Information ethics in Africa : curriculum design and implementation

Abstract

In 2007 a group of academics from different countries established a network known as the Africa Network on Information Ethics (ANIE). Aimed at addressing the under-representation of academics from Africa on information ethics web sites and at international conferences, ANIE committed itself to raising awareness of and stimulating research on information ethics issues by means of conferences and workshops across the African continent. Informing this commitment was the notion that activities on information ethics matters should focus on "changes in the relationship between people and the world due to information communications technology" (Capurro 2008:1163). These networking activities contributed to the creation of the Africa Centre of Excellence for Information Ethics (ACEIE) in May 2012. The dual brief of the ACEIE was to conduct research on information ethics issues in Africa, and to develop an information ethics curriculum for Africa that could be piloted at selected higher education institutions on the continent. This article starts with a description of the background to and rationale for the development of such an information ethics curriculum. Following the description is a summary of Curriculum Framework components and an explanation of the different ways in which institutions could use the Framework in the design and implementation of their own curriculum offerings. The article concludes with an indication of the contribution that the development and implementation of the Information Ethics Framework and associated curriculum offerings could make to research in the field of Information Ethics and the development of Africa as a globally competitive information and knowledge society.