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Leveraging the BRICS Digital Partnership for Collaborative Digital Governance
Get PDFAs the global economy becomes increasingly underpinned by the digital economy, developing countries must grapple with the challenge of digitally transforming their economies while ensuring that no one is left behind. The BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa - are at different stages of digital development and have adopted varying approaches to digital governance. However, the challenges of the 21st century require a joint approach to e-commerce, internet governance, and the challenges of a digitalising global economy. The BRICS Digital Economy Partnership Framework, launched in 2022, is a positive step towards a comprehensive digital governance framework. This framework promotes cooperation on various digital issues, including cybersecurity, data protection, and e-commerce. This policy brief examines how the framework can be leveraged to benefit the BRICS countries
Understanding Digital Rights in An Era of Digital Politics in Africa
Get PDFAs more African countries connect their citizens to the Internet and other digital technologies in a bid to improve services, questions are being asked about the protection of human rights for nationals online. The wake of the COVID-19 pandemic forced many countries on the continent to search for alternative ways to provide services. Varying national shutdowns also impacted democratic processes like elections and accompanying actions such as voter registration and campaigning. This paper aims to assess the trends and challenges around the implementation of digital rights and propose the way forward for scholars and practitioners promoting digital rights. Data was collected using desktop research to identify and assess common themes and differences across the continent. The results show that as technologies continue evolving at a fast pace, it is fundamental for African governments to reassess and adapt their laws to maintain and protect the rights of their citizens online
Empowering Societal Digital Transformation at the Local Level: A Case Study of Pemba Town Council
Get PDFDigital transformation has revolutionised the way businesses operate through the utilisation of technology. Digital tools enable citizens to access government services quickly and at their own convenience, whilst also facilitating more efficient and effective administrative processes. While many national governments have embraced digital tools, the same cannot be said for local governments, particularly in developing nations as they have not yet taken advantage of the benefits of digitalisation. Whereas some experiences of digital transformation have a top-down approach, this paper shares the experience of a collaborative and participatory process of design and development of a Digital Strategy for Pemba Town Council, in rural Zambia. The aim was to enhance service delivery to its citizens by harnessing the potential of digital tools for a five-year period (2022-2026). Pemba Council faced challenges due to a lack of basic Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure and ICT-enabled systems. Guided by Andrew’s (1971) model of strategy formulation and implementation, and employing an action research methodology, the study engaged the local community and the council through focused group discussions and key informant interviews to understand their challenges, explore solutions to improve service delivery, and finally to develop a digital strategy for the council, the first of its kind. The study noted that while digitalisation for the council could be hampered by challenges such as the digital divide, digital literacy, infrastructure challenges, lack of human resources, among others, both the council and community stakeholders displayed enthusiasm for the process. The study underscores the crucial role citizens play in shaping local decisions, and therefore the need for their engagement in such processes that affect how they engage with local authorities. The paper also presents a guide on how to engage citizens and government officials to develop a participatory digital strategy that is adapted to local needs, infrastructure and context. The study not only contributes to scholarship on digitalisation and its potential to improve service delivery, but is also useful for local governments operating in similar contexts as Pemba Town Council and seeking digitalisation
Applying Participatory Communication Principles in Covid-19 Health Message Dissemination in a Rural South African Municipality
Get PDFDuring global pandemics such as COVID-19, authorities around the globe have the responsibility of disseminating preventive health messages as widely as possible to contain the crisis. However, often, as shown by earlier studies (see Molale, 2019; Williams, 2006), governments tend to apply top-down communication approaches and leave local citizens as passive receivers of messages they are required to put into practice. This qualitative inquiry examined how officials of Ratlou Municipality in North-West Province, South Africa, communicated COVID-19 messages to communities in the rural villages of Setlagole and Madibogo. Semi-structured interviews with four municipal officials and focus group interviews with 28 citizens were conducted. The findings suggest that active citizen participation is needed in the communication value chain so that citizens can have a meaningful role in addressing the pandemic. The study is significant in that it shows how linear communication methods are often employed by municipalities to interact with community members are futile, especially when citizens need to be persuaded to adopt new behaviour, such as during health emergencies like cholera, Ebola or COVID-19. Moreover, it adds to the growing corpus of research dedicated to advancing participatory communication as an anchor of citizen participation in South Africa’s local government and beyond
Deep Learning Algorithm Analysis of Potato Disease Classification for System on Chip Implementation
Get PDFRecently, every aspect of human existence has been affected by modern technologies including agriculture. The broad range of crops has witnessed setbacks in different capacities due to climate change among other factors, hence leading to diseases and infections; thereby leading to negatively impacted nutrition. This work uses a deep learning algorithm to investigate the classification of potato diseases as a case study which can be leveraged on by other agricultural products for reference. Potatoes play a vital role in global agriculture, constituting a significant portion of fresh produce consumption. In southern Africa, potatoes hold particular importance, comprising 39% of total fresh produce consumption. However, the industry faces challenges from diseases such as early blight and late blight, resulting in substantial yield losses. Early detection is crucial, prompting the exploration of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for their disease classification capabilities. CNNs have shown excellent results in plant disease classification based on image data set. This study proposes the potential of aligning existing software-based Central Processing Units (CPUs) and Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) with FPGA-based potato disease classification using CNNs. To this end, five CNN models were trained on the Plant Village dataset for analysis. The models were compared using various performance metrics such as sensitivity, F1-Score, precision and recall. Based on the analysis the most suitable CNN model for FPGA implementation was selected. The chosen model was optimized for size using quantization technique. Subsequently the model was converted to Hardware Description Language (HDL) using Vitis High level synthesis (HLS) tool performance in terms of resources required to implement the model in System on Chip (SoC) was analysed
Premature pavement failure of a Superpave asphalt mix – a unique failure mechanism
Get PDFResearch outputs undertaken in temperate climates require adaptation and customisation before they can be applied to tropical conditions. This often requires the use of research trial sections with a revised technology. The construction and performance monitoring of trial sections takes time, often spanning several years. However, the demands of road agencies can mean that there is insufficient time to undertake the necessary trials. In such cases, large scale projects are often undertaken with inflated factors of safety. This frequently results in higher execution costs and no guarantees of adequate performance. This paper examines the circumstances under which the application of Superpave asphalt mix design technology in a major road project in Uganda (a tropical country) resulted in premature pavement failure, which started within two years of completion. The Superpave asphalt mix design method was developed under the Strategic Highways Research Programme in the United States of America (a temperature region), funded by AASHTO. Defects were first observed on the project road (Mbarara to Katuna) during the works execution and within the one-year defects liability period. To assess the performance of the sections, detailed visual condition surveys were undertaken; asphalt cores were used to test for strength, water sensitivity, and volumetric characteristics in the laboratory. Deflection measurements and analysis were also carried out. The results showed that the pavement failure was confined to the asphalt surfacing. The Superpave asphalt mix did not perform as expected, due to the difference in climatic, traffic, and construction characteristics Adjustments should have been made, based on findings from trial sections, to make the surfacing suitable for tropical conditions. Ultimately, tropical countries should engage in coordinated and targeted applied research that places emphasis on the adaptation of technologies
Controlling a Low Cost Bang Bang Pneumatic Monopod
No full textTo date there have been great advances in the legged robotics community. However, these platforms are extremely costly to develop and require complex controllers to perform agile motion, limiting their research to well funded institutions, or purely simulation based studies. This research focuses on an extremely low cost robotic monopod platform that consists of a high powered servo motor as well as a pneumatic actuator. Due to the on/off (bang bang) nature of pneumatics, the platform is challenging to mathematically model. Using a reduced order model of the pneumatic actuator, trajectory optimization methods were implemented to generate acceleration, steady-state and deceleration trajectories. These were then analyzed and a simple state machine controller was developed to implement these trajectories on the robotic platform, with comparisons to the simulation results. In order to test the capabilities of the monopod robot, the above method was further extended with the robot running on multiple different surfaces (hard surface as well as two different gravel surfaces). Results are promising and reveal that simple models and controllers are sufficient to generate stable transient motions for a legged robot running on non-uniform terrain
Foreword
No full textThe articles in this Special Issue were selected from responses to a call for abstracts on the theme “Generation of African Scholars andthe Intellectual Legacies”. The idea was originally conceived by the late Professor Michael Cross, pioneer Director of the Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies (AMCHES), University of Johannesburg, South Africa, to be a flagship project of the budding centre. It aimed to bring together, outstanding scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and perspectives to critically investigate, analyse and document the intellectual legacies of African scholars, leaders, and institutions. Its central objective was to analyse the nature of African scholars’ contributions to knowledge production with the specific goal of influencing and/or shaping the higher education landscape, discourses, policies, and practices in Africa
Re-writing the Disability Script from the Global South: Tsitsi Chataika’s Contribution to Disability Studies Scholarship in Africa
Get PDFFor decades, scholars from the Global North have written the disability script from their own perspective, writing it for persons withdisabilities and for disability scholarship in the Global South. A mould has been broken and African scholars have now begun re-writing the script from their own perspectives and from the Global South’s perspective. Using Decolonial Theory and the systematic review method, the paper is based on the work of Professor Tsitsi Chataika, which has impacted disability scholarship from an African context and from the Global South at large. The work contributes extensively to disability scholarship in terms of disability conception,disability theory, disability policy and inclusion of persons with disabilities in society and of students with disabilities in higher education in African countries. The scholar shifts the narrative from writing disability scholarship from the Global North to the South
‘ In Comes the New Black’: The Ghetto-Rural Black versus Blacksurbian Identities
Get PDFith the emergence of the Black bourgeoisie in Africa and the diaspora, there is a need to conceptualise the urban Black person, who, in pursuit of a better life, had to redefine, adopt, and formulate an identity acceptable within the middle and upper social classes. Inclusivity and diversity are key terms in these classes because there is a need to design urban spaces accommodative and cognisant of the history informing the diverse groups inhabiting it. This should contemplate the effects of colonialism on the urban space and how colonialism influences the formulation of the different Black identities in urban spaces. This research contends that the inequalities of the urban space have created two groups of Black people: The Ghetto-Rural Black and the Blacksurbian especially in South African and American (for African Americans) urban space. This has created a hierarchy amongst Black people which has not been mitigated because of popular culture and how it influences the consciousness of Black people on race matters. This research uses D. A. Masolo’s arguments to conceptualise these concepts. Additionally, it proposes new ideas of Blackness to demonstrate dislocation and how the Blacksurbian influences exclusion from the urban space