Investigation and development of an e judiciary service for a citizen oriented judiciary system for rural communities
- Authors: Scott, Mfundo Shakes
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Digital divide -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , User interfaces (Computer systems)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11390 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/275 , Digital divide -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , User interfaces (Computer systems)
- Description: One of the factors that contribute towards slow rural development is the presence of the digital divide. An area where the digital divide is still prevalent is the administration of justice within traditional contexts. One of the areas affected by this problem is the Dwesa rural community, situated on the Wild Coast of the former homeland of Transkei, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. To address this problem for the Dwesa community, a research project on developing and implementing an e-Judiciary service was undertaken. The primary objective of this project was to develop a web application to support traditional justice administration in the Dwesa community. Due to the lack of a proper legal environment in this community, the e-Judiciary service acts as a portal for safe-keeping of judicial information. Such a system also serves as a platform for the administration of minor offences that are solved by the traditional courts. Furthermore, it provides a better working environment for traditional judicial leaders and eliminates the difficulty of accessing legal information by the rest of the community. Through the availability and use of the service, community members are provided with understanding and knowledge about judiciary operations and services in their community.
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- Date Issued: 2010
A comparison of open source object-oriented database products
- Authors: Khayundi, Peter
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Object-oriented databases , Relational databases , Database management , Database selection , Database searching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11384 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/254 , Object-oriented databases , Relational databases , Database management , Database selection , Database searching
- Description: Object oriented databases have been gaining popularity over the years. Their ease of use and the advantages that they offer over relational databases have made them a popular choice amongst database administrators. Their use in previous years was restricted to business and administrative applications, but improvements in technology and the emergence of new, data-intensive applications has led to the increase in the use of object databases. This study investigates four Open Source object-oriented databases on their ability to carry out the standard database operations of storing, querying, updating and deleting database objects. Each of these databases will be timed in order to measure which is capable of performing a particular function faster than the other.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Cultural and linguistic localization of the virtual shop owner interfaces of e commerce platforms for rural development
- Authors: Dyakalashe, Siyabulela
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: User interfaces (Computer systems) , Electronic commerce -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Computer architecture -- Design and construction
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11379 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/276 , User interfaces (Computer systems) , Electronic commerce -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Computer architecture -- Design and construction
- Description: The introduction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for rural development in rural marginalized societies is vastly growing. However, the success of developing and deploying ICT related services is still in question as influential factors such as adaptability, scalability, sustainability, and usability have great effect on the rate of growth of ICTs in rural environments. The problem is that these ICT services should be maintained and sustained by the targeted communities. The main cause for rural marginalization is the fact that some communities situated in rural settings are educationally challenged and computer illiterate or semiliterate in comparison with urban communities. An ICT for development (ICT4D) intervention in the form of an e-Commerce platform that targets the social and economic growth of rural marginalized communities has been developed and field tested at Dwesa, a rural community located on the Wild Coast of the former homeland of Transkei in the Eastern Cape Province. The e-Commerce platform is known as “buy at Dwesa” and can be visited at this URL, http://www.dwesa.com. The aim of the e-Commerce platform is to motivate small entrepreneurs in rural areas to market their products and themselves to the global market as they lack the skills and resources for marketing their art and crafts. Virtual stores are created for a small group of entrepreneurs who will maintain and sustain the stores on their own. These entrepreneurs are often elderly women with limited education and little to no computer literacy - meaning that sustaining the stores may prove difficult for them. In this research we discuss the re-design and re-development of the virtual shop-owner interfaces of the e-Commerce platform to make them more culturally and linguistically localized. The virtual shops allow shop-owners to upload their artifacts to advertise and sell on the customer’s end of the e-Commerce platform. For multilingual and multicultural communities, adoption of the software interfaces to the user’s cultural and linguistic needs and modes of expression is important as failure to do so may reduce the level of benefits of e-Commerce initiatives.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Implementation of a rewards based negotiation module for an e commerce platform
- Authors: Jere, Nobert Rangarirai
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Computer network architecture -- South Africa -- Design and construction , Internet in public administration -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Electronic commerce -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Business enterprises -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11378 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/267 , Computer network architecture -- South Africa -- Design and construction , Internet in public administration -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Electronic commerce -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Business enterprises -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been widely deployed in developmental programs and this has lead to the creation of a new field – ICT for Development (ICT4D). Within the context of ICT4D, various e-services are being developed, including e-Commerce, e-Government, e-Health and e-Judiciary. ICT4D projects allow Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) in rural areas to increase sales and gain a market share in the global market. However, many of these ICT4D projects do not succeed, because they fail to bring enough financial value to SMMEs due to the form they currently have. An obvious example is e-Commerce, which should be a source of revenue for business organizations, but most often is not. This thesis presents the design and implementation of a rewarding and negotiation application for a shopping portal to improve the marketing of products for rural entrepreneurs. The shopping portal has been set up for the Dwesa community, a marginalized area in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The proposed system, called the Dwesa Rewarding Program (DRP) enables customers buying online to get points for some of the activities carried out on the shopping portal. It also allows customers to negotiate and make offers whilst purchasing and get rewarded for buying online. The novelty of the system is in its flexibility and adaptability. One achievement of this system is the establishment of negotiation rules which allows fairness in rewarding customers. This should in turn lead to increased sales on the e-Commerce platform in marginalized areas and subsequently increased effectiveness of ICT4D for socio-economic development
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- Date Issued: 2009
Implementing an integrated e-government functionality for a marginalized community in the Eastern Cape South Africa
- Authors: Jakachira, Bobby Tichaona
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Internet in public administration -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11377 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/273 , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Internet in public administration -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: Traditional methods of providing public services to disadvantaged rural communities in South Africa have, over the years, proven to be inefficient and in most such communities, simply non-existent. Although the South African government has taken initiatives to make these public services cheaply and conveniently available online at national level, access at local municipal level is still lacking. The goal of this study is to develop a cost-effective e-government system that will contribute to improved provision of public services to the Dwesa area, a rural community in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, by the government. A prototype construction approach was used, to develop a cost-effective four-modular web application. Interviews were conducted in the field, resulting in four e-government system modules, based on open-source software, developed and integrated to form a single, dynamic web component that will act as a one-stop shop for Dwesa community members. These are the Dwesa Online Application Centre (DOAC) to apply for important government documents and grants, the Dwesa Online Reporting Centre (DORC) to report various grievances to the responsible agencies, the Dwesa Forum Corner (DFC), a digital community, and the management back-end module. The Dwesa e-government portal was developed using Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP (LAMP) technology, a Zoop framework to model the individual components and a JQUERY JavaScript library to increase the responsiveness of the user interfaces. The most significant contributions of this thesis have been the development of a cost-effective, integrated e-government functionality, applicable to disadvantaged communities, and the greater understanding this has given of the tools and methodologies that can be used to deliver public services efficiently to citizens. The final evaluation of this e-government system gives significant evidence that the e-government portal provides a solid foundation that will allow e-government implementation to raise the provision of public services to a higher level.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Development of methodologies for deploying and implementing local & medium area broadband PLC networks in office and residential electric grids
- Authors: Tinarwo, Loyd
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Broadband communication systems , Power transmission , Telecommunication lines
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11375 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/83 , Broadband communication systems , Power transmission , Telecommunication lines
- Description: The use of electrical networks for telecommunications has a long history. It has been known since the beginning of the twentieth century [Ahola03]. The idea of using electrical networks for broadband communications arose in the 1990s [Hrasnica et al 04]. Recent and growing research interest has indicated that PowerLine Communications (PLC) is the threshold for achieving broadband delivery particularly in very dispersed and low teledensity areas. Currently, there are numerous PLC trials and commercial deployments underway inside and outside South Africa. Nevertheless, these PLC deployments are very isolated, done without clear methodology and performance remains bound to the physical layout of the electrical network. Because of that high bandwidth broadband PLC systems are prone to poor performance and this in turn limits the acceptance and deployment of this emerging alternative broadband technology. Though, PLC technical challenges are being addressed, there has been little analysis and research work that is focused on the “Development of Methodologies for Deploying and Implementing Local & Medium Area Broadband Power Line in Residential and Office Electric Grids” that would lead to broadband PLC being adopted and be of greater use to non-broadband communities of South Africa. PLC is a term describing several different systems using electrical grid distribution wires for simultaneous distribution of data by superimposing an analog signal [Hrasnica et al 04]. The research proposed and presented broadband PLC methodologies for typical medium voltage and local voltage PLC networks. These methodologieswere implemented and experimented with in configurations which closely mirrored residential and office settings through laboratory and multibuilding experiments using commercial 2nd Generation Mitsubishi Electric PLC technology. Research results presented not only serve to provide insight into broadband PLC but also how it handled broadband applications (communications), competed and compared with other technologies such as Ethernet LAN. In combination with networking communication theories, the research explored and analyzed the extent of PLC in providing broadband communication to residential and office electric grids at the University Fort Hare, Computer Science Department.
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- Date Issued: 2008
Implementing a robust, cost effective, e-commerce platform for a disadvantaged community of the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Njeje, Sicelo Given
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Computer network architectures -- South Africa -- Design and construction , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Internet marketing , Business enterprises -- Computer networks , Electronic commerce
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11373 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/75 , Computer network architectures -- South Africa -- Design and construction , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Internet marketing , Business enterprises -- Computer networks , Electronic commerce
- Description: The development of electronic commerce (e-commerce) is the most visible business use of the World Wide Web. The primary goal of an e-commerce site is to sell goods and services online. This project deals with developing an e-commerce platform for marginalized communities of the Eastern Cape region, South Africa. An online “shopping mall” to support the marketing of art and crafts from disadvantaged communities is presented, with Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP (LAMP) as the development environment. Free and Open Source Software has been chosen to develop the virtual shopping mall system because the use of Open Source allows easy localization and extensions to the system developed and long term sustainability, as the source code is available. Also, it might start a “virtuous” circle, whereby young members of the communities hosting art and craft makers become involved in maintenance, and then production, of software systems. One important design constraint from the e-commerce platform presented in this thesis is the possibility for the art and craft makers to manage their shops directly, from the initial loading of their wares to the day-to-day maintenance, such as changes of price or items. The user requirement elicitation and initial field testing were conducted in Dwesa, an area on the wild coast, South Africa. The system currently comprising two shops is live at the time of writing this thesis at www.dwesa.com.
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- Date Issued: 2008
Design and implementation of a network revenue management architecture for marginalised communities
- Authors: Tarwireyi, Paul
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Computer network architectures -- South Africa -- Design and construction , Computer network protocols -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Design and construction , Revenue management , Computer networks -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11374 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/72 , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Computer network architectures -- South Africa -- Design and construction , Computer network protocols -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Design and construction , Revenue management , Computer networks -- Social aspects
- Description: Rural Internet connectivity projects aimed at bridging the digital divide have mushroomed across many developing countries. Most of the projects are deployed as community centred projects. In most of the cases the initial deployment of these projects is funded by governments, multilateral institutions and non-governmental organizations. After the initial deployment, financial sustainability remains one of the greatest challenges facing these projects. In the light of this, externally funded ICT4D interventions should just be used for “bootstrapping” purposes. The communities should be “groomed” to take care of and sustain these projects, eliminating as soon as possible a dependency on external funding. This master thesis presents the design and the implementation of a generic architecture for the management of the costs associated with running a computer network connected to the Internet, The proposed system, called the Network Revenue Management System, enables a network to generate revenue, by charging users for the utilization of network resources. The novelty of the system resides in its flexibility and adaptability, which allow the exploration of both conventional and non-conventional billing options, via the use of suitable ‘adapters’. The final goal of the exploration made possible by this system is the establishment of what is regarded as equitable charging in rural, marginalized communities - such as the community in Dwesa, South Africa.
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- Date Issued: 2007
Development of a web-based interface for a wireless sensor network monitoring system
- Authors: Gumbo, Sibukele
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Wireless LAN , Sensor networks , Wireless communication systems , Web sites -- Design , User interfaces (Computer systems)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11372 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/68 , Wireless LAN , Sensor networks , Wireless communication systems , Web sites -- Design , User interfaces (Computer systems)
- Description: In the recent past, wireless sensor technology has undergone advancements in its autonomous data collecting aspects, and has become an area worth investigating in relation to structural monitoring applications. The system described in this thesis aims at acquiring, storing and displaying overhead transmission line related data collected from a wireless sensor network. Open source tools were used in its development and implementation. The inherent linearly aligned topology of transmission line monitoring devices is not without shortcomings; hence analysis of linear node placement, hardware and software components was carried out to determine the feasibility of the system. Their limited data processing capabilities has motivated the development of a post processing wireless sensor application in order to present any collected structural data in an understandable format.
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- Date Issued: 2007
Rural internet connectivity: a development in Dwesa-Cwebe, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Mandioma, Martin
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Internet -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11376 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/78 , Internet -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: This thesis presents aspects of Internet connectivity in rural South Africa. The work looks at government initiatives being undertaken to connect rural communities to up-to-date information networks. Various projects that seek to connect rural areas of South Africa, as well as other remote areas around the world, are discussed. These projects present many novel ideas that have been successfully used to link rural communities in remote areas with the information age. In particular, wired and wireless access technologies that can be implemented to connect remote communities to the Internet are discussed. A field test utilizing GPRS, VSAT and WiMAX was implemented in Dwesa-Cwebe, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. VSAT proved to offer better Internet connectivity in terms of throughput and latency. WiMAX was then successfully implemented to relay the signal over the remote area of Dwesa-Cwebe, thus effectively providing Internet connectivity to an area with limited cell phone coverage and no telephone lines.
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- Date Issued: 2007