Abstract
Most of the papers in this issue deal with an aspect of information development of increasing interest among our contributors – electronic information in its many forms. We open the issue, however, with a paper on another important topic – information seeking behaviour.
The paper, ‘How do educational administrators in Pakistan seek information? A survey’, by Farzana Shafique of the University of Dammam and Khalid Mahmood of the University of the Punjab (an Information Development Editorial Board member), reports the results of a survey of the information seeking behaviour of 297 educational administrators in Punjab province and Islamabad Capital Territory in Pakistan. The study explored the administrative responsibilities for which they usually seek information, their use of the Internet, their preferences for format of reading material and language, etc. and the problems they face while seeking information. The researchers found that educational administrators’ information needs and seeking behavior largely depend on the type of job and the level of decision making with which they are involved.
We remain in South Asia in the next paper, ‘Perceptions of the use of Mobile Enabled Social Hub by rural communities in Tamil Nadu: results of a survey’, by Muthiah Ganesan, Vasumathi Anandan, Pushpa Mary Vincy and Suma Prashant of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. The Mobile Enabled Social Hub (MESH) was field tested in several villages in rural Tamil Nadu, India, during 2010, and this paper reports the results of a survey of the perceptions of 90 users who actively participated throughout the project. The results showed that the rural communities perceived the MESH platform favourably, in terms of its usefulness and ease of use in exchanging information within their communities. Gender played a significant role in these perceptions, but people perceived the MESH platform in an equal way, regardless of age group, education level and type of occupation.
The next paper comes from Korea, but is global in scope. In ‘The government 2.0 utilization model and implementation scenarios’, Gohar Feroz Khan of the Korea University of Technology and Education aims to address the widespread lack of understanding regarding Government 2.0 by presenting and illustrating its fundamental concepts. Based on a web survey of 200 government websites from 40 countries, a three stage Government 2.0 Utilization Model (GUM) is proposed, comprising information socialization, mass collaboration, and social transaction. Three Government 2.0 implementation scenarios – standalone, nested, and hybrid – are also proposed. The study aims to help researchers and practitioners in understanding the Government 2.0 phenomenon and the opportunities presented by it.
The next paper is also from East Asia, and potentially global in scope. In ‘An integrated, ontology-based agricultural information system’, Jianwei Liao, Li Li and Xiaoyan Liu of Southwest University of China, present a proposal for an integrated, ontology-based agricultural information system able to provide all-round and precise information for farmers and agri-professionals. The system employs ontology techniques, including RDF-based representation and semantic reasoning, to integrate index information provided by independent agricultural information platforms and provide users with integrated and accurate response information. Not only agri-professionals, but also farmers, who might not understand information retrieval skills, can benefit from the proposed information system.
Information systems are also the subject of the next paper, which also comes from East Asia. In ‘Mentoring effects in the successful adaptation of information systems’, Su-Tzu Hsieh and Ping-Yu Hsu of the National Central University, Taiwan, examines the mentoring theory used in successful organization and information systems success models, and argues that mentoring plays an important role in users’ adaptation to information systems through perceived usefulness, satisfaction, and continuous intention.
From Asia we move to Africa with a paper by Mohsen Jahangirian and Simon J.E. Taylor of Brunel University on ‘Profiling e-health projects in Africa: trends and funding patterns’. This paper aims to create a picture and present an analytical review of some e-health initiatives in Africa, with broad coverage of e-health projects across the African continent. Seven quantitative analyses on the projects are presented. Among other conclusions, the authors find that e-health projects in Africa focus on telemedicine, health education and health-related research, that there is a wide range of funding bodies, and that the numbers of m-health (mobile-based) projects have been rising sharply.
We remain in Africa with the final paper in this issue. In ‘Knowledge application in Ghanaian industries’, Henry Boateng and Bedman Narteh of the University of Ghana Business School report on a study of 300 respondents which aimed to determine the factors influencing knowledge application in Ghanaian industries. The study found that organizational culture, trust and absorptive capacity are the main factors influencing knowledge application in Ghanaian industries.
We are pleased to include in this issue a Commentary by Ravi S Sharma of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore: “Reflections on the role of information for development: Learning from the missed opportunities of the past”.
In the second of his ‘Developing Latin America’ columns, Editorial Board member Juan D. Machin-Mastromatteo, together with fellow Board member Jesús Lau, discusses the arrival of information literacy in the region, while Msafiri closes this issue by reminding us that’ Prevention is better than cure’.
Note: We remind readers that Information Development is now published five times a year, in January, March, June, September and November. Papers that have been accepted for publication are published Online First on the Information Development website pending their appearance in a print issue. Please see http://idv.sagepub.com/content/early/recent for the most up-to-date listing.