Imagine the view of the Earth from outer space. Picture a slow zoom that closes in on the African continent, with a cursory pass over all the countries of Africa before another, closer focus on SA.
That is pretty much the manner in which the content of The All Africa Internet Guide reveals itself to the reader - presenting one first with a handful of Web sites pertinent to African issues in general, then sites relevant to each country on the continent (alphabetically, of course) and then finally, an expanded view of the South African Web.
The All-Africa Internet Guide is a Mail & Guardian Books publication, compiled by freelancer and one-time Electronic Mail & Guardian Africa news editor, Libby Young. The guide lists Web sites by name, URL, and provides a short description of what to expect from each site. It also features a glossary to assist the jargon-challenged among us, some search tips, and handy information regarding file formats and the like.
They`re all online
Even the smallest and poorest of African nations have some sort of Internet presence. From the territorially disputed Western Sahara to the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, each region and country is represented by a handful of sites providing mostly political and business information.
The obvious questions centre on freshness of the content, and its presentation medium. There`s really no way to say how long sites in the SA entertainment category will last, for example, but on the brighter side, the guide provides a starting point from which to navigate darkest Africa online.
One questions the reasoning behind publishing the book sans an accompanying CD-ROM, which in my estimation would have reduced getting to the sites in question to a mere click of a button. In addition, I generally enjoy the vast amount of extras that publishers manage to cram on CD-ROMs, and in the case of the All-Africa Internet Guide, those extras could have included anything from an interactive map of the continent and countries, to tools such as exchange rate calculators and the like.
Nevertheless, The express purpose of the guide is to provide researchers with useful information, and even though it is by no means comprehensive, the All-Africa Internet Guide is definitely recommended as a point of departure for anyone researching business, politics and social issues in African countries.
Local connections
A section that locals will find most useful is the South Africans Abroad section, providing any number of sites detailing what to expect from the most popular 'emigr'e destinations around the world, including Australia, the US, Canada and the UK.
I`ve never really considered what Chad might have to offer in the way of informative Web sites. For that matter, I must admit that I haven`t taken as much interest in Africa as I probably should.
It`s just the way things are - Africa is not top of mind even on the best of days, excepting the question of what multi-nationals are doing in terms of trying to capture this difficult market. It`s a bias that too many often don`t even realise they`re succumbing to. As such, I`d keep this book on my desk if only for the sake of a reminder that Africa is indeed pulling itself up by the bootstraps.
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