The First
African Conference on IE was held in Tshwane/Pretoria, South Africa, 5-7 February 2007, under
the
auspices of UNESCO, sponsored by the South African Government,
Department of
Communications and organized by the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of Pretoria,
University
of Pittsburgh,
and the International Center
of Information Ethics.
Venue:
Kievits Kroon Country Estate & Spa
Under
the heading
'the joy of sharing knowledge' and the patronage of UNESCO
it brought together some 80 policy makers and academic minds from
Africa
and around the world to discuss the impact of the use of modern
Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs) on the African continent and
formulate a
specifically African perspective on the challenges involved - locally
and
globally.
In addressing the ethical challenges of the information society on the
African
continent the conference was inspired by the Geneva Declaration adopted
by the
Geneva World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) of 2003. It was
explicitly
conceived as part of the implementation of Action Line C10 of the
Geneva Plan
of Action.
The conference produced some tangible results:
Programme
5 February 2007
Welcome address:
Prof. Robin Crewe (Vice
- Principal, University of
Pretoria, South Africa)
Discussion
of the Objectives and Agenda: Ms.
Lyndall Shope-Mafole
(Director General, Dept. of
Communications, South Africa)
Keynote
address: Dr. Ivy
Matsepe-Casaburri (Minister of Communications, South Africa)
Opening
addresses:
Dr.
Henry
Chasia (NEPAD
e-Africa Commission)
Dr. Boyan Radoykov
(UNESCO, Information Society Division)
Theme keynote
speakers:
Prof.
Rafael Capurro (International Center
for Information Ethics, Germany): Information Ethics for and
from Africa
Prof. Andrew Kaniki (NRF, South Africa):
The foundations of Africa Information Ethics from an African perspective
Prof. Itumeleng Mosala
(Director-General Dept of Arts and Culture, South
Africa):
Ethics and Information Exchange between diverse cultures
Prof. Johannes Britz (University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA;
University of Pretoria,
South Africa):
The challenges of African Information Ethics
Panel
discussion:
Henry Chasia, Boyan Radoykov, Rafael Capurro,
Andrew Kaniki, Itumeleng Mosala, Johannes Britz
Discussion,
Questions and Remarks from the floor.
Evening:
Gala dinner
Guest
speaker: Minister Dr
Pallo Jordan,
Minister of Arts and Culture
6
February 2007
Morning
Session
Theme Group
Discussions:
Discussion
of 12
principal themes in smaller groups each facilitated by an appointed
theme
facilitator.
Brief introduction of
UNESCO's proposal for a code of ethics (B. Radoykov, Information
Society
Division, UNESCO)
All
groups will focus their discussion on the following issues:
UNESCO's
proposal for a
Code of Ethics - an African perspective
Possible implications
for minority groups, different age groups (for example, youth), gender,
and
socio-cultural and economic implications
TOPIC 1: Foundations of African
Information Ethics
Topic
facilitator: D. Ocholla (South Africa)
Theme
1:
Respect for
human dignity - information based rights
Theme 2: Freedom of
expression, Freedom of access to information
Theme 3: Freedom of
access to information (IP legislation, open-access movement, TRIPS)
Theme 4: Information
wrongdoings, information corruption, information injustice
TOPIC
2: Cultural
diversity and
globalization
Topic
facilitator: P. Kanyandago (Uganda)
Theme 5:
Protection and
promotion of indigenous knowledge
Theme 6: Global
security, human security, privacy, transparency
Theme 7: E-Government
and related topics
Theme 8: Cultural
diversity and development
TOPIC
3: Development,
poverty and
ICT
Topic
facilitator: K. Mchombu (Namibia)
Theme 9:
Using ICT for a
better life in Africa: case studies
Theme 10: Internet and
exclusion (socio-political and economic exclusion)
Theme 11: North-South
flow of information and information imperialism
Theme 12: Brain draining
in Africa
Afternoon session
Topic Group Meetings:
Separate
meetings of the
three topic groups
Theme synthesisers will
report their group's summary to their topic facilitatator
Report back to
conference participants by three topic facilitators:
Dennis
Ocholla, Topic 1 Facilitator
Peter Kanyandago, Topice 2 Facilitator
Kingo Mchombu, Topic 3 Facilitator
General discussion
Discussion on the declaration
Outcomes and plan of action
Vote of thanks
This
website is the result of the first African Information Ethics
Conference, held
in Tshwane, South
Africa,
5-7 February
2007. The
attendees agreed to form a network of professionals interested in
Information Ethics from an African perspective to further research in
this area and to contribute to
fulfill
the ideals
as spelled out in the Tshwane declaration. It includes
- Conferences
- Members
- Tswane
Declaration
- Bibliography
- Photos
- List
Server
- Africa
Reader on
Information Ethics
The
Tshwane Declaration was adopted by the participants of the African
Information Ethics Conference: Ethical Challenges in the Information
Age on 7
February 2007.
Preamble
We, African academics in
Africa and the
diaspora, together with academics from the international community, as
experts
in the field of Information Ethics, together with government
representatives,
participating in the Africa Conference on Information Ethics held in
Pretoria
5-7 February 2007 hosted by the South African Government with the
official
patronage of UNESCO and the NEPAD e-Africa Commission, in close
collaboration
with the International Center for Information Ethics, the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of Pretoria;
Understanding Information
Ethics to be the
field of critical reflection on moral values and practices with regard
to the
production, storage, distribution and access to knowledge as well as to
all
kinds of processes, systems and media of information and communication;
Noting the urgent necessity
of ethical
reflection on norms and values for the emerging Information Society in Africa;
Inspired by the vision of
the World Summit
on the Information Society of a people-centred, inclusive,
development-oriented
Information Society;
United in our belief that
the mobilization
of academic research on Information Ethics in Africa is crucial for
sustainable
social, economic, technical, cultural and political development;
Acknowledging
the need to improve and foster greater participation of African
scholars in the
field of information ethics within the international scholarly
community
recognizing the distinctive contribution to be made by African thinkers
and
intellectual traditions to the global information ethics community;
Recognising that in the
present global
information society the necessity of international and inter-cultural
dialogue
on information ethics issues is crucial for creating conditions for
mutual
respect and understanding;
Accepting that the
renaissance of the
African continent has highlighted ethical challenges and opportunities
in
relation to the increasing utilization of Information and Communication
technologies; Believing that Information Ethics should play a crucial
role in
African education and policy in order to foster social, cultural and
economic
development by promoting the worth and dignity of human individual and
social
life; Recalling the International Information Ethics Conference that
took place
in October 2004, in Karlsruhe, Germany, which identified the need for
the
greater participation of Africans in the global inter-cultural dialogue
on
Information Ethics; Determined to establish dialogue opportunities,
networks,
and African Research agendas in information ethics; Re-affirm our
commitment,
focus and motivation towards enhancing African dialogue on developing
norms and
values for the African Information Society;
Adopt this declaration as a foundation to enhance the field of
Information Ethics in Africa, and
resolve to
uphold the following principles:
Principles
All people have equal rights
as set out in
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To exercise their human
rights
people need and should have access to information as well as the
ability to
benefit from it.
Information should be
recognized as a tool
for promoting the goals of freedom, democracy, understanding, global
security,
peace and development and should be used as such.
Information should be made
available,
accessible and affordable across all linguistic groups, gender,
differently
abled, elderly and all cultural and income groups.
World-wide, the centrality
of information
is manifested as nations move towards Information and Knowledge
Societies. To
make the global Millennium development goals a reality, Africa
should be a key player in this movement.
Policies and practices
regarding the
generation, dissemination and utilisation of information in and about Africa should be grounded in an Ethics based on
universal
human values, human rights and social justice.
Indigenous
knowledge and
cultural
diversity is a valuable contribution Africa
can make to the global Information Society. It should be preserved,
fostered
and enabled to enrich the world body of knowledge.
