1. Peace Campaign through the Social Media: An Outreach Counselling Approach by Abdulrashid Garba, PhD; Fcasson Professor of Educational Guidance and Counselling, Department of Education, Bayero University, Kano. A Paper Presented at a Public Lecture Organized by Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) Held at Mambayya House Saturday, November 23, 2013

2. 1.0 Introduction Political leadership characterized by corruption, nepotism, etc. Social institutions collapsing Individuals affected by wide spread man-made (and/or natural disasters) Society reacting back – Insurgencies, kidnapping etc. Peace seems elusive now 6/27/20162

3. 2.0 Understanding Peace How do we define peace? Recognizable by its absence. Means different things to different people. Existing definitions typically take conflict as their point of departure. Johan Galtung - ‘Just as a coin has two sides, one side alone being only one aspect of the coin, not the complete coin, peace also has two sides: absence of personal violence and absence of structural violence. We shall refer to them as negative peace and positive peace’ (1969: 183). 6/27/20163

4. 2.1 Negative and positive peace Key distinction between direct, personal violence and structural, impersonal violence. Direct violence: murder, rape, torture, etc. Structural violence: built into the very structure of social, cultural, and economic institutions. Includes discriminatory practices. Negative peace = the absence of direct violence. Positive peace = ‘refers to a social condition in which exploitation is minimized or eliminated and in which there is neither overt nor the more subtle phenomenon of underlying structural violence. It denotes the continuing presence of an equitable and just social order, as well as ecological harmony’ (Barash and Webel 2009: 7). 6/27/20164

5. Negative peace – emphasis on peacekeeping. Positive peace – emphasis on peace-building and reconciliation. Perceptions of positive peace as potentially harmful (e.g. Quincy Wright) – no longer peace. Can peace and conflict co-exist? ‘War is not sharply distinguished from peace’ (Quincy Wright). Issues of quality: a ‘disjuncture between the moral and ideological aspirations of peace on the one hand and the often grim reality of peace on the other’ ‘is a key feature of contemporary peace making’ (Mac Ginty 2008: 14) – e.g. Bosnia. 6/27/20165

6. 2.2 Restoration of Peace Major victims are women and youth Various intervention efforts now in place – Law enforcement – military – spiritul – political – educational – Vocational, etc. Intervention alone is insufficient In addition there is need for some other measures 66/27/2016

7. 3.0 Restructuring National stability and strength – Functions of effective integration of plural traditions Restructuring must begin with assumptions and beliefs that – Survival of Nigeria is threatened by problems Underlying these problems are deep social, political, economic and educational structures 6/27/20167

8. 3.1 Social Restructuring Entails viewing the Nigerian nation from social perspective – Nature of the society determines its concepts and assumptions – Concepts and assumptions determine quality of our vision As a society undergoes a crisis its conception of the ideal, peaceful society is also supposedly undergoing crisis To regain peace and achieve stability and to save the Nigerian society from self-destruction we must have a better vision – Based on the principles of liberty, equality, justice, and freedom As long as our vision remains archaic we cannot socially reconstruct – … and peace will remain elusive 6/27/20168

9. 3.2 Political Restructuring Culture of good governance can only emerge in a secure, peaceful environment Reconnect power and legitimacy Pursuit privilege Vs. responsibility for governance Foster participatory governance PR possible only with empowering social/community leaders 6/27/20169

10. 3.3 Economic Restructuring Poverty and social problems are interdependent It is both a cause and consequence of civil unrest (Collier and Hoeffler, 1998) Peace is an essential pre-requisite of economic and infrastructural development Struggle in Nigeria did not just end with independence Foreign interests intensified efforts to gain control over natural resource extraction and marketing 6/27/201610

11. 3.4 Educational Restructuring Social and political institutions are crumbling Nigeria is shaken by deep convulsions that threaten our existence as a country Scholars believe that only education can provide the true road to safety How well are the Fed., State, local govt., and other interested parties, discharging their duties in the provision of education for: – the cultivation of skills necessary for participation in the new global economy? – And for participation in the networked society and cyberculture? 6/27/201611

12. 3.5 Educational Restructuring, Contd. An emerging big challenge of education today – Is to overcome the seeming disconnect between students experiences and the multimedia cyberculture The disconnect can only be overcome by bringing students into interactive classroom where transmission and sharing of knowledge is mutually beneficial vertically and horizontally 6/27/201612

13. 3.6 The Answers The primary purpose of restructuring is to ensure peace Can social, political, economic and educational restructuring bring about lastin peace? What are the dominant ways and means of ensuring peace today? – Basically window dressing The need to identify targets and device some outreach strategies 6/27/201613

14. 4.0 Outreach as a Strategy Outreach involves efforts at increasing the availability and utilization of information and services – Usually through direct intervention and interaction Outreach is a specialized strategy usually employed by professional helpers – as in social work; guidance and counselling 6/27/201614

15. 4.1 identifying the Purpose Outreach counselling aims at: – Making systematic efforts to provide unsolicited and predefined information and services to predetermined target groups or individuals deemed to need it, or – Provision of services beyond conventional limits as for example to particular segments of a community 6/27/201615

16. 4.2 Conducting an Outreach Outreach is usually conducted as an: – intervention by predetermined outreach professionals, peer educators, etc., out on the streets, face-to-face, with individuals and groups, on a predetermined subject matter. – attempt to provide prevention information, education, risk reduction counseling, referrals, and treatment options to the greater population(s). – The concept of outreach demonstrates an agency’s willingness to go to the community rather than wait for the community to come to the agency – Networking and collaboration between existing services and organizations. – Stimulant for behavioral change among the targeted groups 6/27/201616

17. 4.3 Identifying the Target Population THE TARGET POPULATION – Is the population for whom the intervention is developed. – Described in terms of demographics, social, and behavioral characteristics. For example: gender, sexual orientation, age, race, ethnicity, geographic location, and behavioral status. – An effective outreach program recognizes the extreme diversity of the target populations and the difference in economic and political circumstances of these groups. 6/27/201617

18. 4.4 Identifying the Medium Outreach counselling is conducted traditionally through: – Personal contacts; cellphone; online; etc., Now talking about outreach through the social media for purposes of ensuring peace 6/27/201618

19. 5.0 Understanding the Social Media photo credit: dbarefootdbarefoot 6/27/201619

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22. types of social media Social Networks - Services that allow you to connect with other people of similar interests and background. Usually they consist of a profile, various ways to interact with other users, ability to setup groups, etc. The most popular are Facebook and LinkedIn.FacebookLinkedIn. Bookmarking Sites - Services that allow you to save, organize and manage links to various websites and resources around the internet. Most allow you to “tag” your links to make them easy to search and share. The most popular are Delicious and StumbleUpon.DeliciousStumbleUpon Social News - Services that allow people to post various news items or links to outside articles and then allows it’s users to”vote” on the items. The voting is the core social aspect as the Social News - Services that allow people to post various news items or links to outside articles and then allows it’s users to”vote” on the items. The voting is the core social aspect as the items that get the most votes are displayed the most prominently. The community decides which news items get seen by more people. The most popular are Digg and Reddit.DiggReddit Media Sharing - Services that allow you to upload and share various media such as pictures and video. Most services have additional social features such as profiles, commenting, etc. The most popular are YouTube and Flickr. YouTubeFlickr Microblogging - Services that focus on short updates that are pushed out to anyone subscribed to receive the updates. The most popular is Twitter.Twitter Blog Comments and Forums - Online forums allow members to hold conversations by posting messages. Blog comments are similar except they are attached to blogs and usually the discussion centers around the topic of the blog post. There are MANY popular blogs and forums. Keep in mind that, while these are the 6 different types of social media, there can be overlap among the various services. For instance, Facebook has microblogging features with their “status update”. Also, Flickr and YouTube have comment systems similar to that of blogs. 6/27/201622

23. forms of social media that exist today Blogs — Yes, your blog is a type of social media. The most popular free blogging platforms are WordPress.com, TypePad, and Blogger. I highly recommend a self-hosted site with WordPress.org installed. TypePadBloggerself-hosted site with WordPress.org installed Social Networking Sites — Focuses on building relationships among people with similar interests and activities. Examples: Facebook, MySpace, FriendsterFacebookMySpaceFriendster Social News — Users submit and vote on news stories. Examples: Digg, PopURLsDiggPopURLs Social Measuring — Measure the quality of submitted content. Examples: Technorati, BlogPulseTechnoratiBlogPulse Microblogging – Differs from traditional blogging because the content is delivered in short bursts of information. Example: TwitterTwitter 6/27/201623

24. Social Bookmarking — Allows users to share, organize, search bookmarks of web resources. Examples: Del.ici.ous, Diigo (formerly Furl)Del.ici.ousDiigo Social Q&A – Users can submit or answer questions. Examples: Answers.com, Yahoo! Answers Answers.comYahoo! Answers Video Sharing — Users can upload and comment on videos. Examples: YouTube, Vimeo YouTubeVimeo Photo Sharing — Users can upload and comment on photos. Some photo- sharing sites offer a user license agreement that allows bloggers and website owners to use images. Examples: Flickr, PhotoBucketFlickrPhotoBucket Social Search — Some search engines have evolved beyond providing search results into to a social media communities where users can create profiles and interact through email groups. Examples: Google, Yahoo!GoogleYahoo! Professional Networks — This type of social media site is a virtual Rolodex, enabling business professionals to recommend one another, share information about industry-related events, post resumes, and other features. Examples: LinkedIn, Plaxo RolodexLinkedInPlaxo 6/27/201624

25. Niche Communities — Niche networking has grown beyond the message boards of old into full-fledged communities. There is no “leader of the pack” in this category, but here is a list of social media niche sites maintained by Traffikd.list of social media niche sites Social Email – Newly released Google Buzz has transformed Gmail into a stream of consciousness for email contacts. Always the educator, Darren Rowse of ProBlogger has been conducting a great series with his Buzz followers as we all learn this thing together. If you’re new to Google Buzz or interested in giving it a go, I suggest you follow Darren.Google BuzzDarren Rowse ProBlogger Comment Communities — Even blog comments have hopped aboard the social media bandwagon through sites such as Disqus. (Note: My friend Rajeev Edmonds recently wrote an informative guest post about customizing Disqus comments.)Disquscustomizing Disqus comments Regional Social Media Sites — This type of social media site is growing in popularity as the world wide web seeks to become more personal. Contributing to news sites, such as Examiner.com, are a great way to position yourself as an authority within both your community and your niche and make a few extra dollars at the same time. Podcasting Communities — Podcasting communities are social networks that help connect podcasters, advertisers, and listeners. 6/27/201625

26. Blog Networks – Similar to niche communities, blog networks are usually a large collection of blogs. Sometimes they cover a broad arena of topics, others are small and more tightly focused. Although anyone can read the blog posts (sometimes registration is required), many blog networks provide exclusive content and require approval for bloggers to join, which gives those who are accepted a certain level of prestige. Examples: Gawker, b5Media, 9RulesGawkerb5Media9Rules Blogging Communities — Broader than niche communities and not exclusive like blog networks, blogging communities encourage bloggers to share and interact with one another as well as create regular blog posts. Examples: BlogHer, LiveJournalBlogHer LiveJournal Presentation-sharing Sites — Sharing presentations online is becoming a very popular way to set yourself apart from the crowd in your field. There is also a lot of good content available on presentation sites that bloggers can link to and share with their readers. Examples: SlideShareSlideShare Content-driven Communities — Also known as “Wikis.” This type of social media is popping up everywhere. The largest and most well known, of course, is Wikipedia.Wikipedia Product-based Communities — Many sites that started as a means of buying and selling products online have incorporated the community aspect into their sites. The biggest sites in this type of social media are Ebay and Amazon.com.EbayAmazon.com 6/27/201626

27. Review & Recommendation Sites — You can review almost anything in an online community-based setting now. Twitter asks “What are you doing?”, but Shelfari (and other book review communities) asks “What are you reading?” Travel recommendation communities are extremely popular. Examples: TripAdvisor, Lonely Planet, Where I’ve BeenShelfari TripAdvisorLonely PlanetWhere I’ve Been Social Media Sites that Defy Definition — There are several social media sites that march to the beat of their own drum. Squidoo comes to mind. (No, I haven’t forgotten I’m supposed to create a lens and write about my experience there, but seriously, life has gotten in the way of many of my projects lately. If you’re my friend on Facebook, you know.) At first glance, StumbleUpon seems to be a social bookmarking site, but the site is marketed as a “Channel Surfing” site. Do you know ofSquidoomy friend on FacebookStumbleUpon 6/27/201627

28. 5.1 Meaning It is consumer generated media designed to be shared – sharing means that it is easy to comment on, that it is easy to send, – there are no costs associated with viewing it – it is always available. Social media enables people to share information with friends and colleges using the Internet 6/27/201628

29. 5.2 Social Networking Social Networking is the use of communities to engage with others: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter. Social Networking sites often include social media tools to facilitate the interaction and conversation 6/27/201629

30. 5.3 Social Media and Peace Campaign If your kids are awake they are probably online The average Nigerian now spends every waking minute – except the time in school – using a smart phone, computer, TV or other electronic device according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Those ages 8 – 18 spend more than 7 hours a day with such devices. And that does not count the hour and a half that youths spend texting or talking on their phones 6/27/201630

31. They have higher demands!! Growing up online has shaped how teens and young adults receive, process and act on information. They expect information to be brief, instant and always on (there are no office hours) 6/27/201631

32. 5.4 Popularity of Social Media According to the analysts at Hitwise, social media are more popular than search engines in some parts of the world Facebook’s overall web traffic pulled ahead of Google’s for the first time in the U.S. in March of this year. Facebook dominates the current crop of social media, accounting for the majority (55%) of all social site visits. 6/27/201632

33. 5.5 Peace Campaign through the Social Media – Identify target(s) – Outline objectives – Design a programme and time frames – Open accounts – All these will enable you to: Create awareness Encourage interconnectivity, interaction and exchange of ideas Inspire loyalty to a cause Create ambassadors from the participants 6/27/201633

34. 6.0 Conclusion The social media has come a long way since the early days of the telephones, BBS’s and other Chats There is no doubt that it will continue to evolve with time and with more advanced technologies to something better As it is, all the social media sites today are already evolving at such a fast pace that it is becoming difficult to keep up with them 6/27/201634

35. But seeing the way things are at present, it is the mobile technology that’s slowly taking over our lives The mobile phones or smart phones, have already taken over the computer in almost all the functions They are definitely the next generation in the social media scenario Most social media sites are already integrated with the smart phones along with mobile websites and specially designed mobile apps to cater for all the networking needs of the people And they all are undoubtedly strong instruments for peace campaingns 6/27/201635

36. Thank you so much for listening 6/27/201636