For the past few decades researchers, development agencies and government have focussed on the use of Information and Communication Technologies to improve the socio-economic status of people in underdeveloped rural communities. In recent years there has been remarkable recognition of the importance of developing systems that address the specific needs of rural communities. Education, health, commerce, government and agriculture are amongst the needs of rural communities that could well be addressed by these systems. System development is a complex process and studies have shown that if poorly conducted, the process could lead to the failure of the system being developed. Due to differences in context and application, the processes followed in the development of the rural community systems need to differ from those of commercial applications. One such difference is the choice of the Information System Development Methodology (SDM) used. Following a methodical approach to Information Systems development is important as it improves discipline, standardization and monitoring of a quality system. There are hundreds of SDM available for use during development and choosing the wrong SDM has been linked to problems such as systems being delivered late, being over budget or not meeting the needs of the users. Developing systems for disadvantaged communities is different from developing system for organisations or even affluent communities. Some of the challenges that developers encounter include lack of structure, poor computer literacy, and poor infrastructure. Lack of user involvement during system development has been linked to system failures. A Living Labs approach to socio-economic development is aimed at involving multiple stakeholders towards improving the living standards. Developing Community Information Systems aimed at solving varying community problems is one of the objectives of the Living Labs. There are only few CISs that are fully operational from South African Living Labs, and a number of systems developed are not in use. Poor user involvement and lack of use of system development are some of the reasons for system failures. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use and effectiveness of System Development Methodologies when developing community information systems aimed at socio-economic development of disadvantaged communities. To achieve the objectives of this study, an interpretive, multiple case study research was conducted in three Living Labs around South Africa. To improve the chances for success during the development of Community Information Systems for use by disadvantage communities, this study proposes a framework for evaluating use and effectiveness of SDMs. The second output of the Study is an SDM framework that could be adopted specifically for Living Labs which adopts an agile approach and prototyping. These frameworks takes into account the social attributes of people in disadvantaged communities, the nature of the living lab, the nature of the systems being developed and the role of the users in the systems being developed. / PhD (Computer Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

For the past few decades researchers, development agencies and government have focussed on the use of Information and Communication Technologies to improve the socio-economic status of people in underdeveloped rural communities. In recent years there has been remarkable recognition of the importance of developing systems that address the specific needs of rural communities. Education, health, commerce, government and agriculture are amongst the needs of rural communities that could well be addressed by these systems. System development is a complex process and studies have shown that if poorly conducted, the process could lead to the failure of the system being developed. Due to differences in context and application, the processes followed in the development of the rural community systems need to differ from those of commercial applications. One such difference is the choice of the Information System Development Methodology (SDM) used. Following a methodical approach to Information Systems development is important as it improves discipline, standardization and monitoring of a quality system. There are hundreds of SDM available for use during development and choosing the wrong SDM has been linked to problems such as systems being delivered late, being over budget or not meeting the needs of the users. Developing systems for disadvantaged communities is different from developing system for organisations or even affluent communities. Some of the challenges that developers encounter include lack of structure, poor computer literacy, and poor infrastructure. Lack of user involvement during system development has been linked to system failures. A Living Labs approach to socio-economic development is aimed at involving multiple stakeholders towards improving the living standards. Developing Community Information Systems aimed at solving varying community problems is one of the objectives of the Living Labs. There are only few CISs that are fully operational from South African Living Labs, and a number of systems developed are not in use. Poor user involvement and lack of use of system development are some of the reasons for system failures. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use and effectiveness of System Development Methodologies when developing community information systems aimed at socio-economic development of disadvantaged communities. To achieve the objectives of this study, an interpretive, multiple case study research was conducted in three Living Labs around South Africa. To improve the chances for success during the development of Community Information Systems for use by disadvantage communities, this study proposes a framework for evaluating use and effectiveness of SDMs. The second output of the Study is an SDM framework that could be adopted specifically for Living Labs which adopts an agile approach and prototyping. These frameworks takes into account the social attributes of people in disadvantaged communities, the nature of the living lab, the nature of the systems being developed and the role of the users in the systems being developed. / PhD (Computer Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Chaos theory holds that systems act in unpredictable nonlinear ways and that their behavior can only be observed, never predicted. This is an informative model for an organization in crisis. The West Virginia water contamination crisis, which began on January 9, 2014, fits the criteria of a system in chaos. Given the lack of appropriate response from the established organizations involved, many emergent organizations formed to help fill unmet informational and physical needs of the affected population. Crisis researchers have observed these ephemeral organizations for decades, but the recent proliferation of information communication technologies (ICT’s) have made their activities more widespread and observable. In West Virginia, their activities were indispensable to the affected population and helped restore a sense of normalcy. In this chaotic system, the emergent organizations functioned as strange attractors, helping move the system away from bifurcation and towards normalcy. This dissertation uses a qualitative approach to study the emergent organizations and how their presence and efforts were the mechanism that spurred the self-organization process.

<p>The role of web 2.0 technologies has become windfall for knowledge building in higher education in the entire modern world. Web 2.0 technologies (Podcasts, Wikis, and Blogs) are being explored for collaboration, innovation, and creative purposes in digital literacy. The ICT based system (Learning Management System, Student Portal, Web mail) of Växjö University lacks web 2.0 technologies (Podcasts, Blogs, and Wikis) that are important for classroom learning for knowledge building. This research intends to investigate and describe the educational importance of web 2.0 (Podcasts, Wikis, and Blogs) as a possible source to facilitate class room learning in higher education in Sweden. In this regard, role of web 2.0 in its current usage in the teaching and learning have been identified and, thereby, possible measures for more improvements have been suggested in this research. Keeping in view the potential of web 2.0 as content development and management technologies and incorporating their role in formative evaluation of students, peer assessment, collaborative content creation, and individual as well as group reflection on learning experiences, the researcher conducted a survey by asking very simple and short questions as to how far has this potential been exploited in Sweden. Based on the findings and the empirical evidences thereof a model has been proposed for maximum utility of web 2.0 technologies.</p>

"Mémoire présenté à la faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de maîtrise en droit (L.L.M.)" / Il est devenu commun de dire que notre société se transforme inexorablement en une société dite de « l'information ». Cette transformation se caractérise entre autres par une utilisation accrue des technologies de l'information afin de communiquer, d'échanger ou de transiger. Les supports traditionnels de communication (tel que le papier) cèdent progressivement leur place à de nouveaux supports technologiques favorisant l'efficacité et la rapidité des échanges, et par la même occasion le développement du commerce électronique. Qu'on le souhaite ou non, un constat s'impose: la montée en puissance des réseaux virtuels a eu raison du monopole du papier. Sur le plan juridique, cette nouvelle réalité bouleverse aussi considérablement les règles de droit civil largement pensées et ancrées dans un contexte papier. L'avènement de la numérisation et du phénomène de la dématérialisation des supports ont effectivement soulevé plusieurs questions d'ordre juridique tout à fait nouvelles que nous pourrions résumer de la manière suivante: Quels sont les rapports entre l'écrit et son support autre que le papier? Quelles sont les caractéristiques de l'écrit faisant appel aux technologies de l'information? Ce type d'écrit peut-il être admis en tant que moyen de preuve? Si oui, quelle sera sa force probante? Ce type d'écrit doit-il être conservé? Le présent mémoire vise précisément à identifier certains éléments de réponses à ces diverses questions en étudiant spécifiquement les cadres juridiques français et québécois. Ce mémoire traite d'une part des enjeux liés à l'évolution et au rôle de l'écrit face à l'avènement des technologies de l'information et d'autre part du cadre juridique de la preuve et de la conservation de l'écrit dans la société de l'information. / It is becoming commonplace to say that we have entered a so-called "information society". In the process, we have witnessed a transformation characterized by an increased use of information and communication technologies that has revolutionized the way we communicate, learn and conduct business. The traditional communication formats (i.e., paper) gradually yield their place to new technological formats which affect the effectiveness and the speed of transactions, there by enabling the rise of ecommerce. The advent of virtual networks calls into question the monopoly of paper. From a legal perspective, the new paradigm has a huge impact on civil law rules, which were largely anchored in a paper context. The advent of the digitization and the phenomenon of the dematerialization of formats raised several new legal issues that we could summarize in the following manner: What is the relationship between writing and its various formats (e.g., other than paper)? What characterizes writing in an electronic environment? Can this type of writing act as evidence? If so, what will be its conclusive force? How can the integrity of documents be ensured? This thesis examines these various questions within the context of two different legislations: France and Québec. Two issues are addressed: 1) the evolution ofwriting in an electronic, networked environment; 2) the legal framework around evidence and archiving ofwriting in the information society.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Cette thèse a pour objet l'étude des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication (TIC) en tant que Technologie Générique (TG) ainsi que leur rôle dans l'évolution de la productivité du travail aux Etats-Unis et en Europe durant les dernières décennies. La thèse est constituée de trois parties axées chacune sur l'une des trois propriétés fondamentales des TG: le progrès rapide de la technologie, l'ubiquité de la technologie et la capacité à créer des opportunités technologiques. La première partie décrit, dans un premier chapitre, l'innovation dans le domaine des TIC, en commençant par un bref historique de ces technologies, suivie d'une analyse des données contemporaines sur l'innovation dans ce domaine. Elle montre en particulier comment les Etats-Unis ont été, jusqu'à présent, plus performants que les pays Européens dans le développement des TIC. Dans un deuxième chapitre, cette première partie inventorie les difficultés de mesures induites par la vitesse et la nature du changement généré par ces technologies. La seconde partie de la thèse traite de la nature ubiquitaire des TIC. Elle décrit d'abord la diffusion des TIC au cours du temps à travers les pays et les secteurs économiques, puis, établit une revue de la littérature sur la contribution directe de la diffusion des TIC à la croissance de la productivité du travail aux US et en Europe. Le second chapitre de cette partie s'intéresse au comportement de demande de facteurs de production dans les secteurs producteurs de TIC ou intensifs en utilisation des TIC. Enfin, la troisième partie de la thèse se concentre sur la capacité des TIC à générer des opportunités d'innovation. Pour cela elle identifie d'abord la nature des innovations complémentaires et les efforts menant à ces innovations. Elle montre alors la nécessité d'améliorer la comptabilité nationale afin de prendre en compte ces efforts comme des investissements. Cette partie révèle ensuite que, dans les onze pays européens étudiés, le problème est particulièrement concentré sur quelques pays qui investissent peu en TIC et en actifs innovants et que ces deux types d'efforts sont complémentaires. / This thesis aims to study Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as a General Purpose Technology (GPT) and their role in the labor productivity evolution in the United States and Europe during recent decades. This thesis is organized in three parts corresponding to the fundamental GPT features: the wide possibilities for development, the ubiquity of the technology and the ability to create large technological opportunities. The first part depicts, at first, the innovation in ICT, beginning with a short historical review of ICT inventions followed by the analysis of current data on innovation in this field. In particular, it shows how the US was better than the European countries in inventing ICT until now. Second, this first part makes an inventory of measurement difficulties due to the rate and the nature of the change created by such technologies. The second part of the thesis deals with the ubiquitous nature of ICT. It first describes the ICT diffusion across countries and industries and reviews the economic literature on the direct contribution of ICT on labor productivity growth in the US and Europe. The next chapter studies the factor demand's behaviour in sectors that are either ICT producers or ICT intensive users. The third part focuses on the ICT ability to create opportunities for complementarity innovations. Firstly, it identifies the nature of ICT complementary innovations and the corresponding efforts. It shows, then, that national accounts must be improved in order to take these efforts into account as investments. Secondly, this part shows that, among the eleven European countries studied, the problem is highly concentrated in a few countries that invest less both in ICT and in innovative assets and that these two types of effort are complementary.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The emergence and subsequent uptake of Information and Communication Technologies has transformed the research processes in universities and research institutions across the globe. One indelible impact of Information and Communication Technologies on the research process is the increased generation of research data in digital format. This study investigated how research data has been generated, organised, shared, stored, preserved, accessed and re-used in Malawian public universities with a view to proposing a framework for research data management in universities in Malawi. The objectives of the study were: to determine research data creation, sharing and re-use practices in public universities in Malawi; to investigate research data preservation practices in public universities in Malawi; to investigate the competencies that librarians and researchers need to effectively manage research data; and to find out the challenges that affect the management of research data in public universities in Malawi. Apart from being guided by the Community Capability Model Framework (Lyon, Ball, Duke & Day, 2011) and Data Curation Centre Lifecycle Model (Higgins, 2008), the study was inspired by the pragmatic school of thought which is the basis for a mixed methods research enabling the collection of quantitative and qualitative data from two purposively selected universities. A census was used to identify researchers and librarians while purposive sampling was used to identify directors of research. Questionnaires were used to collect mostly quantitative and some qualitative data from 36 librarians and 187 researchers while interviews were conducted with directors of research. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to analyse the quantitative data by producing percentages, means, independent samples ttest and one-way analysis of variance. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data.

Research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Management in the field of ICT Policy and Regulation, University of the Witwatersrand, 2012. / Universal Service Obligations (USOs) have been used, for over a decade, as a regulatory mechanism to bridge the digital divide in South Africa. For USOs to be effective and efficient in bridging the digital divide, it requires close coordination between various impacted and interested stakeholders, such as mobile network operators (MNOs), the ICT regulatory authority (the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa), and the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa in order to extend the number of beneficiaries of the USOs. Furthermore, this requires stakeholders to understand the full impact, as well as the costs and benefits (financial and non financial) before imposing the USOs. The evidence from this research confirms that there was no monitoring and evaluation of USOs for MNOs during their implementation. More importantly, the Regulatory Impact Assessment (as a regulatory tool) was never used by ICASA in respect of the USOs initiative. This led to the failure of the initiative in achieving most of its objectives. Such failure can be attributed to lack of understanding by ICASA of the general impact of imposing the USOs upon MNOs, given that no impact assessment was done before such imposition. Recommendations arising from the research include the need for a shared vision on the USOs initiative, the need for clearly identified and defined roles for all stakeholders with an interest in the initiative, the need for a properly analysed and know ICT access gap, the need to balance the use of market and non market mechanisms in respect of USOs, the to ensure a proper funding mechanisms for USOs, and the need to identify effective regulatory governance in respect of USOs.

Abuse of Dominant Position in the ICT Sector: A European Perspective Abstract The concept of abuse of dominant position refers to business practices in which a dominant market player may engage in order to maintain or strengthen its position in the market, and are prohibited under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. This master's thesis provides insight into theory and decisional practice of abuse of dominant position within the EU with particular focus on the area of information and communication technologies (ICT). The ICT industry belongs among the fastest developing, with many new powerful market players emerging, often creating entirely new markets for themselves. This is where a potential risk for an abuse of dominance occurs and why many of the breakthrough cases in the previous years have been related to this sector. Since not only their products but also their business models are innovative, the competition policy must advance accordingly. This thesis firstly introduces the economic background and the policy objectives of contemporary EU competition rules. It is followed by a step-by-step examination of the assessment on the position of the investigated firm in the relevant market and the legality of the practice in question. Highlighted are the aspects which have...