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| Ghana bloggers by day |
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| Literary drinkers by night |
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On a continent known for its storytelling, with a rich tradition of oral history and communication through narrative, I am always surprised at the lack of quality bloggers. Yes, there are bloggers of note, and some of fame, but I'm talking about the grassroots, the common person putting thought to electron and creating personal and professional narrative in the scale and scope that we've seen in America.
I think the two main reasons we don't see a similar or greater exposition in local, digital content are:
- Low ICT penetration rates: With the combination of high costs and low overall usage, I can understand that it's not easy to find access to the tools of blogging. Trying to compose posts in a cybercafe is hard - I know, I did it for years. And few African jobs are as computer and Internet focused as American employment, which underlies much of our content boom.
- Restrictive public discourse: In the USA, we have a long and very well defended freedom of speech. And while you can get fired for blogging from work, its rare that your personal options can get you dismissed or rarer still would it get you arrested. Few countries in Africa have the same liberties/
So its with great joy and love that I came across Ghana Bloggers. A core group of West Africans who are pushing the edge in personal content creation and display in several categories of discussions. While there are a number of Ghana bloggers, I'd like to highlight two that I find worthy of my RSS Reader:
- Oluniyi David Ajao - is a Nigerian living and working in Ghana, so he's very West African in mindset and business focused in his thoughts and writings
- Mac-Jordan - is a Ghanaian social blogger who covers technology and Accra with refreshingly good writing
If you can only add two new voices in your life, you'd do good to add both. Oh and if you're in Accra, buy either a beer, but do your best not to support David's horrid taste in booze.
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Tags: Blogging Career | Ghanaians | Oluniyi David Ajao | Online Voices | West Africa
