Social media and tribal hatred

Social media provides interactive forums whose aim is to bring people together in the cloud mainly for the purpose of sharing common interests. Apart from connecting two people like a telephone call would do, the social media allows more than two individuals to exchange messages and other contents in real time.

In Facebook for instance, one can create a group in which others can join, see what is happening inside and participate in its activities. Pages also exist which, after liking, one is able to see and follow every post made by the page. Facebook therefore is a typical example of a social forum whose millions of users enjoy the privilege of ‘seeing’ each other in the cloud as if no distance exists between or amongst them.

However, not all people use social forums in a positive way. There are some users who are out there to advocate for hatred between individuals or groups. The interactive provision offered by social media, if soberly used, would promote national unity and foster cohesion among people of different backgrounds. On the other hand, the power of the same forums when carelessly used can completely divide a people.

You have probably seen a controversial news article posted on Facebook by one of the media houses in Kenya, about a certain politician from a particular tribe. The comments that usually follow afterwards are enough to tell that tribal hatred exist in our country. Insults, abusive comments and replies from heaters of another tribe will thread, either against the politician or any other person whose comment appears to support him/her.

Unlike in the websites of mainstream media, where a comment to a story is reviewed by the organization before being approved or disapproved, comments in most social media are free flowing, regardless of their nature and message they carry.

For this reason, one who claims that social media promotes tribal cohesion is right and the other person who says that media promotes tribal division is also right.

Digital manipulation of football photos

Digital manipulation of images is widely used in the field of sports, particularly football. With the advent of new media and digital technologies, people across the world use software and applications to create, modify or change images in order to suit their own needs.

In football, this concept is used to exaggerate facts relating to things that take place in the field. Being one of the most interesting sporting events, football has a diversity of fans across the world, segmented by virtue of the football teams or clubs they support. There are several famous cases where fans have manipulated images in order to communicate the original message with more emphasis.

Flying Van Persie

Actual Van Persie flying header

In the recently concluded 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Robin Van Persie, captain of the Netherlands team scored a wonder goal when he converted Wesley Sneijder’s long cross with a header past Spain goalkeeper. It was his opening goal of the tournament as the Manchester United striker helped his team thrush the defending champions 5-1.

Funny: Modified Van Persie header

Just some moments after the match, several manipulated images of the scene started circulation in social media, where the Dutch man appeared to have wings as he flies with the ball. The addition of wings was meant to exaggerate the manner in which the goal was scored, in an almost impossible way.

Funny: Van Persie in the sky

Other photos were showing Van Persie in the sky, in the middle of some angels. The fans were just trying to show how the goal scorer’s dive could only be compared with an angel.

Van Persie’s goal was listed among the top three goals of the tournament, together with James Rodriguez's volley for Colombia against Uruguay and Tim Cahill's stunning strike against the Netherlands for Australia.

Ramos penalty ball

In the 2011/2012 UEFA Champions League season, Spanish club Real Madrid met Germany side Bayern Munich in the semi finals on 25^th April, 2012. Until the end of the second leg, the aggregate score was 3-3 and so the match went into penalty shootout.

Ramos penalty miss

It is that moment when the phrase “Ramos penalty ball” originated and dominated the social media alongside some funny photos. Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid defender was among the five selected to take the penalties and due to bad luck, he lifted the ball wide above the goal post. Bayern eventually won 3-1 and proceeded to the final where they lost to England side Chelsea.

Funny: Ramos ball in space

The scene was captured and immediately manipulated into various funny images. One of the photos was showing how far the ball reached and according to the designer, the ball flew to space and was spotted among the planets, revolving around the sun.

Funny: Impact of Ramos ball return

The following day, a photo in the social media was showing the impact of the penalty ball when it returned. The ball landed on someone’s house, broke the window and dipped into a plate of food on a table, splashing the contents onto the face and clothes of the owner.

Funny: Impact of Ramos ball return

There was yet another funny one in the morning, which was accompanied with a headline, “Sergio Ramos penalty ball finally lands.” The ball landed violently onto a moving car in the streets and the car could not withstand the pressure. It broke down!

All these were trying to exaggerate on the strength of the penalty kick and the fact that the ball flew far above the goal post.

The biting Suarez

Luis Suarez is a Uruguayan striker who recently joined Barcelona from Liverpool. He has always been in the headlines for his habit of biting opponents in the field. This has earned him nick-names such as The Biting Suarez, Vampire, Cannibal, Dracula and many others. 

Actual Suarez bite on Ivanovic

On 22^nd April 2013, Suarez bit Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic on his arm towards the end of a Premier League match that ended in a 2-2 draw. It was his second bite of his career after biting Ottman Bakkal of PSV when he was still playing for Ajax in 2010.

Modified Suarez bite on Ivanovic

After the 2013 incident, several photos began to circulate, with exaggerated effect where Ivanovic appeared to bleed profusely as a result of the bite.

Actual Suarez bite on Chiellini

Again in the 2014 World Cup, Suarez appeared to bite Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini on the shoulder in a match where Uruguay won 1-0. This was the peak of the matter.

Modified Suarez bite on Chiellini

The image of the scene was manipulated as to show three huge marks on Chiellini’s shoulder, suggesting that Suarez had deeply sunk his teeth, causing his opponent to bleed.

Funny: Suarez biting philosophy

Several other photos followed, showing Suarez’s biting philosophy, “If you can’t beat them, just eat them!”

Funny: Suarez biting prize

Another photo appeared after the tournament, with Suarez holding a trophy of the best bite of the year!

Students in their lecturers' role

Due to late release of course registration forms in Moi University, it has been revealed that students normally act as their own lecturers, signing the forms for themselves and their fellows too.

In one of the schools of the University's main campus for instance, the departments usually avail such forms at the end of every semester, a time when majority of lecturers are done with class work hence turned to other businesses elsewhere. This gives students extra assignments of searching for their tutors' signatures as they apply for examination cards.

It is for this reason that some students have developed talents amongst themselves, aiming at doing away with such inconveniences. A student identified as Eduach (not his real name) is one of the best talented in terms of faking signatures and has therefore been of great help to his classmates since first year, who no longer have to waste time looking for lecturers to append their signatures. He does it perfectly at no cost.

Rosalia Siriguech (also not her real name) is one of the beneficiaries of Eduach's services. In an interview with EBENEZER News Online on Thursday last week, Siriguech admitted to have obtained an exam card without getting closer to any of her lecturers in her fourth year of study.

"Eti wewe lazima utafute lecturers? Si utakosa kufanya exam? Mimi nimejiekea-ekea na kwengine nikasainiwa na Eduach mpaka nimepata exam card." Narrated the lady.

"Sasa lecturer kama Birigain (not his real name) ambaye hata hayuko Kenya, signature yake utaipata wapi?" She continued.

Other students sharing Eduach's talent include Alodoit, Brotth, Cyrilee and to some extent, Gilbuesh, none of who bears his/her real name.

Watangazaji wafunzwe Kiswahili zaidi

Mojawapo ya vigezo vinavyozingatiwa wakati wa usajili wa wanafunzi katika taaluma za uanahabari ni ukwasi wa lugha. Taasisi nyingi nchini Kenya zinazotoa mafunzo hayo katika viwango mbali mbali vikiwemo shahada, diploma na vyeti hususani katika utangazaji hupendelea wanafunzi waliofanya vizuri katika somo la Kiingereza, Kiswahili au yote mawili.

Sababu ya kufanya hivyo ni kuhakikisha wanafunzi hao ambao ni wataalamu wa badaye wana uwezo wa kujieleza kwa lugha yoyote kati ya hizo mbili za kitaifa iwe ni kwenye magazeti, majarida, redio, runinga au hata mtandaoni. Jukumu kubwa zaidi la mwanahabari ni kuwasilisha ujumbe kwa hadhira na ni dhahiri kwamba ala muhimu anayohitaji kufanyia hivyo ni lugha.

Hapo awali, kulingana na katiba, lugha ya Kiingereza ilitambulika kama lugha ya kitaifa ilhali ile ya Kiswahili ikasemekana kuwa ni lugha rasmi. Hata hivyo, kulingana na katiba mpya iliyoidhinishwa kupitia kura ya maoni ya mwaka wa 2010, Kiswahili pia kinatambulika kama lugha ya kitaifa na inachukuliwa kwa usawa na Kiingereza.

Cha kushangaza ni kwamba lugha ya Kiswahili haijatiliwa mkazo katika kuwafunza wanaodhamiria kuwa watangazaji katika baadhi ya vyuo vikuu na vyuo anuai. Mfano mzuri ni chuo kikuu cha Moi, kinachotoa mafunzo tofauti tofauti yanayohusiana na utangazaji. Katika kitivo cha sayansi za habari, kunayo taaluma ya sayansi ya uanahabari. Kati ya jumla ya masomo 56 anayofaa kuyapitia mwanafunzi kabla ahitimu, mawili tu ndiyo hufunzwa kwa lugha ya Kiswahili.

Hali hii imesababisha wanafunzi wengi kutoimarika katika kuandika au kuzungumza kwa lugha ya Kiswahili, jambo ambalo huathiri utendakazi wao hasa wale wanaoajiriwa katika vyumba vya habari vinavyotangaza au kuandika kwa Kiswahili. Wanapolazimika kuitumia lugha hiyo, hufanya hivyo wakiwa na mtazamo hasi au bila kuzingatia usahihi wa kisarufi. Wanahabari hao mara nyingi hushindwa na tafsiri za maneno ya kimsingi hivyo basi hutumia njia ya mkato ya kutohoa misamiati mingi kutoka kwa lugha zengine.

Kuna haja ya taasisi mbali mbali kufanya mageuzi katika mtaala wao, si katika taaluza za utangazaji tu bali na nyenginezo pia. Mtu anayesomea kozi ya kibiashara kwa mfano, anayeazimia kufanya kazi kama mkurugenzi wa kampuni, ni muhimu ajue kuwasiliana kwa lugha ya Kiswahili kando na ya Kiingereza, na si Kiswahili tu bali Kiswahili sanifu.

New Media class goes interactive

The concept of interactivity in New Media was clearly observed during a media class for a course coded MES 414 and titled ‘New Media’, when a student made a wonderful distant presentation from as far as Nairobi to a class in Moi University, Eldoret.

Irene Chemtai coordinating the phone presentation

Jalang’o John Njoga is a fourth year media student whose good luck seems to surpass the rest of his classmates. As an undergraduate student, Jalang’o has already established ‘nationwide’ connections in the media industry. He has worked for such organizations as The Nairobian and The Standard Media Group, where he is currently attached.

Despite being already entitled to a reasonable salary, the Luo boy is still looking for marks from Moi University’s main campus. He skips 100% of lectures but when it comes to assignments, CATs and exams, he is always under pressure to score 100% in each. His fellow group members are always keen to alert him whenever his contribution is required in any of his group assignments. They do so at a little fee, I suspect.

However, Dr. Omanga, the course lecturer has a different style. He awards marks to students according to one’s performance in oral presentations. This came as a blow to the student-practitioner, whose group members made their presentation in his absence and therefore missed a single individual mark despite his commendable contribution in the write-up. He therefore held negotiations with Omanga and was finally given a topic for a solo presentation.

Due to job commitments, Jalang’o chose a distant presentation over travelling to Moi. He was allowed to use Skype platform to make his presentation on Thursday 7^th August 2014. Skype is a video calling service that enables two distant parties to actively interact with each other over the internet. In addition to the traditional textual chats and voice calls, the service adds the visual concept, making the conversation appear more real than mediated.

Jalang’o had liaised with one Irene Chemtai, a classmate, to coordinate the exercise and see that it succeeds. To the best of her knowledge, the lady made every effort required of her but finally the system failed her. A quick solution was therefore found – a switch from Skype to a normal telephone call.

With enough airtime in the lecturer’s smart phone, the class was connected to the presenter, who explained to them his findings of the topic he had been assigned to research on. A sound-boosting system was assembled in front of the class to ensure that everyone hears loudly and clearly. Still, Chemtai had to supervise the electronics despite her little knowledge of their operations.

The presentation commenced, went on and ended successfully and when it was time for questions, comments and reactions, most of the class members logged onto their phone WhatsApp group and posted their reactions on it. Jalang’o was therefore able to receive numerous comments from which he selected a few to react to. However, some members were simply posting jokes but they, too, contributed to the concept of interactivity though through out-of-topic participation.