Private Sector Persona

Name: George Edwards

Age: 30

Gender: Non-conforming

Highest level of education: Bachelor Degree

Occupation: Software Engineer

Religion: Confucianism

Ethnicity: Kamba

County: Machakos

Motivations (What motivates this individual's participation in civic engagement through digital media?)

  • Best medium to use to participate in civic engagement

  • Feels like it is his responsibility to take part civic engagement

Aspirations (What aspirations does this person have of civic engagement in the digital space?)

  • To influence young girls, women and gender non conforming persons to start taking part in civic engagement

  • Educate young men on the challenges that ladies and gender non-conforming go through to enable them have an understanding of their stories

Challenges (What obstacles or barriers does this person face in their civic engagement digitally?)

  • Misinterpretation and misquotation

  • Trolling

  • Cyber crime and harassment

  • Online sexual harassment

  • Misogyny

Support (What support does this individual need to increase their digital and media literacy in order to participate in civic engagements?)

  • Safe online platforms for the young generation

  • Policies and Laws that govern against harassment and hate speech online

Opportunities (what can this person take advantage of digitally to improve their civic engagement?)

  • Take part in a digital media awareness seminar and training that will enable them to gain knowledge and skills of how to use, analyse and create media messages to protect both herself and others

  • Seek information from authorised and trusted sources.

Leadership moment (When, where and how does this person feel they can take actions/roles/opportunities to lead and influence civically in the digital space?)

  • Take initiative to educate the youth on issues such as corruption in the digital space.

  • Use the social media platforms to start a conversation about issues that are affecting the youth

  • Creating a safe online (app) space where young people can share and educate themselves on civic matters.

Quote (“Technology is changing and as industries we need to be ahead of the curve, therefore educating our employees in the diverse digital tools available enables us to grow”)

“Technology is a key source and distributor of civic education and engagement. Therefore it is adamant that the youth are educated how to maneuver in the digital space”

Where does this individual get their civic/political information? (e.g. news, opportunities)

  • Discussion forums and focus groups

  • TV

  • Smartphones

  • Internet

  • Dark web

Digital Access and Literacy

  • How comfortable is this person with using digital communication tools? He is very comfortable with using digital communication tools

  • What digital devices do they have frequent (every day) access to e.g. computer, mobile? Computer, Smartphone, ipad

  • What digital communication tools do they use the most? (WhatsApp, social media – facebook etc) Facebook, WhatsApp, Youtube, Twitter, Github

  • How does this person describe their internet connectivity? Strong and reliable

What types of media is this person attracted to (i.e. sources, formats, etc.)?

  • Videos

  • Graphics

  • Animation

  • Article

  • Documentaries

What digital media literacy learning and research questions does this person need/want to know?

  • What is the best manner in which information can be portrayed in the digital space?

  • What is the best way of knowing whether the information or news is fake?

  • What are the new social media platforms emerging that I can adopt and use?

  • What Policies are in place that govern hate speech and the spread of fake news in the digital space?

  • How do we counter propaganda online?