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About

About

Carla Teixeira Lopes is an assistant Professor in the Department of Informatics Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal. She is also a researcher at INESC TEC since 2014. She received a PhD in Informatics Engineering from the University of Porto in 2013. Her research interests lie at the intersection of information retrieval and human-computer interaction. She is interested in studying information search behaviour and in developing tools that help people search more successfully. Lately, she has been focused in exploring how context can help improve the experience of health consumers searching the Web.

Interest
Topics
Details

Details

  • Name

    Carla Lopes
  • Role

    Senior Researcher
  • Since

    01st May 2014
005
Publications

2026

Evidence-Based Activism and Knowledge Co-production: A Case Study of Online Communities on Therapeutic Cannabis

Authors
Rangel Teixeira A.; Teixeira Lopes C.;

Publication
Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems

Abstract
This study examines the role of online health communities in Brazil dedicated to cannabis treatments for chronic diseases as platforms for evidence-based activism. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research combines qualitative analysis with computational techniques, including Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling, to analyze six online groups from WhatsApp and Facebook. Key themes emerging from the analysis include treatment per pathology, treatment effects, access barriers, peer support, and advocacy efforts. The findings reveal how these communities act as epistemic networks, where patients and caregivers co-produce knowledge by sharing personal experiences and engaging in dialogue with healthcare professionals. This study highlights how online health communities transform experience sharing into structured evidence, enabling collective action to address barriers such as limited access to cannabis-based treatments. It underscores the potential of digital platforms to empower patients, foster collaboration with healthcare professionals, and influence health governance.

2026

Enhancing Knowledge Access in Online Health Communities: A Chatbot Prototype for Cannabis Treatment Support

Authors
Rangel Teixeira, A; Teixeira Lopes, C;

Publication
Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems

Abstract
Online health communities enable patients and caregivers to share experiences, seek advice, and collaboratively generate knowledge about treatments and condition. However, accessing relevant information often proves challenging due to platform limitations like insufficient search functionalities. A previous study identified key topics discussed in Brazilian online health groups centered on cannabis treatments for chronic diseases. Building on these findings, this study introduces a proof-of-concept chatbot designed to enhance access to the collective knowledge within these communities. The chatbot prototype, built using Google Dialogflow, was tailored to provide contextually relevant, accurate, and user-friendly responses. A user study involving 38 participants evaluated its performance, showing high user satisfaction, task completion rates, and trust in the information provided. The results highlight the chatbot’s potential enhance knowledge accessibility, promote patient engagement, and support evidence-based activism by organizing and disseminating community-generated content effectively. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.

2025

Harnessing Large Language Models for Clinical Information Extraction: A Systematic Literature Review

Authors
Rodrigues, T; Lopes, CT;

Publication
ACM TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTING FOR HEALTHCARE

Abstract
Electronic Health Records store extensive patient health data, playing a crucial role in healthcare management. Extracting information from these text-heavy records is difficult due to their domain-specific vocabulary, which challenges applying general-domain techniques. Recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) and an increasing interest in the field have sparked considerable progress in solving Clinical Information Extraction (IE) tasks. We review these applications in Clinical IE, highlighting the most common tasks, most successful methods, and most used datasets and evaluation criteria. Examining 85 studies, we synthesize and organize the current research trends, highlighting common points between papers. The presence of LLMs can be felt in the most common tasks, with novel approaches being attempted and showing promising results. However, breakthroughs are still necessary in designing reliable end-to-end systems that can perform all the Clinical IE tasks within a single system.

2025

Real-Time Prediction of Wikipedia Articles' Quality

Authors
Moás, PM; Lopes, CT;

Publication
Linking Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries - 29th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries, TPDL 2025, Tampere, Finland, September 23-26, 2025, Proceedings

Abstract
Wikipedia is the largest and most globally well-known online encyclopedia, but its collaborative nature leads to a significant disparity in article quality. In this work, we explore real-time and automatic quality assessment within Wikipedia through machine-learning. We first constructed a dataset of 36,000 English articles and 145 features, then compared the performance of multiple classification and regression algorithms and studied how the number of classes and features affects the model’s performance. The six-class experiments achieved a classifier accuracy of 64% and a mean absolute error of 0.09 in regression methods, which matches or beats most state-of-the-art approaches. Our model produces similar results on some non-English Wikipedias, but the error is slightly higher on other versions. We have also determined that the features measuring the article’s content and revision history bring the largest performance boost. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

2025

Comparative insights into semantic archival modelling: evaluating RiC-O and ArchOnto representation capabilities

Authors
Giagnolini, L; Koch, I; Tomasi, F; Teixeira Lopes, C;

Publication
Journal of Documentation

Abstract
Purpose – This study aims to comparatively evaluate two semantic models, ArchOnto (CIDOC CRM based) and Records in Contexts Ontology (RiC-O), for archival representation within the Linked Open Data framework. The research seeks to critically analyse their ability to represent archival documents, events, activities, and provenance through the application on a case study of historical baptism records. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopted a comparative approach, utilising the two models to represent a dataset of baptism records from a Portuguese parish spanning several centuries. This involved information extraction and conversion processes, transforming XML EAD finding aids into RDF to facilitate more explicit semantic representation and analysis. Findings – The analysis revealed distinctive strengths and limitations of each semantic model, providing nuanced insights into their respective capacities for archival description. The findings guide cultural heritage institutions in selecting and implementing the most suitable semantic model for their needs and pave the way for semantic alignment between the two models. Research limitations/implications – Although the case study explored the representation of a wide range of features, potential limitations include the specific contextual constraints of parish records and the need for broader comparative studies across diverse archival contexts. Originality/value – This paper offers original insights into semantic modelling for archival representations by providing a detailed comparative analysis of two ontological approaches. It offers valuable perspectives for archivists, digital humanities researchers, and cultural heritage professionals seeking to enhance the semantic richness of archival descriptions. © 2025 Emerald Publishing Limited