
The Spirit of Open Access to Information as a Key Pillar to the African Re-naissance
Author(s) -
J.C. du Plessis
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
international review of information ethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2563-5638
DOI - 10.29173/irie19
Subject(s) - realm , cyberspace , focus (optics) , pillar , key (lock) , information and communications technology , political science , public relations , sociology , the renaissance , internet privacy , the internet , world wide web , computer science , law , engineering , computer security , history , physics , optics , structural engineering , art history
This article explores the future impact of an African renaissance with a specific emphasis on information ethics to address the needs of the emerging virtual realm. The four main focus areas include the technologi-cal challenges to deploy ICT infrastructure to enable the delivery of information to the people and to allow for new means of communication. The second focus considers the economic obstacles that need to be consi-dered in the quest to empower average citizens to exercise their right to access information. The third focus addresses the linguistic and cultural realities that hinder the adoption of some ICTs. The final focus considers the legal framework that has to be developed and strengthened to establish citizen‘s rights of access and privacy in cyberspace.