NEW MEDIA AS A TOOL FOR EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION TOOL AMONG NIGERIAN STUDENTS.
ABSTRACT This study will try to find out the impact that new media has in enhancing effective and efficient communication. Though the new media has many positive effects on modern communication among the students, in the wrong hands, it can become dangerous. For the young people it is experiments to do what they feel is good or exciting to them and the friends and at the same time avoid adult supervision.
However this research work tend to examine the extent of new media use among the Nigerian student especially the marketing students of the Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa as well as to fashion out the evils of using the new media as a source of communication among the students.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The New Media, as described by Wikipedia, refers to on- demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community formation around the media content, while new media is referred to as means of interactions among people in which they create, share, exchange and comment content among themselves in virtual communities and network.
McQuail (2005:39-40), states that in respect of the emergence of any new medium, ?we can at least recognize the claim of the internet(and World Wide Web) to be considered as a medium in its own right on the ground of its now extensive diffusion?. The expression ?new media? has been in use since the 1960s and has had to encompass an expanding and diversifying set of applied communication technologies.
Lievrouw and livingstaone in McQuail (2005:38) point out the difficulty of saying what the ?new media? comprises. They choose to define them in a composite way, linking information communication technologies (ICT) with their associated new contexts, bringing together the three elements: technology artifacts? and devices, activities, practices and uses, and new arrangements and organizations that form around devices and practices. They define new media based on the essential features which are concerned with; the main ones which seem to be: their interconnectedness, their accessibility to individual users as sender and/or receivers, their interactivity, their multiplicity of use and open-ended character, and their ubiquity and delicateness?.
In recent times, following the advent of new media of communication, people, and organizations had tended to add to their means of reaching the general public and foster efficient and effective communication using the new media. The new media, therefore, serve, in most cases, as avenues through which pastoral communication activities are realized.
This act of pastoral communication using the new media has raised questions in some quarters.
However, there are scholars who think that the new media should be used for pastoral communication. One of these scholars is Nigli (2011, para. 1-2), who noted that ?communication using new media- internet, blogging, new networks ? is integral to pastoral mission. Digital communication and new networking dominate youth activities today, making it imperative that future pastors be tech-savvy and use multi-media for effective communication.
Nueman, cited in Dominick (2009:67) defines the new media as communication technologies that enable or facilitate user-to-user interactivity and interactivity between user and information, such as Internet replaces the “one-to-many” model of traditional mass communication with the possibility of a “many-to-many” web of communication. Any individual with the appropriate technology can now produce his or her online media and include images, text, and sound about whatever he or she chooses. So, the new media with technology convergence, shifts the model of mass communication, and radically shapes the ways people interact and communicate with one another.
Crosbie (2002) in Dominick (2009:68) describes three different kinds of communication media. He sees interpersonal media as ?one to one?, mass media as ?one too many?, and finally New Media as individual media or ?many to many?. Therefore this study reveals the roles of new media in enhancing efficient and effective communication among the students of marketing department of the Ibarapa Polytechnic Eruwa.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
This study will try to find out the impact that new media has in enhancing effective and efficient communication. Though the new media has many positive effects on modern communication among the students, in the wrong hands, it can become dangerous. For the young people it is experiments to do what they feel is good or exciting to them and the friends and at the same time avoid adult supervision.
However this research work tend to examine the extent of new media use among the Nigerian student especially the marketing students of the Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa as well as to fashion out the evils of using the new media as a source of communication among the students.
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1) To what extent are the students aware of the new media communication technology?
2) To what extent do the students make use of the new media technology for communication?
3) Is there any relationship between extent of usage of new media and communication with family and friends?
4) Do the students prefer new media as a means of communication as opposed to traditional methods?
5) What are the risks as well as advantages of new media in communicating?
6) What are the roles of new media in promoting communication especially among the students?
1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objective of the study is to address the new media as a tool for enhancing effective and efficient communication among the Nigerian students especially the students of marketing department of the Ibarapa Polytechnic, Euwa. However, this research work is determined to achieve the following objectives:
1) To determine the extent of awareness of the new media as a communication tool among the Nigerian Students
2) To determine the extent of using the new media as a communication tool among the Nigerian students
3) To examine the relationship between the extent of new media and communication use among the students with their family and friends
4) To ascertain whether students prefer the new media as a means of communication as opposed to traditional means
5) To identify the risk as well as the advantage of the new media in communicating
6) To review the roles of new media in promoting communication especially among the students
1.5 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
It is hoped that the findings of this study will review the roles of the new media technology in enhancing communication among Nigerian students. The findings of this study may also be useful to the policy makers in various sectors of the government. For instance, in the educational sector curriculum developers will be informed when developing curriculum for the students. It would also assist in determining the best tool to use to effectively communicate with the students. The results of the study are likely to influence further scholarly research by other researchers who may be interested in this field of knowledge and initiate appropriate mitigation.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study seeks to find out the impacts of new media among the Nigerian students on communication aspect. While the study recognizes that new interactive technologies have impacts on other people outside the students? bracket, and as such this study will limit itself only to the students of the marketing department of the Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa.
1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The study is limited by time and financial resources and as result the research will have to source for more financial resources and use alternative means. Since few similar studies have been done especially in institutions of higher learning, there is limited empirical literature on the new media as a tool for enhancing effective and efficient communication especially in the context of Nigerian students. Another expected limitation is that the student might fail to give correct information on the basis of invasion of their privacy. The researcher will explain to them that the study is purely for academic purposes and not motivated by any other interests whatsoever.
