Library users are constantly expecting new services, which puts tremendous pressure on academic libraries to re-organise their work patterns and devise better ways of service delivery in order to remain relevant. Although there are a lot of developments taking place in terms of information and communication technology (ICT), academic libraries in Sub- Saharan Africa are at different levels of ICT deployment both between different countries and within the same countries. The aim of this study is to determine the status of ICTs in Academic libraries in Central Uganda. The descriptive study employs a survey methodology gathering both quantitative and qualitative data. Data was collected from library staff responsible for the day-to-day management and administration of ICT at 17 of the 22 academic libraries in Central Uganda using survey questionnaires and interviews over a period of twelve months. Findings indicate that there is an improvement in the status of ICTs in academic libraries in Central Uganda although they are deployed at a minimum level. Funding, power fluctuations and low bandwidth still pose a major threat to ICT adoption in academic libraries in Central Uganda. This report informs government, libraries, LIS schools, LIS professional bodies and policy makers on the future course of action regarding ICT deployment and curricula. Notably, there is need for government to support infrastructural development; engage in public-private partnerships for infrastructural developments; exempt taxation of ICT equipment and supplement funding at universities. Libraries should dedicate more funds to purchase ICT equipment; automate all library functions; develop local capacity to manage ICT projects; promote awareness about ICT services and support initiatives from local and international library associations. LIS schools should conduct a curriculum review to reposition the LIS study program to the present and future needs of the job market; monitor and advice government on policy issues affecting higher education include the need to align ICTs to national development. LIS professional bodies need to champion the cause for the standardization of LIS study programs, promote networking and knowledge sharing; articulate national e-strategies and play advisory role to government, LIS schools and libraries. / Mini Dissertation (MIT)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Carnegie Corporation of New York / Information Science / MIT / Unrestricted

This qualitative case study explores how secondary school teachers innovate in the face of complex simultaneous and ongoing mandated changes and in particular, how they innovate with ICTs. The study argues that by understanding the whole-school context, the integration of ICTs can be better understood. The research setting is a complex independent, monastic secondary school in South Africa. Rather than select exemplary projects which are the usual focus of ICT research, the school was chosen for its combination of highly developed ICT infrastructure, but relative lack of exemplary achievement with ICTs. Using Sherry and Gibson’s (2005) terminology – convergence, mutuality and extensiveness – derived from their sustainability research, this study investigates the interplay of contextual factors that affects teachers’ ability to innovate in their practice, focussing on process innovation and arguing from a complexity and innovation theory point of view. Contextual factors were identified broadly as organisational factors, collegial and professional relationship factors, and ICT factors. Although all teachers were willing to innovate in practice, particularly in response to radical mandated curricular change and an inclusive philosophy, it was found that contextual factors have differing effects on their individual ability to innovate. The study identifies patterns in which not only positive factors converge, but negative factors (termed disconvergent factors) also converge. Collegial and professional relationship factors affect the diffusion or extension of innovation. These are limited by a lack or under-exploitation of lateral communication means. The study concludes that the effects of context are unique to each individual teacher and that their professional learning trajectory needs to be scaffolded and personalised. Both ICT-based and collaborative opportunities should be provided in support of a professional learning community to address the need to diffuse innovation laterally and to enable sharing that will reduce current overload and stress levels. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play a crucial role in creating access to information sources through the library networks. When academic libraries integrate ICTs in their services they play an important role in teaching and learning. It is for such reasons that KENET sought to establish an ICT infrastructure to network Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Kenya, and to facilitate the use of Internet Technology in teaching, learning, research and sharing of information resources at an affordable cost. The University of Eastern Africa, Baraton (UEAB) and Kenyatta University (KU) libraries in Kenya are both members of the Kenya Education Network (KENET). This study investigates the main features of ICT use by a public and a private university library in Kenya in support of formal and informal teaching and learning. The study includes three target groups, namely: third year undergraduate students, library committee members, and library managers. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaires, interviews, and site visits. The four main issues considered were: ICT infrastructure, access and use of ICTs, ICT usage patterns, and students learning outcomes. The study concludes that: <ul><li>There is inadequate ICT infrastructure, specifically library networks and computers, at Kenyatta University.</li> <li>Access to and use of ICTs is affected by the lack of access skills, and there is a need for training in this area.</li> <li>ICT usage differs, with Kenyatta University students lagging behind UEAB students. </li> <li>Student learning outcomes are diverse; UEAB students benefited from the use of library e-resources to meet their formal and informal learning needs, and Kenyatta University students did not benefit at all.</li></ul> The study also concludes that the implementation of ICTs in Kenyan HEI libraries, through the provision of adequate infrastructure and funding, the development of ICT policies, and the development of Information Literacy (IL) programmes for students, will ensure that ICTs play an important role in academic support for formal and non-formal teaching and learning. A model for the implementation of an IL programme is proposed as a means to advance the process. / Dissertation (MIS)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Information Science / unrestricted

Increased digitisation in higher education requires the usage of various information and communication technologies (ICTs). However, studies have shown that ICTs induce technostress. The purpose of this research is to explore how technology characteristics influence students’ technostress, and in turn their perceived academic performance. To examine this, a survey was sent out to student’s at MAU in Sweden and a bivariate analysis was conducted to analyse the data. The results showed some technology characteristics were associated with technostress, while some were not. The students’ technostress could, however, not be determined to have an association with their perceived academic performance. The study discusses possible contributing factors to the results.

Background: Digitalization and sustainability are two of the most impactful topics concerning businesses today which pose a nascent research field. Sustainability presents businesses with massive challenges in order to find new business models, improve processes, utilize resources more efficiently, and change their interactions with suppliers and other stakeholders. Simultaneously, digitalization is often characterized by its disruptive nature and the ways in which it creates new avenues for creating and capturing value and changes relationships. Furthermore, there are few industries in need of new ways to become more sustainable than the clothing industry.   Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the facilitating opportunities that digitalization presents for the clothing industry to achieve sustainability goals. The findings of this study are expected to contribute beneficial knowledge and concrete examples that managers, decision-makers, and IT personnel can use to better understand the existing prospects that digital transformation poses for their various sustainability goals.    Method: A qualitative design has been employed to perform this study. Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with various individuals representing Swedish clothing brands. An inductive approach was utilized alongside a grounded theory design.   Conclusion: The results show that there are many opportunities for digitalization to facilitate clothing companies’ sustainability goals. This comes in the form of enabling effects with their downstream suppliers through: improved environmental traceability, shifting supplier relationships, and improving working condition transparency. Moreover, upstream effects are observed in adaptions to new business models and relationship improvements with consumers. Finally, within the firm, improving processes and shifting capability requirements are changing the way that firms operate, and the knowledge sets needed to function. These findings were developed into a framework presented on page 40.

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China is moving into an aging society, and the quality of life of the elderly has become a topic of public concern. With the development of ICT technology, China’s digital level is increasing, and there is a digital literacy gap between the young and the elderly, and the intergenerational digital divide is widening. This paper combines the unique Chinese social context with smartphones as a representative digital tool aiming to analyze the dig- ital dilemmas experienced by the elderly living in Dongying, a fourth-tier city in China. Two research questions guide this study in the digital dilemmas of the elderly: 1)the role of smartphones in the lives of older people, and 2)the specific manifestations of digital dilemmas of older people and the influencing factors. The two theories UTAUT model and Cultural reverse form a theoretical framework to enhance our understanding of the digital dilemma.This study employed qualitative methods to collect (semi-structured interviews) and ana- lyze (substantive coding) data. Six elderly people over 65 years old living in Dongying participated in the study as interviewees. The results show that using smartphones is a re- quirement for the elderly from society and their children, therefore most of them no longer have difficulties in acquiring smartphones. However, smartphones still play an entertain- ment role in seniors’ lives, and most seniors only use their smartphones to make video calls with their children and watch short videos. They still lack an understanding of digital technology and are unable to apply it in a meaningful way. Such a dilemma is caused by a combination of technological limitations and psychological factors. They were born in an era when the country was still poor, their families were unable to support them in school, most of them did not graduate from elementary school, and their poor literacy skills would create obstacles for them to use smartphones. In addition, they did not have adequate learning access and had to rely on their children to help them learn smartphones, and their learning was entirely dependent on the cultural reverse ability of their children. In addition, they have resistance to learning smartphones, repeated learning due to memory loss, and a lack of confidence in themselves prevent them from further learning of digital skills.

A large number of refugees are forced to live in refugee camps which lack in both quality of life and infrastructure. Most of them are located in areas without mobile coverage. By contrast, Smart Cities aim to improve the life of its citizens, mainly helped by ICTs. Therefore, refugee camps can also take advantage of the ICTs to enhance the life of refugees. The present thesis aims to explore the needs and priorities of refugees, analyse the impact of smart city solutions implemented in refugee camps on the lives of refugees, and identify and analyse currently unused smart city solutions that could meet the needs of refugees in refugee camps and enhance the Sustainable Development Goals. The study is carried out through the literature review and interviews with professionals working in NGOs devoted to the refugee issues. The necessity and benefits of ICTs have been analysed and the most promising solutions in the different domains of the refugee camps have been selected and described, including IoT based solutions supported with low power WAN to collect data, and blockchain applications as new protocol for a database. / Ett stort antal flyktingar tvingas bo i flyktingläger som saknar både livskvalitet och infrastruktur. De flesta av dem ligger i områden utan mobil täckning. Däremot syftar Smart Cities till att förbättra medborgarnas liv, främst med hjälp av IKT. Flyktingläger kan därför också dra nytta av IKT för att förbättra flyktingarnas liv. Nuvarande avhandling syftar till att undersöka flyktingarnas behov och prioriteringar, analysera effekten av smarta stadslösningar som genomförs i flyktingläger om flyktingarnas liv och identifiera och analysera nuvarande oanvända smarta stadslösningar som kan tillgodose flyktinglägernas behov och flyktingläger förbättra de hållbara utvecklingsmålen. Studien utförs genom litteraturöversikt och intervjuer med yrkesverksamma inom icke-statliga organisationer som ägnar sig åt flyktingfrågorna. Nödvändigheten och fördelarna med IKT har analyserats och de mest lovande lösningarna på flyktinglägernas olika domäner har blivit utvalda och beskrivna, inklusive IoT-baserade lösningar som stöds med låg effekt WAN för att samla in data och blockchain applikationer som nytt protokoll för en databas .

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ABSTRACTYoung people, I believe, are the future of every society because they are the ones who will inherit our mistakes and who can potentially drive the change that we all aspire to, through their ideas, creativity and belief. Yet all too often they are marginalised, disregarded, even demonised. In Tanzania, 50% of the population is under the age of 18 years but they are rarely given a voice. This thesis reports on an experiment aimed at giving a voice to a group of marginalised young people in Northern Tanzania – former street children living in the town of Moshi, being cared for by an organisation called Mkombozi. The aim of the research was to investigate whether participatory radio converged with new ICTs, such as mobile telephony and the internet, could be effective communication tools to enable Mkombozi strengthen its youth empowerment and community engagement agenda and thereby help it move from being a ‘provider’ of services to a ‘facilitator’ that helps the community to bring sustainable change. The four young people who took part in the experiment were given free rein to make a radio programme about street children, backed by my technical expertise as a radio journalist. The programme was broadcast on a regional radio station and the audience was invited to take part in a live discussion using the phone, text messages and email. The results showed this to be an effective way of empowering the participants by giving them a voice to articulate their hopes and dreams, by inspiring them with self-confidence and self-respect and by allowing them to formulate their own demands for a better life. The programme they made provoked an overwhelming audience response, which connected the street children through dialogue with the community and engaged them in finding solutions to the issues themselves. Subsequently, there was a widespread consensus on the need for more participatory youth programming and investigation into how these communication tools might be developed further in order to find sustainable solutions at the grassroots level rather than through a ‘top-down’ approach.