Design Of Community Informatics Social Network Web Application: A Case Study Of Niger Delta Region Of Nigeria

ABSTRACT

In this research, Social Network Web Application (SNWA) was developed and tailored for a specific use; community development in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. In the SNWA development, preliminary context analysis was conducted to capture contextual information on community development challenges in the Niger Delta and the readiness of the target local community to adopt web-based solution to the identified challenges. Subsequently, User-Centered Requirement Engineering, User-Centered Design and Incremental Coding and Testing methodologies were used to develop and test the SNWA. The SNWA was developed with 3-teir architecture that required the use of Windows operating system; Apache web server; MySQL database management system and PHP scripting language. Usability and sociability evaluations were conducted on the SNWA to ascertain that it will support fruitful interactions among the users. Furthermore, the SNWA was hosted online. The SNWA has the potentials to address the running challenges to sustainable development in the Niger Delta region. However, it requires a host organisation that will among other things; provide technical support and moderation of contents, connections and interactions on the online community.