Category: Uncategorized

Written by Nuremy Khairi

 

Facebook was launched by Marc Zuckerberg in February 2004. At that time nobody could predict what the future holds for this new networking site. Let’s face the facts that Facebook has helped many of us become writers in our very own way. It has developed people’s mind and capabilities in conveying what they wanted to say or how they feel at that very moment.

One of the interesting key features of Facebook was the exclusivity. In order to sign in a Facebook account, you need to have an email address at one of the school in the network. First it started in Harvard and extended beyond that. It took over Myspace which was quite famous at that time. In 2007, the Facebook platform was introduced which gave developers a chance to create application for the network.

Fast forward until today, Facebook is still the go to networking website for many of us. Obviously Facebook has become a platform not only for news, social networking and also people who would want to introduce their businesses.

What would the future be for Facebook? Many would have their own views and thoughts on this, but the reality is the giant social networking site is pushing their product towards virtual reality, the expansion prominence of live video, Facebook is trying to redefine its product as not just an outlet where you unfold all your life aspects or a place to upload photos but beyond all that. Facebook is not just happy with owning the most distraction from your phone. It would prefer to be the place where the most memorable and meaningful life actually happen.

The more enticing Facebook products become, the more value they have for advertisers. The famous board member, Marc Andreessen’s said the software for Facebook will open up untold business model.  Will people need virtual clothing to wear on their journey through virtual worlds? Will Workplace spawns an ecosystem of third-party apps as robust as pants’?

In order to know where Facebook is headed in the future the Founder himself wrote in his February manifesto:

“Our goal is to strengthen existing communities by helping us come together online as well as offline, as well as enabling us to form completely new communities, transcending physical location.”

Written by Farah Hanani Sukri

 

You need to experience backpacking at least once in your lifetime to get out of your comfort zone. As the saying goes, “Life can be like a rollercoaster, sometimes you need to go through hard times alone.” By backpacking, you can finally discover your true strengths and weaknesses. Here are six (6) important lessons that one can get from being a backpacker:

 

• Become more organized

The first thing that will change you is, you will become more organized, more than before as you yourself will have to arrange all your clothes, toiletries, and other items properly into a bag pack. Usually, when you are backpacking, you will want to minimize your carry-ons and not bring more than two carriers.

 

In addition to that, you also become independent, especially when you decide to travel to an unfamiliar territory. From this experience, you will learn basic survival skills because firstly, you will need to think about transportation. This is very important because you need to think on how you want to go from one place to another. Secondly, you need to do research on what are the must-do’s and the attractive places you should visit. So, you should have an itinerary and other materials that will help you achieve this. It is a MUST for you to do some research about the place that you will go to. Automatically, these will help you become more organized, as you know what you want and how to plan for it.

 

• Become more open minded

            When you travel, you will experience new culture and meet new people. Somehow, it is an opportunity for you to learn their culture and beliefs. It is not for you to judge their culture, like it being weird, just because you are not familiar with their culture. You need to respect their differences, as you are an outsider.

 

The value gained from backpacking is, it gives you a new perspective where you can experience it ‘live’ rather than just reading and hearing it from someone. The act of being somewhere you are not familiar with allows you to fully immerse yourself and appreciate new horizons, people and culture. Their clothes used for different events are especially interesting to learn. You just need to have the courage to start a conversation, and this will eventually help you make new friends from other cultures, giving you a better understanding of their practices, turning all the curiosities into discoveries.

 

• Become more independent

Some people think backpacking is difficult to do because you need to prepare lots of thing before you start backpacking. But somehow, I believe that you can overcome this if you one hundred percent prepared, by doing the necessary research on the country, as it will ease your journey.

 

Moreover, single travelling can also be considered as an ability to be alone but not lonely, which means that you will experience lots of things during your backpacking journey, but at the same time, you also will learn to accept the hard times because you know that only YOU can help yourself in difficult times. Automatically, it helps you to think creatively to solve a problem. I believe            that people who often travel think more creatively and are better at adjusting to new environments because only you will rescue yourself.

 

• Overcome fear/conflict and be more confident

Backpacking is an activity that takes you out from you comfort zone by experiencing the unfamiliar. Before this, if you are fearful of something, you tend to avoid them. But when you are a backpacker, you need to overcome your fears if you want your travels to go as planned. For example, you have anxiety when   communicating with strangers because you are an introvert. You need to overcome this as a backpacker, to make yourself confident of your new surroundings. If you are lost at ‘nowhere’, by hook or by crook, you will need          to start asking people where you are. Do not feel afraid if they do not       understand you, because technology can assist you. You can show them pictures of building, park, etc. to find your way back. This one experience for instance, can teach you to become more confident in facing people, and help you overcome personal conflicts.

 

• Appreciate time

You have already prepared the itinerary for your backpacking trip and you will follow      the flow just to make sure you will not miss doing things and visiting worthy places. This at the end, helps you to manage time and be appreciative of every second. If you delay and deviate from your plans, you may need to skip to other activities and miss the attractive places you should have visited. This is very wasteful because the point of backpacking is to experience something new and see something new in your life.

 

• Utilize things

            You will start to realize that every single thing is very important compared to the time when you are in your comfort zone. Maybe before, you did not need to use them because you had a variety of options, but when you are backpacking, you have limited options. You will only realize its value and how much it will help you during your backpacking travels.

 

Written By Amirah Sohaimi

 

Reality TV is typically defined as a non-fictional programming in which portrayal is presumed to present current, historical events or circumstances. The production itself must be a realistic account.  Generally included in this category are news and public affairs programming, interviews, talk shows, entertainment, or news programming, documentaries, real world events, police or emergency worker drama, and live quiz shows.

Over the years, the media industry in Malaysia has witnessed a growing and troubling trend of media ownership concentration and consolidation, which was triggered by economic and to some extent, political reflections. The Government, in general, supports the Islamic religious establishment and infuses Islamic values into the administration and official policy of the country. The centralization of Islam occurred most extensively under the Mahathir Government, starting from about the mid-1980s onwards.

In a multicultural society, media in Malaysia has some of the toughest censorship laws; and it is becoming very challenging for media to produce shows in terms of breaking the boundaries of the religious rules. However, with globalization the West, it clearly has influenced the Malaysian media industry. Malaysia has imported a lot of reality television shows from the West. Although there are still restrictions on what can be shown on the local television, but the changes are a huge step in the Malaysian media industry.

When we are exposed to a wide range of imported western TV programs, to some extent we can see a change in the pattern of our daily lives. But this does not mean that Malaysians are 100% influenced by the Western culture.

Although Malaysians have expressed their views on reality TV, there are signs of conflict that comes from other critics such as academics, politicians, entertainers and even from ordinary citizens. Some do agree that the lack of Asian values portrayed in the content of the local reality TV programs is the cause of the erosion of Asian values in today’s community.

We must realize that conflicts and dilemma may arise between people who wish to accept foreign cultures and those who wish to maintain their traditional cultures and reject the external values and beliefs. We must accept the criticisms, comments and arguments with regard to the positive and negative values portrayed in the reality TV programs. In the end, we are all hand-in-hand promoting Malaysia’s nation-building exercises towards a developed nation.