Infrastructures of Connection Reciprocity, Access, & Community in Ghana’s Digital Hubs

Throughout the early 2000s, the spread of modern communication technologies erupted through concentrated regions of Ghana via public access computing (PAC) spaces like internet cafes or telecenters to provide internet access to the common Ghanaian. With the recent rise of personal mobile devices and connectivity for Ghanaians, PAC usage has declined, leading scholars and critics to mark these technosocial hubs as a phenomena of the past. However, today in Accra, Ghana, these public internet access points still continue to garner public attendance, maintaining a persistent anchor in Ghana and unveiling new insights about the country's social and technological landscape. I aim to capture the multifaceted interactions between Ghanaian culture and modern technologies through review of existing literature, qualitative fieldwork using a one month ethnography in central Accra, oral interviews from 38 goers, 15 owners/staff, and 13 non-goers, and spatial analysis of 6 internet cafes, 6 public libraries, 4 innovation hubs, and 3 miscellaneous PAC sites. In combating conservative notions of the stagnancy of African technology and people, I argue that the continued relevance of public access computing in Ghana is due to connective infrastructures of space, access, and maintenance and demonstrates a reciprocal and culturally-sensitive relationship with technology. Ultimately, this research will contribute to broader discussions on digital inclusion, community resilience, and the nuanced role of technology in shaping cultural change in developing contexts.