An integration of community informatics and enterprise architecture in ICT projects for rural communities : a case study in Grabouw, Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

Despite the vast and well-established Information System (IS) field research, various supporting disciplines and research fields that generate innovative socio-technical ICT projects, socio-economic development, and sustainability in rural and underserved communities are still elusive. The research explores the integration of enterprise architecture (EA) discipline and community informatics (CI) discipline to develop a framework, EA4CD, that can develop, deploy and implement community-based ICT projects for rural and underserved communities. The participatory development theory (PDT) theoretical framework anchors this research as it strengthens the collaboration between the community and the government in development strategies. CI defines a robust and strategic position, which encourages social cohesion and drives community services' design and implementation. While the government EA addresses issues of alignment, integration, and agility within the service departments. Rural and underserved communities face unique challenges of prescriptive knowledge when implementing community-based ICT projects. Design science research (DSR) methodology fulfils this prescriptive need. Besides, the interdisciplinary, interpretive qualitative study –– seeks ways to respond to the synergies among respondents to create good ideas. A purposive, convenient, and snowball sampling strategy adopted in this study provided information-rich cases that helped develop and implement community-based ICT projects in Grabouw. A sample size of 33 respondents participated. The transcribed interviews were analysed using abductive grounded theory principles. This research's primary finding is that there is a dire need to ensure that the rural and underserved communities participate in the development, deployment, and implementation of community-based ICT projects that promote community development. The research output is an EA4CD framework that integrates CI and EA tenets to benefit rural and underserved communities in implementing community-based ICT projects. This study is significant to the Grabouw community in addressing the difficulty experienced in building the optimum infrastructure, creating a developmental and innovative environment, and utilising the e-commerce opportunities that the Western Cape government provides to improve the community's socio-political-economic situation.