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Practical Lessons Learned from the Roundtable

William Minter

Lesson One

Despite the fact that Africa still lags dramatically in access to internet services, it is possible now to have a global on- line discussion in which the dominant voices are African, including not only the "neo- diaspora" but also policy analysts and activists in a wide range of African countries.

A report on the pioneering electronic discussion on the World Development Report on Poverty, concluded in 2000 (see http://www.worldbank.org/devforum/) noted that despite a total of 1,523 subscribers from 80 countries, and an active and diverse discussion, "the electronic medium inevitably yielded a disproportionate number of contributions from the North (56%)." Approximately 4% of the WDR contributions were from Africa (APIC estimate).

The evidence from the APIC/ ECA Electronic Roundtable, added to that from, for example, previous on- line discussions hosted by the ECA (http://www.uneca.org) and the African women's discussion Flamme (http://flamme.org) demonstrate that such an outcome is not an "inevitable" result of the medium. To achieve a different result however, requires explicitly making inclusion of specific marginalized voices a primary goal. It furthermore requires labor- intensive efforts to offset the natural tendency for over- representation of those with easier and cheaper access to the electronic medium.

While Africa was estimated to have only 2.6 million of the 304 million estimated internet users as of March 2000 (http://www.nua.ie), at the time of the Roundtable, the experience confirmed that there was already a critical mass of African scholars, policy analysts, and workers in governmental, inter-governmental, non- governmental and religious organizations--in almost every African country--who are sufficiently well connected to participate actively in international electronic debates. They will do so, however, only if they are persuaded that the effort is worth the expenditure of their scarce resources of time and relatively expensive internet access.

On-line debates anywhere in the world, moreover, suffer from the defect that those with the greatest inclination and free time to participate do not often coincide with those whose insights would contribute most to the debate. Even in the US or in institutional settings where internet access is relatively cheap and unmetered, so that more time on-line does not cost more money, time is a scarce resource - particularly for those whose insights are most in demand.

That is why the principal hidden cost in launching and sustaining the Roundtable was recruitment of the panelists and selected respondents. Both the initial recruiting and getting the panelists' contributions in time required enormous expenditures of time and intensive use of the personal networks of the moderators as well as the institutional ties of the sponsoring organizations. The stature of the panelists and the quality of these initial contributions, in turn, was key to persuading others that it was worth their time to subscribe, follow the debate and perhaps make contributions themselves.

In order to create the possibility of similar results of inclusiveness of less-well-represented regions in global electronic debates such as the one on the World Development Report; it would be necessary to create specific mechanisms to elicit regional contributions through regional institutions. Such results can also be achieved through the building of "information communities." It is often presumed that electronic discussions only succeed when it is part of an internal, institutional network such as those of international donor organisations or to an event such as a conference. The Roundtable however is illustrative in that with careful planning African academics, policy makers and activists will share ideas and information without these ties being present.

Lesson Two

Internet e-mail is equally or more important as a tool for information- sharing and dialogue than is the other major internet service- the web. While the Internet--the largest set of computers that are linked into one network through public "internet protocol" number--provides a number of different communications tools, the term is often mistakenly identified with only one of its most prominent services- the world wide web. In fact, more people throughout the world use internet e-mail than use the web. On average those with Internet access spend more time with e-mail than surfing the web. E-mail lists are often the preferred means of communication among dispersed groups engaged in advance software development. E-mail is a strategic tool in its own right, and not a second-class tool destined to be replaced by the web.

Most significantly for our topic, e-mail enables a larger group to participate more flexibly than would be the case for web-based interactive tools. With e-mail communication as primary, participants get messages in their inboxes rather than only when they remember to drop by the web site. And the debate is open to those who lack reliable faster connections suitable for access to the web.

The lyris software, while primarily an e-mail discussion tool, also has a full web archive. Both e-mail and web interfaces are available for moderators to approve messages and change software settings, and for participants to change their subscription settings. Of the 549 signed up for the Roundtable as of April 13 2000, 421 chose to receive each e- mail message, 106 chose to receive only an index or no messages at all in favor of visiting the Roundtable web site regularly.

The Roundtable experience, as well as the World Development Report discussion, using the lyris software, confirm industry reviews that single out lyris as the most flexible tool for discussion lists now available. While the interface still needs improvement, built- in provision for both web and e- mail access makes it superior to classical listserve software such as majordomo or listproc. In contrast to new web-based interactive systems, which may be appropriate for smaller groups with highspeed access to the web and the latest browser software, making e-mail primary opens the door for participation to a much wider group regardless of software platform or speed of connection to the internet.

Even for those having the most recent hardware and software however, e-mail has the advantage of reaching a participant in his or her inbox. It thus creates a more continuous involvement than that dependent on "dropping by" the discussion list. Unless there are strong incentives for regular participation (for example, work on a required project), it is likely that e-mail discussion groups will continue to provide a more reliable way for on-going involvement of a greater percentage of participants that web-based fora.

Lesson Three

Despite the cost savings from cheaper communications, as compared with print publications or in-person meetings, providing opportunities for on- line information exchange and dialogue is very labor intensive and skill intensive. The failure to provide adequately for costs such as planning, recruitment, editing, translation, moderation and animation is a major weakness of many on-line dialogues, including this one.

Once the threshold of basic access to a computer, a modem and reliable reasonably-priced internet service is passed, the costs of communicating electronically over long distances are dramatically lower than other communication alternatives--air travel, phone, fax, post or DHL. Efforts to improve connectivity for Africa have primarily focused on passing this threshold level, through provision of better connections, more computer hardware and software, and technical training. There is still the need for massive efforts of this kind, in particular to lower cost of access and to extend its reach beyond capital cities and beyond a small elite. However, perhaps the greatest gap in existing efforts is in improving effective use of the hardware and software resources that are already available. This does not consist simply in basic training on the use of new hardware and new software, but even more critically improving the effective use of existing electronic communications tools. In the area of on-line interactive discussion in particular, there is a consistent underestimation of the need for skilled human resources directed to this issue.

What electronic communication does is lower the cost of exchanging information and viewpoints. In comparison to in- person conferences, it is possible to achieve enormous savings on airfares, hotel and meeting rooms. But the principal determinant of success is the same as when information and viewpoints are exchanged in person--namely who says what to whom. These factors require just as much--or more--effort as for in-person gatherings.

If the community of those to be engaged in the discussion is not preformed by previous personal contacts and/ or a common institutional base, strategic recruitment of participants is essential to the success of the discussion. Once participants are recruited, skilled moderation of the discussion is essential in order to keep the discussion on topic and prevent domination by disruptive or longwinded participants. Moderators and animators need to take an active role in seeking contributions from participants who may not speak up even when they have important contributions to make. Some innovative discussions have brought input from off-line by taking selected contributions to public meetings and then bringing summaries of that discussion or other similar interventions by the moderators. Any discussion, which is going to be inclusive across the African continent, must provide for translation at least between French and English, and arguably Portuguese, Arabic and other languages as well.

The cost in staff time for these tasks is significant. The most successful on-line discussions--such as the discussion on women and development preceding the ECA's 40th anniversary in 1998, the Flamme discussion in 2000, and the World Bank's poverty discussion--depended on staffing for active moderation and animation, as well as other functions. The ECA on-line discussion preceding the 1999 African Development Forum suffered from the lack of adequate staff time dedicated to these functions. The APIC/ECA Roundtable, while benefiting from some staff time from personnel at APIC, ECA and Bellanet, had only one full-time-equivalent dedicated position, divided between co-moderators Maliq Simone and Karin Santi. This was sufficient to achieve a striking success in recruitment of panelists and participants (totaling more than twice those involved in previous ECA discussions), but left a shortage of time available for other tasks that could have further strengthened the debate.

Lesson Four

Content and community building are just as critical factors as access to technology in determining the prospects for electronic communications to serve as a powerful tool to counter Africa's marginalization. Pursuit of the latest technology may in fact divert attention from these essential factors.

As noted above, Africa's access to electronic communications still lags dramatically behind the rest of the world. Even with the existing levels of connectivity, however, there is enormous potential that is not being fully exploited. While efforts continue to provide the hardware and software infrastructure, and to spread it more widely within each African country, a primary determinant of the impact of electronic communications will be how existing tools are used.

The potential now exists, for anyone with a functional e-mail connection anywhere in the world, and software available free or for minimal cost, to produce an electronic newsletter distributed worldwide. The primary determinant of the success or failure of such ventures will be the quality of the content provided and the extent of the networks of those who provide information or contribute to the dialogue. There is no technical reason why African content-providers should not quickly become the primary world-wide generators of knowledge and debate about African issues, making full use of both e-mail and web-based channels available to them.

The exclusively web-centered perspective of many efforts to promote electronic communications may distract from much of this existing potential, which provides opportunities even for those who do not yet have the bandwidth to provide accessible web sites. The greatest obstacles however are whether those with the knowledge and the networks have the resources of time, money for basic connectivity, and strategic skills to implement such initiatives.

Whether the internet communications medium chosen is e-mail or the web--or, in most effective efforts, the two in tandem--the primary determinants of success are not the technological tools themselves but content, audience and networks. Among the most successful ventures aggregating African-generated news content for the web, for example, is allAfrica. com, building on decades of experience in the news industry.

Much of the non-computer-specific expertise that will produce other successful electronic communication ventures is also available in Africa, if one makes the necessary mental parallels with more traditional communication formats. E-mail newsletters require the same editorial skills and disciplined professional care in selection of content and adaptation to targeted audiences, as do magazines produced on paper. Web sites also require the same editorial skills as those producing books and magazines for different audiences. And on-line discussion groups require the same skills as those for planning conferences held in hotels or conference centers.

Transfer of these skills into electronic media does not require waiting for the installation of the latest software. If too much organizational time is spent pursuing the latest upgrade, moreover, the result may be less rather than more effective electronic communications. In computer-industry jargon, the most critical and often neglected factor in effective use of new technology is neither hardware nor software but rather "wetware"--the human brain. The lesson is --yes, do invest in efforts for Africa to close the connectivity gap. But don't wait until installation of the latest hardware and the latest software is complete. Don't accept the inevitable dominance of Northern voices in global electronic debates. That can be changed, if one also invests in the human resources to take better advantage of the opportunities that already exist.