Department of Computational Sciences

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http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11837/158
The Department of Computational Sciences collection provides access to the scholarly and research outputs of staff and students. This collection includes theses and dissertations, research articles, conference papers, and examination question papers. The Department brings together the disciplines of Computer Science, Pure and Applied Mathematics, and Statistics, offering a strong foundation in analytical, computational, and problem-solving skills. Through its focus on both theoretical and applied approaches, the Department equips students to contribute to advances in technology, data analysis, mathematical modelling, and scientific research. By preserving and disseminating these resources, the collection supports teaching, learning, and research while fostering innovation, critical inquiry, and capacity-building within the University and the broader society.

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Browsing Department of Computational Sciences by Author "Njeje, Sicelo Given"

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    Implementing a robust, cost effective, e-commerce platform for a disadvantaged community of the Eastern Cape, South Africa
    (University of Fort Hare, 2008) Njeje, Sicelo Given
    The development of electronic commerce (e-commerce) is the most visible business use of the World Wide Web. The primary goal of an e-commerce site is to sell goods and services online. This project deals with developing an e-commerce platform for marginalized communities of the Eastern Cape region, South Africa. An online “shopping mall” to support the marketing of art and crafts from disadvantaged communities is presented, with Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP (LAMP) as the development environment. Free and Open Source Software has been chosen to develop the virtual shopping mall system because the use of Open Source allows easy localization and extensions to the system developed and long term sustainability, as the source code is available. Also, it might start a “virtuous” circle, whereby young members of the communities hosting art and craft makers become involved in maintenance, and then production, of software systems. One important design constraint from the e-commerce platform presented in this thesis is the possibility for the art and craft makers to manage their shops directly, from the initial loading of their wares to the day-to-day maintenance, such as changes of price or items. The user requirement elicitation and initial field testing were conducted in Dwesa, an area on the wild coast, South Africa. The system currently comprising two shops is live at the time of writing this thesis at www.dwesa.com.