Collaboration driving digital literacy

» In 1987, the room-sized Cray-2 was the world’s fastest supercomputer. Today, an iPad has twice the capabilities of Cray-2 and a child can operate it. Such is the pace of the much-heralded fourth industrial revolution (4IR).

UNFORTUNATELY, HUGE DISPARITIES IN WEALTH AND INFRASTRUCTURE ensure that the 4IR benefits the global North far more than the South. For example, the 2019 Global Innovation Index (GII) ranks South Africa first in Africa for ‘innovation’ but 63rd globally, well behind most Asian, European and North American countries.

Since GII rankings largely correlate with development indices such as the WEF Global Competitiveness Report and the UNO Human The key to catching up is to develop e-skills at an individual level.

Development Index, the South is also behind in terms of the interconnected aspects of technology adoption, investment in human capital and overall economic performance.

The Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (now part of the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies) established the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (NEMISA) in 1998. NEMISA’s mission is to provide a national integrated e-skills development approach for sustainable socio-economic development and to radically advance human capacity development in digital e-skills in South Africa. NEMISA co-funds nine university-based provincial hubs called CoLabs, each with a specific focus area. The Western Cape CoLab for e-Inclusion and Social Innovation is based at UWC and led by Professor Leona Craffert.

The CoLab works closely with local communities, the Western Cape provincial government, universities, colleges, business and non-governmental organisations to co-design and deliver digital literacy and skills development programmes and research. Its programmes aim to help people understand their evolution in a digital world and to nurture technology innovation and adoption.

One of the key concerns, says CoLab researcher Wouter Grové, is that people underestimate the scale of the digital revolution that has already taken place. For example, IBM estimates that 90% of the data in the world today was created in just the past two years. We are interacting with machines and machine thinking at a level and depth unprecedented in human history.

Part of the CoLab challenge is that digital change happens fast. In 2013, CoLab participated in an exciting programme in which 86 school learners were taught to design Blackberry apps in a programme initiated by the original smartphone company. Seven years later, Blackberry has exited the mobile phone market and most learners have no idea what a BBM was.

» The COVID-19 pandemic brought the centrality of digital technologies in our lives to the fore, but has also exposed the many levels of the digital divide that still make it diffi cult for communities to unlock the value and promise of the digital economy. «

According to Prof Craffert, the CoLab maintains an inclusive approach for maximum participation in the digital society and economy that involved collaboration with a variety of research and community stakeholders in 2019.

The CoLab and UWC academic departments participated in the International Joint Research Group (IJRG) for S-DIRECT with iMinds-SMIT (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and the Material and Sensory Cultures of Africa Study Centre - MASC (University of Ghent), to explore the possibilities of applying living lab research to foster and facilitate social innovation for digital inclusion to address challenges in South Africa.

Dr Craffert says, “The IJRG strives to understand how social innovation can stimulate social and digital inclusion of under-resourced communities and explores how living labs or co-design methodologies for digital skills interventions can assist this process.”

The CoLab provides e-skills to Western Cape beneficiaries by training community partner organisations to deliver programmes as “intermediaries”. The CoLab provided digital inclusion and social innovation skills training to more than 2 500 people in 2019–2020 in, among others, mobile literacy; digital transformation for leaders; applications of data, data analytics and AI for strategic decision-making within government; digital transformation and digital leadership; machine learning; privacy and data protection; and, digital identity management.

On 15 August 2019, 185 women received certifi cates for computer skills, digital identity management and mobile technology for SMMEs after completing CoLab courses presented through Community Women Action, a non-profi t organisation active in Eerste River.

The CoLab hosted a roundtable discussion on the concept of ‘data’ on 22 August that included researchers from Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the University of Ghent, the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Government, local academics and postgraduate students. The CoLab also graduated its fi rst two joint PhD in Media and Communication Studies students in 2019.

Prof Craffert says, “The COVID-19 pandemic brought the centrality of digital technologies in our lives to the fore. Unfortunately, it has also exposed the many levels of the digital divide that still make it difficult for communities to unlock the value and promise of the digital economy. The CoLab addresses this through applied research, innovation projects and contributing to an inclusive digital transformation and skills ecosystem.”