Research Institutions/HEI Persona
Name: Abdala
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Highest level of education: Bachelor's Degree
Occupation: Lab Technician
Religion: Muslim
Ethnicity: Turkana
County: Marsabit
Motivations (What motivates this individual participation in civic engagement through digital media?)
To share ideas around civic engagement
To get to learn more about civic engagement
To increase the level of participation around civic engagement among students that she interacts with
She is passionate about civic engagement and therefore uses digital media actively to participate
The university students whom she interacts with as they lack trust in civic engagement
Aspirations (What aspirations does this person have of civic engagement in the digital space?)
She aspires to acquire more knowledge on digital space
Be a champion of civic engagement
Get to earn a living from civic engagement
Challenges (What obstacles or barriers does this individual face in their civic engagement digitally?)
Cyber bullying & trolling
Internet challenges
Stolen identity
Lack of information getting to the illiterate people Lack of online reasoned debates and discussions
Erosion of trust in public affairs
Inadequate online role models
Inadequate digital civic and political skills
Lack of support from the University she works in
Support (What support does this person need to increase their digital and media literacy in order to participate in civic engagements?)
Government should come up with a way to deal with cyberbullies and cyber crimes
Support from Private sector- Safaricom to help in supporting the network in the area
Support from the University to come up with a program on media literacy
ICT Hub to uplift matters concerning digital literacy
Partner with the community to increase digital media literacy
Opportunities (what can this person take advantage of digitally to improve their civic engagement?)
Engage in political rallies and charities
Take advantage of the different social media platforms that she is part of to improve their civic engagement
Volunteering in different government projectsSupport from the University that she works in
Probable partnerships
Her interaction with students through emails, whatsapp groups, calls
Leadership moment (When, where and how does this individual feel they can take actions/roles/opportunities to lead and influence civically in the digital space?)
As a lab technician, she could use that opportunity to empower the students on civic engagement
Being a group admin on a Whatsapp or FB platform
By being part of a government project, she could take advantage of that to educate the community
Through the outreach that she participates in, she can educate people about the digital space
In church amongst her peers
Quote (“As an institution we are making it mandatory for all training teachers to take up digital literacy lessons in order to equip them with the skills needed to improve education ”)
“The University can be a great asset to educate young men and women on civic engagement and media literacy with the right kind of support”
Where does this individual get their civic/political information? (e.g. news, opportunities)
Social media platforms- Whatsapp, FB, LinkedIn, Twitter, IG
Internet
Office from where he works
Billboards
Newspapers
Radio
Television
Digital Access and Literacy
How comfortable is this person with using digital communication tools? Not very comfortable due to the internet issues, Not quite digital literate
What digital devices do they have frequent (every day) access to e.g. computer, mobile? Mobile phone,Newspaper,Radio,Laptop,TV
What digital communication tools do they use the most? (WhatsApp, social media – facebook etc) Whatsapp,Facebook,Tiktok,Snapchat
How does this person describe their internet connectivity? Has poor internet connection
What types of media is this person attracted to (i.e. sources, formats, etc.)?
Newspaper and magazines
Radio
Mobile phone
What digital media literacy learning and research questions does this person need/want to know?
How can she come up with a program to assist the community members improve their civic engagement?
How can she better engage the students she interacts with to increase their knowledge around civic engagement?
How and where can she get the right kind of support to increase her knowledge around media literacy?
How can the government improve network coverage?