Digital Media and the Preservation of Indigenous Languages in Africa: Toward a Digitalized and Sustainable Society presents cutting-edge epistemological debates, academic case studies, and empirical research from African scholars on the intersection of digital media technologies, artificial intelligence, and the preservation of Indigenous languages in the continent. This edited collection provides a methodology for African researchers, practitioners, and marginalized communities to integrate digital technologies into their lives to foster innovation, advance the documentation and preservation of underrepresented languages, and promote African-centered epistemologies. Contributors to this edited volume argue that African societies should acknowledge and embrace digital media platforms. Despite these platforms’ potential as sites of epistemic colonialism, they are essential for promoting ways of life that reflect the diversity and importance of Indigenous cultures. For Indigenous languages and local epistemologies to flourish in this rapidly evolving technological era, African communities must employ a variety of contemporary practices and strategies to document, protect, and preserve ways of being that have formerly been relegated to the periphery.

The book provides valuable insights on decolonising the digital media landscape and the indigenisation of participatory epistemologies to continue the legacies of indigenous languages in the global South. It is one of its kind as it climaxes that the construction phase of self-determining and redefining among the global South societies is an essential step towards decolonising the digital landscape and ensuring that indigenous voices and worldviews are equally infused, represented, and privileged in the process of higher-level communication, exchanging epistemic philosophies, and knowledge expressions. The book employs an interdisciplinary approach to engage in the use of digital media as a sphere for resistance and knowledge transformation against the persistent colonialism of power through dominant non-indigenous languages and scientific epistemic systems. It further advocates that decolonising digital media spaces through appreciating participatory epistemologies and their languages can help promote the inclusion and empowerment of indigenous communities. It indicates that the decolonial process can also help to redress the historical and ongoing injustices that have disadvantaged many indigenous communities in the global South and contributed to their marginalisation. This book will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students, scholars, and academics in communication, media studies, languages, linguistics, cultural studies, and indigenous knowledge systems in higher education institutions. It will be a valuable resource for those interested in epistemologies of the South, decoloniality, postcoloniality, indigenisation, participatory knowledge, indigenous language legacies, indigenous artificial intelligence, and digital media in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

This book deals with the often-neglected link between indigenous languages, media and democracy in Africa. It recognizes that the media plays an amplifying role that is vital to modern-day expression, public participation and democracy but that without the agency to harness media potential, many Africans will be excluded from public discourse.

While some academic attention has been paid to the impact of new digital technologies on African media in the colonial languages of English, French and Portuguese, there is a dearth of research into African language digital communication. This book analyses the online presence of African language media. The chapters in the book focus on the speed, structure, content, navigation and interactivity, operations and performance, and audience of the online media. They also pay particular attention to how social media such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp have been appropriated by African language media. Using a wide range of case studies, the contributors assess the challenges of adopting digital technologies by the media, and how the technologies have impacted journalistic practice and media operations. Examining the ability of the African language press to adopt new technologies, this book will be of interest to scholars of media, journalism, communication, social media and culture in Africa.

With increasing numbers of computers and diffusion of the internet around the world, localisation of the technology, and the content it carries, into the many languages people speak is becoming an ever more important area for discussion and action. Localisation, simply put, includes translation and cultural adaptation of user interfaces and software applications, as well as the creation and translation of internet content in diverse languages. It is essential in making information and communication technology more accessible to the populations of the poorer countries, increasing its relevance to their lives, needs, and aspirations, and ultimately in bridging the 'digital divide'.

The book contributes to the sparse academic literature on African and minority language media research. It serves as a compendium of experiences, activities and case studies on the use of native language media. Chapters in this book make theoretical, methodical and empirical contributions about indigenous African language media that are affected by structural factors of politics, technology, culture and economy and how they are creatively produced and appropriated by their audiences across African cultures and contexts. This book explores indigenous African language media about media representations, media texts and contents, practice-based activities, audience reception and participation, television, popular culture and cinema, peace and conflict resolution, health and environmental crisis communication, citizen journalism, ethnic and identity formation, beat analysis and investigative journalism, and corporate communication. There are hardly any similar works that focus on the various issues relating to this body of knowledge. The book provides a valuable companion for scholars in various fields like communication, media studies, African studies, African languages, popular culture, journalism, health and environmental communication.

Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Communications - Mass Media, grade: B, , language: English, abstract: The Mass Media are considered principal institutions with the mandate to facilitate dialogue and provide relevant information to the citizenry. Through news and messages provided by these media members of the public get a better understanding of their society (McCombs and Shaw, 1993 cited in Browne, 2008). Dialogue carried out by humans especially through the instrumentality of the mass media mainly include exchange of information in a language understood by the people involved in the communication process. For this reason, effective, persuasive communication can only take place if a common language is used. Communicating in indigenous languages, it has been noted, enhances social cohesion, which facilitates the preservation of African cultures (Salawu, 2006).