About the Journal
EDITORIAL
The articles in this first ever special edition of our faculty journal arising from selected contributions of double blind peer reviewed works of our 2015 International Conference on New Media, provide a national insight into the contemporary discourse in the field of New Media applications. Detailing, the various ways the new media has begun to be used and its profound effects in the various sectors of the Nigerian society. As the new media continue to proliferate, it amplifies the communication potentials as well as opportunities of the citizens. The various shapes and sizes of its multiple platforms have re-shaped, re-organized and irrevocably altered the way we communicate. Ironically, as pointed out by almost all the authors in this journal, it is in its fundamental ability as a new and radical communication platform that the new media has created the potential for its misuse and abuse by users.
The articles in this journal edition are unique not only in respect of its inaugural edition character but in the panoramic perspective of the critical interrogation of the functional as well as dysfunctional uses of the new media. These articles addressed such vital issues as: Internet abuse or Misuse by Nigerian Advertising practitioners and Regulators; Social Media as a Panacea to actualizing Family role in development; Perceptions of lecturers on the use & Effects of Social media on Academic Performance of Undergraduates; Exploring the role of the New Media in Democratic Consolidation: Prospects and Challenges; Politics & Democratic challenges: Revisiting the role of the media in Nigeria; Declining Social values & Internet crime; New Media & Insincerity in Communication, GSM Abuse. As current research demonstrates, mobile devices are a more and more common form of media usage, which has been captured in most of these works.
In this issue, the contributors all speak to the questions of multiplicity of the new media platforms and its various uses, recognising the multiple ways in which new media manifests and the corollary multiplicity of media use logics, imaginings and dynamics that are simultaneously produced by and productive of audience use and understanding of these new technologies as they unfold in the society. And as well, explores the ways in which negative uses of the new media various platforms intersect with its functional effects both conceptually and in practice.
All the articles recognize and analysed the new media use from a range of disciplinary perspectives and in a variety of contexts: Industry; Academia; Family; Politics & Governance; Crime & Business, including Communication. All the articles draw our attention to the everyday practices and use of the new media that inform our lives. Today we are doing instant messaging constantly, checking our social media, listening to music, surfing favorite web sites, and watching television or movies. Because of the emergence of mobile technology, these practices are no longer limited to the home, but rather can occur in cars, at restaurants, in fact, anywhere there’s a mobile phone signal and all these has been captured in this distinctive edition of the Faculty journal.
Dr. Ifeoma Vivian Dunu
Editor -In –Chief
Special Issue
