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Electronic Communication and an Oral Culture: the Dynamics of Somali Websites and Mailing Lists

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Electronic Communication and an Oral Culture: the Dynamics of Somali Websites and Mailing Lists ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION AND AN ORAL CULTURE: THE DYNAMICS OF SOMALI WEBSITES AND MAILING LISTS BY ABDISALAM M. ISSA-SALWE A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THAMES VALLEY UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY CENTRE FOR INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND TECHNOLOGY THAMES VALLEY UNIVERSITY SUPERVISORS: DR. ANTHONY OLDEN, THAMES VALLEY UNIVERSITY EMERITUS PROFESSOR I M LEWIS, LSE, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON EXAMINERS: PROFESSOR CHRISTINE MCCOURT, THAMES VALLEY UNIVERSITY DR. MARTIN ORWIN, SOAS, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON NOVEMBER 2006 TO MY WIFE HAWO, MY CHILDREN MOHAMED-NASIR, MOHAMUD, ALI, HAFSA-YALAH, HAMDA, SHARMARKE AND YUSUF-HANAD ACKNOWLEDGMENT Foremost, I would like to thank to the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA) who helped in funding my studies. I would like to thank my thesis advisors, Dr. Tony Olden (Thames Valley University) and Emeritus Professor I M Lewis (London School of Economics) for their continuous encouragement, optimism and confidence in me to make it possible to write this dissertation. Both Dr. Olden and Emeritus Professor Lewis put an enormous amount of time and effort into supervision. Likewise, this study has been enhanced through the incisive comments of Dr Stephen Roberts (Thames Valley University). I also appreciate the advice of Dr Mohamed D. Afrax and Abdullahi Salah Osman who read and commented on the manuscript of this dissertation. I am also thankful to Ahmed Mohamud H Jama (Nero) who allowed me to have useful material relevant to my research; Dr. Ebyan Salah who solicited female correspondents to reply to the research questionnaires. I am also grateful to Said Mohamed Ali (Korsiyagaab) and Ismail Said Aw-Muse (PuntlandState.com) who gave me permission to use their websites statistics. This study would not have been possible without the help of Somali webmasters and mailing list moderators. Among them they are Burhan Jama (Jabdhurwaa), the technical expert and one of the founders of Puntland/Jubbaland mailing list, Adan Buryar (Puntland/Jubbaland mailing list moderator), Mohamed Ali (SomaliTalk.com), Prof Abdirahman Omar Warsame (Puntland Intelligencia Network, Puntin), Ahmed Ali (HobyoNet.com), Ali Jama (SomaliaWatch.org), Abdirisaaq Farah Caanageel (PuntlandPost.com and Wayaha.com), Mohamud Yusuf Garre (Aayaha.com previously Burtinle.com), Mohamed Ahmed (Golkhatumo.com), Salim Hagi (MarkaCadeey.com), Abukar Sheekh Axmed Albadri (Somali Journalists Network), SomalilandForum, HorseedNet.com, Husein Khalif H Jama, Abdi Mohamed (Gacmo), Issa Farah Dhoollawaa and Dr. Abdishakur Abdulle. Last, but not least, I would like to thank my wife, Hawo Mohamed Issa, and my children for all their love and care throughout this process. i CONTENT Acknowledgment ....................................................................................................................... i Abstract ..................................................................................................................................viii Chapter One ............................................................................................................................. 1 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Diaspora and Conflict .......................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Somali Diaspora and the Social Web Environment ............................................................. 5 1.3. Research Objectives ........................................................................................................ 7 1.3.1. The Scope of the Study ............................................................................................ 8 1.3.2. Methodology ............................................................................................................ 9 1.3.2.1 Content Analysis ................................................................................................ 9 1.3.2.2 Surveys ............................................................................................................. 11 1.3.2.3 Question Mode ................................................................................................. 13 1.3.2.4 Fieldwork ......................................................................................................... 15 1.3.3 Difficulty of the Research Sources ......................................................................... 17 1.4 How this Writing is Structured ...................................................................................... 17 Chapter Two ........................................................................................................................... 19 2. CMC and the Social Environment ................................................................................... 19 2.1 Social Aspect and Web Environment ............................................................................ 20 2.2 Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and Oral Culture .................................... 25 2.2.1 Oral Qualities and the Internet ................................................................................ 26 2.2.2 Oral Tendencies ...................................................................................................... 27 2.3 Explaining Web and Mailing Technology ..................................................................... 35 2.3.1 Web Technology ..................................................................................................... 35 2.3.2 Mailing List Technology......................................................................................... 37 2.4 Audience, User or Visitor? ............................................................................................ 40 Chapter Three ........................................................................................................................ 42 3. Categorisation, Background and Case Examples ........................................................... 42 3.1 Somali Website Classification and Definition ............................................................... 43 3.2 Common Somali Website Feature ................................................................................. 45 3.2.1 Naming Conventions .............................................................................................. 49 3.3. Web Categories ............................................................................................................. 52 3.3.1 Professional/business .............................................................................................. 52 3.3.2 Online News (on-news) .......................................................................................... 52 3.3.3 Radio/TV................................................................................................................. 53 3.3.4 Personal ................................................................................................................... 55 3.3.5 Religious ................................................................................................................. 56 3.3.6 Com/pol Category ................................................................................................... 57 3.3.6.1 Community/Political Web Characteristics ....................................................... 64 3.3.7 The Cultural/Literary .............................................................................................. 67 3.3.7.1 Cultural Unity and Political Differences.......................................................... 68 Chapter Four .......................................................................................................................... 71 4. Somalia: Society and Politics from the Pre-colonial Period to the Present .................. 71 4.1 The People and their Traditional Social Institutions ...................................................... 71 4.1.1 Clan Structure and Genealogy ................................................................................ 72 4.1.2 Traditional Authority and the Institution of the Shir (Assembly)........................... 74 4.1.3 The Somalis Traditional Feud Behaviour ............................................................... 75 ii 4.2 Colonial Intrusion and Somali Partition ........................................................................ 77 4.2.1 Somalia's Dispute with Ethiopia ............................................................................. 79 4.3 Somali Governments ...................................................................................................... 80 4.4 Territorial Conflict ......................................................................................................... 85 4.5 Somali State in Trouble ................................................................................................. 87 4.5.1 The Clash of the Opposition Groups ...................................................................... 91 4.5.2 Somaliland Republic .............................................................................................. 92 4.5.3 Puntland .................................................................................................................. 93 4.6 The UN Involvement ....................................................................................................
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