At its simplest, oAfrica is a showcase of the dynamic African digital landscape. Although every African citizen may not have Internet access for over a decade, African digital opportunities are rapidly expanding. oAfrica wants to spread the excitement to the rest of the world.

oAfrica keeps in mind that no two African nations can implement the same methods to foster sustainable online growth. The reason: a tangled web of political ideologies, economic barriers, and geographic constraints necessitates unique approaches for development. In order to achieve success, consumer adoption, connectivity and technology infrastructure, business environment, social and cultural environment, government policy and vision, and legal environment must align. “Africa” is often used to reference the continent and macroscopic trends, but care is given to not group individual nations with the entire continent.

oAfrica exists, in part, to address the core of the following excerpt:

While there has been great value in focusing on the profound digital differences between developed and developing countries, the downside has been a potential and insidious distinction between civilized tool-users and uncivilized non-users. What is missing is a deeper focus on the “true” knowledge needs or particular cultures and communities, and the relevance of ICT to individual social contexts.”     -Perspectives and policies on ICT in society, ed. Chrisanthi Avgerou and Jacques Berleur, IFIP TC9, 2005, 16.

oAfrica is especially fond of data. Alone, numbers provide little guidance, but with some care they can become a powerful barometer for change. Much of the information found on this site is based on data published by other organizations. oAfrica always considers the reputation of these sources, but the reader must keep in mind that all data should be interpreted with a grain of salt. Either way, oAfrica attempts to look beyond pure numbers when making assumptions and conclusions.

You will find the majority of oAfrica’s content to focus on Sub-Saharan Africa (although recent events in North Africa have been of interest). The largest information void exists in this vast region.

Additionally, oAfrica promotes discussion of Africa’s ICT field with subtlety. That is, this site is not meant to be a forum for intense debate or an online community. Those sites already exist under skilled leadership. Instead, oAfrica seeks to present information with a moderate slant. Generally, the voice is positive, since most African ICT developments are just that. And, it is oAfrica’s belief that overly negative attitudes will stifle innovation.

External content is extremely important as well. After all, oAfrica does not have a presence on the ground in Africa. To provide a truly accurate and well-balanced picture, oAfrica cites all sorts of articles, reports, and publications written by experts in the field. In the same vein, oAfrica realizes the important of local content generation and wishes to support African efforts as much as possible.

The oAfrica story:

oAfrica started in August 2009 as a personal project with an idea to raise awareness of how Africans interact with the Internet. However, the project soon took on greater meaning. I immediately saw that there was room for another website focusing on ICT in Africa. I was surprised at the sheer volume of information relating to ICT and felt the urge to help organize even a fraction of it. I have always had a passion for the Internet and all of the doors it can open. Over the years, articles about how Africa was ready for the digital age seemed to repeat a similar story. Year after year analysts predicted the same outcome: Internet was coming to Africa and would be widely available in X years

Not only did I want to learn more about Africa’s history with ICT, but I sought to understand the challenges facing the ICT sector. Moreover, empirical evidence suggests that very few Americans express much interest or even much of an opinion on the subject. Few even know what the acronym ICT represents. Fortunately, oAfrica can help. The oAfrica logo symbolizes connectivity, community, and togetherness. The colorful ‘o’ loosely mimics the inside of a fibre optic cable and the ‘f’ ties ‘Africa’ together.

About the author:

Originally from New York and now residing in California, Tim Katlic has been involved with the online African space for multiple years. oAfrica is the product of countless nights and weekends of research and labor. (Tim currently works full-time during the day as an analyst for an Internet company.)

Tim holds a BA in Physics from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. It was here that he gained a liberal arts background and began to understand the need to work for the common good. His first memories of Africa come from the 3^rd grade: memorizing the capital of Ethiopia and reciting the names of five African nations in less than 20 seconds. Years later, he believes every African should have the right to Internet access. He also would like you to not take your bandwidth for granted. Tim can be contacted at tim@oafrica.com.

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