AJIC Issue 30, 2022

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https://hdl.handle.net/10539/34917

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    An assessment of website quality at Nigerian polytechnics and colleges of education
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2022-12-23) Ibhadode, Oseikhuemen; Opesade, Adeola
    This study assessed the quality of the websites of Nigerian polytechnics and colleges of education. Using two web diagnostic tools, SEOptimer and W3C Markup Validation Service, a total of 213 sites were evaluated in terms of six performance indicators: search engine optimisation (SEO), usability, operational performance, social media integration, security, and HTML validation. The weakest performance across the sites of both polytechnics and colleges of education was found to be with respect to social media integration, with the vast majority of sites in both categories making no use of social media. The other two indicators against which sites in both categories of institutions tended to perform poorly were SEO and operational performance. The two areas where the sites in both institutional categories generally scored well were usability and HTML validation. Meanwhile, for the security indicator, the performance was highly variable among both polytechnic and college of education sites, with significant numbers of both strong and weak scores for sites. It was also found that polytechnic sites outperformed college of education sites on SEO to a statistically significant degree (bearing in mind that both categories of sites were weak in this area). It was also found that, among the polytechnic sites, the sites of the state government-owned institutions outperformed, to a statistically significant degree, the sites of the privately owned institutions in their operational performance measure.
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    Roles played by Nigerian YouTube micro-celebrities during the COVID-19 pandemic
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2022-12-23) Agbese, Aje-Ori
    In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigerian social media micro-celebrities were prominent players in the dissemination of information. This study examines the roles that one group of Nigerian micro-celebrities, YouTube video bloggers (vloggers)—also known as “YouTubers”—played during the pandemic. The research analysed the contents of COVID-19-themed videos that 15 popular Nigerian YouTubers posted on their channels between 29 February and 5 August 2020. The study was guided by the two-step flow of communication theory, in terms of which information first flows from mass media to opinion leaders, who then, in the second step, share the information with their audiences. The study found that all 15 YouTubers played positive roles as opinion leaders—by providing health and safety information on COVID-19, challenging myths, and educating audiences through entertainment. Only two of the YouTubers studied were found to have shared some information that misinformed their audiences about the virus and how to fight it. The study therefore concluded that Nigerian YouTubers, as opinion leaders, can be important allies to governments and organisations when health crises arise in the country.
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    AJIC Issue 30, 2022 - Full Issue - Print-on-Demand
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2022-12-23)
    Articles on YouTube micro-celebrities; a word embedding trained on news data; using machine learning to predict low academic performance; radio, mobile communications, and women’s empowerment; assessment of website quality; ABET accreditation of computer science programmes; and national digital transformation policy and practice.
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    Understanding state-level variations in India’s digital transformation
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2022-12-23) Parsheera, Smriti
    India’s digital transformation is often described in terms of the country’s vast internet penetration, growing mobile connectivity, and widespread uptake of digital payments and other online services. Undoubtedly, India has made tremendous progress on all these fronts over the last few years. But digitalisation narratives founded upon aggregate national statistics bear the risk of assuming a homogeneity of digital access and experience in the country. This article highlights some of the state-level differences in digital access, skills, and infrastructure across India—as a basis for dispelling assumptions about the homogeneity and universality of India’s digital transformation. The article draws attention to the varying levels of digital readiness within India, and to the need to account for these variations in the design and implementation of the country’s digital initiatives.
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    AJIC Issue 30, 2022 - Full Issue
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2022-12-23)
    Articles on YouTube micro-celebrities; a word embedding trained on news data; using machine learning to predict low academic performance; radio, mobile communications, and women’s empowerment; assessment of website quality; ABET accreditation of computer science programmes; and national digital transformation policy and practice.
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    Evaluation of ABET accreditation path for a representative African undergraduate computer science programme
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2022-12-23) Greenlaw, Raymond; Mufeti, Kauna
    As of the beginning of 2022, only four of 54 countries in Africa had programmes accredited by ABET—the widely used international accreditation body for tertiary education programmes in computing, engineering, applied and natural sciences, and engineering technology. This article provides results from an evaluation of a representative non-ABET-accredited African undergraduate computer science programme—the University of Namibia (UNAM) Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Computer Science—in terms of its potential for ABET accreditation. The study evaluates the UNAM programme against ABET’s General Criteria (GC), and also against ABET’s computer science Program Criteria (PrCr), in order to determine the steps UNAM would need to take were it to seek ABET accreditation for the programme. The authors also evaluate the level of difficulty that each of the steps would likely involve. The authors’ evaluation aims to be replicable, so as to provide a potential tool for use by any African higher education entity seeking ABET accreditation for a learning programme.
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    Brazil’s over-centralised governance of digital transformation
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2022-12-23) De Magalhães Santos, Larissa Galdino
    This article analyses governance of Brazil’s Digital Transformation Strategy (E-Digital) through a new public governance (NPG) lens. Based on the analysis, the author finds that governance of E-Digital is too centralised, with too much decision-making power resting with state actors at the federal level, led by the Presidency. This analysis of the Brazilian experience aims to contribute towards understanding the modalities necessary for democratic, sustainable governance of digital transformation in Global Southern contexts.
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    Radio, mobile communications, and women’s empowerment: Experiences in Mathare, Nairobi
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2022-12-23) Githaiga, Grace; Wildermuth, Norbert
    This article presents findings from a study of young women’s empowerment through the use of information and communication technology (ICT), specifically the use of radio and mobile communications, in the Mathare informal settlements of Nairobi. Data was collected through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with young women. The findings were extrapolated through the lens of Longwe’s five-stage women’s empowerment framework (Longwe, 1991). Longwe posits that the empowerment of women can be viewed through a prism of ascension, the initial stage being welfare, followed by access, conscientisation, participation,and then control, the highest level of empowerment. The study finds that the use of radio and mobile communications has empowered many young women to engage in conversations on issues affecting them, and with useful information on how to improve their means of livelihood. At the same time, mobile communications have enabled many young women to achieve financial inclusion by engaging in income-generating activities. In addition, mobile communications have empowered young women by providing them with access to financial services and the ability to manage their finances. Such empowerment, when viewed through the Longwe (1991) framework, is a remarkable progression on empowerment by young women through the initial stages up to the highest levels of participation and control. At the same time, the study finds that the empowerment of young women through ICTs is held back to some extent by socioeconomic and cultural factors that are the result of patriarchal traditions and mindsets.
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    Using machine learning to predict low academic performance at a Nigerian university
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2022-12-23) Ekubo, Ebiemi Allen; Esiefarienrhe, Bukohwo Michael
    This study evaluates the ability of various machine-learning techniques to predict low academic performance among Nigerian tertiary students. Using data collected from undergraduate student records at Niger Delta University in Bayelsa State, the research applies the cross-industry standard process for data mining (CRISP-DM) research methodology for data mining and the Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA) tool for modelling. Five machine-learning classifier algorithms are tested—J48 decision tree, logistic regression (LR), multilayer perceptron (MLP), naïve Bayes (NB), and sequential minimal optimisation (SMO)—and it is found that MLP is the best classifier for the dataset. The study then develops a predictive software application, using PHP and Python, for implementation of the MLP model, and the software achieves 98% accuracy.
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    A word embedding trained on South African news data
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2022-12-23) Mafunda, Martin Canaan; Schuld, Maria; Durrheim, Kevin; Mazibuko, Sindisiwe
    This article presents results from a study that developed and tested a word embedding trained on a dataset of South African news articles. A word embedding is an algorithm-generated word representation that can be used to analyse the corpus of words that the embedding is trained on. The embedding on which this article is based was generated using the Word2Vec algorithm, which was trained on a dataset of 1.3 million African news articles published between January 2018 and March 2021, containing a vocabulary of approximately 124,000 unique words. The efficacy of this Word2Vec South African news embedding was then tested, and compared to the efficacy provided by the globally used GloVe algorithm. The testing of the local Word2Vec embedding showed that it performed well, with similar efficacy to that provided by GloVe. The South African news word embedding generated by this study is freely available for public use.