Closing the digital gap: handheld computing, adult first-time users, and a user experience metric model

This thesis assesses the speed of adaptation and adoption of computing systems from an adult first-time user perspective in South Africa, with the aim of determining if it could ultimately lead to the reduction of the existing digital gap. As is evident from the social, educational, and economical gap for some observers, the reality of the existence of the digital gap in South Africa is undeniable. Constant non-targeted progress is made toward addressing imbalances, which seem to be more visible as the number of constant and permanent users is visibly increasing. These observed phenomena are mostly noticed amongst urban, educated, younger, middle-class citizens. The forgotten “missing middle” are left to fend for themselves. These are people who are still outside the digital drive the world is experiencing based on their schooling grade, geographical location, income level, and age. They were not in school when computer literacy was introduced, and they were too poor to teach themselves how to use a computer, too remote to observe the digital drive, and too old to learn from their peers. As citizens, their welfare matters, and when assessing the penetration of ICT in the country, their numbers also matter. One cannot ignore their presence and the difficulties and frustration that they experience when coming into contact with a computing system for the first time. The researcher is of the view that the presence of a computing system may not simply translate to the closure of the digital gap. In other words, people may gain access to a computer, but without computing usability skills or Internet connectivity it may not add value to their daily activities. Closing the digital gap in South Africa can be seen as political propaganda, but the reality is, how do we measure and assess it? It comes down to users, and in this particular case, attention is turned to the “missing middle”, here referred to as the adult first-time user. This is simply someone who is over the age of 18 years, lives in a rural community in South Africa, never completed school, and is using a computer for the first time. The researcher used a handheld tablet system as a tool to assess the participants’ adequacy in terms of the rate at which they complete tasks by developing mathematical equations which were placed together within an assessment metric that was later used to determine user proficiency, as well as their adaptation and user experience in order to determine if the participant can later adopt the device and take advantage of it. By so doing, the metric will comprise variables such as the user movement time, task completion success rate, task completion speed, user satisfaction, user reaction time, user completion rate per activity, time-based efficiency, and the assessment of the level of frustration any adult first-time user may experience while interacting with the system for the first time. The term “digital gap” may not be new to the ICT sphere, but no one has taken the step towards assessing it. The digital gap is no longer the absence of computing systems in many communities but rather the presence of inadequate user experience, which has not been properly measured and documented. The user experience metric (UXM) that was developed in this study provided the researcher with the opportunity to reassess the issue of systems adaptation, adoption, and usability by adult first-time users. This research is particularly driven by sound interaction design principles, user adaptation, and usability and user experiencePh. D. (Information Systems)School of Computin

The role of open source software in higher education institutions

M.Tech.This research endeavour offers a holistic approach to software systems adoption within the higher education (HE) systems of developing countries at a time when the cost of licensing fees seems to be negatively affecting their annual operational budgets. This study will investigate the pros and cons of adopting open source software (OSS) in HE institutions and from an academic perspective, also investigate how a particular software platform can be beneficial to students’ acquisition of knowledge. The investigation also aims to improve cost control. There are two types of software platforms: OSS and proprietary systems (PS). The former, OSS, is remarkable not only for its ease of access but also for public access of its source code. Proprietary software is said to be more advanced, stable, reliable and effective but very expensive and does not allow users to access its source code. Some argue that OSS is financially viable for HE institutions as an ideal platform for academic experimental learning, peer criticisms, student source code reviews through error tracing, and most importantly, for offering the Information Communication Technology (ICT) student a unique opportunity to master systems code writing without being bound to a particular vendor or commercial product. On the other hand, there are academic ICT experts who question the quality of OSS source code and supporting systems documents. They argue that the cost of maintenance, training and staff salaries for OSS can outweigh properly implemented PS. As most HE institutions experience annual budget cuts, the need to reduce ICT operational costs becomes a priority. These costs can be seriously reduced if software royalty fees can be better controlled and prioritised. Data for this research was gathered through surveys from students, lecturers, computer industry experts and administrative staff of HE institutions in the province of Gauteng, the economic hub of South Africa