A benefits framework for public access ICT4D programmes

There have been expectations across the developing world that information and communications technologies (ICTs) will deliver benefits to marginalised people. Despite many programmes related to the promotion of Internet uptake and usage amongst poorer communities, evidence regarding such benefit is lacking, and there is little agreement in respect of frameworks and metrics to evaluate the benefits thereof. This paper reports on a case study that investigated the nature of a public access information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) pro-gramme and presents a framework for assessing the associated benefits in the South African context

SIMULATION OF A MULTIPROCESSOR COMPUTER SYSTEM

The introduction of computers and software engineering in telephone switching systems has dictated the need for powerful design aids for such complex systems. Among these design aids simulators - real-time environment simulators and flat-level simulators - have been found particularly useful in stored program controlled switching systems design and evaluation. However, both types of simulators suffer from certain disadvantages. An alternative methodology to the simulation of stored program controlled switching systems is proposed in this research. The methodology is based on the development of a process-based multilevel hierarchically structured software simulator. This methodology eliminates the disadvantages of environment and flat-level simulators. It enables the modelling of the system in a 1 to 1 transformation process retaining the sub-systems interfaces and, hence, making it easier to see the resemblance between the model and modelled system and to incorporate design modifications and/or additions in the simulator. This methodology has been applied in building a simulation package for the System X family of exchanges. The Processor Utility Sub-system used to control the exchanges is first simulated, verified and validated. The application sub-systems models are then added one level higher_, resulting in an open-ended simulator having sub-systems models at different levels of detail and capable of simulating any member of the System X family of exchanges. The viability of the methodology is demonstrated by conducting experiments to tune the real-time operating system and by simulating a particular exchange - The Digital Main Network Switching Centre - in order to determine its performance characteristics.The General Electric Company Ltd, GEC Hirst Research Cent, Wemble

Digital infrastructure and food systems in rural communities of Zimbabwe

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThis study examines the relationship between digital infrastructure and the sustainability of livestock systems in Beitbridge, Zimbabwe. The study aims to answer the question: Do digital infrastructure transformations impact the sustainability of livestock systems in rural communities? By answering this question, the study contributes towards efforts to enhance food security in rural communities, achieve Sustainable Development Goals (1, 2, 5 & 9) at grassroots levels as well as achieve the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation. The study details a digital infrastructure intervention in Beitbridge and applies post-positivist approaches towards the intervention’s impact assessment to develop recommendations on whether digital infrastructure interventions should be prioritized in rural communities towards improving food security. The study was conducted in four villages of Ward 15 in Beitbridge and the target population were livestock system actors. Using a mixed methods approach, data collection, with the assistance of locally recruited research assistants, was conducted between 2015 and 2018. Qualitative data were collected using community visioning workshops, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and participant observations. Household survey questionnaires were used to gather quantitative data. Data analysis was completed using a mixed methods approach. The first objective of the study, using the Socio-Ecological System framework, was to characterise the livestock system, explore livestock contribution towards household food security and determine the livestock system’s sustainability. The study established that livestock play multiple roles towards household food security contributing to different dimensions of food security. Households sell livestock to generate income to purchase (access) food and include animal source foods in their diets even though different consumption patterns of different livestock species were observed. Apart from this, livestock also play sociocultural roles. However, the study established that the livestock system is fragile, stemming from multiple factors such as poor governance and a lack of appropriate infrastructure. Secondly, using Kleine’s Choice Framework, the study investigated the potential of digital technologies to contribute towards sustainable livestock systems. Study findings suggest that digital technologies can enhance the dimensions of choice of livestock system actors. However, a lack of digital infrastructure inhibits the integration of digital technologies in the livestock system. The potential of these technologies and the fragility of local value chains has however triggered interventions by government and non-governmental organisations including the MOSMAC project in Beitbridge rural

Information and communication technologies for development: Reshaping poverty in South Africa

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThe aim of this thesis is to examine the association between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and poverty reduction in South Africa. ICTs have been argued to be a means to improve household livelihoods and thereby to provide people with the capability of changing their existing poverty trajectories. The study conceptually investigates ICTs as a contributor to human development through the theoretical lens the sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF). Since ICTs broaden the asset base of the poor, the study first theorises household access to ICT as a new form of capital, termed as the ‘digital basket’. This new wealth indicator augments the current well-developed list of capitals adopted within the SLF approach. This digital basket concept and the ICT systems that provide its components are described, establishing the theoretical contributions of this thesis

Mobile phone use for empowerment in the context of social exclusion: an ethnographic study of urban refugees in South Africa

Problem Statement: Calls have been made to find ways to address the problem of urban refugees who are now acknowledged as a universal, continuing, and recurring phenomenon. There is a dominant optimism about the contribution of mobile phones to the empowerment of refugees in the host countries. However, there is a dearth of knowledge on exactly how mobile phones contribute to empowerment, and also the use of mobile phones by urban refugees in developing countries has received only minimal attention. The purpose of the research: The main objective of this research was to empirically investigate whether the use of mobile phones by urban refugees in South Africa generates or fails to generate capabilities for empowerment. The specific aim was to critically explore the factors which shape the use of mobile phones by urban refugees in South Africa and their capabilities for empowerment. Design / methodology / approach: This research adopted a critical orientation to knowledge, used critical ethnographic methods and drew on a theoretical lens developed from the integration of Sen's Capability Approach and Bourdieu's Theory of Practice. The data were collected through observations and in-depth interviews with 22 urban refugees in South Africa. Documents and website corroborating evidence have provided secondary data. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: The findings suggest that mobile phone use affords valuable capabilities for empowerment in three main ways. First, the capabilities to negotiate ways to participate in the information society by: participating in economic and financial activities, improving access to services and to sources of information. Second, the capabilities to effectively engage with wider networks by: developing and maintaining relationships, being socially and culturally connected, and communicating effectively. Third, the capabilities to manage one's own situation and solve problems by: multi-tasking easily, and a guarantee of transparency and security. However, the generation of these capabilities is contingent on power relations in the social field - between social structures and individual's agency. In South Africa, the capabilities of empowerment that urban refugees can generate through mobile phone use are either enhanced or hindered by interrelated factors, namely the affordances of mobile phones, socio-environmental factors, and personal factors. The availability of capital is very crucial for personal factors, to which they confer more, or less, power to influence the power relations. Originality / contribution: This research contributes to the theory in the field of Information Systems by proposing a dynamic framework with precise constructs for theorising and explaining the mechanisms and social practices that shape mobile phone use and the capabilities for empowerment. This research suggests that to research mobile phone use for empowerment in the context of social exclusion and inequality in developing countries, researchers need to look beyond social agents' immediate behaviours to take into consideration the broader context of social exclusion, by focusing on conversion factors, human diversity, and capabilities. This research has exposed the explicitly or implicitly hidden interests, important beliefs, assumptions and social practices that facilitate or constrain capabilities for empowerment. It contributes to the empowerment of the ethnographic researcher who is himself an urban refugee in South Africa, but also to the empowerment of urban refugees in South Africa and perhaps of other individuals in a similar situation. That is because empowerment starts with the enlightenment and the realisation of one's own true interest and situation. The findings can also contribute to the policy-setting process of government or organisations seeking to assist urban refugees, by facilitating the formulation of their intervention strategies

A structural investigation of the short stories of Katherine Mansfield with special reference to the idea of the true and false self

A survey of the available literature on Katherine Mansfield has shown that, in the five decades which have elapsed since the author's death, critical interest has gradually, but significantly, altered its direction. Despite the workmanlike assessments of such critics as David Daiches in Britain and Andre Maurois in France, and the recognition of her mastery of the short story form by such fellow practitioners of the art as H.E. Bates and Elizabeth Bowen, the mainstream of criticism tended, in the first decades after the author's death, to centre less upon the characteristics of the work itself than upon a cult- like fascination, initiated, perhaps, by the perceptive but over-interested pen of Middleton Murry. Only more recently has this tendency been superseded by a more rigorous scrutiny of the stories themselves; thus the excellence of the author 's technique has now become a major concern. Recent recognition has been accorded, too, to the fact that the stories were in the vanguard of their time with regard to the choice of, as well as the treatment of, theme. Intro. p. 1-2

Bowdoin Orient v.125, no.1-25 (1994-1995)

https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinorient-1990s/1006/thumbnail.jp