Domestication of free Wi-Fi amongst high school learners in disadvantaged communities in the Western Cape, South Africa

The provision of free Wi-Fi has dominated the African continent by providing Internet access to citizens. In 2014, South Africa was ahead of the rest of the African continent with more than 2,000 hotspots located in 60 local and district municipalities. Municipalities prioritised disadvantaged communities in an effort to bridge the digital divide for the citizens. It was anticipated that learners from disadvantaged communities in high schools would potentially benefit from this highly publicised project. Using the domestication framework, this interpretive study sought to understand how learners were adopting free Wi-Fi within their school environment in a disadvantaged community set-up. Key findings reveal that while access points are available to serve in disadvantaged communities some learners are able to connect whilst others are unable or struggle to connect with ease. This is due to poor signals and or disruption by multiple APs that are either malfunctioning or privately owned. Learners view the lack to connect and ease of use of the free Wi-Fi as an unfortunate disservice in a digitally competitive world.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Information Systems

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Mabhena, Zwelithini

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Chigona, Wallace

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27448

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/27448