The study sought to explore technology challenges faced by some rural women in Intsika-Yethu and Emalahleni local municipalities, under the Chris Hani District Municipality, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Available literature reveals that some rural women in South Africa and other developing parts of the world face technology challenges. The study is qualitative and focuses on two municipalities. Thirty-two women participated in the study. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and focus group interviews. Data were presented, analysed and discussed according to the themes derived from the sub-research questions. It emerged from the study that while most women in both municipalities were aware of ICT, they are however facing ICT access challenges in most areas of the municipalities. The findings do not depict the South African government national ICT policy goals which realises the importance of technology in the integration of services for the development of rural areas. Designing intervention programs for secondary school girls and some rural women, as well as monitoring and evaluating ICT programs in rural areas are recommended. / Communication Science / MA ( Communication)

The study sought to explore technology challenges faced by some rural women in Intsika-Yethu and Emalahleni local municipalities, under the Chris Hani District Municipality, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Available literature reveals that some rural women in South Africa and other developing parts of the world face technology challenges. The study is qualitative and focuses on two municipalities. Thirty-two women participated in the study. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and focus group interviews. Data were presented, analysed and discussed according to the themes derived from the sub-research questions. It emerged from the study that while most women in both municipalities were aware of ICT, they are however facing ICT access challenges in most areas of the municipalities. The findings do not depict the South African government national ICT policy goals which realises the importance of technology in the integration of services for the development of rural areas. Designing intervention programs for secondary school girls and some rural women, as well as monitoring and evaluating ICT programs in rural areas are recommended. / Communication Science / MA ( Communication)

The new millennium saw the explosion of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), coupled with the Internet as the way to communicate and gain knowledge. Traditional schooling has moved to open and distance e-learning and many educational institutions are offering these as alternatives. In correctional institutions the education centres have fallen behind in this regard. This dissertation is based on a participatory study that will show how open and distance e-learning can benefit inmates. The researcher has a unique perspective as he is himself, an inmate in a correctional centre in South Africa, and has first-hand knowledge and experience of the correctional institution environment. In-depth interviews with inmates and correctional officers were performed resulting in different views on the subject. A survey was conducted to ascertain inmates’ educational levels and their requirements. This study also determines what role the digital divide plays in the education of inmates or the lack thereof. The research indicates that education can reduce recidivism. With e-learning more inmates could receive education and become better prepared for life outside of the correctional institutions. This could result in them becoming productive members of society. The feedback obtained via interviews shows that the majority of inmates are eager to better themselves. The major problem is financing, and the struggle with communication with the distance learning institution. With e-leaning these two problems could easily be resolved. There are a good deal of educational resources available for free called Open Educational Resources (OER), and communication with the distance institutions can be exchanged via e-mail and/or video-conferencing. A major hurdle that would have to be overcome is to get the government of South Africa behind the drive to implement e-learning. The correctional institutions are the ideal environment to test whether South Africans will be receptive to e-learning. The research in other countries is overwhelmingly positive, and with a successful pilot project e-learning could be shown to be effective in bridging the digital divide / School of Computing / M. Sc. (Information Systems)

美國商務部國家通信及資訊委員會自1995年起連續四年發佈的數位落差調查報告指出，美國雖然在電話與電腦之普及率和網際網路之使用率等資訊基礎建設發展程度已逐年提昇，但同時卻也會隨民眾之收入狀況、種族、教育程度以及居住區域的不同而有相當大的差異，此即一般所謂之「數位落差」。數位落差一詞在學術及實務上，因研究或運用方向之不同，而有不同之定義與內涵，本文認為在儘量擴張數位落差之內涵下，舉凡群體間「擁有及運用」「數位科技」之「高、低（甚至是無）」程度差距，均屬數位落差。 從法律面來探討消弭數位落差之法律基礎，多數學者以「平等權」、「言論自由權」、「受益權」、「基本權」等模糊之法律概念論述，此正足以反映出數位科技發展過程中，人民基本權益內涵之變動。以21世紀的角度來看1994年司法院大法官釋字第364號，本文認為國家有作為的義務，實現公眾接近利用數位設備，以達言論自由與個人表達權利之實現，同時也應保障通訊方法、工具、媒介的充分供應。 依照2001年，台北市原住民事務委員會對於台北市原住民之全面性調查，台北市原住民受訪者家中擁有電腦之比例為55.7%，相較於整個台北市市民擁有電腦之比例將近80%而言，同為台北市居民，原住民與非原住民之間，顯然有數位落差存在。2001年4月24日台北市政府依據「台北市政府資訊推動策略會議紀錄」，訂定「台北市政府推動縮短數位落差執行計畫」，其中明定：「以戶為單位，提供新台幣五千元至一萬元補助原住民學生購置電腦，或捐贈二手電腦，減輕其資訊設備負擔。」，經費則由台北市公益彩券盈餘分配基金支應。此一對於台北市原住民的經濟補助政策，本文由憲法層次往下探討其是否合法，認為應判斷以下層次：一、外部差別待遇：該政策只補助原住民，而不及於其他台北市民或其他與原住民居於相同處境之人民（如漢人、殘障族群等）。二、內部差別待遇：該政策只補助設籍台北市滿一年以上，就讀公私立學校，具原住民身分學生之家庭。三、必要性與相當性：給予原住民最低標準之基本需求，或是超出基本需求的給付。 本文採用質化研究之深度訪談法，訪談該政策之使用者，檢驗上開外部差別待遇、內部差別待遇、必要性與相當性等，三個層次的合法性問題，發現在「外部差別待遇」、「必要性與相當性」上，合法性較無問題，但是在「內部差別待遇」上，以「具有原住民學生身分」為分界點，完全未考慮各個原住民家庭或個人之實際需求，造成某些真正迫切需要該補助之台北市原住民的不利益。該政策應該有補救之方法，對於不符合「具有原住民學生身分」之申請者，為實質審查，倘確有補助之需要，仍應予以補助，以免某些確實有迫切需求的原住民，無法申請到補助，否則該政策在此一「內部差別待遇」之合法性上，應為不合法之判斷，當然，該政策倘若直接刪除「具有原住民學生身分之家庭」此一條件之限制，亦屬適當。

由於資訊通信科技發展日新月異，不論是個人、組織或政府，皆不可避免地逐漸受到其影響。雖然資訊通信科技的出現帶給個人或組織更多發展機會，卻也逐漸產生了差距，「數位落差」現象的出現，顯現出弱勢族群與其他族群在資訊通信科技發展上的差距與限制。非營利組織由於其公益與非營利的特質，在資訊通信科技發展上更易遭遇困難。喜瑪拉雅研究發展基金會致力於非營利組織數位落差縮短、建立資訊通信科技議題，為協助非營利組織資訊能力建立的主要代表，對非營利組織影響甚大。 　　本研究即以喜瑪拉雅研究發展基金會相關服務措施作為個案，以深度訪談與相關文獻資料分析的方式，研究相關作為對非營利組織數位落差縮短的效果，探討如何有效縮短非營利組織數位落差問題。經由實務文獻資料與訪談結果，本研究提出相關建議，期能有效縮短非營利組織數位落差，協助非營利組織資訊通信科技設施發展，建立非營利組織資訊通信科技使用能力。研究建議如下： 一、相關組織可考慮於偏遠地區設立相關機構，協助非營利組織接觸與學習資訊通信科技。 二、應儘速對資源不足非營利組織補助與捐贈，協助其基本能力建立。 三、針對非營利組織管理人員進行資訊通信科技相關基礎介紹，促進組織內部對資訊通信科技的接受度與認知。 四、有志發展的相關組織可尋求其他部門或組織的協助，共同發展類似服務與具體計畫。 五、應加強發展針對非營利組織個案管理與資源整合的系統。 六、鼓勵資訊或管理專業之非營利組織擔任中介角色，整合相關資源，協助非營利組織發展資訊通信科技、縮短數位落差。 / Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been innovated dramatically each day. Individuals, organizations and the government are all influenced. They not only bring more opportunities for each one of us than before, but also make gaps between people who are owned ICTs and who are not. Such scenario is called Digital Divide. It shows the obvious advantage among the people who has used or owned ICTs. Nonprofit organization is one of the typical organization that fall behind the technology of ICTs because of it’s nonprofit behavior. Himalaya foundation is the foundation that helps nonprofit foundation to make key issues on ICTs and keep on going the new innovation up to date. Himalaya foundation is significant to the nonprofit organization. The research is based on this typical foundation whose purpose is developing services to nonprofit organization, i.e., Himalaya foundation. By interviews with Himalaya foundation and other nonprofit organization members, compared with the analyses of data from the related sources, we can understand how seriously digital divide issue has effects on the nonprofit organizations and others. The research will not only provide the effective solutions to reduce the gaps between nonprofit organizations and others, but also help the nonprofit organizations develop their own ICTs equipments and ability. The suggestions are as the following: 1.The related foundation can consider building up information center near the nonprofit organizations in order to help them learn and be exposed to ICTs. 2.To give and to help the deficient organization in order to establish their ability. 3.Provide basic introduction and knowledge of ICTs to the stuffs in the organizations; make them more recognized and accepted ICTs. 4.The organizations willing to bridge digital divide should seek assist from other sectors or organizations, and develop the same kinds of service and concrete plans. 5.To develop nonprofit organization systems of resource integration and case-management. 6.Encourage the Information or management oriented nonprofit organization to be the inter-roles that help nonprofit organization to develop the ICTs, integrated resources, and bridging Digital Divide. Keywords: nonprofit organization, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Digital Divide.

M. Tech. (Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology), Vaal University of Technology| / The lack of electricity in off-grid rural communities in South Africa (SA) and Africa as well as the budget constraints on these communities restrict these communities from connecting to any online resources (internet and e-books) for educational purposes, thus creating a major contributor to the global digital divide. Renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy and biomass were presented as potential alternatives to grid-connected electricity for remote rural locations. Solar energy was identified as the amply available alternative energy resource in SA. Solar radiation was converted by photovoltaic technology to electricity. National power grid isolation (off-grid) was achieved by using a stand-alone photovoltaic system. Photovoltaic technology classification, material categorisation and system sizing for an e-learning centre was presented. Practical set-ups were utilised to determine the most cost-effective equipment mix of power utilization, power management/storage and ICT equipment to build a pilot e-learning centre. It was established that one photovoltaic panel can be employed to fully recharge a battery of a pilot e-learning centre with an operational period of 7 hours using the available sunlight hours. Owing to the susceptibility of the Vaal Triangle region to thunderstorms causing overcast conditions for days, a ratio of back-up battery capacity (Ah) to number of days (seven hours per day) without sunlight was determined. An algorithm was also derived for sizing the pilot e-learning centre for full scale implementation. Future research recommendations based on this study for a reduced system costs of an off-grid e-learning for rural communities powered by a renewable energy resource were presented. This will increase access to basic education in SA and reduce the global digital divide.

Cette thèse porte sur les processus de sélection, formation et encadrement (SFE) des gestionnaires, appelés pilotes et considérés comme agents de changement dans les télécentres communautaires au Mali. Ces processus sont étudiés sous l'angle de leur contribution positive ou négative à l'implantation et au développement de ces centres. Les projets "technologies de l’information et de la communication", initiés par les partenaires techniques et financiers, répondent au besoin des autorités maliennes préoccupées par un souci de connecter les 703 communes du pays. À la suite du sommet mondial sur la société de l’information en décembre 2003 à Genève, l’UNESCO et la Coopération suisse ont décidé d’installer des centres multimédias communautaires dans trois pays d’Afrique (Mali, Mozambique, Sénégal). Ces implantations de télécentres ont été réalisées sur le modèle de ce qui avait été fait en Asie sans tenir compte des besoins réels des bénéficiaires et des conditions particulières (économiques, politiques, culturelles) des sites d’implantation. Malgré les conditions parfois difficiles de l’Afrique, les populations témoignent un enthousiasme réel pour les technologies de communication. Les TIC ont connu une croissance considérable et se sont multipliées partout en Afrique, à des degrés divers. Néanmoins, elles n’ont pas encore atteint la majorité des populations africaines, car 70% de celles-ci vivent en zones rurales souvent marginalisées par les difficultés économiques. Après l’implantation des télécentres, les sites ont donc été confrontés à la difficile tâche de sélectionner les pilotes comme agents de changement. Les responsables chargés de la mise en œuvre des projets ont choisi les pilotes dans leur réseau familial. En ce sens, la thèse met l’accent sur l’importance du rôle d’un pilote dans un télécentre et l’appui qu’il peut générer dans la population bénéficiaire. Nous proposons un modèle qui part de l’action des agents de changement, et ce, afin de potentiellement susciter une prise de conscience chez les décideurs locaux. Nous avons fait une étude de cas sur quatre sites pour mieux connaître les processus de sélection, formation et encadrement des pilotes et nous avons tenté d'identifier les facteurs qui, dans ces processus, ont pu influencer le niveau de réussite de chacun de ces centres. / This dissertation examines the processes of selecting, training, and mentoring managers, also known as "pilots," and considered as change agents in the development of community telecentres in Mali. These processes are analyzed according to their positive and negative outcomes regarding the establishment and development of telecentres. The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) project, launched by technical and financial partners, responds to the needs of Malian authorities in their efforts to connect the country’s 703 communes. Following the World Summit on the Information Society, held in Geneva on December 2003, UNESCO and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) decided to establish multimedia community telecentres in three African countries (Mali, Mozambique, and Senegal). The setting-up of these telecentres was modeled after a similar project conducted previously in Asia, without however taking into account the primary needs of the beneficiaries, nor their specific conditions (both economic, political, and cultural). Despite the difficult conditions that sometimes characterize the African context, African populations express a genuine interest for Information and Communication Technologies. The ICT sector has witnessed a considerable and widespread growth throughout many African countries, although with various degrees of success. However, a majority of the African population has still not been connected, since 70% of the population lives in more economically marginalized rural areas. Once the telecentres were established in various locations, most of them were confronted with the difficult challenge of selecting "pilots," to serve as change agents. Those in charge of selecting the pilots favored people located within their own family networks. Therefore, the dissertation emphasizes the pilot’s decisive role in the telecentres, and the support that he is able to generate within the beneficiary population. We put forward a model starting from the actions of the change agents, hoping to stimulate awareness amongst local deciders. We conducted a case study on four different sites in order to better understand the processes of selecting, training, and mentoring pilots, with a focus on the key factors influencing, for each of those processes, the level of success in all the telecentres.

This thesis examines determinants of an Internet and mobile phones diffusion and potentially different impacts of these determinants in case of developing and developed countries. For this purpose panel data from 199 countries for period from 1995 to 2012 are used. There is a number of variables including economic, technological, political and human capital factors. Benefits of this thesis are that the research uses updated dataset and it also adds new variables into its econometric model. This thesis also examines in detail the adoption of information and communication technologies in the Czech Republic, which has not been published previously. One of the conclusions is a finding that penetration of mobile phones and the Internet is faster in developing countries than in developed countries. Fixed effects method in the global testing also showed that the economic wealth of a country is an important determinant for the Internet only for developed countries, while for the mobile phones the GDP is a significant variable in both groups of countries. Analysis of the Czech Republic brings different results for both technologies, but the unemployment rate, which was added to the basic model, has proven to be an important determinant for both the Internet and mobile phones. Key words: Mobile phone,...

Inledning: I takt med digitaliseringen har digital hälsolitteracitet blivit en av de viktigaste hälsoindikatorerna. Då individen förväntas vara mer delaktig i sin egen hälsa krävs en viss nivå av digital hälsolitteracitet, det vill säga förmåga att finna och använda digital hälsoinformation och hantera digitala verktyg. Forskning visar att begränsad digital hälsolitteracitet leder till sämre hälsa och höga samhällskostnader och pekar på demografiska och socioekonomiska skillnader i befolkningen. Syfte: Att undersöka och beskriva faktorer som kan öka och främja människors digitala hälsolitteracitet ur ett folkhälsovetenskapligt perspektiv, baserat på den forskning som publicerats de senaste fem åren. Metod: En systematisk litteraturstudie användes som design. Sökningar gjordes i PubMed och Cinhal och resulterade slutligen i 14 vetenskapliga originalartiklar som analyserades tematisk. Resultat: Fem teman identifierades; Inre drivkrafter, Levnadsvanor, Sociala faktorer, Praktisk erfarenhet och Användarvänlighet. En koppling fanns mellan positiva förväntningar, intresse för att söka hälsoinformation, hälsomedvetenhet, hälsosamma levnadsvanor och digital hälsolitteracitet. Social interaktion och stöd samt omfattningen av tid ägnad åt digitala verktyg motiverade till användning, bidrog till praktisk erfarenhet och främjade digital hälsolitteracitet. Slutsats: Då de inkluderade artiklarna representerar både kvalitativ och kvantitativ forskning från ett flertal delar av världen samt studiepopulationer med varierande ålder och kön är det sannolikt att litteraturstudiens resultat kan bidra till att öka förståelsen för vad som främjar och ökar hälsolitteracitet i befolkningen och även utgöra ett medel för individen att uppnå bättre hälsa. / Introduction: In the digital era, digital health literacy has become one of the most important health indicators. As individuals are expected to be more involved in their own health, a certain level of digital health literacy is required. Digital health literacy is the ability to find and use digital health information and manage digital tools. Research shows that low digital health literacy leads to poorer health outcomes and high costs for the society and indicates demographic and socio-economic differences in the population. Aim: To investigate and describe factors that can increase and promote people's digital health literacy from a public health science perspective, based on research published in the last five years. Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted. Searches were made in PubMed and Cinhal and 14 scientific original articles were analyzed thematically. Results: Five themes were identified; Motivation, Lifestyle behaviour, Social factors, Practical experience and Usability. There were sassociations between digital health literacy and positive expectations, interest in seeking health information, health awareness, and healthy life style. Social interaction and support as well as the amount of time spent on digital tools motivated and contributed to practical experience and promoted digital health literacy. Conclusion: As the articles reviewed represent both qualitative and quantitative research from several parts of the world and study populations of varying ages and sex, it is likely that the results of this literature study may help increase the understanding of what promotes and increases digital health literacy in the population and also constitutes a means for individuals to achieve better health.

A economia da informação é o termo utilizado para designar o período econômico atual, no qual a informação - especialmente por meio da produção de tecnologia e da geração de inovação - tem grande relevância para a condução dos negócios e também para a geração de valor agregado. Tecnologia e inovação seriam, portanto, o motor de uma nova economia, cujo centro não é mais a produção em escala, mas sim a produção com o emprego maciço de informação e conhecimento. Nesse ambiente, as empresas devem buscar criar e compartilhar informações, conhecimentos e inovações. O investimento nas tecnologias da informação e comunicação (TICs), permite o acesso à informação e ao conhecimento, bem como uma rápida integração inter e intra organizacional. Há, entretanto, pessoas, organizações e países desprovidos de acesso ou com baixos níveis de acesso às (TICs), ou aos benefícios dessas; são classificados como excluídos digitais. Os excluídos digitais estão à parte dessa nova realidade mundial. Diante desse cenário, o objetivo deste estudo é entender a exclusão digital de empresas no Brasil, fenômeno que atinge, especialmente, as pequenas e médias empresas (PMEs) e que, no entanto, permanece um tema pouco debatido na literatura nacional. Para esse propósito, inicialmente foi proposto e construído um índice de uso das TICs, por meio do qual foi possível revelar padrões de exclusão digital em nível setorial, por porte de empresas e por regiões geográficas do país. Na sequência, tendo o índice construído, esta pesquisa buscou correlacionar fatores que contribuem para um maior índice de uso das TICs nas empresas, de forma que se possa reduzir a exclusão digital das PME, por meio de práticas gerenciais e/ou governamentais. Para atingir os objetivos desta pesquisa, foram utilizados os microdados de 2011 da pesquisa TIC Empresas, realizada anualmente pelo Comitê Gestor da Internet (CGI). Naquele ano, a pesquisa contou com mais de 5.000 empresas, que foram selecionadas aleatoriamente obedecendo a critérios de amostragem. Também foram utilizadas as técnicas estatísticas de análise fatorial, adaptada para dados binários; de modelagem de equações estruturais; e de regressão múltipla. / Information economy is the term used to describe the current economic period, in which the information - especially through the generation of technology and innovation - is material to the conduct of business and also to the generation of value. Technology and innovation are, therefore, the engine of a new economy which center is not the large-scale production, but the production with the massive use of information and knowledge. Hence companies should seek and share information, knowledge and innovations. Investment in information and communication technologies (ICTs), allows access to information and knowledge, as well as a fast inter and inner organizational integration. There are, however, people, organizations and countries without access or with low levels of access to ICT, or to its benefits; the so called digitally excluded. The digitally excluded are apart from this new global reality. In this scenario, the objective of this study is to understand the digital exclusion of companies in Brazil, a phenomenon that affects especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which, however, remains a somewhat less debated topic in the national literature. At first, it was proposed and built an index of the use of ICT, through which it was possible to reveal patterns of digital exclusion in the sectorial level, by size of business and by geographical areas of the country. The following step was to search to correlate factors that contribute to a higher rate of ICT use index in enterprises, so that we can reduce digital exclusion of SMEs through management and/or governmental practices. We used the micro-data of the 2011 wave of the\"ICT Companies Survey\" as the main source for this research. \"ICT Companies Survey\" is conducted annually by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI). In the 2011 wave, the survey covered more than 5,000 companies, which were randomly selected, according to criteria of sampling. Statistical techniques were also used as factor analysis, adapted for binary data; structural equation modeling; and multiple regression.