Information And Communication Technology Provision Research Articles

Information and Communication Technology Management for Sustainable Youth Employability in Underserved Society

The provision of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure is not eminent in many societies due to a lack of digital access and poverty. Therefore, there should be ICT provision in underserved communities to bridge digital literacy and contribute to human and indigenous knowledge development. This paper aims to investigate how ICT access can impact youth employability in underserved townships. The quantitative method was used for the data collection process, using a structured questionnaire to draft both close-ended and open-ended questions. These were drafted into Google forms and distributed on social media platforms. While the sustainable livelihood theory was used to guide the study. Results derived from this study depict the inherent environmental factors that hinder youth access to ICTs. This study recommends policymakers can implement measures to provide sufficient ICT development initiatives to support youths living in underserved communities.

Competing logics in a hybrid organization: ICT service provision in the Italian health care sector

PurposeThis paper reports an investigation of a hybrid ex-state-owned enterprise (ex-SOE) providing ICT (Information and Communication Technology) services in the Italian healthcare sector (in-house provision). The authors aim to offer a framing that reflects the concerns expressed in the interdisciplinary literature on hybrid SOEs from management, public administration and, more recently, accounting.Design/methodology/approachThis study operationalizes Besharov and Smith’s (2014) theoretical model on multiple logics to analyze institutional structures and organizational outcomes at an ICT in-house provider. It builds on extensive textual analysis of regulatory, archival, survey and interview data.FindingsThe study results show that the combination of hybridity in the form of layering of multiple logics in the health care sector (Polzer et al., 2016) creates problems for the effectiveness of ICT provision. In particular, the hybrid organization the authors study remained stuck in established competing relationships despite a restructure of regional health care governance. The study findings also reflect on the design of organizational control mechanisms when balancing different logics.Research limitations/implicationsThe identified case-study accountability practices and performance system add to the debate on hybrid organizations in the case of ex-SOEs and facilitate the understanding and management of hybrids in the public sector. The authors note policymaking implications.Originality/valueThe authors’ operationalization of Besharov and Smith's (2014) model adds clarity to key elements of their model, notably how to identify evidence in order to disentangle notions of centrality and compatibility. By doing this, the authors’ analysis offers potential insights into both managerial design and policy prescription. The authors provide cautionary tales around institutional reorganization regarding the layered synthesis of logics within these organizations.

DISTANCE EDUCATION IN THE PERIOD OF COVID.19 AND ITS REPERCUSSIONS ON THE MENTAL HEALTH OF HIGHER EDUCATION TEACHERS IN ALGERIA

The teaching process requires a set of principles on which it is based in order to achieve what is necessary, regardless of the methods employed. However, the exceptional situation that the world is currently experiencing following the spread of COVID 19 has imposed profound changes and even upheavals at the level of teaching methods and practices which have transformed in a way. As a result, the majority of teachers also wonders and worries mainly through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to communicate with the student and transmit information to him. Consequently, several difficulties, concerning the provision of ICT and their mastery, the mode of carrying out this type of teaching, the organization of time ..., had repercussions which impacted the mental health of the teacher. And upset his psycho-sociological balance by causing him a set of psychological disorders such as: stress, anxiety, frustration ... So to what extent the COVID 19 could have affected the mental health of the teacher during his practice of distance education?

UNDERSTANDING THE LEVELS OF SATISFACTION AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ABOUT THE USE OF ICTS

The aim of this study was to understand the satisfaction levels of undergraduate students of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), Islamabad about the usage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for their academic purposes. The quantitative research approach was applied to collect data through a survey method from two hundred (200) sampled respondents from three faculties of QAU i.e., social science, natural science, and biological sciences. The convenient sampling technique was used for the selection of the respondents. A well-structured questionnaire was used for the survey purpose. Some of the questionnaires were self-administered while the rest were distributed among the respondents and collected later. The data were analyzed in Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and both descriptive and inferential statistics were applied. The findings of the study showed that undergraduate students at QAU were using the internet, having sufficient knowledge of ICTs, and were using these ICTs for educational purposes, such as research work, class assignments, and communication with teachers. The Confidence Interval was [95% and MoR was 0.05). All the figures had less than 0.05 values which means the variables are correlating to each other. Some of the respondents stated that there is a lack of ICTs well-trained staff and limited space in the computer laboratories at the campus. The university administration should pay special attention to the provision of ICTs to the student so that they could get maximum benefits out of it. Moreover, the respondent’s knowledge about the usage of ICTs has a strong relationship with the students’ attitude towards the ICTs use. The respondent’s level of knowledge about the ICTs has a less likely effect on the major constraint in using ICTs. Keywords: Information and Communication Technologies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Cognitive Flexibility, Academic Activities, Internet, Pakistan

Agricultural transformation, youth participation and food security in Nigeria

This study examines how the agricultural transformation will stimulate youth participation, thereby leading to food security in Nigeria. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) adoption, insurance and health care provision was used as transformation variables. The study applied the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) model on the data sourced from Wave 4 (2018/2019) of the Living Standard Measurement Study-Integrated survey on agriculture (LSMS-ISA). The result showed that; agricultural transformation using ICT, insurance, and health care provision is positive and statistically significant in explaining the level of food security in Nigeria. Therefore, the study concludes that the transformation of Nigerian agriculture should focus on the provision of household's safety net programmes such as insurance. Also, there is a need for the enhancement of households' access to mechanisation services, access to quality and affordability of agricultural input materials to increase productivity, thereby leading to food security.

Implementation of Nepal's education policy in ICT: Examining current practice through an ecological model

AbstractEducational policy implementation can be conceptualised in terms of an ecological model that explores roles and relationships within a complex evolving environment. This article draws on an ecological model to examine Nepal's implementation of its policy for information and communication technology in education. The policy is developed by government and mandated to schools, but government does not commit funding to resource infrastructures or train teachers in information and communication technology (ICT) use. Instead, nongovernment organisations (NGOs) have stepped in and provided resources and training. Thus, two separate systems have evolved. This article examines their actions and interactions as components within an ecology. It utilises a methodological approach that involves qualitative case studies of particular rural schools, analysed through interpretive phenomenological analysis and the lens of an ecology model. It reports findings of how a largely symbiotic relationship has evolved that is somewhat successful in meeting immediate needs and examines changes that are developing in the ecology and that may impact on the future of ICT implementation in Nepal. The study contributes to practical understanding of the potentially symbiotic roles of NGOs and government in ICT provision to rural schools in Nepal. It further contributes to ways policy implementation in developing countries may be theorised.

The optimal provision of information and communication technologies in smart cities

We exploit the public good attributes of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and theoretically analyze an aggregate economy of two smart cities in which ICTs are provided in either a decentralized or a centralized manner. We first determine the efficient ICT levels that maximize the aggregate surplus from the provision of ICTs in the two cities. Second, we compute the optimal level of ICT provision in the two cities in a decentralized regime in which spending on the ICTs is financed by a uniform tax on the city residents. Third, we ascertain the optimal level of ICT provision in the two cities in a centralized regime subject to equal provision of ICTs and cost sharing. Fourth, we show that if the two cities have the same preference for ICTs then centralization is preferable to decentralization as long as there is a spillover from the provision of ICTs. Finally, we show that if the two cities have dissimilar preferences for ICTs then centralization is preferable to decentralization as long as the spillover exceeds a certain threshold.

Households' ICT access and bank patronage in West Africa: Empirical insights from Burkina Faso and Ghana

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play a crucial role on the individuals, businesses and the citizenry in a country. Some studies on ICT access tend to concentrate on the supply side of achieving universal access in ICTs. They do not look at the household demand side and how household access to ICTs enhances bank patronage and financial services. Thus, this study makes contribution by: a) focusing on the demand side of ICT access by households and how it fosters the patronage of financial services; b) investigating some of the socioeconomic characteristics that affect households' adoption of ICTs and bank patronage in Burkina Faso and Ghana. Demographic and Health Survey data for both Burkina Faso and Ghana 2014 was used with logit regression of bank patronage on socioeconomic variables and ICT equipment. The findings, inter alia, show that socioeconomic factors influence ICT adoption and bank services demand at the household level. However, the degree differs significantly between Burkina Faso and Ghana. In essence, whereas only 15% of the surveyed households own bank account in Burkina Faso, the figure for Ghana was more than thrice with 48% of the household owning bank account. Thus, policy should be tailored towards the provision and accessibility of ICTs to households which could enhance their desire for bank patronage as they become more informed on the relevance.

PUBLIC FUNDING OF ICT IN BULGARIAN SCHOOL EDUCATION (2012-2015)

This article aims to present state policy in respect of the provision of ICT in schools and more specifically – computerized workplaces. The definition of the author for computerized workplaces: desktop, laptop, terminal or (hybrid) tablet. For this purpose, the presented and analyzed data are from the implementation of the Ministry of Education and Science in Bulgaria National Program "Information and communication technologies (ICT) in the schools" for the period: school years 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015. The data are obtained from the Ministry of education and science in February 2015 in response to a request for access to public information by the author. In this article some of the analyzed data give objective information about the state funding for securing computerized workplaces and the total amount of investments, and effectively covered schools, for the survey period.

The Broader Context for ICT4D Projects: A Morphogenetic Analysis

This paper demonstrates the value of Archer's morphogenetic approach (MA) in understanding and explaining the complexity of the broader context within which many developing country information and communication technology (ICT) projects are implemented. It does this by using MA's analytical and explanatory apparatus to examine the evolution of the context of public sector ICT provision in Kenya over the period 1963-2006. In addition to demonstrating the practical value of MA, the paper contributes to the Information Systems literature on ICT for development (ICT4D). The analysis identifies (1) global normative pressures, polity, the national socio-economic base, disruptive technology, and the emergence of multistakeholder networks as key forces in shaping the evolutionary trajectory, (2) the explicit treatment of time and temporality as key for understanding mechanisms underpinning the evolutionary process, and (3) the difficulty of cleanly isolating the implementation of individual public sector ICT projects from the broader context and ICT4D agendas. The discussion elaborates on the features of MA found to be particularly valuable in this study. The paper concludes that explicitly attending to time and temporality, and to the broader context for ICT4D projects, would contribute to the development of more nuanced accounts of such projects and a more emancipatory outlook for ICT4D research.

Integrating Geography Information System in Teaching Geography in Malaysian Secondary Smart Schools

In 1996, Malaysia initiated a plan to make the country the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) hub of the region. To facilitate this, the government established the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) plan; this initiative is based on a belief that there will be growing demand for a computer-literate work force, as well as for professionals in ICT. As part of this initiative, the Malaysian Government also established the Smart School System in 1999. The Smart School Programme emphasises the use of technology tools as an important aid in learning and teaching: computers are the main instruction (teaching) tool. Significantly, the integration of ICT in teaching has given greater priority to Science, Mathematics, and English. Therefore, Geography has become what students perceive as a ‘dry’ subject with little use of technology. Unlike in Malaysia, in developed countriesGeography receives more attention and has become a key subject at both the primary and secondary level; as a result, Geographic Information Systems(GIS)are widely accepted and integrated intothe secondary and primary schoolGeography curriculum. However, the integration of GIS in Geography education in Malaysia is still regarded as a myth,for reasons of lack of ability, human resources, ground facilities, and ICT provision. Thus, this article will discuss the potential to integrate GIS in a Malaysian Secondary Smart School, which is well known for being the most sophisticated and well-equipped with ICT in the country. A content analysis was performed based on articles from local and foreign pub-lications regarding the integration of GIS in Geography teaching. The content analyses, which include articles, theses and conference papers, discuss the opportunities to integrate GIS in teaching Geography. The analysis showsthat Secondary Smart Schools in Malaysia have adequate ICT facilities and well-trained human resourcesfor GIS. Thus, a plan for integrating GIS in Geography education is not a myth and will become a reality if the Malaysia Ministry of Education is ready to implement it.

Perceptions of the role of ICT on quality of life in rural communities in Uganda

The role of information and communication technology (ICT) in enabling various development goals including the millennium development goals and ultimately human development is no longer disputed. Emphasis is now being placed on optimizing ICT benefits on the quality of life (QoL) of people, especially in developing countries. To address this need, this paper reports a study that applied Sen's capability approach to explore how individuals in rural communities in Uganda perceived the importance of ICT toward their QoL and how this perception influenced ICT adoption. It was established that while perception was inclined to social benefits, ICT uptake and use toward improved QoL is still limited. One reasonable conclusion is therefore that state and policymakers should adopt a pluralistic approach to ICT provision: one that does not only focus on availability and affordability, but also considers expanding people's awareness and agency for development benefit. ICT investments otherwise have a high risk of being severely underutilized.

The use of ICTs in Namibia's SME sector to access business information services

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to present current state of the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in Namibia's small and medium‐sized enterprises (SME) sector to access business information services.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a doctoral research project on business information needs, seeking patterns and utilisation of ICTs in the SME sector in Namibia that was carried out at the University of Pretoria from 2005 to 2007. The survey methodology using both qualitative and quantitative approaches was employed to collect data.FindingsThe findings revealed that there is a very low level of ICTs utilization among SMEs while among business support organisations it is relatively high.Practical implicationsThe study presents baseline data that can be used by governments and business support organisations in the provision of ICTs to the SME sector to access business information services.Originality/valueThe study provides data on which future developments in ICTs in the SME sector could be based.

The ultimate distributed workforce: the use of ICT for seafarers

This paper discusses the application of information and communication technology (ICT) in the commercial, non-passenger maritime sector. The paper first profiles the available technologies in this subject area, which predominantly involve globally accessible satellite communications, then examines their application in two large shipping companies.The paper considers Maritime Personnel Management in the context of seafaring, regarding the crew of a ship as a node in a distributed network, and as transnational teams. Customised personnel management and knowledge management software for the maritime market is available and this can be employed to improve operational efficiency. Shipping companies have traditionally been strictly hierarchical organisations, but evidence suggests that this is changing alongside the wider implementation of e-commerce in the sector.It was found that cost is a decisive factor in determining the extent to which shipping companies are prepared to invest in an information and communications technologies (ICT) infrastructure. However, new satellite technologies such as Mobile Packet Data now provide an economical method of transferring data between ship and shore. The ‘office at sea’ is a viable proposition thanks to this, once the initial investment in equipment has been made, with the ship being another node in the corporate Intranet or Wide Area Network (WAN).Extending ICT provision to allow for seafarer access to e-mails is a vital welfare provision, to alleviate isolation and assist in recruitment and retention. However, it was found not only that the seafarer’s family at home may not have access to the technology to send and receive e-mails in many parts of the world, but that ship owners had negative attitudes to the use of ICT for such purposes.The potential for Maritime e-learning was investigated, the sector being supplied by vendors offering customised maritime software solutions. Fully Internet-based e-learning is unlikely to be economically viable for some years to come, due to the cost of access using a satellite link, but creative computer-based training solutions are available, based on CD ROMs and tutor support by e-mail. Computers dedicated to training use are provided by larger shipping companies, but are by no means universal across the maritime sector.Welfare provision for seafarers is offered mainly by organisations in the voluntary sector. Such organisations have made creative use of available technologies, both on Web sites and in the ICT provision offered in Seafarers’ Centres. There has not, however, been an increase in enquiries and reports of mistreatment from seafarers as a result of being able to receive these over the Internet, mainly due to a poor level of Internet access at sea. ‘Crew Calling’ is an encouraging development as it gives seafarers their own communications link, distinct from the ship’s communications system.This study indicates that the use of maritime ICT for human welfare and training is relatively limited. Although there are many available technologies which can assist in bridging the physical gap between land and sea by ‘virtual’ means, current business pressures dictate that only the most profitable and forward-thinking companies are willing to consider fully implementing them. The authors conclude that the provisions described in this paper will eventually become the industry norm, but that virtual connections are at present far from complete.