Communication Arts

Discourses on multimedia perceived and actual potentials in triggering and sustaining social development rent the academic platforms today. Braced with its very spectacular converge of text, sound, pictures, animation, and video components , this system of communication has evolved as a promising veritable and versatile tool for social development. Our study was set with this prospective perspective of ascertaining the symbiosis between the two variables. Using the survey method of research, urbanized cities in Nigeria were selected and data from populations of communication scholars and development experts were also tested using Pearson correlation coefficient factors. Findings confirmed a positive symbiosis that is mutual and beneficial in all aspects of social development used in the study. A rapid drive towards the effective usage of multimedia communication systems in Nigeria was recommended so that the gains from such efforts could be better harnessed.

Social media usage and expression among diverse-background-persons is offering more of 'an information sharing purpose' which challenges how meanings are constructed and deconstructed on media space. One of such spaces is using social media network for reconstruction of identities of displaced persons who share similar experiences and socioeconomic status. This study explores how displaced persons in Nigeria northeast communities affected by Boko Haram insurgency are using social media in rebuilding lives, telling stories, and deriving satisfactions. Significantly, the study answers questions on the effects of established contexts of media use among people and reestablishes the notion of information rich and information poor. It relies on the Uses and Gratifications theory of Katz, Blumler, and Gurevitch. The study adopts the survey design. Population is infinite and comprises all persons displaced by the insurgency in northeast Nigeria. These included those in IDP camps, sheltered homes, and in rebuilt settlements. Sample size for the study is 2881 arrived at using 95% confidence level, 80% expected response rate. The sample was drawn through a multistage technique that included cluster, quota and purposive sampling techniques. Data was collected using questionnaire, interview and observation, and analyzed across demographics through the Pearson correlation statistic. It found that social media network uses among IDPs is strong and overwhelming to gratify needs associated with displacement, and importantly is that such connectedness through social media groupings have actually aided the process of rebuilding lost communities more in the virtual space.

Several subliminal issues defined advertisements deployed during the 2015 electioneering campaigns by political parties and their agents. Relying on Riessman's typology of narrative analysis as well as Mead's Symbolic Interactionalism theory and Schramm's model, the study narrates and analyzes inherent themes in the advertisements by political parties as viewed by voters. It evaluates voters' perception toward these themes. The focus group discussion and the survey designs were used to establish correlation between the themes and Emilienne Idorenyin Akpan

Overtime, the issues associated with corporate reputation have thrown several challenges at scholars who try to decipher what should and should not be an ideal reputation. With literatures suggesting that different publics have different perceptions of an organization whether the origin, length of planning circle, quantum and scale of branding engaged by such organizations matter or not (Hatch and Schultz, 2008) and the fact that the individual specific circumstances of message reception interact with the changing behaviour and activities of an organization , (L'etang and Pieczka, 2006); this paper adopted a critical analysis approach to identify issues in image and reputation building, situate the issues in the context of corporate values; and, appraised how such issues associated with the roles played during crises can help in enhancing corporate reputation.

The study made aesthetic judgments on four select newspaper advertisements employing the visual analysis approach and hedging it on subjectivity and universal validity planks of Kant's theory. The ads were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively using a modification of the Likert scale which helped reduce the elements of background, colour, layout, typography, words and message into measurable terms. It found that aesthetic experience are better heightened with a dynamic blend of textual matters and visuals, while colours should play the role bleeding to help intensify the message rather than adding expressive 'beauty'. Class of the consumers as influenced by content of the advertisements, context for consuming the advertisements as well as cognition were found to be very significant is saying which advertisement was 'good' or 'very good'. However, all four advertisements had different level of appeals. It recommended amongst others a dynamic blend of the advertising elements so as to maximize the aesthetic experience of the individual and ultimately meaning construction and sharing.

The study made aesthetic judgments on four select newspaper advertisements employing the visual analysis approach and hedging it on subjectivity and universal validity planks of Kant’s theory. The ads were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively using a modification of the Likert scale which helped reduce the elements of background, colour, layout, typography, words and message into measurable terms. It found that aesthetic experience are better heightened with a dynamic blend of textual matters and visuals, while colours should play the role bleeding to help intensify the message rather than adding expressive ‘beauty’. Class of the consumers as influenced by content of the advertisements, context for consuming the advertisements as well as cognition were found to be very significant is saying which advertisement was ‘good’ or ‘very good’. However, all four advertisements had different level of appeals. It recommended amongst others a dynamic blend of the advertising elements so a...

Discourses on multimedia perceived and actual potentials in triggering and sustaining social development rent the academic platforms today. Braced with its very spectacular converge of text, sound, pictures, animation, and video components, this system of communication has evolved as a promising veritable and versatile tool for social development. Our study was set with this prospective perspective of ascertaining the symbiosis between the two variables. Using the survey method of research, urbanized cities in Nigeria were selected and data from populations of communication scholars and development experts were also tested using Pearson correlation coefficient factors. Findings confirmed a positive symbiosis that is mutual and beneficial in all aspects of social development used in the study. A rapid drive towards the effective usage of multimedia communication systems in Nigeria was recommended so that the gains from such efforts could be better harnessed.

This study examines the SENSE-TRI program's effectiveness in improving the fundamental literacy skills of grade 3 learners in insurgency-challenged Gombe and Adamawa states of Nigeria during the COVID-19 lockdown. A quasi-experimental design was employed, with 400 participants equally divided between randomly selected schools and pupils from SENSE intervention schools (the treatment group) and a counterfactual group from schools and pupils not participating in the SENSE-TRI program (the comparison group). The learners' performance in both groups was assessed by the abbreviated Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), focusing on tasks such as letter-sound identification, syllable sound identification, familiar word reading, invented word reading, and reading comprehension. The TRI program compared learners' scores in the treatment group with those of learners in the comparison group using Tobit regression models. The results revealed that sociodemographic variables had no significant independent influence on the observed outcomes. However, the scores showed a statistically significant improvement in the literacy abilities of the treatment group on all parameters and tasks compared to the control group. This improvement exceeded the initial SENSE baseline reading proficiency aggregate values, indicating the program's effectiveness in both challenging and normal circumstances as a possible way out when no schools exist.

The issue of cultural imperialism has been a thorny one in the discourses of media scholars. Much as we try to shy away from it, it keeps creeping in. The focus of this study is to x-ray the whole frame of cultural imperialism and look at ways of mitigating its supposedly domineering influence in our society. It underscores the arguments of several thoughts against the cultural imperialist theory and proffers a way out.

HIV/AIDS campaigns in Nigeria have been intensely vigorous in recent times. They have employed the synergy of several media in the fight against stemming the pandemic. The application of these multi-faceted media approach is borne out of the need to reach as much of the population as possible. Multimedia has had an enormous impact on education, information and entertainment through the features of interactivity and 'virtualness' which this study has confirmed makes the message better understood and appreciated. In appraising the extent to which the uses of these multimedia approaches have achieved desired objectives, the study used a sample of 240 respondents drawn through a multistage approach. The mode of appraisal was through the survey and some elementary experimentation. Data was analyzed using the simple percentage to appraise the level of multimedia involvement in the campaigns, and Pearson 'r' and Chi Square to ascertain if there are significant relationships and differences between the objectives of the campaigns in conventional and multimedia forms. The study thus concluded that multimedia approaches are better appreciated by the respondents as having the potentials to disseminate the message, maintaining that significant relationships exist between what people expects in these multimedia designs and the level of effectiveness of these designs which have been argued to be quite successful in the campaign against HIV/AIDS, as well as that differences exists between the offerings of conventional media designs and multimedia variants, with the latter getting better ratings.

Underdevelopment is a paradox and a metaphor of the living condition of a set of people. Due to its nature, it has created far reaching implications on the life of the people, the environment and the nation. In the oil producing areas such as Uzere, it is expected, should be relatively developed. This study established the reverse. Having underscored the modernization theory and the data gathered through the survey approach from 320 respondents, the study concluded that communication has roles to play in helping to mitigate the incidence of underdevelopment even though there was no direct link between communication and underdevelopment. It thus recommended among others the practicability of a broad base communication approach in dealing with the issue.

Governments have often sought improved ways to market their policies, which are variedly viewed as adequate or inadequate, in a bid to get the citizens actively engaged in the process of development. Digital media usage has inundated the social media space with both individual and governments presences. However, despite strong digital media presence driven by massive deployment of human and material resources, the question still arises as to how well such efforts have been used to deepen civic engagement among the citizens generally, and the vulnerable youth population that is digital media savvy. Data gathered from a sample of 900 respondents, revealed a positive correlation between digital media deployment in marketing government policies and enhancement of civic engagement among the vulnerable community provided such policies are people-oriented, and adequate marketing strategies are used. It recommends creation and deployment of digital media content as marketing tools to harness accrued gains.

The issue of cultural imperialism has been a thorny one in the discourses of media scholars. Much as we try to shy away from it, it keeps creeping in. The focus of this study is to x-ray the whole frame of cultural imperialism and look at ways of mitigating its supposedly domineering influence in our society. It underscores the arguments of several thoughts against the cultural imperialist theory and proffers a way out.

How then should we place communication studies? A westernized discipline
that should remain as such – colonized – or an imperialist discipline?
Several dialectics in this area provide a connection between culture, media,
globalization and imperialism, as well as
the complexities that characterized
their intersections. These complexities, if not clearly checked, can fuel a sort
of hegemony that is sometimes labelled as colonization and its several
variants. It was opined by Demont-Heinrich that at an extreme on this
continuum of complexities, “cultural imperialism is
cast as the international
extension of the long
discredited hypodermic needle theory which views
cultural consumers as passive automatons” (Demont
Heinrich 2011, 666),
and at another extreme “the globalization of culture perspective is cast as a
wildly postmodern standpoint in which free
floating individuals are said to
be able to make an infinite set of localized meanings from cultural products”
(Demont
Heinrich 2011, 666), nevertheless, we need to “locate a productive
middle ground between cultural imperialism and globalization of culture”
(Demont
Heinrich 2011, 666) for communication and media studies to thrive
since such complexities have struggled to hold a standpoint as a result of
the interests of scholars. Inherently, we could subsume that a thread runs
through all the intersections.