Marlene Holmner holds a DPhil in Information Science from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and is an Associate Professor and the current Head of the Department of the Department of Information Science at the University of Pretoria. Her research interests lie in the field of Information Ethics, Indigenous Knowledge, ICT for Development, Information and Knowledge Society, Institutional Repositories, Digitization, Mobile Technologies and Curriculum Development. Her work has been published in various academic journals including the South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science, Information Development, Innovation and Mousaion. Furthermore, she has published in internationally accredited journals such as Library Hi-Tech, Library Philosophy and Practice and Information Technology for Development, to mention a few. She has presented various papers and led panel discussions at national and international conferences such as ProLISSA, SCECSAL, IFLA, IATUL, ALA, iConference, ASIST and pre-ECIS and AMCIS SIG GlobDev workshops. She has also been the programme chair and co-chair at SIG GlobDev workshops and mini-tracks. She teaches courses related but not limited to these fields at undergraduate and postgraduate level and is the study leader and supervisor of several Masters and PhD students. Marlene is a Microsoft Certified Professional and is a member of various national and international organisations including, the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA), the African Centre of Excellence for Information Ethics (ACEIE), the Association of Information Systems (AIS), the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIST), and iSchool member to mention a few. ________________________________________________________________________________________ He is a full professor and holds degree qualifications in computer science, education and information sciences. Professor Mutula has recently been appointed the Interim Dean and Head: School of Commerce at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Prior to this appointment he served as Dean and Head: School of Management, IT and Governance in the same University. He is a National Research Foundation (NRF, SA) rated scientist. Prof Mutula has produced several publications including journal articles, books and chapters in books in such areas as Digital Economies, SMEs and E-readiness; Web-based Information Management; Information and Knowledge Management in the Digital Age; Digital Solutions for contemporary democracy and e-government; The Diasporean: The Southern African Perspectives Vol 1 and The Diasporean: Beyond Southern Africa, Vol2. Prof Mutula’ s publications are widely cited as reflected in his current Google Scholar h-index of 39, with 6214 citations and i10 of 130. Prof Mutula publishes in the areas of knowledge management, ethical dimension of i4.0, digital economy, digital transformation, digital inclusion/exclusion and digital government. Prof Mutula has been awarded several international excellence awards in his field by universities and scholarly publishing societies such as Emerald and others. For instance, in 2024 he was awarded the Highly Ranked Scholar status among the top of 0.05% by the global ScholarsGPS based on his accomplishments over the last five years. This award is informed by the impact and outstanding quality of his scholarly contributions. In particular, Prof Mutula was ranked #2 worldwide in the specialty “Digital Economy”. Prof Mutula also won the excellence award for the regional professional body - the 26th Standing Committee on East, Central and Southern Africa Information Professionals (SCECSAL) held from April 22-26, 2024, at Mombasa Hotel Sapphire Mombasa, Kenya. Prof Mutula has served on various international scholarly advisory boards of leading peer reviewed journals in his field. Prof Mutula has successfully supervised several doctoral and Masters Theses to completion. He serves as moderator and/or reviewer for several national, regional and international universities. ________________________________________________________________________________________ Professor Ocholla (PhD) is a Research Fellow in the Department of Information Studies at the University of Zululand. He joined the University as Professor (FP) and Head of the Department of Library and Information Science (1996-2014) and appointed Senior Professor at the University in 2006 until his retirement in 2022. He started his academic career at Moi University in Kenya, as a lecturer in 1988 and later Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Library and Information Studies before moving to the University of Botswana as a Visiting Scholar (1995-96). He has served the University 0f Zululand as Dean (1998-99), Vice Dean (2007-2011), Deputy Dean of Research and Internationalization (2014-2019), in the Faculty of Arts (now Humanities and Social Sciences). He graduated with PhD (Kiev and Leningrad/St Petersburg) 1988 in the former Soviet Union. His research and teaching interest-where he has published and graduated many masters and PhDs- include- information seeking, KM and IKS, ICT4D/Human computer interaction-user interfaces, LISE, data science- bibliometric /informetrics, information practices-information seeking, information ethics, scholarly communication, and research methods. He serves/has served in the editorial and peer review boards of many local (RSA) (e.g. SAJLIS,SAJIM,Mousaion-JLIS) and international journals (e.g. Library Management, Informetrics, LIBRI), conferences and research organizations/councils. He was the Editor -in- Chief of Inkanyiso: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (2009-2022) and before that, Editor -in- Chief of South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science (2006- 2028). He was also Guest Editor of special issues on African LIS for Library Management journal in two occasions(2018 and 2020).He has received research awards including NRF [RSA] established researcher rating (until 2028) four times. He recently (2024) edited three books (IKTRA) published by Springer Switzerland each focusing on - Data and knowledge management, Human Machine Interaction and User Interfaces, Information Seeking and Knowledge Economy. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Prof Onyancha is a Professor at the Department of Information Science, University of South Africa. He is currently serving as the Head of Graduate Studies and Research, College of Human Sciences. He holds a PhD in Library and Information Science and is a C2 National Research Foundation (SA)-rated researcher. His areas of research interest include Informetrics and Scientometrics, Information and Knowledge Management, Science Communication, and Knowledge Mobilization. Professor Onyancha has explored these areas of research interest to advance the academic and societal understanding of how information and knowledge are created, disseminated, and utilized in various contexts. Furthermore, his research has provided insights into the impact of information and communication technologies in information processing and use, the role of metadata in information retrieval, and the importance of knowledge management in organizational performance. Some of his research can be accessed at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Omwoyo_Onyancha/contributions. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Professor Elisha Chiware is the current Director of Libraries at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa. He has worked in academic libraries and taught in library and information science schools in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe. He holds a BA Degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Zimbabwe, Master of Library Science from Indiana University, Bloomington in the US and a PhD in Information Science from the University of Pretoria. Elisha previously served as Secretary General of IATUL – the International Association of University Libraries for over 6 years and serves in an advisory capacity on boards globally in the fields of digitization and research data management. Elisha has been a leader in the development of Open Science projects mainly in Research Data Management services at Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Currently Professor Chiware is leading the development of a National Statistics Database for the South African Higher Education Libraries sector. A tool that will be widely used by libraries for benchmarking and advocacy in resource allocation. Prof Chiware also teaches part-time at the University of the Western Cape in Research Methods and Data Stewardship as well as supervising masters and doctoral students. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Jan Resenga Maluleka is an NRF rated professor in the Department of Information Science at the University of South Africa (UNISA). His research interests include, indigenous knowledge systems, knowledge management, Informetrics and bibliometrics, ICT’s, Archives and records management. He is the editor in chief of Mousaion (South African Journal of Information Studies). He serves on the editorial board of the African Journal of Libraries Archives and Information Sciences (2023 to date) and the Ghana Library Journal (2021 -2025). He also serves on the advisory board for the University of Johannesburg archives. He has published and co-published 38 articles in accredited national and international journals, two (2) book chapters, and edited two (2) storybooks for children. He has mentored colleagues and students in the area of research resulting in 13 accredited outputs. He supervised three (5) PhD’s to completion and currently supervising seven (7) PhD’s. He is an external examiner for the University of Cape Town, University of the Western Cape, University of Zululand, and University of Limpopo.. He is a co-investigator in the community engagement project called “Taking archives to the people” since 2017. He is also a project leader for the Storytelling and Documentation of Cultural Heritage project since 2017. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Prof Kingo Mchombu obtained his undergraduate education at the University of Dar Es-Salaam in the mid-1970s. He studied at Loughborough University for his Masters degree and completed his PhD in Information Studies at the same University in 1995. His working history spans three institutions. He started work at Tanzania Library Services as a Librarian and Training Officer, after which he moved to the University of Botswana as Lecturer/Senior Lecturer. He joined the University of Namibia .in 1996 as an Associate Professor. He was promoted to the rank of Professor in 1998. He has served the University of Namibia in various capacities, including Head of Department of information and Communication Studies (1997-2005), Deputy Dean of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (2005-2007) and is current Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (2008 to date). He has chaired various committees and Task Forces and is the previous Chair of the Think Tank Committee of UNAM. He has served on the board of various organisations locally and internationally. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Organisation for Development in Education (CODE), the Board of Directors Namibia Democracy Institute (NDI), and the Board of Directors of Book Aid International, London, UK. He is the previous Honorary President of Book Aid International for the past two years. He is on the editorial board of various local and international journals, including, but not limited to: Information Development Journal, Knowledge Management Journal, and Knowledge Management for Development Journal, Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Namibia Development Journal.He has published widely on Information and Communication Studies in Southern Africa. He has many journal articles on public libraries and community information services, communication for development, knowledge management, communication and HIV/AIDS prevention, Information support for rural development, indigenous Knowledge Management, among others. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Professor Kelvin Joseph Bwalya Kelvin Joseph Bwalya is a full Professor in Computer Information Systems and University Head of Research Development at Sohar University, Oman. He is a C1 rated NRF scholar. He served as Vice Dean as well as vice chairperson of the UJ Senate Academic Freedom Committee. He is a Fellow of the International Engineering and Technology Institute (Hong Kong), and member of the Board of Directors for the Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (Singapore). Prof Bwalya is a visiting professor in three different universities: Rajamangla University of Technology, Sri Lanka; Alagappa University, India; and the Information and Communications University, Zambia. He is also a Senior Subject Expert (AI) at University of Lusaka. He has supervised 10 PhDs to completion and a significant number of Masters students. Kelvin has a PhD in Information Management (University of Johannesburg), Masters in Computer Science (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology – KAIST) and Bachelors in Electrical Electronics Engineering (Moscow PE Technical University). He has worked as a Senior Windows Programming Researcher at Samsung Electronics (Taejŏn, South Korea) specializing in Digital Image Processing and MPEG 7/21 Digital Media Adaption. He has also worked at the University of Botswana as a senior scholar and at Zambia Research and Development Centre as Executive Director – Research and Development. Prof Bwalya has delivered numerous keynote speeches at reputable international conferences. He has a Google scholar H-Index of 22 (2570 citations) and a Scopus H index of 12 with a field weighted citation index of 1.06 (6% more than world average). Prof Bwalya has a substantial international network. His research interest lie in information and software architecture, eGaaS, Ambient Intelligence, Business Process Automation, and AI in information science. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Adeyinka Tella is a Professor in the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. He is currently the Head of the Department. Tella was the Sub-Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences, University of Ilorin, from December 2012 to August 31st 2015. Tella attended St. Andrews College of Education, Oyo, from 1989 to 1992, where he obtained a national certificate in education (NCE), which qualifies him as a professional teacher. He later gained direct entry admission to the most prestigious university in Nigeria, i.e. The University of Ibadan, where He obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Guidance and Counselling/Political Science and graduated with a Second-Class Honour, Upper Division. Tella served the nation at the Government Day Secondary School, Tsafe in Zamfara State (a boys-only boarding School) in 2009. After his Youth Corps in the year 2000, Tella enrolled for a master’s degree in Counselling Psychology at the same University of Ibadan and finished in 2001. He enrolled on another Master’s Degree programme in Library and Information Studies at the same university and finished in 2004. Prof Tella returned to Counselling Psychology to commence a Ph.D. degree in Test, Measurement and Evaluation. He was about to present His proposal for the Ph.D. when the result of the Commonwealth Scholarship which he had earlier applied for was released. Eventually, he was awarded the Commonwealth Scholarship to Study Library and Information Science at the University of Botswana in Gaborone in Oct 2005 and finished on September 29th, 2009. Prof Tella was rated the 28th scientist in Nigeria and, by implication, no 1 in his university in the ranking of scientists in Nigeria released by Webometrics (Web of Science and Google) in March 2015; and No. 35 in Nigeria in the subsequent ratings. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Archie Leonard Dick is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Information Science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. His primary research interests are the philosophical aspects of library and information studies, and the history of reading. From 2009 to 2011 Archie was a Deputy Chairperson of the IFLA Committee of Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression, and from 2012 to 2014 he served as Chairperson of the National Council of Library and Information Services (NCLIS) in South Africa. From 2012 to 2019 as a funding co-applicant, he also participated in the British Academy-sponsored research project Print, Publishing and Cultural Production in South Africa, 1948-2012. Archie’s monographs include: The Hidden History of South Africa's Book and Reading Cultures, published in 2012 by the University of Toronto Press; and Reading Spaces in South Africa, 1850-1920s, published by Cambridge University Press in 2020. His latest project investigates the roles of a Ceylon outcast and of a slave in the circulation of medical information among the Cape’s underclasses in the early 18th century.
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