Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
Lessons from the field: What researchers learned from evaluating ICT platforms for rural development and education. |
| Authors: |
Foko, Thato, Mahwai, Nare Joyce, Phiri, Charles Acheson |
| Source: |
Journal of Community Informatics; 2020, Vol. 16, p141-153, 13p |
| Subject Terms: |
INFORMATION & communication technologies, ACQUISITION of data, RURAL geography, PHILOSOPHY |
| Geographic Terms: |
SOUTH Africa |
| Abstract: |
The field of information and communication technology for development is a field constantly changing as new ICT tools emerge and new knowledge is gained by field researchers while performing their duties. The research problem: The ICT field is littered with examples of failed projects because field researchers did not know the best way to carry out their work. This paper is about knowledge imparted by six monitoring and evaluation field researchers after working for almost eight years, from 2010 to 2018, in ICT platform (DD) projects. These platforms were deployed across South Africa's remote rural areas. The work followed interpretivism as its philosophy and was underpinned by qualitative research methods. Written project reports, face-to-face interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data and also to triangulate the findings. Participatory evaluation formed the basis for a complete understanding of the findings. (i) Planning; (ii) Deployment; and iii) Usage were found to be critical elements for a successful implementation of the DD. Although well planned, numerous lessons were still learned for the benefit of future projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: |
Complementary Index |
