This article addresses how African countries are hoping the increasing use of cell phones in Africa will help to progress toward creating a fairer environment when it comes to government elections. It goes on to say that cell phones have become helpful in putting a more immediate stop to some cheating and illegal activity that has been occurring throughout the elections. They also hope that this growth of communication technologies could lead to more improvements for Africa in the future. After reading the article, do you think this increase in cell phone usage is as powerful of a tool in improving their election system as some are suggesting? I tend to think that while cell phones may not necessarily have an enormous impact on the election system, hopefully it can lead to further communication advancements for African countries. Or do you think this technology use could have the potential to do more harm for the system than good? And are these types of communication technologies, such as cell phones and the Internet, imperative for Africa to make positive developments?
Cell phones promise fairer elections in Africa - CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/25/Cellphonedemocracy/index.html
5 comments:
My belief on this issue of technological development which can lead to a better society is one of doubt. While I see the evident changes it will make for their governmental election, I also see the availability of corruption. I want to first address your question about the improvement of their electoral system. I understand that by giving a country the ability to use more updated and current technology through cellphones, it will help keep the society up on current news, develop businesses and also bring the community closer together. Communication is imperative in all places, but communication can not always be sending the right message.
In today's world, everybody is going global with the increased productivity of communication across the world. With Africa having the ability to learn more about the world outside of their villages, it is obvious that having cell phones will give people more opportunities to make money and decrease the poverty level. Cell phones will give people the chance to exchange information on certain prospects in the election or root out any illegal activity occurring during the election process. It will also give people the ability to contact their representatives, but Africa will remain to be Africa and the evil face of corruption will find its way to pop out and work against technology.
When I said earlier about the possibility of a corrupted message being sent and also being interpreted in the wrong way, it can change everything when it comes to elections of a governmental official. If a phone tree is what you are picturing, then picture a message that was started by someone who plans to unfairly send a message against or falsely on a candidate. Similar to false advertisement in America's media system, Africa will develop similar and unique habits over this process.
Overall, the benefits out weigh the disadvantages in the usage of cell phones. Keeping the world connected is the best way to bring peace and unity to all walks of life. It will not happen over night, but change will occur for the better.
After reading the article, do you think this increase in cell phone usage is as powerful of a tool in improving their election system as some are suggesting? I tend to think that while cell phones may not necessarily have an enormous impact on the election system, hopefully it can lead to further communication advancements for African countries. Or do you think this technology use could have the potential to do more harm for the system than good? And are these types of communication technologies, such as cell phones and the Internet, imperative for Africa to make positive developments?
In terms of the increased cell phone usage in Africa, I believe that the cell phone is not as powerful a tool, in terms of improving the election systems as some of the experts suggest. I agree with the doubts that the previous post suggests. There are many conditions that hinder African countries from having fair elections. At the same time, I feel that increased cell phone is a tremendous step towards achieving fair elections.
This technological development is a great first step, but much more is needed for the truly fair elections we are familiar with in our democratic society. Stronger independent media is sorely needed, especially in places where the government has a chokehold over media outlets. Another improvement needed is access to the Internet. Only a tiny percentage of Africans have access to the Internet. If this percentage was improved, more citizens would have information other than that controlled by the government.
On the issue regarding whether communication technologies are imperative, I believe increased usage of the cell phone and internet are a necessity, but there are more pieces to the puzzle. African citizens lack some of the basic civil liberties, that we take for granted. Until Africans have more basic freedoms, all the technology in the world won't make a difference in ensuring fair elections.
While I do think that having more cell phones will improve communication in Africa, I don't necessarily believe that voting rights will change drastically because of them. In a society where the government has such power, what's to stop it from changing the ballots? The government will most likely elect who it wants regardless of what the citizens want and I don't believe that cell phones have that absolute power to change so much so quickly.
Hopefully having more cell phones will eventually lead to positive changes in Africa and it will be interesting to see what comes of this situation.
It pains me to see such a situation in Africa. This course is really opening my eyes to just how good we have it here in the U.S. For most, a day without internet use of some sort is just unrealistic. For the people in Africa, a friend having computer and internet access is almost unheard of. With this being one of their only outlets to information outside of their areas it is important that they get someone to do something for them to make this resource, and others, like cell phones, more available.
I imagine that in a country where the leader has so much power, election time holds a little more meaning to its citizens. They don't want to feel cheated out of one of the only rights they have. For that reason, I don't see the idea of cell phones increasing the fairness of elections as being as far fetched as some others would. I believe that the positives of it would outweigh the negative possibilities.
Brooke, I definitely agree with you when you wrote that you don't think cell phones will impact the election system. It sounds like they are getting a little too ahead of themselves by suggesting that. Cell phones are certainly an excellent communication tool, but I do not think African countries, or the rest of the world, is ready for cell phones to impact elections.
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