Public Libraries in Increasing the Digital Inclusion of Socially Excluded Groups in Society

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) encompassing computer and network hardware and software, and so on, as well as various services and applications associated with them, are assuming a growing presence within the modern homestead and have an indelible impact on the professional and everyday life of people. This research aims to explore factors influencing the successful adoption and usage of ICTs within Polish households. Based on prior literature and practical experiences, a framework of success factors is provided. The required data was collected from a survey questionnaire administered to a sample of Polish households to examine this framework and identifies which factors are of greatest importance for the adoption and usage of ICTs within households in Poland. Based on 751 questionnaires the paper indicates that the adoption of ICTs within households is mainly influenced by the economic status of households and cost of ICTs, perceived economic benefits from the usage of ICTs, technological availability and security of ICTs, ICT competences and awareness, as well as satisfaction with the adoption of ICTs. Furthermore, gender, education, and place of residence do not reflect significant differences on the factors. Yet, there are significant differences among the factors that could be attributed to age. Both, policy makers and ICT providers can benefit from the findings with regard to bridging the gap of ICT adoption and use in the Polish households.

Agriculture is the backbone of the Sri Lankan economy and it constantly experiences with advances in technology. Because of the rapid development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the world, each organization or person has to concern their products and services more towards modernized and ICT related manner. This research contribute to understand the adoption & use of ICT, identify the constraints associated with ICT use and propose recommendations with managerial implications towards the improvement of present ICT system in agriculture sector of Sri Lanka. Tea producers and poultry farmers in Kurunegala District were served for the survey. A scoring system was used to develop continuous dependent variables which were used in regression models to identify the variables most significantly influencing ICT use. Least significant difference technique was used to identify comparisons of constraints in ICT adoption and use. There were 60.6% of the participants who used ICT related equipments or facilities for their business and 76.1% of the participants having ICT uptake problems, where telecommunication and internet reported higher impact on agriculture sector. The participants stressed the cost of technology, lack of training, trust level in the ICT system, lack of ICT proficiency and lack of technological infrastructure are thresholds for ICT adoption and use. Managers can use these results to promote ICT adoption that can lead to more efficient communication and increased demand for the firm's products and services. The usage of different ICT applications was comparatively high in tea sector and in general the usage of mobile communication was common among all participants. This survey results provide insights which suggest corrective steps to expedite ICT adoption and prioritize the necessary research. Index Terms: ICT adoption; constraints; tea; poultry; ICT DOI: 10.4038/jfa.v1i2.1799 Journal of Food and Agriculture Vol.1(2) 2008 pp.54-63

This study reports on the use, types, and availability of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in four government departments in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in the context of work productivity and creativity. Roger’s Diffusion of Innovations Theory was used to inform the study in an attempt to understand the diffusion and use of modern ICTs in the government departments under investigation. Through a survey, government departments that are considered to be central to service delivery were targeted. Due to the dispersed nature of the public sector in South Africa, the study was confined to government departments in KwaZulu-Natal. The study used multistage probability sampling to select the elements for the survey method. The sample size for the study was 260 managers. One hundred and fifty-two questionnaires were completed and returned. The data collected was analyzed using thematic categorization and tabulation and the findings presented descriptively. The results indicate that a variety of ICTs have been adopted in the sector for interaction and communication. The respondents' level of interaction with some of the ICTs was very high, while the use of ICTs such as video conferencing, television and radio was very poor. The most common obstacles to the effective use of ICTs in government departments were found to be lack of skills or competence, the lack of an ICT policy, and the lack of proper planning for the adoption and diffusion of ICTs in the sector. Recommendations for the way forward are provided.

The rapid adoption of computer networks, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW), within various segments of society has spurred an increased interest in using such technologies to enhance the performance of organizations in both the public and private sectors. While private sector organizations now commonly employ electronic commerce, or e-commerce, strategies to either augment existing business activities or cultivate new groups of customers, organizations at all levels of government have also begun to pay renewed attention to the prospects of using new forms of information and communication technology (ICT) in order to improve the production and delivery of services. As with many technologies, the increased use of ICT by government was in response not only to the increased use of ICT by government stakeholders, such as citizens or businesses, but also in response to a growing call for governmental reform during the 1990s. As public organizations at the federal, state, and even local level began to initiate organizational reforms that sought to bring private sector norms to government, they often sought to employ ICT as means to increase efficiencies and organizational coordination (Gore, 1998; Osborne & Gaebler, 1993). Such attempts to reform the operations of public organizations were a key factor in promoting an increased interest in use of new forms of ICT (Fountain, 2001). This growing focus on the broader use of ICT by public organizations came to be known as digital government. The term, digital government, grew to mean the development, adoption, and use of ICT within a public organization’s internal information systems, as well as the use of ICT to enhance an organization’s interaction with external stakeholders such as private-sector vendors, interest groups, or individual citizens. Some scholars more specifically characterize this broader use of ICT by public organizations according to its intended purpose. Electronic government, or e-government, has often been used to describe the use of ICT by public organizations to provide programmatic information or services to citizens and other stakeholders (Watson & Mundy, 2001). For example, providing an online method through which citizens could conduct financial transactions, such as tax or license payments, would be a typical e-government activity. Other uses of ICT include the promotion of various types of political activity and are often described as electronic politics, or e-politics. These types of ICT-based activities are often characterized as those that may influence citizens’ knowledge of, or participation in, the political processes. For instance, the ability of an elected body of government, such as a state legislature, to put information about proposed legislation online for public comment or to actually allow citizens to contact members of the legislature directly would be a simple example of e-politics. However, ICT is not a panacea for every organizational challenge. ICT can introduce additional challenges to the organization. For example, the increased attention on employing ICT to achieve agency goals has also brought to the forefront the potential difficulty in successfully developing large-scale ICT systems within U.S. government agencies. For example, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) recent announcement that it may have to scrap its project to develop a Virtual Case File system that was estimated to cost $170 million (Freiden, 2005). The adoption of new ICT is often marked by setbacks or failures to meet expected project goals, and this characteristic is certainly not limited to public organizations. However, adherence to public sector norms of openness and transparency often means that when significant problems do occur, they happen within view of the public. More significantly, such examples highlight the difficulty of managing the development and adoption of large-scale ICT systems within the public sector. However conceptualized or defined, the development, adoption, and use of ICT by public organizations is a phenomena oriented around the use of technology with the intended purpose of initiating change in an organization’s technical and social structure. Since the development and adoption of new ICT, or new ways of employing existing ICT, are necessarily concerned with employing new technologies or social practices to accomplish an organizational goal, they meet the basic definition of technological innovations (Rogers, 1995; Tornatsky & Fleischer, 1990). If public organizations are to improve their ability to adopt and implement new ICT, they should better understand the lessons and issues highlighted by a broader literature concerning technological innovation.

BackgroundA practical test that measures the information and communication technology (ICT) skills students need for effectively using ICT in primary education has yet to be developed (Oh et al., 2021). This paper reports on the development, validation, and reliability of a test measuring primary school students' ICT skills required for effectively using ICT (the ECC‐ICT test).ObjectivesBased on existing literature, three ICT use domains were identified for effectively using ICT: Effective, collaborative, and creative use of ICT. For these three domains, 24 corresponding teaching objectives were identified from a widely used digital literacy framework. Thirty‐four test items cover these teaching objectives in an online test.MethodsA mixed‐method approach was used for the ECC‐ICT test. Four pilot rounds (n=25) implemented qualitative interviews for cognitive validity and refining the test items, followed by a qualitative usability study(n=6). Confirmatory factor analysis and ANOVA provided quantitative insight into the large‐scale test administration(n=575).Results and ConclusionsComposite reliability of our conceptual 3‐factor confirmatory model showed that the test reliably measured primary school effective use of ICT (ω = 0.82), collaborative use of ICT (ω = 0.80) and creative use of ICT (ω = 0.64). Convergent validity (ranging from 0.41 to 0.46) was acceptable. Internal consistency (ranging from 0.84 to 0.91) and discriminant validity (HTMT values below 0.90) are good. ANOVA results show that mean test scores are higher for students in higher grade levels (p < 0.001). The post hoc Bonferroni results show that most grade‐by‐grade comparisons are significant (p < 0.001).

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) is a modern means of disseminating agricultural extension services to farmers. Extension agents’ adoption of ICTs in the dissemination of agricultural extension services to farmers in Delta State, Nigeria as a paradigm shift was examined in this study. The objectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the extension agents, identify the ICTs that are within the extension agents reach for use, ascertain respondents’ level of adoption of ICTs and factors limiting extension agents’ effective use of ICTs in disseminating agricultural information to farmers in the study area. Fifty-eight (58) respondents were randomly selected from Delta North and South agricultural zones of the State. Descriptive and inferential statistics were respectively used to analyze objectives and hypotheses of the study. Results revealed that the average age, household size and work experience were 43.28 years, 6 persons and 13.05 years, respectively. The respondents’ level of adoption of ICT tools was high (72.41%). Lack of funds, on-the-job training, supportive services from government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), electricity supply and technical skills were of the serious constraints limiting effective use of ICTs by the extension agents. Other limiting factors were high cost of the tools and poor network coverage. Socio-economic variables like sex, age, educational level and work experience were found to have significantly influenced on the level of adoption of ICTs in dissemination of agricultural information to farmers. The study also revealed a significant difference between respondents with high from those with low level of adoption of ICTs. The study recommended an improvement in electricity supply to those areas where it is epileptic and the push of network providers to make network available to those areas where such is lacking or poor.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) encompassing computer and network hardware and software, and so on, as well as various services and applications associated with them, are assuming a growing presence within the modern homestead and have an indelible impact on the professional and everyday life of people. This research aims to explore factors influencing the successful adoption and usage of ICTs within Polish households. Based on prior literature and practical experiences, a framework of success factors is provided. The required data was collected from a survey questionnaire administered to a sample of Polish households to examine this framework and identifies which factors are of greatest importance for the adoption and usage of ICTs within households in Poland. Based on 751 questionnaires the paper indicates that the adoption of ICTs within households is mainly influenced by the economic status of households and cost of ICTs, perceived economic benefits from the usage of ICTs, technological availability and security of ICTs, ICT competences and awareness, as well as satisfaction with the adoption of ICTs. Furthermore, gender, education, and place of residence do not reflect significant differences on the factors. Yet, there are significant differences among the factors that could be attributed to age. Both, policy makers and ICT providers can benefit from the findings with regard to bridging the gap of ICT adoption and use in the Polish households.

Digital development for a progressive networked society

This study investigated the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in public libraries at Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM). In line with the principles of Batho Pele (People First), libraries in Ekurhuleni started adopting ICTs such as computers and their Internet-based facilities, photocopiers, printers, laminators, DVDs, CDs, CD-ROMs and faxes in order to improve their services to users. Despite the adoption of ICTs, there is neither a record nor existence of strong evidence on the extent to which these facilities are used. The study targeted all public libraries in Ekurhuleni and, within the libraries themselves, library users were surveyed (using questionnaires). The major findings suggest that, although ICTs in Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) libraries are well utilized, poor ICT facilities, access time limit, an insufficient number of ICT facilities in these libraries and restrictive library policies made it difficult for users to maximize the full benefits offered by ICT applications. The study revealed that the lack of ICT knowledge and skills, among other things, have the potential to discourage people from maximizing the full benefits offered by ICT in public libraries, hence the need for user ICT training in public libraries. The public libraries in Ekurhuleni should address these problems in order to provide services in a manner that meets and sometimes exceed the public’s expectations in line with Batho Pele principles. This article contributes to the understanding of the use, access and perception of ICTs in public libraries in the Ekurhuleni Municipality of South Africa. It also contributes knowledge to the library and information services profession on the value of ICTs in public libraries.

This study examined the role of ICT in strengthening internal controls and reducing errors or fraud in public sector accounting. The objectives of the study were to investigate the role of ICT in strengthening internal controls and reducing errors or fraud in public sector accounting, identify challenges affecting the effective use of ICT in accounting and financial reporting in public institutions, and recommend strategies for improving ICT adoption for enhanced financial reporting accuracy and accountability in public institutions. A descriptive survey design was employed, with data collected from accountants, auditors, and financial officers in selected public institutions using structured questionnaires, the researcher personally administers the questionnaires with the assistance of trained research assistants. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, means, percentages, and standard deviations). The findings of the study revealed among others that ICT adoption has positively strengthened internal controls in public institutions, specifically, ICT enhances fraud detection, improves audit compliance, and minimizes duplicate or ghost entries. Nonetheless, challenges remain in preventing unauthorized access and addressing cybersecurity risks. The study concludes that that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays a critical role in enhancing the effectiveness of internal control systems and reducing errors and fraudulent practices in public sector accounting. It recommends that ICT adoption should be complemented with strong internal control systems, including audit trails, restricted access to financial data, and real-time monitoring tools, to minimize fraud, errors, and manipulation of financial records, and specific barriers such as inadequate funding, poor maintenance culture, resistance to change, and irregular electricity supply should be systematically addressed to ensure effective ICT adoption in accounting practices.

An investigation into the factors influencing ICT adoption and use in the administration of secondary schools in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The digital divide (DD) refers to the gap between individuals, companies, regions and countries in accessing and using the information and communication technology (ICT). DD research is mainly oriented towards detection of differences in the ICT use among individuals. An important part of DD research refers to the differences in ICT adoption and use among corporations. The goal of this paper is to present a review of published papers on DD among corporations. Papers from the journals indexed in SSCI that investigate corporate DD were examined in order to compare the research on corporate DD in terms of: (1) geographical area, time frame of the study, sampled corporations; (2) phenomena used as the indicators/measure of DD, inequality type, ICT adoption cycle, determinants of DD; and (3) data collection approach, data sources, sample size and methodology used for investigation of DD determinants.

In the last years, the teaching and learning of literacy has changed due to the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The use of ICT in the classroom depends largely on teachers, who are the key players in its integration. However, several factors influence teachers’ decisions to use ICT in their classroom, both internal (e.g., self-efficacy) and external (e.g., school support). Indeed, despite the potential benefits of using ICT, not all teachers use them in their teaching practice. In the present study, we examined which are the main factors influencing teachers’ effective use of ICT in literacy classrooms. A total of 125 teachers lecturing Portuguese Language in grades 5–12 participated in this study (M = 50.00 years, SD = 7.88; 89% women). Teachers filled in an online survey, comprising sociodemographic questions (viz., age, gender, education, years of teaching experience, teaching level, school type, and geographical area) and four questionnaires related to ICT and teaching. Results showed that effective use of ICT was predicted by both internal (ICT’ self-efficacy and constructivist conception of teaching) and external (lack of access and support, and gatekeepers) factors. These findings may help in the identification of key targets to facilitate the effective use of ICT in literacy classrooms.

Schemes for education reform were initiated in Saudi Arabia. These Schemes involved importation of science curricula and information and communication technology (ICT) integration in education. The imported science curricula require teachers to adopt student-centred approaches and to use ICT. This study explored the Saudi Arabian science teachers use of ICT. The study showed that the Saudi Arabian science teachers use of ICT was tokenistic and limited. Teachers mainly used ICT as a tool to deliver and supplement the content. However, few teachers were able to make effective use of ICT by using ICT to engage the student in the learning process. Based on these teachers a model for effective use of ICT was suggested. This study revealed that many factors affect teachers use of ICT and adoption of student-centred pedagogies. These factors include macro-level, meso-level and micro-level factors.

The Construction Industry is a sector where ICT and e-business are used to a lesser extent than in most other sectors. The high concentration of SMEs in the construction industry and the typical nature of the service provided in construction, being an on-site and often highly customised service are generally identi-fied as the reason for the low ICT uptake. The majority of Irish companies in the construction sector are SMEs. It is essential that Irish companies become more effective and efficient with eBusiness technologies in order to compete in the global economy. The Construction IT Alliance in Ireland has identified a project pro-gramme that will promote Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in the Irish Construction Industry and research SMEs needs to develop a strong eBusiness environment and ultimately create a digital solution that will best suit their needs