What do we know about Douala. Access to information in and about the largest Cameroonian city
Marta Pucciarelli, Amalia Georgiana Sabiescu, Lorenzo Cantoni · SUPSI ARIS · 2013
Access to knowledge and information are critical issues in Africa. Previous studies have tackled barriers to accessing information in Africa, and brought to the forefront aspects such as the lack of physical access to communication technologies, low literacy and digital literacy, and the importance of orality in knowledge production. This paper focuses on the specific case of Douala, the largest city of Cameroon, and the challenges of accessing written and digital information within and about the city itself. Drawing on the results of a recent qualitative study, the paper indicates that limited access to information is conditioned by a substantial lack of tools and infrastructures that can facilitate production and distribution of information about the city amongst its dwellers and outside the city walls. This portrayal is marked by a series of salient aspects emerging from the analysis: (1) the discrepancy between the rich knowledge held and transmitted orally by inhabitants and the scarcity of written information about the city; (2) the rise of digital media over print media as prevalent means of information access; and (3) the growing role of private institutions in information production and distribution. These findings indicate important priorities in dealing with the transition to an information society for Douala as an emblematic case of a developing context marked by poverty and predominance of oral means of knowledge production and distribution.