ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN EDUCATION: A POSSIBLE NEW WORLD
Are you familiar with the word AI? AI is an acronym for Artificial intelligence. According to encyclopedia.com, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science…
Are you familiar with the word AI? AI is an acronym for Artificial intelligence. According to encyclopedia.com, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science…
You probably have been using hashtags for quite sometime now and you didn’t have to read any special manual to understand how they are…
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By Godstime Aisosa Osague
March 29, 2021
One of the earliest known regular users of the hash symbol as it is popularly called today was Sir Isaac Newton
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You probably have been using hashtags for quite sometime now and you didn’t have to read any special manual to understand how they are used because, they are kind of straightforward and easy to understand. Or, you have seen people use hashtags a lot of times, and maybe you have used them a few times too, or never used them at all. Whichever category you belong to, this article will acquaint you with what hashtags truly are, how they came about, and the correct way to use them.
What Are Hashtags?
Among some of the cultural revolutions technology has brought about is the gift of hashtags. Hashtags are so interesting to use that it is often tempting to say they have come to stay, especially due to how they begin and lead trends, how they are used to track specific concepts and tags, and so on. However, it will be hasty conclusion to rule that they have come to stay, even though that may not be far from the truth as they have been around for a long time. Nevertheless, we live in an era of technological dynamism, and the era has clearly given us reasons to conclude that change is constant.
So, why are they called hashtags? Hashtags are made up of two words — a “HASH” (#), which was referred to as the number character or number mark in different instances in the 1800s, the pound sign or numero sign in the early 20th Century, especially in North America, but was first referred to as the hash sign in South African writings of the 1960s, and a “TAG”, which is a label associated with something for easy identification, or from another viewpoint, a unique name associated with something to describe and identify them in a particular way. So, when a tag is prefixed by the hash symbol to describe it uniquely, and to identify it in a particular way, a hashtag is created. In other words, when something, like a word, phrase or sentence is attached to the hash symbol for some sort of special description and identification — e.g. #EndSARS — that is a hashtag.
From the dictionary point of view, the Merriam Webster Dictionary defines a hashtag as “a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that classifies or categorizes the accompanying text (such as a tweet)”, and the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines it as “a word or phrase with the symbol ‘#’ in front of it, used on social media websites and apps so that you can search for all messages with the same subject”. From those viewpoints, a hashtag can be said to be a label that classifies a word or phrase in the manner described, so that similar subjects can be located easily on the Internet when searched for with a particular hashtag. So, this makes a hashtag take a precise function of a metadata which is the quality of easy search.
Brief History of the Hashtag
The first use of a hashtag could be traced to ancient Rome where the abbreviation “lb”, denoting libra pondo was used to mark the measurement for pound by weight. As time passed, in order to avoid the confusions of mistaking the lowercase letter “l” in libra for the figure “1”, a little horizontal line was added to the top part of the letter for clarity and a new symbol (℔) was created.
One of the earliest known regular users of the hash symbol as it is popularly called today was Sir Isaac Newton, whose 17th Century writings showed his broad usage of the symbol, hence, the popularity of the symbol grew, and consequently, it was added to the printing machine which further popularized its use in writing. Sir Isaac Newton’s use and style of the symbol could be said to be the beginning of the evolution of the symbol to what we know it as today, as the popularity of the symbol in writing created a need for further clarity, and instead of the new symbol (℔) that was formed as a way of differentiating the lowercase letter “l” in libra from the figure “1”, double strikethroughs were introduced, and the hash sign (#) as we know it today was born.
Isaac Newton’s style of the pound sign, suggesting the evolution from “℔” toward “#”
Source: Libra pondo abbreviation newton.jpg
Modern History
The use of hashtags in information technology (IT) is not new to the world as the hash symbol was used in the 1970s to highlight specific pieces of text, as well as special keywords in the C programming language, respectively. In the 1980s also, the hash sign was used similar to the way it is used on social media today to label groups, channels and topics across the IRC (Internet Relay Chat) network. However, in 2007, there was a dramatic surge in the use and popularity of hashtags as a Twitter user by the name, Chris Messina showed the first modern-day use of a hashtag in their 2007 August 23rd tweet:
how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?
Though, the use of hashtags in the manner Messina proposed was not adopted immediately by Twitter, however, other Twitter users were inspired to use hashtags in that manner to categorize content of interest, and during the 2007 San Diego forest fires, and the 2009/2010 Iranian elections protests, hashtags gained popularity beyond boundaries, and on the 2nd of July 2009, Twitter started hyperlinking all hashtags in users’ tweets to their search results, and in 2010, they introduced the Trending Topics feature which displayed hashtags from tweets. Since that time, I’m sure we know the rest of the story — hashtags found their way into other popular social media sites, and into the dictionary as well.
Importance / Purpose of Hashtags
Hashtags have become so amazingly important for describing, identifying, and retrieving content of some sort across the Internet, especially in a world where information explodes by the second. They help us find our way easily through the clusters and congestion of information to relevant content. They have become an effective search tool for content published and tagged accordingly on the Internet, enhancing the search process. With hashtags, we can now reach wider audiences in a twinkling of an eye and with almost no physical and mental effort, and such audiences can access our content easily and with almost no accessibility restrictions.
Among other sterling benefits of hashtags, they bring about coordination with wide usage of hashtags, as lots of information on a variety of topics or disciplines can be identified and retrieved when the content creators correlate their content using industry related / similar hashtags, for instance, #NigerianJollof, #blueskyphotos, #COVID19. Information seekers are able to find content related to these hashtags by searching with the same hashtag, thus, saving them the stress of going through the clusters of related items in a traditional search system.
Hashtag Guidelines
It is common these days to see people prefix any word, phrase, or sentence with the hash symbol and use same in any context as a hashtag. Though, that actually is a hashtag, however, there are hashtag best practices that all hashtag users and potential users should know about and I’ll share them with you.
When using a hashtag on any social media platform or on the internet in general,
Tracking Hashtags
Tracking hashtags has to do with observing and calculating metrics like how they are used, when they are used, where they are used, and who uses them.
There are several hashtag tracking tools out there that can help you track your hashtag and other people’s, as well as analyse their impact. You could try some free ones out by conducting a simple Internet search using key phrases like “free hashtag tracking tools“. You may also see some free video tutorials online on hashtags for visual understanding.
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Welcome once again to DigitalCitizens and to the Year 2021. It’s been a roller coaster getting to this point, right from the start of…
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By Adaeze Theresa Ogeah
January 9, 2020
In our new series, we will be engaging you with HOW-TOs, including hands-on experience capable of landing you a digital career and a gig in the digital economy.
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Welcome once again to DigitalCitizens and to the Year 2021. It’s been a roller coaster getting to this point, right from the start of 2020 to the start of a new year of happiness.
In our series of digital technologies, we have together explored the benefits of innovative technologies, however, on today’s Insight, I will be giving centre place to the internet and social media, because of how they came through for humankind throughout the low and high periods of the COVID-19 phase of 2020.
Undoubtedly, the internet came through for our entire world by enabling real-time dissemination of information with evident positive results, both in the areas of debunking fake information and equipping residents with the right information. Also, the world witnessed a rise in the development of mobile and web applications which came in timely and handy in the fight against the coronavirus, and in helping us engage meaningfully remotely, and through the internet as well, we got to appreciate the untold efforts of healthcare providers and researchers, and the creativity in us which many didn’t know they were capable of until they were disconnected physically from people they ordinarily would engage with regularly, and started sitting put at home all day with 24 hours to charge up their brains.
While the internet in general, was unlocking new doors, there were lots of fakes flying around on social media which like never before, motivated developers of such platforms, governmental and non-governmental agencies, as well as individuals to leverage same platforms for education, information dissemination, skill impartation and acquisition, gig employment, among other unprecedented developments. Thanks to social media for being easy and inexpensive to use, for creating jobs and businesses for many, and also for being a huge channel for information dissemination. Sadly, social media has a notorious reputation as top carriers of fake news, and in fact, they are synonymous to fake news for some people, while for some others, they are just another chillout spot to hook up with friends and family, share moods with the world, give an impression of new achievement or rise in status, compete with others, flaunt a new acquisition or lifestyle, share links, create new or use existing hashtags to start or follow a trend, etc. Thankfully, the role social media played in humankind’s adaptation to a new normal which this generation had no clue of its brutal stings of no social contacts and staying at home all day, seven days a week, was phenomenal, and the benefits of social media cannot be overemphasized.
Nonetheless, now that access to virtually any person, place of thing has become easier and quicker than ever before through technological developments we have seen in the immediate past year, I am curious and inquiring from you right now if you’ve ever been hacked? I mean, have you received a text or an email notifying you that someone in another location just signed into your social media or email account? Have you ever gotten a message from your browser notifying you that one or more of your passwords may have been compromised? Or have you received a call or chat from your friend asking you why you sent them a friend request again on Facebook? Maybe yours is that you got a friend request from yourself, or you received an SMS notification requesting you to confirm payment when you haven’t even placed an order for anything, and the list goes on and on. However, if you answered Yes to any of those, you are not alone, and you’re in the right place where we will be engaging you with our new series of HOW-TOs, including how to protect your digital identity. And if none of those hack incidents is applicable to you, you’re equally not left out in the series, as we’ll be dishing out simple and practicable ways to excel in a digital economy. So, what is it that you’re to expect from us this year? Yes, we will be giving you a hands-on experience capable of landing you a digital career and a gig in the digital economy.
Once again, on behalf of our Content Creation Team, I wish you a Happy New Year, and we say thank you for coming around to read our articles.
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A CALL TO LIBERATION OR DOOM?
By Adaeze Theresa Ogeah
September 10, 2020
The 4G and 3G networks did not have as much controversies like their 5G cousin, rather, they were widely accepted and seen as good steps towards civilization. So, what went wrong with the 5G?
Digital Content Creator
Technology is a gift to mankind, to make life easy and better for us. Throughout the years, we have seen series of technological developments which have helped improve standards of living which we all are beneficiaries of, either by the use of our mobile phones, or other electronic gadgets, and all these have been facilitated by a communication and information network.
The above notwithstanding, words in the streets are that as technology advances, the greater danger it poses. The general saying that ‘anything that has an advantage has its disadvantage’ may be widely accepted, but the question is, “how bad are the disadvantages of technological advancements on us?” Could technology have caused the current global COVID-19 outbreak? Could there be more to the 5G technology than meets the eyes? Believe me, the “evil 5G” theory, otherwise known as the 5G “Conspiracy Theory” is trending with the man in the street, and gaining huge support as well. However, what is your take on this? Do you agree with the said theory? Or could this conclusion be out of sheer ignorance and absence of basic knowledge about the inception and progression of mobile networks?
Despite anything to the contrary, it should be noted for one that the development of the 5G network did not just start today (with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic), however, the Fifth Generation (5G) technology standard for cellular networks gained huge attention with the COVID-19 pandemic, and has wireless networks investing heavily in it, but it is a network in potentiality and geometric progression. And just like living organisms evolve in their form for better adaptability to their environment, the network chain is not left out, hence, the rapid rate of global civilization has now created a need for an evolution in networks, thus, the need for a transitioning from the Fourth Generation (4G) network to a Fifth (5G), and even higher. In the light of that, the 5G network which is not entirely new, as thought by many, may not necessarily have any direct link with the “evils” attached to it.
5G NETWORK, THE ATTENTION SEEKER
Why the sudden buzz? One may ask. The Fourth Generation (4G) and Third Generation (3G) networks did not have as much controversies like their 5G cousin, rather, they were widely accepted and seen as good steps towards civilization, while same took quite a turn for the 5G Network, and led to contentious comments and conclusions. This I owe to the current lapses in the global health system — especially in the areas of concealment of valuable information, and political interference in the health and safety of citizens — which makes some people feel technology has given the best it can give in the health sector, hence, further introduction of seemingly better technology is nothing but calling adverse effects upon humanity. Unsurprisingly, some proponents of the said “Conspiracy Theory” do not even have basic knowledge of how networks function, or how much more technology can positively impact health and safety. Well, I don’t blame it all on them, as they are victims of hearsay — one person says something, another hears, and yet another reports, and it spreads like wild fire with varying versions. For that reason, appropriate stakeholders should oblige citizens proper enlightenment about the functions and operations of digital cellular networks, and the need for higher versions of networks, such as the 5G, else, the tendency of making fallacious statements and reaching unsound conclusions will linger.
WHY THE CONCERN?
As we all know, mobile phones have become an integral part of our society, and they are used in virtually every sphere of life, from communication to health, to business, an so on, and this has been the norm since the era of the 2G network. Similarly, the 5G network enables us to do same, but at a higher frequency, transforming the effects of digital connectivity and providing users access to unlimited data quantities. However, the major concern with the 5G network springs up from the claimed hazards of the technology to human health. People are worried about their health, and they fear that this somewhat new technology is their doom. Hence, this concern has led to several investigations and studies by professionals in the field, to correct the notion that 5G network radiation is the cause of some deaths in places where 5G cell sites and mast stations are situated, as propelled by some conspiracy theorists, who also propound that the coronavirus is technically transmitted through the 5G network. Yet another fraction of the theorists claim that the 5G network causes death by suppressing the immune system, thus, making the human body susceptible to damage, and I begin to wonder why the 4G and 3G networks spared our lives. Or, could we have been dying slowly, yet unaware? Hmm! This calls for personal reflection, but with absolute certainty about the level of knowledge we possess about the phenomenon, else, we risk downgrading the hard work of those working tirelessly to ensure we have fast Internet, and better usage experience.
Now, focusing on radiation as the primary cause of death with the 5G network, we should know that in different ways, we have been exposing ourselves to electromagnetic radiations, from electronic devices we have in our homes like televisions, to natural lighting, and more specifically, sunlight.
It is important to note that mobile phones which are the primary contact of 5G transmission are low powered radio frequency transmitters, and they only transmit when powered on. According to the World Health Organization, mobile phones communicate by transmitting radio waves through a network of fixed antennas called base stations. This is non-ionizing, that is, even with interaction with the human body, it cannot break the DNA and cause damages to the human cells like the X-ray, Ultraviolet ray and Gamma ray. Furthermore, research from the past has not established any adverse health condition to be the effect of mobile phones and its networking system.
THE NEED FOR 5G NETWORK
Amidst fear that the 5G network was developed to doom the world, it is worthy to note that which the network is said to do.
The above facts notwithstanding, there are still concerns about the said network. In South Korea for instance, where the network has been put to test, it was subjected to both positive and negative reviews, and obviously, the 5G technology hasn’t lived up to its hype as an omniscient network.
Personally, I am an advocate for improvement and advancement, and I think we have not seen the end of the network evolution. From the emergence of 1G in 1979, and with the advancement in digital and communications technologies each year brings, it would only be logical to conclude that the year 2020 is just another year of new and greater things to come, as the year has shown us quite some interesting shades of technology, and the extent to which technology can stretch, as the new normal introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic has made our world more complicated, digital and connected than ever, hence, the need for a new and higher level of connectedness.
GET IT STRAIGHT
Having shed light on the fifth generation technology standard for cellular networks (5G), and how it is perceived by a fraction of the people, kindly note that this article is not aimed at supporting or disputing a particular claim, rather, its aim is to educate its readers, by furnishing them with basic information about the 5G network, for proper understanding.
I’ll leave you with this: “should we put a stop to technological advancements due to fear of unknown causes?” Remember there are always two sides to a coin, hence, the path is yours to choose.
Ogeah, A. T. (2020, September 10). 5G Network: A Call to Liberation Or Doom? Retrieved from Digital Citizens: https://digitalcitizens.tech/insights/5g-network-a-call-to-liberation-or-doom/
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What do you reckon?
By Adaeze Theresa Ogeah
June 29, 2020
Many think of an IT person as that young or average-aged guy you call upon when you need help with your computer...
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Basically, when the word IT is mentioned, the thought of that young or average-aged guy you call upon when you need help with your computer (yes, I mean that IT guy), readily comes to mind, right? Or, maybe the thought of that relatively young person, usually of the male folk, who spends so much time with their computer, doing and writing “weird” stuff that look like special characters or symbols, often difficult to comprehend, huh? If those are your thoughts about IT, you are not alone, and whatever your thoughts are, stay with me while I straighten things out.
Before anything else, it is important to note that IT is an abbreviation for Information Technology, and by implication, they are one and the same.
By definition, information technology has been presented by different professionals and authorities in different ways, with emphasis laid on particular processes, services, and/or devices. However, to drive the message home, let’s take a look at how the MacMillan Dictionary of Information Technology defines IT. According to the dictionary, IT (information technology) is,
the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a micro-electronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications.
Though the definition may seem a bit technical, the message that is being conveyed here is that IT is more than the cliché of being perceived as Computer Science, which basically deals with the theory of computation and the design of computer systems. Perceiving IT as Computer Science is a common error, especially when we think of that IT guy as the “Computer Wizard”, and vice versa. However, they may both be similar, but they actually have different areas of specialization and focus. While IT basically involves the installation and management of hardware, software, networks, and databases, Computer Science focuses on programming computers, using mathematical algorithms. To further buttress the point, IT covers a wide range of other information distribution technologies aside computers, such as telephones and televisions. If that be the case, I’m sure you now catch the gist of who the real IT person is.
Okay, let’s also look at it from this angle. Imagine trying to shop online for foodstuff and other household items you’d need in 1960. It is ridiculous, right? Okay. Why is it so? Because the world was in no position as at that time to enable such transaction. However, over time, information technology (IT) developed, and now enables us to do what we could not do at some point in time, even better, faster and cheaper. So, what changed? you may ask. The answer is simple. Networking expanded, and IT bridged the global gap in networking. IT expanded the systems of communication, thereby creating interconnected streams of networks, irrespective of geographical distance, making the world a Global Village.
From the foregoing, the impact of IT cannot be underestimated or overemphasized, as virtually all ramifications of life thrive on information technology.
So, one thing we have established is that IT is not an alien word, but only misconstrued, and, another is that people whose job functions or chosen career centre around the installation and management of hardware, software, networks, and databases, as well as other information technologies other than computers, like telephones and televisions, among others, are IT people, irrespective of sex and age. Thus, correcting this misconception will require education down to the grassroots, and one of the ways we can achieve that is to leverage Information Technology, which can assist us with widespread communication and networking. However, in doing that, we must remember that input equals output.
So, when next you see the man in the street who has that popular, but incorrect notion about IT, or who an IT person is, change their notion by informing them right.
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