Ronell Alberts

An integrative ICT platform for eHealth

Both eHealth and mHealth have much potential for efficient and effective health service delivery. However, fragmentation of applications and the lack of interoperability have been identified as major challenges for the effective deployment of eHealth and mHealth solutions. This paper presents the design of an integrative ICT platform for eHealth that enables (1) the integration of heterogeneous health related information, (2) the orchestration of eHealth and mHealth services and (3) easy deployment of mobile services independent of mobile device, operating system or network. The aim of the platform is to accelerate the adoption of mHealth solutions in support of the reengineered primary health care model and to facilitate the integration of existing eHealth and mHealth solutions on a service and information level. The platform is designed for the context of the South African primary healthcare system, but is relevant to any eHealth environment where integration, orchestration and mobile communication is required.

Designing the Visualization of Information

The construction of an artifact to visually represent information is usually required by Information Visualization research projects. The end product of design science research is also an artifact and therefore it can be argued that design science research is an appropriate research paradigm for conducting Information Visualization research. Design science research requires that, during the Rigor Cycle, the design of the artifacts should be based on a scientific knowledge base. This article provides a knowledge base in the form of design guidelines that can guide the design of the view for an Information Visualization solution. The design principles and guidelines presented in this article are identified by means of a literature review.

A Case for Understanding User Experience Challenges confronting Indigenous Knowledge Recorders in Rural Communities in South Africa

For centuries, rural communities have relied on their indigenous knowledge for survival and sustenance. Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is understood as local knowledge, which is unique and traditional to a specific community. Due to the fact that IK plays an important role in the general well-being of a community, IK needs to be properly collected and protected. In view of this, the South African government undertook the development of a National Recordal System (NRS). However, User Experience (UX) in IKS has been largely ignored and as a result very little is understood of UX related challenges within the IKS field. This paper makes a case for the understanding of UX challenges confronting IK Recorders in rural communities in South Africa. Understanding UX challenges will improve on the overall quality of the captured IK and is important for the enhancement of the NRS processes, tools and the system that has been deployed.

Visual interfaces as an approach for providing mobile services and mobile content to low literate users in South Africa

Mobile services and mobile content is available to diverse users in possession of the necessary mobile phones. However, some of the mobile services and mobile content is text intensive and this discounts low literate users in participation in the related mobile applications. Exploring typical challenges experienced by low literate users and adapting these mobile applications using visual interfaces can provide low literate users with usable access to mobile services and mobile content.

Improving diffusion of Information Technology in communities in a developing world context

Diffusion of information technology in a developing world context is difficult due to the fact that most of the targeted communities are in market neglect environments. Market neglect environments are characterised by a failure of the market to make an impact. In these environments the client base is marginalised, small or with low economic power. Consequently, the prospect for immediate return on investment or profit in the short or medium term is low in these environments. Software development for market neglect areas faces a number of unique challenges while still needing to produce products of high quality, on budget and on time. Traditional software methodologies have been applied in these areas with limited success, but due to the unique challenges within these areas, it has become apparent that a new or adapted software methodology is needed to ensure the effective diffusion of technology in market neglect communities. In this paper, we aim to pin down the unique problems experienced when developing for market neglect areas and to identify tools and methods required in a software development methodology to address these problems in order to improve the diffusion of information technology in market neglect areas.