"In 2023, Advancing Rights in Southern Africa (ARISA) through its consortium partner, Internews, undertook the most comprehensive review yet of laws affecting media practice and the freedom of expression, including cyber laws, penal codes, constitutions and acts of parliament, in the sixteen Souther
...
n African Development Community (SADC) countries. The Information Ecosystem Analysis (IEA) provides an in-depth overview of the legal provisions that have been enacted or are in various stages of becoming laws in the region, and are being used by SADC governments to stifle and limit press freedom and public debate. Each of the sixteen SADC countries are included as individual country chapters in this report, providing country-specific legal analyses of the relevant Cyber security and related laws used by the respective country’s governments to stifle freedom of expression. The approach used by the researchers considered the legislative environment together with literature on the relevant topics, court cases and media reports about the application of specific laws and focused on incidents of where laws were used, dating from 2020 to present. The respective country analyses have been informed by extensive virtual interviews conducted with journalists, civil society representatives and academics in the region. Attention was also given to countries holding elections in 2023 and 2024." (Executive summary)
more
"Amid a rise of misinformation worldwide, this paper examines digital misinformation literacy as it relates to COVID-19 news in East Africa. The study is grounded in inoculation theory and contributes to the body of scholarship examining misinformation literacy beyond the Western world. Data came fr
...
om a comparative, cross-national survey in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda (N = 3,203), making this the largest known empirical investigation into digital misinformation literacy in the region within the context of a pandemic. Paper surveys were distributed throughout all three countries in 2021. The data revealed differences in actual and perceived misinformation literacy levels. Kenyans and Rwandans were better at detecting false COVID-19 statements in the media, whereas Ugandans were better at detecting true messages. Similarly, Kenyans’ and Rwandans’ perceived levels of digital misinformation literacy were higher than Ugandans’. Regarding perceived exposure to COVID-19 information, Kenyans felt they were exposed to fake COVID-19 news online more often than Ugandans, who felt more exposed than Rwandans. This research contributes to the growing literature on digital misinformation literacy, an area which isn’t significantly studied in many world regions, especially in Africa." (Abstract)
more
"Mixed Methods Perspectives on Communication and Social Media Research addresses the need for a discipline-cum-methodology-tailored book that navigates the current research spectrum of communication and social media ("CommSocMed"). It examines contemporary and relevant issues that intertwine the exp
...
ansive spheres of CommSocMed. Authored by professionals with extensive academic and in-depth research and industry experience, the book highlights research-based themes that mirror qualitative and quantitative methodologies vis-à-vis socio-cultural, political, educational, and organisational issues and challenges. The first two sections present the mutually interwoven disciplines of CommSocMed where research works cover a comprehensive range of designs such as narrative analysis, case study, recombinant memetics, discourse analysis, visual semiotics, ethnography, content analysis, feminist theory, descriptive-survey, descriptive-correlational, model-building/testing, experimental, and mixed methods. The third section is a concluding segment which synthesises all the scholarly contributions in this volume." (Publisher description)
more
"This edited book based on a collective effort of researchers and professionals dedicated to compile the stories of children's television around the world. With 12 national chapters, the book includes historical accounts of children's television from the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canad
...
a, China, Ecuador, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Kenia, Netherlands and USA. It provides an exploration of each individual country, revealing striking similarities and differences, discussed in depth in the final chapter. Looking at the global field through local eyes--its main texts and active players (broadcasters, producers and creators, as well as regulators and policy makers), their ideologies, financial prospects and perceptions of childhood--offers a macro-level evaluation of an entire cultural field." (Publisher description)
more
"Current developments in technology, such as facial recognition, have already disproportionately affected people of color, especially people of African descent. The rise of DeepFakes and other forms of Fake News online has brought a host of new impacts and potential obstacles to the way that Black c
...
ommunities communicate. With a focus on the emergence of DeepFakes, and AI Synthetic Media, contributors have explored a range of themes and topics, including but not limited to: How do AI and digital algorithms impact people of color? How does Social Media shape Black women's perception of their body? How vulnerable are young Africans to social media generated fake news? Contributions have examined how Black virtual, in person and digital communication is affected by the current onslaught of misinformation, manipulated images and videos, and changing social media landscape." (Publisher description)
more
"Despite the strides made towards strengthening two-way communication and dialogue in the regional response to the Sudan crisis, there remain critical gaps inhibiting the effectiveness of collective efforts. The Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) and the Regional Refugee Response Plan should allocate
...
time, priority and resources to communication and engagement approaches which ensure investment in key communication, community engagement and accountability (CCEA) activities. This should include integrated CCEA activities in sectoral interventions and those led by local and diaspora humanitarian action. The information and engagement ecosystem is in constant flux in Sudan and neighbouring countries and maintaining a solid communications base requires a range of skills and analysis. As a priority for protection, forward planning must consider the skills needed." Key takeaways)
more
"Seeking to expand the Western-centric scope of media literacy research, this article shines the spotlight on Sudan as a critically underexplored context. Using participatory mapping and in-depth interviews, our research foregrounds urban Sudanese youths’ everyday informational resources and pract
...
ices as a necessary foundation for a culturally responsive approach to media literacy education. We find that young people’s information landscapes are heavily molded by the country’s political context: Sudan’s political instability and economic precarity increase the urgency and speed of information exchanges, while the prevalence of propaganda highlights the need for authentic, trustworthy information. This focus on usefulness and authenticity consequently shapes a preference for interpersonal communication and digital spaces as key informational channels. At the same time, our analysis reveals significant differences in young people’s information landscapes, particularly along gender lines. Based on these findings, we outline key implications for culturally responsive media literacy interventions." (Abstract)
more
"This open access book contributes to the discourse of Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) from an African perspective. It is a unique collection that brings together prominent AI scholars to discuss AI ethics from theoretical and practical African perspectives and makes a case for African valu
...
es, interests, expectations and principles to underpin the design, development and deployment (DDD) of AI in Africa. The book is a first in that it pays attention to the socio-cultural contexts of Responsible AI that is sensitive to African cultures and societies. It makes an important contribution to the global AI ethics discourse that often neglects AI narratives from Africa despite growing evidence of DDD in many domains. Nine original contributions provide useful insights to advance the understanding and implementation of Responsible AI in Africa, including discussions on epistemic injustice of global AI ethics, opportunities and challenges, an examination of AI co-bots and chatbots in an African work space, gender and AI, a consideration of African philosophies such as Ubuntu in the application of AI, African AI policy, and a look towards a future of Responsible AI in Africa." (Publisher description)
more
"At a time when uneven power dynamics are high on development actors' agenda, this book will be an important contribution to researchers and practitioners working on innovation in development and civil society. While there is much discussion of localization, decolonization and 'shifting power' in ci
...
vil society collaborations in development, the debate thus far centers on the aid system. This book directs attention to CSOs as drivers of development in various contexts that we refer to as the Global South. This book take a transformative stance, reimagining roles, relations and processes. It does so from five complementary angles: (1) Southern CSOs reclaiming the lead, 2) displacement of the North-South dyad, (3) Southern-centred questions, (4) new roles for Northern actors, and (5) new starting points for collaboration. The book relativizes international collaboration, asking INGOs, Northern CSOs, and their donors to follow Southern CSOs' leads, recognizing their contextually geared perspectives, agendas, resources, capacities, and ways of working. Based in 19 empirically grounded chapters, the book also offers an agenda for further research, design, and experimentation. Emphasizing the need to 'Start from the South' this book thus re-imagines and re-centers Civil Society collaborations in development, offering Southern-centred ways of understanding and developing relations, roles, and processes, in theory and practice." (Publisher description)
more
"Kolonialismus ist Teil vieler europäischer Familiengeschichten: Bis heute bewahren Familien Tagebücher, Militaria oder Beutestücke auf, die VorfahrInnen als koloniale AkteurInnen nach Hause gebracht haben. Sie bezeugen nicht nur familiäre Verstrickungen, sondern haben obendrein über Jahrzehnte
...
hinweg kollektive Vorstellungen über die koloniale Vergangenheit geprägt. Fotografien waren daran - als vermeintlich authentische Zeugnisse - ganz wesentlich beteiligt. Über den Tod der "Erlebnisgenerationen" hinaus vermittelten sie koloniale "Erfolgsgeschichten", wodurch Familien zu einem Hort kolonialer Geschichtsmythen, etwa der "anständigen" KolonialherrInnen, wurden. Dieses Buch nimmt die kolonialen Bildbestände von Familien in der italienischen Provinz Bozen / Bolzano in den Blick, deren (Groß-)Vätergeneration am faschistischen Kolonialkrieg gegen das Kaiserreich Abessinien (1935-1941) teilgenommen hatte. Markus Wurzer untersucht die "sozialen Leben" kolonialer Bilder, also wie und wozu diese durch Soldaten und ihre Familien (re-)produziert, gebraucht und über Generationen hinweg weitergegeben wurden." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
more
"Ageing with Smartphones in Uganda is based on a 16-month ethnography about experiences of ageing in a neighbourhood in a diverse neighbourhood in Kampala, Uganda. It examines the impact of smartphones and mobile phones on older people’s health and everyday lives as part of the global 'Anthropolog
...
y of Smartphones and Smart Ageing' project. In taking the lens of the smartphone to understand experiences of ageing in this context, the monograph presents the articulation and practice of ‘togetherness in the dotcom age’. Taking a ‘convivial’ approach, which celebrates multiple ways of knowing about social life, Charlotte Hawkins draws from these expressions about cooperative morality and modernity to consider the everyday mitigation of profound social change. ‘Dotcom’ is understood to encompass everything from the influence of social media to urban migration and lifestyles in the city, to shifts in ways of knowing and relating. At the same time, dotcom tools such as mobile phones and smartphones facilitate elder care through, for example, regular mobile money remittances. This book explores how dotcom relates to older people’s health, in particular their care norms, social standing, values of respect and relatedness, and intergenerational relationships – both political and personal. It also re-frames the youth-centricity of research on the city and work, new media and technology, politics and service provision in Uganda. Through ethnographic consideration of everyday life and self-formation in this context, the monograph seeks to contribute to an ever-incomplete understanding of how we relate to each other and to the world around us." (Publisher description).
more
"The main objective of this article was to explore the political economy of mainstream TV channels in Ethiopia from the perspective of ownership and regulations. The study used a qualitative approach to document analysis. It also conducted an in-depth interviews with randomly selected media monitori
...
ng experts and journalists working in the newsrooms of TV channels to augment the data. The results showed that media ownership and political power are closely intertwined in Ethiopia. It also indicated the private TV channels need reasonable subsidies to survive in an increasing market competition. The boundary between private and government ownership is hazy despite differences in the business models with parallel censorship conditions in both private and government-owned channels. There is diversity in TV ownership, with lower competition and sluggish development of TV infrastructure. Constricted control of TV channels by manifold and overlapping regulatory provisions are obstructing TV content and restraining freedom of the press characterizes the political economy of TV channels. This study suggests a need for the establishment of a system in which constitutional rights and regulatory frameworks would become compatible to protect press freedom and diversity of voices in mainstream TV channels." (Abstract)
more
"This annotated bibliography compiles relevant literature on information disorders in Africa published in peer-reviewed academic journals in English. It is organised into several thematic sections, and has a particular focus on Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe. While one must not lose sight of the d
...
iscursive genealogy of information disorder, its political potency, and history of material arrangements that propagate its discourses, by information disorders we mean processes where rapid technological and media changes provide opportunities for revanchist forces to produce online content to stall democratic social change. Put simply, information disorders feed into de-democratisation processes (cf. Wardle and Derakhshan 2017, also see specific critique by Bontcheva and Posetti 2020). Similarly, Herman Wasserman (2022) speaks of information disorder as a phenomenon that coincides with the collapse of the independent commercial press. This collapse leaves few organised and professional sources of information about society, and can lead to authoritarians taking advantage of the situation. Given the variety of institutional and infrastructural arrangements, there are particular circumstances where platforms may amplify or reduce information disorders." (Introduction)
more