SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in Africa, edited by Sokari Ekine

[Marafiki wa Vitabu]

SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in Africa, now available at SOMA Book
Cafe.

For those who are interested in technology development and how it has
contributed specifically to development issues, this is a usefully
book.

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.

You can read more from Fahamu Books