Collaborative Opportunities for Icts Development in a Challenged African Environment

Authors

  • Gabriel Kabanda Zimbabwe Open University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-27242008000100009

Keywords:

innovation implementation, technology diffusion agencies.

Abstract

The emergence and convergence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has remained at the centre of global socio-economic transformations. The required ICT revolutionary technological change or productivity levels in Southern Africa is a function of both skilled labour (high technical competence) and capital for investment. Technological progress in Southern Africa can be measured as an index composed of measures of personal computers, Internet hosts, fax machine, mobile phones and television, etc., across the various member countries. The paper presents a synopsis of the ICTs indicators for Southern Africa and the opportunities therein, together with an analysis of technological progress and opportunities for ICTs development in Southern Africa. A regional ICT collaboration strategy is proposed, underpinned by best practice elements. The proposed Regional ICT Collaboration strategy largely depends on human resource development, information sharing platforms, and the degree of development of the ICTs industry and support services in the individual member countries. The design of virtual collaborative systems is a useful paradigm for the development and sustainability of virtual collaboration for Southern African countries, so that higher levels of collaboration may be achieved among geographically dispersed work groups. Knowledge may be shared between people through face-to-face or through technology, either asynchronously or synchronously, commonly known as virtual collaboration.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Gabriel Kabanda, Zimbabwe Open University

Pro Vice Chancellor - Strategic Planning, Learner Support, Marketing & Income Generation

References

ADHIKARI, R. (1998, May 4). Groupware to the next level. Information week, 106- III.

BAKER,W E. (1992).The network organization in theory and practice. In N. Nohria and R. G. Eccles (Eds.), Networks and organizations: Structure, form, and action (pp. 397-429). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

DIMARTINO,V, & Wirth, L. (1990).Telework:A new way of working and living. International Labour Review, 129(5), 529-554.

HILTZ, S. R.,& Turoff, M. (1978). The network nation:Human communication vía computer. London:Addison-Wesley.

HOSSAIN, L, & Wigand, R.T (2002). Towards a social exchange perspective for e-business management. Manuscript submitted for publication.

HOSSAIN, L, and Wigand, R.T. (2003). Understanding virtual collaboration through structuration. Proceedings ofthe 4th Eu-opean Conference on Knowledge Management, 475-484.

KIELY J. (1993). Learning to share. CI0,July, 38-44.

KOCK, N. (2000). Benefits for virtual organizations from distributed groups. Communications ofthe ACM, 43(11), 107-1 12.

LUDWIG, G. S. (1999).Virtual geographic research teams: A case study. Jounal of Geography, 98(3), 149-154.

NIEDERMAN, F.,and Beise, C. M. (1999). Defining the "virtualness" of groups, teams, and.

PAPOWSJ. (1998).The rapid evolution of collaborative tools: A paradigm shift. Telecommunications, 32( I), 31 -32.

WIGAND, R.T. & Imamura,T (1997).Virtual organization: Enablers and boundaries of an emerging organizational form. Proceedings of the Americas Conference on Information Systems, 423-425.

WIGAND, R.T., Picot,A. & Reichwald, R. (1997). Information, organization and management: Expanding markets and corporate boundaries. Chichester, UK:Wiley

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Effective Regulation Case Study of Brazil Bogdan-Martin. D and De La Torre M (2001).

International Telecommunication Union (2006,2007) African Telecommunication indicators http://www.itu.int/home/index.html.

Downloads

Published

2008-10-13

How to Cite

Kabanda, G. (2008). Collaborative Opportunities for Icts Development in a Challenged African Environment. Journal of Technology Management & Innovation, 3(3), 91–99. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-27242008000100009

Issue

Section

Research Articles