The participants of the World Summit on the Information Society, including South Africa, have committed to building the information society in their respective countries and societies. Most of the countries and societies that have benefited from the information society have been those in the developed countries. This study has examined the challenges of building an information society using the Limpopo Province of South Africa as a case study.
The study found that most of the activities related to the information society within the Limpopo province are not coordinated and are mainly related to e-government. INSPIRE: Information Society Program in the Republic of South Africa IPSP Integrated Provincial Support Programme.
Introduction
The "success" of the Lisbon Agenda as perceived by the Information Society Assessment Report for the European Union (EU) testifies to the success of information society strategies as a key driver for growth and employment (European Union 2005). Research will need to describe the motivations and utility for building such an information society in the Province. In the same address he created the Presidential National Commission on the Information Society and Development (PNC on ISAD) as well as the Presidential International Task Force on the Information Society and Development, now referred to as the Presidential International Advisory Council (PIAC).
This vision should encourage all provinces to participate in the development of an information society. This exhibition will clarify why an examination of the challenges of building the information society in Limpopo province will be useful.
Literature Review
This discussion suggests that the perspective of Limpopo Province is more in line with the development perspectives of Saboutina (2004) and the UNDP (2006), discussed above. Castells believes that the concept of the information society does not fully explain the current era we live in. As indicated in Chapter 1, e-readiness is a measure of the size of the information society in a country or region.
In addition to the pillars mentioned above, the Information Society and Development Plan identifies five priority areas through which the development of the information society will be prioritized. One of the early projects related to the information society in the Limpopo province is the development of the e-government strategy for Limpopo in 2003. The implementation of nationally led projects and programs in the Limpopo province does contribute to the implementation of the information society. in the province.
The chapter provided a platform to understand the various actors involved in the development of the information society in Limpopo Province.
The Research Design and Methodology
The framework of the population was therefore limited to the individuals who in a certain sense were formally responsible for the implementation of the information society at provincial and district municipal level. Their view on the relevance of the information society for the development of the Limpopo Province. In this case, the fact that the population and the sample are the same makes the sample fully representative of the population (Salkind 2006: 93).
The choice of this group to the exclusion of others was that they played or would play a key role in dealing with the implementation of aspects of the information society identified at Harvard University. Because the population was so small, the researcher believed that all members of the population would be sampled. Some of the respondents had a challenge with this approach and the questionnaire was again sent as a Microsoft Word attachment.
Each column in the spreadsheet represented the responses for each of the respondents and each row, the respondents. With the exception of respondents' age, all responses expected here represented nominal data. In addition, the data analysis included an analysis of the responses according to the respondent and the role the specific respondent played in the development of the information society, where the final results were related to the research questions.
All references to information society or ICT-related projects were grouped according to the categories identified in the Harvard Readiness for the Networked World Guide. This study focuses on leaders with formal responsibilities regarding the leadership and implementation of the information society in Limpopo province. While this may be the case, the success of these projects and initiatives would have had a significant impact on the level achieved by Limpopo Province in implementing the information society.
Research Study Results
When presenting the results, the response to each item in the questionnaire is presented in the form of a frequency table, as well as the respondents' summarized comments regarding the item where appropriate. Below is the frequency table for the answers to the question whether they had heard of the information society concept before receiving the questionnaire. 70.4% (19 out of 27) of respondents consider themselves very familiar with the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy.
As reported by Figure 15, of those who responded, 22.2% of respondents identified the INSPIRE project as a project that would contribute to the information society. This section focuses on the respondents' assessment of the readiness of the province to become an information society. Only nine respondents, representing 33.3% of the total respondent, considered the level of access to be good (8) or very good (1).
Frequencies for responses to the question of the level of access to mobile telecommunications infrastructure (for example, mobile phone) are shown in Table 24 below. Of the five respondents who commented on the above point in the questionnaire, four (80%) reiterated the accessibility of mobile phones. Frequencies for responses to the question on the extent to which community members use ICT in daily life are presented in Table 34.
Of the five comments, three related to lack of access to ICT and two to lack of knowledge about ICT. Sixteen (59.3%) respondents believed that the number of job opportunities in the field of ICT is few. Given that one respondent did not answer this question, 50% (13) of respondents commented on this item in the questionnaire.
Discussion and Interpretation of Results
Forty-four point four percent of respondents stated that internet access in Limpopo is poor and 7.4% said it is very poor. In line with the process of selecting the province level, this can be assessed in phase 3. Respondents' answers regarding network access are summarized in Figure 20 below.
Regarding the aspect of improving education with ICT, the vast majority (81.5%) of respondents responded that the level was poor. As Figure 21 shows, there is no relationship between the role of the respondents and the response to the item at the level of ICT employee development. Despite the fact that there appears to be a lot of activity in e-government, the majority (almost 60%) of respondents believe that the level of e-government in the province is low.
The National Information Society and Development Plan recognizes the necessity of a center through which the development of the information society is coordinated (PNC on ISAD 2007). The respondents to the questionnaire were of the opinion that there is a great need for cooperation and collaboration. The Limpopo Province, by establishing the INSPIRE program in the office of the Premier, is already on its way to the development of the information society.
Some actions have been identified in accordance with the Harvard Readiness Guide, the results of the questionnaire responses and the priorities in the National Information Society and Development Plan. These views can also be grouped in terms of the Information Society Development Program and the conceptual groups in the Harvard Readiness Guide. However, the majority of respondents believe that the provincial government's strategies and plans will only succeed marginally.
Conclusions and Recommendations
However, it gave a sense of the limited progress made by the province in achieving the information society. However, this aspect is still highly relevant for an effective implementation of the information society in. Furthermore, and interestingly, none of the respondents had raised issues related to this area as challenges for the implementation of the information society.
This indicates that the population targeted to provide information on the implementation of the information society in Limpopo province was distributed in terms of access to ICT. There seems to be no coordination of the initiatives to contribute to the building of the information society. As mentioned above, the research has found that there are a number of uncoordinated projects that could contribute to the building of the information society in Limpopo province.
Information society initiatives can and should be done constructively alongside other development programs. Both of these issues should be fully addressed in the Information Society Action Program and Provincial Development as applicable within the applicable provincial mandates (This is because some aspects of the priorities and pillars fall outside the provincial mandate as mentioned in Chapter 2). Presidential National Commission on the Information Society for the Information Society and Development (PNC in ISAD).
The topic of my research is "Building an Information Society in Limpopo Province, South Africa". It is the development in information and communication technologies (ICT) that has made the information society possible. 1 Have you ever heard of the concept of an information society before receiving this questionnaire.
Questionnaire
List of Provincial Annual Performance Plans and Municipal IDPs
