#NMMUWalk - Putting the ‘social’ back into ‘social media’

By guest blogger: Khanyisa Melwa

The advent of social media has completely changed the way we interact and engage with one another. Filters and hashtags have become somewhat of a lingua franca. As millennials, we are often referred to as hyper-taskers and our teenagers are now screenagers. We live in the information age, an age where one chooses to be ignorant as information is readily available with a click of a button.

With this in mind, it was quite refreshing to be a part of an event that puts the ‘social’ back into social media. I’m talking about the first #NMMUWalk that was hosted by Cityofpe together with the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) on Tuesday evening.

The #NMMUWalk is essentially an Instawalk (Instagram Walk) which is about getting the community together to take pictures of our beautiful city/campuses and share them on Instagram. It’s an opportunity for people to get to meet the people behind the Instagram accounts and interact with them on a human level. “It’s about growing the community, that’s our emphasis” says Joshua Terry, one third of Cityofpe. The community in this case, was the NMMU community.

The walk began at Madibaz Café, with some quick treats, because you know – food. Whilst enjoying the delicacies, I couldn’t help but feel like an amateur (which I am) when I heard these guys and girls talk about their lenses and cool cameras. Canon 550D’s, ISO’s and Insta-lenses were the order of the day. Did you guys even know Insta-lenses existed? I didn’t. Apparently some company in Cape Town manufactures these, a pretty nifty gadget for you iPhone users.

Our Instawalkers at the kraal.

We then missioned down to the kraal to begin our expedition, in search for the coolest shots of our beautiful campus. Bar the odd selfie here and there, our Instawalkers achieved this with aplomb, as a plethora of beautiful pictures of the campus can be seen under the hashtag - #NMMUWalk on Instagram.

River Leask doing a 'RiverJump'

What was even more interesting was how 25 completely different students, with everyone studying different courses and from different backgrounds could come together for a new experience and enjoy it so much. We all came to take pictures of a beautiful campus and share these on Instagram but the bi-product of this was that friends and connections were made and for some, followers were gained.

Barriers were transcended at the #NMMUWalk; people you would normally speak to over an app using a smartphone were now standing right next to you taking the very pictures that would leave you awestruck on Instagram. Not only that, but societal barriers were also dismantled, this was evidenced by the diversity of the students present. This goes to show how social media – which is famous for rendering active-users as anti-social can now be used as a socializing agent, which can only bode well for social cohesion in our beautiful country.

It’s really cool to know that we go to a university that encourages creativity, diversity and a vibrant student life. Kudos to the lads from Cityofpe for hosting this event with NMMU, I hope this was the first of many.

Photo: Stuart William Black aka Crazyninja88 on Instagram

Kicking failure into touch – and remembering Ubuntu

ALUMNI ACHIEVERS … The winners at NMMU’s annual Alumni Awards evening on Monday were (from left) Dr Amber Anderson, Dr Hanningtone Gaya, Nomkhita Mona, Baxolile Mabinya, Nicholas Hafner, Deon Schoeman, Tracy Cheetham and Garret Barnwell.

By Guest Blogger (Nicky Willemse)

This week, NMMU celebrated the cream of its alumni crop – those who have graduated from the institution and gone on to achieve great things.

People like South African cricket coach Russell Domingo, Tracy Cheetham, who manages SKA SA (Square Kilometre Array South Africa), the biggest science project in the world, wine guru Nicholas Hafner and Dimension Data’s Baxolile Mabinya, who is the group’s strategy director for the Middle East and Africa.

Then there was author Isla Morley, Coca-Cola Fortune’s HR exec Dr Amber Anderson, the president of the South African Association of Doctors Without Borders, Garret Barnwell, Kenyan brand and marketing authority, Dr Hanningtone Gaya, and the founder of Klinicare Pharmacies, Deon Schoeman. And one of last year’s winners, Safcol CEO Nomkhita Mona, was also in town to belatedly collect her award.

It was a glittering event with speeches galore – some short, some (a tad) long, some clever, some humorous.

But in the speeches, there were two common threads – and that’s what really stood out most for me.

The first was that a number of these top achievers had experienced failure along the line. In fact, three of them were hauled over the coals as university students for dismal marks and told to buck up or get out. Deon’s pharmacy lecturer, appalled at Deon’s 19% for a test, told him he wasn’t a “pharmacist’s backside”. Tracy’s told her she had to improve her marks or get kicked out of architecture, while Isla’s lecturer called her essay a “howler” – when she asked what he meant, he said it was so bad, it had made him howl with laughter.

They could have lost heart, fallen out the system, tried something else (as other students have probably done). Instead, they chose to prove their lecturers wrong – and have gone on to excel beyond their lecturers’ and, more importantly, their own expectations.

For these three individuals, those comments marked a turning point in their lives, where they shifted gear from mediocre to excellent.

A little bit of failure can work wonders.

The other thread that stood out was the spirit of Ubuntu. Just about all the recipients thanked those in their lives who had helped them get to where they are today. Many recited the Ubuntu philosophy: I am because you are.

Their achievements are not theirs alone. They are the result of the endless support of parents, spouses, lecturers – and their awards are an indication not just of the talent of the recipients, but the talent of the people and places that have “grown” them.

Congratulations to all.

And as you go forward, “just believe” (to quote the catchy mantra of Computing Science’s Prof Jean Greyling, as recounted by award recipient Baxolile).

Just believe … in yourself, in your ability, in the things that keep you going forward (your faith, family, friends, colleagues – all the things you mentioned in your speeches) – and keep making your alma mater, city, region and country proud.

From cyber-challenged to cyber-aware

Cyber Sid

Jumping into a pool without help or water wings. That’s the challenge that awaits a fellow Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University employee.

She’s on the Learn to Swim programme offered by the university and somehow the idea of throwing herself into the deep end, sans help, is terrifying. She’s scared of putting her head under water and feeling claustrophobic.

I mean, it’s easy … you’ll naturally float to the surface …

But who am I to point fingers?

Or any of us for that matter, since we all have our fears.

For me, it’s all things technological. I am no astronaut in cyberspace going where few NMMU employees have gone before. I just don’t go there but rather cling to the safety of yesteryear’s typewriter (well, not quite, but you get my drift).

I am the antithesis of an early adapter when it comes to technology. I suppose I could be classified as an ancient adapter, the individual who still lurks way behind with the rest of the terrified pack. Yes, the adult who is still learning to swim.

But then along came Cyber Security Awareness Week at NMMU with its crafty campaign to entice the ancients into the land of the aware. (Note: I did not say the land of the early adapters!)

Each day they put out tips; offers of having your personal devices (your laptops, phones, tablets and the like) secured and an opportunity to take a cyber-awareness test.

I avoided the information like the plague or should I say like the proverbial plunge since words like cyber security, phishing and Trojan horses tend to trigger great anxiety.

Until today … that is.

Today, with the gentle encouragement of a friend, I jumped into the cyber pool.

I took the cyber-awareness test – all 10 mini modules – during my lunch break and surfaced educated and emboldened.

Yours truly and NMMU colleague Ros Baatjies passed the cyber security awareness test

Each of the lessons prior to the multiple choice tests helped me get my head around cyber space and things like social engineering, worms, networks, passwords and the like. It was altogether an enlightening and rewarding experience.

I even got a mug and a badge for my troubles – a physical reminder that I can do this; yes, that I can overcome my own swimming pool plunge …

I just needed an encouraging nudge.

What about you?

Go on, try it. It’s not nearly as difficult as you’re imaging, and if your pool is cyber stuff like mine, you might even win a coffee cup!

PS My colleague took the plunge and I have yet to see a bigger smile!

NMMU employees who successfully completed the test. Why don't you try?

Warning: this photo is loaded

Yes, this one … this one of three beauties from yesteryear. It was posted on our Facebook Page yesterday as part of a new online campaign called #ThrowBackThursdays to give followers a blast from our university past.

The three nameless students had attended one of the university’s predecessors – Port Elizabeth Technikon – and had won the then beauty contest in 1984. We hoped the photograph might elicit their names or at the very least, trigger a debate around the validity of beauty pageants.

Instead, the faded photo of 30 years ago triggered a “racist” debate.

“This is racist” one Facebook fan responded using the #JuliusMalemaVoice hash tag …

And that was all it took for society to voice its opinion … until one or two realised that the said Malixole was simply yanking everyone’s chains.

Hadn’t anyone noticed that the “this is racist” comment had come with the #JuliusMalemaVoice hash tag?

Playing the race card, as he of the famous red beret band tends to do at every given opportunity, was simply this student’s way of poking fun …

And certainly many laughed.

But certainly many more still need to chuckle, to laugh out loud and guffaw at our wonderful differences (black, white and all the shades in between) because humour is a sure-fire way of helping us to move forward and away from the enforced separate development lifestyle of 20 years ago.

Ask Trevor Noah.

This South African comedian pokes fun at all of us – English, Afrikaans, black, white, coloured, Jewish, Chinese, young, and old – and in doing so, brings us closer together as a nation.

And so perhaps, as Malixole suggests, we all need to “take a chill pill” and learn to laugh at ourselves. LOL!

PS Can anyone identify these women?

        

Twitter bios … what they say

Who needs the findings of Generation Next from the Sunday Times to understand today’s youth when their Twitter biographies are just a push-of-a-button away …

A glimpse into the psyche of today’s youngster is there for all to see and doesn't it make for interesting reading – if you can understand it.

It’s not that I’m a stalker. I just happen to see what is being offered in the short biographies and photographs of those who choose to follow the NMMU4U Twitter handle. I do this when thanking each and every new follower for choosing to follow us.

So no, I am not a stalker but I am curious.

I am curious as to why you’d use provocative, scantily-clad photographs of yourself, tell others “SCREW YOU DUDE” or aspire to be “ambitios” (sic) and misspell half your words.

Don’t you know that the world does judge a book by its cover or, in this case, a person by their Twitter handle bio?

For the uninitiated Twitter is a short messaging system – you only get 140 characters (not words) to write – that is shared with your followers. These followers are usually those people with similar interests.

NMMU4U for example, is mainly followed by NMMU students and prospective NMMU students, but also others who have an interest in what the university is doing – hence other institutions of higher learning, media houses, research organisations and like might also choose to follow us.

Anyway, back to the biographies – the information that is provided by the person about his or herself. As shared, it’s fascinating for all sorts of reasons not least the ease with which the youth of today “put it all out there”.

Nothing, it appears, is sacred.

Misspelling is nothing, especially when sms-speak is everyday parlance … M de shy, quiet nd naughty kinda guy; enjoyin evr moment of lyf

At least the latter is happy, which is something we cannot say for SCREW YOU DUDE and the individual who’s happy for the world to know she’s bi-polar and suffering from a “severe case of OCD”.

Not surprisingly, a large number of NMMU’s followers appear to be searching for themselves (the Baby Boomers did likewise), while even more include visionary and aspirational goals in their bios. They’re either “destined for greatness” or “the one to watch”.

The comics, academics and sports lovers are there too.

Each bio, wittingly or unwittingly, offers insights into that individual and as a collective for Generation Y – a generation that happily voices its opinion at the push of a button. And there’s nothing wrong with that either … providing you think before you tweet.

And you think about the bio you compose …