The Civic Tech Innovation Network (CTIN) and Jamlab Africa are calling on all African art directors, illustrators, 3D designers, animators, motion designers, and graphic designers to participate in this year’s design competition. You are invited to create the brand identity for the CTIF and Jamfest 2023 conference. The winner of the competition will be awarded a R2500 cash prize and the opportunity, to work with us on the implementation of the winning design.
About CTIN & Jamlab Africa
CTIN is a Community of Practice (CoP) and action learning network for people with an interest and commitment to leveraging the nexus between technology and civic activism. Jamlab, short for the Journalism and Media Lab, is a project of the Wits Centre for Journalism and aims to support innovation in journalism and media in Africa.
About the conference
CTIN’s annual conference, Civic Tech Innovation Forum (CTIF) is intended to enable the civic tech community and ecosystem actors to engage face-to-face (and virtually!), learn about innovations, tools, and techniques, share experiences, and meet potential collaborators. It presents an opportunity to gain an overview of what is going on in the sector in Africa and the world. The conference also provides an opportunity for CTIN to consult with network members to inform the design of future activities.
Jamfest is a conference that brings together journalists, media managers, and other stakeholders across the African continent to talk about innovations, content, and audience analytics, among other conversations.
These two events make up the joint conference, CTIF, and Jamfest. This year’s conference occurs takes from the 16th to the 19th of October 2023.
Target Audience
The target audiences for the conference include but are not limited to Civil Society Organisations, Non-Government Organisation, Government Agencies, Data scientists, Funding Organisations, Media Practitioners, Academics, Researchers, Digital Rights Activists, Technologists, Journalists, Editors, Media Managers, Journalism, and Media Startup Innovators.
Previous Conferences
Some of the most recent conferences and corresponding themes:
- 2022: CTIF & Jamfest 22: #Unplugged (but still connecting)
- 2021: CTIF & Jamfest 21: #DIYAFRICA
- 2020: Urban Fest 2020: Empowering the Civic
Introducing this year’s theme: #AfrIcaFlows
From the outside looking in, Africa may look like a continent whose problems are ever-increasing or seemingly impossible to resolve. We might seem stuck. However, if you look closely, you will see a number of actors in civil society, education, government, and the private sector who are helping to move the continent forward. The CTIF and Jamfest is an opportunity to showcase innovators in media and civic technology who are helping move Africa forward; innovators who are tributary streams, unclogging the continent’s rivers of possibility and letting them flow.
At the same time, we live in a technological age and Africa has benefited greatly from the interconnected world as we know it. Our interconnectedness has contributed to an understanding that Africans across the diaspora are on the same rocky seas, if not necessarily in the same boat. We can flow and thrive together; one takes care of the other. Within the tech and media ecosystems, civil society benefits from a symbiotic relationship between innovators, truth-tellers, and also the government, research, and business sectors.
Technology’s role as an accelerator of change requires agile people who are ready to develop, adopt and adapt it for their mutual benefit. Inherently, technology is not static but continues to move in new and exciting directions every year. This year, we look at how innovators have contributed and adapted to current changes in tech while testing their abilities to make sense of these new realities, and proactively plan for future technological advancements. How are these innovations received in Africa? How do these intelligences and practices flow? The quintessential question is this: when faced with new opportunities, does #AfrIcaFlow?
Our call to action at CTIF and Jamfest 2023 is that Africa must flow. We understand flow to be a state of mind, creativity, and a state of readiness.
#AfrIcaFlows speaks to our ability to create new pathways when old ways have failed. It is understanding we are never alone, and that there are others like us who are ready to collaborate and create solutions with us to generate greater possibilities.
#AfrIcaFlows illustrates the confidence we have in our people’s resilience and their ability to adapt to change. Flow addresses intelligences, expressions, experiences, conversations, and practices that facilitate even more flow. We believe that our communities of civic tech and media innovators are a symbol of our ability to flow, and we are ready to demonstrate that because of them, #AfricaFlows.
Our Flow metaphor also relates to Artificial Intelligence (AI). Imagine AI as a powerful stream of technology and data, and flow as the smooth and efficient movement of tasks and information. Just like a river, AI acts as a driving force that can enhance the flow of various processes in our lives. But just as a river’s flow is mitigated through channels, dams, and topographic changes to prevent flooding and destruction, AI to requires controls to see that it is developed and used ethically, e.g. with considerations for privacy, fairness, and accountability.
CTIF and Jamfest 2023 will help us understand the possibilities in the different forms and ideas of flow that exist and how they can be used to create better futures for our African ecosystem.
Topics to be covered at the conference
There are many exciting themes and topics being discussed in civic tech and in media, and many of those topics are currently centred around the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our communities and the ways we work. As the conference’s overarching theme of Flow is also rooted in AI, the design and curation need to reflect the theme.
Below are some of the themes that we will be covering at this year’s conference:
- AI and the Future of Work & Play
- Digital Agency in an Age of Corruption
- Digital Rights/Threats and The Relevance of Privacy
- Sustainable Financing for Us
Branding Brief
Vision:
Our vision with the #AfrIcaFlows brand identity is that it will speak to Africa’s vibrant spirit and diversity. The brand identity needs to visually represent how civic tech and media innovation interacts with Africa. It also needs to speak to the interconnectedness of different sectors and people across the African continent. Finally, it needs to speak to the dominating conversation about how Africans look to develop, benefit from and adapt to AI, and digital innovation more broadly.
Requirements
The competition winner will be chosen based on how they can adopt the #AfrIcaFlows theme into a brand design for the Conference. Participants need to send a concept note that includes a logo design for the conference as well as any three items under each heading to display in a mockup.
Minimum requirements
- Must relate to theme brief
- Must include placement with CTIN, Jamlab, Wits University, and Wits School of Governance logos
- Include 2 logo variations (vertical and horizontal)
- Concepts should be in PDF format
The concept note needs to include the following items
- Logo guidelines
- Colour palette (3-4 colour choices)
- Typography and font (2 font choices)
- Image guidelines (3 variations)
For more information and to submit your designs, email Nkosinathi at nkosinathi@civictech.africa
Deadline: 25 June 2023