Expert views on stimulating mobile apps in Africa as a creative industry

نویسنده

  • Hossana Twinomurinzi
چکیده

The potential and promise of mobile app development depends in large part on the creative capability of the app developer. In Africa, despite the explosion of mobile phones over the last few years, there is uncertainty regarding the state and need for more relevant apps. In this paper, we draw from a focus group discussion of African based experts and decision-makers from international agencies, academia, industry and the creative industries, to scope out a research and policy agenda for mobile app development in Africa. The guiding question for the group was how to stimulate an enabling creative environment that supports local African app development. The discussion was facilitated and analysed using Delphi-type techniques from collaboration engineering. We found that the expert groups viewed local relevance, demographics (of app developers, app users and app development training organisations), app demand, innovation, the app environment, stimulants and inhibitors as the main areas to be addressed. The highest importance was regarded as understanding the app ecosystem and creating locally relevant apps. The least important was on the app demand. The results underscored the need for flexible research and policy directions for a developmental role of ICT, particularly apps, in Africa. The paper further makes a contribution to transdisciplinary research to show the effectiveness with which ICT can mediate experts from different disciplines to create new realities, while at the same time meeting rigorous methodological requirements.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

R55. Expert views on stimulating mobile apps in Africa as a creative industry

The potential and promise of mobile app development depends in large part on the creative capability of the app developer. In Africa, despite the explosion of mobile phones over the last few years, there is uncertainty regarding the state and need for more relevant apps. In this paper, we draw from a focus group discussion of African based experts and decision-makers from international agencies...

متن کامل

Systematic Structuring of the Business Domain of Local Mobile Apps Stores Using Soft Systems Methodology (SSM)

Due to the global competitive environment in the mobile app market, traditional problem-solving methods in examining the problem of accepting stores offering these digital products have ignored the important role of human factors and therefore this weakness necessitates research on relevant policies by governing bodies from another perspective based on a soft systems thinking approach. This pro...

متن کامل

How to Improve the Security Skills of Mobile App Developers? Comparing and Contrasting Expert Views

Programmers’ lack of knowledge and ability in secure development threatens everyone who uses mobile apps. There’s no consensus on how to empower app programmers to get that knowledge. Based on interviews with twelve industry experts we argue that the discipline of secure app development is still at an early stage. Only once industry and academia have produced effective app developer motivation ...

متن کامل

Evaluating ELT Materials: A Comparison between Traditional Materials and Mobile Apps

This study attempted to evaluate and compare language learning apps and the related traditional books on the same subject. The apps included Murphy’s English Grammar and Cambridge Discovery Readers and the traditional materials were English Grammar in Use and Developing Reading Skills. The study, thus, aimed to do a comparative analysis between traditional ELT materials and the digital versions...

متن کامل

Evaluating ELT Materials: A Comparison between Traditional Materials and Mobile Apps

This study attempted to evaluate and compare language learning apps and the related traditional books on the same subject. The apps included Murphy’s English Grammar and Cambridge Discovery Readers and the traditional materials were English Grammar in Use and Developing Reading Skills. The study, thus, aimed to do a comparative analysis between traditional ELT materials and the digital versions...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2015