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January 20, 2000
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Announcing the first volume of the Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries (EJISDC) <http://www.unimas.my/fit/roger/EJISDC/EJISDC.htm>
The editors are pleased to announce the publication of the first volume of the EJISDC. Our first batch of papers is as follows:
"Bridging the Gap: The Role of Spatial Information Technologies in the Integration of Traditional Environmental Knowledge and Western Science", by Gernot Brodnig and Viktor Mayer-Schînberger of Harvard University. The authors examine how local communities can use spatial information systems to help them apply traditional and indigenous knowledge to manage their environment and resources sustainably. They tentatively, and intriguingly, suggest that traditional environmental knowledge is much closer to the technologies' structural features and functionality than some Western methodologies. http://www.unimas.my/fit/roger/EJISDC/vol1/v1r1.pdf
"Cultural Context and its Impact on Requirements Elicitation in Thailand", by Theerasak Thanasankit and Brian Corbitt of The University of Melbourne. The authors report on an ethnographic study of how software analysts in Thai software houses undertake requirements engineering. They investigate the impact of Thai culture on the elicitation of requirements in information systems development. Their paper provides Thai system analysts with a warning about how Thai culture impacts requirements elicitation, and their findings can be used for selecting and adapting methods of requirements gathering for use in the Thai context. http://www.unimas.my/fit/roger/EJISDC/vol1/v1r2.pdf
In "Gender Differences in Computer Literacy Level Among Undergraduate Students in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia", by Nor Azan Mat Zin, et al., Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, the authors discovered significant differences between male and female students, noticing that males had more computer experience and used computers more frequently. Males also reported higher computer ability and a higher percentage of computer ownership, programming skills, and ability in computer repair and maintenance. http://www.unimas.my/fit/roger/EJISDC/vol1/v1r3.pdf
In "Social Implications of Information and Communication Technology in Developing Countries: Lessons from Asian Success Stories", Subhash Bhatnagar, of the Indian Institute of Management, reports on one of the cases presented at a recent workshop organised by the IIM and the World Bank. The workshop, titled "Information and Communication Technologies for Rural Development" brought together case studies that demonstrated how ICTs can improve rural life in developing countries. The paper describes how IT can be used to provide decision support to public administrators, improve services to citizens, and empower citizens to access information and knowledge. Lessons are drawn from a description of the use of IT by co-operative milk collection societies in India http://www.unimas.my/fit/roger/EJISDC/vol1/v1r4.pdf
Our final paper, "Technology Leapfrogging in Developing Countries - An Inevitable Luxury?", by Robert Davison and Doug Vogel, of the City University of Hong Kong, Roger Harris of University of Malaysia Sarawak and Noel Jones of Capacity Planning International, is slightly different. We present it as a means of stimulating discussion on a topical theme that pervades much of the discourse surrounding ICTs in developing countries. The paper addresses the issue of technology leapfrogging and it is drawn from a panel discussion headed by the authors at the IFIP9.4 conference in Bangkok in 1998. They reflect on the concept of leapfrogging, questioning its implied merits and examining some associated issues such as adaptive responses to new technology and its contextual congruence. Readers are invited to join the discussion and to interact with the authors. http://www.unimas.my/fit/roger/EJISDC/vol1/v1d5.pdf
The files are in Adobe .pdf format.
EJISDC does not require subscriptions from its readers, just visit http://www.unimas.my/fit/roger/EJISDC/EJISDC.htm
If you do not have access to the World Wide Web, you can obtain copies of the papers by e-mail using Webmail, a web-to-mail mechanism. Details can be found at http://www4mail@web.bellanet.org/.
To use web-to-mail, you send an e-mail to a Webmail server which contains the command GET followed by the url of the WWW document you want. The server will obtain a copy of that document from the WWW and send it to you as an email attachment. There are a number of Webmail servers on the internet. In the first instance, you could send an email to the Bellanet Webmail server to get their page describing the Webmail service. This lists some other Webmail servers that may be nearer to you, and which therefore might provide a quicker response.
To do that, your message should like this:
TO: www4mail@web.bellanet.org
CC:
BCC:
SUBJECT:
____________________________________________
GET http://web.bellanet.org/
Or, say if you wanted to obtain a copy of the fifth paper, you message should look like this:
TO: www4mail@web.bellanet.org
CC:
BCC:
SUBJECT:
_________________________________________________
GET http://www.unimas.my/fit/roger/EJISDC/vol1/v1d5.pdf
Substitute the appropriate url in the GET command for the other papers.
Roger Harris
Dr. Roger Harris
Head of the Information Systems Core Group
Faculty of Information Technology - Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
Programme Chair - CITA'99 - IT in Asia
Editor-in-Chief - Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries
Programme Co-Chair - GITM2000
Track Chair - HICSS 2000 - IT in Developing Countries
Track Chair - IRMA 2000 - IT in Asia Pacific
http://www.unimas.my/fit/roger/
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