This thesis research examined the implementation of the Ktunaxa Nation network and explored its ongoing use and development. The Ktunaxa Nation is comprised of four Aboriginal communities in south-eastern British Columbia, Canada. The Nation established internet infrastructure throughout the communities primarily to enable the dissemination of the Ktunaxa language of which there are only 24 speakers remaining. The purpose of this research was to examine the various uses of the Ktunaxa internet network related to land and language, at both a community and organizational level. Methods included Nvivo-based content analysis and restorying which enables a number of individual experiences to be refashioned into one comprehensive set of events. Final recommendations are provided.

This thesis research examined the implementation of the Ktunaxa Nation network and explored its ongoing use and development. The Ktunaxa Nation is comprised of four Aboriginal communities in south-eastern British Columbia, Canada. The Nation established internet infrastructure throughout the communities primarily to enable the dissemination of the Ktunaxa language of which there are only 24 speakers remaining. The purpose of this research was to examine the various uses of the Ktunaxa internet network related to land and language, at both a community and organizational level. Methods included Nvivo-based content analysis and restorying which enables a number of individual experiences to be refashioned into one comprehensive set of events. Final recommendations are provided.

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Over the past thirty years, the World Bank has intensified its activities relating to education in developing countries. Notable developments in the World Bank’s policy on education include promotion of “innovative delivery”, which refers to the use of new and existing Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education. The World Bank claims that the unique characteristics of ICTs have the potential to produce new forms of delivery in higher education that can overcome existing barriers to education and facilitate student-centred learning (World Bank, 1999, 2005). Many forms of innovative delivery, such as distance education and open learning, are not new forms of instruction. However, promotion of innovative delivery as a global priority for education in developing countries is new. In this thesis, I interrogate the World Bank’s assumptions concerning innovative delivery as expressed in their landmark policy statement on education, the 1999 Education Sector Strategy Report (ES99) (World Bank, 1999). I focus on the assumptions that underlie views put forward in the ES99 on the nature of technology and its role in education, the role of innovative delivery in overcoming existing barriers to education, and the potential of innovative delivery to facilitate student-centred learning. A central aim of this thesis was to better understand the socio-cultural and pedagogical issues that may arise when these assumptions are put into practice in different cultural contexts. This was achieved by comparing the assumptions put forward in the ES99 with the reported perceptions of, attitudes toward, and use of ICTs by students and lecturers from three different cultural contexts. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used to gather detailed empirical data on end-users’ perceptions, attitudes to and use of online technologies at universities in Australia, Malaysia and the United States. The findings suggested that across all three cultural contexts, respondents’ attitudes were not consistent with the World Bank’s technocratic view of innovative delivery. Moreover, the findings cast doubt on the extent to which technology-mediated education can overcome existing barriers to education and facilitate a student-centred approach to education. I conclude by suggesting that the World Bank needs to adopt a more questioning stance toward the potential effectiveness of innovative delivery. Other findings point to the contextual nature of technology adoption and the pedagogical implications of this mode of delivery across cultural contexts.

A very important phenomenon observed in the last decades is the development of the so-called "New Economy", characterized by the diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). During this episode, very favourable economic conditions have characterized the US economy: high growth rates of output, strong growth in labour, low level of unemployment. As a consequence, a strong attention has been devoted to the study of what has been called the "ICT Revolution", both from an empirical and from a theoretical point of view. This thesis proposes some theoretical models that are able to describe the most important characteristics of the new economy, explaining the associated growth performance. In particular, Chapter 1 develops a model that is able to reproduce some features of the ICT revolution that emerge from the data, underlining the importance of embodiment and the long-run implications of embodied technological change, and focusing on the role of R&D and of innovation in the growth process of the new economy. In Chapter 2 the model is extended considering also the presence of human capital, in line with the recent theoretical and empirical advancements in the endogenous growth literature according to which not only R&D activity, but also human capital accumulation, is a primary determinant of economic growth. Indeed, in the new economy human capital can be of great importance, since education is crucial in acquiring the knowledge necessary to use the new technologies, and at the same time an increase in ICT makes it easier to accumulate human capital, that in this model is the true engine of growth. In Chapter 3, finally, the issue considered is represented by the role of another form of capital, organizational capital, that has recently been advocated to explain the productivity slowdown and that can be linked with the analysis of the ICT boom. The model proposed allows to deal with the phenomenon, observed in the last decades with the diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies, represented by the adoption by many firms of new organizational practices, characterized by a tendency towards multi-tasking. Other aspects recently observed, and that the model is able to reproduce, are the increase in the share of skilled workers and in the proportion of workers employed in managerial occupations. The dissertation therefore elaborates some models that underline the fundamental role of a number of factors (innovation, human capital and organization) that are at the origin of the growth performance of the recent ICT-based economy.

M.A. / The first part of the study is a literature review which indicate that small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) represent an important vehicle to address the challenges of job creation, economic growth and equity. Modern economy is driven by innovations and knowledge. Transforming information resources into knowledge and maximise the value of knowledge is the new challenge in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. Information resources are needed by small businesses as much as their larger counter parts but small businesses are usually in a disadvantaged position in terms of finance and expertise. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer small businesses new opportunities in the information economy. Exciting ICT applications such as Web portals provide platforms for business communities to share information and communicate more efficiently than ever. Such information resources enable small businesses to react faster and adapt better to the changing global market. The stimulation of SMMEs must be seen as part of an integrated strategy to develop the society to a higher level. The research findings of this study provide all stakeholders in small business development in South Africa including government, industries and academics a better understanding and practical guideline for delivering information resources to small business owners and managers and the design of information portals that can address the information needs of small businesses in South Africa. The empirical components that follow the literature review comprised a questionnaire survey. The survey focused on non-franchised small businesses in the retail industry in the greater Johannesburg metropolitan. A total of 150 questionnaires completed by small business owners and managers were used for statistic analysis in this research. The questionnaire consisted of four sections: business biographic information, business information and agencies, information and communication technologies usage, and community and portal activities. The survey results revealed valuable insights and trends in the use of ICTs and attitudes towards information sharing amongst small business owners and managers. Textile, clothing, footwear and leather goods were the most popular trade for the small businesses use in the survey. Nearly all respondents prefer English for business communication and the businesses are typically owner manager with a small number of employees. Infrastructure for ICTs is in place for small businesses, but the usage level is still basic. Short message service (SMS) and e-mail are the most commonly used ICT tools. Traditional media such as television, radio, newspapers and magazines remain the most important source of information for these small business owners and managers. Younger businesses adapt better to ICTs than the older businesses. Despite a mixed attitude towards sharing business information, small business owners and managers showed a high level of interest in networking with other businesses, in particular with potential customers and suppliers. Most respondents do not belong to any professional or industrial organisation primarily because they were not aware of these organisations. Based on the literature review and the empirical research, the final conclusion that was made from this research is that Web community information portals can, to a great extent, promote the use of information resources for small businesses in South Africa. The results from this research give a better understanding and are useful guidelines to stakeholders in small business development in South Africa.

The purpose of this research is to investigate how the Rwanda NEPAD e-schools project is achieving its objectives, in order to draw lessons for policy. Case studies of three NEPAD e-schools were conducted to explore the integration of ICT in schools. This qualitative research was based on semi-structured interviews with Ministry of Education staff, school personnel and students, as well as a review of policy documents. The literature review identified a number of factors that hinder the use of ICT, which factors were also evident in the research findings. It was found that greater support is required to overcome the barriers, including lack of policy, teaching and learning, funding, access, training and professional development, curriculum content, technical support, time and attitudes towards ICTs. The analysis of the position in these e-schools offers lessons for policy and practice in Rwanda and with regard to the NEPAD e-schools programme on the continent. Ministries of Education in African countries should align ICT in education policy with other education strategic and operational policies to ensure that ICT initiatives are in line with national developmental goals and objectives.

Thesis (M.M. (ICT Policy and Regulation))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, 2013. / The rollout of broadband through Information Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) approaches can facilitate socio-economic growth in the country. Effective implementation of broadband programs under the policy guidance of the Department of Communications (DoC) and the Presidential Infrastructure and Coordination Committee (PICC) would enhance the availability of broadband, which in turn could improve delivery of many public and private services. Furthermore, municipalities should be key stakeholdersin promoting broadband rollout, using mechanisms that are suitable for either urban or rural areas. This research report presents a qualitative case study which attempts to establish the challenges for municipal broadband initiatives that are taking effect in South Africa. The study examinesa particular set of factors that affects the rollout of broadband and investigates how factors such as funding levels, technology adaptation, business models,policy intervention and regulatory effects either promote or inhibit broadband deployment. With attention to a single, in-depth case study, the reportconsiders the challenges that the City of Tshwane Municipality has experienced when rolling out pilot projects and the extent to whichthe success of municipal broadband infrastructure rollout depends on policy and regulatory interventions. The Broadband Policy (201 0) adopted by government to facilitate the broadband initiatives has beenreviewed in this ~tudy. The research findings indicate that decisions made in all three spheres of government i.e. national, provincial and local, influence these five factors, thus affecting the rollout of broadband at municipallevei.The findings indicated that the Ministry of Communications is reviewing the current broadband policy to include more detailed guidelines and ICASA is reviewing the regulatory framework. However, it remains unclear whether the importance of the five factors articulated here will be acknowledged in these revisions.Therefore, the recommendations in this report are directed to the policy maker, the Department of Communications and the ICT Policy Review Panel, to take cognisance of the factors that affect municipal broadband rollout. A coordinated inter-governmental approach on broadband initiatives is required to deliver high speed communications infrastructure to citizens.

Drones can be used for several civil applications including search and rescue, coverage, and aerial imaging. Newer applications like construction and delivery of goods are also emerging. Performing tasks as a team of drones is often beneficial but requires coordination through communication. In this thesis, the communication requirements of video streaming drone applications based on existing works are studied. The existing communication technologies are then analyzed to understand if the communication requirements posed by these drone applications can be met by the available technologies. The shortcomings of existing technologies with respect to drone applications are identified and potential requirements for future technologies are suggested. The existing communication and routing protocols including ad-hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV), location-aided routing (LAR), and greedy perimeter stateless routing (GPSR) protocols are studied to identify their limitations in context to the drone networks. An application scenario where a team of drones covers multiple areas of interest is considered, where the drones follow known trajectories and transmit continuous streams of sensed traffic (images or video) to a ground station. A route switching (RS) algorithm is proposed that utilizes both the location and the trajectory information of the drones to schedule and update routes to overcome route discovery and route error overhead. Simulation results show that the RS scheme outperforms LAR and AODV by achieving higher network performance in terms of throughput and delay. Video streaming drone applications such as search and rescue, surveillance, and disaster management, benefit from multicast wireless video streaming to transmit identical data to multiple users. Video multicast streaming using IEEE 802.11 poses challenges of reliability, performance, and fairness under tight delay bounds. Because of the mobility of the video sources and the high data-rate of the videos, the transmission rate should be adapted based on receivers' link conditions. Rate-adaptive video multicast streaming in IEEE 802.11 requires wireless link estimation as well as frequent feedback from multiple receivers. A contribution to this thesis is an application-layer rate-adaptive video multicast streaming framework using an 802.11 ad-hoc network that is applicable when both the sender and the receiver nodes are mobile. The receiver nodes of a multicast group are assigned with roles dynamically based on their link conditions. An application layer video multicast gateway (ALVM-GW) adapts the transmission rate and the video encoding rate based on the received feedback. Role switching between multiple receiver nodes (designated nodes) cater for mobility and rate adaptation addresses the challenges of performance and fairness. The reliability challenge is addressed through re-transmission of lost packets while delays under given bounds are achieved through video encoding rate adaptation. Emulation and experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms legacy multicast in terms of packet loss and video quality.

Purpose – To contribute to a better understanding of the progress and the success vs. failure in e-government development, based on case studies of two inter-organizational e-service projects. Design/Methodology/Approach – The analysis in the paper is made from a) an e-government systems development life-cycle perspective and b) a challenge and success factor perspective. The point of departure is theory and a comparative analysis of two e-government projects. Findings – The main results in this paper are 1) a combination of perspectives (in a project stage and analysis grid) that can serve as a support when managing e-service development and 2) a set of identified crucial success factors within an inter-organizational e-government project including project manager skills and position in the agency organization as well as when and how systems maintenance issues are introduced into a project. Existing theory and perspectives are also criticised based on the present study. Practical implications – Lessons to learn from a challenge and success factors perspective in two different e-government projects, and suggestions to revise an e-government development life-cycle in order to perform a better practice in the field. The revised/developed project stage and analysis grid presented in the paper is one way to deal with the challenges related to the management of e-service development in the public sector. Originality/value – This paper addresses a number of challenges of complexity and risk that e-government initiatives face. It is not an easy matter to realize such initiatives’ potential. A key research issue for the e-government field, as well as the information systems field in general, is to understand why some projects progress to success while others end in failure. This is the niche for the present paper.