Title: African Information Ethics in the context of the global Information Society
Pages: 353 pp.
ISSN: 1614-1687
Source: International Review of Information Ethics, Vol. 7 (09/2007)
Publisher: International Center for Information Ethics (ICIE)
Date published: 09/2007
Date accessed: 22/07/2009
Type of information:
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
The 7th volume of IRIE (01/2007) is dedicated entirely to the publication of the proceedings of the first African Information Ethics Conference (www.africainfoethics.org) that was held in February, 5-7, 2007 in Pretoria, South Africa.
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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.

Besides the intercultural dialogue between scholars from Africa and around the globe that can be referred to in the proceedings published in this issue the conference produced some tangible results:

* The Tshwane Declaration as adopted by the participants of the conference as a genuine African contribution to the Code of Ethics for the Information Society
* The ANIE - African Network for Information Ethics to give African scholars a platform to exchange and realize their ideas in the field
* The claim to implement Advisory Boards to African Governments to give advice to policy makers on the continent regarding the ethical implications of ICTs.
* The African Reader on Information Ethics - consisting of a selection of useful articles of this issue translated into main African languages.

See also:
African Network for Information Ethics