with their customers and in the case of the Rūta’s Chocolate Museum, with its visitors. The close relationship between the Information Society, Information Science and Heritage, regardless of its´ nature, is explored and explained and as a continuation it is assumed that information professionals currently have diversified skills that allow them to work in contexts different from the so-called traditional ones, such as libraries and archives.

The methodology was based on scientific literature review and on the identification and analysis of different variables that would influence its development, namely:
a) identify and analyze what already exists about the museum on the web (website, social networks);
b) know the visitors information needs;
c) know the museum strategy for marketing;
d) create an app prototype;
e) create content for the app.

A comparison between app creation platforms was developed but the main criteria at this point was free of charge use as well as hierarchical content display. The content creation had in mind the goal of the company, mainly to promote the museum's activities and Rüta products by reaching potential customers all over the world, so the use of English was very important, but also what interests the users of the Rüta social networks showed. The app prototype is presented, and as mentioned before, the use of mobile applications as grown through the last years due to the growth of mobile phones users and companies making a huge investment in said mobile apps as it helps with the diffusion of their services making them more easily accessed by the costumers. This impacts not only financially but also in the way information society evolves as more and more information is created by minute. The change in information society is noticeable not only in the way it alters the information cycle (its production, selection, use and storage) but also the professionals and the skills required so the information is useful and attends to what is needed.

The educational implications of the project relate to the performance of the information professional in non-traditional areas, but in areas where the valorization of the informational heritage of companies, can give way to initiatives that will have positive impacts in activity and business. This requires graduates to use, in an integrated way, the specialized skills seized over the three years of the study cycle, but also put other transversal skills in practice, such as reasoning and problem solving. Within the scope of the project, it is considered that self-regulation and the search for solutions to problems presuppose environmental manipulations that ultimately originate behaviors that tend to increase the probability of achieving the educational goal.

Keywords:

Internationalization, Mobile Application Development, Information Retrieval, Information Professionals, Double degree.