Stakeholder Relations and Ownership of a Community Wireless Network: The Case of iNethi

The primary objective for this study is to investigate multi-stakeholder understanding of ownership of a community wireless network (CWN) located in Ocean View, Cape Town. This is important because ownership and stakeholder relations are components that contribute to the success of a CWN. Using the convenience and snowball sampling method, we completed 11 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders from the University of Cape Town and the Ocean View community. We consider different ways ownership is conceived between stakeholders. We found that the involvement of the community at initiation of a CWN project is imperative in establishing ownership of a CWN. We characterize some of the ways in which discordant conceptions of ownership have resulted in miscommunication within this project and offer considerations for researchers to take into account as they collaborate with communities on joint initiatives

Factors Influencing the Adoption of m-Government: Perspectives from a Namibian Marginalised Community

Mobile-government (m-Government) services adoption is being advanced as an alternative solution for addressing challenges faced by electronic-government (e-Government) adoption in marginalised communities. However, factors of m-Government need to be understood if it is to be adopted by marginalised communities. There are suggestions that many contextual factors affect to the adoption of m-Government services. In this study, factors of m-Government in Oniipa, a marginalised rural community in Namibia are researched. Results show that security, technology trust, ICT supporting infrastructure, usage experience, costs, awareness, skills for accessing m-Government, language literacy, training, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, social influence, perceived empathy and compatibility are critical factors of m-Government services adoption. The study findings shall be used to propel m-Government adoption in a Fusion Grid project that aims to address infrastructural challenges faced by marginal communities when adopting e-Government. Similarly, policy makers can draw lessons on m-Government adoption from this study.Peer reviewe

Rethinking ICT4D Impact Assessments: reflections from the Siyakhula Living Lab in South Africa

The approach to outcome and impact assessments of ICTD has often relied solely on identifying project effects in relation to project baseline data; however, such an approach limits the potential learning that could be occurring throughout a project’s lifecycle. Impact assessments should be conducted in a comprehensive manner, taking into account the evaluation data that has been captured from the initiation of the project through to its implementation, and beyond. This study sought to reflect on the implementation of an impact assessment framework that is based on a comprehensive approach to evaluation. The framework was implemented in the Siyakhula Living Lab to assess for its outcomes and impacts on the community. A pragmatic approach was applied through a reflective process, to assess the utility of the framework within this context. Semi-structured interviews with project stakeholders were conducted to further gain insight into the comprehensive approach to conducting impact assessments. It was found that a comprehensive approach to assessing impacts provided a meaningful way to understand the effects of the ICTD initiative, and provided an overview of project areas that required improvement. However, it was found that the proposed assessment framework required a customisation component in order to modify it to better suit the project context. The way in which future impact assessments are conducted can draw on the lessons gained from following a more comprehensive approach to evaluation, and thus improve learning over time

Factors of Implementing Citizen-Centric e-Government in Developing Countries: Namibia

Peer reviewe