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This work is the result of a research project initiated by the West and Central Africa Regional Office of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a Canadian organization. The research was conducted in collaboration with the Department of Communication, University of Ottawa. It follows on a colloquium that I organized as part of the 67th Congress of the Association canadienne-française pour l’avancement des sciences (French-Canadian Association for the Advancement of Science), held in May 1999, on the University of Ottawa campus. This colloquium dealt with ethical issues in information and communications technologies (ICTS) (Brunet 2001).

The study was carried out by a team of three researchers working on three separate continents: Africa, Europe, and North America. The scientific rigour of the study, enriched by the cultural perspectives of its three authors, makes this document an original work. Although it is true that certain publications touch on issues in ICTS in Africa (Chéneau-Logay 2000), none to date has focused specifically on ethical issues in the development of the Internet in Africa. This study fills the gap, if only partially, because it contains a status report based on investigations carried out in five West African countries. Naturally, such a study allows for some general remarks. However, these must be presented with certain careful qualifications, out of due regard for scientific rigour.

I wish to thank IDRC for the financial support that made the project possible and helped bring it to completion. I also thank my two colleagues and coauthors, Marie-Claude Vettraino-Soulard and Oumarou Tiemtoré, for their rigour and team spirit. Thanks as well to all those who agreed to meet with us and to answer our questions, to Joël M. Katambwe for his valuable contributions to the research effort (and in particular for the section “Synthesis of Results,” in Chapter 7), and to Merouan Mekouar for his help in compiling the data.

Patrick J. Brunet,
Project Leader

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