Research Institutions/HEI Persona

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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?