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Bruce Mutsvairo, Massimo Ragnedda (eds). Mapping the Digital Divide in Africa. A Mediated Analysis. Amsterdam University Press, 2019

Despite issues associated with the digital divide, mobile telephony is growing on the continent and the rise of smartphones has given citizens easy access to social networking sites. But the digital divide, which mostly reflects on one’s race, gender, socioeconomic status or geographical location, stands in the way of digital progress. What opportunities are available to tame digital disparities? How are different societies in Africa handling digital problems? What innovative methods are being used to provide citizens with access to critical information that can help improve their lives? Experiences from various locations in several sub-Saharan African countries have been carefully selected in this collection with the aim of providing an updated account on the digital divide and its impact in Africa.

Reviews

“For many years ‘the digital divide’ has been a catchphrase, often with little analytical content. This book provides studies of how the concept can be understood within an African context. The different contributions address problems related to digital opportunities as well as inhibitions to growth; thus, it has implications for how to comprehend technological, political, economic, social, and cultural development in a wider world. Of particular importance is that the book provides a theoretical understanding as well as an account of the impact of different technologies such as mobile phones.” – Helge Rønning, Professor, Department of Media and Communications, University of Oslo, Norway

“You need to take a different perspective of both the digital divide and Africa to understand the complexity of social and digital inequality in Africa. The digital divide is different in every part of the world. Reading this book you will grasp the complexity of the social, cultural and political affairs of Africa that are reinforcing the digital divide. Surprisingly, while mobile telephony is booming here, ICTs are in fact only reinforcing existing social inequality.” – Jan A.G.M. van Dijk, Professor, Department of Communication, University of Twente, the Netherlands

“This is a timely and much-needed collection that fills an important gap in the literature. It offers excellent conceptual tools and a selection of case studies that provide a useful map of the digital divide across the African continent and between Africa and the rest of the world. I especially appreciate the editors’ efforts to address African issues on their own terms and to problematize interpretive paradigms from the global north. It is a book that many will look forward to reading. I will recommend it to my students.” – Pier Paolo Frassinelli, Professor, School of Communication, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

I am honoured to have been awarded title of Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University

Faculty Council Meeting was held on 15 March 2019, and the decision was taken by a unanimous vote of the council members. The Faculty Council has justified this title “in recognition of my academic leadership in advancing knowledge through teaching and research, and ford dedicated service to Lomonosov Moscow State University”.

It is a big honour for me to have been awarded this title by the highest-ranked university in Russia. I am really grateful.

Call for papers: IAMCR 2019 Preconference/Special Issue Information, Communication and Society

Era or Error of Transformation? Assessing Afrocentric Attributes of Digitalisation

Guest Editors: Bruce Mutsvairo (University of Technology Sydney), Massimo Ragnedda (Northumbria University) and Kristin Skare Orgeret (Oslo Metropolitan University)

 While the continent of Africa has long been depicted as economically and socially underdeveloped compared with other parts of the world, the potential of its peoples, natural resources and nations has always been recognised. In recent years however, it is the transformative capacity of digital communications media, particularly mobile phones, for young urbanised populations that is seen as heralding sustainable socio-economic growth and political stability. This special issue of Information, Communication & Society is intended to throw a rare and critical light upon these claims by examining how new media may be changing the everyday lives of Africans. It will also seek to understand the implications of these technological changes for nation-states within the wider geo-political context of post-colonial relations and the emergence of China as a major investor. What barriers, challenges or possibilities exist for digital literacy, human rights, democratic governance, business innovation and digital access?

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Massimo Ragnedda and Hanna Kreitem (2018) The three levels of digital divide in East EU countries, World of Media. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies, 4. 5-26.

This article brings to light significant insights into the three levels of digital divide in the particular setting of East EU. It discusses and analyses indicators related to the spread and use of the Internet (first level of digital divide), the level of digital skills (second level of digital divide), and digital services used by citizens in East EU countries to improve their quality of life (third level of digital divide). The article specifically focuses on the third level of digital divide, by analysing, on a macro level, three tangible outcomes, namely eGovernment service completion and use, eHealth in terms of seeking health related information and interacting with practitioners online, and eCommerce. Data from Eurostat, including digital scorecard and other reports, showed clear discrepancies among countries of East Europe, as well as distinct difference between some countries and overall European Union averages, suggesting the existence of two groups of countries, one as high performance in terms of services offered and high growth in terms of use, and the second is at medium performance in terms of services offered, and low in terms of growth and use.

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Are you interested in doing a Ph.D at Northumbria University, Newcastle? I am currently looking for strong candidates interested in bringing fresh perspectives to debates around the forms of digital and social inclusion and sketch a concept of inclusion and inequality in the digital sphere. The successful candidate will develop innovative ways through which to study how to counter social inequalities through digital inclusion. The successful researcher will use a case study approach to explore the ways in which digital literacy and digital skills programmes work together to challenge social inequalities and to propose a more nuanced understanding of how social and digital inclusion are related.  I am open to applications bringing a variety of interpretations and suggesting different case study examples to this broad topic. Candidates should have an interest in equality issues and digital technologies. This project will be suitable for candidates with an MA or MFA in mass communication, media and sociology. Researcher who can bridge two or more of the above disciplines will be particularly well placed to apply for this doctoral studentship.

If you are interested please get in touch with me: massimo.ragnedda @ Northumbria.ac.uk

Eligibility and How to Apply:

Please note eligibility requirement:

• Academic excellence of the proposed student i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities [preference for 1st class honours]); or a Masters (preference for Merit or above); or APEL evidence of substantial practitioner achievement.
• Appropriate IELTS score, if required.
• Applicants cannot apply for this funding if currently engaged in Doctoral study at Northumbria or elsewhere.

Deadline for applications: Friday 25 January 2019

Start Date: 1 October 2019

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You can submit your abstract (both individual and panel proposals are welcome) any time starting from today until February 8, 2019. Early submissions are strongly encouraged.

The overarching conference theme in 2019 is “Communication, Technology, and Human Dignity: Disputed Rights, Contested Truths”. The theme addresses issues of human rights and dignity in a modern globalized world, where ICTs and artificial intelligence are influencing the way human rights are currently understood, promoted and protected. The theme seeks to explore the role of information and communication technologies in both supporting and subverting the exercise of rights and the achievement of universal dignity. It also argues that such rights as the right to voice and visibility, to have one’s experiences and ideas fairly represented in public sphere, to have access to the comprehensive information are now gaining a status of fundamental rights in the society.

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It has been a great pleasure to present my latest research about digital inequalities and the Third Level of Digital Divide at the Department of Sociology, at the University of Istanbul (Turkey). In particular, I have introduce the new concept of Digital Capital, seen as bourdieusian capital. I am  currently carrying out an empirical investigation to measure the level of Digital Capital and to see how it interacts with the other five capitals (Social, Cultural, Political, Personal and Economic). The next step will be to carry out a comparative analysis between UK and other countries, including Turkey. This is what we have been discussing during my visit in Istanbul and we are continuing to discuss it. Similar discussions are going on with other colleagues from different Universities around the world, including Spain, Italy, Finland and Russia.

This is my brief post for The Equality Trust. Social inequalities play a key role in information society, influencing citizens’ engagement in political, social, cultural and education life. Social inequalities influence the way in which individuals access, use and enjoy the benefits of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), and the internet in particular.

Inequalities connected with the introduction of ICTs are intertwined with already existing social inequalities, in a circular and cumulative process. Groups slower in adopting the new technology will not always will be able to bridge the gap with the fastest, with the consequent growth of differential access and use. It is likely that over time the problem of the gap in access will tend to decrease. In the UK, for instance, more than 90% of population access the internet. However, at the same time, inequalities in using ICTs are increasing. Indeed, not all technological innovations are equal, since some citizens/users may have more capacity/skills/motivation/interest than others in accessing and using such technologies. As several studies have suggested, digital inequalities, in terms of political participation, healthcare and education, are entangled with already-existing social inequalities.

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