Introduction While previous research has demonstrated the feasibility of chatbots in delivering low-cost digital health interventions, further research is needed to understand the factors that enhance user engagement and intervention effectiveness. Objective This study examines the facilitators and barriers to engagement in a chatbot-led parenting intervention delivered to caregivers of adolescent girls in low-income South African communities. Methods This qualitative study was nested within a 2 x 2 factorial cluster randomised trial testing external human-delivered components designed to support engagement in the ParentText chatbot. Ninety-seven participants were purposively recruited from the larger sample for focus group discussions. Thematic analysis was used to identify facilitators and barriers to engagement, informed by the Digital Health Engagement Model and the Health Action Process Approach. Results Caregivers reported that engagement with the chatbot contributed to reductions in physical punishment and parent–adolescent conflict while promoting greater openness to discussions of sensitive reproductive health topics. Caregiver perceptions of both content quality (perceptions of how useful the chatbot was in supporting adolescents’ wellbeing) and delivery quality (safe and empathetic delivery by the chatbot) motivated initial and ongoing chatbot use. Social influence emerged as an important facilitator of ongoing use and application of positive parenting skills, while lack of internet and smartphone access were major drivers of disengagement. Access to human support for troubleshooting chatbot errors helped re-engage users when they felt less motivated due to challenges with troubleshooting chatbot errors. Gender-related barriers also emerged, such as women’s disproportionate caregiving and household responsibilities limiting their completion of chatbot parenting modules, underscoring the need for gender-intentional design in digital parenting interventions. A major barrier to adopting more positive parenting practices was the entrenched beliefs that non-violent forms of discipline are ineffective. Conclusion This is the first known African study investigating qualitatively user engagement with a chatbot-delivered parenting intervention. Our findings underscore the importance of adopting a participatory approach while distinguishing strategies that enhance the technology itself from those that support caregivers’ behaviour change. Our results also provide unique insights into the key role of integrating person-centred design and community partnerships alongside strategies to address structural barriers to engagement. Trial Registration: Registry: Pan African Clinical Trial Registry

At the beginning of 2020, the world came to a stand‐still when governments across the globe decided to enter states of ‘emergency’ or ‘disaster’ over the breakout of the COVID‐19 pandemic. The responses to the pandemic included stringent movement restrictions and hygiene advice preventing face‐to‐face interactions. As a result, many activities, including schooling, working, and shopping were moved online, drastically increasing exposure to cyber threats and risks. It is unclear if and how the rapid increase in internet use corresponded to an improvement in cybersecurity mindset development in countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). This paper explores the effect of the increase in digital technology usage due to the COVID‐19 pandemic restrictions on the relationship between cybersecurity awareness‐raising initiatives and the development of higher levels of cybersecurity mindset in Botswana, Lesotho, and Malawi. These three countries have a similar cybersecurity footprint and an average cybersecurity capacity level for the region. The research applies a comparative multiple case study approach relying on a thematic review of the literature and related documents, supported by in‐depth interviews with purposefully selected key informants from the three selected SADC countries. Findings suggest that since the start of the COVID‐19 pandemic, awareness‐raising programs have gained some momentum in our selected countries, but the cybersecurity mindset has not improved. That was attributed to low frequency and poor quality of campaigns added to the lack of training, education and lived experience. The paper highlights the need to increase the frequency and improve the quality of programmes, for greater impact on the development of local cybersecurity mindsets.

Co-design is considered a critical success method for designing efficient solutions. However, this method presents challenges when working with wicked problems because participants come from different backgrounds and disciplines. Through a case study review, this study describes the operationalisation of the co-design approach to develop an Information Communication Technology (ICT) platform to address the complex, wicked problem faced in Water Sensitive Design (WSD), namely stakeholder engagement. The ICT platform aimed to integrate data from different disciplines to facilitate the collaboration and engagement of WSD stakeholders. Participants were involved in five different co-design cycles to reach a strategic solution. This study aimed to fill the gap of the co-design method regarding its operationalisation from project inception to delivery. The study adopts a pragmatism philosophy to demonstrate how co-design could be executed entirely online using a sequential and evolving series of co-design workshops following the cycles developed by Ssozi-mugarura, Blake, and Rivett [37] and the factors for effective co-design developed by Yokota et al. [33]. Previous studies conclude that the two theoretical frameworks are feasible, convenient, and efficient due to their simplicity. However, relying solely on the co-design cycles without the aid of factors for effective co-design would not be sufficient to operationalise the co-design of an ICT platform from project inception to completion, as the two do not serve as complete instructional models on their own. Hence, a comprehensive model was created that combines these two models systematically and thoroughly. This study makes significant theoretical and methodological contributions, guiding future researchers and practitioners to run co-design sessions online with multiple and cross-sectoral stakeholder teams.

As the world’s population increases, so does the demand for food. This demand for food in turn puts pressure on agriculture in many countries. The impact of climate change on the environment has made it difficult to produce food that may be necessary to accommodate the growing population. Due to these concerns, the agriculture sector is forced to move towards more efficient and sustainable methods of farming to increase productivity. There is evidence that the use of technology in agriculture has the potential to improve food production and food sustainability; thereby addressing the concerns of food security. The Internet of Things (IoT) has been suggested as a potential tool for farmers to overcome the impact of climate change on food security. However, there is dearth of research on the readiness of implementing IoT in South Africa’s agricultural sector. Therefore, this research aims to explore the readiness of the agricultural sector of South Africa for a wide implementation of IoT. This research conducts a desktop study through the lens of the PEST framework on the special case of South Africa. A thematic literature and documents review was deployed to examine the political, economic, societal and technological factors that may facilitate or impede the implementation of IoT in the agricultural sectors of South Africa. The findings suggest that the wide ranging political, economic, societal and technological constructs enable the implementation of IoT within South Africa’s agricultural sector. The most important include current policies, technological infrastructure, access to internet, and mobile technology which places South Africa in a good position to implement IoT in agriculture.

Teamwork is vital for agile projects' success from project inception to delivery. Despite the importance of teamwork within agile development teams, little is known about how teamwork affects agile teams within the higher education environment. This research studied the case of honors students in Information Systems from the University of Cape Town by testing the relationship between teamwork, team members' success, and team performance. Simple linear regression analysis was followed to determine teamwork's influence on team members' success and team performance. The results show that teamwork possesses a strong positive relationship with team members' success and a medium positive relationship with team performance. These findings confirm the vital role of teamwork in agile teams to achieve successful team performance and team members' success. This research contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the influence of teamwork in agile software methods in the higher education environment. Understanding such a relationship will help students recognize the importance of teamwork in delivering a good product that will benefit their grades. Moreover, it would contribute to a better design of curriculums for the Information Systems discipline.

Mobile victimisation is one form of cyberaggression that is increasing and affecting many young people today in the developing world. While studies on cyberbullying and cybervictimisation exist, the focus on mobile victimisation is limited. In addition, findings reported in earlier studies have been mainly from developed countries and inconclusive. There is also limited theoretical work to enhance conceptualisation and general understanding of mobile victimisation. Understanding this phenomenon in the developing countries is particularly critical as mobile phone usage and crime are among the highest in the world, legislation against misuse is not well developed and there is general lack of awareness of the national and international implications of cyberaggression in the developing nations. Through an extensive review of literature on victimisation, this paper develops a typology, i.e. Mobile Victimisation Typology (MVT), that caters to the understanding of mobile victimisation. The researchers also went further to validate empirically the MVT using cluster analysis. This confirmed all the three categories of victims proposed in the MVT and proved that it's three predictors could influence victims differently. The present findings are useful in creating awareness of mobile victimisation risks and can be used to inform the development of programmes, policies and legislation to control mobile bullying and victimisation in the developing nations in a more efficient and relevant direction in terms of resource and impact management.

To understand mobile victimisation, Lusinga and Kyobe (2017) developed a typology (Mobile Victimisation Typology (MVT)). This typology is based on (a) the frequency of mobile phone use, (b) the advancement of the mobile phone, and (c) the attachment to the mobile phone. With this typology, one can identify, describe, compare, explain and predict mobile victimisation of students. Adopting pragmatism as the ontological and epistemological stance, the current study describes the process of automating this typology and explains the usefulness of such an application to the potential victims of mobile bullying.

Mobile victimization is one form of cyber aggression that is increasing and affecting many young people today. While studies on cyberbullying and cyber victimisation exist, the focus on mobile victimization is limited. In addition, findings reported in earlier studies have also been inconclusive and limited theory development exists to enhance conceptualization and general understanding of this form of aggression. Calls have therefore been made to investigate further mobile aggression and victimisation.The present study aims to create better understanding of the nature of mobile victimisation in South African High schools. Through an extensive review of literature and theoretical works on victimisation, a typology was developed. This typology is based on the premise that; frequency of mobile phone use, the advancement of the mobile phone and attachment to the mobile phone are key predictors of mobile victimisation. In addition, it predicts that the extent to which a victim contributes to their own victimisation and categorizes victims into (i) innocent victims (victims who do not contribute to their own victimisation), (ii) victims with low contribution (those who make limited contribution to their own victimisation) and (iii) victims with moderate to high contribution (those who contribute largely to their own victimisation).This typology was then tested in an empirical study involving 5128 high school students from 14 schools in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape of South Africa. The results of a regression analysis confirm that the frequency of mobile use and attachment to mobile phone predict mobile victimisation. All the three categories of victims were identified, although category (ii) was the most common in South Africa. Furthermore, T-test results revealed that while gender does not have significant influence on victimisation in category (i) victims, it influences categories (ii) and (iii) victims. Correlation analysis also revealed a significant association between frequent use of chat-rooms and category (iii) victims (i.e. students who highly contribute to their own victimisation). These results are discussed further in this paper.