We know you’ve heard of the Guardian newspaper-now-website, the big mainstream press that broke the Wikileaks war logs and Snowden-fuelled revelations about online spying by the NSA and related security services.

Once a small, parochial newspaper from the north of England, the Guardian is now one of the most highly recognised global news outlets – it also has a long standing relationship with our own Mail&Guardian here.

For fans of its liberal left leaning writings and analysis only one thing could be better than reading the latest Snowden news via an iPad app every day – and that’s meeting some of the staff including the editor-in-chief Alan Rushbriger.
Well guess what.

The Guardian’s Activate series of conferences is coming to an unspecified location in Johannesburg on 26th June. It’s a day-long fiesta of thinky people thinking out loud about the continent, politics, democracy and technology, with South African speakers including Chris Roper of the Mail&Guardian, Nikiwe Bikitsha and the Daily Maverick’s Ranjeni Munusamy.

The full list of events is here, and while spaces are limited they are at least free. If you want to go along (and you probably shouls) you can apply here.