MOSCOW INSTITUTE OF AFRICA RAS On May 22, 2012, the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences held a solemn meeting dedicated to the Day of Africa. Along with the Institute's staff, representatives of other Russian research centers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, ambassadors of African countries, teachers and university students were present. This year, the traditional meeting of African researchers was devoted to one of the most pressing problems of our time - the formation of the information society on the Black Continent. This choice is not accidental. Intensive computerization and informatization of the world community in recent decades has had a multifaceted impact on various aspects of human activity and has led to the creation of a global information space. Information has become a powerful strategic resource in the modern world, and the level of involvement of a particular state and its population in the global information space is an indicator of the degree of their development. Until recently, there was an opinion that information and social media are meaningless and powerless in the African context, since Africa is almost completely absent from the Internet. Now it is clear that Africa is experiencing a real network revolution. All this prompted the Academic Council of the Institute of Africa to choose the problem of the formation of the information society on the continent as the main topic of discussion. Deputy Director of the Institute I. O. Abramova opened the solemn meeting. She congratulated all those present on the 52nd anniversary of Africa Day and noted the importance of the impact of information globalization on the economic, socio-political and cultural processes taking place in Africa. Jean-Pierre Louyebo, Ambassador of the Republic of Congo to Russia, spoke on behalf of the African Diplomatic Corps in Moscow. He expressed gratitude to the peoples of Africa for the support and assistance provided by the ... Читать далее