Information and Communication Technology — Africa
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Publication Journalists or activists? Self - identity in the Ethiopian diaspora online community(2011-08-01) Skjerdal, TerjeThis study investigates the role of the diaspora online media as stakeholders in the transnational Ethiopian media landscape. Through content analysis of selected websites and interviews with editors, the research discusses how the sites relate to recognized journalistic ideals and how the editors view themselves in regard to journalistic professionalism. It is argued that the journalistic ideals of the diaspora media must be understood towards the particular political conditions in homeland Ethiopia. Highly politicized, the diaspora websites display a marked critical attitude towards the Ethiopian government through an activist journalism approach. The editors differ slightly among themselves in the perception of whether activist journalism is in conflict with ideal-type professional norms, but they justify the practice either because of the less than ideal conditions back home or because they maintain that the combination of activism and professionalism is a forward-looking journalism ideology. The online initiatives of the Ethiopian diaspora are found to prolong media contestations in the homeland as well as reinforcing an ideal-type professional journalism paradigm.Publication Citizens’ Perceptions of Corruption and E - Governance in Jordan, Ethiopia, and Fiji — the Need for a Marketing Approach(2010-01-01) Pathak, R D; Belwal, Rakesh; Naz, Rafia; Smith, R F.I.; Al-Zoubi, KhalidThe purpose of this research is to assess citizen’s perceptions of corruption and e-governance in Jordan, Ethiopia, and Fiji. The research is based on surveys using structured questionnaires and focus group interviews. Conclusions are derived from a mix of descriptive and inferential analysis. The survey covers a total of 1212 respondents using stratified sampling. Findings reveal that public sector corruption and demands for bribes are increasing in each country. Only a few people are aware of e-governance and feel that it can help in curbing corruption. The study proposes that in order to mitigate negative forces in the implementation of e-governance such as corruption, digital divide, and urban bias, developing countries need to apply a marketing approach to e-governance services.Publication ICTs Policies: E-Democracy and E-Government for Political Development(2007-08-01) Amoretti, Francesco‘Electronic democracy’ is a concept with a relatively long history. It has been a central feature of the technological Utopias since the 1960s. Today, the trend is spreading worldwide, as public funding is made available for the exploration of the potential of new technologies to provide new channels of access to political information and participation in decision-making. Nevertheless, whereas e-democracy in Western nations is a tool for resolving the perceived crisis of liberal democracies, in the developing countries it is a tool to build democracy. This assumption is clearly important in the action plans and policies of International Organizations (World Bank, OECD, United Nations) which have assumed a leadership role in the reform of political institutions. This paper will focus on theoretical and methodological issues, such as the prevalent meaning(s) of e-government and e-democracy and their ideological roots in the context of political development.Publication Governance & Corruption – Developments and Issues in Ethiopia(2007-09-01) Pathak, R D; Singh, Gurmeet; Belwal, Rakesh; Smith, R F.I.This paper reports the results of a survey of 400 respondents in Ethiopia about factors generating corruption and the potential of e-Governance to mitigate corruption. It is suggested that e-Governance can help not only in weeding out corruption but also in the establishment of sounder government citizen relationships in Ethiopia. While e-Governance cannot cure all the structural factors that breed corruption in the society, strategic implementation of e-Governance can help improve the critical variable in combating corruption—government citizen relationships. It isargued that while e-Governance initiatives can make important contributions to improving public services they can best do so by helping improve overall relationships between governments and citizens.Publication Theorising African communications: the bad news signalled by broadcast digital migration policy(2012-09-01) Berger, GuyBroadcasting digital migration (BDM) in Africa reflects deadlines agreed by the continent at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The case suggests a negative answer to the question about a uniquely African contribution to communication theory. This is because there is a disjuncture between the ideology of BDM, as evolved in developed countries and copied in African countries, and a critical theorisation of African communications which could surface a different vantage point. The embedded theory that informs African accord on BDM assumes unquestioningly that this particular development in advanced economies has to be emulated in Africa. As a result, primary African communications characteristics are ignored, including the case for investing in radio or mobile internet rather than BDM. Also missed is the value of democratic and interactive communications, meaning that the BDM Set Top Boxes (STBs) are seen merely as decoders of one-way content flows. In sum, the experience of BDM as a particular intersection of communications technology and social conditions reflects an inadequate African communication theorisation .Publication Sizing Up Information and Communication Technologies as Agents of political Pevelopment in Sub-Saharan Africa(2011-09-01) Alozie, Nicolas; Akpan-Obong, Patience; Foster, WilliamIt is widely speculated that the emergence of modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) will boost political development in the developing world. This expectation anchors on solid foundation since, presumably, the ICT revolution would radically alter access to information, dislodge entrenched social cleavages, and unleash new patterns of citizen consciousness and civic engagement by hitherto marginalized mass publics, and orchestrate new and decisive political equilibriums. In this research, we provide an empirical assessment of the impact of ICTs on political development in sub-Saharan Africa. Our analysis suggests that speculation about the potential for ICTS to enhance political development in the sub-Sahara is not unrealistic. The levels of phone, computer, and internet diffusion are associated with political development, although only the effect of the phone remains once other variables are specified. The phone is the most robust of all individual factors explaining variations in political development. However, t he effect of ICTs on political development can neither be certified as revolutionary, nor can they be codified as panacea.Publication Information communication technologies for gender and development in Africa The case for radio and technological blending(2012-04-01) Asiedu, ChristobelPublication The Democratic Effects of the Internet , 1994 to 2003: A Cross - National Inquiry of 152 Countries(2009-01-01) Groshek, JacobSince its inception and subsequent diffusion, the Internet has been lauded as a potent democratizing agent. Using macro-level panel data from 1994 to 2003, this study examined 152 countries and found that increased Internet diffusion was a meaningful predictor of more democratic regimes. This was shown to be most true in developed countries, where nonlinear fixed effects regression models showed the highest coefficient estimates and largest observed associations. Consistent with media system dependency theory, greater effects were also demonstrated for countries that already were at least partially democratic where the Internet was more prevalent and thus more likely to fulfill a greater number of information functions. In addition, Internet diffusion and democracy demonstrated a positive, statistically significant relationship (but with a marginal observed association size) in developing countries where the average level of sociopolitical instability was much higher. The Internet therefore should not be employed as a modern ‘mobility multiplier’ because of the strong associations and positive relationships it has shown with democracy but it should also not be ignored due to the democratic potential these results suggest.Publication Facilitating Better Governance through E-Government Initiatives: Successful Case in Sub-Saharan Africa(2009-07-01) Thomas, Carlos A; Mbarika, Victor W; Nwogu, Rufus; Musa, Philip F; Meso, PeterPublication Immediacy and Openness in a Digital Africa: Networked-Convergent Journalism in Kenya(2012-10-01) Mudhai, O.F.Before the US crackdown on WikiLeaks website from 2010, the narrative of freedom dominating discourses on uneasy deployment of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in journalism was more prevalent in Africa – and developing regions – than in advanced democracies. Little wonder WikiLeaks did not, at least initially, include African media partners in their potent 2010 ‘cablegate’ exposés. From the 1996 Zambian government ban of the Post online to the recent onslaughts on bloggers in parts of the continent, ICT uses in journalism have reflected national contexts, with restrictions often resulting in self-‐censorship, as well as innovations that borrow from and build on global developments. This ‘glocal’ context perspective defines the review here of the new media use in journalism in Africa with an examination of Kenyan media coverage – mainly between 2005 and 2010 constitutional referenda. The focus is on coverage by two leading newspapers in their strive to keep up with emerging alternative spaces of networked online expression. The aim here is to determine the extent to which the coverage reflects immediacy and openness in a networked and converged environment, with implications for democracy. The article employs comparative approach and qualitative content-‐genre analysis.