Abstract
The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of the extent and focus of information and communications technology (ICT) related research in Afrikaans for the period 2011‒2021. Doing scientific research in a language such as Afrikaans is not a matter of course, given the global pressure to publish in international journals with high citation rates, the fluency in English of most Afrikaans scholars, and the resources available at South African institutions to facilitate scientific publication in English. Factors that may exert a positive influence on a decision to publish in Afrikaans include the South African government subsidy formula for publication that does not discriminate against scientific publications in any of the indigenous languages, Afrikaans being a fully developed scientific language, and developmental perspectives that encourage scientific publication in local languages, which not only improves access to scientific literature for local communities, but also enables publication of local and indigenous knowledge in appropriate languages.
Language is an important aspect of scientific practice as a cultural phenomenon (Roth and Lawless 2005). Mouton (2005) demonstrates how this also applies to Afrikaans as scientific language, with scientific publication practices in Afrikaans corresponding to the scientific cultural practices that are established in various disciplines. Of particular relevance to this paper are his findings that ICT-related research does not correspond to a single scientific culture, and that human science-related research is more often locally published in Afrikaans journals than for instance research in natural or health sciences.
ICT-related research areas are diverse and are often interdisciplinary in nature. Furthermore ICT-related research comprises a mix of scholarly and practice based publications. An important consideration is the relatively short shelf-life of most technologies, which requires that research be published and disseminated as rapidly as possible. This also puts pressure on researchers to rather publish in English than in other languages.
For the purpose of this paper ICT-related fields are seen as the confluence of information systems and computing disciplines (computer science, software engineering, ICT) that have a core technological dimension. This corresponds largely to the ACM classification system for computing topics. In this article the disciplines in which the research papers were grounded were also of interest. As a guide to disciplinary areas the UNESCO classification system was used.
The review was structured around the following questions:
- What is the extent of scientific ICT-related research published in Afrikaans in the period 2011‒2021?
- Which ICT-related topics were researched in this period and in which disciplines were the studies grounded?
- Which themes can be identified in the published research?
- Is there (at an exploratory level) an indication that publications included in this review are linked through citations with one another or with other Afrikaans publications?
The contribution of the paper thus is to provide an update of “the extent and production of scientific products in Afrikaans” (Mouton 2005:370) in the focused area related to ICT research.
The research method used was a systematic review. A set of Boolean search strings was compiled and refined after a first round of searches. It became clear at an early stage that the normal sources of publications used for systematic reviews (e.g. Web of Science and Scopus) provided inadequate coverage of Afrikaans publications and the search was adapted to search via the open internet and known scholarly publication outlets in Afrikaans (e.g. LitNet Akademies, Tydskrif vir Natuurwetenskap en Tegnologie and Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe). Papers included in the review were selected on the basis of relevance and scholarly merit. On this basis, 86 publications were selected and analysed as part of the study. These comprised 53% journal publications and 47% dissertations and theses. The publications included in the review were analysed using a grounded approach to allow an overall picture of the scope and focus of the research to emerge.
Although more than 90 researchers had participated in the studies included in the review, only 11 were involved in more than a single publication. Authors of the publications were mainly affiliated with the traditional large South African universities. Researchers from North-West University contributed significantly more than other universities, largely because of the significant number of theses and dissertations completed in Afrikaans at this university.
Although overall numbers of publications remained relatively stable for the period 2011‒2021, a closer examination revealed a significant decline in the production of theses and dissertations in Afrikaans, while publication of journal papers increased significantly since 2016, with LitNet Akademies as the preferred publication outlet.
In terms of the focus and nature of ICT-related discourses it emerged that the vast majority of publications had their origins in human and social sciences, and education. Only a limited number of papers were focused on ICT within a technological context.
In terms of the ACM classification system the main technological focus areas in the publications related to computing applications (mainly educational applications) and web-based applications (mainly social media).
Findings show that ICT-related research in Afrikaans exhibits a strong social nature, with the social context of information technology determining the nature and focus of the research in most instances. The central theme identified is “aspects of being human in the digital environment”, with significant subthemes being “education and technology”, and “language (notably Afrikaans) as central role player in ICT-related research”. The aspects of being human that are addressed include philosophical, theological, psychological, social, historical, language and educational dimensions.
The subtheme of “education and technology” relates to both schools and tertiary education. Research focused on teachers and lecturers, technological considerations related to e-learning and online learning, social networks and computer applications, and the context of the adoption and use of technology in schools.
Research relating to the subtheme of “language (notably Afrikaans) as a core role player in ICT-related research” demonstrates the role of language as both a stimulus and an area of application (both in terms of the language and its users). Main elements covered include Afrikaans as resource-scarce language, the impact of technology on aspects of Afrikaans, digital lexicography and related work, technological support for Afrikaans education, language and technology as bridging facility and virtual Afrikaans communities.
An exploration of bibliometric aspects of the research included in the survey shows that only 53% of publications are cited, with 47% having no citations. Within the subtheme of “language as central role player in ICT research” citation rates are higher, with 63% of publications being cited. The most citations for any single publication in the study is 15 citations. Although a majority (61%) of the publications do cite other Afrikaans sources, only 21% of the publications cite other publications included in the study.
The large number of authors that have published on the topic in Afrikaans is an indication that there are sufficient numbers of scientists with the ability to conduct research and report on it in a scientific manner in Afrikaans. However, there is limited evidence (at exploratory level) of a cohesive scientific culture that has developed. This may be contrasted with the current default status of (international) scientific research that relies on discourse (including inter- and trans-disciplinary discourses), convergence, connectivity (among researchers) and sharing of resources and infrastructure (Pérez-Llantada 2012). For ICT-related research in Afrikaans to develop a scientific culture, the point of departure cannot solely be “science-as-knowledge”, but needs to broaden to include “science-as-practice” (Pickering 1992). Thus, through an ecosystemic approach around scientific practice (including all the elements of international scientific research listed above), a cohesive scientific culture around ICT in Afrikaans can be sustained.
The theme “language as a core role player in ICT-related research” holds potential for sustainable further research in Afrikaans. The South African context requires equal treatment of all official languages. With most of these languages lacking resources, there is potential for a research and development agenda for the development of digital resources for resource-scarce languages, including Afrikaans.
Keywords: Afrikaans; computer science; information and communications technology; information systems
- This article’s featured image by Israel Palacio was obtained from Unsplash.