Factors Influencing Perceptions and Attitudes of Nurses Towards the Use of ICT in Patient Care in KwaZulu Natal Province, South Africa

This paper presents the results of a study to determine factors influencing perceptions and attitudes of nurses towards the use of ICT in 16 hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, South Africa. Data were collected through a survey questionnaire and factor analysis performed to extract relevant variables. Overall, results revealed positive dispositions of nurses towards the use of ICT. Results further revealed self-efficacy, adoption of computers to improve nursing care, confidence in using computers; usefulness; interactability and knowledgeability were major factors influencing perceptions and attitudes of nurses towards use of ICT at the work place. Findings may inform institutional and provincial ICT infrastructure development decisions to improve nursing services in hospitals. Theoretically the study provides an understanding of factors influencing attitudes and perceptions of nurses’ in the use of ICT at work place from a developing country context such as South Africa and also in vast rural province such as KZN

Research Data Management (RDM) in agricultural research institutes: a literature review

This article presents a survey of literature on Research Data Management (RDM) with focus on agricultural research institutes. This is to help the  understanding of core issues in RDM such as legal, policy and regulations; skills set and infrastructure in order to strategically position the agricultural sector in the knowledge economy and also help in reducing duplication of effort, promoting innovation, minimizing loss or destruction of research data sets and that ensuring compliance with funders’ requirements. The author argues that while RDM has been widely embraced in developed countries Africa is lacking behind. The literature reviewed in this article seem to suggest that legal, policy and regulatory framework in agricultural research sectors are either nonexistent or outdated. This is exacerbated by inadequate technical infrastructure, human resources capacity, and paucity of national or international partnerships. As a result, research data setswithin agricultural institutes are poorly managed. The establishment of a legislative and policy framework for RDM; capacity building programs, and improvement of technical infrastructure are highly recommended.Keywords: Research Data Management, data curation, research data, agricultural research institutes, Keny

Ethical aspects of doctoral-research advising in the emerging African information society

This paper discusses the ethical aspects of doctoral-research advising in the emerging African information society from an African perspective. It addresses the following research questions: What is the status of information ethics in Africa? What theoretical frameworks are available to illuminate the ethical dimension of the emerging African information society? To what extent are ethical aspects of the emerging African information society integrated into doctoral research advising in library and information science in Africa? What are the roles and obligations of the supervisor and supervisee in doctoral research? How is information and communication technology (ICT) being used to enhance doctoral-research advising? The paper is underpinned by various ethical theoretical models, such as the Trust Model, Hayward Power Relations, classical and contemporary ethical traditions, and game theory. It relies upon a literature survey to address the research problems. Results reveal, among other things, the milestones achieved by African scholars in promoting information ethics through curriculum development and research. However, there is a need for the evolving information society to take cognizance of African cultural contexts. The results also reveal that supervisor–supervisee relationships are constrained. The ethical dimension of the emerging African information society should be infused into the doctoral-research process to improve the relationships of supervisor and supervisee. This should be supported by responsible use of ICT, taking into account the Africa cultural context and African values to facilitate the doctoral-advising process. All these should be buttressed by an enabling policy framework at the institutional level to promote harmony and productivity in doctoral research.published or submitted for publicationOpe

Factors influencing library use by students with disabilities in Zimbabwe: The case of United College of Education (UCE)

The study investigated the factors that influence library usage by students with disabilities at United College of Education in Zimbabwe. The study employed a qualitative approach. Interviews were held with sixteen students with disabilities, the chief librarian, two library assistants, and one library intern. Data were also collected through observations. Results reveal that great effort has been made to provide inclusive library services to students with disabilities; however, challenges remain. These include: physical inaccessibility of the library to students living with disabilities, lack of infrastructure to support available assistive technologies, information resources that do not accommodate students living with disabilities, and staff that is not adequately trained to handle users with disabilities. The study contributes to global debate about provision of library services to people living with disabilities from a Zimbabwean perspective. The study’s recommendations provide ideas that can be adopted by libraries to improve inclusivity

Exploring the feasibility of Research Data Management services in Zimbabwean academic libraries: the case of Zimbabwe School of Mines

The study applied an adapted Technology, Economic, Legal, Organisational, and Schedule (TELOS) model to explore the feasibility of Research Data Management (RDM) at the Zimbabwe School of Mines (ZSM). The study employed a qualitative approach. Data were collected through interviews that were held with purposively chosen professionals at ZSM in the form of the Information Technology (IT) manager, the Librarian, and three (3) Assistant Librarians. Findings show that ZSM does not currently meet the TELOS model feasibility test. ZSM lacks a robust technological system to support data creation, data collection and description, data storage, archiving and preservation, data access, data discovery and analysis, and data reuse and transformation. ZSM has not yet created a legal environment conducive for the introduction of RDM. It does not have policies and standards in place to handle issues such as intellectual property, copyright, data licensing, ethics, data protection, freedom of information, and confidentiality. While librarians at ZSM possess basic IT and computer skills they lack skills specific for RDM. The study informs the shaping of policies, practices, and strategies regarding the introduction of RDM services in Zimbabwean academic libraries

Building Assistive Technology (AT) competency in academic librarians: Perceptions of library personnel and students with visual impairments from three Zimbabwean universities

This qualitative study reflects on the perceptions of library professionals and students living with visual impairments from three Zimbabwean universities about the need for and ways of creating Assistive Technology (AT) competency in academic librarians. Some of the measures that may be used to increase the AT competencies of academic librarians are discussed. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 19 participants comprising 13 library personnel and six students living with visual impairments. The study highlights important types of AT for individuals living with visual impairments, emphasises the importance of competencies in AT for academic librarians and suggest appropriate measures for enhancing the AT skills of academic librarians in the context of participants’ views. It is hoped that the study’s recommendations will generate an urgent need to address AT competencies of academic librarians to drive effective adoption and usage of AT in the studied institutions of higher learning

An overview of knowledge management research in Zimbabwe: From 2010 to 2022

This paper gives an overview of knowledge management (KM) research in Zimbabwe and analyses the most significant research trends and patterns from 2010 to 2022. The literature review technique was used to collect data, focusing on characteristics of publication outputs, focus of the researches, research methods, and summary of key findings. Findings show that research in knowledge management is still limited in Zimbabwe. The corporate sector receives the most focus from KM researchers, followed by knowledge-oriented institutions, the public sector, Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs), media organisations, and agriculture-related enterprises. Universities, despite being both knowledge factories and large consumers of knowledge, are implementing knowledge management only to a limited extent. The common research themes include knowledge management technologies, firm performance, knowledge sharing, and knowledge management challenges. The qualitative approach is the most preferred research methodology, while interviews and questionnaires are the most often utilised data collection methods

Information Management as a Nexus to Promote the use of Indigenous Medicine and Enhance Public Healthcare Delivery: A Bibliometric Analysis

This paper uses a bibliometric analysis to explore the citations trend in ethnomedicine and information management. A text mining algorithm of a total number of 8, 333 publications (n = 8,333) was conducted based on the title, abstract and keywords to find co-occurrence of key terms in indigenous medicine and information management. The first objective was to analyze the authorship, outputs and citation trends and establish if researchers have been able to establish a nexus between indigenous herbal use and the role of information management in promoting such use. Secondly, the study sought to establish if there is already a link in information management research through collaboration as a nexus to promote indigenous use of herbal medicine and enhance public healthcare delivery systems on the African continent. A computation synthesis of the data was performed using R programming statistical analysis and bibliometric software to visualize the analyzed data. Based on the R programming output, the total author sample size was 35,970 (n = 35,970), and their total publications output was n= 8,333, while the total outputs parameters was as follows: Min = 5.00 Max = 71.00, µ = 10.59. The average citation per items was 4.74 (ACP = 4.74) h-index=60, sum of times cited (STC = 39,572), citing articles (CA = 32,749) without self-citations (n =36,042) and citing articles (CA= 30,777). The findings suggest that researchers have yet to establish the nexus between information management and its impact in promoting indigenous use of natural remedies within public healthcare to promote its efficacy

Bibliometric Analysis of Citation Trends and Publications on E-government in Southern African Countries: A Human-computer Interactions and IT Alignment Debate

Due to technology adoption, many countries are embracing e-government. This study presents the growth and pattern of research on e-government articles and conference proceedings internationally, by scholars in the Southern African countries. It presents research patterns, trends and current gaps in e-government, as well as the most prolific authors and the level of outputs’ prominence. This paper uses bibliometric tools to present the analysis of articles on Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar databases. R computational programming for big data analysis was used to generate summarized metrics. The citation sample size was (n = 33,689), µ = 625, and the outputs impact based on total link strength of citations were; min =11.0, max = 1,686.0 and µ = 118.2, showing the Southern African scholars outputs visibility and prominence on e-government research. The findings present the most prolific authors in the Southern African region and the prominence of their outputs on e-governance. The study, through the computational synthesis of the data, also reveals some of the missing links in e-governance research designs and implementation. Furthermore, the study indicates that the service-oriented design of e-government platforms are still lacking, and the integration of Information Technology (IT) alignment, which is necessary to successfully implement e-government is lacking. The use and integration of mobile technology to enhance citizen-centric and participatory public governance platform and e-government implementation is not sufficiently addressed. Therefore, there is need to measure the maturity level of e-government IT deployment, its user-interfaces, as well as the design of an e-government that is able to respond to often embryonic and heterogeneous needs of citizens

Bibliometric Analysis of Citation Trends and Publications on E-government in Southern African Countries: A Human-computer Interactions and IT Alignment Debate

Due to technology adoption, many countries are embracing e-government. This study presents the growth and pattern of research on e-government articles and conference proceedings internationally, by scholars in the Southern African countries. It presents research patterns, trends and current gaps in e-government, as well as the most prolific authors and the level of outputs’ prominence. This paper uses bibliometric tools to present the analysis of articles on Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar databases. R computational programming for big data analysis was used to generate summarized metrics. The citation sample size was (n = 33,689), µ = 625, and the outputs impact based on total link strength of citations were; min =11.0, max = 1,686.0 and µ = 118.2, showing the Southern African scholars outputs visibility and prominence on e-government research. The findings present the most prolific authors in the Southern African region and the prominence of their outputs on e-governance. The study, through the computational synthesis of the data, also reveals some of the missing links in e-governance research designs and implementation. Furthermore, the study indicates that the service-oriented design of e-government platforms are still lacking, and the integration of Information Technology (IT) alignment, which is necessary to successfully implement e-government is lacking. The use and integration of mobile technology to enhance citizen-centric and participatory public governance platform and e-government implementation is not sufficiently addressed. Therefore, there is need to measure the maturity level of e-government IT deployment, its user-interfaces, as well as the design of an e-government that is able to respond to often embryonic and heterogeneous needs of citizens