Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on the exploration of women farmers' information literacy (IL) in the context of rural Bangladesh within the context of an ICT-based women empowerment project.Design/methodology/approach: This study uses thematic analysis of qualitative data collected during a culturally sensitive workshop on IL with a group of project participants.Findings: The findings showed that women understood their information needs and where to find information, which indicates that participants had some basic IL skills. However, the online environment presented challenges for them to evaluate the quality of the information and its relevance to their daily activities. The cultural complexity of IL was observed with the rural women’s information practices affected by family patterns, community and religion, amongst other social factors. Collective practices are made highly evident by the women’s natural tendency to share phones and information and by the way information is maintained. While the collective practices are very useful in utilising information for daily needs, the downside is that women are potentially vulnerable to threats in an online environment when sharing confidential information.Originality/value: This article shows that in the context of rural Bangladesh, women farmers’ information-seeking behaviour and practices of sharing and creating information are influenced by sociocultural characteristics. It describes how the women’s situational context of collectivity and power relations influence their ways of handling information.

Smartphones are important for international development in the Global South. This paper explores how access to smartphone technologies promote women's agency for social change in these contexts by creating learning and livelihood opportunities and increasing connection with local market and service providers. The paper presents findings from a project which provided 200 Bangladeshi rural women farmers with smartphone technologies, training and support, and qualitatively investigated their ability to cope with geographic vulnerabilities, challenging market access, and social barriers. Reporting on a subset of these women's experiences, smartphone technologies helped these women gain better access to public agricultural extension and financial services, along with better acceptance from family and society. This, in turn, improved their dignity, confidence and sense of wellbeing. Insights will help ICT4D designers and development practitioners understand the importance of low-cost, bottom-up design inputs and social factors in future projects in similar developing country contexts.

End-users in a decision-oriented Internet of Things (IoT) healthcare system are often left in the dark regarding critical security information necessary for making informed decisions about potential risks. This is partly due to the lack of transparency and system security awareness end-users have in such systems. To empower end-users and enhance their cybersecurity situational awareness, it is imperative to thoroughly document and report the runtime security controls in place, as well as the security-relevant aspects of the devices they rely on, while the need for better transparency is obvious, it remains uncertain whether current systems offer adequate security metadata for end-users and how future designs can be improved to ensure better visibility into the security measures implemented. To address this gap, we conducted table-top exercises with ten security and ICT experts to evaluate a typical IoT-Health scenario. These exercises revealed the critical role of security metadata, identified the available ones to be presented to users, and suggested potential enhancements that could be integrated into system design. We present our observations from the exercises, highlighting experts’ valuable suggestions, concerns, and views, backed by our in-depth analysis. Moreover, as a proof-of-concept of our study, we simulated three relevant use cases to detect cyber risks. This comprehensive analysis underscores critical considerations that can significantly improve future system protocols, ensuring end-users are better equipped to navigate and mitigate security risks effectively.

Background: Some higher education institutions (HEIs) are constantly under pressure to deliver superior quality education services at low costs through deploying traditional on-premise systems. Cloud-based enterprise resource planning (Cloud ERP) presents an ideal opportunity to lower HEI costs in terms of scalability and pay-per-use features. Adoption of Cloud ERP is, however, still low for the context of HEIs. The successful adoption of Cloud ERP depends not only on the support of system providers but also on understanding Cloud ERP adoption from the client organization perspective. This study explores Cloud ERP adoption in the context of Australian HEIs. Method: This study adopted a case study methodology involving the in-depth semi structured interviews of several key stakeholders. Thematic analysis was used to analyze and interpret interview data. Results: Based on the case study, our findings suggest that this particular Australian HEI was subject to strategic, operational, technological, and financial motives originating from either internal or external locus. Most of the expected motives were realized, except the full flexibility of Cloud ERP. Four major challenges of Cloud ERP implementation were found. Conclusion: This study empirically investigates Cloud ERP adoption in HEIs by identifying the motives, realized benefits and challenges of Cloud ERP adoption, which bridges the research gap of this topic. This study could assist Cloud ERP providers to adjust their marketing strategies to promote the adoption rate of Cloud ERP in HEIs. Understanding the motives, challenges and benefits of IT adoption in HEIs facilitates judicious decision-making prior to selection and minimizes the possibility of the failure of Cloud ERP adoption.

The importance of Information and Communication Technology has been recognized but often undervalued by small businesses. Furthermore, best practices of ICT use in large companies do not always translate to a small business environment. Few studies have been done at the intersection of ICT and Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in a ‘holistic’ manner taking into consideration various aspects of ICT adoption and use. The LIAISE framework provides guidelines for investigating various aspects of ICT adoption and use, including ICT literacy, information, and content, access, infrastructure and support, and evaluation. The framework was originally developed for the non-profit sector and has been applied in the small business context by examining MSEs in developing countries. Using a case study in Indonesia, this paper will use LIAISE as an analytical framework to investigate mobile phone adoption and use by micro-entrepreneurs.