Information Development

Education for information was once a major focus for the attention of national governments and international development agencies. But this no longer seems to be the case. Have librarians failed to engage in an effective dialogue with them? Could this point to major shortcomings in curricula and teaching methods?

Archives collect and manage traces of the memory of nations. All their efforts will come to naught if all those memories are lost due to disasters. As other archivists in the world, South African archivists and records managers as temporary guardians of the national heritage owe it to the future generations that the heritage is preserved. Disaster management should be part and parcel of the strategy to preserve archives for the present and future generations because emergency preparedness has the possibility of reducing the effects of disaster and ensuring business continuity. This article presents the findings of an assessment of disaster management activities in public archives of South Africa. A quantitative approach with a triangulation of data collection methods was used for the study. The findings revealed that disaster management did not feature prominently on their agenda as evidenced by a lack of written disaster management plans and strategies. It was concluded that without disaster plans public archival institutions are unable to preserve the South African heritage and guard against collective cultural amnesia. Among the recommendations is that South African archivists should ensure that the national documentary heritage is preserved through initiating disaster management activities nationwide.

This study reports on the use, types, and availability of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in four government departments in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in the context of work productivity and creativity. Roger’s Diffusion of Innovations Theory was used to inform the study in an attempt to understand the diffusion and use of modern ICTs in the government departments under investigation. Through a survey, government departments that are considered to be central to service delivery were targeted. Due to the dispersed nature of the public sector in South Africa, the study was confined to government departments in KwaZulu-Natal. The study used multistage probability sampling to select the elements for the survey method. The sample size for the study was 260 managers. One hundred and fifty-two questionnaires were completed and returned. The data collected was analyzed using thematic categorization and tabulation and the findings presented descriptively. The results indicate that a variety of ICTs have been adopted in the sector for interaction and communication. The respondents' level of interaction with some of the ICTs was very high, while the use of ICTs such as video conferencing, television and radio was very poor. The most common obstacles to the effective use of ICTs in government departments were found to be lack of skills or competence, the lack of an ICT policy, and the lack of proper planning for the adoption and diffusion of ICTs in the sector. Recommendations for the way forward are provided.

In Tanzania, the Records and Archives Management Act of 2002 established the Records and Archives Management Department (RAMD) to provide for the proper administration and better management of public records and archives throughout their life cycle. This article is based on findings from an ongoing study of the government ministries of Tanzania which examines the current state of records management practices in fostering accountability in the implementation of the Public Service Reform Programme (PSRP) in Tanzania. A total of 120 registry personnel, 24 senior ministerial officials and National Archives personnel were involved in the study. The study established that although the introduction of the PSRP had resulted in some efforts in reforming the records management practices in the government ministries, records in the government ministries were not managed a strategic resource. The findings of the study revealed that current records management practices in the government ministries were accorded low priority. The absence of specific budgets allocated to registry sections, lack of support from senior officers, lack of records management policies and low levels of training for registry personnel were among the records management problems in the government ministries. Further, records surveys were conducted irregularly and the majority of government registries lacked records retention and disposition schedules which led to the congestion of records which were also disorganized and poorly managed. In order to manage records as a strategic resource, the article recommends the restructuring of existing records management systems.

This paper examines how the accelerating spread of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in developing countries can be correlated to an increase in the potential for the implementation of e-learning programs and pedagogies. Using data from a University of Washington team’s 2008 landscape study of public access venues, as well as a review of literature in the fields of ICT and e-learning, this document surveys the progress of Latin America and analyzes useful directions for research within and across the topics of e-learning and ICT.

Due to the high perceived risk and low switching cost, it is critical to building users' initial trust in mobile payment in order to facilitate their adoption and usage. The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of initial trust on user adoption of mobile payment. We conducted data analysis with structural equation modeling. The results indicated that perceived security, perceived ubiquity and perceived ease of use have significant effects on initial trust, which in turn determines perceived usefulness and usage intention. We also found that perceived cost is a significant determinant of usage intention.

In the last decade, many ICT projects in Indian agriculture have emerged, which either substitute or support extension services by enabling farmers' access to information. Information that is context specific to farmers' local situations can have important farm outcomes. The localization of content is influenced by how the ICT projects access, assess and deliver content. This paper develops a content development and management process framework, which is applied to six well-known ICT projects in Indian agriculture. Despite differences in scale, mechanisms of delivery and the extent of content localization, all projects use a network of experts in relevant fields to provide content. Yet, their collective knowledge cannot be tapped easily across the different platforms. To mainstream such ICT efforts and knowledge management in agriculture for rural livelihoods, a centralized search engine to access the dispersed agricultural information and network of experts is thus suggested.