What we are reading: When will Data prices fall in South Africa?
This week we share content worth reading on open data in Africa, data and civic tech innovation
The Competition Commission| Data Services Market Inquiry: Summary of Provisional Findings and Recommendations
The South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says #DataMustFall, but what should the government do to make it happen? The Competition Commission has recently produced a roadmap to bring down the costs of data. The Competition Commission set up the inquiry to understand factors or features of the market(s) and value chain may cause or lead to high prices for data services, and to make recommendations that would result in lower prices for data services.
“The latest benchmarking data from Research ICT Africa also shows that South Africa performs unfavourably against other African countries, where its 1GB data price ranks among the more expensive countries in their RAMP index with the gap widening over time as prices fall faster in other countries,” says the inquiry.
Knight Foundation & The Rita Allen Foundation | Scaling Civic Tech Report: Paths to a sustainable future
How can we harness technology to promote civic engagement and more responsive government? This is the question put forward by the Knight Foundation in this report. It shares insight into advancing a more consistent, collaborative and rigorous field-wide conversation about the sustainability of the civic tech sector.
“Despite the proliferation of activity in civic tech, few startups in the field have meaningfully scaled and demonstrated sustainable business models capable of adapting to a rapidly changing operating landscape and set of needs… The struggles with sustainability have been increasingly observed and lamented by startups, funders and others committed to leveraging technology to promote a vibrant civil society,” states the report.
Our Data Our Selves|Tactical Tech Paper: Shrinking Civil Space: A Digital Perspective
Is the digital and physical civic space in decline? Our Data Our Selves looks at the factors and threats currently affecting digital civic space including civil society organisations (CSOs), activists, international organisations around the world. “We examine how tech platforms, data collection, surveillance and other digital means can threaten, restrict or curtail the work of CSOs and the spaces for political and civic participation,” writes the Technical Tech team.
“Technology is embedded in all aspects of our lives, including activism and civic participation. It is important for CSOs, activists and their communities to develop an enhanced understanding of the impact of digital technologies on their work and the shrinking civil society trend on a global level,” states the article.
