Adoption of ICTs in a marginalised area of South Africa
- Authors: Mapi, Thandeka , Dalvit, Lorenzo , Terzoli, Alfredo
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431130 , vital:72747 , https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/4390301/5-thandeka-libre.pdf?1390837024=response-content-disposi-tion=inline%3B+filename%3DAdoption_of_ICTs_in_a_Marginalised_Area.pdfExpires=1714988863Signature=N683m3iYa8BDSsrNBb-fZpYmsy~pftZZQbiEdNz8ZFJaL2I-Wt32FIJcLEKFnrSjj0AfnYak4RVZjuZhuFVHQZOnkt7tIBBwccqexeEkwq94rCX6r1~aA~GdyL4Z3WzHRK~Xoug17mnu869TGq8VxuSNBf-LmbSr03uZeXlk2dpobbp3ROl06wauhLm02p1th1qBM5n-Bc0q8wYS-zkY-jA9fc7w6ZE~m6hlHE6Amt1xg~db99oRcu1EuXSdHyWDZDw3OsQ9zlMfX7AU6EBhfAtFbxXuVXOlNOEPuXHgiQ1UbFveqfVKGFRg0dmYXzw62MQM0EQQ2g4qXgk2Xc2z0cQ__Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
- Description: This paper examines how a community in Dwesa, a marginalised area in the Transkei Region of the Eastern Cape, South Africa, adopts Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). This research is part of the Siyakhula project, which aims at promoting the potential of the area through ICTs. The project is situated in four different schools: Mpume, Nondobo, Mtokwane and Ngwane. Fostering ICT awareness and a sense of owner-ship by the community are seen as crucial factors, and computer literacy education is an integral part of the project. The study focuses on how di-verse groups of people adopt new technologies and approach ICT educa-tion. Qualitative research methods such as Participatory Action Research (PAR) and Participant Observation (PO) were adopted in the study.
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Prototyping a p2p sip user agent with support for multiple overlays
- Authors: Tsietsi, Mosiuoa , Terzoli, Alfredo , Wells, George C
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/430858 , vital:72722 , 10.1109/PERCOM.2008.102
- Description: This paper describes a systematic approach to provide support at the user agent level for peer-to-peer based multimedia communications us-ing SIP (session initiation protocol). In a society that is becoming in-creasingly mobile, the advantages of engaging in interactive sessions without relying on central servers or infrastructure are clear. Yet, cur-rently many user agents and devices have little support for peer-to-peer communications. In this paper, we motivate for the use of structured peer-to-peer protocols called DHTs, as a foundation for a peer-to-peer layer. We introduce the concept of "DHTplug-ins" which assist in ab-stracting the interface between the higher level application and the pro-prietary APIs exposed by the underlying DHTs, allowing us to manipu-late user agents with peer-to-peer logic. This embeddable-DHT concept allows these user agents to use different DHTs with one common inter-face and participate in multiple overlays. We show how an open source SIP user agent was thus modified and how realtime communications were supported.
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The development of ICT networks for South African schools: Two pilot studies in disadvantaged areas
- Authors: Siebörger, Ingrid , Terzoli, Alfredo , Hodgkinson-Williams, Cheryl
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431018 , vital:72737 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09729-9_25
- Description: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are increasingly considered valuable tools in educa-tion, promoting the development of higher cognitive processes and allowing teachers and learners access to a plethora of information. This paper reports on two pilot studies conducted in South Africa in proto-typical previously disadvantaged schools and their surrounding communities. Each pilot study deployed a local loop network within impoverished communi-ties, connecting schools to one another and central services such as email and voice communications. The benefits of these networks were that teachers, learners and the local community had access to in-formation, and communication and collaboration channels, providing potential test beds for investigat-ing the use of computers as mind tools.
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The Internet in rural communities: unrestricted and contextualized
- Authors: Thinyane, Mamello , Dalvit, Lorenzo , Terzoli, Alfredo , Clayton, Peter G
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431344 , vital:72766 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alfredo-Ter-zoli/publication/262259378_The_Internet_in_rural_communities_unrestricted_and_contextualized/links/6597ec140bb2c7472b35fcac/The-Internet-in-rural-communities-unrestricted-and-contextualized.pdf
- Description: The benefits of the Internet are still not available to many marginalized communities because of lack of connectivity, costs of infrastructure and scarcity of skills. Many ICTforDevelopment (ICT4D) projects offer piecemeal interventions relying either on restricted (and often decontex-tualised) access to the Internet or on isolated Local Area Networks (LANs). In this paper we argue that marginalized rural communities should have unrestricted access to the Internet in order to exploit its full potential. We also believe that the Internet could be contextualized through an optional adaptation layer which would facilitate access. We discuss an ICT4D project which was shaped from the very beginning according to these principles. It involves the deployment of an eCom-merce platform (soon to be integrated with eHealth, eLearning and eGovernment capabilities) in a rural community in South Africa. We re-port on how the various components of this intervention fit into the model, and the benefits for the community.
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The localisation into isiXhosa of the iLanga telephone system
- Authors: Dalvit, Lorenzo , Tsietsi, Mosiuoa , Terzoli, Alfredo , Maseko, Pamela , Sam, Msindisi , Mapi, Thandeka
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431358 , vital:72767 , https://nru.uncst.go.ug/bitstream/handle/123456789/6552/Information%20Communica-tion%20Technologies%20%20page%20410.pdf?sequence=1isAllowed=y#page=256
- Description: In this paper we describe the localisation of iLanga, a VoIP PBX sys-tem, into isiXhosa. In South Africa, for social and political reasons, mak-ing systems available in the African languages is becoming more and more important. On the one hand, it gives access to the use of technol-ogy to people who are not fluent in English. On the other hand, it has a strong symbolic value. Although a variety of software is already availa-ble in a number of African languages, localisation in such language is still in its early stage. The process presented interesting challenges both from the technical and the linguistic point of view.
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The role of indigenous knowledge in computer education in Africa
- Authors: Dalvit, Lorenzo , Murray, Sarah , Terzoli, Alfredo
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431033 , vital:72739 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09729-9_43
- Description: The integration of indigenous knowledge/languages in formal education is a contentious issue in post-colonial Africa. For historical and econom-ic reasons, these are devalued in the formal education system. We ar-gue that appropriate use of indigenous knowledge/languages can em-power African students academically even in typically “Western” disci-plines, such as Computer Science. We discuss the potential role of in-digenous languages/knowledge in ICT education and then describe an intervention, supporting students from marginalised communities, at a South African University.
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Transitions towards a knowledge society: Aspectual pre-evaluation of a culture-sensitive implementation framework
- Authors: Thinyane, Mamello , Terzoli, Alfredo , Clayton, Peter G
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431054 , vital:72741 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09729-9_41
- Description: Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is aiding the transi-tion of society into information society and ultimately knowledge society. Embedded within ICT are the cultural and philosophical undercurrents of the society in which the ICT solutions are developed, currently pre-dominantly the Western culture. The proliferation of ICT is therefore in-advertedly leading to more Westernization of the world. It is important, therefore, that ICT solutions are culture sensitive and flexible enough to be situated within different cultures. To that end, we utilize Herman Dooyeweerd’s Theory of Modal Aspects to analyze a framework we has developed for implementation of locally situated knowledge based systems, to determine its efficacy in addressing the different modal as-pects, which make up the total experience and cultural expressiveness of societies.
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An ontology-based, multi-modal platform for the inclusion of marginalized rural communities into the knowledge society
- Authors: Thinyane, Mamello , Dalvit, Lorenzo , Slay, Hannah , Mapi, Thandeka , Terzoli, Alfredo
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431218 , vital:72755 , https://doi.org/10.1145/1292491.1292508
- Description: With the information revolution that promises to shape the 21st century, knowledge has become the prime commodity, very much like land, means of production and capital have been at different times in the past. Access to information, made instantly available by the growth of the Internet, determines access to economic resources, social participa-tion and better quality of life. For this reason, the knowledge stored on the Web and the advantages offered by the spread of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are equally important for rich socie-ties to prosper and for poor ones to develop. The only difference is that marginalised communities do not have access to the tools and have little control over the content found in the domain of ICTs. In this paper we describe an intervention to develop the potential of a typical rural community in South Africa through ICTs. This involves providing Inter-net connectivity and deploying a platform to support e-commerce, e-learning, e-government and e-health. The core of the platform is an on-tology-based model designed to integrate and respond to Indigenous Knowledge Systems. This has been achieved by combining a deep understanding of local knowledge and social networks with the use of authoring, communication and ontology-management tools. The prima-ry goal of this new approach is to find a way to make ICT solutions more sensitive to the local context, and therefore more effective. Sec-ondly, we hope to foster a sense of ownership of the project among the community, by capitalising on local knowledge and resources.
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Wi-Fi as a last mile access technology and The Tragedy of the Commons
- Authors: Brandt, Ingrid , Terzoli, Alfredo , Hodgkinson-Williams, Cheryl
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431106 , vital:72744 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6266-7_33
- Description: With an alarmingly low teledensity in South Africa, just 12%, and not much hope of further wired infrastructure at the local loop level, as the costs incurred are high compared to potential revenue, wireless con-nectivity could be a great asset and service in South Africa. However, the use of unlicensed spectrum in building wireless networks can be comparable to “The Tragedy of the Commons”, the result of selfish be-haviour towards common and limited resources. This paper evaluates the use of 802.11 wireless technologies in building a broadband wire-less network and the effects of high amounts of interference on such a network. The paper concludes that for urban areas 802.11 technologies using unlicensed spectrum is not advisable, unless used in point-to-point links, while its use in rapid rural development (where there is less interference) is very promising.
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Wearing your PIM: experiments with an audio enhanced PIM
- Authors: Tsegaye, Melekam , Bangay, Shaun D , Terzoli, Alfredo
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432854 , vital:72904 , https://www.cs.ru.ac.za/research/g98t4414/static/papers/wpimfinal.pdf
- Description: PIM systems help organise people’s lives by providing address book, schedule and task management facilities. Current PIM’s manage this information by collecting and storing it as textual data. With the advent of the wearable computer, using text only is no longer an efficient and convenient mechanism for managing personal information. A wearable computer should use data from various sensors (video, audio, location, environmental, user state) to organise personal information. In this paper we examine how audio can be used to enhance the facilities provided by text-only PIM’s and present an example implementation of an audio based wearable PIM (wPIM) that has the capability of storing and retrieving PIM information as audio recordings. The results of the user evaluation we conducted, which was carried out outside of the laboratory, suggests that users strongly accept audio as a way to manage their personal information and to augment their memory, supporting our hypothesis that audio enhances wearable personal information management.
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A Prototyping Environment for Investigating Context Aware Wearable Applications.
- Authors: Tsegaye, Melekam , Bangay, Shaun D , Terzoli, Alfredo
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432783 , vital:72900 , https://www.cs.ru.ac.za/research/g98t4414/static/papers/wearprototsegaye05.pdf
- Description: In this paper we introduce the concept of a contextaware, wearable application prototyping environment, which can be used to support research into new wearable applications. We also present an initial specification for such an environment and show how different types of sensors can be modelled to produce data that describes a given context scenario using our prototyping approach.
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