A mobile based technology platform for citizen engagement in Malawi

2016 IST-Africa Week Conference Pub Date : 2016-05-11 DOI:10.1109/ISTAFRICA.2016.7530683

Rachel Sibande, H. Thinyane

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

The proliferation of mobile phones and the internet has presented opportunities to enhance communication between citizens, elected leaders, service providers and local government. This paper examines the status of citizen participation in Malawi and the gaps that exist. We leverage the exponential and continued growth of mobile phones; to develop a mobile responsive web based citizen engagement platform to address the deficiencies that exist in citizen engagement beyond elections as observed by scholars and practitioners. The paper presents work in progress on the development and deployment of this citizen engagement platform in Malawi. The prototype caters for data collection streams through SMS, web forms and social media. It also integrates multimedia files such as images, videos and audio for evidence based reporting. Beyond deployment of the platform, research will be conducted to unearth factors that influence or constrain citizens from adopting technology as a tool for engagement. Results of this study are expected to contribute to the discourse on use of ICTs as a tool for citizen engagement to inform subsequent deployments.

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马拉维公民参与的移动技术平台

手机和互联网的普及为加强公民、民选领导人、服务提供商和地方政府之间的沟通提供了机会。本文考察了马拉维公民参与的现状和存在的差距。我们利用了手机的指数级和持续增长;开发一个基于移动响应网络的公民参与平台，以解决学者和实践者所观察到的公民参与在选举之外存在的缺陷。该文件介绍了在马拉维开发和部署这一公民参与平台的进展情况。原型机通过短信、网页表单和社交媒体来收集数据流。它还集成了多媒体文件，如图像、视频和音频，用于基于证据的报告。除了部署平台之外，还将进行研究，以发掘影响或限制公民采用技术作为参与工具的因素。预计这项研究的结果将有助于讨论如何将ict作为公民参与的工具，为后续部署提供信息。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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2016 IST-Africa Week Conference

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