Thesis (MPA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This exploratory study attempts to establish the readiness of the Namibian government in using social media as a strategy for public participation. The subject of public participation as a strategy to improve the process of policymaking has been researched extensively. Similarly, the use of social media to promote public participation which in turn influences service delivery is gaining popularity in many scholarly works. However, there is still a paucity of research investigating the use of social media as a public participation strategy to improve policymaking. Given the speed at which people worldwide have embraced the use of social media, the current study provides an opportunity to establish how the Namibian government can utilise social media as a strategy to facilitate public participation. This two-way engagement is necessary to improve the government’s efforts in the development of policies and programmes and ultimately improved service delivery. Theoretically, the analysis in this study centred on theories of public participation and emergent theories of the use of social media for good governance. The current study utilised a multi-case study approach and a combination of research techniques in collecting data. These included document analysis – in both paper and digital formats – and unstructured interviews with key respondents from the main government institutions and their strategic role in the implementation of e-government in Namibia. The study employed a systematic approach in answering all five research questions to meet the research objectives. It concludes that, although the Namibian context and legislative framework support public participation broadly, there are still a number of challenges which impact on the readiness to use social media as a strategy for public participation in the Public Service of Namibia. Following this, a set of recommendations for both policy and further research is presented. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie ondersoekende studie poog om die gereedheid van die Namibiese regering om sosiale media as werktuig vir publieke deelname te vestig. Die onderwerp van publieke deelname as ’n werktuig om die beleidmakingsproses te verbeter, is reeds omvattend nagevors. Die gebruik van sosiale media om publieke deelname te bevorder wat om die beurt dienslewering beïnvloed, neem in verskeie akademiese bronne toe in populariteit. Navorsing wat die gebruik van sosiale media as werktuig vir publieke deelname om beleidsmaking te verbeter is skaars. Gegewe die spoed waarteen mense wêreldwyd die gebruik van sosiale media aanneem, bied hierdie studie die geleentheid om vas te stel hoe die Namibiese regering sosiale media as werktuig om publieke deelname te fasiliteer, kan gebruik. Hierdie tweerigtingbetrokkenheid is noodsaaklik om die regering se pogings in die ontwikkeling van beleide en programme en uiteindelik dienslewering te verbeter. Teoreties is die analise in hierdie studie gesentreer om teorieë oor publieke deelname en opkomende teoreë oor die gebruik van sosiale media vir goeie regeringsgedrag. Die huidige studie het ’n veelvoudige gevallestudie en ’n kombinasie van navorsingstegnieke ingespan om data in te samel. Dit het dokumentanalise – beide papier- en digitale formate – en ongestruktureerde onderhoude met sleutelrespondente van die hoofregeringsinstansies en hul strategiese rol in die implementering van e-regering in Namibië ingesluit. Die studie het van ’n sistematiese benadering gebruik gemaak om al vyf navorsingsvrae te beantwoord om sodoende aan die navorsingsdoelstellings te voldoen. Die studie bevind dat alhoewel die Namibiese konteks en wetgewende raamwerk publieke deelname breedweg ondersteun daar steeds ’n aantal uitdagings is wat ’n impak het op die gereedheid van sosiale media as ’n werktuig vir publieke deelname in die Openbare Diens van Namibië. Vervolgens word ’n stel voorstelle vir beide beleid en verdere navorsing aangebied.

Orientador: Maria Cristina Gobbi / Banca: Francisco Machado Filho / Banca: Osvando José de Morais / Resumo: A transparência pública entre a gestão urbana e a população civil, o acesso e compreensão das informações disponibilizadas, e a participação popular são capazes de possibilitar medidas administrativas pontuais e resultados mais satisfatórios e eficientes a curto, médio, e longo prazo. Entretanto observa-se que o sistema democrático vigente se apresenta insuficiente no quesito participativo, principalmente no que se refere aos meios de comunicação em massa habituais, que transmitem a mensagem de forma unidirecional, impossibilitando qualquer interação. Partindo destes princípios, a presente pesquisa tem o intuito de explorar as possibilidades em ampliar a inclusão civil no processo de planejamento e gestão urbana por meio da proposta de um aplicativo mobile, de forma a torná-lo acessível, compreensível, e utilizável pela sociedade em geral. Para tanto, será conceituada mediante revisão bibliográfica a área de conhecimento do urbanismo e planejamento urbano, refletindo sobre a participação popular e o direito à cidade dentro da democracia participativa, sintetizando os principais problemas que afetam esta prática no processo de gestão urbana, evidenciando o potencial e importância da tecnologia mobile para participação popular e gestão urbana. Na sequencia será apresentada a fundamentação teórica da proposta de um aplicativo para auxiliar o exercício da cidadania no meio urbano através da participação popular com ênfase no direito à cidade, de forma a tornar o processo de gestã... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Public transparency between urban management and the civilian population, access and understanding concerning the information made available, and popular participation are able to provide punctual administrative measures and more satisfactory and efficient results in the short, medium and long term. However, it may be observed that the current democratic system is insufficient regarding participation, especially related to the usual mass media, which transmits the message in an unidirectional way, making all interaction impossible. Based on these principles, the present research intends to explore the possibilities of expanding civil inclusion in the urban planning and management process through the proposal of a mobile application, in order to make it accessible, understandable and usable by the society in question. general. For this purposes, the field of knowledge of urbanism and urban planning will be conceptualized through bibliographic review, reflecting about popular participation and the right to the city within participatory democracy, synthesizing the main problems that affect this practice in the urban management process, showing the potential and the importance of mobile technology for popular participation and urban management. Next, we present the theoretical basis of the proposal of an application to assist the exercise of citizenship in the urban environment through popular participation with emphasis on the right to the city, in order to make the process of u... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

M. Tech. Business Information Systems / Information and communications technology (ICT) has proved to be a significant tool for both private and public sectors in the enhancement of service delivery. Organisations need to identify the socio-economic, political and technological needs that would help them to strengthen their business positions in order to remain competitive in the globalised economy. To achieve this goal, organisations need to accelerate the ICT skills (e-skills) development within their settings. However, there is a general lack of e-skills within South Africa. Further still, there is also lack of standards that could be followed in the development of these skills. This calls for a contextualised framework to guide e-skills development within the South African private and public sectors. The goal of this study was to use a balanced scorecard to develop a framework that could be used to align e-skills development with the strategic business objectives of the Limpopo Provincial Government of South Africa.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Business Information Systems)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2010. / Information and Communications Technology has been accepted globally as an enabler of public and private sector businesses. This study argues that the correct positioning of a chief information officer (CIO) is vital to achieving effective service delivery. On the contrary, empirical evidence shows that CIOs in the South African public sector tend not to have the necessary influence to use ICTs strategically to change the plight of the millions of poor South Africans, through service delivery. Using Structuration Theory as a lens, the contribution of this study is towards improving the rigor with which we understand chief information officers and their place in the improvement of South African public service delivery.

This research assessed the state of e-government in Swaziland with special reference to government ministries and departments. The goal was to establish the extent to which the Swaziland Government has responded to the challenges and the progress made regarding the priority initiatives pertaining to e-government in the country as outlined in the work of Oyomno and Ramatlhape (2004: 45). To provide an accurate picture of e-government in the country was not an easy task due to the absence of empirical studies conducted on e-government in Swaziland. The study used the survey research strategy. The population of the study was the government ministries and departments which made 23 units of analysis. The techniques for data collection were an interview schedule, an administered questionnaire and a website evaluation form. The data was then analyzed using SPSS version 15.0 for Windows for statistical processing. The research established that the country has developed an appropriate ICT policy. This policy promises a favourable climate that would enhance the development and implementation of e-government in Swaziland. The research also disclosed that the country enjoys the requisite political will necessary to see e-government through. / Thesis (MIS)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Information and communication technology (ICT) has facilitated the implementation of e-parliament to ensure representivity, transparency, accessibility, accountability and effectiveness of parliaments. However, the shift from e-parliament to e-democracy may require parliaments to focus not only on efficiencies but also on improving the quality of interaction leading to changes in behaviour that support democracy. The study explores the current set-up in respect of the implementation of e-parliament globally, the initiatives that are being made and the challenges being experienced. It does this by examining literature regarding the latest developments in e-parliament and recent surveys on emerging utility trends. Consideration is given to particular initiatives in the African context, such as the Bungeni information management system. These are aimed at facilitating the push towards democracy that is assisted by ICT (e-democracy). A comparative analysis focusing on policies, technology, practices and organisational culture in the implementation of e-parliament, as a transitional stage towards edemocracy, is made with respect to the parliaments or chambers of the Czech Republic, India, Kenya and South Africa. The outcome of this analysis has important lessons for the use of ICT to support democracy, particularly for South Africa. It also generates a number of issues, for example the importance of knowledge management and organisational design for improving the parliament-citizen interface, which require consideration by parliaments in general. A seamless platform for facilitating engagement between parliament and the majority of citizens is designed through the adaptation of the e-business model. The platform integrates ICT infrastructure, processes and human resource in a knowledge management environment. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Inligting en kommunikasie het die implementering van e-parlement gefasiliteer met die doel om verteenwoordigendheid, deursigtigheid, toeganklikheid en doeltreffendheid van die parlement te verseker. Die skuif van e-parlement na e-demokrasie kan parlement noodsaak om te fokus, nie net op doeltreffenheid nie, maar ook om die kwaliteit van interaksie te verbeter, wat weer sal lei tot gedragsverandering wat demokrasie ondersteun. Die studie verken die huidige toestand met betrekking tot die implementering van eparlement op `n internasionale skaal, die inisiatiewe wat onderneem word, en die uitdagings wat ervaar word. Literatuur wat die nuutste verwikkelinge saamvat, word ondersoek, asook onlangse opname aangaande opkomende gebruiks tendens. Dit is veral inisiatiewe in Afrika wat ondersoek word, soos byvoorbeeld die Bungeni Inligting bestuurstelsel. Dit word gedoen om die proses van demokrasie te fasiliteer wat weer deur Inligting en Kommunikasie tegnologie ondersteun word. `n Vergelykende analise wat fokus op beleid, tegnologie, praktyke en organisasie kultuur binne e-parlement, en die oorgangfase van e-demokrasie word gedoen oor die parlemente van die Tjeggiese Republiek, Indië, Kenia en Suid-Afrika. Die uitslag van die analise het belangrike lesse vir die gebruik van Inligting en Kommunikasie tegnologie om demokrasie te ondersteun, veral in Suid-Afrika. Dit genereer ook ander aspekte byvoorbeeld die belangrikheid van kennisbestuur en organisatoriese ontwerp om die parlement-burger interfase te verbeter. `n Platform wat die proses tussen die parlement en die burgers fasiliteer, is ontwerp met die aanpassing van die e-besigheidsmodel. Die platform integreer Inligting en Kommunikasie tegnologie infrastrukture, prosesse en menslike hulpbronne binne `n kennis bestuur omgewing.

Thesis (MTech (Information Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015. / In a quest to offer better services to both citizens and businesses throughout Africa, efforts to adopt e-government projects are gaining momentum. As a result of this, there is a need for effective measurement of delivery and quality of such e-services. Currently, there are several metrics applied to measure and rank the e-readiness of various African countries. However, while these measures have provided a source of comparative analysis between different e-government projects, they are far from being perfect. For example, most of these measures are diverse and difficult to compare, since they assume ‘one size fits all’ and ignore differing environmental, cultural and contextual factors of various countries. Further criticisms of these measures are that they are ‘first generation metrics’ designed for developed countries, as opposed to developing countries. Thus, the crux of the research problem was that there are no suitable evaluation strategies for understanding and measuring the effectiveness of e-government services in order to improve the management thereof, and thereby attain the best possible value for citizens. The objective of this study was to develop a framework, for evaluating the effectiveness of e-government services in a typical developing country. Tanzania’s mainland was chosen as the context for this study: as a typical developing African country, its early phase of e-government development provided an optimal case for this study concerned with the useful and effective evaluation of e-government services. I have chosen a qualitative research method paradigm, underpinned by an interpretive approach, to facilitate both research objectives: developing an evaluation framework after determining the necessary evaluation parameters. Empirical evidence was gathered via interviews with e-government practitioners in Tanzania and via focus groups with selected citizens. Other sources of data included government documentation (policies and strategies) and government websites. The data was analysed through the combined application of an adapted grounded theory method and interpretation. Using the latter analytical processes several effectiveness dimensions of e-government services were derived. Through further analysis these were synthesised into the main output of the study viz. an e-government citizen satisfaction framework (ECSF). This framework, a unique contribution to the existing body of knowledge, demonstrates how citizen and government imperatives should be amalgamated to evaluate the effectiveness of e-government services. The findings further support and advance Information Technology management within government, as this is the first comprehensive framework to ensure an integrated approach for monitoring and evaluating e-government programmes. This study also combines important ideas from two existing domains—service management and IS evaluation—to generate new foundations leading to further work by researchers.

E-government which refers to electronic Government is the process of transformation of relationships of government with its constituents ie the citizens, the businesses and between its own organs, through the use of the tools of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). E-government services are the outcome of e-governance that come as automated services delivered through ICTs particularly Internet based applications that provide access to and delivery of information or services to the public, businesses, other agencies and governmental departments. This study seeks to examine the factors affecting citizens ability to access e-government services in Nkonkobe Municipality in the province of Eastern Cape and come with recommendations of how to address the issue. E-government services should be developed on platforms with the consideration of devices that people can have access to. The study showed that in as much as one can have cell phone that has access to internet , some website services such as home affairs enquiry applications are not accessible on a phone with a general web browser that has no Java Script capacity but has acces to internet. Therefore developing Short Message Service (SMS) based services or Unstructured Supplementary Serviuce Data (USSD) code that is available on all Globile System for Mobile (GSM) cell phones can increase accessibility of most services at a cheaper cost. The study concludes that although e-government is the future for our country and in this era of technology, much still has to be done in areas like Nkonkobe Municipality in Eastern Cape, as the citizens have no or lack appropriate tools to access the internet, and sometimes citizens are not aware of e-government services available. The research indicates that most citizens have cell phones despite the differences in handset capabilities, which therefore means that applications developed for e-government services can be ported foe accessibility to ordinary GSM cell phone including those without internet access.

Traditional methods of providing public services to disadvantaged rural communities in South Africa have, over the years, proven to be inefficient and in most such communities, simply non-existent. Although the South African government has taken initiatives to make these public services cheaply and conveniently available online at national level, access at local municipal level is still lacking. The goal of this study is to develop a cost-effective e-government system that will contribute to improved provision of public services to the Dwesa area, a rural community in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, by the government. A prototype construction approach was used, to develop a cost-effective four-modular web application. Interviews were conducted in the field, resulting in four e-government system modules, based on open-source software, developed and integrated to form a single, dynamic web component that will act as a one-stop shop for Dwesa community members. These are the Dwesa Online Application Centre (DOAC) to apply for important government documents and grants, the Dwesa Online Reporting Centre (DORC) to report various grievances to the responsible agencies, the Dwesa Forum Corner (DFC), a digital community, and the management back-end module. The Dwesa e-government portal was developed using Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP (LAMP) technology, a Zoop framework to model the individual components and a JQUERY JavaScript library to increase the responsiveness of the user interfaces. The most significant contributions of this thesis have been the development of a cost-effective, integrated e-government functionality, applicable to disadvantaged communities, and the greater understanding this has given of the tools and methodologies that can be used to deliver public services efficiently to citizens. The final evaluation of this e-government system gives significant evidence that the e-government portal provides a solid foundation that will allow e-government implementation to raise the provision of public services to a higher level.

Orientador: Danilo Rothberg / Banca: Claudio Bertolli Filho / Banca: Rogério Christofoletti / Resumo: O advento das tecnologias traz para a área da comunicação pública a possibilidade de mudar o processo de diálogo entre governo e cidadão. Isto implica o fortalecimento da democracia, tornando a sociedade mais participativa com acesso a informações. Esta pesquisa avaliou a acessibilidade e a presença de informações sobre políticas públicas para as pessoas com deficiência disponíveis nos portais eletrônicos das 15 cidades sede das regiões administrativas do Estado de São Paulo: Araçatuba, Araraquara, Barretos, Bauru, Campinas, Franca, Marília, Presidente Prudente, Registro, Ribeirão Preto, Santos, São Carlos, São José do Rio Preto, São José dos Campos e São Paulo. A metodologia de pesquisa utilizou a análise de conteúdo, verificando informações sobre políticas públicas para deficientes por meio de 14 categorias de avaliação: antecedentes, diagnóstico, objetivos, metas, recursos atuais, ações atuais, recursos planejados, ações planejadas, eficiência, eficácia, custo-efetividade, impacto, satisfação do usuário e equidade. Foram analisadas 73 páginas web, que alcançaram 20% do total que, no âmbito teórico-metodológico da pesquisa, se considera necessário para a caracterização completa de uma política pública. Os municípios de Araçatuba, Araraquara, Marília e Registro não apresentaram informações sobre a temática analisada em seu portal eletrônico. Para avaliar a acessibilidade nas páginas web, foi utilizado o Modelo de Acessibilidade de Governo Eletrônico, do governo federal brasileiro, e o software DaSilva, o qual detectou 1.419 erros de acessibilidade. Os resultados indicam a insuficiência das informações e dos recursos de acessibilidade nos portais analisados / Abstract: The technologies advents bring to the public communication area the possibility of changing the dialog process between the government and the citizen. That means, strengthening the democracy, turning the society to a more participative one with access to information. This dissertation project assessed the acessibility and the quality of information in the public policy area applied to the disabled people available on the electronic portals of 15 administrative cities in the São Paulo State: Araçatuba, Araraquara, Barretos, Bauru, Campinas, Franca, Marília, Presidente Prudente, Registro, Ribeirão Preto, Santos, São Carlos, São José do Rio Preto, São José dos Campos and São Paulo. The methodology of this dissertation used the content analyses, verifying information about public policy to disabled people throughout 14 assessment categories: antecedents, diagnosis, objectives, targets, current resources, current actions, determined resources, effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, impact, user satisfaction and fairness. It was detected 73 policies in the web pages which took up 20% of the information quality index, surrounding the theory and methodology of this dissertation, it is necessary to the complete characterization of a public policy. Only the cities of Araçatuba, Araraquara, Marilia and Registro showed no policy on their web portal. In order to acess the acessibility on web pages it was used the assessment report developed by the e-mag, through the Virtual Acessibility Project and the evaluator "dasilva", which found 1,419 accessibility errors through three assessment priorities. The results indicate the lack of information and accessibility resources of the analyzed portals / Mestre