Document details

Age-Inclusive ICT Innovation for Service Delivery in South Africa: A Developing Country Perspective

Cham: Springer (2022), xxi, 257 pp.

Contains index

ISBN 978-3-030-94606-7 (ebook); 978-3-030-94605-0 (print)

CC BY

"Worldwide, it is anticipated that care needs of older populations will outstrip available resources. Sub-Saharan Africa lacks relevant long-term care systems for older persons, and technology could play a crucial role in supporting families, communities and government in vital care management. This volume addresses, in three parts, the under-explored topic of age-inclusive ICT development and use in resource-poor countries. Part 1, Context and Project Background, sets out ICT service delivery to older persons globally and within South Africa, drawing on guiding legislative frameworks. It discusses the we-deliver project as an example of developing and applying age-inclusive technology in developing countries. Part 2, Principles, Process and Applications, proposes situationally and relationally informed ethical conduct in applying community-based research; the development of a questionnaire and application to present first-time baseline findings of older South Africans’ cell phone use, highlighting its intergenerational facilitation. The development of the Yabelana (alluding to ‘sharing’) ecosystem (consisting of a website, an app, and an unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) code) turned out to be a first of its kind: a digital self-sustaining technology artefact that serves as an eDirectory to provide information about local services or events for (but not exclusively) older individuals. Part 3, Critical Reflections and the Way Forward, considers the inclusion of marginalized older individuals and the future of ICT and cell phone technology to inform research, practice, and policy." (Back cover)
PART I. CONTEXT AND PROJECT BACKGROUND
1 "Leapfrog Technology": Locating Older (South) Africans at the ICT Interface / Jaco Hoffman, 3
2 Municipal Service Delivery to Older Persons: Contextualizing Opportunities for ICT Interventions / Vera Roos, Anél du Plessis, and Jaco Hoffman, 29
3 Older South Africans' Access to Service Delivery through Technology: A Process Overview / Vera Roos, 55
PART II. PRINCIPLES, PROCESSES AND APPLICATIONS
4 Situationally and Relationally Guided Ethical Conduct for Researchers: A Community-Based Research Project to Design and Develop an ICT Intervention / Vera Roos, Puleng Segalo, and Ngenisiwe Ntombela, 85
5 Developing a Questionnaire to Investigate Older Individuals' Cell Phone Use and Age-Inclusive Implementation through Technology / Mianda Erasmus, Elizabeth Bothma, and Vera Roos, 109
6 Older South Africans' Cell Phone Use in Diverse Settings: A Baseline Assessment / Vera Roos, Jaco Hoffman, Mianda Erasmus, Elizabeth Bothma, and Leoni van der Vaart, 153
7 Intergenerational Experiences around Older Persons' Cell Phone Use in Formal Public Domains / Vera Roos, Jaco Hoffman, and Choja Oduaran, 179
8 Yabelana: Designing and Introducing an Age-Inclusive and Context-Specific Information and Communication (ICT) Ecosystem / Vera Roos and Darelle van Greunen, 205
PART III. AGE-INCLUSIVE ICT DESIGN AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS
9 Inclusion of Marginalized Older Individuals in Artefact Design: Reflections and Recommendations / Vera Roos and J. T. Janse van Rensburg, 229
10 Digital Divide and Digital Inclusion: Juxtaposed Realities and eInclusive Prospects for Older Persons / Jaco Hoffman and Vera Roos, 243