SMS Text-Messaging and the Nigerian Christian Context: Constructing Values and Sentiments

The Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM) in Nigeria brought with it a variety of English that is situationally distinct and context sensitive. Thus SMS text-messages are viewed as discourses that presuppose speech events among interlocutors that share a common social behaviour and cultural values. This study shows the extent to which test-messaging constructs Christian values, belief systems and sentiments in Nigeria. Fifty-three (53) text samples collected in Lagos and Ota areas of Southwest Nigeria between 2005 and 2007 are analysed within the framework of computer-mediated discourse analysis (Herring 2001). Result shows that with its peculiar orthographic convention and style, text-messaging has become popular among Christian adherents not just because it is short, cheap and fast but that it is individualistic and fits well into a context where respect for individuals is emphasized. Analysis also shows that SMS text-messaging is used to disseminate messages associated with faith-based pronouncements, prayer and well-wishing, admonition and assurance, appreciation and praise, seasons greetings and general information/announcements. These functions tend to promote love and cooperation among church members. Key words: SMS-text messages, Christian, Discourse Introduction Th

Assessing the Nigerianness of SMS Text-Messages in English

In the history of the English language certain developments have left significant linguistic marks on the language. As new developments and cultural forms occur, new words and styles of expression evolve with them and spread. This is true of the new linguistic style that is associated with the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) revolution in Nigeria since 2001. GSM has brought with it a variety of English that is situationally distinctive and context sensitive (Awonusi, 2004:45)

What Diagrams Say About Technology

By examining the diagrams of technology users, we can gain insight into their perceptions. In this study, we collected diagrams from 41 participants. We found that these participants make use of both shape and position to differentiate themselves from the technology they use. Shape and position also differentiate hardware devices from software applications. Most users also draw direct connections between themselves and their applications, bypassing in their diagrams the devices that mediate this communication. Thus, devices may recede from awareness as we focus on applications and the information they make available

Shyness and Online Social Networking Services

Online social networking services are Internet websites that allow individuals to learn about and communicate with others. This study investigated the association between use of these websites and friendship quality for individuals varying in shyness. Participants (N = 241) completed questionnaires assessing their use of Facebook, an online social networking service, shyness, perceived available social support, loneliness, and friendship quality. Results indicated an interaction between shyness and Facebook usage, such that individuals high in shyness (when compared to less shy individuals) reported stronger associations between Facebook use and friendship quality. Facebook use, however, was unrelated to loneliness among highly shy individuals. Therefore, online social networking services may provide a comfortable environment within which shy individuals can interact with others

"I hear you as if you were next door”. Information and Communication Technologies Uses in Transnational Migratory Contexts

En este texto presento un breve resumen de mi trabajo de tesis doctoral, cuyo propósito ha sido indagar en el papel que las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación tienen en el establecimiento de vínculos transnacionales. Para ello, y a partir del dispositivo de producción de datos de la entrevista en profundidad, he identificado no sólo aquellos usos, presencias y apropiaciones tecnológicas que los/as migrantes transnacionales ponen en juego para comunicarse y relacionarse a través de la distancia, sino también los efectos, dinámicas y prácticas que caracterizan su vivir transnacional. Prácticas como la generación de proximidades tecnologizadas, la presencia conectada, el trabajo afectivo o el cuidado, todas ellas mediadas por el uso de tecnologías diversas, me han permitido dar cuenta de las formas que los/as migrantes desarrollan para estar sin estar, para hacerse presentes a pesar de no estarlo. Este tipo de prácticas, que permiten vivir de manera simultánea entre un lugar y otro, contribuyen a su vez a la generación de nuevas formas de organización social, como son, entre otras, las familias transnacionales, haciendo posible el ser y hacer familia en/a pesar la distancia y de mano de las TIC.In this work I offer a brief overview of my doctoral thesis research, which is aimed at analyze the role of Information and Communication Technologies in the development of transnational bonds. On the basis of a data production device consisting of in-depth interviews, I have identified technological uses, presences, and appropriations through which transnational migrants manage to communicate and relate across distance, as well as the effects, dynamics and practices that characterize their transnational way of life. Practices such as the unfolding of technologized proximities, connected presence, affective work and care, allowed me to offer an account of the ways through which migrants get to be some places without really being there. This kind of practices allows migrants to live simultaneously between one place and the other, and fosters the emergence of new forms of social organizations, such as transnational families, enabled to be and to make family across/in spite of distance and through ICTs

Use of Mobile Phone and In-Vehicle Interaction: A Case study among selected students in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Mobile phone use among university students is now pervasively altering their social interaction with others. The study investigated the influence of mobile phone use among commuting University Students on their interaction with co-travellers and the environment through which they travel. Three hundred students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria were purposively sampled to respond to a 10-minute questionnaire. The questionnaire contained questions such as ownership of mobile phones, type and number of phones owned, frequency of usage and the influence of mobile phone usage during transit on interaction between the students and their co-travelers and with the environment they traveled through. Results showed that all the respondents possessed at least one mobile phone. In addition, results revealed a negative correlation between time of use of mobile phone and interaction with co-travelers (α=0.05, r= -0.039) and no significant correlation between length of use of mobile phone and interaction with the environment (α=0.05, r=0.079). The study established that mobile phone intrusiveness has an influence on students' interaction during commuting

Categorizing and measuring social ties

he analysis of social networks has boomed recently, mainly as online social networking systems such as Twitter allow researchers to access these data. However, the research is less and less focused on the fundamental question on the validity of the data and interpretation of the results. For example, Golder et al. (2007) use the word 'friend' in quotes while describing their results. To enhance the discussion around the validity of results, our work contributes a categorization of social network data. We also discuss the differences of the data sources, especially highlighting the fact that different data sources disclose different kinds of networks. Our approach is to examine social networks based on several sources of data, and thus acquire a richer data set. Based on this extended data set, we are more equipped to understand the social relations represented via links between nodes. After reviewing the existing literature, we make two observations of social relationships in online services. Firstly, the friendship data may be shared in public or with the specific group of users of that service - this may affect how people perceive and use these relationships, especially when compared with the private displays of relations (e.g., Donath & boyd, 2004). On the other hand, people interact only with part of their social relations (e.g., Golder et al., 2007) and research has started to focus from statical networks to more dynamical activity based networks (e.g., Huberman et al., 2009). Based on the existing literature, shortly discussed above, a 2x2 matrix can be developed. Relations may be public or private and active or passive. For instance, those relations with which you use Instant Messaging can be considered private and active whereas Facebook friends are passive and public. As they are different in this nature, also the conclusions based on the analysis should differ. After confirming that the data measure the phenomenon desired, one should use several kinds of data sources to really understand the social structures behind the group under study. We claim that multiple data sets should be used when measuring social relations. McPherson et al. (2001) have also concluded that the priority for future social network researchers should be to gather dynamic data on multiple social relations. By studying existing research and our own empirical data (e.g., Karikoski & Nelimarkka, 2011), we discuss the opportunities and challenges of using multiple data sets to cover the same group.Peer reviewe

Domestic Space: Virtually Underestimated?

This paper discusses the concept of domestic space as a transformative communications environment; a space in which relationships among individuals, families and ultimately the community are sustained, and in some cases transformed. Drawing on a research project currently being conducted in Western Australia, this paper explores communication within domestic space from an historical (Fischer, 1992; Moyal, 1992) and empirical perspective (Frissen, 1995; Holloway & Green, 2004), and contends that the seemingly mundane quality of the domestic sphere has resulted in it being underestimated as an avenue for research. Moreover, a research focus on young people’s uptake of information and communications technologies (ICTs), particularly as artefacts of empowerment and independence (Boyd, 2007; Ling, 2007), has tended to overlook the degree to which ICTs have become embedded in domestic spaces through women’s appropriation of multiple communication technologies in their work as kin-keepers (Helgeson, 1994, p. 412) and ‘domestic relations specialists’ (Wellman & Wortley, 1990, p. 582). This paper aims to address this gap in the literature by examining women’s communicative agency in the domestic sphere, and the potential this have to transform relationships among families, friends, and ultimately communities