Intervention or Collaboration?:Rethinking Information and Communication Technologies for Development

Over the past decades information system developers and knowledge engineers in ICT projects in wealthy regions of the world have come to realize that technical work can only be successful when situated in a broader organizational context. However, for low-resource environments (or example rural Africa), where contextual embedding is even more demanding given the complexity of these environments, practical, context-oriented methodologies how to "do" information systems engineering are still lacking. This book gives a basic but thorough insight how to develop information systems and services for people in low resource environments, from a socio-technical, information systems engineering perspective, presenting field-validated methods that cover the complete lifecycle of information systems engineering, with emphasis on context analysis, needs assessment, use case and requirements analysis and (business) sustainability analysis. Since technical development does not go without critical reflection, this book also investigates which (tacit) assumptions affect the way technologies are implemented in poor, low-resource environments. Linking collaborative sociotechnical development with theories of complexity and social networks of innovation, this book offers a reflective and critical approach to information and communication technologies for development

A framework for enhancing trust for improved participation in electronic marketplaces accessed from mobile platforms

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been widely researched as a mechanism for improving the socio-economic status of disadvantaged, rural communities. In order to do this numerous technology-based initiatives have been introduced into disadvantaged, rural communities to assist them in various aspects of their lives. Unfortunately, even when the proposed benefit of a particular technology is clearly evident to its initiators, the adoption by the target users is often uncertain. This has also been the case with e-commerce in agriculture. Despite the numerous benefits of e-commerce for agricultural producers, the uptake has been low. Trust is a critical pre-condition for the adoption of e-marketplaces. E-marketplaces expose consumers to the risk of non-delivery or misrepresentation of goods ordered and the misuse of personal information by external parties. Additionally, the time investment needed to make a shift to e-marketplaces and the opinions of important reference groups affects the user’s willingness to trust and depend on an e-marketplace. This study was undertaken to assess the extent to which rural users with limited ICT experience would trust and, consequently, adopt an e-marketplace to support agricultural trade. A pragmatic philosophy was adopted in this study, indicating that the researcher’s view of reality is founded on the practical implications and outcomes that are observed. This study used a Canonical Action Research strategy to design, develop and deploy a voice based e-marketplace to assist the trading activities of a Western Cape based aloe community. The community was allowed to utilise thee-marketplace over a period of eight weeks. Thereafter, interviews were held with the participants to investigate their perceptions of the technology. As a result, a model proposing the factors that must be in place for trust to be achieved in a voice based e-marketplace was proposed. The study found that the trustworthiness of a technology results from the technology’s technical capability to satisfy the needs of its users reliably. Usability and security were found to be important determinants of the trustworthiness of a technology. Furthermore, the requirements elicitation process was found to be central to achieving trust as it defines the necessary criteria for developing secure, usable, functional, and reliable technologies that meet the needs of their users