Cultural and linguistic localization of the virtual shop owner interfaces of e commerce platforms for rural development

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dc.contributor.advisorMuyingi, H Nen
dc.contributor.advisorTerzoli, Aen
dc.contributor.authorDyakalashe, Siyabulelaen
dc.date.accessioned2026-08-13T00:07:23Z
dc.date.available2026-08-13T00:07:23Z
dc.date.issued2009en
dc.description.abstractThe introduction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for rural development in rural marginalized societies is vastly growing. However, the success of developing and deploying ICT related services is still in question as influential factors such as adaptability, scalability, sustainability, and usability have great effect on the rate of growth of ICTs in rural environments. The problem is that these ICT services should be maintained and sustained by the targeted communities. The main cause for rural marginalization is the fact that some communities situated in rural settings are educationally challenged and computer illiterate or semiliterate in comparison with urban communities. An ICT for development (ICT4D) intervention in the form of an e-Commerce platform that targets the social and economic growth of rural marginalized communities has been developed and field tested at Dwesa, a rural community located on the Wild Coast of the former homeland of Transkei in the Eastern Cape Province. The e-Commerce platform is known as “buy at Dwesa” and can be visited at this URL, http://www.dwesa.com. The aim of the e-Commerce platform is to motivate small entrepreneurs in rural areas to market their products and themselves to the global market as they lack the skills and resources for marketing their art and crafts. Virtual stores are created for a small group of entrepreneurs who will maintain and sustain the stores on their own. These entrepreneurs are often elderly women with limited education and little to no computer literacy - meaning that sustaining the stores may prove difficult for them. In this research we discuss the re-design and re-development of the virtual shop-owner interfaces of the e-Commerce platform to make them more culturally and linguistically localized. The virtual shops allow shop-owners to upload their artifacts to advertise and sell on the customer’s end of the e-Commerce platform. For multilingual and multicultural communities, adoption of the software interfaces to the user’s cultural and linguistic needs and modes of expression is important as failure to do so may reduce the level of benefits of e-Commerce initiatives.en
dc.format107 leaves; 30 cmen
dc.formatpdfen
dc.identifier.citationDyakalashe, Siyabulela. 2009en
dc.identifier.othervital:11379en
dc.identifier.otherhttp://hdl.handle.net/10353/276en
dc.identifier.otherUser interfaces (Computer systems)en
dc.identifier.otherElectronic commerce -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.identifier.otherRural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.identifier.otherRural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.identifier.otherComputer architecture -- Design and constructionen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11837/4612
dc.language.isoEnglishen
dc.publisherUniversity of Fort Hareen
dc.publisherFaculty of Science & Agricultureen
dc.rightsUniversity of Fort Hareen
dc.subjectUser interfaces (Computer systems)en
dc.subjectElectronic commerce -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.subjectRural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.subjectRural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.subjectComputer architecture -- Design and constructionen
dc.titleCultural and linguistic localization of the virtual shop owner interfaces of e commerce platforms for rural developmenten
dc.title.alternativeCultural and linguistic localization of the virtual shop owner interfaces of e commerce platforms for rural developmenten
dc.typeThesisen
dc.typeMastersen
dc.typeMSc (Computer Science)en

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