Assignment Reflection

     I selected three images in which each image tells a story about either social, economics, or education.  On the subject of social, I chose a screenshot of a phone’s wallpaper which highlights the Facebook and WhatsApp app. When someone sees the image, I wanted their minds to immediately think about something related to social media use in Africa and a trend. Admittedly, an image of the app’s logo is too broad to narrow the topic down, so I added this title “A voice for the Diaspora” to the blog to clue readers into what I will talk about. I believe the next two images are good enough on their own to show a trend without even reading the title or the blog. For education, I selected an image with two young school children holding a tablet computer with a big smile on their faces staring at their tablets. Finally, for economics, I chose an image of a young girl holding a phone and behind her, there is fresh produce indicating that she is in a market to further make the ready think about something related to the economy. For all three images, I edited them to bring the technological subject in focus which helps show the trend I am trying to portray.  

     This assignment has influenced my views on innovations in Africa and I have also learned more about technology in the Diaspora in general. Typical, Africa is not the first place that comes to mind when I think about innovations and technology, but my views have seriously been challenged after this assignment. The use of mobile technology in Africa is unprecedented and the continuous use of technology to solve Africa specific problems is also amazing. As a person who admires new tech gadgets and toys, I was I ware of some of the technological innovations in places like Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana but after this assignment not only did I learn more about what I already know but even more from the places I did not know about so much like the Caribbean’s. From this assignment, I understood that many of the tech used in Africa is not just to own a piece of tech or for enhancing an already quality life but for real essential need. The technologies are developed specifically to solve a current specific problem.

     The biggest challenge of technology in Africa and Latin America, in general, is that most developments start for monetary reasons. Investors are understandable only interested in money therefore there is no enough capital to start innovations. I think governments should pivot their economy to fund these ambitious projects in Africa and other parts of the Diaspora without relying too much on charity and investors. I learned about some tools I previously did not know about for this assignment. I wrote a blog post for the first time and I used the voice feature in Microsoft PowerPoint to record a presentation. I do not know when I will be needing these skills again nevertheless, they are an important piece of knowledge to have in my arsenal as a student and a professional someday.