School of Education, Arts and Social Sciences
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Item Influence of Twitter Hashtags on the Formation of Public Opinion on Socio-political Issues in Kenya(JKUAT, 2019) Munuku, Anne W.Using hashtags, an in-text tag symbolized as #, has become a common feature in social media discourse globally. The study investigated the influence of the hashtag revolution on the formation of public opinion on socio-political issues in Kenya. The study examined how the public is using Twitter to disseminate information on various social and political issues by incorporating hashtags in their tweets. The research focused on how hashtags are influencing public opinion formation in social and political issues among Kenyans through a discourse analysis of the Twitter conversations (tweets) and interviews. Hashtags in Kenya are formulated by ordinary citizens and other groups like bloggers and activists besides the media practitioners, to direct public debate on issues of national importance. The main objective of the research was to examine the influence of the hashtag revolution in Kenya on the formation of public opinion on socio-political issues. This study was guided by four specific objectives, which include: to establish the influence of the framing of the hashtag on the formation of public opinion, to explain the influence of the actors of the hashtag on formation of public opinion, to determine the influence of the context in which a hashtag is formed on the formation of public opinion and to find out the influence of the nature of the hashtag discourse on the formation of public opinion. The study was guided by two theories, the framing theory and the participatory communication theory. The study adopted the mixed method research design. The study population consisted of an indefinite number of hashtags generated by Kenyans in the period between January 2014 and March 2017, media practitioners from the local television stations and members of public involved in hashtag development. Purposive sampling was used to select Kenyans on Twitter and 35 hashtags, while snowball sampling was used to select two independent hashtag developers. Five television stations were investigated. A total of 22 journalists from the five stations involved in digital/online journalism were interviewed. The researcher also interviewed 4 independent hashtag developers and ten Kenyans on Twitter (KOT). Qualitative data for the research was collected through interviews and the streaming of tweets under the selected hashtags. Data from interviews was transcribed and organized using content analysis. Analysis and interpretation was done using critical discourse analysis. The quantitative and qualitative data mined from Twitter was coded using determined themes and organized using content analysis. Description and narration of the results was done. Findings indicated that the four independent variables, that is, framing, context, actors and nature of hashtag discourse had significant influence on the formation of public opinion on sociopolitical issues in Kenya. A regression analysis of the four variables was done and the results indicated that framing of a hashtag was the most influential variable in public opinion formation. The conclusion of the study was that framing, context, nature of discourse and the actors in the hashtag discourse influenced formation of public opinion on socio-political issues in Kenya. A key finding of the study was that the Kenyans were using the hashtag as a form of discursive resistance where the ordinary citizens get to dialogue, diagnose problems, suggest solutions and even organize protests guided by a single hashtag. The research concluded that there is indeed a paradigm shift as far as gatekeeping, agenda setting, priming and framing of news is concerned with the ordinary citizen taking up this traditional role of the media by creating, disseminating and gate watching news in online platforms. The media have adopted the use of hashtags to keep up with citizens online in almost all TV programmes. The online community has become a major source of news for the media. For media practitioners and policy makers, the study recommends that hashtags continue being used as a genre of communication as they appeal to the public and formulators should emphasize more the framing of the hashtag.Item Influence of the Hashtag Context on Public Opinion Formation on Sociopolitical Issues in Kenya(Journal of Public Policy and Administration, 2017) Munuku, Anne W.; Mberia, Hellen; Ndavula, John O.Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine how the context in which a hashtag is formulated the influences public opinion formation on sociopolitical issues in Kenya Methodology: The study adopted descriptive and qualitative research design. The study population consisted of the hashtags generated by Kenyans in the period between January 2014 and December 2016 and the local television stations and members of public involved in hashtag development outside the media fraternity. The sampling frame was obtained from the Communication Authority 2015 report, the Kenya Advertisers Association website and the Twitter database. Purposive sampling was used to select the 35 hashtags and snowball sampling was used to select the hashtag developers. Results: The study found that hash tag context has a significant relationship with public opinion formation. The study found that all hashtags formulated by Kenyans were context bound as they were formed whenever an issue rose. The wording of the hashtag (frame of communication) communicated the issue regime and the opinion of the formulator. The findings revealed that hashtags based on political contexts were more and trended longer. The political hashtags were 51% while social based ones stand at 40%. The rest were from security and economic contexts. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The research draws on public opinion theory, the theory participatory communication theory and the Critical Discourse Analysis approach by Fairclough. The formulation and dissemination of news using hashtags is a growing and fast changing phenomenon that requires a new approach in its analysis. The use of these three approaches indicates the complexity of the nature of hashtags and the connection between the hashtag, the context that surrounds its formation and the opinion formed in relation to that context. The concept of citizen journalism must be looked at afresh.Item Influence of Framing of the Hashtag on Public Opinion Formation on Socio-political Issues in Kenya(International Journal of Communication and Public Relation, 2017) Munuku, Anne W.; Mberia, Hellen; Ndavula, John O.Purpose: The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of framing of the hashtag on public opinion formation on socio-political issues in Kenya. Methodology: The study adopted the descriptive qualitative research design. The study population consisted of the hashtags generated by Kenyans in the period between January 2014 and December 2016, journalists from 5 local television stations and members of public involved in hashtag development outside the media fraternity. Purposive sampling was used to select the 35 hashtags and snowball sampling was used to select the hashtag developers and respondents from the public and selected media houses. Results: The findings that the framing of the hashtag is done by both the media and the public and the higher percentage of hashtags are done by the public. The study found that 60% of the hash tags were non-ordered in terms of the grammatical structure. Findings revealed that the English language dominates the hashtags formulated with a few having a mixture of Kiswahili and English. Internet lingo was preferred to normal grammar. The selection of words was a key factor in the framing of hashtags. The wording of the hashtag mattered while the syntax did not. In conclusion, the framing of a hashtag was found to have a significant influence on public opinion formation but the grammatical structure of the hashtag did not matter. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The media framing theory describes faming as the process of the media packaging information in a way that tells the public how to think about it. The study concurs with the framing theory’s argument that the way a message is framed will have an influence on the opinion formed by the respondent. Most of the respondents prefer short, concise hashtags that address immediate issues in the society. The results reveal that there is a paradigm shift in the framing theory in this form of synchronous computer mediated discourse. The ordinary citizens in Kenya frame 80% of the hashtags and only a small percentage of trending hashtags are formulated by media practitioners.Item Uhakiki wa Nafasi ya TEKNOHAMA katika Kukuza Maudhui katika Tamthilia ya Kigogo(East African Journal of Swahili Studies, 2019) Mwangi, Jackson N.Fasihi ni zao la jamii na hubadilika kila uchao. Uwakilishi wa suala la TEKNOHAMA katika tamthilia za kisasa umechukua mkondo mpya. Hii ni kwa sababu, kutokana na jinsi dunia inavyobadilika ndivyo masuala ya kiteknolojia pia yanavyoathiri fasihi ya sasa na kuipa mguso na taathira mpya. Licha ya uwakilishi wa TEKNOHAMA kuwa na umuhimu katika kukuza fani na maudhui katika fasihi, mchango wake katika tamthilia ya Kigogo haujafanyiwa utafiti, suala linalomchochea mtafiti kulitafiti. Lengo kuu la utafiti huu ni kutathmini mchango wa TEKNOHAMA katika kukuza maudhui katika tamthilia ya Kigogo ya Pauline Kea (2016). Utafiti huu unaongozwa na Nadharia ya Uhalisia. Uteuzi wa sampuli utafanywa kimakusudi na utafiti wenyewe ni wa muundo wa kiudhamano. Mtafiti atasoma ma kala mbali mbali kuhusiana na mada na kisha kuichanganua data kwa njia ya kimaelezo.