Francois van Schalkwyk

The engaged university and the specificity of place: The case of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

ABSTRACT This paper suggests that sufficient imagination about the role of the university as a place-based actor, in conjunction with conditions of institutional embeddedness and normative alignment of university-community engagement, are minimum requirements for place-specific engagement. To explore this process of alignment and institutional conditions in practice, this paper explores one universitys approach to embedding engagement and its sense of place-making in the context of multiple institutional logics. Findings show how the university has attempted to embed engagement by following a protracted consultative process that enabled engagement to be aligned with and integrated into the core functions of the university. Findings also show that engagement continues to be driven, at least partially, by market logics that favour financial imperatives over those of place-making.This paper suggests that sufficient imagination about the role of the university as a place-based actor, in conjunction with conditions of institutional embeddedness and normative alignment of university-community engagement, are minimum requirements for place-specific engagement. To explore this process of alignment and institutional conditions in practice, this paper explores one universitys approach to embedding engagement and its sense of place-making in the context of multiple institutional logics. Findings show how the university has attempted to embed engagement by following a protracted consultative process that enabled engagement to be aligned with and integrated into the core functions of the university. Findings also show that engagement continues to be driven, at least partially, by market logics that favour financial imperatives over those of place-making.

African university presses and the institutional logic of the knowledge commons: University presses and the knowledge commons logic

This article investigates the current status and challenges faced by university presses in Africa, looking particularly at the institutional perspective. Four case studies from Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa show how different presses adapt their practices and adopt new technologies. Interpreted through an institutional logics perspective, the status of the university presses is described according to established editorial and market logics, to which a third, hypothetical logic of the knowledge commons is added. The logic of the knowledge commons accounts for changes advanced by the digitization of content, peer‐to‐peer networks as the basis for production, the rise of open access, and an emerging social capitalism. In two cases, we find university presses constrained by traditional editorial logics, while a third one exhibits a hybrid editorial–market model with the purposive adoption of new technologies. Only the fourth, recently established press has embraced the new logic of the knowledge commons wholeheartedly. Thus, if there is a second transition of the academic publishing industry underway, it is in its early stages, partial, and limited in the African context. We thus show that the logic of the knowledge commons provides a useful theoretical lens for studying the far‐reaching and rapid ongoing changes in international academic publishing in Africa and further afield.

Opportune Niches in Data Ecosystems: Open Data Intermediaries in the Agriculture Sector in Ghana

The role of open data intermediaries in an ecosystem broadly, and in the data chain specifically, is highly relevant – they may in fact be vital for a data chain to be fluid. There is a small but growing body of empirical-based research that analyzes the behaviour of open data intermediaries; empirical evidence that specifically focuses on the entrance of open data intermediaries into the ecosystem is even scarcer. The present study aims to reduce the scarcity of empirical fine-grained evidence concerning open data intermediaries and their emergence, in particular, their characteristics that enable them to enter into an ecosystem and to thrive in it. The analysis of the behavior of the two intermediaries located at the interface of open data in the agricultural and mobile-phone sectors in Ghana leads to the following conclusions: the emergence of intermediaries is primarily conditioned by the previous presence of a (broad) niche area, that is, in for order intermediaries to appear, there must be new spaces available in the ecosystem for them to occupy; a niche may be sufficiently broad to accommodate not a single specific intermediary but rather a range of similar yet distinct intermediaries that can populate different zones within the niche; each intermediary deploys the forms of the capital differently to connect to users successfully; given the extent of capitals which it possesses, each intermediary identifies a different area of the ecosystem where this capital would assure the highest return; a deficiency of certain forms of capital can also be appeased by linking to other intermediaries; the emergence and subsequent survival of the intermediaries importantly modifies the ecosystem which they have entered and populated; and open data intermediaries enhance flow of data in an ecosystem by sourcing, creating, mixing and curating data from multiple sources, both open and closed.

Open government and open data a global perspective

Civil society organizations (CSOs) are investing in new technologies and are increasingly working in networks and coalitions (such as Open Parliament, Open Contracting and Open Government) to develop standards for effective accountability through transparency and disclosure. These initiatives hold the promise of transforming the way government and societies work together to improve governance. There is therefore an opportunity to better support those governments seeking to commit to transparency through international eGovernment initiatives. Similarly, there is an opportunity to leverage the increased understanding of the role of technology including the public release of government data in enhancing disclosure and public access to information, and to build the capacity of the CSOs to connect best practice with transparency reforms. However, in line with the vision of open government, the benefits to citizens should always take precedence over other returns when designing and developing software systems, and this involves new and innovative software architectures.