Call for Chapters: Examining the Rapid Advance of Digital Technology in Africa

Editors

Lloyd Amoah, University of Ghana, Ghana

Call for Chapters

Proposals Submission Deadline: June 30, 2023
Full Chapters Due: September 7, 2023
Submission Date: September 7, 2023

Introduction

As digital technology advanced in the last ten years, Africa has been attracting the attention of some of the leading digital technology companies on the globe. Huawei has been building the digital infrastructure of African countries. Alphabet Inc. set up an artificial intelligence research office in Ghana. Uber, the taxi hailing app, is available in more than 61 cities across seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa, namely South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Africa is increasingly being considered as the last frontier for any large scale phenomenal socio-economic transformation on the back of digitalization. Is this view a realistic and realizable one given the example of the Asian continent and countries within it like Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, China and Korea? In ideational and practical terms what does this view and belief mean for African countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and Rwanda among others which are seriously considering such an option? What implications, potential and real, would result from the focused pursuit of the digitalization path to Africa's rapid socio-economic transformation? There are clear and unmistakable signs of the rapid advance in the last ten years of digital technology globally and with it a digitalizing Africa. This book will try to contribute to the critical scrutiny and analysis of these emergent realities.

Objective

In last decade there have been far-reaching advances in digitalization. The emergence of quantum computing is one such advance. In responding to the problem of collective action, scholars are pointing to the rise of algorithmic regulation and governance. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Zoom and Microsoft Teams showed how critical digital infrastructure is for maintaining a semblance of normal life in moments of crises. South Korea, a highly informatized society, was one of the first to devise a testing regimen for COVID-19. What does all this mean for the African continent which definitely provides its own unique experiences and empirics of what is still an evolving and complex digitalization process sweeping the entire world in what has come to be described as datafied existence? It is crucial for the field of science and technology studies and its linkages with socio-economic impacts and transformation that Africa's experiences of and contribution to digitalization are tracked, analyzed, understood and critiqued. This book seeks to expand the frontiers of the understanding of Africa’s digitalization from an empirical and theoretical standpoint to the extent that it engages directly with expressions of this ever evolving phenomenon in a continent that cannot be ignored in the global political-economy.

Target Audience

The book aims to be useful for research, teaching and for general information as well. For researchers (scholars, investors, policy analysts, policymakers and the like), universities and higher learning institutions, the book will offer insights into the key new empirical and theoretical matters framing Africa's ongoing digitalization in the face of recent rapid advances. Based on the mix of chapters, the expert and general reader should find information relevant to their peculiar interests.

Recommended Topics

The themes for chapters will revolve around but are not limited to the following themes as they relate to Africa:
• Critical reflections on the new advances in digitalization globally in the last decade and the implications for Africa
• ICTs and the business environment
• ICTs and education
• ICTs and healthcare
• ICTs and the creative industries
• ICTs and the media/new media
• Culture, tourism and technology
• ICTs for agriculture, ecology and the green economy
• Artificial intelligence and robotics
• ICTs and Platform Economies
• Africa and the Block Chain and Cryptocurrency Revolution
• Africa and Algorithmic Governance
• Africa and the Emergence of the Quantum Age
• ICTs and urbanization in Africa

Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before June 30, 2023, a chapter proposal of 1,000 to 2,000 words clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors will be notified by July 24, 2023 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by September 7, 2023, and all interested authors must consult the guidelines for manuscript submissions at https://www.igi-global.com/publish/contributor-resources/before-you-write/ prior to submission. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.

Note: There are no submission or acceptance fees for manuscripts submitted to this book publication, Examining the Rapid Advance of Digital Technology in Africa. All manuscripts are accepted based on a double-blind peer review editorial process.

All proposals should be submitted through the eEditorial Discovery® online submission manager.



Publisher

This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), an international academic publisher of the "Information Science Reference" (formerly Idea Group Reference), "Medical Information Science Reference," "Business Science Reference," and "Engineering Science Reference" imprints. IGI Global specializes in publishing reference books, scholarly journals, and electronic databases featuring academic research on a variety of innovative topic areas including, but not limited to, education, social science, medicine and healthcare, business and management, information science and technology, engineering, public administration, library and information science, media and communication studies, and environmental science. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit https://www.igi-global.com. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2024.



Important Dates

June 30, 2023: Proposal Submission Deadline
July 24, 2023: Notification of Acceptance
September 7, 2023: Full Chapter Submission
November 5, 2023: Review Results Returned
December 17, 2023: Final Acceptance Notification
December 31, 2023: Final Chapter Submission



Inquiries

Lloyd G. Adu Amoah
University of Ghana, Legon
lgaamoah@gmail.com
lgamoah@ug.edu.gh



Classifications


Business and Management; Computer Science and Information Technology; Education; Medical, Healthcare, and Life Sciences; Media and Communications; Security and Forensics; Government and Law; Social Sciences and Humanities
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