Digital doorways and the analysis of software application usage in ‘unassisted learning’ environments in impoverished South African communities

The Digital Doorway (DD) project provides computing infrastructure in impoverished communities in South Africa. DD terminals offer opportunities for unassisted- and peerassisted learning of basic computer skills, and varying computing activities ranging from entertainment, to independent research. This study addresses software application usage, and how it relates to user demographics (age and gender) and location, in order to better understand both the user base, and the nature and extent of DD interactions. A mixed-methods approach is employed, involving log-files, interviews, questionnaires, and naturalistic observation; to build up a holistic picture of application usage and user behaviour at selected sites. Important issues with respect to ICT for Education and Development in the DD context, are addressed. Analysis of the data indicates notable trends, and relationships between age, gender, location, and application usage. User behaviour and environmental effects on usage are discussed, and recommendations provided for future DDs and similar initiatives.ComputingM. Tech. (Information Technology

Children’s acquisition of computer literacy skills at the Mamelodi Digital Doorway project

Many South Africans have never interacted with a computer before and the majority of children are growing up in an environment characterized by low levels of computer literacy. Today, Information Communication Technology (ICT) and basic computer skills are pre-requisites in all professional and many semi-skilled jobs and are becoming increasingly important to basic survival in the world. The Digital Doorway initiative is aimed at better understanding and addressing the computer literacy needs of users within South Africa and Africa (Smith et al., n.d). A project called Minimally Invasive Education was recently established in India by professor Sugata Mitra of NIIT. In this project, experiments called “Hole-in-the-Wall” were conducted where Pentium computers connected to the Internet were provided on the roadside and turned on without any instructions or announcement. Mitra was interested in observing the behaviors of people in a technologically disadvantaged area when exposed to a computer. He observed that users generated their own terms for a number of commonplace computer terms. He also observed that despite never having interacted with a computer before, children were very quick to master basic computer skills. In these experiments, Mitra tested his hypothesis that: the acquisition of basic computer skills by any set of children can be achieved through incidental learning, provided the learners are given access to a suitable computer facility, with entertaining and motivating content and some minimal (human) guidance (Mitra 2001). Based on the success of the “Hole-in-the-Wall” experiments in India, a similar project was started in South Africa by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The project adopted the name “Digital Doorway” and the first site was launched in the rural community of Cwili, in the Eastern Cape in December 2002. A second site was established in Mamelodi an urban township north of Pretoria in the Gauteng province in June 2004. The Digital Doorway project set out to confirm that children and adults could teach themselves how to master basic computer sills, merely by having free access to a computer and being allowed to explore and try out things on their own, without formal training.Dissertation (MEd (Computer Integrated Education))--University of Pretoria, 2008.Curriculum Studiesunrestricte

Usability and accessibility evaluation of the digital doorway

The Digital Doorway (DD) is a non-standard computer system deployed to promote computer literacy amongst the underpriviledged communities in South Africa. Since its inception there has been no usability evaluation of the software installed on the DD. This study investigate the applicability of standard involved two cycles of design research phases to develop a set of multi-category heuristics for evaluating a selection of interfaces and applications installed on the DD. The heuristic evaluation method was found to be an appropriate method for the evaluating the usability of the software as well as the direct accessibility support provided on the DD. As a triangulation exercise the heuristic evaluation was complementary role of using a combination of evaluation methods.ComputingM. Sc. (Information Systems

Monument Monitor: using citizen science to preserve heritage

This research demonstrates how data collected by citizen scientists can act as a valuable resource for heritage managers. It establishes to what extent visitors’ photographs can be used to assist in aspects of condition monitoring focusing on biological and plant growth, erosion, stone/mortar movement, water ingress/pooling and antisocial behaviour. This thesis describes the methodology and outcomes of Monument Monitor (MM), a project set up in collaboration with Historic Environment Scotland (HES) that requested visitors at selected Scottish heritage sites to submit photographs of their visit. Across twenty case study sites participants were asked to record evidence of a variety of conservation issues. Patterns of contributions to the project are presented alongside key stakeholder feedback, which show how MM was received and where data collection excelled. Alongside this, the software built to manage and sort submissions is presented as a scalable methodology for the collection of citizen generated data of heritage sites. To demonstrate the applicability of citizen generated data for in depth monitoring and analysis, an environmental model is created using the submissions from one case study which predicts the effect of the changing climate at the site between 1980 - 2080. Machine Learning (ML) is used to analyse submitted data in both classification and segmentation tasks. This application demonstrates the validity of utilising ML tools to assist in the analysis and categorising of volunteer submitted photographs. The outcome of this PhD is a scalable methodology with which conservation staff can use visitor submitted images as an evidence-base to support them in the management of heritage sites

Cyber-Human Systems, Space Technologies, and Threats

CYBER-HUMAN SYSTEMS, SPACE TECHNOLOGIES, AND THREATS is our eighth textbook in a series covering the world of UASs / CUAS/ UUVs / SPACE. Other textbooks in our series are Space Systems Emerging Technologies and Operations; Drone Delivery of CBNRECy – DEW Weapons: Emerging Threats of Mini-Weapons of Mass Destruction and Disruption (WMDD); Disruptive Technologies with applications in Airline, Marine, Defense Industries; Unmanned Vehicle Systems & Operations On Air, Sea, Land; Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems Technologies and Operations; Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the Cyber Domain: Protecting USA’s Advanced Air Assets, 2nd edition; and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the Cyber Domain Protecting USA’s Advanced Air Assets, 1st edition. Our previous seven titles have received considerable global recognition in the field. (Nichols & Carter, 2022) (Nichols, et al., 2021) (Nichols R. K., et al., 2020) (Nichols R. , et al., 2020) (Nichols R. , et al., 2019) (Nichols R. K., 2018) (Nichols R. K., et al., 2022)https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/1052/thumbnail.jp

Success versus failure in local public goods provision: council and chiefly governance in post-war Makeni, Sierra Leone

Post-war Sierra Leone faces a deep deficit in the supply of basic public goods which is detrimental to quality of life and remains a risk factor for future conflict. The government, under substantial donor influence, seeks to address this deficit through democratic decentralization. However, evidence of the link between decentralization and improved public goods provision remains weak. I approach the public goods deficit from a different angle; rather than assuming that an imported solution is needed, I consider what can be learned from existing patterns of public goods provision. At the core of this study is a comparison of ‘success versus failure’ in local public goods provision in the city of Makeni, with the aim of understanding key dynamics that lead to divergent outcomes. While I set out to focus on cases of public goods provision led by two main categories of local government actors — elected councils and chiefs — I found that it in all four cases, citizens played a substantial role. I therefore analyze the cases as instances of coproduction of public goods. I find that coproduction is an important means of maintaining a basic supply of local public goods when state capacity is weak. With this in mind, I draw on the case study evidence to develop a set of propositions about the conditions under which coproduction is more likely to succeed in contemporary Sierra Leone. These propositions are suggestive of an alternate institutional approach to addressing the public goods deficit—one that is based on the development of workarounds for key obstacles rather than institutional overhaul. However, coproduction is no ‘magic bullet’; it has troubling implications for social equality and the development of state capacity over the longer term and thus judgements about the desirability of coproductive arrangements are likely to involve complex trade-offs

Feature Papers "Age-Friendly Cities & Communities: State of the Art and Future Perspectives"

The "Age-Friendly Cities & Communities: States of the Art and Future Perspectives" publication presents contemporary, innovative, and insightful narratives, debates, and frameworks based on an international collection of papers from scholars spanning the fields of gerontology, social sciences, architecture, computer science, and gerontechnology. This extensive collection of papers aims to move the narrative and debates forward in this interdisciplinary field of age-friendly cities and communities

Changing society : technology and lifelong learning in the public eye

I begin with the assumption that representations of technology (specifically, in the context of this thesis, print and televised advertisements) offer valuable insights into contemporary perceptions of technology, learning and adulthood that are germane to the theory and practice of lifelong learning. I use a combination of textual analysis and philosophical reflection to study what happens when a postmodern and/or modem tool (the technological product) is applied to a postmodern and/or modem terrain (education). My method - a deconstruction of advertisements for technological products with educational applications - positions this research within the fields of education, media studies and hermeneutics, and represents a new interdisciplinary configuration. The thesis has three central arguments. The first is a philosophical claim about a reconciliation between modem and postmodern readings, one that is consonant with a critical realist methodology (briefly, the position that there is a real world to be interpreted, but knowledge of it can never be absolute and many possible interpretations exist). The second argument is that normative distinctions between education, work and play (education and play alternatively being conceptualised as learning and leisure with slightly different connotations) are eroded both in the text of the advertisements selected and in contemporary theory and rhetoric. The third, allied, claim is that normative assumptions sharply differentiating children from adults are divested of their metaphorical power in advertisements that reflect shifting demographic trends and perceived technological change. The impulse of continuing education to find fruitfulness in the blurring of boundaries (epitomised in the currency of the term ‘lifelong learning’) is elaborated in the new context of ambiguous theory and media representation, and this thesis represents a significant contribution to this ongoing impulse