'Wale Oni | Canterbury Christ Church University (original) (raw)

Papers by 'Wale Oni

The Psychology of Journalism

This chapter presents an overview of literature on the function of social norms and roles in shap... more This chapter presents an overview of literature on the function of social norms and roles in shaping emotions and beliefs, with particular attention to journalistic professional practice. Through the concepts of accountability, transparency, truth, and social responsibility, journalism is presented as a norm-driven socially constructed profession. For example, journalists’ intrinsic personal norms are shown to be stronger in predicting their behaviour compared with extrinsic influences, such as regulatory laws or organizational policies. This chapter also focusses on journalists’ changing concepts of their own occupational role. A case study is presented on the acceptance and use of digital technologies in journalism in Nigeria, which is discussed as a double-edged sword. Although broadcast journalists may be significantly empowered by the use of such technologies, there is also a perceived dumbing down effect on journalistic practice, such that certain normative roles (e.g., sourci...

In this paper I explore some fundamental theories, models and perspectives used by scholars in co... more In this paper I explore some fundamental theories, models and perspectives used by scholars in communication studies as frameworks to understand and discuss the field of computer-mediated communication, which is an offshoot of mediated communication aspect of the communication studies. In my approach, I discuss the academic landscape of communication technology, with a view of locating the concept, nature and scope of CMC. Specifically, I present some of the notable perspectives, models and theories with which scholars in new (digital) media studies have used in explaining trends of adoption, uses and social implications of communication technology against the backdrop of some media constraints and affordances as discussed in select journal publications, while I use schemas to explain the concept where necessary. It is no doubt that this approach will not only introduce the fundamental theories of computer mediated communication within the purview of communication studies, but also ...

There are thousands of research outputs from studies on the subject of peace and security across ... more There are thousands of research outputs from studies on the subject of peace and security across Africa. The findings and themes emanating from these diverse studies have been published in different sources including academic journals, conference proceedings, chapters in books, and book reviews among others. There is however little or no study dedicated to the mapping of the state of peace and security research in Africa. The need for a systematic mapping of the epistemic terrain spurred the researchers at the African Leadership Centre Data Laboratory to address this research gap.
Policy institutions and funding agencies alike have tended to prioritise research with clearly stated beneficial outcomes for the society. Determining what constitutes “better societal outcomes” is a great challenge to social scientists just as it constitutes no less a challenge to the policy and funding agencies. As stated by Sarewitz and Roger A. Pielke Jr ‘“better” science portfolios (that is, portfolios viewed as more likely to advance desired societal outcomes, however defined) would be achieved if science policy decisions reflected knowledge about the supply of science, the demand for science, and the relationship between the two.’

The report is divided into two major parts. The first part (Study 1) contains the scientometric and bibliometric evaluations of systematically selected published articles on peace and security themes in Africa. The study is restricted to articles published from 1960 to the first quarter of 2018. This selected data frame is limited to English language works published in peer-reviewed journals by scholars affiliated to African-based institutions and those indexed in leading bibliographical databases. This part includes sections on bibliographical analysis, citations and co-citations analyses, authors’ and countries’ collaboration network mapping, and journal impact assessments.

The second part- Study 2 focuses on the investigation of the media representation of peace and security research studies and the place of academic experts as news sources on the subject peace and security in Africa from 1960 to the first quarter of 2018. The methodology of digital quantitative content analysis is employed for this aspect of the report. Study 2 also investigates the links and impacts (if any) of articles published on media contents within the selected time frame.

The transformative potential of new interactive technology in journalism and specifically in broa... more The transformative potential of new interactive technology in journalism and specifically in broadcasting, where it touches on participatory programming is widely acknowledged in recent scholarship. Yet, there is no consensus on the implications of interactive technology adoption on the highly contentious profession of journalism and how technology is related to journalistic values and role conceptions. While studies of journalistic role conceptions rest on the assumption that conceptions are assessed from enacted journalistic contents (cf. Mellado and Lagos, 2014; Tandoc et al 2013; Ngomba, 2010), at best, relationships between technology and role conceptions, as perceived rather than as enacted in journalists' content is equally worthy of assessment. Following a review of literature on this purview, this article seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion on new media and journalism and suggests an integrated conceptual model developed from extant theories on technology adoption and journalistic role conceptions in order to answer some pertinent questions. The proposed generic model could then be used to explore journalists' dispositions to interactive technology and how different roles may be engendered in the digital era.

I examine in this study what constitute the motivations/gratifications for the pervasiveness of i... more I examine in this study what constitute the motivations/gratifications for the pervasiveness of interactive technology (mobile phone and Internet) use for participatory programming among broadcast journalists. A survey was modelled after similar studies on motivations for citizen journalism (Jack, 2009), against extant theoretical frameworks of technology adoption, including adaptive structuration and uses and gratification theories. A matrix was also constructed to pre-test what constitute the motivations/gratifications for the use of interactive technology in the production and dissemination of participatory programming. Hence, broadcast journalists in a purposively selected FM radio station in southwest Nigeria were sampled. Findings showed that broadcast journalists’ motivation to use interactive technology for participatory programming is geared toward information dissemination. In achieving this, broadcast journalists rely more on text-based (quasi-synchronous) new media platforms rather than a more convenient but costlier voice call channel to act the social responsibility (information dissemination and mobilization) roles. Poor telecom connectivity is a significant threat. The study, while contributing to the current discourse on the convergence of radio, also practically advances the concept of participatory communication and newsroom technology adoption beyond the theoretical and speculative dimensions.

African Nebula, Issue 6, 2013

Electronic Journal of Communication, 2013

The locatability cost of mobile phones has placed various constraints and affordances on their us... more The locatability cost of mobile phones has placed various constraints and affordances on their use by the general populace. Since the inception of mobile phone technology in 2001, Nigerians have been appropriating the technology in their dealings with people against their peculiar cultural and socio-economic backgrounds for identity (re)construction, role playing and as a tool for self extension and value judgment in the society. This study, therefore, examines the extent to which mobile phones have been used for identity (re)construction in public and as an instrument of value judgment and criminality in contemporary Nigerian society. Through an ethnographic study of mobile phone users purposively observed in transit across select southwestern cities in Nigeria and a focus group discussion on the use of mobile phone in public, it was found that mobile phone users leverage on the locatability cost, which equally compares with other relevant costs/constraints of computer mediated communication (cf. Clark & Brennan, 1991; Clark & Wilkes-Gibbs, 1986; Hård af Segerstad & Ljungstrand, 2002) to moderate their verbal interactions via the medium. This has, in turn, reduced trust during socio-economic transactions via the technology. The technology thus manifests its peculiarity among other communication media by empowering the users to choose when to be or not to be available for social and economic responsibilities, while also engendering anti-social behaviours. It is hoped that a study of this nature will contribute to knowledge in new media studies and computer-mediated communication in general while further emphasizing the notion of media technology as socially constructive.

'Wale Oni and Oluseye Babatunde analyze the content of three newspapers (Vanguard, Nigerian Tribu... more 'Wale Oni and Oluseye Babatunde analyze the content of three newspapers (Vanguard, Nigerian Tribune and New Nigeria) to determine their coverage of the public opinion on the bail jump saga of the erstwhile governor of Bayelsa Sstate, Diprieye Alamieyesigha. The choice of the newspaper is informed by their perceived biases torwards the course of their regions. Vanguard, an eastern-bloc newspaper, Tribune, a western bloc newspaper and New-Nigeria, a core northern Newspaper. The authors found out that the selected newspapers’ coverage of the report shows subjectivity in the quantity of news report meted on the subject and reveal shades of public opinion bias toward their ethnic/region ideology.

In Chapter Two, 'Wale Oni employs content analysis using the frame work of lexical semantic to di... more In Chapter Two, 'Wale Oni employs content analysis using the frame work of lexical semantic to differentiate the textual compositions of Nigerian students both in the synchronous and asynchronous computer-mediated communication. He argues that though there are similarities in the form and function of textual constructs in instant messaging and mobile phone texting, major differences abound in the structure of lexemes in term of length, punctuation and semantic import of linguistic markers evident in the corpus. This has been attributed to media affordances and constraints such as technicality, synchronicity, sequentiality among others, as well as varying frequencies of linguistic items such as pidgin, neologism/slang, code mixing and switching. He concludes that the observed differences make texting and instant messaging peculiar to a second language user (English), but with universal trends for “other” semantic categories found in the samples.

Chapter 21 by Wale Oni and Niyi Osunbade is an analysis of computer Instant Messages exchanged by... more Chapter 21 by Wale Oni and Niyi Osunbade is an analysis of computer
Instant Messages exchanged by Nigerian students on campus. The range
of messages used as examples gives a good feel for Nigerian social interactions in a fresh manner. Implicitly it speaks to the globalisation that
comes with technology – the extent to which the interactions between
Nigerian students using, for example, Hotmail and Yahoo! Messenger are
not dissimilar from those likely to be seen anywhere else in the world.
Analysis of emoticons, word shortenings and typed symbols represent an
interesting approach to looking at feelings expressed by young Nigerians.

… Journal of Technology, Culture and Education, Jan 1, 2010

Teaching Documents by 'Wale Oni

To say that communication is at the heart of our everyday lives would be but stating the obvious.... more To say that communication is at the heart of our everyday lives would be but stating the obvious. Its influence is so all embracing and its tentacles widespread that they encompass the art of persuading, influencing, entertaining, sharing, discovering and transmitting information. From the moment we wake in the morning, thinking about the challenges of the day ahead, to the moment we drift off to sleep at night, we are constantly in the process of communication. We do so either as senders of messages or receivers of messages. In the words of Hybels and Weaver (2005:5), 'it is not surprising that communication, and how to communicate, is so important to daily life that it has spawned an entire industry of books, articles, and seminars explaining how to do it better'.

The Psychology of Journalism

African Nebula, Issue 6, 2013

Electronic Journal of Communication, 2013

… Journal of Technology, Culture and Education, Jan 1, 2010