COM 2006 Volume 11

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  • ItemOpen Access
    Local aids councils in North-West: the construction and communication of meaning within the context of ownership and accountability
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2006) Schutte, Paul J.; Boessenkool, Jan
    Many groups and individuals are working hard to come to grips with the phenomenon of HIV and Aids in all its complicated aspects, whether it is bio-medical, socio-cultural, gender related and/or socio-economic. One outcome is that governments try to structure and organise a counter-attack on a national, regional, district and local level. This organisational structuring is meant to facilitate and co-ordinate the action against H I V and Aids. Together with this organisational structuring go the hope and expectation for a resulting effective organisational culture. It is hoped that with the implementation of an organisational structure an organisational “culture of ownership and accountability” would develop. However, this does not seem to be the case. In this article the authors present this particular case and argue that the (implicitly) presupposed causality between an organisational structure and a culture of ownership did not realise, as there was and still is too much differentiation in the construction, interpretation and communication of crucial concepts and aspects concerning HIV and Aids. The empiric results confirmed this assertion.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Reflections on drawing
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2006) Schmidt, Leoni
    This article is presented in three parts. An introduction considers the current emphasis on drawing within the visual arts and literacy debate. An analysis is then offered of key strategies and counter-strategies (including trajectories and cornerstones) in the recent history of drawing as a complex arts practice predicated on different and often contestatory assumptions about how we understand and visualise our world. The third section explores connections between drawing and registers for visual communication and literacy, with specific attention to Umberto Eco's semiotic typology of modes of sign production.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Die rol van oorredingsveranderlikes in bewuswordingsprogramme oor MIV/VIGS by hoërskole in Potchefstroom
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2006) Bester, C. M.; Naude, A. M. E.
    The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) (Petty & Cacioppo 1996) in the field of persuasive communication can explain the relevant variables when the youth is influenced and persuaded by messages aimed at changing sexual risk behaviour. In order to increase the impact of the Department of Education's Life Orientation learning area in the North West Province, a study was undertaken to determine which of the intrinsic and/or extrinsic variables - as hypothesised by the ELM - play a role in persuading grade 9 learners to use certain life skills in protecting them from contracting HIV/Aids. The purpose of the study was to determine the role of intrinsic and/or extrinsic persuasive variables in the presentation of Life Orientation classes to selected grade 9 learners at three Potchefstroom high schools. Relevant literature was analysed regarding HIV/Aids campaigns and programmes that had been launched in South Africa, especially in instances where the ELM was applied as theoretical framework. The empirical study was done by means of a quantative survey as well as qualitative methods (focus groups, personal interviews and non-part icipatory observation) to obtain an in-depth understanding of the variables influencing the persuasion of grade 9 learners. The results of the study confirm the premises of the ELM and proved that intrinsic persuasive variables play an important role when HIV/Aids persuasive messages are conveyed to grade 9 learners through Life Orientation classes. It can therefore be concluded that grade 9 learners from the three selected Potchefstroom schools would process these messages via the central information processing route, which enhances the chances of long term persuasion. Furthermore, it appears that in this study extrinsic persuasive variables mostly strengthened the persuasive messages to grade 9 learners. It can therefore be concluded that Life Orientation, and specifically the content focused on HIV/Aids, led to the successful persuasion of grade 9 learners in the selected schools.
  • ItemOpen Access
    The wedge that cracked the rock - a pioneering woman journalist
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2006) Rabe, Lizette
    This article explores some aspects of the pioneering nature of the career of journalist Rykie van Reenen, professed to be “undoubtedly the most outstanding Afrikaans journalist of the [twentieth] century” (Giliomee 2003:564). After her death she was described as the “wedge” that cracked open the “brute rock of male domination” from which a new generation of women could enter the profession (“Rykie van Reenen” 2003). The focus is on her contribution to South African journalism in terms of her pioneering work and on the unique personality that played no small part in her becoming a legend in South African Afrikaans media history. The premise of this article is that Van Reenen was a pioneer for women journalists in a language community and a country in which women were ignored for a long time as professional contributors to the profession of journalism. Van Reenen left a repertoire of an impressive journalistic legacy that not even her male peers could equal, as described in a previous article (Rabe 2006). This article, which is part of an ongoing exploration of her work, serves as an initial study of her contribution to establish women in South African newsrooms, especially Afrikaans newsrooms, as equals. To some extent, it also contributes to a more comprehensive South African media history, which, in general, lacks significant scholarly attention, especially in terms of the media historiographical legacy of women journalists and their contribution.
  • ItemOpen Access
    A model of community development and gender equity through access to information technology
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2006) Majola, Pretty Lilly
    Marginalised people, in their everyday life, do not know where and how to access information for their own survival and development. This information would, if correctly applied, enable them to participate in social, political and economic processes associated with development. The three key aspects that articulate a model of community development through information are gender, participation, and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). From the literature review, practical experience and case studies, it has been clear that most community projects do not explicitly address the gender, participation and ICT aspects. The model of community development presented in this article is a tool for making local and external information available and accessible to marginalised members of a community so that they can use it for their own development.
  • ItemOpen Access
    A critical perspective on the reception on three LoveLife billboards in rural Transkei
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2006) Jordaan, Danie
    One of South Africa's biggest NGOs, LoveLife, has attracted its share of controversy since its inception in 1999. Recently, the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria which contributed 30% of LoveLife's annual budget, announced that it was withdrawing its funding of the NGO. Although the Global Fund did not provide reasons for the withdrawal of its funding, some local studies have questioned the efficacy of, in particular, the LoveLife media campaigns. This article provides an analysis of the reception of the three 2004 LoveLife billboards in rural Transkei. This is done in order to test the hypothesis that the 2004 LoveLife billboard campaign aimed at establishing a contemporary, trendy lifestyle characterised by an open, free and gender-equal sexuality, is bound to be ineffective amongst some social / ethnic groupings, because it does not: • Engage with perceptions regarding sexual intercourse and condom use at localised, culture-specific levels; • Provide accurate and accessible knowledge in a culture-sensitive format; and • Acknowledge culture-specific barriers to communication.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Plagiarism at tertiary institutions: perceptions of lecturers at the UFS campuses
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2006) Coetzee, Mercia; Breytenbach, H. J.
    Plagiarism has increased alarmingly on campuses world-wide. The Internet has largely contributed to this problem. Students are able to download complete art i c l e s , assignments and essays from the WWW and present it as their own original work. Students also copy sections of articles and paste it into their assignments or dissertations without acknowledging sources. Additional pressure is placed on lecturers to trace the sources from which the work was copied. World-wide research has indicated that plagiarism occurs on nearly all campuses and that students are increasingly guilty of committing plagiarism. Electronic programmes for the detection of plagiarism are already in use on many European and American campuses, while only few South African universities utilise this facility. This study was undertaken to investigate the opinions of lecturers regarding the extent of plagiarism on the campuses of the University of the Free State. The prevalence of plagiarism, sources from which were plagiarised, and resultant steps that should be taken according to lecturers, were investigated.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Communicating feminism to the community: the continuing relevance of feminism fifty years after 9 August 1956
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2006) Pretorius, Engela
    The history of women in South Africa is the history of their oppression due to patriarchy - a system of domination which still persists in South Africa, and has done so since precolonial times. However, in the case of black women, it has been justly argued that under apartheid they suffered from the triple oppression of racism, sexism and classism which characterises the country's history. Although opposition to patriarchy has not so much been in evidence among black women in this country, they do indeed have a history of strong opposition to the politicisation of race. This article traces the historical development of feminism in this country, focusing on African feminism(s) and its multiple manifestations. The role of feminism in the liberation struggle is then explicated by first describing the variety and diversity of patriarchies, followed by an exposition of the surfacing of political consciousness among women in this country. The article concludes that 50 years after the momentous event of 9 August 1956, an active and feminist voice in civil society is still needed due to factors such as the fact that the struggle for gender equity has to a large extent become a state-led venture, and because of what is perceived as a hardening of patriarchies.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Kommunikasiekanale in die vestiging en ontwikkeling van Orania
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2006) Mynhardt, Tienie
    Die Orania-nedersetting is geleë aan die Oranjerivier, sowat 250 km van Bloemfontein, 160 km van Kimberley en nagenoeg 700 km vanaf Pretoria. Dit plaas die dorp en ontwikkeling geografies bykans in die middel van Suid-Afrika. Die beplande skepping van soortgelyke nedersettings wat in die vooruitsig gestel word, sal in die rigting van die Weskus uitgebrei word. Orania is nié die Volkstaat nie.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Gedagtes oor begeerte en mites in reklamekommunikasie
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2006) Moller, Jere; Van Niekerk, Angelique
    Change in the world is reflected in almost every aspect of our lives - how we live, eat, communicate. For reasons of authentication the mass media use real people in real life settings to convince real people to buy or use a product or service. For this reason it can be argued that the mass media (especially advertisements) offer a particular view of society. It is within such a specific system of belief that the mass media sells certain desires. Without a specific system of belief it is not possible to sell certain desires, for example: fitness (not sport shoes), or beauty (not lipstick). This view of the world offered by advertisements is unique and therefore advertising can be identified with its unique characteristics and conventions within the bigger media world. The research focus is on the relevance of disciplines such as semantics and pragmatics, and constructs such as denotation, connotation, desire and myth in analysing printed advertising communication and to identify marketing communication as genre type with unique conventions and shared knowledge.
  • ItemOpen Access
    In search of the Daily Sun's recipe for success
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2006) Froneman, J. D.
    One of the most significant media events of the past decade has been the founding of the Daily Sun, a tabloid aimed at the low-income black market. This newspaper has become the nation's best-selling daily within a year. Through a qualitative analysis of the newspaper, it was found that it concentrates on soccer, sex, horror, personal tragedies and traditional African beliefs (including witchcraft). However, the Daily Sun is not a tabloid in the British Sun tradition: it does not publish pin-up pictures of girls or celebrity scandals. It also carries substantial news and columns which can be described as self-help or “developmental”. The Daily Sun has thus, to some extent, adapted the tabloid genre, which in the past has been equated with one-dimensional scandal journalism. It is argued that although aspects of the Daily Sun may not live up to the ethical expectations of traditional Western journalism, its success in reaching a new market of readers who did not read a newspaper previously must be acknowledged. As such it has created a new public sphere where a section of the population has found a place where some exchange of information and views can take place.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Corporate strategies and market developments in South Africa's telecommunications industry
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2006) Mhlanga, Brilliant
    This article focuses on various factors that are usually exploited by media institutions to impede competition. A case study of South Africa's Telkom and three cellular phone service providers is used to illustrate how such factors are often used to buttress monopoly in the market and impede other smaller competitors. This article posits that company size alone cannot yield higher profits and market gains without factors like concentration strategies and forms of integration; vertical, horizontal and diagonal expansion; the impact of regulation; policy stipulations; and technological innovation. Demand size also causes a ripple-effect to the increase in value of a product, thereby increasing the volume sold. Economies of scale and scope also need to be analysed concomitantly.