E-commerce in the travel and tourism industry in Sub-Saharan Africa

The e-commerce revolution in business can help African countries expand their tourism industry. Africa, with its great wealth in wildlife and unique resorts, can benefit from the ever increasing user population of the Internet, particularly in the USA and Western Europe where most of the tourists to Africa come from (Internet World Stats, 2004). E-commerce which runs on the backbone of the Internet can help the African tourism industry break into international tourism, thus increasing the flows of the much needed foreign currency. As there was little empirical data on the e-commerce activities in the African tourism industry the researcher first and foremost examined a large number of websites in order to paint a picture of the nature and extent of the e-commerce activities in four -African countries. For comparison, websites of tourism organisations from USA and Western Europe were also examined. The surveys revealed that few of the African organisations are embracing e-commerce and that although some websites were comparable to those of their western counterparts the majority had room for considerable improvement. After examining the websites another survey was carried out to find the current progress of e-commerce adoption and usage from the perspective of the African tourism organisations. Analysis of the data collected showed that e-commerce adoption among the tourism organisations was slow. This led to more surveys being carried out to find the barriers to e-commerce among tourism organisations with information-only websites and those whose websites had limited interactive facilities. These surveys revealed that tourism organisations with information-only websites faced more barriers than those with websites which had limited interactive features. They also revealed that the most common barriers were technological and security and legal barriers. The ultimate survey involved finding out from tourism organisations with fully-fledged e-commerce websites how they overcame the e-commerce barriers. The methods used by these organisations to overcome e-commerce barriers together with recommendations made in the surveys carried out earlier were used to formulate recommendations and guidelines for those organisations intending to adopt and e-commerce. The recommendations and guidelines were tested and results showed that they are helpful and easy to follow

Managing access to the internet in public libraries in the UK: the findings of the MAIPLE project

One of the key purposes of the public library is to provide access to information (UNESCO, 1994). In the UK, information is provided in printed formats and for the last decade via public access Internet workstations installed as part of the People’s Network initiative. Recent figures reveal that UK public libraries provide approximately 40,000 computer terminals offering users around 80,000 hours across more than 4,000 service points (CIPFA, 2012). In addition, increasing numbers of public libraries allow users to connect devices such as tablets or smart phones to the Internet via a wireless network access point (Wi-Fi). How do public library staff manage this? What about users viewing harmful or illegal content? And what are the implications for a profession committed to freedom of access to information and opposition to censorship? MAIPLE, a two-year project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council has been investigating this issue as little was known about how UK public libraries manage Internet content control including illegal material. MAIPLE has drawn on an extensive review of the literature, an online survey to which all UK public library services were invited to participate (39 per cent response rate) and case studies with five services (two in England, one in Scotland, one in Wales and one in Northern Ireland) to examine the ways these issues are managed and their implications for staff. This presentation will explore the prevalence of tools such as filtering software, Acceptable Use Policies, user authentication, booking software and visual monitoring by staff and consider their efficacy and desirability in the provision of public Internet access. It will consider the professional dilemmas inherent within managing content and access. Finally, it will highlight some of the more important themes emerging from the findings and their implications for practitioners and policy makers

Comparing Governmental Communication about COVID-19 Layered Protection Strategies in Taiwan, Kenya, and the United States: A Mixed-Method Analysis of National Health Agency Websites

COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It can result in severe respiratory damage. Different countries have recommended different combinations of protections during the COVID-19 pandemic. Various combinations of mitigation strategies or “layered protections” against coronavirus have also been communicated differently across nations. This mixed-methods content analysis seeks to compare COVID-19 mitigation information on three national health agency websites for Taiwan, Kenya, and the United States. Availability and navigability of information was examined for each mitigation strategy. The Web Resource Rating tool was used to assess the quality of the information about health protections provided on each website. Findings included available information on all health protections in all three countries. However, navigation to and quality of information on some mitigation strategies varied across countries

African E-Government Research Landscape

Over the past decade, African governments have followed the worldwide trends towards establishing e-government with the aim of improving public service delivery to citizens through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). As a consequence, authors from academia, government departments and agencies, civil society, industry, non-governmental and international organizations have embarked into e-government research focusing on Africa. However, the state of the art of e-government research in Africa is poorly documented. This study analyzes the status of e-government research in Africa. A qualitative technique based on online searches and literature reviews is used to collect data that have addressed any aspect of e-government development in Africa. Thereafter, the content analysis of the reviewed literature is performed. The results of the study show: (1) the growth pattern of Africa e-government research within a period of 10 years from 2002 to 2012, (2) the issues addressed by the researchers on e-government development in Africa, (3) the African countries and regional participation in e-government research in Africa, and (4) the affiliation and expertise of authors undertaking research on e-government in Africa. These results provide useful insights that might be of interest to African governments, industry and academia for the future development of e-government on the continent. Also included in the paper is an annotated bibliography of e-government research

Demographic Data for Development Decisionmaking: Case Studies From Ethiopia and Uganda

Analyzes the lack of demographic and socioeconomic data, limited access to and use of existing data, and insufficient demand for their application in policy making and resource allocation. Makes recommendations for greater access, demand, and use of data

Adoption of Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs) for Value-Added Tax (VAT) Collection in Kenya and Tanzania: A Systematic Review

Domestic revenue collection through taxation is still below its potential in many Sub- Saharan African countries. In an attempt to boost their tax revenues, many national governments have deployed electronic fiscal devices (EFDs) to improve value-added tax (VAT) collection. However, there is evidence indicating that the deployment of EFDs in some African countries has encountered substantial challenges. Using the systematic review method, the research described in this article investigated challenges encountered in adoption of EFDs in Kenya and Tanzania. The review concludes by modelling recommendations, extracted from seven existing studies, in terms of the technology-organisation-environment (TOE) framework (Tornatzky & Fleisher, 1990). This model is an effort to provide a potential guide for successful EFD adoption in East Africa.CA201

A user-centred evaluation of a mobile phone-based interactive voice response system to support infectious disease surveillance and access to healthcare for sick children in Ghana: users’ experiences, challenges and opportunities for large-scale application. Part of a concept and pilot study for mobile phone-based Electronic Health Information and Surveillance System (eHISS) for Africa

Brinkel J. A user-centred evaluation of a mobile phone-based interactive voice response system to support infectious disease surveillance and access to healthcare for sick children in Ghana: users’ experiences, challenges and opportunities for large-scale application. Part of a concept and pilot study for mobile phone-based Electronic Health Information and Surveillance System (eHISS) for Africa. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld; 2020.Digital Health offers tremendous potential to change the face of health systems in all countries. Although the application of digital technologies in the health sector has become central to global health thinking, various implementation barriers still exist. One of the most significant is the process of user acceptance and adoption of new interventions, which still remains a neglected research area in sub-Saharan Africa. The synopsis is a synthesis of the findings of a three-year research study embedded within a larger research consortium that developed and piloted a mobile phone-based Electronic Health Information and Surveillance System for sub-Saharan Africa (eHISS) in Ghana. The system aimed to support sick children to assess the disease severity, to advice appropriate treatment and to collect data on the occurrence of symptom clusters. The thesis evaluated the usability and acceptance among users of the mobile health (mHealth) system (caregivers of children) by soliciting their views on their experiences while using the system. The doctoral thesis followed a human-centred design (HCD) circle and consisted of the following research activities; (i) the assessment of the state of research, (ii) the innovative field test of a prototype of the eHISS system and an assessment of users’ needs to drive the design, (iii) the evaluation of the clinical decision algorithm as backbone of the electronic system and (iv) the evaluation of experiences with the system after a six-month pilot phase of the system. A manuscript was developed from each research activity for publication, thus making a total of four papers that form the empirical basis of this thesis. Results showed that users are generally open to mHealth and interested in new technologies, and comprehensive knowledge on critical factors favouring and disfavouring the integration of the system in the daily life of participants, and suggestions on how the system could be improved has been gained. The thesis thus confirmed and highlighted the key role of user experiences in the design process of new mHealth approaches, and provided insights on how to develop and evaluate mobile health approaches from the user perspective. Based on the results of the user evaluation, two possible directions for the future of eHISS have been developed. We further conclude that programs and initiatives must be guided by robust strategies to overcome existing barriers for implementation. Like all digital health interventions, the presented eHISS system is not a silver bullet and has significant limitations, but taking the requirements discussed in the thesis into consideration we believe that systems developed based on the eHISS experiences in future can make a real impact on health service delivery and disease response

Re-balancing climate services to inform climate-resilient planning: a conceptual framework and illustrations from sub-Saharan Africa

Making climate-resilient planning and adaptation decisions is, in part, contingent on the use of climate information. Growing attention has been paid to the “usability gap” and the need to make information both useful and useable to decision-makers. Less attention has, however, been paid to the factors that determine whether, once created, useful and useable information is then actually used. In this Perspectives piece, we outline a framework that puts together the pieces necessary to close the “usability gap” – highlighting not only what is required to make information useful and useable, but also what is required to ensure that useful and useable information is actually used. Creating useful information is subject to understanding and being able to deliver metrics that address identified needs in a range of decision-making contexts. Creating useable information is contingent upon having legitimate and credible information that is visualised and communicated in ways that are accessible and understandable. Further use of such information requires supportive institutions, appropriate policy frameworks, capacity of individuals and agency to make decisions. The framework further highlights traditionally under-recognized barriers that prevent effective use of the growing availability of useful and useable climate information in decision-making. Whilst this is not enough in itself to effect information use, we argue that greater focus on these barriers can re-balance the activities promoted through climate services and increase the likelihood of successful use. We illustrate the framework with case examples of co-producing climate information for the tea and water sectors in sub-Saharan Africa