<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'><font size="3"><b>Information Technology for Development </b><br><br><br><b>Call for papers: <span class="il">Special</span> <span class="il">issue</span> on ICT and Development in Africa</b></font>
<font size="3"><br><br>The
African continent, in spite of great strides in terms of socio-economic
development, continues to lag economically advanced nations in its
research on the developmental impact of information and communication
technology (ICT). Encompassing modern technology that is used to aid
the electronic capture, processing, storage and disseminating of
information, whether in numerical, textual, audio or visual format, ICT
is an important driver for economic development and growth. With a
population of more than 1 billion people Africa represents a significant
portion of the world population and ICT is a vital tool to release the
creative potential and knowledge embedded in her people. Whilst African
countries are enthusiastically embracing ICT for socio-economic
development, mainstream IS research remains focused on the issues
related to ICT in developed, mature economies in North America and
Europe (Roztocki and Weistroffer, 2008) . Increasing our understanding
of the possibilities and limitations of ICT and how to promote its
adoption and use in Africa is of vital interest to information systems
researchers and practitioners. <br><br>The aim of this </font>
<font size="3"><span class="il">special</span> <span class="il">issue</span>
is to provide insight into the practices and applications of ICT,
identify problems and barriers, present context-specific findings and
solutions, illustrate how ICT is enabling development of Africa and its
countries and to support the flow of information from and about Africa
with the world. We encourage the submission of original research papers
as well as practice papers. We especially invite papers from authors
based in Africa or papers reporting on empirical research conducted in
Africa. Research from interpretive and critical research traditions
encompassing quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods are also
encouraged.<br><br>Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:</font>
<font size="3"><br><br>• Drivers and barriers for ICT adoption in Africa<br>• Innovative applications of ICTs in African countries, including mobile applications<br>• E-government, e-health, or e-learning applications in Africa<br>
• Building capacity in ICT <br>• Acceptance and use of cloud computing in African contexts<br>• User interfaces, information presentation and local language adaptation<br>• Research frameworks and methods to study ICT in Africa, African countries or communities<br>
• Impact of Africa on the ICT industry<br>• Impact of the Cheetah Generation on ICT in Africa<br>• ICT for socio-economic development in the African continent<br>• ICT infrastructure in African countries<br>• ICT policy and legislation in African countries <br>
• Strategies for addressing the digital divide and information poverty <br>• Information and computer literacy in African countries and communities<br>• Indigenous knowledge systems and ICT in African countries <br>
• ICT and social entrepreneurship in Africa<br>• Ethical aspects of ICTs in Africa, including e-waste <br>• Country-specific case studies of ICT adoption or use<br>• Digital divide and information poverty<br>
• ICT and community-based development approaches<br>
• ICT and the UN Millenium Development Goals in Africa<br><br> <br><strong>Deadlines</strong><br>Deadline for submission: February 1, 2013<br>Notification of initial acceptance: March 31, 2012<br>Deadline for revised papers: May 31, 2013<br>Notification of final acceptance: July 31, 2013<br>Tentative publication date: September 2013<br> <br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Paper submission instructions and review</span><br>Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit original papers using the journal submission and reviewing web site <a href="https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/itd">https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/itd</a>. Detailed submission guidelines can be found at: <a href="http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=0268-1102&linktype=44">http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=0268-1102&linktype=44</a>. The papers should follow the instructions for authors and authors should indicate “ICT and Development in Africa” special issue when uploading their papers. Submissions to the special issue should be full research papers (maximum 21 pages or 9000 words) or practice papers (approximately 4000 words). <br><br>Each submitted paper will be peer-reviewed in the same manner as other submissions to <em>Information Technology for Development</em>. Relevance, quality and originality of the contribution are the major acceptance criteria for each submission. After initial screening, papers are reviewed by selected members of the editorial board and an international pool of peer reviewers for quality, consistency and research contribution. Authors are welcome to nominate one of the special issue editors or preferred reviewers when submitting their paper where no conflict of interest exists (an existing business or professional partnership, past or present association as thesis adviser or thesis student, and/or collaboration on a project or on a book/article/report/paper or co-editing of a journal, compendium, or conference proceedings constitutes a conflict of interest). Please remember to remove all your personal identifiable information from the main manuscript before submitting it for review. Papers submitted to this journal must contain original results and must not be submitted elsewhere while being evaluated for publication in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Information Technology for Development</span>.<br><br></font><font size="3"><br><b><span class="il">Special</span> <span class="il">issue</span> editors:</b><br>Shana Ponelis <br>School of Information Studies <br>University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee<br>Milwaukee, WI, USA<br><a href="mailto:ponelis@uwm.edu" target="_blank">ponelis@uwm.edu</a> <br><br>Marlene Holmner</font>
<font size="3"><br>Department of Information Science<br>University of Pretoria<br>Pretoria, South Africa<br><a href="mailto:marlene.holmner@up.ac.za" target="_blank">marlene.holmner@up.ac.za</a><br><br></font><div><font size="3"><span name="x"></span><br>_______<br>Dr Shana Ponelis<br>School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee<br>Northwest Quadrant Building B, Room 3420, Milwaukee, WI 53211<br><a href="http://ponelis@uwm.edu">ponelis@uwm.edu</a> || 414-229-2514<br><br></font></div></div></body></html>