Join us for a talk with Dr. Sharath Srinivasan and Dr. Claudia Abreu Lopes on the project Africa’s Voices. Africa’s Voices is an applied research project at Cambridge’s Centre of Governance and Human Rights (CGHR), and part of a wider research programme on ‘African politics and the digitally-mediated public sphere’. During its pilot year, Africa’s Voices worked with 9 radio stations in eight African countries, gathering and analysing SMS texts on interactive shows on agreed topics. Drawing on pilot insights, we are exploring ways to innovate technologically and methodologically to reconceptualise and analyse ‘public opinion’ in ways that value voices in their natural forms of expression. With industry collaborations (IBM Research Lab Africa, FrontlineSMS, Internews), we are developing an innovative new social research platform that can be used by practitioners, policymakers and researchers. The talk will also include a short film screening “Africa’s Voices” by Dr Dominique Chadwick.
