Africa in Digital Age Flashcards
Introduction
In Africa in the last few decades there has been a rapid uptake in digital technology. Mobile phone subscriptions have risen from 87mill in 2005 to 722mill in 2016. However, Africa lags behind in terms of internet penetration.In 2016, 63.9% were not connected to internet.
A digital divide has been forming where there are widespread disparities of access within the continent. On a national level, age, geography, class, gender and educational attainment also impact on these disparities.
Prior to the construction of low-cost submarine cables which now connects Africa to the international community, there was a significant problem with isolation. As a result of this recent connectivity, it has created more space for innovation, research and education. The access to information from developed countries is changing the way people think.
In countries like SA, it’s common to have more than one mobile phone per person as they have a greater GDP, but this then affects the statistics for the overall continent. Many people have access to internet and social media through their phones however, it is often the case that people with phones are unlikely to have running water or electricity. Therefore, it is important not to assume that one village is more developed than another based on sole connectivity access.
Perspectives: Techno-Utopian
The Techno-Utopian Perspective:
Technology is seen as a primary driver of social, economic, and political change which can yield substantial benefits. Has the ability to revolutionise politics and bring new ideas.
Perspectives: Techno-Sceptic
Doubts the claims that technology yield any benefits to the individual.
Discourages any meaningful political engagement as people only choose what they want to hear.
Perspectives: Evidence Driven Analysis
Evidence Driven Analysis:
A third perspective tests the claims of the utopian and the sceptic consensus against empirical realities.
Using quantifier and qualitative research allows misguided conceptions to be teased apart. They are cautious to explain both the negative and positive ways technology can affect human life.
Access to Technology: Evidence of a digital divide?
Research from ITU shows that the group most likely to be connected are males living in urban area closer to the coast where the submarine cables lie. Despite the high figure of phone subscriptions, those with access to 3G is only 11% and it is expected that if internet is able to reach greater mobile phones then Africa’s GDP could be boosted $300 billion which could desperately help bridge the inequality gap.
Those living in coastal areas are twice as likely to have connectivity than in rural areas and in sub-Saharan Africa, the richest 60% are three times like to have access than the poorest 40% Therefore the broader development benefits of technology have been unevenly distributed.
Rwanda has long recognised the importance of the internet to help transform the agrarian lower-income economy into a knowledge based and middle-class economy. Using drones to deliver blood supplies.
Technology: Positives - Mobile money
As a result of new technology being employed in Africa, various leaps in the banking industry have been made possible through m-pesa a company which allows you to send money through phones.
It has revolutionised the banking industry as mobile money lowers transaction costs, allows lenders quick access to credit risks, small start-ups able to sell life and medical insurance and sell electricity.
However, some lack the literacy required to use the platform and are excluded.
Technology: Positives - Tech start-ups
Technology is being combined to solve unique African problems for example, you can turn to small tech firms to book a truck to move a cow or book an ambulance. African induced innovations such as battery powered medical tests have been used in Liberia to help with the Ebola crisis in 2014 as well as being able to diagnose 6 other infections.
Technology cannot just be a top down process, it must rather be an opportunity which can be grasped by African citizens. This approach has been implemented in Lagos, Nigeria where a tech hub has created enthusiasm in the community and allows youngsters to practise coding.
Technology: Positives - Education and health
A school in Uganda is already piloting the use tablets for teachers where the lessons are pre-scripted meaning that the principle teacher can follow the progress of each class and the lessons become more interactive and fun for the students.
In Liberia, 93 state schools were handed over the private management and results show that students learned twice as much as they did in non-technology schools. This shows that there are encouraging signs that basic inventions can make a significant difference.
There is a need for citizens to gain access and control of information that may directly impact their lives for example, poor and illiterate farmers can gain information about severe weather warnings making it easier to plan in the event of flooding. Rwanda has distributed thousands of free phones to health workers be aware of when a baby is due or other health issues.
Technology: Positives - Politics
Mobile phones are also capable of crowd sourcing information and can help to give individuals a better sense of levels of corruption within a state.
o new level of accountability and legitimacy and can
call out on bribes within a country.
o Mobile phones can provide a real time account of
brutality, abuse and rape in areas around Africa and
therefore can act to reduce corrupt government
officials and other criminals controlling society. Atrocities are harder to be ‘swept under the carpet’
o Senegal in 2000 reporters were sent to polling
stations to provide live updates of the count as they
came in making it more difficult for governments to
massage the results. As well as used to reports acts
of abuse or intimidation.
Technology: Negatives: The WTO
Digital media can aid the rapid spread of hate speech e.g. Kenya after the 2007 election. Kenya’s silicon-valley has not yet moved the 40% youth unemployment rate despite the technological advancements
The WTO encourage ICT to be the main driver of the market and therefore, countries which are poorer and have high illiteracy rates are likely to be left out. This therefore leads to the reduction and not the expansion of information technology. Developing countries are unable to advertise their tech businesses in the developed world despite being subjects to developed countries marketing campaigns. Therefore, local companies are unable to compete against multinationals and never develop a foothold within their own countries.
Technology: Negatives: The WTO and UN
The WTO and the UN are in conflict as the UN tends to focus on humanitarian development and peace building whereas, the WTO specifically focuses on international trade. Therefore, the WTO’s involvement in Africa is likely to be of little concern. Secondly, the WTO promotes privatization which is damaging to African countries. Thirdly, the WTO weakens the states capacity to provide their own development programs and instead the state is just working to amplify the voices of the most powerful.
Technology: Negatives: is technology a liberation?
ICT is not automatically a liberation technology; they can both promote and undermine democratic citizenship.
o They increase political participation and awareness
o But they are more intolerant of others and promote
mistrust.
One should not hastily assume that technology will provide a quick fix to the continent’s problems.
Since 2005 the Ethiopian government has been actively shutting down SMS services and other messaging groups. This indicates that technology can be restricted and is far from liberating.
Conclusion
There is a deep digital divide that mirrors existing inequalities on the continent
However, there are remarkable examples of digital innovation across the continent
The idea of a ‘digital revolution’ does not seem to do justice to this complexity
African have not yet developed the software, applications and tools to give the economies dividends they sorely need.
