Published papers 2014 to 2016

Here is a consolidated list of the papers published by this project in the past three years, with links for you to access the papers. We are expecting a few more during 2017 and will post an updated list later in the year.

Cohen, J., Backhouse, J. and Ally, O. (2016). Youth Expectations of Smart City Living: An Importance-Performance Analysis of Young Residents’ Perspectives of City Government,
Commonwealth Youth and Development, 14(1) 118-128. 

Backhouse, J. and Masilela S (2016). Using personas to understand city residents’ information needs and evaluate city information services. Proceedings of the African Cyber Citizenship Conference 2016, 31 Oct- 1 Nov 2016, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. pp.232-242.

Backhouse, J. and Hughes, M. (2015). An ecological model to understand the variety in undergraduate students’ personal information systems, The African Journal of Information and Communication, Issue 15, pp. 14-24.

Topo, M. and Backhouse, J. (2015). Explaining the Use and Non-Use of Smart Cities Services in Johannesburg: Residents' Perspective. Paper presented at the 12th Prato CIRN Conference 9-11 November 2015, Prato, Italy.

Backhouse, J. (2015). Smart city agendas of African cities. Proceedings of the African Conference on Information Systems and Technology (ACIST) 2015, 7-8 July 2015. Accra, Ghana.

Backhouse, J. and Hughes, M. (2015). An ecological model of the information behaviour and technologies of undergraduate students in a South African university. Southern African Computer Lecturer’s Association conference 2015, 1-2 July, Johannesburg, South Africa

Backhouse, J. and Cohen, J. (2014). 'What is a Smart City for Information Systems Research in Africa? Review Protocol and Initial Results', Proceedings of the African Cyber Citizenship Conference 2014, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. ISBN: 978-1-920505-46-3.

Presenting at the African Cyber Citizenship Conference

Shado Masilela presented a paper at the 2016 African Cyber Citizenship Conference held in Port Elizabeth on the 31st October and the 1st November. The paper, titled "Using personas to understand city residents' information needs and evaluate city information services" was based on the work that Shado completed for her honours during 2015.

Based on interviews with city residents, she developed a set of five personas of typical Johannesburg residents and their information needs. She then used these needs and the profile of each individual to evaluate the City's web site to see how well it was meeting the needs of the different types of residents. She identified several ways for the city to offer better information services to residents.

The paper also investigated the usefulness of the persona method for understanding information needs and provision.


The paper has been published in the conference proceedings and a copy can be downloaded here:

Backhouse J and Masilela S (2016). Using personas to understand city residents’ information needs and evaluate city information services. Proceedings of the African Cyber Citizenship Conference 2016, 31 Oct- 1 Nov 2016, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. pp.232-242.

 

Stakeholder workshop December 2015

The project ended the year with a stakeholder workshop on the 7^th December 2015. This was an opportunity to share our research with stakeholders and to get input from stakeholders on our research agenda for 2016. The workshop was well attended with representatives from the City, the Province and other partner organisations, and there was lively debate about the research presented as well as good ideas for future investigation.

After an update on the project progress for 2016, research was presented in two themes. The first session presented research around how a smart city contributes to quality of life. Two studies were presented, the first looking at how being digitally connected relates to quality of life and the second looking at how the use of apps benefits residents. These studies show that smart city services do contribute to quality of life.

In the second session three studies were presented looking at resident’s information needs and behaviour. The first study examined why people do or do not use smart city services that have been provided by the City. The second tested the e-skills of residents in city libraries to assess whether they are able to make use of digital services being provided. The third study presented an analysis of the types of people who use the City’s web site, analysing their information needs and how well the City’s web site meets them. These three studies all reflected on the unequal access that residents have to smart city services in Johannesburg and Gauteng.

The project team are grateful to stakeholders for their continued interest in and support of our research and look forward to future fruitful engagement. 

Links to the presentations are provided here:

Project update

Session 1 –Smart cities and quality of life

Session 2 –Resident’s information needs and behaviour