Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa

September 5, 2009

The State of Social Justice and Digital Media in Africa

1990s – Crisis and Opportunity

• Political Liberalization– Opening up of political space to non-state actors– Social disengagement of the African State and the

emergence of a civil society to fill the gap

• Creation of the World Wide Web– A major new avenue for freedom of expression for

individuals and organizations

2

Web 2.0 and Advent of Social Media

• Democratization of the Media– Grassroots or

Citizen Journalism

• Digital Civil Society – Appropriation of

social media by Social Movements and Civil Society Organizations

3

The Issues

4

Impact

Potential

Challenges

Weaknesses

Best Practices

Lessons Learned

What the Future Holds

Unwired Africa – Internet Users

• Only 3.4 % of Internet users are in Africa

• Only 64,153,900 Africans, out of a total 997,269,930 use the Internet

5

© from Internetworldstats.com

Unwired Africa – Internet Penetration

• Internet penetration in Africa – 5.6 %

• Internet penetration in the USA – 73.9%6

Unwired Africa – Presence on Social Networks

• Most popular social networks by country (2009) 7

African Civil Society Still at the Margins of the Digital Public Sphere

• 3 phases of Internet use

1. Experimental retrieval

2. Broadcast power

3. Interactive dialog

• Civil society in Africa is finding it difficult to move to 3rd (Web 2.0) phase

8

New Media Perpetuating Existing Inequalities

• New Media is recreating rather than reshaping offline – gender and class – inequalities– Women– Rural– Uneducated

• New media is repeating old patterns of domination and subservience between Africa and the West– Digital presence generally due to funding from the West– He who pays the piper…

9

African Civil Society and the “Digital Disconnect”

• Digital civil society dealing with a largely unwired audience

• The bulk of the digital activists are out of Africa

10

How do you engage people when the majority of them are not wired?

“It’s unlikely that most people living in Kibera slums are aware of the work that Kenyan bloggers are doing on Ushahidi.”

Ethan Zuckerman

“Track & Trace” – Example of a Disconnected Campaign

• Created by Cameroonian activists to document human rights abuses by the security forces and gvt. officials

• Great concept which failed because of digital disconnect

11

Overcoming Technology Determinants

12

“In the context of political participation and social activism, fewer connections do not necessarily translate into limited

political impact if these connections are used effectively and creatively… “

Why Civil Society Needs A Digital Voice

Lobbying

Networking

Mobilizing

1. Disseminating alternative views

2. Creating a virtual public sphere

3. Organizing collective action

13

Cross-border Activism / Online Campaigns

The Digital Activist Toolkit

14

Blogging Tools Micro-blogging

Mapping Podcasting Social Networking

BloggerWordpressTypepadLivejournal

TwitterAfrigator

Google MapsUshahidi

Blog Talk RadioImeemMyPodcast.com

FacebookMySpaceHi5 Ning

The Digital Activist Toolkit (cont)

15

Video Sharing Photo sharing Mapping Mobile activism Feeds & Aggregators

YoutubeVimeoDaily MotionAnimoto

FlickrSmugMugPicassa

Google MapsUshahidi

Frontline SMSFrontline FormsSixBlue Data

RSSFriendfeed

Don’t forget the power of the “boring” email! Design an email strategy for your organization

Mobile Phone/SMS

• Mobile penetration in Africa over 50%– average mobile penetration rate across West and Central

Africa about 74%

• Examples of SMS Use– Tracking domestic violence and land rights– Election monitoring

• Common SMS Tools– Frontline SMS– Frontline SMS Forms

16

“Arguably SMS and the mobile phone hold the answer to Africa’s digital neglect, of bringing African civil society fully into the new world.”

17

SMS in Action: The Village Diary Project

An open source web platform which integrates with FrontlineSMS to provide timely feedback to

community members

Custodian collects or creates source documents

Fieldworker using laptop with Village Diary platform enters information

Info uploaded to a web server or data repository

state attorneys, social workers, health officials and aid organizations. Updates sent to beneficiaries via SMS

Twitter

• Crisis reporting

• Information

• Fund raising

• Mobilization

18

Best used in conjunction with other digital tools

Printed Material is Still Important!

• Examples– How-to guides on AIDS prevention– A compilation of articles on digital

activism– Guidelines on organizing peaceful

protest in repressive societies, etc. – Collected essays on key political

and social causes

19

The papyrus is here to stay!

Best Practices – Avoid Tool Fixation

• A tool is neither a Strategy nor a Goal

• Our goals should determine which digital tools we use to promote our cause

20

"How do we get to know and understand how a particular tool can help us meet our goals, but not let

the tool drive our decisions?“ – Beth Kanter

“If you don’t know WHY you’re using it, you’re probably not going to get much out of it.”

Best Practices – POST Framework

• People

• Objectives

• Strategy

• Technology

21

Use the POST framework to determine the most appropriate digital tool

Best Practices – Have a Compelling Narrative

Your digital media must tell a story!

22

Crafting an Online Narrative – The Mara Triangle

• Blogs, Pictures, videos, Facebook and Twitter, RSS feeds

23Source: http://www.maratriangle.org/

Crafting an Online Narrative – The Mara Triangle Twitter Fundraising

24

http://twitter.com/maratriangle/status/1001836796http://twitter.com/maratriangle/status/1002133440

Best Practices – Online Engagement is Not Enough!

What next after the revolution has been twittered?

What next after the violence has been “ushahidid”?

25

Source: Sokwanele

Effective online engagement must convert into offline collective action

Best Practices –Bridging the Gap between the Virtual and the Real

• Implement the “Two-Step Flow” communications Model

26© Christina Kirabo

Best Practices – More Collaboration between Digital Activists and CSOs

• The JimbiMedia example

27

Best Practices – The 4Cs Social Media Framework

Content Collaboration Community Collective Intelligence

28

Let’s Go for the Transformational!

Information Community Action

29

30

Thank you for your attention…

A Keynote Address by Dibussi Tande Blog: www.dibussi.comEmail: dibussi@msn.com