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The purpose of this study is to recognise the role of information and communication technology (ICT) tools in different sectors like Education, Health Care, Business, FMCG and Entertainment in the phase of social distancing. This study also attempts to provide a quantitative review of the scholarly literature on this topic.

A comprehensive literature evaluation was undertaken using a database encompassing 150 English-language papers with publication dates ranging from 2019 to 2021. The research profile and thematic analysis are presented through a comprehensive content analysis, resulting in four themes. The study reviews various research articles and reports related to social distancing and opens a discussion on the growing importance of ICT tools during this COVID-19 era.

ICT acts as a surviving tool for the economy by creating a virtual environment and helping people to stay socially connected during this pandemic. There is a lack of empirical evidence to support the facts so further research is required.

There are two drawbacks to the current study. Firstly, this study established a rigorous review methodology in which the researchers opted to exclude any grey literature, non-peer-reviewed articles, books, notes and book chapters from consideration. These sources could have had pertinent literature. Secondly, even after protocol’s rigour and numerous rounds of checks by a team of academicians and researchers, an anomaly may have sneaked into the evaluation.

The current study contributes to the growing literature on ICT tools particularly in this phase of social distancing. This paper highlights the need for future research in this area supported by different statistics.

The aim of this paper is to present the effectiveness of participatory information and communication technology (ICT) tools for urban planning, in particular, supporting bottom-up decision-making in urban management and governance.

This work begins with a presentation on the state of the art literature on the existing participatory approaches and their contribution to urban planning and the policymaking process. Furthermore, a case study, namely, the UrbanAPI project, is selected to identify new visualisation and simulation tools applied at different urban scales. These tools are applied in four different European cities – Vienna, Bologna, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Ruse – with the objective to identify the data needs for application development, commonalities in requirements of such participatory tools and their expected impact in policy and decision-making processes.

The case study presents three planning applications: three-dimensional Virtual Reality at neighbourhood scale, Public Motion Explorer at city-wide scale and Urban Growth Simulation at city-region scale. UrbanAPI applications indicate both active and passive participation secured by applying these tools at different urban scales and hence facilitate evidence-based urban planning decision-making. Structured engagement with the city administrations indicates commonalities in user needs and application requirements creating the potential for the development of generic features in these ICT tools which can be applied to many other cities throughout Europe.

This paper presents new ICT-enabled participatory urban planning tools at different urban scales to support collaborative decision-making and urban policy development. Various technologies are used for the development of these IT tools and applied to the real environment of four European cities.

This study aims to determine whether it is possible to use information and communication technology (ICT) tools to share tacit knowledge. Few studies have considered this subject, and they have reported both the ineffectiveness and effectiveness of ICT tools for sharing tacit knowledge.

In this study, the participants comprised 217 knowledge workers from New Zealand and researchers who attended a knowledge management conference in the UK. In all, 59% of the sample was men and 41% women. The research model compared the scores of knowledge workers in two categories of ICT, those that allow dialogue and those that do not, in relation to knowledge sharing in organizations. The instrument used a Likert scale with five levels of response.

It was found that not all ICT technologies let tacit knowledge to be shared, but those ICT that facilitate dialogue, for example, text messaging and video conferences. Emails did not facilitate the exchange of tacit knowledge.

It is suggested to replicate the study with different countries to evaluate the role of culture in the communication of tacit knowledge.

An implication for practitioners based on this study is that email should not be the preferred mode for transferring knowledge between an organization and their workers. This mode is adequate for the exchange of explicit knowledge, but it has a limited capacity for transferring tacit knowledge. Thus, organizations may increase the use of audio and video tools to transfer electronically tacit knowledge. Interaction or socialization may facilitate the understanding and internalization of tacit knowledge by workers.

This study contributed to understand the reason for contradictory results from previous research. ICT tools are effective to share tacit knowledge when they facilitate dialogue. Results also support practitioners about how to obtain more effective exchange of tacit knowledge in organizations.

The role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and digital platforms in enabling connectivity and collaboration among actors is neglected when dealing with outbound open innovation (OI). Moreover, the outbound OI process is not currently defined in a univocal way. Thus, this paper aims to outline the outbound OI phases and to explore role and capabilities of ICTs in supporting it.

Through a literature review approach, the authors specified the outbound OI process. Hence, the authors leveraged the similarities between the knowledge management process phases and the outbound OI phases for developing a conceptual framework that could match the outbound OI phases with acknowledged categories of ICT tools.

Through a process-view, the authors outlined outbound OI as a three-phase process. The authors developed a matrix-shaped framework in which the columns represent the three outbound OI process phases, while the rows are three ICT categories that could be suitable for supporting the outbound OI process.

The framework is designed to guide a deep understanding of how ICTs could support specific phases of the outbound OI process. In so doing, it could be useful for software developers interested in the preliminary design of an ICT platform for outbound OI.

The conceptual framework proposal as follows: specifies a detailed, process-oriented definition of the outbound OI; allows to identify the main ICT categories supporting the phases of the outbound OI process; and provides guidance for further exploration about the role of ICT in outbound OI.

This study aims to examine the relationship between tool adoption and information literacy within smallholder farmers (SHFs).

A structured questionnaire was used to gather data for this quantitative study from 225 SHFs. Structural equation modelling was done to test the hypotheses.

The findings established that tool adoption dimensions (Information and communication technologies (ICT) acceptance, language use and information culture) positively and significantly influenced information literacy. Information culture had the strongest impact.

The study enriches the situated learning theory (SLT) literature by introducing tool adoption as a predictor of information literacy in a new context of SHFs. Use of tools as independent variables is a positive deviation from previous studies that have used them as mediating variables. Despite the contributions, the cross-sectional design study undermines the ability to solicit more detailed perspectives from the lived in experience of the respondents.

Managers should promote usage of context-specific tools like local radio stations and mobile phones, but also use language tailored to farmer contexts when disseminating information. Policymakers should leverage on social and cultural settings when designing information interventions.

The study highlights critical factors that significantly promote information use for improved productivity for SHFs, cumulatively increasing the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Socially, findings may reduce on their poverty levels of farmers.

This study offers a novel perspective in information literacy domain by using the SLT to delineate contextual tools that are paramount in predicting of information literacy in an under research informal context of SHFs.

To survive in the global economy small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have to improve their products and processes exploiting their intellectual capital in a dynamic network of knowledge‐intensive relations inside and outside their borders. By erasing traditional constraints to SMEs innovation ability and leveraging their flexibility and responsiveness, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provide SMEs with opportunities for Knowledge Management (KM) today in most cases largely unexploited. Focusing on the area of Product Innovation (PI) and drawing evidence from the analysis of a multiple‐case study on 47 Italian SMEs, patterns in the adoption and use of new ICT tools are explained in relation both to Contingencies and to KM internal processes. Complexity at both product and system levels, emerges as a key factor driving technological choices. Three different KM configurations emerge in relation to ICT approaches. Implications of this study are relevant for both SMEs managers and ICT developers/vendors.

This paper aims to report the initial findings of a project aiming to re-establish basic education in conflict-ravaged states in Northeastern Nigeria and to improve education providers' ability to plan and deliver basic educational services. The authors present a preliminary analysis of Nigerian teachers' access to information communication technology (ICT), their technology skills, as well associated national ICT policies.

This case study uses results from two co-designed tools, administered using KoboToolbox to Education Managers in the first instance, and teachers in the second. The data from the tools form the basis for analysis.

In the first instance, educational managers reported a lack of access to technology, the internet and to training and professional development. In the second instance, teachers reported issues present in the classroom environment, including poor infrastructure, a lack of resources and over-crowded classrooms. Very few teachers had access to computers or to the internet.

The 33 educational managers represent a small sample size and may not be fully representative of the region covered. The ICT Capacity Audit tool listed Excel in two different areas – basic Excel skills and using Excel for data analysis – which could have caused confusion for participants. The data collection should be repeated, expanded and compared for consistency. For the team, changes to the proposed (SENSE) box content meant that we were not able to deliver low-tech tools, such as Boogie Boards, or high-tech tools, such as tablets, to schools.

Despite seemingly insurmountable challenges, the research team identified low-tech tools as a feasible resource in the classroom. Existing tools, such as teachers' smartphones and use of the WhatsApp application, can be used for sharing educational resources and providing teacher training. This paper argues that Nigeria needs up-to-date national ICT policies to guide in-country efforts to develop implementation of information technology initiatives for education.

The purpose of this research paper is to address the main research gap related to the lack of sufficient information regarding the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in second Arab Spring wave in comparison to the first one. The authors analysed the role of ICTs via data regarding the access to ICTs and its influence on organization and spread of the anti-regime protests, i.e. regime change.

Crisis situations are unpredictable, complex and unexpected. The consequences produced by the crisis situations or events may be negative for an individual, community, organization or society as a whole. In the new millennium, ICTs have an important role in deep social crises. The new technologies enable not only the rapid spread of certain political ideas, spin information, but also the spread of misinformation. The control over ICTs in the crisis situations is crucial. The aim of this paper is to indicate effect of the use of ICTs in the crisis situations, i.e. political upheavals in 11 countries of the “Arab Spring”. The contribution of this paper is based on the development of a special theoretical model of analysis that represents the combination of the theoretical considerations in the field of ICTs, as well as the analysis in the field of transitology, i.e. democratization. The first part of the paper is focussed on the development of ICT transition theory of ICTs’ impact on the process of political change, setting the hypotheses and the explanation of methodological approach of the paper. The second part is related to the review and description of data regarding ICTs use, while the third one discusses the impact of the use of ICTs in organizing and spreading protests in the Arab world, in line with the defined theoretical framework. Finally, there are given the research results in terms of confirming or refuting the hypotheses through the analysis of Arab transition cases.

The authors confirmed the main hypothesis of the paper that the factors that determined the role of ICTs in first Spring, also, have determined the role of ICTs in second Spring wave. These factors include high access to ICT tools, weak regime's control over ICTs’ use and important cross-border networking with regional and international audience. All that formed the promotional role of ICTs in regime change in 8 of the 11 countries mentioned in the paper.

Apart from the developed special theoretical model and the analysis of new wave Arab Spring cases, the significance and originality of this paper is reflected in a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach that connects political changes and the use of ICTs in disseminating certain policies and ideas.

Each stage in disaster management faces different challenges concerning information gathering, sharing, interpretation and dissemination. However, a comprehensive understanding of different information and communication technology (ICT) systems utilised for humanitarian disaster management is limited. Therefore, the paper follows a systems thinking approach to examine ten major man-made and/or natural disasters to comprehend the influence of ICT systems on humanitarian relief operations.

A longitudinal, multi-case study captures the use of ICT tools, stakeholders involvement, disaster stages and zones of operations for relief operations over the past two decades. A systems thinking approach is utilised to draw several inferences and develop frameworks.

Multiple ICT tools such as geographic information systems, online webpages/search engines, social media, unmanned aerial vehicles/robots and artificial intelligence are used for rapid disaster response and mitigation. Speed and coordination of relief operations have significantly increased in recent years due to the increased use of ICT systems.

Secondary data on the past ten disasters is utilised to draw inferences. The developed ICT-driven model must be validated during upcoming humanitarian relief operations.

A holistic understanding of a complex inter-relationship between influential variables (stakeholders, disaster stages, zones of operation, ICT systems) is beneficial for effectively managing humanitarian disasters.

Broadly classifying the ICT systems into surveillance, decision support and broadcasting systems, a novel ICT-enabled model for humanitarian relief operations is developed.

The aim of this paper is to develop the conceptual design of an information and communication technologies (ICT) platform supporting the inbound open innovation (OI) process within the technological developments business unit of Leonardo Defence Systems.

After a preliminary phase concerning the context analysis, methodology includes three main steps: conceptualization of functions; preliminary design; and conceptual design of the system/SW architecture. In each of these phases, the authors tried to merge evidence from the scientific literature with empirical insight emerging from the field.

Results report the conceptual design proposal for an integrated ICT platform supporting the OI. It includes the conceptualization of main functions, the preliminary design deriving from use cases and the proposal for the overall system architecture and data model.

The research focuses only on the conceptual design phase; at this stage, the platform has not been still implemented or tested. Also, generalizability concerns may arise from the single-application context.

The outcoming conceptual design can be useful for firms that open their boundaries to external partners, as well as for software developers which could draw on it. Firms approaching similar OI challenges can re-contextualize the platform to their own setting.

Originality of this research relies on the attempt to show how ICT can support firms in their OI processes and, secondly, to support firms aiming to create a positive environment that encourages people at leveraging existing external technological opportunities and sources of knowledge. In so doing, a systematic design approach to the definition of the conceptual proposal is also pursued.