Tshwane Declaration: A new dawn for Information ethics in Africa

Abstract

Information ethics is at its infancy in Africa. Enormous contribution to information ethics has been done by academicians from the western world and another fair share from the Far East countries. Africa is considered the cradle of humanity and therefore rich in social and ethical diversity. It is thus apparent that in this information and knowledge edge era, Africans should now shift the paradigm to information ethics. Concerted efforts have been fronted by academicians in information science to develop a working formula for information in Africa. These lead to the formation of the Tshwane Declaration for information Ethics in Africa. This Declaration formed a framework of developing integrated information ethics for Africa. However, the extent of this declaration implementation is questionable. This paper, therefore, is intended to provide a background on the Tshwane declaration, explore the impact of this declaration on information management in Africa provide a recommendation on the way forward for information managers in Africa. Introduction Information ethics is a multidisciplinary area of study that explores the ethical issues arising from the information continuum, which encompasses information; generation, gathering, organization, retrieval, distribution, and use. Information ethics is also perceived to be an interdisciplinary field of study that covers a conglomeration of discipline, for instance, computer science, library and information science, philosophy, communication science, journalism, and mass media. Consequently, the areas of concern include the following: the right to privacy, the right of access to information, the right to intellectual property and the quality of information (Bitz, 2013). In recent years, there has been a growing urge to integrate leading African scholars into international ethics discos with the intention of rationalizing the impact of new information and communication technologies in Africa. The integration of scholars in the ethical discos initiated the organization of the first ever Africa Information Ethics conference which was held on 7th February 2007. Roughly 100 academics and policymakers from Africa and world at-large converged for the conference on Information Ethics which steered the adoption of the Tshwane Declaration on Information Ethics in Africa. The three-day conference was held at Kivietskroon outside the South African capital Pretoria, under the theme: Ethical challenges of the Information Age. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 9, Issue 4, April 2019 383 ISSN 2250-3153 http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.9.04.2019.p8851 www.ijsrp.org This paper therefore, attempts to look at factors that led to Tshwane declaration on information ethics and highlights the extent to which it will impact on information management in Africa. Background of Tshwane Declaration for Information Ethics In the the better part of second half of the 20th century, computer scientists for instance Norbert Wiener (1989 1950) and Joseph Weizenbaum (1976) brought to the limelight the societal challenges of computer technology. The initial academic discussions centered on the responsibility of computer professionals (Capurro 2013). Capurro and Bitz (2010) observed that the ethical paradymes of the worldwide information society formed the the bigger part of the UNESCO agenda. Since 1997, UNESCO introduced a sequence of events allowing specialists and decision makers to address the ethical dimensions of the information society. The primary objective of the UNESCO Information ethics Congresses, organised in 1997, 1998 and in 2000, was to inspire the reflection and deliberation on the ethical, legal and societal aspects of the information society by converging participants from the most significant possible number of countries representing the broadest range of educational, scientific, cultural and social environments. The ethical, legal and societal effects of information and communication technologies (ICTs) formed the larger part of the three priorities of UNESCO’s Information for All Programme (IFAP). The two World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) meetings held in Geneva (December 2003) and Tunis (November 2005), had specific intentions of deliberating on the ethical dimensions and challenges facing the global information society. After the first meeting in Geneva, two significant documents were published, that is, the Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action. The second high-level meeting in Tunis agreed on two extra documents, namely the Tunis Commitment and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society (WSIS 2003/2005). In clauses 55-56, the Declaration of Principles explains the ethical dimensions of the information society. Additionally, the document stated that the global information society must uphold the fundamental values of human freedom: \uf0fc Human rights should be respected; \uf0fc There should be no offensive use of contemporary ICTs. Capurro (2007) further narrates, that in October 2004 an intercontinental convention on Information Ethics was held in Karlsruhe Germany. This convention was organized by the International Center for Information Ethics and sponsored by the Germans’ Volkswagen Foundation. Prominent internationally recognized experts in the field of information ethics were invited to participate, and it was a first of its kind in the world. The symposium International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 9, Issue 4, April 2019 384 ISSN 2250-3153 http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.9.04.2019.p8851 www.ijsrp.org concentrated on the novel and puzzling ethical question raised by modern information and communication technologies within the paradigm of globalization and knowledge economies. The idea of this conference that surfaced from this symposium was; localizing the Ethical Internet Issues in Intercultural Perspective. Themes deliberated on by the participants included subjects such as privacy, access to information, intellectual property rights, quality of information, security, spamming, advanced capitalism and the digital divide which involved the question of the information-rich versus the information poor. It was eminently clear to all participants that the African continent had poor representation at the symposium. The handful of African participants were mainly sourced from expatriates. Consequently, there were cardinal reasons that occasioned the absence of African scholars in the summit. Some of the ideas just to mention a few relate with; Lack of international recognition; poor funding and facilitation for attending international events and also not much research has been done on the African continent on this critical information ethics topic. A closer scrutiny portrays a picture that indicates seems that African scholars have meager publications compared to there global counterparts and therefore they did not have much to offer on ethical challenges facing Africa in the era of globalization. Rafael Capurro searched for Publications related to African Information Ethics by African scholars and came across a limited number of publications (Africainfoethics.org) Having seen the challenges encountered by African countries, about 100 academics and policymakers from Africa and other parts of the world convened at the Africa conference on Information Ethics leading to the adoption of the Tshwane Declaration on Information Ethics in Africa. The three-day conference was held at Kivietskroon outside the South African capital Pretoria, under the theme: Ethical challenges of the Information Age. The conference was hosted by the South African Government, via the Departments of Communications and Arts and Culture, with the official patronage of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) (Capurro 2101), The New Partnership for Africa s Development (NEPAD) e-Africa Commission, the Presidential National Commission on Information Society and Development and in close collaboration with the International Centre for Information Ethics, the University of Pretoria in South Africa and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the United States of America (USA/US). African academics and policymakers sought to address the ethical challenges of the information society from their perspective with the belief that the mobilization of the academic research in Africa is crucial for the sustainable social, economic, technical, cultural and political development of the continent. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 9, Issue 4, April 2019 385 ISSN 2250-3153 http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.9.04.2019.p8851 www.ijsrp.org It was realized that the use of contemporary Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) such as computers, the internet, radio, and television poses many ethical challenges in the African continent, for instance, a social exclusion which is triggered by a lack of access to relevant information. Other challenges included computer illiteracy as well as the adequate protection of core information based on human rights. These rights included the right to freedom of expression (FOE) and the right of access to information (FOI). Delegates at the Africa conference adopted the Tshwane Declaration on the Information Ethics in Africa with a commitment to focus on enhancing African discourse on developing norms and values for the African Information Society. Apart from the Tshwane Declaration, the University of Pretoria committed itself to establish a Research Centre for Africa Information Ethics, to enhance research areas on information ethics in the continent. Delegates also established the African Information Ethics Network that will enable academics and ICT and information policymakers to participate in a global dialogue to discuss the challenges posed by the information society. To enable academics and policymakers to address the practical applicat