Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Fulton County Commissioners Authorize Bond Referendum

Georgia Library Quarterly

The article reports that voters in Fulton County, Georgia will vote on a $275 million bond referendum for the construction, expansion and renovation of public libraries, on November 4, 2008. These bonds, if approved, will provide funding for the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System's master plan, which includes eight new libraries, expansion of two facilities and renovation of 23 more.

Emergence Of The E-Government Artifact In An Environment Of Social Exclusion In Kenya, Nixon Muganda Ochara

The African Journal of Information Systems

Purpose: E-Government, introduced in African countries under the banner of New Public Management (NPM), is envisaged to fundamentally aid in improving governance in developing countries. The imported model of E-Government is therefore transferred to African countries as a panacea to bad governance by carriers such as international donor agencies, consultants, Information Technology vendors and Western-trained civil servants. Improved governance is expected to impact on the socio-economic development of these countries implementing E-Government, as an NPM instrument. This article recognizes that E-Government success, which is critically dependent on the World Wide Web, requires socially inclusive national information infrastructure.

The purpose …

E-Government For Development: A Case Study From Mozambique, Gertrudes Macueve

The African Journal of Information Systems

This paper draws upon Amartya Sen’s concept of "development as freedom" as an effective approach to analyze e-government for development initiatives. An interpretive analysis of three projects ongoing in Mozambique report that although some "freedoms" are currently reachable through these initiatives, a lot needs to be done to achieve "development as freedom." The use of this theoretical approach provides a valuable contribution to the research domain of ICTs for development. This article also draws practical recommendations to assist managers of e-government projects in Mozambique, as well as other developing countries.

Information Technology Acceptance In South Africa: An Investigation Of Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease Of Use, And Actual System Use Constructs, Udo Richard Averweg

The African Journal of Information Systems

Information technology (IT) acceptance studies pay much attention to issues of significance in assessing the contributions of variables explaining IT usage for decision-making in organizations. Davis’ Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) states that Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) are the two factors that govern the adoption and use of information technology. Actual System Use (behavior) consists of the number of times of systems use. The author conducted a survey of 31 organizations in KwaZulu/Natal, a region in South Africa, which implemented an Executive Information System (EIS). A validated survey instrument was administered to an EIS stakeholder in …

The Honest Broker? Canada's Role In Haitian Development, Michele Zebich-Knos

Faculty and Research Publications

Since the early 1990s Canada has played a key role in Haiti’s development process. The article explores whether Canada’s foreign policy is becoming more reliant on military-assisted solutions, including peacekeeping, as a way to solve Haiti’s internal problems and achieve good governance. The article also examines the Canadian concepts called “Responsibility to Protect, React and Rebuild” which are linked to humanitarian intervention, and their implication for Haitian sovereignty. The conclusion cautions against an overly ambitious Canadian development policy for Haiti which has little chance of success.