Veeey:
@AfricanApple Thanks for bringing me here.

I see many peeps saying Wole Soyinka is wrong, I don't know your stance, but I think these people are wrong!

Pay keen attention to these statements of his;





I wouldn't want to elaborate anymore than I have the power to do at the moment. But looking at the first quote (The emboldened in particular), you'll find that the prof. hit the nail on the head ; Nigerian students are so guilty as charged on this count. We are most often than not, copy and paste experts.

And in the second quote, I am not really concerned with the former part of that comment.

The later part is where my interest lies in..

Having identified a problem, he proffers a solution. And in my opinion, that's the right way to go about this whole thing - A merging of sorts, rather than a total dependence on the internet.

emmatok:


Coming from Nigerians who can't read four paragraph on nairaland.

emmatok:


Coming from Nigerians who can't read four paragraph on nairaland.

3coins:

where is your "s"

AfricanApple:
@emboldened was exactly my word. why won't they say he was wrong when they are heavily guilty.

u just said it all

*walks out thread*

3coins:

where is your "s"

herald9:

I don do you strong tin today.... how many mentions u get?

AceOfDiamonds:
Its said that if you are trying to hide anything from Nigerians, put it in a book ; they wouldnt bother checking/reading it...


But seriously,the adverse effects aside,the internet has helped in a plethora of ways which cannot be overlooked

Shoutout to the earlier generations who made it through school without search engines
How they did it,i haven't the faintest of ideas [/quothttp://m.youtube.com/watch?v=udlc2lNUTJAe].

Veeey:
@AfricanApple Thanks for bringing me here.

I see many peeps saying Wole Soyinka is wrong, I don't know your stance, but I think these people are wrong!

Pay keen attention to these statements of his;





I wouldn't want to elaborate anymore than I have the power to do at the moment. But looking at the first quote (The emboldened in particular), you'll find that the prof. hit the nail on the head; Nigerian students are so guilty as charged on this count. We are most often than not, copy and paste experts.

And in the second quote, I am not really concerned with the former part of that comment.

The later part is where my interest lies in..

Having identified a problem, he proffers a solution. And in my opinion, that's the right way to go about this whole thing - A merging of sorts, rather than a total dependence on the internet.

emmatok:


I have most of my on both hard and soft copies.

But i noticed it is easier to read hard copies for a long duration.

Most Nler don't even reading long articles online.
They shout it is too long.

WS onpoint here.

mbourie:
Prof., that is the more reason we dont need people like you and old men as the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria.....If a Prof. could reason this way now imagine the likes of Buhari, Bamanga Tukur, anenih et al....These guys brain are running on android version 2.1 and cannot be flashed to a custom ROM of 5.0.

Prof. you had better convert all your hard copy books to ebook.....Students in this 21th century don't have excuse not to read story books or novels, because you can download books like things fall apart - Chinua Achebe for 121KB, half of a yellow sun - Chimamnanda for 341KB, long world to freedom - Nelson Mandela for 512KB etc.....

It is the likes of the Prof. that give students "" instead of "A" because they feel how can a student watch La liga, Premiership, UEFA, hangout with his/her lover at the staff club, visit social media and still do very well in both examinations and continuous assessment.....I call it envy!!!!

mbourie:
Prof., that is the more reason we dont need people like you and old men ...

mbourie:
Prof., that is the more reason we dont need people like you and old men as the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria.....If a Prof. could reason this way now imagine the likes of Buhari, Bamanga Tukur, anenih et al....These guys brain are running on android version 2.1 and cannot be flashed to a custom ROM of 5.0.

Prof. you had better convert all your hard copy books to ebook.....Students in this 21th century don't have excuse not to read story books or novels, because you can download books like things fall apart - Chinua Achebe for 121KB, half of a yellow sun - Chimamnanda for 341KB, long world to freedom - Nelson Mandela for 512KB etc.....

It is the likes of the Prof. that give students "" instead of "A" because they feel how can a student watch La liga, Premiership, UEFA, hangout with his/her lover at the staff club, visit social media and still do very well in both examinations and continuous assessment.....I call it envy!!!!

emmatok:



Typical of Nigerians, shouting envy when they are corrected.
Excuse me, what do a Prof got to envy from an undergraduate students.
That how students are rusticated for unnecessary arrogancy.

JKisOK:


You are forgetting that those who discovered and developed the computer and the internet READ books. They learnt all their operating theories from BOOKS written by authors, who were Wole Soyinka equals in science. So the Prof knows what he is talking about. Knowledge is founded upon knowledge -precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little. Be internet-savvy. Yes. But hit the library too... for the books.

mbourie:
...who believe using AutoCAD, Staad Pro, Microsoft Word instead of hand drawing, Manual calculations, typewriting machine makes you weak or worst still having a low I.Q.......

proffemi:


And which part of Soyinka's remarks gave you this impression?
Don't assume you value software or the Internet more than Soyinka (or me). All we're saying is: these tools have tremendous value, but that value comes along with some risks (one of which is: misuse leads to low-quality scholarship). What about this is so hard for you to swallow?

mbourie:
"Nah food?" Brother, like the saying goes, "one man food, is another man's poison." As for me, i dont read articles from newspaper before, due to accessibilty and financial issues, but do you know because i follow these guys on twitter and other platforms i am enticed to read anything that comes my way e.g sport, politics, religion, motivational books, I get informed/misinformed before channels tv et al broadcast it or before newspaper publish it the next day.......The internet has made even "okada men," " artisans," to be politically informed and updated, imagine downloading books worth NGN2000 for just 121KB!!! Bloke, as for me internet revolution has brought everything to our doorstep and is the way forward........

proffemi:


And which part of Soyinka's remarks gave you this impression?
Don't assume you value software or the Internet more than Soyinka (or me). All we're saying is: these tools have tremendous value, but that value comes along with some risks (one of which is: misuse leads to low-quality scholarship). What about this is so hard for you to swallow?

LordReed:
The article says nothing of misuse but says Soyinka said that it can limit the imagination of youths, I have not heard a learned person say so much rubbish. How can the greatest single conglomeration of knowledge resource limit our imagination? Soyinka is simply being paranoid because the medium which brought him fame is no longer the primary source of information exchange.

proffemi:


Were you doing a search (Cntrl+F) for the exact word "misuse"? How do you interpret the following:

"communication gadgets like computers and IPAD were capable of bringing an end to the culture of book writing and reading, adding that the end point should be how to find a way of collaborating between book writing and use of internet knowledge".

See my last response to mbourie on the difference between having a lot of information, and being able to actually think. I wouldn't go as far as to say the Internet limits imagination, but any teacher would explain what Soyinka is probably saying here.

My students today have more information at their fingertips than those of yore. Are they smarter? Not necessarily. In fact, those who do not use IT properly are dumber! Can they draw on a wider range of ideas and concepts (hence imagination)? Sure, but only because of exposure to same online. Are they capable of coming up with more original ideas? Not necessarily.

LordReed:


It still makes Soyinka (and everyone who agrees with his assertions) seem like they have never heard of ebooks before. What further collaboration between writing and internet use are you going to get at this present stage of technology? If we agree that writing has nothing to do with the medium it is transmitted on then how are all the scholarly endeavours transmitted in pdf and other documentary formats lesser than those written on paper?

Coming up with an original idea is going to become "harder" because more interaction around the world will mean more people are coming up with concepts and sharing them much more than in any previous age. What I believe is more practical will be finding newer ways to use what already exists. For me that is the "easiest" way to originality even though it may take a longer time.

Soyinka should not be afraid of the new methods of communication and information dissemination. The same encouragement we used to give to people to read books is the same encouragement we still need to give to people to get at the scholarly information that are available online. Writers in this new medium are going to have to be even more creative so as to harness the potential for imagination that the internet possesses.

abdulwastecx:
originality is a bit overrated

Internet has made it possible to access information easier. I can dowlaoad lecture note, video tutorials, engineering journals, softwares etc that would normally impossible to buy at open market here in Nigeria....information can easily be source now the problem is how to apply the data to better our life.

proffemi:

Did you just say that?



Information.Information.Information....are you guys deliberately leading me on, or do you truly not know the difference between information, knowledge and wisdom?

It's clear that this is a lost cause for me: you will obstinately refuse to open your eyes. But I'll leave you with this: I sincerely doubt that either you or the other guy have used as many software as I have for so long as I have. I seriously doubt that you have a fraction of the ebooks I have (or have immediate access to via the library of one of the world's top institutions). So forget about trying to preach to the choir here and listen to someone who knows better: The increased access to information of today's youth does not mean they are better scholars, for the simple reason that most of them are misusing IT! If you doubt me, walk out and ask a random university teacher!

Bluffly:

The saying of hiding it in the books is a fatal lie. Is it all Europeans or none Black man that reads and yet we have a lot of blacks that reads. That statement is a racist one

KLand:


They made it through library books. Whatever they wanted to find out, they searched out from the library......
Fast forward to the present age. Looking for any information.? Ask Google! Same end different means.

prophetfire:
to be sincere internet has seriously reduced scholarly efforts n mind development.take myself as an example,whn access to the net wasnt there,one would dig through heaps of books researching and searching for information.in the process,u read a lot,acquire a lot of knowledge, become more enlightened,and to a larger extent develope ur mind better.u also get to write a lot and this makes you to develope your literary skills better.but now @ de press of a button,u get all you want effortlessly.it encourages laziness n laxity n this dsnt help to develope d mind.it now makes peeps to depend on copy n paste. Books can be time consuming but its better for deep mental development.

all4naija:

I disagree. There are e-books with better researches, reviews and written by well known authors available at your tip. I think the laureate is not very conversant with the internet, being an older generational person. Internet revolution will save many Africans from ignorance, primitiveness and abreast them of new techniques the older generation lacks.

poiZon:







abeg which kind book I fit hide dis my 3billion naira,,, so many boys around.

proffemi:


Ah, I see where you went wrong.
You say the Internet has made people better informed. Of course! I said as much myself, and I assure you Soyinka agrees.

"Next time", You have to try harder to understand a topic before plunging into the fray. Soyinka was speaking specifically about SCHOLARSHIP. Being informed is one thing (I bet most kids know what Beyonce did last night, or who ISIS beheaded today), but being able to think critically, produce original ideas, and present those logically is another kettle of fish entirely. That is what Soyinka is talking about. Hope you've seen the light now?

Professor Femi i am yet to see any light!!! Think critically, produce original opines and present those logically you said? Professor PN Okeke from Physics and Astronomy has written so many books not to mention other Professor from Faculty of Engineering, have they been able to "think critically, produce original ideas and used those opines to invent anything - cars, handset, i am even going too far - toothbrush or toothpick?