Public Access ICT: A South-South comparative analysis of libraries, telecentres and cybercafés in South Africa and Brazil

Over the past decade, many developing countries have initiated programs that provide public access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) as key components of their strategies for social and economic development. However different countries have had varying levels of success. In this paper we present a comparative analysis of public access ICT in South Africa and Brazil. The two countries are the most developed in their respective regions. Drawing on results of a larger qualitative study of 25 countries, we seek to explain differences in the levels of success in public access ICT programs in South Africa and Brazil. We focus on issues of Access, Capacity and Environment, and seek to explain why Brazil ranks consistently higher than South Africa in all key variables of our analysis. This analysis helps to understand the relative strengths and weaknesses of the public access initiatives in both countries, and validates the analytical framework developed for this study

Op-ed1: Towards an enabling environment for a digital ecosystem : A foundation for entrepreneurial activity

During a recent webinar on the topic of digital inclusion and women entrepreneurship, I had the opportunity to share my perspectives in respect of ICT policy with a very engaged audience from across South Africa. The event reminded us of the commitment of the University of the Western Cape to create platforms not only for intellectual debate, but with a view to ensure an impact on the communities we serve. This webinar was conceived with the objective that women would benefit from the discourse that would impact their lives as entrepreneurs

Adoption of ICT to support rural small-holder farmers : A Systematic Review

Access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are slowly becoming more available to rural communities given a number of innovative approaches over recent years such as the implementation of Community Networks (CNs). Consequently, ICTs are able to become more meaningful in support of livelihoods of these communities, such as in agriculture production. Potential benefits to smallholder farmers include increase yields and reduced effort. However, there is very little evidence of smallholder farmers integrating ICTs into their livelihood activity. In this paper a Systematic Literature Review is used to explore the challenges faced in this sector. A total of 83 articles were initially identified, and after a screening process 28 articles were subjected to further scrutiny using a qualitative coding process. Codes were assigned to the constructs of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. The findings indicate that effort expectancy, performance expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, price value and perceived trust as factors that are potentially relevant to smallholder farmers’ intentions to adopt ICTs. The findings are important in that they inform how digital ecosystems in rural areas, post the deployment of CN network infrastructure, can become conducive for smallholder farmers to utilise ICTs

Towards design of citizen centric e-government projects in developing country context: the design-reality gap in Uganda

E-government projects should be at the heart of service delivery in developing countries if the lives of citizens, especially the socially and economically marginalized, are to be improved. However, quite often in developing country contexts, citizens have been treated as recipients of technology projects through a top-down approach from central governments. Such a paradigm of implementation usually results in the non-use of the deployed technologies and their associated e-services. A consequence of non-use of e-services results in a wastage of the public fiscus. The extant literature points to a number of underlying causes of the problem. One such problem which has been highlighted is called the “Design-Reality gap”. This paper investigates the nature of the gap. It presents findings from policy analysis and in-depth face-to-face interviews with e-government policy makers and implementers. In addition, it reports on findings from focus group discussions with potential e-government users in a health sector setting. The results which are based on a participatory action research methodology reveal that there exists a glaring design-reality gap between egovernment policy planners and citizens’ aspirations. We argue that co-creation could be a feasible approach for the design of e-government application services towards efforts to bridge the design-reality gap

Determinants of ICT adoption and uptake at a rural public-access ICT centre: A South African case study

The global Covid-19 pandemic has created a heightened sense of awareness of the inequalities that prevail in society. Access to real-time information delivered via broadband internet has become critical for survival. However, the reality of the digital divide implies that some citizens, especially those in far-flung rural areas, are not as fortunate as others to be able to access such information given that internet access at a household level is only a reality across approximately 12% of South Africa. As such, the deployment of public-access ICT centres is still considered to be an important intervention by governments as a digital divide eradication strategy. However, the success of these initiatives is threatened by a lack of understanding of the issues relating to the adoption of ICTs in these communities. Qualitative data were collected via focus groups and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) was applied as an analytical lens. The findings uphold the independent dimensions of UTAUT in explaining ICT adoption. The findings were also mapped to the Access, Capability and Environment (ACE). It was found that other external factors including those of corruption, training benefits and community exclusion are determinants of ICT adoption in a rural community

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

Towards design of citizen centric e-government projects in developing country context: The design-reality gap in Uganda

E-government projects should be at the heart of service delivery in developing countries if the lives of citizens, especially the socially and economically marginalized, are to be improved. However, quite often in developing country contexts, citizens have been treated as recipients of technology projects through a top-down approach from central governments. Such a paradigm of implementation usually results in the non-use of the deployed technologies and their associated e-services. A consequence of non-use of e-services results in a wastage of the public fiscus. The extant literature points to a number of underlying causes of the problem. One such problem which has been highlighted is called the “Design-Reality gap”. This paper investigates the nature of the gap. It presents findings from policy analysis and in-depth face-to-face interviews with e-government policy makers and implementers. In addition, it reports on findings from focus group discussions with potential e-government users in a health sector setting. The results which are based on a participatory action research methodology reveal that there exists a glaring design-reality gap between egovernment policy planners and citizens’ aspirations. We argue that co-creation could be a feasible approach for the design of e-government application services towards efforts to bridge the design-reality gap

Government facilitated access to ICTs: adoption, use and impact on the well-being of indigent South Africans

This paper presents preliminary results of an assessment of the impact of a government facilitated ICT access programme on the well-being of poor citizens. It examines South African government efforts in the application of e-government as a critical tool for speeding service delivery to all citizens. The study makes use of Sen’s capability approach as a conceptual framework. The findings demonstrate that the main focus of government programmes is on the deployment of telecommunication infrastructure and e-literacy training. This study argues that, to effectively realise the benefits of ICTs interventions in poor communities, policy makers needs to expand the breadth of their interventions to the extent that the needs of grassroots communities are woven into e-government programmes via consultation. It is further argued that the value proposition of e-government and associated ICTS programmes does not simply comprise the number of e-centres and extent of connectivity. The findings of the study show that e-skills, an understanding of citizens’ urgency and extensive programme awareness are required to deliver the benefits which are written into policy objectives. The latter are important elements of e-government interventions, without which, the widening of the economic and social gap between the haves and have nots, will remain unchecked.NR

The role of culture in the adoption of mobile applications for the self‑management of diabetes in low resourced urban communities

Diabetes mellitus has been documented as a global health problem with a high mortality rate. In the current digital age, the use of technology to overcome such health problems in pursuance of Sustainable Development Goal 3 is widely recognised. The increased penetration of mobile devices provides one avenue to support the self-management of conditions such as diabetes. As a first step towards this, individuals have to first accept and use the technology. However, the literature indicates low levels of technology use amongst diabetic patients with low socio-economic indicators. We posit that the culture of patients is a contributory factor for the low acceptance and use of technology. This study assessed how culture influences mobile health (m-health) acceptance among diabetic patients from low-resourced urban communities through semi-structured interviews. The theoretical model that was used as a lens for the investigation comprised a juxtaposition of Hofstede's cultural dimensions and the Unified-Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2)

Challenges for the adoption of ICT for diabetes selfmanagement in South Africa

The increasing disease burden in developing countries inhibits the provision of quality care to citizens. However, the increased availability of information communication and technology (ICT) tools makes this a viable option for inclusion in primary health care. Even so, barriers are impeding the successful adoption and usage of ICT tools in health care contexts. This research focuses on one such context to identify the challenges and barriers for the adoption of ICT tools for diabetes self‐management in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The extended technology acceptance model (TAM) and four factors (educational, technological, economic, and sociocultural factors) were identified as a basis for investigation. Evidence was gathered from a sample of 131 diabetic patients using semistructured interviews. These factors, together with TAM constructs, explore how patients interact with ICT and their attitudes towards the use of ICT for diabetes self‐management. The results indicate that all four factors form barriers to ICT adoption for diabetes self‐management. These findings provide a basis to inform how future interventions at the primary health care level may be developed to overcome the identified barriers in efforts to integrate ICT tools into diabetic patients' daily selfmanagement routines