Research Articles (Information Studies)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/7230

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Challenges of managing indigenous knowledge systems.
(Elsevier, 2011) Lwoga, Edda Tandi.; Ngulube, Patrick.; Stilwell, Christine.
This article provides a systematic analysis of the challenges of managing agricultural indigenous knowledge (IK), and accessing external knowledge in the rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa, with a specific focus on Tanzania. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect primary data from 181 smallscale farmers in the six districts of Tanzania. The findings indicated that farmers faced various challenges in managing their IK, and accessing external knowledge, which ranged from personal and social barriers, to factors in the external environment such as infrastructure, policy, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and weak linkages between research, extension services and farmers. Farmers also faced challenges when using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to manage their knowledge, such as personal, socio-cultural, infrastructural, technical, and economic factors. It is thus important for the government to improve access to extension services, review the IPR system, enhance rural electrification, telecommunications and roads infrastructure. Further, the knowledge providers (i.e. agricultural extension officers, researchers, educators, libraries, non governmental organisations, civil society, and other agricultural actors) should nurture a knowledge sharing culture. Farmers need to be assisted and trained to document their knowledge, map communities’ IK bearers and innovators, use multiple formats (print and ICTs) with traditional communication channels (for instance, folklore and apprenticeships) specific to a local context to disseminate knowledge. Participatory approaches should be employed in knowledge production and dissemination in order to include farmers’ needs and expressing knowledge in the resulting technologies, practices and new knowledge. In this way linkages between indigenous and external knowledge would be enhanced for improved farming activities in the local communities.
Information and knowledge needs, access and use for small-scale farming in Tanzania.
(University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2012) Lwoga, Edda Tandi.; Ngulube, Patrick.; Stilwell, Christine.
This article assesses information and knowledge needs, access and use for agricultural development in the rural areas of developing countries, with a specific focus on Tanzania. Data from focus groups and information mapping and linkage diagrams were used to triangulate with the interview data in order to bring together the strength of all data sets to validate, confirm and corroborate findings from various sources. The findings revealed that the information seeking patterns of farmers were location specific. The major sources of information for farmers were predominantly local. Most respondents indicated public extension as an important source of agricultural information. Private extension services, village meetings and farmer groups were significant sources of information in some regions. Printed information had low use. The role of information and communication technologies in providing access to agricultural knowledge and information, and the application of information and knowledge on farming systems in the rural areas of Tanzania are also presented. The article concludes with recommendations for improved access to agricultural knowledge and information in the rural areas of Tanzania.
Information needs and information-seeking behaviour of small-scale farmers in Tanzania.
(University of KwaZulu-Natal., 2010) Lwoga, Edda Tandi.; Ngulube, Patrick.; Stilwell, Christine.
This article provides a review of the information needs and information seeking patterns of the rural farmers in selected districts of Tanzania. Focus group data was triangulated with interview data in order to validate, confirm and corroborate quantitative results with qualitative findings. The findings revealed that the information needs and information seeking patterns of farmers were location and gender specific to a certain extent. Farmers relied on interpersonal and face to face communication more than explicit sources of information. Constraints on information access included internal (personal) and external barriers (unavailability of the extension officers, distant locations for consultations with public extension officers, poor responses to information requests from the government and village leaders, lack of awareness of the available information sources, inability of some experts to solve problems, and poor knowledge sharing culture). It is thus important for the government to improve access to extension services, and equip them with necessary skills and adequate information resources. Further, the public and extension services, researchers, educators, information services and other agricultural actors should conduct regular studies on information needs, map communities’ knowledge and information sources, create awareness of information sources, and knowledge culture, and use multiple sources of information (such as print and ICTs) to deliver relevant information in the communities in order to meet the disparate farmers’ needs.
Information seeking patterns and telecentre operations: a case of selected rural communities in Tanzania.
(Elsevier, 2011) Chilimo, Wanyenda Leonard.; Ngulube, Patrick.; Stilwell, Christine.
Information needs assessment is critical in developing and running relevant information services. This article explores the information needs and information- seeking patterns of the people living in communities surrounding telecentres. The research was based in four rural districts in Tanzania which have telecentres. These were Sengerema, Magu, Karagwe and Ngara districts. The research was done utilising the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) to determine how people or communities seek information concerning problem-solving, decision-making or question- answering situations. CIT was also used to determine the extent to which ICTs were used in seeking information. It was found that business and agricultural related information were the main information needs of the people in the communities involved in this study, however this information was rarely provided by the telecentres. The study further found out that face-to-face communication and the radio were the major sources of information that the respondents used. This study recommends that management of the telecentres should regularly assess user information needs in order for telecentres to have an impact on rural communities.
The microfilm of the new millennium: the digitization of the liberation struggle archives heritage in east and southern Africa
(University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2011-06) Garaba, Francis.; Ngulube, Patrick.; Stilwell, Christine.
New information and communication technologies have greatly affected archival institutions. It is therefore not surprising that the world of archival management has presently been confronted with many challenges as new technologies transform the archival landscape. Digital technologies are challenging custodians' abilities to preserve our archival heritage. This article provides an overview of digitization initiatives drawing, in the main, on a survey carried out in archival institutions within the east and southern African region. Modern technology has had a profound impact on how information is stored and accessed. A study carried out between 2006 and 2009 in heritage institutions, both private and public, with liberation struggle archives, within the Sub-Saharan region, revealed that digitization was the most widely used preservation strategy in the surveyed archival institutions. Resources permitting, archival institutions should adopt digitization for their liberation struggle heritage as a reformatting strategy in order to counter the problem posed by deteriorating media. The methodologies employed for data gathering included a survey, observation and structured interviews. This article provides the reader with the findings of the research and the opinions of the researchers. However, this paper does not contend or claim to be exhaustive of all issues pertaining to digitization

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Browsing Research Articles (Information Studies) by Author "Ngulube, Patrick."