Introduction

In February 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic became a worldwide health emergency. On April 20, 2020, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Health Organization (WHO) created a joint declaration to show their commitment to using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to overcome the pandemic. Despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, almost all human activities continued. So that several corporations could survive, these activities had to continue, even if some paused for longer than others. In response, a specific terminology emerged in the public space. Reinventing how we go about our lives has proved critical to remaining resilient in the face of the pandemic. These formulas continued through public discourse and debate during the various waves.

Although the pandemic did not manifest homogeneously and uniformly in all countries, it must be emphasized that the response was globalized under guidance from WHO. At the level of internal health policies in certain states, we have seen discourses that differ from those of the dominant institution. In any case, the crisis has caused the emergence of new technological practices, which until that point had not been used in certain human activities. The crisis has now made them indispensable. We have also seen new practices that positively contribute to the response and could become permanent. Responses to the crisis have varied according to the knowledge as it became available.

We have gone from rigid restrictions - in the form of lockdowns and curfews - to an increasing easing of restrictions. To a certain extent, technological tools have helped to maintain minimum levels of service in several fields of economic activity. This pandemic spurred dynamic and unprecedented technological innovations. Faced with the unprecedented character of Covid-19, society has naturally put its level of resilience to the test in terms of its ability to adapt and reinvent itself. Social, community and professional life has been significantly tested. Across professions, tools have been used to keep the human and economic activity moving forward so that society could feel the effects of the pandemic less severely.

In the medical sector, technology has made a significant leap forward in consultation practices, prevention, management of certain diseases or pathologies, health information and health statistics. In other words, the technological innovations brought about by the health emergency have instigated new approaches to health: e-health or connected health. For example, digital public health services have undoubtedly emerged in the public sector to help trace the contact cases of those diagnosed with Covid-19. Technological devices developed by governments have also contributed to the response.

In the professional field, the pandemic encouraged the development of telecommuting or remote work. In some, technology has proven to be a real opportunity for evolution and innovation, making us rethink daily work habits and practices. A minimum level of service could be maintained due to a certain pre-disposition of the working population to leverage technology and the devices they used before the pandemic.

In the field of education, teaching had to continue virtually during this crisis. Education systems have put special arrangements in place to provide online courses. Numerous practices have emerged or reappeared to ensure these lessons can run normally. One example of this is the re-emergence of virtual education. Whether in the format of tele-education or television education, the implementation of this practice has occurred with specific nuances per country. Family relationships have also been tested by Covid-19. It became necessary to work from home overnight. The family environment became the place of work, with all the difficulties that this can imply. This new situation of increased use of technology, spurred on by the pandemic in countries across the world, has been experienced differently from one country to another in Africa.

This book's creators wish to promote international and interdisciplinary collaboration through this initiative, and facilitate the connection between theory and field. In this way, this book addresses all interests in digital technologies and digital communication as tools for resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa. This book is structured around the following objectives:

- identify technologies, tools or platforms to respond to the pandemic in social and professional contexts;

- identify new uses of technologies that have contributed to the resilience of African populations in response to Covid-19;

- describe the processes through which social relations and economic activities were able to continue in this context of Covid-19 in Africa;

- analyze the uses of technologies throughout the crisis, considering their contribution to the continuation of the activities of design, production and maintenance of structures and infrastructures, but also through the obstacles that these technologies have helped to overcome to help families, communities, private and public enterprises function more effectively;

- analyze approaches and techniques for appropriating or reappropriating technological tools in response to the pandemic in the African context;

- describe the new phenomena of media-information and the practices that have emerged or experienced strong growth in digital technologies in the African pandemic.

This collective work is structured in three main parts. Each part includes three chapters. In the first part, entitled "Covid-19, Information and Communication", the first chapter is "Reinventing Everyday Life in the Covid-19 Era. The Uses of Information and Communication Technologies as Tactics in an Abidjanese "Ordinary Courtyard"". According to the author, Youssouf Soumahoro, in 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic significantly impacted the Ivory Coast, specifically an area called Abidjan. According to the study conducted in this chapter, the population seemed to bypass the barriers of daily life and overcome the restrictions by using ICT. These technological tools helped fight against the isolation of individuals socially distanced by Covid-19. They enabled them to communicate with their personal and professional environments, as well as their communities. ICT seemed to stimulate the Abidjanese population to regain sociability while respecting restrictive measures. The role also extended to provide relevant information on the current health situation and maintain education and schooling among students.

Digital technology is presented as a solution to tackle physical limitations, while representing an opportunity for development from an economic perspective. The pandemic has become a lever for the population, materialized here by the inhabitants of an ordinary courtyard, and on the Internet by users who use technology to escape their daily realities, mentally or economically. Thus, ICT is used for a wide range of purposes - whether relational, economic, informational, leisurely or educational. They help the people of Abidjan to build a sense of adaptiveness, as they are tools of resilience, and strengthen social ties.

The second chapter, authored by Nanga Désiré Coulibaly, is entitled "Ambivalence of the Use of Digital Technologies in Public Communication About the Pandemic in Côte d'Ivoire". Covid-19 was imposed in Côte d'Ivoire, as in all other countries of the African continent. To inform and mobilize the population to fight against the spread of the virus, the Ivorian government uses digital technologies for its public communication. However, the overabundance of digital tools has led to a potential cyber-dependency, which could harm psychological and physical health. Despite this, ICTs can be positioned as a solution to a real informational need. Indeed, restrictive measures, although broadcast incessantly in traditional media, are not necessarily followed in everyday life. Therefore, digital media attracts an attentive audience and reveals a genuine efficiency on the ground.

Moreover, information is undergoing an epidemic with dramatic consequences on the population, even qualified as "infodemia" by the WHO. Digital communication techniques are certainly efficient due to their quantitative scope, but they are not always qualitative, particularly when the population is confronted with false information about restrictive measures. Each individual is free to express their opinion on issues relating to Covid-19, thus creating a possible cycle of fake news, which can be relayed en masse and start to spin the rumor mill. This situation is a viral phenomenon that is dangerous for the health of Ivorians. The ambivalence of the uses of digital technologies is, therefore, the result of access to digital culture and ICT, as well as the education necessary to untangle true information from false information, considering just how much data circulates online.

The third chapter is written by Marcel Bagare, which deals with "Fake News and Anti-Covid-19 Vaccines: Analysis of Facebook Users in Burkina Faso". The author indicates that Africa, which seems to be less affected by Covid-19 than other continents, has witnessed a strong reaction from authorities to keep the pandemic on its territory under control. In this respect, raising public awareness has been a major challenge, particularly through the Internet. The web makes information accessible to any Internet user,...