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FACULTY OF HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN LIBRARY
AND INFORMATION SCIENCES

CANDIDATE: YULE Wilson

CURRICULUM VITAE
Wilson Yule was born in Harare, Zimbabwe and completed his Ordinary
Level (O ‘Level) at Glen View High School and Advanced Level (A ‘Level)
at Prince Edward School in Harare. His qualifications include Higher Dip.
LIS (Harare Polytechnic); Dip. Public Relations (Harare Polytechnic); B.
Tech LIS (Technikon South Africa); Post Graduate Cert. in Information
Management of Water Sciences (Vrije Universiteit Brussels); and MSc in LIS (National University of Science
and Technology, Zimbabwe). Wilson Yule is currently working as a lecturer in the Department of Information
and Communication Studies at the University of Namibia (UNAM). In Zimbabwe, Wilson worked at the
Southern Africa Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC), a regional organisation based in Harare
as a Senior Researcher/ Writer where he was in charge of writing and researching on environmental issues
and tracking environmental problems affecting Southern African region. Prior to his engagement as Senior
Researcher/ Writer; he also worked at the Environment Resource Centre for Southern Africa (ERCSA) as
a Resource Centre Manager, where he was in charge of managing a state of the art information and
documentation centre. He worked as an Assistant Documentalist at UNESCO Regional Office for Southern
Africa and also worked in the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture (MBSEC) in Namibia as a Regional
Librarian. His research interest includes information retrieval, information seeking behaviour, metadata
description and information and knowledge networks.

CANDIDATE’S DISSERTATION

ACCESS AND UTILISATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION BY AQUACULTURE FARMERS IN NAMIBIA

The doctoral study was undertaken and completed under the supervision of Dr. C. M. Beukes-Amiss of
the University of Namibia (UNAM) as Main-Supervisor and Prof K.. J. Mchombu as Co-Supervisor of the
International University of Management (IUM).

The candidate carried out a study on access and utilisation of information and knowledge by aquaculture
farmers in Namibia. The thrust of the study was premised on a gap that existed between information
support and aquaculture farmers. The study provided research based evidence on the nature and
extent of information accessed and utilised by aquaculture farmers in Namibia. The researcher used the
pragmatism paradigm as the philosophical worldview underpinning this study because of its flexibility,
to accommodate both quantitative and qualitative approaches. A mixed methods approach design
employing a concurrent triangulation approach was used, to answer the research questions raised in this
study. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data, while semi
structured interview guides, observational checklist and document analysis checklist, were also used to
collect qualitative data. The study revealed that fish farmers had specific information needs, which they
required when performing their duties. The findings also revealed that the need for information is inherent
within an individual and it can be summed up as a behaviour, which arises as a result of a need, to solve a
problem, make a decision or to perform a task. The study also showed that fish farmers used different types
of information, which cuts across different disciplines and this information included agricultural information,
health information, environmental information, technological information, business and trade information,
and government policies and plans. Several information sources used by fish farmers were newspapers,
internet, textbooks, experts, etc. and they shared information on various topics among themselves. A
number of challenges, obstacles and constraints faced by aquaculture farmers in their quest, to exploit
information were investigated and farmers were also aware that access to information allowed sharing
experiences, best practices in fish farming, sources of financial aid and new markets. The major contribution
of this study, the first of its kind in Namibia, was the proposed model (Integrated Aquaculture Information
System), to support the information infrastructure for aquaculture production in Namibia, among other
recommendations.
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