Online newspapers, electronic books, television and radio are all forms of electronic media which were expected to face out print media. However, that is not the case, paper is still trending.
On Monday, 1st Of March this month, I visited the The Government Press Of Kenya during an academic trip with my classmates: Moi Universitty students. This is where one realizes that paper is still trending despite the introduction of various new forms of communication.
Here huge machines like the speedmaster are busy at work printing book orders. Customers flow in and out of the planning department seeking to place their orders and editors are busy glued to their computers.
The government press is set in the Central Business District Of Nairobi which is the capital city of Kenya. Here is the main place where governement does its printing, for instance, they are the people who print and reproduce the Kenyan Constitution. Also, they produce a weekly magazzine called the Kenyan Gazzette which logs all the important government transactions weekly. The Kenya Gazzette is published every Friday.
People still value the printed magazzines.
Each single day sees thousands of books, cards, letters , charts among many other documents printed in this institution all of which have targetted readership who access them.
The same thing applies to textbooks, despite the fact that we have online text books, pupils still find it necessary to have hard copy books.
At the Kenya Literature Bureau, thousands of these books are printed and dispatched to bookshops and libraries.
Here are some of the reasons why people still prefer printed materials:
1.They are readily available;
Once one has a printed book he can easily access it, he does not need another medium like the computer, or phone to aid in reareading it.
2. Less strenious to read:
Books are less strenious to read seeing that one does not have to scroll from paragraph to paragraph or even struggle with the sideffects of screen light like in the case of computers.
3.They do not require electricity
One can read a book without worrying about the charge. In the case of the mobile phones or the computer one has to continually charge in order to be able to access his documents.
4.Books are classy
Reading a printed book is classy in the sense that one avoids lots of hustle except that of turning pages only. One does not have to struggle with buttons.
Can reach a larger audince
Printed material like the magazzines and the newspapers can reach both the people with exposure to electronics and those who cannot access them. For instance printed books can be read by both that student at the countryside where there is no electricity as well as the student at the city.
Prented magazzines can be read by both the elderly who have problems with site and also by the youth.
It therefore remains, that print and the press are here to stay with us, however, they may be released some functions as they take on specializaion rather than generalization. Which one do you prefer? The online magazine or the printed one? As for me. I would prefer to also have the printed one apart from the online one so that I can access it easily and read it in a more relaxed state.
Very soon we could begin seeing adverts on major public toilets and bathroorms. This is because it has been realised that most people are close to idle while in the bathroom and their eyes could wander anywhere. This is the time they can read and write all nonsense in the form of graffiti.
Nowm in Moi university this has already started. Some of the most strategic places to place posters and stickers are around the urinary and in the washrooms.
These stickers and posters are read daily by hundreds of students. Depending on the population, the advert could be viewed by thousands of people.
While some people just ignore the art of graffiti, others read these writing over and over again each time they are in the bathroom since they are idle.
Since the number of those who read these writing and those who feel bored in the washrooms are many, traders mays soon value the need to advertise in public toilets which may attract some good advertisement cash from agents.
Next you are in one of those washrooms and you feel like you cannot resist writing, if you have to write. Then write something useful because it could just be read by thousands of great people whom you do not know.
Toilet graffiti has possibility of pioneering toilet advertisement. What do you think.
Recently the Kenya revenue authorities unveiled an online platform where Kenyans can now pay their taxes, this platform is called Itax. It has eliminated the need for one to que and sign lots of paper work during the process of paying taxes.
On Wednesday 3rd of February 2016 the informations Science students of Moi University visited the Kenya Revenue Authority for an academic tour. This tour was so insightful. First, the students learned the necessity for tax payment in a country sinec without tax it is hard to run a government, so the money we pay as tax is what the government majorl plans and works with.
Itax there helps to bring efficiency into the sytem wher the individuals can easily access dat and also settle the money they owe the government. This makes the whole process faster and more interractive.
In addition to Itax, the Kenya Revenue authority are aslo planning to launch a stamp checker. You may have noticed that some goods lie alcohol have a KRA stamp on the lead. This is essential to hlep the citiwens recognize which goods are legitimately in the market and thus less harmful. Moreover, it is aimed at incorporatint the citizens in the fight against tax evasion,
The stamp checker is software that will be available on google store and other software platforms for phones.Once one buys installs the software, he can scan the KRA stamps using the phone camera. The software uses internet to access the KRA database to check the serial numbers on the stamps if they are authetic by trying to match them with what is placed in the databases.
During our academic visit to the various industries realated to the media profession last week I learne one thing, that passion for the job plays a major role in accessing it.
PHOTO: courtesy
On Monday, we paid a visit to the Governement press. Here we found mostly elderly people. They seemed excited with their work and would gladly show the technology behind it. It is the pleasure they drew from explaining how they perform their duties that amazed me. They seemed like they would fly with excitement, narrating how each machine works with such enthusiasm that would make you believe that what there rae doing is both the most complicated and also best jobe ever.
But at some points one would meet those who seemed to take everuything normal without excitement. What baffles me is that most of these are younger people? What happens? Why would an old man feel exicted about his job and a young man feel so bored or rather unexcited about anything.
Does passion grow with age as one performs a task at his place of work? Or are older people forced just to like their jobs because they are too old to change them? Are the young men on the other hand too ambitious and unstable willing to jump from job to job in search of huge pay?
Ofcousre they are some older workers who are not excited about the jobs they do, they have no passion for them and all they are lookig for is money, but from my observation during the trip, it is the younger people who are more dissatified.
Do you agree with me?
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| PHOTO: COURTESY |
While we are some times alllowed to joke, we are supposed to be keen when in comes to the place of week. This, in most cases is a place where principles and policies along with
respect rule the game. A slight joking attitude that is misplaced could land you out of the job place.
At the Kenya Library Bureau where famous textbooks for both tertiary and primary Education are produced, I managed to talk to the Chief designer conecrning the work enevironment at the offices and how we can cope up.
In his expalantion he insited on the observation of the organizational culture of whichever firm you are working with. He said that each institution has its own culture and the first duty of a new worker is to respect the culture and the structures palced.
He should therefore religiously follow the rules and be humble to everyone while erforming all his duties as expected. While small jikes may be aloud here and there, they are in most cases not encouraged especially if they involve laziness and disrespect.
It happens then that most of the people who are laid out of their jobs suffer the consequences of dispising the organizational culture. While some may be outstanding workers, they may still be layed off because either their character does not suit the organizational culture or they despise the organisational cultureof the institution.
This therefore brings us to this point, before choosing an institution which you want to work with or even for internship, observe the organisational culture and decide whether you can suit in. It is the most important step in career development just as in career choice.
Dont therefore joke with your job. In this instance we were given the example of Moi Univsersity students who had gone to the firm for internship, however, they carried the organizational culture of Moi Univsersity to the work place and thought they would still be looked at as students.
They would come late to work, sit together on one table and start surfing using the company WIFI without working. One day the manger dropped in without their knowledge and found them in that state, he just greeted the staff, looked around and walked away quietly. The next thing they saw were letters of dismisal from the attachement.
I want to believe some of the students were just good workers but had just taken their job as ajoke and were allowing themselves to be carried along with others. And that cost them their internship and maybe potential employment.
