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While 14 % of the world's working-age population currently lives in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), this figure will predictably be higher than the rest of the world combined by 2036. If this demographic group finds meaningful employment, Africa experiences an economic and social upswing. To tap this potential, the paper intends to answer the research question, "What are the prerequisites and how are they defined for the successful implementation of sustainable business model ideas in SSA?", by developing a top ten ranking consisting of previously identified sustainable business model ideas best suited for productive use. This achieves a novel approach to implementing future-oriented business models and contributes to current research on sustainable models. Since the geographical scope of SSA is pervasive, this paper focuses on Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, and Uganda. An extensive literature review on these countries was conducted to gain a broader understanding of the situation in SSA. Additionally, research was carried out on the agricultural, energy, and information and communications technology (ICT) sectors to identify the most promising ideas. To contribute to current knowledge, experts were interviewed, and panel discussions were analyzed. Furthermore, the Business Model Canvas (BMC) was combined with the circular economy concept, which served as a framework for the business model ideas. Experts evaluated these ideas, which were subsequently ranked using fuzzy logic with artificial intelligence, based on the system for exploring country risks (CRISK-Explorer). The paper shows that skipping individual development processes opens up promising opportunities, such as the ICT-based business model e-crowd logistics or the renewable energy-based model e-Boda-Boda. Seven prerequisites for the successful implementation of these ideas were identified and defined: value delivery, promising customers, sufficient capital, presence of key resources, possibility to perform the key activities, sustainability, and profitability. The paper concludes by identifying limitations and suggesting avenues for future research.
There has been increasing interest in designing for dementia in recent years. Empirical investigation is now needed of the long-term role of caregivers in appropriating ICTs into the complex daily life of people with dementia (PwD). We present here the outcomes of a 4-month evaluation of the individual, social and institutional impact of a videogame-based training system. The everyday behavior and interactions of 52 PwD and 25 caregivers was studied qualitatively, focusing on the role played by caregivers in integrating the system into daily routines. Our results indicate that the successful appropriation of ICT for PwD depends partly on the physical, cognitive and social benefits for PwD, but especially on the added value perceived by their social care-network. We discuss the need for design in dementia to develop more socially embedded innovations that can address the social actors involved and thus contribute to practical solutions for professional and private care.
ICT has traditionally been a hostile territory for women. In information societies, this implies a drastic reduction in opportunities and autonomy for women. In emergent economies, the situation is even worse due to women’s subordinate status in society and little research regarding the intersection between gender and the digital divide. Such is the case in Latin America. In light of this, the purpose of this essay is to introduce a first comprehensive review of the few studies made in Latin America, against the background of the history of women’s digital exclusion. Based on a review of literature, we identify the main causes for women’s digital exclusion in the region and talk about the prospects for development of gender policies in the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). We conclude that what this group of countries may achieve in regard to gender equality, will mark the future of the world. The aim of this essay is to make a call for the creation of inter - national research networks and propose the BRICS as host for these efforts, as they combine characteristics that will make them leaders of change in vast regions.
Dementia not only affects the cognitive capabilities, especially memory and orientation, but also physical capabilities, which are associated with a decrease of physical activities. Here, ICT can play a major role to improve health, quality of life and wellbeing in older adults suffering from dementia and related stakeholders, such as relatives, professional and informal caregivers. The aim of the presented system is to increase physical and cognitive capabilities of people with dementia and their caregivers to support them in daily life activities, reduce the strain of the caregivers and improve both their wellbeing.
As a result of ageing societies, the prevalence of dementia, and accordingly the need of care is increasing rapidly. Here, the use of ICT-based technologies may facilitate and promote a self-sustaining life-style for people with dementia and their caregivers. The presented poster describes early findings from the project MobiAssist and outlines the ICT-based training system. The system aims to increase the physical and cognitive capabilities of people with dementia, relief the caregivers and improve wellbeing of involved parties.
ICT integration by universities teaching professionals is emerging as a major concern, this study demonstrate the need to address the integration problem by encouraging existing metrics use in indexing ICT integration as an ICT governance strategy. Quality of integration depends on quality indexing which also depend on quality of existing metrics and their use. Considering the role that University Information Technology Teaching Professionals’ (UITTPs) continuous improvement indexing can offer, towards autonomic governance of the continuous emerging ICTs in the university teaching, this study examined extent in use of existing ICT integration metrics to index ICT integration by the UITTPs. Six metrics for ICT integration were investigated; time, workshop course content relevance, technical malfunctions, support conditions, support services, and motivation and commitment to student learning and staff professional development metrics. Descriptive survey design was used in which interviews were conducted to UITTPs in three (3) public and three (3) private purposively selected universities in Kenya. The findings were analyzed descriptively and inferentially using Kendall’s correlation of concordance and tested using Chi-square on the extent of concordance and presented with help of frequency tables, figures and percentages. The findings revealed that all the metrics are rarely used for indexing ICT integration (32.8%), and most UITTPs were in discordance on this level of all the six metrics use except for support condition. This implied that the use of metrics for indexing integration has not been formalized across the Kenyan universities. Universities need to be encouraged to identify suitable metrics, formalize them and improve their frequency in use. Secondly, socio based metrics such as content relevance are used more frequently for indexing integration as compared to Technical metrics, socio-technical metrics balance therefore need to be emphasized by the universities management when determining and using metrics for indexing ICT integration.