Information Development

The relationship between political competition and social polarization has been studied extensively while overlooking the divisive rhetoric in online political discourses and how media’s coverage creates the social-psychological barriers to peace and a unified sense of national identity/unity. Adapting Galtung’s peace-journalism model through the qualitative content and news frame analyses of contenders’ tweeting activities and news coverage during Nigeria’s 2019 presidential contests, this study reveals the prevalence of othering discourses in contenders’ tweets and the attributes of conflict-escalatory coverage by Nigerian newspapers. Implementing peace-journalism strategy become essential to create shared values for improving political communication amidst the new public sphere in multipolar Nigeria.

Knowledge management (KM) is a complicated process that involves socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization and requires close collaboration among the people involved. Although Nonaka proposed the SECI (Socialization, Externalization, Combination, Internalization) model and the concept of Ba, which provides a process-oriented view of knowledge creation and transfer, practicing it is rather ad hoc. COVID-19 has provided a chance for practitioners to find a new method for KM. In this study, we adapted a group problem-solving system called TeamSpirit and structured it as a Ba for the SECI model. We then compared TeamSpirit with two other implementations of Ba, email and face-to-face communication, to evaluate their effects on knowledge externalization, knowledge combination, and knowledge internalization. Then, we evaluated whether these knowledge-conversion processes could improve knowledge acquisition and intention to share knowledge. A 3 × 2 mixed factorial design experiment was conducted. The results show that (a) TeamSpirit was better than the others, and face-to-face was better than email for each of the three knowledge conversion processes (externalization, combination, and internalization) and (b) the better the team’s knowledge conversion process lead, the stronger its knowledge acquisition and knowledge-sharing intention.

The use of social media in judicial trials has in recent past become a common phenomenon in the legal fraternity. For many years, judicial trials have relied on the conventional method of one way communication from courts to adjudicate legal cases. However, the developments of social media have brought about a shift in the adjudication of justice. The paper examines the factors which influence the use of social media among judges; and the opportunities and challenges confronted by judges in the use of social media. It uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, underpinned by bivariate and chi-square analysis,. It articulates that social media networking sites by far attract the younger generation of judges, making them an obvious target for maximizing the reach and impact of the judiciary. Judges who are inching closer to the retirement age in the judiciary engage less with social media as opposed to judges who are younger. Misrepresentation, misuse, security/privacy and bullying were found to be some of the challenges faced by judges in the use of social media. Social media was observed to speed up resolutions to cases, engage litigants, increase court efficiency and assist lawyers in tracking down individuals to be served.

This article contributes to the emerging body of knowledge on the role of the private sector in knowledge brokering in international development because very little is known about the role of the private sector. It attempts to validate the findings of the only literature review to date (Kiwanuka et al, In Press) on the subject and other literature on knowledge brokering by consulting international experts in the field of knowledge brokering, identifying policy and research implications. The conceptual lens employed is the ‘extended’ Glegg and Hoens’ (2016) meta-framework of knowledge brokering, in combination with the cognitive, relational and structural aspects of social capital (Nahapiet and Ghoshal 1998). An online questionnaire survey was distributed to international experts in both the private, public and civil society sectors with some 203 respondents. The questions were developed on the basis of the literature. Respondents from the private sector and their colleagues from the public sector and civil society placed considerable emphasis on opportunities to meet, the existence of personal relationships and brokering by third parties as catalysts to working with the private sector. In addition to developing recommendations for policymakers, the paper has added to the emerging body of academic knowledge on the private sector as an unusual suspect in knowledge brokering and provides a conceptual framework linking social capital to knowledge brokering roles. Policymakers and funders can facilitate cooperation between the private sector and other development actors by creating physical spaces and funding instruments to encourage collaboration with the private sector. One of the novel findings is that the public sector needs to be better prepared to collaborate with the private sector.

The role of public/community libraries in promoting national development is undeniable. It is therefore not surprising that these libraries are being heralded as partners in e-government service delivery. The libraries however experience challenges in providing this important service, many of which emanate from poor funding. The paper presents findings of a study that was conducted in urban, semi-urban and rural public/community libraries in Namibia to determine access to e-government services through public/community libraries. Related studies have highlighted the digital divide between rural and urban settings as one of the factors influencing e-government service delivery. There is an imbalance in the provision of technology infrastructure between rural and urban areas in Namibia. The study therefore was based on the assumption that the setting of the library will have an influence on access to e-government services. The study employed a survey research design using a questionnaire for data collection, which was administered via email. The study population were all 65 community libraries, of which 64 took part in the study and the units of analysis were library staff, of which 75 completed the questionnaire. The findings show that the e-government services that users were accessing through the libraries included downloading and completing employment forms, employment information, and filing tax returns. The challenges included few workstations in libraries, unreliable Internet connectivity and slow Internet access (i.e. slow bandwidth). The library setting had no impact on access to e-government services, suggesting that these other factors could equally be affecting libraries regardless of setting and that there could be other factors at play. The study recommends that a study be conducted to gather the perspective of the users which may highlight what these other factors are.

The future of journalism is being shaped by the convergence of technology and societal shifts. For indigenous language press in Africa battling to stay afloat amidst stiff competition from traditional media, the pervasive and rapidly encroaching digital transformation holds both opportunities and potential threats. Using a qualitative approach, this paper examined the implication of the shift to digital media for the future of the indigenous language newspaper in Africa and identifies opportunities for its sustainability within the framework of the theories of technological determinism and alternative media. The analysis indicates poor funding, shrinking patronage, and competition from traditional and social media as the major factors facing indigenous newspapers. It emerged that for indigenous language newspapers to thrive in the rapidly changing and technology-driven world they need to not only adapt to the digital revolution but also explore a business model that combines a futuristic outlook with a practical approach.

This paper explores the trends, patterns and determinants of research productivity at the Technical University of Kenya (TU-K). It analyses the research output of full-time academic staff collected from Google Scholar using Harzing’s “Publish or Perish” software. Further information was obtained from the top ten researchers based on productivity from the analysed research output. Additional information was obtained from purposively sampled officers of the university, including the Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Academics, Research and Students; three executive deans of faculties; and the Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange. The study revealed gradual growth in research productivity at TU-K. The study also revealed that insufficient funding, lack of motivation, limited time and lack of equipment are some of the factors affecting research productivity at TU-K. Full implementation of performance contracting targets and establishment of the Directorate of Research and Knowledge Exchange are some of the strategies being implemented to increase research output, visibility and impact. The authors recommend that the university should nurture interest in, as well as enhance capability for inquiry and investigation to increase research productivity. The university should also create mechanisms for building intrinsic motivation and address the extrinsic factors in order to catapult research productivity.

Electronic resources (ERs) in academic libraries have become a global phenomenon due to technological developments, and these resources are changing the expectations of library users as well as the nature of the work of librarians. Although there is an extensive body of literature on the management and usage of ERs in academic institutions, few researchers have taken a holistic view by studying both concepts in a single study to reveal how they are related. Previous studies have investigated only the management or usage of ERs as separate concepts. This study investigates the management and usage of ERs in academic libraries in Ghana to explore the connection between the two concepts. The aim is to provide better recommendations for practice. This research applied a mixed methods design. Twenty-four library staff and three library consortium executives were interviewed. Faculty members and postgraduate students from four institutions were surveyed. Our findings show the various ways in which the management and usage of ERs have an influence on each other. These were mainly in the areas of selection, access provision, publicity, training, evaluation, and usage of ERs. The importance of appropriate and adequate resourcing, the marketing and demonstration of the value of ERs, training and usage evaluation are discussed.

In the modern world, the amount of information stored in modern technology has been exponentially increasing. Access to vast amounts of information has changed how governments, institutions, organizations, and individuals conduct their business and record keeping. The increased use of cloud computing in conjunction with information and communication technologies (ICT), office automation, and digitalization has altered how electronic records are generated. Organizations should embrace this emerging environment to ensure competent operations and regulatory compliance well into the future. The absence of framework makes it difficult to implement the Electronic Records Management System (ERMS). Thus, this study proposed a framework for ERMS implementation and identified the most critical factors that are related to the ERMS characteristics and cloud characteristics. The ERMS implementation will improve Yemeni public sector educational institution competency and such implementation will be facilitated by the proposed framework. The study uses the Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM3) to implement a cloud Electronic Records Management System (ERMS). In addition to that, the study used a quantitative approach method and distributed questionnaires to 350 academicians and managers in the Yemeni public education sector. Variable relationships were identified using Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) through a second-order analysis method. All the identified factors were found to be essential and have a significant relationship with the behavioral intention to implement ERMS. The findings also revealed that ERMS plays a substantial and vital role in the competency of educational organizations. In other words, the study results demonstrated the importance of ERMS and Cloud dimension to ERMS implementation as well as the significant effect of ERMS implementation on public sector educational competency. These findings of the study have the potential to assist in shaping the direction of theory and empirical studies concerning the ERMS, particularly in its implementation to support the competency of educational institutions.

This paper investigates the challenges affecting knowledge sharing among lecturers using web 2.0 platforms to meet the requirements of the digital age of the 21st century. Knowledge sharing is an exchange of skills, ideas, experience, and understanding among people. The study is base on the digital divide theory, which focuses on discrepancies or inequality of access to the Internet and technological devices. The survey method is adopted, involving 1,287 respondents sampled conveniently from the 13 faculties of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria. Data was successfully retrieved from 1047 respondents, representing 81.9% and was presented and analyzed through descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that the most significant challenges facing users of web 2.0 platforms are the high cost of data, and an unstable power supply. The result indicates that the most used social media by the academic lecturers of Ahmadu Bello University is WhatsApp, while the most used educational resource site is ResearchGate. The study recommends that the challenge of the high cost of data should be solved by providing uninterrupted broadband and free Internet facilities. The qualitative method should be used to further this study to have users of these platforms from more than one institution.