Hybrid VFT/Delphi Method to Facilitate the Development of Information Security Strategies in Developing Countries

As systems become more interconnected the vulnerability to cyber attack also increases. The increased use of information and communication technology (ICT) in developing countries and the dangers associated with interconnectivity grows equally. The lack of an established guideline for information security planning and execution in developing countries further complicates this problem. There is the need for a holistic approach to information security planning. This study will use a combination of the Value Focused Thinking methodology and the measured Delphi Method to develop a framework that can assist decision makers and stakeholders in developing countries to craft and execute their information security strategies

The status of information and communication competence in national curriculum for compulsory education

Changes brought by the knowledge society have pointed out the importance of information and communication technology (ICT) and made it one of the key contemporary educational requirements. Introduction of ICT into compulsory education was unavoidable, but at the same time it was one of the most complex curricular innovations. Although there is an agreement about the necessity of including and developing ICT in the curriculum, different countries have found different solutions, depending primarily on guidelines for the development of their educational systems. In order to find out the current status of ICT in compulsory education, a comparative analysis of national curricula in sixteen countries was conducted. While in some national curricula ICT is taught as a separate subject, in other curricula it is part of other subjects or is a cross-curricular area. Although the acquisition of knowledge and skills is fundamental, more and more countries are recognizing the advantage of using ICT in teaching other subjects. There is a notable approach to curriculum based on educational outcomes or competences all students should posses by the end of each program or stage of their schooling. By planning to bring the focus on outcomes and to introduce “ Information and communication technology” as a cross-curricular area, Croatian curriculum is coming closer to the world standards in education

Futuristic intelligent transportation system architecture for sustainable road transportation in developing countries

Published Conference ProceedingsSustainable road transportation has become a challenge particularly in the developing countries. Literature suggests that the ability of the transport system to respond to the mobility needs of people and goods is hampered by a continuous increase in traffic demand as a result of higher levels of urbanization, population growth, changes in population density and motorization. These factors result in traffic crashes, traffic congestion and consequent increase in travel times, fuel consumption and carbon emissions, which reduce the efficiency of mobility systems and make it unsustainable. Certain measures such as traffic control and management, congestion warning, road conditions warning, route guidance and use of eco- friendly and green vehicles are being considered to meet the challenges. Arguments have emerged that Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are important to meet these challenges of achieving virtually traffic crash-free, clean and efficient mobility. This requires the development of an integrated communication architecture that provides a common frame for the road and traffic infrastructure, environment and vehicle systems to work together through Information Communication Technology (ICT) system. Therefore, this investigation explored the various ITS that are relevant to road transportation in the context of developing countries; examined the perception of road users on the use of ITS and its impacts on travel behavior; and developed a conceptual futuristic communication ITS architecture by integrating land use, road, traffic, human and environmental parameters with ICT for sustainable road transportation in developing countries. The study was conducted based on critical review of relevant literature and industrial innovations to examine the ITS system(s) applicable to developing countries. A survey was conducted in two cities of a developing country, India, to observe the perception of people, particularly road users on the use of ITS and its impacts on their travel. This was followed by development of a conceptual ITS architecture by integrating land use, activity, traffic, road infrastructure, vehicle, ICT, road user variable and indicators related to sustainable road transportation. Findings suggest that appropriate ITS with the use of ICT, can provide acceptable effective real time information regarding the road and traffic conditions, which will enable the road users in their journey planning, to avoid unwarranted incidents and moreover enhance safe and efficient mobility in the roads of developing countries

Information technology in future education: open and distance learning

Globalization challenges the developing countries to catch up and to set up a institutionalize a system of educational planning that will produce skilled manpower and knowledge workers required for today and future. The introduction of information technology and communication are enhancing the delivery of education, changing the roles of students and teachers, and producing a shift in society from industrialization towards an information-based society. These changes had profound effects upon a broad spectrum of knowledge leading to suggestions of a new form of cultural. Some Universities in the world have developed open universities, employing audio and video tapes, television, satellites, teleconferencing, and telephone tutors. The future of countries often lies within their ability to compete in a global market where industrial based economies are giving way to knowledge based industries, realizing the importance of knowledge, skills and the intellectual capacity to meet the challenges of accelerated change and uncertainty. By means of information technology, education can thus be made available to the students where are located in different places at any time. As a result, education in this way can be unlimited. The exams and grades are gradually becoming available through electronic means and notebooks are starting to give way to laptops. Also, students can be examined through computer managed learning systems and do tutorial exercises on a computer rather than in a classroom. Subsequently, information technology is foreseeing a change in the education environment towards a reliance on electronic sources to deliver materia

HCI practice in Malaysia : a reflection of ICT professionals' perspective

Although Human Computer Interaction (HCI) has been practiced by Western countries over the last 40 years, very little is known about how HCI is being incorporated in Malaysian practices. We undertook a 12-week ethnographical study aimed at revealing HCI perceptions at different managerial levels in Information and Communication Technology (ICT)departments and agencies in Malaysia. We describe and discuss the factor that either drive or impede technology managers towards HCI awareness, based on the nature of ICT-related/ software development in Malaysia. The result of the study indicates that the developers and corporations' overall perception of HCI is influenced by their national and organizational culture. The lack of emphasis on usable interface design and scarce information regarding user studies and evaluation are major concerns.Within this context of developing countries, the difficulty of creating HCI awareness and adopting usability may be due to the complexity of the government's bureaucracy system. We suggest that stakeholders and policy markers such as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)and the Malaysian Administrative Modernization and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU)are more relevant in influencing and/ or reinforcing the incorporation of JCI in the workplace and enhancing the usability of the products and software created in the organization at the managerial level

The need for a security/privacy model for the health sector in Ghana

Many developing countries around the world are faced with the dilemma brain-drain as their healthcare professionals seek better economic opportunities in other countries. This problem is compounded by a lack of robust healthcare infrastructure requiring substantive improvements to bring them up to date. This impacts a countries ability to understand morbidity and mortality patterns which impact health care policy and program planning. The lack of IT infrastructure also negatively affects the safety, quality, and efficiency of health care delivery in these countries. Ghana is faced with this precise set of circumstances as it struggles to adopt policies to overcome these challenges. The Republic of Ghana is implementing strategies to accelerate is development through information and communication technology (ICT), however in implementing this in the health sector it is also important to put into operation a system that is secure and protects the privacy of health consumers. One technique that has proven effective in recent years in facilitating the delivery of quality healthcare services to a wide range of consumers is the use of smart cards. Research into the viability of smart cards is therefore necessary

Contextualizing ICT in Africa: The Development of the CATI model in Tanzanian Higher Education

In many parts of Africa the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in higher education institutions offers a particularly interesting research problem. This is because of the far-reaching consequences that information and communication technology (ICT) services and education have on the university graduates during their careers in African societies. Our extensive and well-documented experience of utilizing ICTs in a Tanzanian private university has lead us to propose a four-level approach, called CATI model, that can be used as the basis for implementing new ICTs, for evaluating how ICT is used, and for planning ICT education in developing countries. We conceptually categorize the four levels that we use in our model – contextualize, apply, transfer and import – as an ethnocomputing approach. This four-level model enable educators to use ICT services and ICT education in African universities in a way that will prepare university graduates to make a positive contribution to their own societies. The success of this model is attributable to the emphasis that we placed on local needs and creativity and on applications of ICTs that were sensitive to local culture, conditions and understanding

Burkina Faso's infrastructure : a continental perspective

Infrastructure contributed 1.3 percentage points to Burkina Faso's annual per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the past decade, much of it due to improvements in information and communication technology (ICT). Raising the country's infrastructure endowment to that of the region's middle-income countries (MICs) could boost annual growth by more than 3 percentage points per capita. Burkina Faso has made significant progress developing its infrastructure in recent years, especially in the ICT sector. The country has also moved forward in the areas of road maintenance and water and sanitation, but still faces challenges in these sectors, as well as in the electricity sector. As of 2007, Burkina Faso faced an annual infrastructure funding gap of $165 million per year, or 4 percent of GDP. That gap could be cut in half by the adoption of more appropriate technologies to meet infrastructure targets in the transport and the water and sanitation sectors. Even if Burkina Faso were unable to increase infrastructure spending or otherwise close the infrastructure funding gap, simply by moving from a 10- to 18-year horizon the country could address its efficiency gap and meet the posited infrastructure targets.Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Infrastructure Economics,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,E-Business,Energy Production and Transportation

Information and communication technologies and the digital divide in the Third World Countries

The technophiles' view is that the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) herald the arrival of the new information era and are key factors for social change. The technophobes view the advances in ICT as new and sophisticated tools that would further the industrial imperialism. In spite of these opposing views, it is a fact that ICT have been contributing to a significant part of the economy of many developing nations. This is substantiated by the actions of almost every Third World country in treating ICT as a high priority item in their economic planning. ICT is seen to play an important role in political, socioeconomical, and cultural globalization process. Many international organizations including the World Bank, United Nations (UN) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), have fostered multitude of initiatives in the Third World countries that not only help in bringing the benefits of ICT to the Third World, but also create a framework for influencing policy formulations, open up markets, introduce competition and deregulate the ICT market. The changes brought about by ICT are rapid and ubiquitous. The uneven diffusion of this fast-changing technology has also caused the digital divide within the countries and between the countries. It is almost certain that the countries which do not adopt and adapt to these changes will be marginalized, widening the digital divide. Third World countries are precariously poised at this juncture and a careful planning on their part would decide if the ICT would bring economic growth for them or push them deeper into technological isolation. In this paper, we discuss the emerging trend in ICT, the state of their assimilation world over and the emerging digital divide

Alignment of IT and business strategies in small and medium-size enterprises in the Eastern Cape Province.

Master of Commerce in Information Ssytems and Technology. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2017.In today’s business environment, leveraging Information Technology (IT) is of key importance as it helps organisations improve their performance. However, to achieve this, companies must ensure that their IT and business strategies are aligned. The fundamental goal of aligning IT and business strategies is to ensure that IT capability supports, enables and leads business strategy where appropriate. Alignment explains the degree to which the business plans, goals, and mission support, or are supported by their IT complements (Reich & Benbasat, 1996; Walter, Kellermanns, Floyd, Veiga, & Matherne, 2013). In this, alignment develops into a relationship where business and IT functions adjust their strategies simultaneously. Such alignment can improve business performance. Importantly, large amounts of research conducted in this area focus on large organisations, particularly in developed countries. Yet little is known about the subject in SMEs especially in developing countries. This study investigates the alignment of IT and business strategies in SMEs in the Eastern Cape Province. A survey methodology was employed to collect data, with a questionnaire as a tool. Forty-two questions developed from four main questions: the state of communication, the state of IT metrics, the state of IT business planning, and the state of alignment practices. According to data obtained from the Border-Kei Chamber, at the time of data collection, there were one hundred and seventy-three SMEs registered with the organisation. However, from that population, one hundred and twenty-eight questionnaires were filled, returned and analysed. The results showed significant agreement that there is communication between IT and business strategies in SMEs, on Metrics and on IT Business planning. However, pertaining the use of alignment models and alignment practises, there was a significant disagreement. The study recommends that SMEs should create platforms to educate IT personnel about the business; more work on value metric is required. Participation of IT in business strategic planning should be encouraged. It is recommended that SMEs look into alignment model/s that can be used to support how IT planning/ investment, managing and governance of IT is done