Southern African Journal of Communication and Information Science

Guest Editors and Reviewers

Dr. Peterson Dewah; Dr. Sibongile Mpofu — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

We would like to thank the following guest editors and reviewers for SAJCIS Volume 01 (2021).

Foreword Editorial for First Issue

Dr. Sibongile Mpofu, Dr. Peterson Dewah — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The Southern African Journal of Communication and Information Science (SAJCIS) is an outcome of eight successfully hosted conferences by the Faculty of Communication and Information Science at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST). The 7th and 8th ICCIS produced peer reviewed proceedings and there was determination not only to produce peer reviewed proceedings but an accredited journal. The SAJCIS is a peer-reviewed journal that aims to provide research on current developments in the management of information. The journal aims to understand policies and practices in the broader themes of Records and Archives
Management, Journalism and Media Studies, Library and Information Science and Publishing Studies

Measuring the Impact of Institutional Repositories in selected Zimbabwean State Universities

Phillip Ndlovu, Dr. Notice Pasipamire — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose
This paper reports on a study that was conducted to investigate the citation impact of institutional repositories (IRs) in selected Zimbabwean state universities using the Scopus cited reference search facility. The study assessed the extent to which archived content is cited by publications indexed in Scopus.

Design/methodology/approach
The Scopus cited references search facility was used to mine for documents citing IR content from 2014 to 2018. Results from Scopus searches were exported into text files then transported to excel workbooks for filtering and analysis. The impact of an IR was analysed from two perspectives; cited and citing documents characteristics including but not limited to the number of publications, document types and country affiliation of citing authors.

Findings
Results show that on average 8.6 documents per year were cited for all IRs combined within the 5 year period selected for the study. The most frequent Scopus indexed document type citing IR content were research articles, constituting over 50% of all citing documents across all IRs selected for the study. The most cited document types in all IRs were thesis and dissertations followed by research articles. The University of Zimbabwe IR was found to be the most influential, with 34 citers affiliated in 12 countries.

Originality/value
The study demonstrated the feasibility of using the Scopus cited reference searching facility to mine for documents citing IRs. The research puts forward a new measure of research impact which involves analysing the extent to which IR content is cited by documents indexed in a major commercial citation database (Scopus).

The Management of Metadata in the Digital Photographic Collection at Celebration Ministries International in Harare.

Desire Jakata, Obert Wutete — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Metadata plays a significant role in facilitating the authentication and retrieval of digital photographic records. The purpose of this study was to assess how the capturing of metadata and the use of a photographic management software can facilitate easy retrieval and access to digital photographic records. According to Getaneh (2014), metadata is structured information that describes, explains and locatesinformation resources. Types of metadata such as descriptive, administrative and structural metadata are essential in managing photographs since they support the findability and retrieval of photographs. The study used a case study design, where interviews and questionnaires were employed as data collection instruments. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the types of metadata captured for retrieval purposes; understand the challenges associated with the storage and retrieval of photographs
as well as establishing the extent to which metadata assist in easier management of photographic collections of the church archive. The findings of the study revealed that the system used in managing the collection has incomplete retrieval metadata fields. This was due to the fact that the system used to capture metadata traits has pre-defined metadata fields, thus creating shortfalls in the captured information. More so, the software system used at the church archive is open-source software and it lacks defined metadata standards. The study recommended the adoption of socially-constructed metadata standard. Furthermore, there is need to use proprietary client-oriented photographs management software (PCOPMS) since it allows the capturing of sufficient metadata.

Social media use and the proliferation of fake news during the COVID-19 pandemic in Botswana: the archives and records management dilemma

Tshepho Mosweu — Sat, 17 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose- To assess the impact of the proliferation of fake news through social media during COVID-19 pandemic on archives and records management in Botswana.

Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual paper which adopts the qualitative research approach. Documentary review on fake news, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID19), archives and records management and social media is used to collect data for the paper.

Findings- The main findings were that even though Batswana appreciate social media platforms as they enable easy access to information, these platforms make them more susceptible to fake news and intolerance. This situation has led Botswana to legislate some laws to try to curb the spread of fake news. The paper also established that the digital era has made it difficult for records professionals to identify and preserve authentic records for evidential purposes. As a result, and particularly due to COVID-19, automation of the records manual processes through the use of modern smart technologies has become inevitable for
organisations in the country. Consequently, there is need for continuous training of the archives and records personnel.

Research limitations/implications- The findings of this paper are limited to the reviewed literature on Botswana and may not be generalised to other situations. Practical implications- Findings of this study could assist archivists and records managers in their professional decisions during the post-truth era. The results points to the importance of the preservation of the authenticity and integrity of records.

Grain and Vegetable Amaranth Adoption in Binga Rural District of Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This study seeks to popularise the traditional grain and vegetable aramanth crop in Manjolo and Sikalenge wards of Binga Rural District of Matabeleland North in Zimbabwe. The study of the grain and vegetable amaranth project by Ntengwe for Community Development (NCD) in collaboration with Tugwi Mukosi Multidisciplinary Research Institute (TMMRI) of the Midlands State University comprised of 74 farmers in the two wards aims at enhancing household nutrition, food and income security for the communities. Data for the study was collected by interviewing the aramanth farmers, 3 retail outlets (supermarkets) manangers, 3 hoteland lodges managers, as well as 2 crop science specialists in April and May 2020. The SPSS version 24 was used to analyse the data. Findings from the study indicate that the communities were not aware of the food value of the but knew aramanth as an indigenous weed which grew on abandoned cattle pens and homesteads. Findings further indicate that the farmers have a positive perception towards the production and consumption of amaranth which can be exploited to create demand for the vegetable locally and beyond . Observed dynamics militating against commercial production of amaranth in the two wards include the poor transport delivery system, water shortages, costly farm inputs and information asymmetry on potential markets and suppliers. The study recommends further researches into amaranth productivity with regards to possibilities of value addition and beneficiation to tap international markets.

Infopreneurship as a career option among African University Students

Isaac Kazungu — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose– This study gives a review of infopreneurship in terms of motivations, curricula, teaching and learning environment in African universities.

Design/methodology/approach– The benefits of using the internet in business communications cannot be overlooked as it has opened up wide prospects not only for large businesses but more essentially for micro-enterprises. This opens entrepreneurial avenues especially among the youths through collecting and selling information to the needy. A critical review of research papers and articles was done using a five-step approach.

Findings– Evidence showed that challenges associated with the curricula, teaching methods, motivation to students, integration of infopreneurship courses with practical business, creativity and entrepreneurial aspects, are among the key findings of this study.

Originality/value–The study represents original research, it is an attempt to evaluate quality of curricular, teaching and learning environment and motivation to infopreneurship as a career option among university graduates in Africa.

Accessibility and utilisation of reproductive health information among youths in Songwe and Chunya districts, Tanzania: a longitudinal study

John Jackson Iwata — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Most youths in Songwe and Chunya Districts dropped out from school due to unplanned pregnancies, and some are infected by sexually transmitted diseases. Thus, it was assumed that, reproductive health information was not accessible to youths in the study area. Data for the study were collected twelve years from the previous study on the related title and topics. The aim was to study the trends on accessibility and utilisation of reproductive health information among youths in the study area. The specific objectives were to evaluate youths’ awareness on matters related to reproductive health, to identify sources frequently consulted and factors constraining access. The study employed a mixed method approach for data collection methods and analysis. Also, the study was underpinned by Wilson’s (1999) model of information behaviour. A total of 128 respondents participated in the study through questionnaire, interview and focus group discussion. Results show that most youths in the study had little awareness and access to reproductive health information available in different sources. The mostly preferred sources by youths were peers and friends followed by reading from published and unpublished sources. Furthermore, the mostly accessed information was preventive measures on sexually transmitted diseases. Hence, in conclusion, youths in the area had little awareness and access to reproductive health information, and rarely used the rarely accessed information. Therefore, for awareness creation on the matters and making sure
that youths use the accessed information, recommendations have been provided to youths, parents, teachers and government.

Leadership in food security: African traditional and humanitarian organisations’ leadership perspectives in food aid delivery. A case of Matabeleland in Zimbabwe

Peter Zwidekalanga Khumalo, Edson Munsaka — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Relief food aid delivery has failed in Africa to create beneficiary resilience in recurring drought and famine disasters. The deliveries of food aid to starving recipients delay or the food quantities delivered never match the amount and type of food needed. The traditional leadership participation is lacking at designing, planning and very limited at the implementation of the emergency response. Humanitarian relief aid leadership focuses on
fulfilling the donor mandates and the rights of beneficiaries to adequate food. It is oblivious to the needs of the food recipients due to the leadership’s ignorance of beneficiaries’ traditional and indigenous coping methods against famine disasters. African traditional leadership has, however, had household and community coping mechanisms against drought and famine disasters, but the leadership is ignorant about the operations of contemporary humanitarian relief food aid leadership. This research assesses traditional and relief aid NGOs leadership mechanisms that can increase food aid beneficiaries’ resilience against progressive drought and
famine disasters. The study was qualitative and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data that was analysed using MAXQDA (2018) that generated leadership thematic classifications in response to drought and famine disasters. The traditional and relief aid nongovernmental organisations’ leadership mechanisms contrasts in the study of food security resulted in three main leadership outcomes, namely Knowledge, creativity and adaptation for traditional leadership and limited outcomes and focus for the non-governmental organisations’ leadership. The research also highlights that the basis of the success of the traditional leadership model in ensuring food security is the relationship with and dependence on the natural environment produce.

Preparedness of the book sector in Zimbabwe for the development of e-learning materials for the new curriculum

Kudakwashe Dzache , Mass M. Tapfuma — Wed, 04 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose: In January 2017, the Zimbabwean government implemented a new curriculum for the primary and secondary school education level emphasizing e-learning. This has implications on the publishing sector, producing the new curriculum's necessary teaching and learning resources. However, there is no e-learning policy in Zimbabwe and the availability of infrastructure for elearning is of concern. The study sought to explore the e-readiness of the local textbook publishers for the new curriculum by establishing the availability of e-content, ascertaining schools’ capacity to implement e-learning and ascertain the availability of skilled e-content producers.

Methodology: This was a qualitative case study that adopted open-ended questionnaires and interviews for data collection. The study participants were purposively drawn from educational publishers and primary schools in the Bulawayo Metropolitan Province.

Findings: The findings revealed a lack of stakeholder preparedness to implement the e-learning initiative and inadequate e-learning infrastructure.

Implications: The study will influence policy and practice in developing textbooks and other teaching and learning materials for the new curriculum, emphasising e-learning.

Originality: The unplanned implementation of the new curriculum for the primary and secondary education system in January 2017, coming on the heels of the curriculum review consultations which had just ended in the mid-year of 2016, prompted the need to establish the preparedness of developers of textbooks and other learning materials for this move.

Zimbabwe’s print media coverage of Gender Based Violence: An analysis of the factors influencing journalists’ coverage of Gender-Based Violence issues

Dr. Sibongile Mpofu, Patience Pikanegore — Wed, 04 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose: This paper interrogates factors influencing journalists' coverage of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the Global South, specifically in Zimbabwe. The study analyses mainstream daily newspapers the Chronicle and NewsDay, is motivated by the numerous pressing GBV issues and cases affecting Zimbabwe, chief among them child marriages, sexual abuse, and domestic violence, largely against women. Therefore, the expectation is that with all these challenges on women and children, GBV stories will dominate the front pages of newspapers and airwaves in Zimbabwe as the media plays its role of mitigating the negative perceptions on issues of gender-based violence.

Methodology: The study adopted a qualitative research approach and utilised qualitative content analysis for the news articles and in-depth interviews with journalists and editors.

Findings: The study reveals that there is generally low coverage of GBV stories in both media, with rape dominating such stories. Further, law enforcement officers are major sources in GBV stories, rather than the victims. Key factors identified include lack of prioritisation of GBV stories by newsrooms, lack of journalistic skills to cover GBV issues, and a culture of silence within society on such issues.

Originality: Combining journalistic agency, the social construction of reality, and political economy of media theories in this paper helps unravel how gender-based violence issues remain absent in the order of priorities within Zimbabwean newsrooms, leading us to conclusions that GBV remains de-prioritised rendering the media ineffective in the fight against the GBV.