SMS uprising : mobile phone activism in Africa

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Bibliographic Information

SMS uprising : mobile phone activism in Africa

edited by Sokari Ekine

Pambazuka Press, 2010

  • : pbk

Other Title

SMS uprising : mobile activism in Africa

Available at  / 4 libraries

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Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

SMS Uprising provides a unique insight into how activists and social change advocates are addressing Africa's many challenges from within, and how they are using mobile telephone technologies to facilitate these changes. This collection of essays by those engaged in using mobile phone technologies for social change provides an analysis of the socio-economic, political and media contexts faced by activists in Africa today. The essays address a broad range of issues including inequalities in access to technology based on gender, rural and urban usage, as well as offering practical examples of how activists are using mobile technology to organise and document their experiences. They provide an overview of the lessons learned in making effective use of mobile phone technologies without any of the romanticism so often associated with the use of new technologies for social change. The examples are shared in a way that makes them easy to replicate - 'Try this idea in your campaign.' The intention is that the experiences described within the book will lead to greater reflection about the real potential and limitations of mobile technologies. Edited by Nigerian activist Sokari Ekine, who runs the prize-winning blog Black Looks, the book brings together some of the best known and experienced developers and users of mobile phone technologies in Africa, including Juliana Rotich from Ushahidi in Kenya, Ken Banks of Kiwanja.net, and Berna Ngolobe of WOUGNET in Uganda.

Table of Contents

Introduction - Sokari Ekine Part I: The context 1 Economics and power within the African telecommunications industry - Nathan Eagle 2 Mobile activism in Africa: future trends and software developments - Christian Kreutz 3 Social mobile: empowering the many or the few? - Ken Banks 4 Mobiles in-a-box: developing a toolkit with grassroots human rights advocates - Tanya Notley and Becky Faith Part II: Mobile democracy: SMS case studies 5 Fahamu: using cell phones in an activist campaign - Redante Asuncion-Reed 6 The UmNyango project: using SMS for political participation in rural KwaZulu Natal - Anil Naidoo 7 Kubatana in Zimbabwe: mobile phones for advocacy - Amanda Atwood 8 Women in Uganda: mobile activism for networking and advocacy - Berna Ngolobe 9 Mobile telephony: closing the gap - Christiana Charles-Iyoha 10 Digitally networked technology in Kenya's 2007-08 post-election crisis - Joshua Goldstein and Juliana Rotich 11 Using mobile phones for monitoring human rights violations in the DRC - Bukeni Waruzi

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