Judy Van Biljon

University of South Africa | unisa · School of Computing

There are major geopolitical challenges for human-computer interaction (HCI): there may be little or no global HCI knowledge with a shared approach and identity; Western HCI theory and methods may not be adequate for regional or local models of education and practice; and the global organization of HCI research communities may be biased. This artic...

Human Computer Interaction for Development (HCI4D) is an interdisciplinary field involving researchers, practitioners and funding organization from Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Information System (IS) and Development Studies. The fast-growing literature based on HCI4D means researchers need support in identifying the core research areas and cu...

This chapter provides a historical account of the development of Working Group 9.4 from its inception in 1988 to the present day. The intellectual and practical issues that have drawn our attention, as well as the debates and disputes that we have had for over thirty years, are elicited and discussed. More attention is paid to the current opportuni...

Science educators need tools to assess to what extent learners’ knowledge can be transferred to novel real-world situations. Virtual reality learning environments (VRLEs) offer the possibility of creating authentic tools where situated learning and assessment can take place, but there is a lack of evidence-based guidelines to inform the design and...

Explainable AI (xAI) refers to the concept and set of techniques that aim to make artificial intelligence (AI) systems more transparent and understandable to humans. The increased use of AI models in complex tasks and critical domains drives the current focus on xAI to enable humans to comprehend and trust the decisions made by AI systems. The fast...

Open government data (OGD) and information and communication technologies (ICT) are potential enablers in meeting information needs related to finding employment opportunities, but there is little evidence‐based theorization to guide this enablement and avoid the barriers that hinder its use. The potential economic contribution of OGD has been rese...

Employment is a means of addressing the socio-economic developmental challenges of inequality and poverty. In South Africa, tourism has been identified as an important sector for creating employment and various initiatives are being investigated to support the tourism sector. Open Data has been proposed as a mechanism to promote tourism development...

The digitalization of education has made learning management systems (LMSs) an indispensable tool for facilitating teaching and learning in higher education institutions (HEIs). Research studies on the factors that influence LMS usage in Sub-Saharan Africa is lacking specifically in considering both technology adoption and usability as theoretical...

Collaboration among researchers and across disciplinary, organisational and cultural boundaries is essential for addressing the increasingly complex challenges and opportunities facing international development. Despite the known advantages and various incentives, research collaboration within Africa (specifically within South Africa) is lacking. T...

Machine learning, a field of artificial intelligence application, will profoundly impact countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in the next few decades. The extent of the impact will depend largely on the countries’ readiness. Roadmaps and research agendas towards implementing machine learning for development (ML4D) exist, but little is known about...

The global digitization drive, accelerated by the 2020 health pandemic brought renewed research interest in the use and usability of learning management systems (LMSs). The purpose of this study was to propose validated usability guidelines for an LMS in an open distance and electronic learning (ODeL) context based on lecturers’ views of students’...

The digital transformation within the global educational environment led to a transformation in assessment strategies and the increased use of ICTs in assessments. Digitization offers innovative teaching and learning opportunities. But it also introduces new challenges to current quality assurance processes. A narrative literature review revealed a...

This workshop will explore and discuss geopolitical issues in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) as a field of knowledge and practice. These issues are mainly seen at two levels: (1) on discourses surrounding motivations and value of HCI as a sociotechnical field, and (2) on discourses surrounding concepts of HCI diffusion, maturity and diversity as...

The human–computer interaction for development (HCI4D) field emerged at the intersection of the fields of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) and human–computer interaction (HCI). In 2010, Michael Best nominated HCI4D as one of ICT4D’s “grand challenges”. This HCI4D field is now entering its second decade, and it is imp...

Collaboration is fundamental to progress in the field of information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) research where interdisciplinary teams are involved in the requirements elicitation, design, implementation and evaluation of context‐sensitive digital solutions. Research collaboration harbors the potential for knowledge exch...

Incident management systems are designed to support sensemaking of emergency incidents and their immediate environment with the use of digital technology. The usability of the user interface is critical in supporting knowledge transfer for sensemaking. Visualization has been used to improve the usability of interactive systems, but evidence-based c...

Science educators need assessment tools to assess to what extent learners’ knowledge and skills can be transferred to real-life situations. Virtual reality learning environments (VRLEs) can be used to create authentic virtual spaces where situated learning and assessment can take place. However, there are considerable design and implementation chal...

This editorial explores knowledge visualization, a field of study that investigates the power of visual formats to represent knowledge, as a strategy to enhance knowledge mobilization of results from ICT4D research. We highlight the fact that there are evidence-based guidelines for creating and crafting visualizations in academic writing. We also p...

Human-computer interaction for development (HCI4D) operates at the intersection of Human-computer interaction (HCI) and information and communication technology for development (ICT4D). The interdisciplinary nature complicates knowledge transfer and articulation between the disciplines contributing to the HCI4D domain. This paper proposes a concept...

The literature on information and communication technology comprises numerous studies on the role of mobile technologies in developing communities, including examples of innovative mobile applications which improve literacy and access to healthcare, banking and agricultural services. There is a growing understanding that sustainable development req...

Despite the growing importance of digitization in all aspects of teaching and learning, digital moderation (eModeration) has received little attention in research or practice. Considering the secondary school environment, no evidence-based requirements could be found for the development of a digital moderation system. This finding provides the rati...

There is growing evidence that visualization aids knowledge transfer. However, the cases where learners have been actively involved as co-creators of knowledge visualization aids are limited. Furthermore, employing knowledge visualization for teaching and learning in high-school science have been proposed but empirical evidence of the effect on kno...

In response to the challenge of increasing supervision capacity while at the same time also improving the supervision experience, we used a design science research approach to guide the design, implementation and evaluation of a cohort supervision model for master’s students in computing at an open-distance university. This paper describes the impl...

The South Africa Connect national broadband policy of 2013 aims to ensure that the country achieves universal internet access by 2030, thereby fostering digital skills development. This study investigates one dimension of the South Africa Connect policy objectives, by considering rural teachers' adoption of information and communication technologie...

Knowledge visualisation, in the field of information systems, is both a process and a product, and is informed by the closely aligned fields of information visualisation and knowledge management. Knowledge visualisation has untapped potential within the purview of knowledge communication. Even so, there is little evidence of knowledge visualisation...

While the need for the moderation of examination scripts as part of quality assurance is globally undisputable, moderation associated risks and challenges are more pronounced in developing countries. eModeration (online moderation of examination scripts) can improve the user experience of an examination moderation process while lowering the risk of...

Human-Computer Interaction for Development (HCI4D) research aims to maximise the usability of interfaces for interacting with technologies designed specifically for under-served, under-resourced, and under-represented populations. In this paper, we provide a snapshot of Southern African HCI4D research against the background of the global HCI4D rese...

Storytelling is part of the knowledge creation and transfer tradition and constitutes the knowledge base of many African cultures. Visualization, as a means of knowledge creation and transfer, goes back to the origins of human communication and provides a mechanism for extending and enhancing human cognitive capacity. Technological advances have ma...

The effective, efficient and secure moderation of examination scripts can become challenging when the moderators are geographically dispersed. Despite innovative technological developments and the potential benefits, the use of eModeration (online moderation of examination scripts) in the South African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) context i...

In this study, research collaboration in the context of South African Information and Communication for Development (ICT4D) researchers was investigated using a mixed methods approach. South Africa, a country with stark development challenges and on the other hand a well-established ICT infrastructure, provides an appropriate context for ICT4D rese...

Guidelines are recommended as a tool for informing user interface design. Despite a proliferation of guidelines in the research literature, there is little evidence of their use in industry, nor their influence in academic literature. In this paper, we explore the research literature related to mobile phone design guidelines to find out why this sh...

Knowledge visualisation is enjoying increasing attention from researchers and organisations, due to its potential for expediting knowledge transfer. Despite the availability of many information visualisation guidelines, those who are tasked to produce knowledge visualisations currently do so without any formal guidance. These unguided efforts do no...

The application of mobile technology integration in schools has been widely researched. However, the sustainability of mobile technology integration in resource-constrained environments has received less attention. Diverse contexts and devices complicate the construction of a consolidated view of how to sustain the pedagogical practice of learning...

Research involving the use of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) inhabits an interdisciplinary space characterized by various philosophies, aspirations, realities and priorities. This diversity in the ICT4D research area complicates knowledge sharing between stakeholders in the field, which may inhibit the dialog betwe...

The community dynamics revolve around shared interests, norms, and identities. The sustainable exchange of resources for development is only possible if the members of the community are connected and the collaboration opportunities and practices are well-understood. This work in progress paper proposes social mapping as an innovative way of making...

Demonstrating scholarly impact is a matter of growing importance. This paper reports on a bibliometric and altmetric analysis conducted on the Journal of Community Informatics (JOCI). Besides the bibliometric analysis the study also looked into JOCI article-level metrics by comparing usage metrics (article views), alternative metrics (Mendeley read...

Demonstrating scholarly impact is a matter of growing importance. This paper reports on a bibliometric and altmetric analysis conducted on the Journal of Community Informatics (JOCI). Besides the bibliometric analysis the study also looked into JOCI article-level metrics by comparing usage metrics (article views), alternative metrics (Mendeley read...

Background: Case studies are core constructs used in information management research. A persistent challenge for business, information management and social science researchers is how to select a representative sample of cases among a population with diverse characteristics when convenient or purposive sampling is not considered rigorous enough. Th...

The use of eModeration (of examination scripts) can improve the efficiency of the examination moderation, while simultaneously lowering the risk of misplacing or delaying the moderation process. Despite the potential benefits of using an eModerate system in terms of optimising examination procedures, the implementation and application of such onlin...

Indigenous or local researchers from developing countries have not made a leading contribution to development informatics (DI) or information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) research. This is noteworthy since these researchers should be in a prominent position to contribute to the discourse, where context knowledge is regarde...

Designing a usable mobile phone interface is a non-trivial task, especially when it is intended for use by a special needs group. The group we focus on here is composed of the elderly in developing countries. To inform specialised design, researchers produce and refine sets of tailored guidelines. In this case there is surprisingly little empirical...

In Open Distance Learning (ODL) institutions the teaching model is moving towards fully integrated information and communication technology applications. To successfully teach or facilitate the use of technology, academics need to have a strong comfort level with the use of technology tools. The academic staff are qualified and experienced subject...

There has been a worldwide increase in the number of postgraduate students over the last few years and therefore some examiners struggle to maintain high standards of consistency, accuracy and fairness. This is especially true in developing countries where the increase is supervision capacity is not on a par with the growth in student numbers. The...

Reputable Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Development (ICT4D) collections focused on Sub-Saharan Africa exist but a platform where these silos of excellence can be aligned and shared for open access is not a reality yet. An open browser-based ICT4D knowledge repository (ICT4D-KR) is proposed as an initiative towards addressing th...

Supervision is a vital aspect in the success of postgraduate students and even more so in open distance learning. Various factors influence supervision success, some relating to the student, some to the supervisor and others to the institution. This article addresses an over-arching factor, namely the number of stakeholders involved in a supervisio...

Reputable Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Development (ICT4D) collections focused on Sub-Saharan Africa exist but a platform where these silos of excellence can be aligned and shared for open access is not a reality yet. An open browser-based ICT4D knowledge repository (ICT4D-KR) is proposed as an initiative towards addressing th...

Many higher education students live and operate in mobile-centric environments. The question is whether the policies of higher education institutions (HEI) are aligned with students’ readiness for mobile technology information access and interaction. To investigate this question from a policy perspective, nine policies from the open and distance le...

In the context of assessment, two specific challenges face South African academics. The first is that their universities have experienced an unprecedented increase in postgraduate students without a concomitant increase in supervision capacity. The second challenge is that many South African students are studying in a second or third language and s...

Advances in technology and subsequent access to inexpensive software have made visualisation, as a method of knowledge creation and transfer, more accessible. Visualisations have been used to support knowledge representation and transfer in teaching but the focus has primarily been on creating visualisations for learner consumption. The idea of stu...

eModeration (or online moderation) can improve the user experience of the examination process while lowering the risk of losing scripts or delaying the moderation process. Despite these benefits to optimising examination procedures, the application of online moderation is limited. There could be various reasons for the lack of adopting eModeration...

Reputable Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Development (ICT4D) collections focused on Sub-Saharan Africa exist but a platform where these silos of excellence can be aligned and shared for open access is not a reality yet. In this article, we explore questions on how that should be done and propose a first collection of the content...

Mobile digital literacy skills development as part of digital inclusion is compellingly relevant but exactly what the curriculum should contain is less evident. In this paper, we report on the development of a mobile digital literacy skills development curriculum for teachers using a Design Science Research (DSR) methodology. The use of design scie...

Business process adoption is one of the factors that determine an organisation's performance. While there are various factors that can have an impact on business processes adoption, this paper focuses on the impact of individual, process and organisational factors when adopting business processes in a large insurance organisation. Given evidence of...

The objective of this study is to examine the status of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) policies in supporting lecturers when providing mobile centric services to students. The research was undertaken as a single case study within the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) context in South Africa. Qualitative data was captured through policy documen...

Against the background of the global drive towards equal access to learning opportunities Open Distance Learning (ODL) institutions are challenged to optimize the use of technologies that provide usable, scalable and sustainable access. The remarkable mobile cellular growth together with the potential of mobile phones to be used as tools of communi...

Business Intelligence (BI) applications provide business information to drive decision support. Usability is one of the factors determining the optimal use and eventual benefit derived from BI applications. The documented need for more BI usability research together with the practical necessity for BI evaluation guidelines in the mining industry pr...

The challenge of teaching programming in higher education is complicated by problems associated with large class teaching, a prevalent situation in many developing countries. This paper reports on an investigation into the use of a blended learning approach to teaching and learning of programming in a class of more than 200 students. A course and l...

Automated marking has been applied widely and researched in depth. Online-moderation of examination scripts, however, is an emerging technology in the area of online teaching. Despite the potential for optimizing examination procedures, the application of online moderation is limited. Likewise the literature reflects a paucity on studies about the...

How might accessibility of mobile telephony affect inter-generational knowledge transfer in developing communities? Motivated by this research question, we investigated mobile phones as potential facilitators of knowledge transfer between generations in South Africa, as an example of a developing country. We focused on mobile phone accessibility fo...

Students enrolled at Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions tend to combine study and work and to succeed they have to optimize free time for studying. Therefore, many ODL students access and interact with information in a mobile context, which implies that interaction takes place in dynamic and changing environments. This presents students...

Possessing appropriate ICT skills has become necessary to meet the demands of the knowledge driven economies. Therefore, the transfer of those skills to Higher Education learners must be accomplished effectively. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the literature on computer-based ICT skills and the categorisation of those skills. This paper ou...

Business Intelligence (BI) applications provide business information and drive decision support. To derive maximum benefit from BI applications, the applications need to be used optimally. Optimal use depends on various factors including the usability of the product. The documented need for BI usability research together with the practical need for...

Despite the widespread adoption of Internet banking there are no validated guidelines on the functionality the younger, techno-savvy Generation-Y customer segment (18-35 year age bracket) expect from Internet banking websites. This research investigated the functionality the Generation-Y customer segment require from South-African Internet banking...

Background: Management information systems (MIS) are pivotal in the efficient and effective running of Further Education and Training (FET) colleges. Therefore, the evaluation of MIS success is an essential spoke in the wheel of FET college success. Based on an extensive literature review it was concluded that no MIS success evaluation model for FE...

Capacity in and enhancement of critical, scarce and intermediate skills are seen as a national priority in South Africa. The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) in South Africa has prioritized the success of the Further Education and Training (FET) sector to meet this need for capacity development in critical, scarce and intermediate...

The current focus on the development of mobile and ubiquitous computing technologies presents new and exciting challenges for the evaluation of interactive products. Despite a vast and growing literature on mobile phone requirements for the elderly there are no customisable design guidelines to support and inform designers and especially, the peopl...

Despite the accepted importance of User Experience (UX) as a concept related to and yet distinct from usability, there is still some ambiguity about the relationship between UX and usability. This paper aims to investigate the role of usability in contributing to a good UX in the rapidly-growing domain of e-commerce websites, where user experience...

Organisations attempt to minimise ill-advised use of email by issuing email acceptable use policies to educate their employees. There is no widely accepted standard for these documents; their content and focus varies widely, as we will show here. Persistent reports of poor emailing behaviour suggest that they are not as effective as one would hope....

Developing countries in general, and South Africa in particular has shown phenomenal growth in the mobile cellular technology sector. Providing mobile cellular access to information and services has ushered a new era of challenges and opportunities for Higher Education Institutions. The aim of this article is to investigate students' needs and expe...

Developing countries and South Africa in specific have shown phenomenal growth in the mobile sector. This has ushered in a new era of challenges and opportunities for alleviating digital poverty through distance education. One of these challenges is that many students are mobile primary and accustomed to incorporating their mobile devices' informat...

Despite the accepted importance of User Experience (UX) as a concept related to and yet distinct from usability, there is still some ambiguity about the relationship between UX and usability. This paper aims to investigate the role of usability in contributing to a good UX in the rapidly-growing domain of e-commerce websites, where user experience...