Kenya's Luxury Housing Market Grows 25 Percent

Africa, the continent most Westerner’s refer to as a country, houses many of the world’s most needed resources. It is also known for housing some of the world’s highest rates for diseases, government instability, and poverty. Kenya, which is located within the vast continent, has witnessed many of these disparities on its land, but there is much change happening within the country, particularly within its capital Nairobi. According to housing analysts, Nairobi is the best prime residential market in the world. This is based on the fact that the values in the city grew up to 25 percent, which outpaced major cities such as Miami and London.

Housing Market Growth is Due to Kenyan and Kenyan-linked Investors

Houses for Sale in Kenya
Source: CNN.com

The housing market growth in Nairobi is largely due to Kenyan and Kenyan-linked investors fueling money into the market. Many outside investors are hesitant to invest in Kenya’s housing market because of the history of the country. Recently, there has been an instance of “Somali pirates” kidnapping tourists from the neighboring border of Kenya, which has made people very weary of purchasing houses in Kenya. Another major reason for why investors are uncertain to buy in Nairobi is because they view many if not all African countries as lawless places. Investors would hate to buy a house and return to find that they no longer own it due to some mishap or scam.

Biased News Can Cause Opinions to Be Spread as Facts

One element that is essentially instrumental to Kenya’s success of appealing to international clients is that of favorable international press. This is critical because if news agencies report overwhelming negative aspects about Kenya then there may not be a large growth in the housing market. This especially applies to news organizations that serve a widespread audience that crosses state lines and even country boarders. A couple of news organizations that fall under this category are CNN and Al Jazeera. These two organizations have a strong following of people, with many of the readers not questioning the content that is delivered. Some people are knowledgeable to seek more information on what is presented, but many will not which can cause opinions to be further spread as facts.

Al Jazeera Gives Viewers Questionable Details about Nairobi’s Housing Boom

Reviewing the two news stories about the housing boom in Kenyan, there are stark differences between how CNN covers the story versus Al Jazeera. In the case of CNN, they provided clear and concise evidence of what was happening with the housing market. This ranged from who were the key players, which are the Kenyans abroad, how fast the growth has been for the market, and the potential security reasons for why Nairobi’s market may not continue to grow without international investors. Al Jazeera’s angle of the story takes a much more biased and maybe considered unethical journalism. The reporter gives some details about the housing boom, but the story soon takes a major turn. The reporter starts to speculate that the housing boom may be due to Somali piracy. He has no evidence to back his statements as he continues to use words like “may” and “could be” which are considered words of uncertainty. He does not provide a basis for his claims.

CNN Provides Concrete Descriptions on Kenya’s Housing Boom

From the above information, CNN’s article is deemed the more reliable on this topic. As mentioned before, they were able to provide concrete information from reputable sources on the topic. They were not one sided with the presentation of the information by letting readers know that there are some possible caveats involved in owning a home in the particular area. They also provided information that the surrounding areas of Nairobi are also experiencing an upward trend in those housing markets too. With Al Jazeera, the focus is solely on the possibility of the uptick in the market due to Somali piracy.

Neither News Source Provides Information on How the Housing Boom Affects Locals

One surprising piece of information that was left out of both news stories was the lack of facts regarding how this new housing boom would affect the local community. As in the CNN article, the author states that the town which the new houses are being built has not changed substantially in the past 500 years. More knowledge should be reported on how this new boom is effecting the economy of Kenya, and if native Kenyans or people native to the are able to work the construction jobs that are being created.

Sources: Al Jazeera and CNN

The Participation Gap Redefined

Following on the heels of the classic story of the haves versus the have nots, the digital divide becomes yet another example of the growing disparities in our society. Many organizations, both privately and publicly owned, have worked towards alleviating the problem of the digital divide. They do this by providing those without access to new emerging technologies with a chance to get acquainted with 21st century technology. While some researchers are now focusing on the disadvantages to the people who do not have unlimited access to the internet and new gadgets, there is an emerging trend of people restricting their own access to these digital technologies due to privacy concerns. With people not able to access to new technology to its full potential and people limiting their access to it, there will be a drastic increase in what is known as the participation gap.

Over 50 Percent of App Users Decide Not to Download an App Due to Privacy Concerns

Source: PewResearchCenter

In Kevin Guidry’s short essay entitled “Digital Divide or Participation Gap? Will Mobile Affect it?,” which includes information about the participation gap, his definition of the term focuses solely on the aspect of those who will not have equal access to technology. He then briefly mentions how “tribal” colleges have a culture of not having access to the various technologies, and if they do, they limit how it is use. What he may not know is that this is slowly becoming a trend across America. The Pew Research Center released a study on September 5, 2012 that demonstrated that people are becoming leery of technology because of privacy concerns. In the study “Privacy and Data Management on Mobile Devices,” they found that 57 percent of all app users uninstalled an app or decided not to install an app due to the data the app would collect. This is very important for the digital community to know since many of the technologies that we use today are largely based on apps.

Source: PewResearchCenter

Younger Age Groups are More Aware of Location Tracking Feature on Phone

Continuing with privacy concerns, many people are turning off the tracking location feature on their phones. What is interesting about this is that this varies greatly between age groups. Younger age groups do this more often than older ones. One explanation for this is that the younger age groups are simply more aware of this feature. This could greatly contribute to the participation gap because the old can no longer teach the young about nuisances that come along with technology, so no matter how many computers people have it will essentially be self-taught.   

Growing Participation Gap Due to Privacy Concerns

In terms of mobile audiences, we could see a shift in people truly embracing new technology and learning the ends and out of it to people who will only use new gadgets to perform basic tasks. Since this generation is more aware of privacy concerns, we can see a drastic increase in this group limiting their access to new gadgets. As I stated before, this will increase the participation gap since as this generation becomes older and less involved in technology, there will not be many people who are able to pass down knowledge.