You can now watch the video of the fantastic high level round table on Decoding Digital Democracy in Africa organised by Democracy in Africa and Digital Civil Society Lab of Stanford University to launch a new volume, co-published by the two organisations. The report, which you can download for free by clicking here contains cutting edge analysis of everything from fake news to internet shutdowns, government censorship to the disruptive potential of social media, and the role of Facebook to the fight for digital rights.
Don’t forget to check out the introduction to the report, which sets out the key issues and the state of digital democracy in Africa, and is to be found here.
The roundtable brought together a brilliant panel of speakers from across Africa to discuss the interplay between new technology, politics and society, including:
- Bruce Mutsvairo, Professor of Journalism at Auburn University in the US, and co-author of Journalism, Democracy, and Human Rights in Zimbabwe
- Nanjala Nyabola, independent researcher and writer and author of Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics
- Julie Owono, Executive Director of Internet Without Borders, and a Member of the Facebook Oversight Board.
- Herman Wasserman, Professor of Media Studies and the author of The Ethics of Engagement: Media, Conflict and Democracy in Africa
Chairs:
- Lisa Garbe, researcher based at the political science institute at the University of St. Gallen and the co-editor of Decoding Digital Democracy in Africa
- Toussaint Nothias, Associate Director of Research at the Digital Civil Society Lab, Stanford University, and the author of Access granted: Facebook’s free basics in Africa
Discussants
- Nic Cheeseman is the Professor of Democracy at the University of Birmingham, the author of Democracy in Africa and the co-editor of Decoding Digital Democracy in Africa
- Idayat Hassan is the director of the Centre for Democracy and Development and the co-author of Driving Division? Disinformation and the new media landscape in Nigeria
The report itself is also entitled Decoding Digital Democracy in Africa and is available as a free to download PDF – just click here.
