Surprising Africa Cross media storytelling, vibrant and fast moving technological and creative developments in cities across Africa and the new plans that Google, Vodafone and Nokia have for the region: these are a few of the things that will be discussed in the Surprising Africa special, a full day special at the upcoming PICNIC conference on Friday 26 September.

Ethan Zuckerman is an activist, blogger and geek, who co-founded Global Voices, an online citizen media community focused on amplifying voices from the developing world. He also writes a blog called My heart’s in Accra. Laura Martz of PICNIC caught up with him and asked him about his work and the role of new media.

“Africans’ creative uses of technology not only counter negative stereotypes of the continent, they also hint at its receptiveness to simple, efficient everyday innovations.

Its problems, though, often require locally specific solutions rather than ones imported from outside.”

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(via Smart Mobs)