The South African government strives to increase citizens' participation in economic, political, social and trade activities through online connectivity, by providing free Wi-Fi for previously disadvantage, peri-urban communities. This was in an attempt to contribute and promote poverty alleviation, growth and economic transformation among…

This article reports on a study exploring student perspectives on the collection and use of student data for learning analytics. With data collected via a mixed methods approach from 2,051 students across six Australian universities, it provides critical insights from students as a key stakeholder group. Findings indicate that while students are…

While the growing popularity of social media has brought many benefits to society, it has also resulted in privacy and security threats. The authors assessed the security and vulnerability of 50 social media sites. The findings indicate that most sites (a) posted privacy and security policies but only a minority stated clearly their execution of…

The changing landscape of learning is helping Asian countries to emerge as technology-driven knowledge-based societies. The success of these societies depends on promoting the acquisition of key competences and broadening opportunities for innovative and more flexible forms of learning for every citizen. Considering that in Asia almost everyone…

Information, communication, and educational technologies hold promise to connect geographically isolated rural communities, offering adults greater access to educational, financial, and numerous other resources. The Internet and computer-based network technologies are often seen as remedies for communities in economic decline, but they also have…

This paper discusses a qualitative case study that addresses how an intranet can provide opportunities for learning about an organization's culture. Four primary findings are discussed with the study concluding that cultural knowledge is conveyed and renewed through an intranet in a learning process that emphasizes informal learning and…

Communication and information technologies can reduce the barriers of distance and space that disadvantage rural areas. This report defines a set of distinct voice, computer, and video telecommunication services; describes several rural information applications that make use of these services; and surveys various wireline and wireless systems and…

This study examines the information sources used by practicing rural physicians in North Dakota to keep current with new information in their area of specialty. The hypotheses tested were: (1) there are more male than female rural practitioners in North Dakota; (2) rural physicians depend on printed material to fulfill regular need for information…

Explores organizational influence in the policy network that formed around the issue of determining essential services on the Canadian information highway. Qualitative content analysis found the essential services issue had two main aspects: ensuring universal access to telecommunications networks and determining the criteria for defining…

TayNet is a local service provider established to support the development of businesses in Tayside (Scotland) by providing local access to the Internet. This article discusses the network's hardware and software components, evaluates the pilot phase, provides performance and connection statistics for 45 audit participants, and describes technical…

Students, teachers, and authors need to access multimedia documents over heterogeneous networks. The efficient handling of time-dependent multimedia information such as audio and video in distributed systems requires considerable network and computing resources. The term Quality of Service (QoS) refers collectively to the specifications of these…

Online public access catalogs from 67 libraries using NOTIS software were searched using Internet connections to determine the positional operators selected as the default keyword operator on each catalog. Results indicate the lack of a processing standard for keyword searches. Five tables provide information. (Author/AEF)

Discussion of the Australian Academic and Research Network (AARNet) focuses on the benefits of Internet access for supporting teaching (based on an exploratory study and a longitudinal study of Australian academics). Results suggest Internet connectivity improves faculty collaboration and facilitates supervision of distance education and external…

Reports results of a preliminary evaluation of the New Connections Program, which provides free dial-up connections for certain kinds of institutions to NYSERNet (i.e., a regional computer network in New York State) and describes a plan for full evaluation of the program. The interview schedule, user log, and questionnaire are appended. (11…

Usability tests were conducted on different corporate library Web sites, within the same company but based in three different countries, as part of efforts to build a global library portal site for a large high tech company. Results addressed factors influencing the success rates on the Web sites, user perceptions of usability of the sites, and…