Dynamic adaptive cost model for wireless Internet connectivity in African rural communities
- Authors: Sibanda, Khulumani
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Internet , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Cost effectiveness , Wireless communication systems , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11389 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/380 , Internet , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Cost effectiveness , Wireless communication systems , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: In today’s dynamic technological landscape, wireless communication networks have become an important part of economic development. The emergence of wireless technologies raises hopes to extend communication to remote areas that have not seen any tangible deployment to date. As developing nations pin their hopes to wireless technologies, cost models for wireless communication networks are becoming vital to support the emerging technologies. However, varying cost changes raise critical challenges to the estimation of both capital expenditure and operational expenditure. The network deployment process has numerous events that may cause adjustments to initially estimated project costs. These adjustments are necessary for a cost management plan and this plan includes monitoring cost performance and ensuring that only appropriate changes are made to the network project. The incidents that may cause cost changes can not be entirely predicted as their distribution tend to change dynamically from time to time. Estimating network deployment costs in such a dynamic environment necessitates cost models that can adapt to random occurrence of cost changes. Widely used cost models are usually performed by experienced personnel whose engineering experience is derived from deploying similar networks. In this approach experienced personnel add a certain percentage to the cost estimate to cater for contingency costs. Certainly such an approach depends on individual opinion, making it subjective and void of mathematical estimating relationships which are of paramount importance in ensuring that estimated deployment costs are sufficient to deal with cost uncertainties. We observe that existing approaches can only explore a limited solution space and hence can lead to cost overruns if implemented in dynamically cost changing environments. This thesis presents a wireless communication network deployment cost model that incorporates uncertainties into the final cost estimate. The model is adaptive to unpredictable cost changes since it allows adjustments of confidence levels when calculating contingency costs. This allows dynamically updating the cost changes without the cost model being reconstructed from scratch. We make use of the Poisson process in modeling the occurrence of incidents that are responsible for causing cost changes during network deployment. We also show that the occurrence of the incidents causing cost change are random and tend to follow the Poisson distribution. Using different levels of confidence we model various cost contingencies and make sensitivity analyses to identify the probability of cost overrun when given different contingencies. The dynamic adaptive cost model can be used either at the strategic level to understand the cost of a particular technique or at the operational level, as a way to show how Poisson process in network deployment can compare with engineering experience and other estimating techniques. We believe that the model is useful for remote areas where deployment costs are volatile and the distribution of incidents causing cost change to original cost estimates are diverse and dynamically changing. Further we expect that our research improves the knowledge base of information about the costs for rural communities to connect to the Internet, consequently providing useful input to future policy debates. This work is further poised to be a utility function to help those planning internet infrastructure deployments in least developed regions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Sibanda, Khulumani
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Internet , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Cost effectiveness , Wireless communication systems , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11389 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/380 , Internet , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Cost effectiveness , Wireless communication systems , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: In today’s dynamic technological landscape, wireless communication networks have become an important part of economic development. The emergence of wireless technologies raises hopes to extend communication to remote areas that have not seen any tangible deployment to date. As developing nations pin their hopes to wireless technologies, cost models for wireless communication networks are becoming vital to support the emerging technologies. However, varying cost changes raise critical challenges to the estimation of both capital expenditure and operational expenditure. The network deployment process has numerous events that may cause adjustments to initially estimated project costs. These adjustments are necessary for a cost management plan and this plan includes monitoring cost performance and ensuring that only appropriate changes are made to the network project. The incidents that may cause cost changes can not be entirely predicted as their distribution tend to change dynamically from time to time. Estimating network deployment costs in such a dynamic environment necessitates cost models that can adapt to random occurrence of cost changes. Widely used cost models are usually performed by experienced personnel whose engineering experience is derived from deploying similar networks. In this approach experienced personnel add a certain percentage to the cost estimate to cater for contingency costs. Certainly such an approach depends on individual opinion, making it subjective and void of mathematical estimating relationships which are of paramount importance in ensuring that estimated deployment costs are sufficient to deal with cost uncertainties. We observe that existing approaches can only explore a limited solution space and hence can lead to cost overruns if implemented in dynamically cost changing environments. This thesis presents a wireless communication network deployment cost model that incorporates uncertainties into the final cost estimate. The model is adaptive to unpredictable cost changes since it allows adjustments of confidence levels when calculating contingency costs. This allows dynamically updating the cost changes without the cost model being reconstructed from scratch. We make use of the Poisson process in modeling the occurrence of incidents that are responsible for causing cost changes during network deployment. We also show that the occurrence of the incidents causing cost change are random and tend to follow the Poisson distribution. Using different levels of confidence we model various cost contingencies and make sensitivity analyses to identify the probability of cost overrun when given different contingencies. The dynamic adaptive cost model can be used either at the strategic level to understand the cost of a particular technique or at the operational level, as a way to show how Poisson process in network deployment can compare with engineering experience and other estimating techniques. We believe that the model is useful for remote areas where deployment costs are volatile and the distribution of incidents causing cost change to original cost estimates are diverse and dynamically changing. Further we expect that our research improves the knowledge base of information about the costs for rural communities to connect to the Internet, consequently providing useful input to future policy debates. This work is further poised to be a utility function to help those planning internet infrastructure deployments in least developed regions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
The role of traditional leadership in governance and rural development: a case study of the Mpumalanga traditional authority
- Authors: George, Khanyisa
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Chiefdoms -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9038 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1575 , Leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Chiefdoms -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: This study examines how well the Mgwalana Traditional Authority (MTA) is performing its role of governing and developing its area and the municipal area of Nkonkobe in the Province of the Eastern Cape. The Chief of the MTA is one of the 2400 traditional leaders in South Africa who are responsible for giving leadership and development services to approximately 16 million people living in the rural areas. This study tries to find answers to two research questions: 1) What role does the Mgwalana traditional council play in governance and development? 2) Has the South African government managed to add traditional leadership to the local government structures? The study shows that the MTA is finding it difficult to do much socio-economic development because the Nkonkobe Local Municipality considers governance and development as its own role, and the traditional leadership is supposed to join only in customary and cultural activities. The research concludes that these two bodies could move out of the cross-road if they were to follow the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act, 2003 (Act 41 of 2003), and if the municipality were to work with local stakeholders, including the MTA, to achieve the goals for local government laid down in section 152 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: George, Khanyisa
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Chiefdoms -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9038 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1575 , Leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Chiefdoms -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: This study examines how well the Mgwalana Traditional Authority (MTA) is performing its role of governing and developing its area and the municipal area of Nkonkobe in the Province of the Eastern Cape. The Chief of the MTA is one of the 2400 traditional leaders in South Africa who are responsible for giving leadership and development services to approximately 16 million people living in the rural areas. This study tries to find answers to two research questions: 1) What role does the Mgwalana traditional council play in governance and development? 2) Has the South African government managed to add traditional leadership to the local government structures? The study shows that the MTA is finding it difficult to do much socio-economic development because the Nkonkobe Local Municipality considers governance and development as its own role, and the traditional leadership is supposed to join only in customary and cultural activities. The research concludes that these two bodies could move out of the cross-road if they were to follow the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act, 2003 (Act 41 of 2003), and if the municipality were to work with local stakeholders, including the MTA, to achieve the goals for local government laid down in section 152 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
Investigation and development of an e judiciary service for a citizen oriented judiciary system for rural communities
- Authors: Scott, Mfundo Shakes
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Digital divide -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , User interfaces (Computer systems)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11390 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/275 , Digital divide -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , User interfaces (Computer systems)
- Description: One of the factors that contribute towards slow rural development is the presence of the digital divide. An area where the digital divide is still prevalent is the administration of justice within traditional contexts. One of the areas affected by this problem is the Dwesa rural community, situated on the Wild Coast of the former homeland of Transkei, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. To address this problem for the Dwesa community, a research project on developing and implementing an e-Judiciary service was undertaken. The primary objective of this project was to develop a web application to support traditional justice administration in the Dwesa community. Due to the lack of a proper legal environment in this community, the e-Judiciary service acts as a portal for safe-keeping of judicial information. Such a system also serves as a platform for the administration of minor offences that are solved by the traditional courts. Furthermore, it provides a better working environment for traditional judicial leaders and eliminates the difficulty of accessing legal information by the rest of the community. Through the availability and use of the service, community members are provided with understanding and knowledge about judiciary operations and services in their community.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Scott, Mfundo Shakes
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Digital divide -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , User interfaces (Computer systems)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11390 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/275 , Digital divide -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , User interfaces (Computer systems)
- Description: One of the factors that contribute towards slow rural development is the presence of the digital divide. An area where the digital divide is still prevalent is the administration of justice within traditional contexts. One of the areas affected by this problem is the Dwesa rural community, situated on the Wild Coast of the former homeland of Transkei, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. To address this problem for the Dwesa community, a research project on developing and implementing an e-Judiciary service was undertaken. The primary objective of this project was to develop a web application to support traditional justice administration in the Dwesa community. Due to the lack of a proper legal environment in this community, the e-Judiciary service acts as a portal for safe-keeping of judicial information. Such a system also serves as a platform for the administration of minor offences that are solved by the traditional courts. Furthermore, it provides a better working environment for traditional judicial leaders and eliminates the difficulty of accessing legal information by the rest of the community. Through the availability and use of the service, community members are provided with understanding and knowledge about judiciary operations and services in their community.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
Mobile phones interaction techniques for second economy people
- Authors: Edim, Azom Emmanuel
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Cell phone systems -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , User interfaces (Computer systems) , Human-computer interaction , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11392 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/519 , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Cell phone systems -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , User interfaces (Computer systems) , Human-computer interaction , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: Second economy people in developing countries are people living in communities that are underserved in terms of basic amenities and social services. Due to literacy challenges and user accessibility problems in rural communities, it is often difficult to design user interfaces that conform to the capabilities and cultural experiences of low-literacy rural community users. Rural community users are technologically illiterate and lack the knowledge of the potential of information and communication technologies. In order to embrace new technology, users will need to perceive the user interface and application as useful and easy to interact with. This requires proper understanding of the users and their socio-cultural environment. This will enable the interfaces and interactions to conform to their behaviours, motivations as well as cultural experiences and preferences and thus enhance usability and user experience. Mobile phones have the potential to increase access to information and provide a platform for economic development in rural communities. Rural communities have economic potential in terms of agriculture and micro-enterprises. Information technology can be used to enhance socio-economic activities and improve rural livelihood. We conducted a study to design user interfaces for a mobile commerce application for micro-entrepreneurs in a rural community in South Africa. The aim of the study was to design mobile interfaces and interaction techniques that are easy to use and meet the cultural preferences and experiences of users who have little to no previous experience of mobile commerce technology. And also to explore the potentials of information technologies rural community users, and bring mobile added value services to rural micro-entrepreneurs. We applied a user-centred design approach in Dwesa community and used qualitative and quantitative research methods to collect data for the design of the user interfaces (graphic user interface and voice user interface) and mobile commerce application. We identified and used several interface elements to design and finally evaluate the graphical user interface. The statistics analysis of the evaluation results show that the users in the community have positive perception of the usefulness of the application, the ease of use and intention to use the application. Community users with no prior experience with this technology were able to learn and understand the interface, recorded minimum errors and a high level of v precision during task performance when they interacted with the shop-owner graphic user interface. The voice user interface designed in this study consists of two flavours (dual tone multi-frequency input and voice input) for rural users. The evaluation results show that community users recorded higher tasks successes and minimum errors with the dual tone multi-frequency input interface than the voice only input interface. Also, a higher percentage of users prefer the dual tone multi-frequency input interface. The t-Test statistical analysis performed on the tasks completion times and error rate show that there was significant statistical difference between the dual tone multi-frequency input interface and the voice input interface. The interfaces were easy to learn, understand and use. Properly designed user interfaces that meet the experience and capabilities of low-literacy users in rural areas will improve usability and users‟ experiences. Adaptation of interfaces to users‟ culture and preferences will enhance information services accessibility among different user groups in different regions. This will promote technology acceptance in rural communities for socio-economic benefits. The user interfaces presented in this study can be adapted to different cultures to provide similar services for marginalised communities in developing countries
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Edim, Azom Emmanuel
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Cell phone systems -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , User interfaces (Computer systems) , Human-computer interaction , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11392 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/519 , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Cell phone systems -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , User interfaces (Computer systems) , Human-computer interaction , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: Second economy people in developing countries are people living in communities that are underserved in terms of basic amenities and social services. Due to literacy challenges and user accessibility problems in rural communities, it is often difficult to design user interfaces that conform to the capabilities and cultural experiences of low-literacy rural community users. Rural community users are technologically illiterate and lack the knowledge of the potential of information and communication technologies. In order to embrace new technology, users will need to perceive the user interface and application as useful and easy to interact with. This requires proper understanding of the users and their socio-cultural environment. This will enable the interfaces and interactions to conform to their behaviours, motivations as well as cultural experiences and preferences and thus enhance usability and user experience. Mobile phones have the potential to increase access to information and provide a platform for economic development in rural communities. Rural communities have economic potential in terms of agriculture and micro-enterprises. Information technology can be used to enhance socio-economic activities and improve rural livelihood. We conducted a study to design user interfaces for a mobile commerce application for micro-entrepreneurs in a rural community in South Africa. The aim of the study was to design mobile interfaces and interaction techniques that are easy to use and meet the cultural preferences and experiences of users who have little to no previous experience of mobile commerce technology. And also to explore the potentials of information technologies rural community users, and bring mobile added value services to rural micro-entrepreneurs. We applied a user-centred design approach in Dwesa community and used qualitative and quantitative research methods to collect data for the design of the user interfaces (graphic user interface and voice user interface) and mobile commerce application. We identified and used several interface elements to design and finally evaluate the graphical user interface. The statistics analysis of the evaluation results show that the users in the community have positive perception of the usefulness of the application, the ease of use and intention to use the application. Community users with no prior experience with this technology were able to learn and understand the interface, recorded minimum errors and a high level of v precision during task performance when they interacted with the shop-owner graphic user interface. The voice user interface designed in this study consists of two flavours (dual tone multi-frequency input and voice input) for rural users. The evaluation results show that community users recorded higher tasks successes and minimum errors with the dual tone multi-frequency input interface than the voice only input interface. Also, a higher percentage of users prefer the dual tone multi-frequency input interface. The t-Test statistical analysis performed on the tasks completion times and error rate show that there was significant statistical difference between the dual tone multi-frequency input interface and the voice input interface. The interfaces were easy to learn, understand and use. Properly designed user interfaces that meet the experience and capabilities of low-literacy users in rural areas will improve usability and users‟ experiences. Adaptation of interfaces to users‟ culture and preferences will enhance information services accessibility among different user groups in different regions. This will promote technology acceptance in rural communities for socio-economic benefits. The user interfaces presented in this study can be adapted to different cultures to provide similar services for marginalised communities in developing countries
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
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