Human-computer interaction for development (HCI4D):the Southern African landscape

Human-Computer interaction for development (HCI4D) research aims to maximise the usability of interfaces for interacting with technologies designed specifically for under-served, under-resourced, and under-represented populations. In this paper we provide a snapshot of the Southern African HCI4D research against the background of the global HCI4D research landscape.We commenced with a systematic literature review of HCI4D (2010-2017) then surveyed Southern African researchers working in the area. The contribution is to highlight the context- specific themes and challenges that emerged from our investigation

In-situ Conservation of wild forest coffee-Exploring the potential of participatory forest management in south west Ethiopia

Maintaining the gene pool of Coffea arabica in the forests of South West Ethiopia, where this plant evolved and has its genetic hearth, is a challenge of global importance. Participatory Forest Management (PFM) and Biosphere Reserves (BR) are among the various initiatives being tested to maintain this forest and its biodiversity that includes major stands of wild Arabica coffee. This paper makes a comparative analysis of PFM and BR approaches to conservation as applied in Ethiopia. While BR legislation provides a framework for enforcement, there can be difficulties in achieving this on the ground especially with the pressures from communities on these forests and the limited resources of the state to enforce protection. In some cases because core zones are alienated from communities these areas are seen as open access by local communities and have suffered especially from fires and focused deforestation. An alternative approach for in situ conservation of wild coffee using PFM has been explored in South West forest of Ethiopia. PFM, by engaging local communities in the management of forests is believed to increase economic and environmental benefits while reducing costs of conservation..Monthly field monitoring by communities and annual reviews with the government have turned this forest from open access to community controlled. Critically the development of market links and value chains for forest products is motivating communities to maintain and improve their forest. It is hoped that PFM will create a win-win goal – enhancing the role played by the forest in rural development and ensuring the conservation of wild coffee genetic resources

The value added statement: bastion of social reporting or dinosaur of financial reporting?

South Africa is at present experiencing the highest incidence of publication of the value added statement reported anywhere in the world to date. In addition research investigating the predictive ability of value added information has been conducted in the USA since 1990, even though the value added statement has not been published there. The research reported in this paper sets out to establish whether the value added statement is a disclosure worth considering by companies around the world, by investigating the South African experience with the value added statement. The social accounting theories of organisational legitimacy and political costs were found to be best suited to explain why the value added statement is published. Surveys among the companies publishing the value added statement indicated that management had the employees in mind when they published this information. However, a survey among users has indicated that very little use has been made of the value added statement. The main reason for this seems to be that the unregulated nature of the value added statement allows for inconsistencies in disclosures, which eventually caused users to suspect bias in the reports. The USA evidence that the information has additional predictive power is not confirmed by a South African study, and is complicated by the limited additional information contained in the value added statement. The South African experience with the value added statement does not make a convincing case for publication. Rather, it highlights the need for unbiased and verified social disclosures that will be useful to all the stakeholders of the company. In addition, it has implications for other voluntary social and environmental disclosures

Factors impacting Tablet PC usage in low-income communities

The purpose of this research was to identify factors that impact on tablet PC usage in low-income communities. In order to determine and identify these factors a main research question and sub-research questions were formulated. The primary research question of this study was "What factors impact on tablet PC usage in low-income communities?" This main research question was answered by creating three sub-research questions followed by triangulating the results from these questions. The first sub-research question was aimed at determining whether prior exposure to touch screen technology impacts the user experience. In order to reach this objective an extensive literature review was conducted on the tablet PC landscape in South Africa. This literature review, coupled with the case study helped answer this first research question. The second sub-research question was concerned with determining whether existing user experience guidelines are relevant to South African users. A thorough literature review was conducted on user experience guidelines and related studies. This literature review, together with the results from the case study helped answer this second research question. The third sub-research question involved identifying specific factors which help improve the user experience of tablet PC users in a specific context. This research question was addressed in the case study. Each sub-research question provided results which were analysed in order to answer the main research question. The factors which impact on tablet PC usage were thus identified and recommendations were proposed

Fair Deals for Watershed Services: Lessons from a Multi-country Action-learning Project

Payments for ecosystem services make good sense. In the case of watershed ecosystems, downstream beneficiaries of wise upstream land and water stewardship should compensate these upstream stewards. These 'payments for watershed services' (PWS) should contribute to the costs of watershed management and, if upstream communities are also characterised by poverty, these payments should contribute to local development and poverty reduction as well. Debates about both conservation and development have seen a wave of excitement about payments for watershed services in recent years. But on the ground an equivalent surge of action is harder to see. IIED and its partners have been building on earlier international case study work to set up new PWS schemes - to 'learn by doing' and to improve our understanding of the opportunities and the challenges.This report is about the complex business of trying to put a simple conservation and development idea into practice. The idea is that watershed degradation in developing countries might be better tackled than it currently is if downstream beneficiaries of wise land use in watershed areas paid for these benefits. There are some examples around the world of this idea being put into practice - this report reviews these and describes what happened when teams in six developing countries set about exploring how the idea works on the ground

The Mobile Generation: Global Transformations at the Cellular Level

Every year we see a new dimension of the ongoing Digital Revolution, which is enabling an abundance of information to move faster, cheaper, in more intelligible forms, in more directions, and across borders of every kind. The exciting new dimension on which the Aspen Institute focused its 2006 Roundtable on Information Technology was mobility, which is making the Digital Revolution ubiquitous. As of this writing, there are over two billion wireless subscribers worldwide and that number is growing rapidly. People are constantly innovating in the use of mobile technologies to allow them to be more interconnected. Almost a half century ago, Ralph Lee Smith conjured up "The Wired Nation," foretelling a world of interactive communication to and from the home that seems commonplace in developed countries today. Now we have a "Wireless World" of communications potentially connecting two billion people to each other with interactive personal communications devices. Widespead adoption of wireless handsets, the increasing use of wireless internet, and the new, on-the-go content that characterizes the new generation of users are changing behaviors in social, political and economic spheres. The devices are easy to use, pervasive and personal. The affordable cell phone has the potential to break down the barriers of poverty and accessibility previously posed by other communications devices. An entire generation that is dependant on ubiquitous mobile technologies is changing the way it works, plays and thinks. Businesses, governments, educational institutions, religious and other organizations in turn are adapting to reach out to this mobile generation via wireless technologies -- from SMS-enabled vending machines in Finland to tech-savvy priests in India willing to conduct prayers transmitted via cell phones. Cellular devices are providing developing economies with opportunities unlike any others previously available. By opening the lines of communication, previously disenfranchised groups can have access to information relating to markets, economic opportunities, jobs, and weather to name just a few. When poor village farmers from Bangladesh can auction their crops on a craigslist-type service over the mobile phone, or government officials gain instantaneous information on contagious diseases via text message, the miracles of mobile connectivity move us from luxury to necessity. And we are only in the early stages of what the mobile electronic communications will mean for mankind. We are now "The Mobile Generation." Aspen Institute Roundtable on Information Technology. To explore the implications of these phenomena, the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program convened 27 leaders from business, academia, government and the non-profit sector to engage in three days of dialogue on related topics. Some are experts in information and communications technologies, others are leaders in the broader society affected by these innovations. Together, they examined the profound changes ahead as a result of the convergence of wireless technologies and the Internet. In the following report of the Roundtable meeting held August 1-4, 2006, J. D. Lasica, author of Darknet and co-founder of Ourmedia.org, deftly sets up, contextualizes, and captures the dialogue on the impact of the new mobility on economic models for businesses and governments, social services, economic development, and personal identity