This article in Time Magazine explores the new solutions to improve internet access in Africa and make it cheaper. What do you think? How is your connection to the net? How much do you pay for it?
Have you considered getting a liliputer? or would you rather use a mobile phone like the mobile reporters of Voices of Africa? How can cellphones empower African digital citizens?
More about the Voices of Africa project.
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How cellphones can empower
African digital citizens'.
I will start with a quote by Thabo Mbeki, the president of South Africa –
Everyday the African and global
media publish articles about Africa, based on events that have taken
place in our continent. In time, these stories begin to define who we
are and what we are. In due course, we come to believe the resultant
images of ourselves, and also begin to act the part.
After independence from colonialism in the 60s 70s and 80s, Africa started off on the wrong footing, as its governments rather than use the communication infrastructure left behind by the colonialists for the benefit of their people, used it as a tool to control the people.
This became a major stumbling block for the right of the people to information and communication. For a person to own a telephone set, it took months or years to get connected, while the only broadcast station was government owned and was used to spread government propaganda.
But with the advent of the cell phone, the barriers have been broken. The poor farmer and the illiterate villager, the deaf student and the blind teacher, have been ushered into the globalised world, a world where everyone can communicate with one another.
The cell phone is the most important technological tool to have set foot in Africa since the days of the Talking Drums of Africa. Nearly 300 million Africans own one, and the numbers are growing fast.
It is this cell phone that will bring a revolution in Africa; it is our best chance yet, to escape from backwardness.
The cell phone has become a part of our lives, like a part of our body. For some people in my country, if the cell phone is not in their pocket, they say they feel like they’ve got malaria.
Farmers now use cell phones to check for the best price in the market for their produce. In my country people use their cell phones to check shares in the stock market, to check the balance in their bank accounts, to pay for groceries and also as a virtual bank for the poor who have no access to banking services.
In our last elections on 27 December, International and Local observer groups and media organizations used the short message service to relay results from different constituencies, that ensured results were relayed on TV much faster than the information from the electoral commission.
This is partly why the Electoral Commission of Kenya’s vote tallying was found to be irregular.
As we stride in the 21st century, new innovations in the multi-media aspects of the phone have opened a new world and immense horizons to Africans. While a computer is unaffordable to many, the cell phone is the most convenient tool available.
In my country, signing up for internet connection for your phone is free and 3G phone infrastructure has been rolled out.
It is in this new direction that the African digital citizen will make an impact on not just the continent of Africa, but the world at large.
There is a way the world sees and thinks of Africans. Racial stereotypes still linger in the sub-conscious mind of the outsider. This is can be seen in the coverage and analysis of our motherland that is heavily biased.
Africa is only covered when there is disaster or outbreak of violence, which is then portrayed as a natural trademark of the primitive African.
Objectivity and balance are
thrown out when foreign national interests; economic and political,
determine the way Africa appears in mainly western media outlets.
Historical baggage is also one of the factors that determine the coverage of Africa. The western powers find their political and economic interests conflicting with the interests of Africa, and it is the media that becomes the willing tool for this. It’s a 20th century way of looking at Africa, but using the 19th century wisdom.
This negative portrayal aims at making Africans feel self-pity and loathe themselves and their heritage. The African is almost always portrayed as a victim, while their daily triumphs against impossible odds are never in the picture.
As Africans, we need to develop strategies to counter the negative media portrayal of the motherland, because the media is the singular major organ that will guarantee Africa’s rebirth anddevelopment efforts.
The media is the tool that will bring forth a positive image of the continent, and the African digital citizen, armed with a cell phone, will be at the centre of this new Africa, this re-branding of Africa.
The world is a stage, and the African digital citizen, will be the main actor in bringing to the world a new understanding of the people who live in mother Africa.
It is this unique platform that the African digital citizen will use to tell the African story from an African point of view. It is in this platform that the digital citizen will show the world who we are, and what we are about.
The cell phone is the most empowering instrument a digital citizen can have. No going to cyber cafes, no need of a computer, everything is in your hands, and I mean only one hand.
We live in a globalised world, a world where time and efficiency come together, and the digital citizen bridges this gap in a way not seen before. Empowered with a cell phone, she is the first source of information and the person who will give the news a street level picture.
During the violence that followed our disputed elections, most of the western media kept repeating, and repeating, the same scenes of violence, even after calm had been restored and business was getting back to normal.
It is during this time that we the citizen journalists beamed to the world images of the peace and tranquility that had come into our country. It is us, digital citizens who talked to the ordinary people, whose voice would never have been heard, to say their thoughts on what was happening.
Friends who live in Europe and America would call, anxious to know if their family and relatives need to be evacuated from the country.
It is the images from the Voices of Africa website and other Kenyan blogs that gave them the true picture of what was happening in the country. While tourists cancelled their bookings after watching TV images of violence which were constantly being replayed even when the violence had stopped a week or a month back.
We beamed to the world videos that showed the reality on the ground.
We talked to tourists still in the country and they all said their was no violence, actually they were enjoying themselves and would tell their friends to come back to Kenya.
It is examples like this that show the important part the digital citizen plays using his mobile phone to change perceptions. This is the true empowerment of the African digital citizen.
The mainstream media sometimes does not give the quality or depth of reporting and images needed to truly understand the political, economic and human side of important stories.
At times you even get only one point of view.
It is the work of the digital citizen to bring out these stories that gets passed by. While working on an unfolding story, the digital citizen should ask herself, what Is Not Being Said?
This is the biggest responsibility the digital citizen carries. The responsibility of showing fellow Africans and the rest of the world … the other side of the story.
As a citizen journalist with the Africa Interactive Foundation, I used a Nokia N73 cell phone to take photos, videos and type a short story and within minutes it was on the website.
All this was done while I’m at the actual location.
A very important aspect for
the digital citizen, is the opportunity, and the privilege, to showcase
news that often gets passed over by mainstream media.
Stories outside the mainstream media are compelling and have this raw
thing about them that leaves out the commercialization aspects of mainstream
media. Where the real stories are thrown out and sensational stories
become the norm.
With your cell phone, your story can make a difference.
The digital citizen does not have advertisers to influence how they bring out a story, they do not have government censors on their backs, and most important they have the independence to make a story as it should be.
The African digital citizen is the most powerful tool we have to change perceptions. She is the one who will show the African stories to the world which will go a long way to deconstruct stereotypes about Africa and its peoples because all else has failed.
Let’s now talk of the limitations of the cell phone though they will not limit you.
As you well know, most content about Africa is not in an African language, and this can also water down the story through translation.
Choosing a cell phone company with a wide reach, reliable and clear network is a must to get the most out of your phone.
When working on street interviews,
in my experience, people are afraid of cell phones (but then it might
just be a Kenyan thing) they have this thing about appearing in the
internet. You have to be a people person, you can convince people.
Also (but) depending on the phone you are using, the distance between you and the subject can either distort the sound or the image might come out a little bit fuzzy depending on the distance.
A cell phone is easy to use once you understand the technical aspect. But a little training will go a long way to give a dose of professionalism on how to interview for a video report.
Not all videos can pass muster
but I believe, anyone can do it …, with just a bit of passion, ideas,
curiosity, interest, creativity, and a story to tell,.
The cell phone has cancelled,
government bureaucracy, censorship, stereotypes, and ushers the world
to a New Africa … and behind the camera, or behind the cell phone,
an African digital citizen with the drive, and energy of Africa.
My closing remarks is that; the cell phone is the best tool for the African digital citizen, and the digital citizen is the most powerful person in the media, watch this space.
Thank you.
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