Digital platforms for research collaboration: using design science in developing a South African open knowledge repository

ABSTRACT

Research involving the use of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) inhabits an interdisciplinary space characterized by various philosophies, aspirations, realities and priorities. This diversity in the ICT4D research area complicates knowledge sharing between stakeholders in the field, which may inhibit the dialog between researchers, policy-makers and practitioners and limit collaboration. The purpose of this research was to investigate information technology (IT) enabled collaboration through the design and development of a sustainable open knowledge repository (OKR) according to the design science research (DSR) paradigm. OKRs are tools used to support knowledge sharing and collaboration. The theoretical contribution of this paper lies in the sharing of insights gained into the user requirements, system features and principles for guiding the development process of an OKR for Development Informatics research in South Africa and the implications for knowledge management. The research builds on existing knowledge by applying the four-cycle DSR methodology as a systematic and reproducible method of investigating an OKR as an example of IT-enabled collaboration. The practical contribution is the artifact (OKR) developed to enable the sharing of research knowledge.

KEYWORDS:

• Knowledge sharing
• knowledge repository
• community
• collaboration
• knowledge management
• development informatics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors .

Notes on contributors

Judy van Biljon is a professor in the School of Computing at the University of South Africa and holds a National Research Foundations’ chair in the field of Information and Communication Technology for Development. She is an active member of the South African research community and a founding member of the Association for Information Systems, Southern African Chapter (AISSAC). Her current areas of research specialisation are Human–Computer Interaction and Knowledge Management for the digital support of research collaboration. Her wider research interests include information and knowledge visualisation and the use of mobile technology for teaching and learning.

Mario Alphonso Marais is a Principal Researcher at the CSIR Meraka Institute and does research in ICT for Development, with a focus on systems approaches to sustainable development, social capital as a resource for entrepreneurs, the use of ICT in education, and the monitoring and evaluation of ICT-based initiatives. He holds a PhD in Informatics from the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

Melanie Platz currently works as deputy professor at the University of Education Freiburg in the Summer semester 2017 in the field of mathematics education. Beyond this period, she works as research fellow and lecturer at the Institute of Mathematics of the University of Koblenz-Landau, Campus Landau. She applies mathematical modelling for the mathematical optimisation of spatial public health using the One Health approach in the ICT4D context. In didactics, her focus is on problem-oriented mathematics teaching by being embedded in concrete applications and the use of digital media and open knowledge sharing in education.

Additional information

Funding

This work is based on the research supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation of South Africa [grant number 98564].