Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the Information Society in South Africa

Rationale

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) are one of several major, new technologies present in our social, economic and political systems. ICTs have a continuing and dynamic presence in our society, impacting on the present and the future. While it may be"… easy to dismiss the future development of ICTs as simply a process of 'roll-out', or the diffusion of already established technologies, "taking such a perspective would be a grave error. There is much to be won, and lost, in the next few years in terms of the development of information communication technologies." (UK Department of Trade and Industry: (2002) A scenario for success in 2005: Information and Communications Technology in the UK)

The ICT & Information Society focus area directs its attention to ICTs and their current and future impacts in South African society. Although research on the impact of ICTs is relevant in many of the NRF's research focus areas such as Growth & Competitiveness, developing local ICTs and integrating effectively new and emerging ICTs is central to this focus area. That emphasis is premised on the assumption that South Africa needs to unlock the relationship between knowledge, technology, and the uniquely South African social and economic development realities that the country faces.

Much of South Africa's diversity and uniqueness provides opportunities for exciting research on local technologies, especially in the area of ICT. In that way, this research focus area seeks to attract researchers from scientific, engineering and technological disciplines in the quest to support the design, development and application of new technologies in innovative ways.

Of equal importance is the recognition within the focus area that it is the combination of ICTs, knowledge and communication, which are essential resources for social and economic development. While knowledge and communication have long been topics of social science research, in recent years ICTs and the Information Society has become an active area of social science enquiry. Such attention is evident in, for example, multi-disciplinary collaborations on virtual, spoken and visual interfaces, the formulation of more robust and hybrid qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and the development and analysis of policies ensuring that all South Africans can participate optimally in the Information Society. For those reasons, the ICT & Information Society focus area is designed to attract, expand and support humanities and social sciences research as part of the process of building South Africa's Information Society.

Building and developing South Africa's human resources has been identified as critical to South Africa's ability to manage the challenges presented by ICTs. The importance of human resource development and ICTs has been highlighted by the SA IT Industry Strategy, to wit,. "Human resources development is the most critical area that South Africa faces in the development of its ICT Sector and in stimulating ICT usage in other sectors of South African society. In one respect, South Africa is no different from other countries that have to deal with the global shortage of ICT workers and, in particular, the global migration of skilled workers. South Africa, however, faces the more profound challenge of educating, training and integrating a large proportion of its population who were previously denied the opportunity to move into the emerging information society." (SAITIS November 2000) South African ICT Sector Development Framework).

The ICT & Information Society research focus area, therefore, places emphasis on building South Africa's Information Society in a sustainable and knowledge-intensive way. It seeks to address the current lack of capacity and critical mass in ICT specialisation in the country, an area characterised by the high mobility of people with expertise. Building depth of capacity and entrepreneurship is therefore imperative. The focus area is also designed to present the country as an attractive international training ground for the development of capacity that is relevant to the Information Society.

As a whole, the ICT & Information Society focus area presents researchers with a variety of opportunities to contribute towards a better understanding and engagement with the Information Society.Since many of the research areas proposed in the focus area are best addressed through partnerships with industry, government, higher educational institutions and communities, partnership and collaboration are important considerations, that inform NRF funding decisions in the focus area.

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Aims

• Create and maintain a critical mass of ICT research specialists who can effectively contribute to the information needs of industry and society.
• Grow a strong training and research base in academia to make South Africa an attractive international training ground for ICT
• Generate, design, and apply new information and communication technologies in an innovative way.
• Ensure that entrepreneurial skills are supported by research based knowledge
• Enable South Africans to be response the fast-moving changes and developments of this field.
• Form appropriate partnerships to strengthen ICT capability through research capacity building, as well as redress in all sectors
• Raise the status and understanding of ICT and the use and management of information in all sectors
• Encourage the private sector, through partnerships and co-funding to invest in scholarships and chairs
• Make special provisions to attract post-doctoral students in ICT to uplift the capacity for research at HEIs
• Promote collaboration between science and engineering and social sciences in ICT

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Research Themes

Research Theme 1: Software Development and Integration

• Software engineering methodology and tools
• Standard and quality deployment
• Software customisation and integration
• Internet and mobile application

Research Theme 2: Telecommunications and Networking

• Protocol, design and deployment
• Distributed systems
• Optical communications
• Network communications
• Network management

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Research Theme 3: Human-Information Interactions

Issues include:

• Interface (voice, virtual, innovative interface)
• Information use mechanisms
• Bio-informatics
  • Information processing
  • Information retrieval

Research Theme 4: ICT Driven Development

• Access to ICTs;
• the formulation of appropriate policies;
• the creation of an understanding the ethical aspects of ICTs and ICT use,;
• the building of empirical comparative knowledge about the impact of different ICTs in different contexts;
• developing methodologies that better aid how we can know, compare or measure ICTs in our society;
• the use of ICTs to enhance quality of life
• the use of ICTs to enhance digital resilience
• ICT impacts on poverty

• Access opportunities issues
• E-government, policy and ethics
• Impact of ICT on users
• Security and privacy
• E-learning