Theses and Dissertations

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Browsing Theses and Dissertations by Author "Munyoka, Willard"

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    A Sense-making Perspective of Algorithmic Accountability during Infodemics
    (2024-09-06) Ramaru, Rifhiwa Rodney; Munyoka, Willard; Ochara, Nixon Muganda
    During the pandemic era, enormous amounts of data were available to decision-makers. Much of the data was generated using algorithms in which people did not want to be held accountable for any wrong/false information (misinformation) that was being provided to the public, either on internet websites, social media or television and radios. Algorithmic Accountability examines the process of assigning responsibility for harm when algorithmic decision-making results in discriminatory and inequitable outcomes. Mis-and disinformation about science, technology, and health is neither new nor unique to the COVID-19 era. Amid an unprecedented global health crisis, many journalists, policy makers, and academics have echoed what World Health Organisation has stressed that misinformation about the pandemic presents a serious risk to public health and public action. The biggest challenge is that this misinformation or fake news is drowning official public health advice on COVID-19, making it extremely problematic for the voices of healthcare professionals to be heard; the implications of this may be enormous as it may cause the virus and other pandemics to spread more rapidly within diverse populations. The purpose of this study was to establish the extent of Misinformation during Infodemics, to address the lack of Algorithmic Accountability. A mixed-methods approach was used as the topic required a purposeful mixing of methods in data collection, data analysis, and interpretation of the evidence. The key word is ‘mixed’; this explains that an essential step in this approach is data linkage or integration at appropriate stages in the research process. The researcher used Spyder Python for extracting data from the Twitter API and then used Feedly which is a news aggregator application for various web browsers and mobile devices running iOS and Android; this procedure is also available as a cloud-based service. Python was used to compile news feeds from a variety of online sources for the researcher to customize and share with others; after filtering for the Covid-19 Tweets there were 21 of 508 records. The analysis suggests that misinformation about COVID-19 comes in many different forms, from many different sources, and makes many different claims. The process of misinformation often rearranges existing or accurate content relatively than formulated on a large scale, and where it is manipulated, it is edited with simple tools. Given the breadth of the pandemic, independent media and actions by platforms and others played a vital role in addressing virus-related misinformation. Government websites and the World Health Organization (WHO) can help sort false from true material, and accurate from misleading assertations. With running topic modelling for the data consisting of 21 of 508 tweets, topic modelling provided a way to compress the big data qualitative phase of the research.
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    E-commerce framework for sustainable development: A case study of SMME's in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Northern Cape
    (2023-05-19) Madzvamuse, Solomon; Kadyamatimba, Armstrong; Munyoka, Willard
    Digital technologies have brought about a turnaround in business, with big companies in developed countries now depending on the internet to support their business activities. While Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) contribute much to the economies of developing countries, e-commerce has not been considered as a support for sustainable development by SMMEs, in post-colonial Southern Africa. E-commerce strategies have been established and implemented successfully by big businesses in the developed world, however, these strategies fail to address issues arising from the different contexts for SMMEs in developing countries, such as South Africa. This research will contribute to the discipline of Business Information Systems by establishing a framework for implementing e-commerce for SMMEs in South Africa. Underpinned by the pragmatism philosophy, the study takes an in-depth case study approach, in which SMMEs in three provinces of South Africa were used as the population of the survey, to champion an e-commerce framework for SMMEs in South Africa. A mixed-methods research approach was applied, and both secondary and primary data were used in this study. The secondary data aided in establishing the research gap on advancing e-commerce frameworks, while quantitative data were collected using structured questionnaires, from SMMEs in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and Northern Cape Provinces. The quantitative data was used to test the causal effect of identified factors of e-commerce in SMMEs. The SPSS software was used to analyse the quantitative data. The qualitative strand of the mixed-methods approach using semi-structured interviews, served the purpose of method triangulation with the quantitative strand enabling the gathering of further insights on how e-commerce in SMMEs can foster sustainable development. The ATLAS.ti software package was used to code and interpret the qualitative data collected from interviews, using thematic analysis. Based on the findings, an e-commerce framework for SMMEs was established, tested, and refined. The framework is intended to contribute to the formulation of government policies that will facilitate sustainable development, through e-commerce in SMMEs.
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    Harnessing ICT’s Capacity Building for Marginalized Communities of Vhembe District Municipality in Limpopo Province, South Africa
    (2024-09-06) Nemalamangwa, Mulanga Aluwani Wisdom; Munyoka, Willard; Kadyamatimba, Armstrong
    Information Communication Technology (ICT) brings hope to marginalised people who are excluded from participating in the mainstream activities in South Africa, such as groups of people living in communities within the Vhembe district Municipality. This study investigated the factors affecting marginalized people from using ICT services for development and went on to propose a sustainable information and communication technology (ICT) framework. This study gathered reliable empirical data to gain a deeper understanding of the impacts of ICTs capacity for development in marginalised groups in South Africa. This was done by reviewing ICT policies and ICT regulation making process. A literature review was conducted to enhance the understanding of human capabilities through ICTs. The review examined many articles to identify the different theories of development and the role of technologies in the process of development. This study adopted a positivism research paradigm associated with quantitative research for hypothesis testing. This study is intended to propose a framework to facilitate the development of ICT capacity among the marginalized people. This study is underpinned by Amartya Sen's Capability Approach and theories that operationalise it, to evaluate the impact of ICTs towards human capabilities. The framework provides a multidimensional perspective to understand capacity building of marginalised communities and how ICTs can be a catalyst empowerment. The study will contribute to the ongoing debate on the impact of ICT provision and usage in marginalized people for capacity building (CB).