Students present at Postgraduate Conference

Jason van Staden presents his research

Omar Ally listens to the presentations

Honours students on the Information Systems for Smart Cities in Africa project, Omar Ally, Jason van Staden and Candice Visser had the opportunity to present their research findings at the 3^rd Annual School of Economic and Business Sciences Postgraduate Conference on September 19, 2014. 

Jason van Staden presented the findings from his research that looked at the factors that influence City of Johannesburg residents intention to use local e-government. Candice Visser presented the findings from her research titled "Towards a Smart City: An importance-performance analysis of resident's service needs". Omar Ally's research looked at the service needs of young people living in Braamfontein.  

The presentations were well received and generated a lot of interest from fellow students and staff who had questions about the data collection process, the opportunity for new research, the comparisons with smart cities from across the globe, the impact websites can make on service delivery, and the city’s current  state in terms of meeting residents’ needs.

The annual Postgraduate Conference brings together over 250 postgraduate students from the School to present their research to their peers. This year's conference was held at the Protea, Parktonian Hotel in Braamfontein. 

Bursary for full-time Master’s study

The Information Systems for Smart Cities in Africa research project is offering a bursary for a student to complete a full-time Master of Commerce by research in Information Systems during 2015 and 2016.

 

More information about the research project can be found on this site. In 2014 the project has examined conceptions of Smart Cities by information systems researchers, the approaches being taken by different African cities to Smart Cities agendas and the demand for information-enabled services in the City of Johannesburg. In 2015 we will explore the types of information, potential sources, and the ways in which information might be packaged into services to meet the needs of residents. We will examine service catalogues created in previous studies and adapt them to the local context. We will also examine how South African cities have connected demand to services to understand approaches and how effective they have been, as well as how information services have been implemented and are used.

 

The bursary is valued at (South African rand) R40 000 per annum and can be used towards fees and living expenses. The research project will also cover expenses incurred in conducting the research. The successful student will be provided with shared office space and the tools needed to complete the research. In return they will be expected to take responsibility for aspects of running of the research project and to participate in seminars and departmental activities. More information about postgraduate studies at the University of the Witwatersrand can be found at http://www.wits.ac.za/prospective/postgraduate.

 

Interested applicants should have a good honours degree in information systems with solid research experience. Please apply online (https://www.wits.ac.za/applications/portal/index) for entry into the MCom degree and also send a complete CV and a letter motivating your selection to the project to Professor Judy Backhouse (judy.backhouse@wits.ac.za). Applications for the bursary close on the 10^th October 2014. You can contact Professor Backhouse by e-mail or on +27 11 717 8161 for more information.

Students' Honours Projects

The three honours students, Omar Ally, Jason van Staden and Candice Visser have recently completed their research proposals. They have presented their topics and received feedback from a panel.  The research which they will be conducting this year is summarised below.    
 

Omar Ally: 

My research topic is ‘Smart Cities from the Perspective of Braamfontein Youth: Results from an Importance-Performance Analysis’.  The younger subgroup is being targeted for a few reasons.  Braamfontein is home to many colleges and student residencies and as such has a large population of the district which is young.  The young locals will be able to give innovative perspectives on what a smart city should comprise given their day-to-day interaction with the area. 

Africa has its own background, history and culture. Consequently, to simply copy the successful implementation of another city may not be as successful in this context.  As an ever improving district with many change initiatives already under way, Braamfontein would be a good place to start.

In other smart city implementations, the characteristics of the smart city is determined by a group such as the government or an organisation that is at the helm of the smart city initiative.  The factors of the smart city that is developed by these groups are thrust on to the citizens and the city itself without regard as to whether the citizens actually want all of those factors to constitute the smart city.  The citizens also have little to no say in the addition of factors that they think may have been overlooked by the group or that they really would like to see in their city.

 The purpose of this research is to carry out an empirical survey of young adults through the application of an importance-performance analysis to determine the most important factors of a smart city from the perspective of these young adults in Braamfontein.  Young adults are defined as people between the ages of 18 – 35.

Jason van Staden:
 

My research topic aims to uncover important influential factors in determining a City of Johannesburg resident’s intention to use the city website. The website platform for interaction with the government is a key enabler of a smart city, as literature suggests many aspects of a ‘smart city’ can be facilitated, if not achieved through ‘smart interactions’ between the government and its residents. This ‘smart interaction’ can be conveniently achieved through the city’s website. There is however a problem that appears from literature: that the adoption and inherently the usage of government websites are quite low. This is primarily where my research comes in, as it aims to uncover potential reasons for this, by testing certain factors to see if they prove influential in describing a resident’s intention to use the City of Johannesburg’s website. The factors will be tested by surveying residents within the City of Johannesburg region.

My research will be able to provide valuable insight into key factors that determine a resident’s intention to use the City of Johannesburg’s website. This insight can then be translated into practice, as government authorities will have a starting point for deciding on what to focus website design and functionality, as well as emphasize market campaigns on the influential factors uncovered. This will then, potentially, increase adoption and help the city become smarter.     
 

Candice Visser:

I will be doing an importance – performance analysis on resident satisfaction. A large scale survey will be used to solicit responses from City of Johannesburg (COJ) residents.

The study will focus on current City of Johannesburg services provided within the dimensions of a smart city. The dimensions of a smart city identified from literature are Transport and Mobility, Participation in Governance of the City, Health and Safety, Habitat and Utilities, Entertainment/ Leisure, and Information and Communication Technologies. The intention of the study is to identify the service areas with the strongest correlation to satisfaction for residents, which would then indicate the smart city service needs of residents. The high priority service areas will hence be identified based on its importance to residents.

By uncovering the smart city needs of residents, this study will offer assistance to the City of Johannesburg by exploring relevant smart city initiatives as it relates to the South African context.

Project officially launched

The University of the Witwatersrand, in conjunction with the City of Johannesburg, is proud to announce the launch of the Smart Cities in Africa research project.

March 27, 2014 marked the official launch meeting of the initiative. In it's launch, the team was assigned various responsibilities and have since started working towards the end goal of completing the project.

The Project Team:

From left to right (back): Jason Cohen, Jean-Marie Bancilhon, Thomas Grace, Omar Ally
From left to right (front): Jeffy Ditsela, Candice Visser, Judy Backhouse, Jason van Staden, Ray Kekwaletswe

SEBS to undertake research into Smart Cities in Africa

How can we make Johannesburg and other African cities “smarter”? What exactly is a “Smart City”,
in the African context? Researchers in SEBS are going to be working with the City of Johannesburg
over the next three years to better understand these questions.

Professor Jason Cohen, together with Professors Judy Backhouse and Ray Kekwaletswe as co-investigators, have been awarded R 632 400 by the National Research Foundation (NRF) for a three year project titled: “Information systems for Smart Cities in Africa: understanding demand for and supply of services”.

The concept of Smart Cities encompasses green building technologies, quality of life measures, as well as the use of information and communication technologies to improve life in cities. We are interested in how information systems are or can be used to make cities comfortable and attractive places for citizens, organisations, and visitors. Cities need to manage increasing urban populations; to integrate services for health, education, safety, transportation, and utilities; to improve the quality of life of their citizens, and be sustainable. Such demands cannot easily be met without information systems and technologies that are infused into city services, inter-connected, accessible, and available for use.

The project will examine the demand for information services from citizens and organisations as well as the systems, technologies, and practices that are in place to provide information services. Our research will extend previous research on how to identify the demand for information services and how to decide what systems, technologies, and practices are best suited to supply information services. We will also be looking at how to prioritise and effect the delivery of these services. The research has both an academic focus, on developing theories and frameworks to understand information flows in cities, as well as having practical application to the challenges facing African cities.

The grant was awarded as part of the NRF’s 2014 competitive programme for rated researchers. The award includes funding for honours and master’s students who will enjoy the experience of working in a research team as part of a large funded study.