National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (NEMISA)
Abstract
The theme of the 2018 colloquium, "Digital Re-imagination: Preparing South Africa for a Digital
Future through e-Skills" sought to establish an innovative research network through providing
a platform for government, academia, industry, education and civil society to share research,
data and trends that will contribute to refining the mandate to develop the necessary e-skills
capacity of South Africa
With the dawn of every new age, the nature of work and our relationships change. The impact
of these changes to the digital economy affect entire systems of production, management,
and governance. For example, government is currently designed as linear and mechanistic
yet the digital economy is made up of adaptive systems. William Gibson has famously been
quoted for the phrase: "The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."
Given the extant amount of data available today, it is now possible to predict (within some
margins of error) how people will behave in certain situations. Data is increasingly becoming
better structured and easy to access. The question is, are we ready for the future? Are we
ready to harness the opportunities that the digital economy has brought? Can the digital
economy make a better South Africa for all?
Technology today is able to perform exponentially better than we can; how then can we create
new industries and new forms of governance? It is critical to re-think how systems are being
implemented. Creativity and innovation is big business in the digital economy. Creativity and
innovation moves contributions to beyond the individual and the group - to societal,
disciplinary, national and global level.
The prevalent economic paradigm of a winner who takes it all means that the lower income
earners are increasingly more dissatisfied. One of the symptoms of any illness is pain. Pain
can be seen in our society in the form of unemployment, poverty and the dissatisfaction with
the status quo. The challenges in our society cry out for change - a new way of thinking about
employment, wealth creation and governance. What are the real opportunities that the digital
economy presents to the people of South Africa? Real opportunities are those which are not
only available substantively, but are also achievable by the people for who they are created.
The opportunities presented by the digital economy can only become real if we e-skill people
to take advantage of those opportunities. Countries in the East have been able to adapt
technologies without giving up the cultural values they hold dear. While the challenges we
face in South Africa may be seen as a problem, they also present an opportunity to make a
difference with Digital Skills. It is no longer enough to have a skill; technology, talent and
insight are becoming critical as well.
The colloquium received 13 submissions. These submissions include four full papers, one
concept note and eight abstracts. The submissions were all blind peer reviewed by at least
two reviewers. None of the authors nor editors were involved in reviewing their own
submissions.ICT4D Flagship, University of South Africa
National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (NEMISA)School of Computin
