arXiv subjects

Gertjan van Stam

Publications and source records attributed to Gertjan van Stam.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

Access to Digital Platforms: Can 'Mobile' Network Coverage Reports be Relied Upon? Observations from Rural Zambia and Zimbabwe

As access to digital platforms in Africa is mostly through 'mobile' networks, this paper addresses the mismatch of universalised reports on 'mobile' access and the experiences from digital health practice and cases in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Further, the paper shines a critical light on the meaning of terms like access and the 4th industrial revolution from an African context. It argues for the need to invest in contextual research and development, also to gain a comprehensive understanding of how to access digital platforms in and from Africa.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2021

Appropriation, coloniality, and digital technologies. Observations from within an African place

This paper provides an assessment of experiences and understanding of digital technologies from within an African place. It provides philosophical reflections upon the introduction and existence - appropriation - of digital technologies. Digital technologies are inherently linked to a colonialising power and, in general, unaligned with local, African ways of knowing. Imported technologies are set in modern, universalised doing and unsensitive to the importance of aligned being in African contexts. Sensitivities, it is argued, can be fostered by a decolonial turn, where focus shifts from the individual to the community.

cs.CY↗