VIOLENCE!!! Blame It On Media...
Thursday, September 18, 2008
1 comments
According to The World Health Organization, violence is defined as an intentional use of physical force or power, threatened against oneself, another person, or against a group or a community, that results in injury, death, psychological harm or mal-development.
When I speak about violence, I am talking about three different types of violence. They are:
1. Physical violence.
2. Sexual violence.
3. Psychological violence.
Physical violence includes hitting, slapping, grabbing, shoving, pushing, kicking, choking, scratching, punching, pulling, hitting with weapons or objects, physical force just to make a person do something or go somewhere which is against that person's will. Sexual violence happens when someone forces another person to have sexual intercourse by means of physical force, the threat of force, intimidation, or by using weapons. Rape is one of it. Psychological violence is a systematic attempt to control another person's thinking and behaviour. For example, isolation, pathological jealousy, threats, degradation, forced alcohol and drug use, brainwashing and occasional indulgences.
Mass media plays a crucial role in forming public opinion. It connects the world to individuals and reflects the image of a society. The media can influence the society in both direct and indirect ways. So, the media has a strong social and cultural impact to the society as it is often capable of sending strong and influential messages to wide audiences.
The topic of violence is popular in media, whether in television shows, video games, movies, music, comic books and so on. It even happens in our own homes and neighbourhoods. There is a huge concern about violence in the world today. What causes violence? Why do some youths hit or bite? And how do sweet little babies turn into gun-carrying gang members, murderers, and terrorists?
Over the twentieth century, the issue of media being a source of violence has been discussed widely in public. Research and a sizeable number of experimental and field investigations shows that violence in mass media leads to the increasing of aggressive attitudes, values, and behaviour, particularly in youths, and has a long-lasting effect on behaviour and personality. Therefore, mass media is suspected to be the main reason for the increasing rate of violent cases among youths. It is believed that media provides consistent messages that lead viewers to construct generalizations about the amount of crime and violence in society. But sometimes, such generalizations do not reflect the real world.
Youths are often exposed to violent male sports and to television programmes, films, and electronic games with mostly violent elements in it. Boys are given toy soldiers, guns, and other war accessories to play. Story books and comic books often glorify war and battles and describe great conquerors and fighters as heroes. If we were to purposely design a culture with the goal of producing violent people, we would create it exactly like the culture in which most youths grow up now.
Apart from this, research shows that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behaviour among youths in both immediate and long-term contexts. Research shows that modern athletes have discovered that visualizing perfect performance in a tennis match or seeing themselves flawlessly sinking a basketball is as effective as actually physically practicing. Our brain and mind seem to use these virtually visualized performance pathways as patterns to follow when the action actually begins. We become what we contemplate. If youths spend hours a day watching or hearing violence, hatred, and evil doings on television, movies, radio or video games, it will affect if not their actions, at least their attitudes.
Violence is a cultural product. The media are reflections of the culture which produce violence and engines in the production process. Media are not the only or even the most powerful causes, but it is tied to the other violence-generating engines, and youths pay particular attention to it. Media depictions of violence do not really affect everyone in the same way. On the contrary, violent media can be good when media’s programmes teach that violence is bad where it is a generator of pain and suffering but not a problem solver. Media-generated images of criminality tie to the fear and loathing we feel toward criminals. By exposing more educational programmes rather than the violent ones will bring an end to the issue of violence in media.
As a conclusion, the role that the media play in the above scenario versus their potential role in reducing the action of glorifying violence will determine the media's ultimate relationship to youthful violence in society.
Resources:
http://www.visionarylead.org/articles/violence.htm
http://www.awareparenting.com/violence.htm
http://www.danielsonkin.com/violence.html
http://www.genderandhealth.ca/en/modules/trauma/trauma-violence-and-health-02.jsp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_violence_research
Posted by Tech Alley at 8:30 PM
Thin is the word. Indeed. It is funny how so many women and youths are led to believe that the only way to feel attractive and beautiful is to have their bodies consist of nothing but skin and bones. The social pressure to be thin seems to affect the youths to some extent. The media inundates them with messages on television, in the movies, in magazines, on billboards, and on the internet, that thinness brings beauty, success, and happiness. Youths are striving for an unattainable body figure that is portrayed by the media as being the ideal standard for today’s youth. Television and media influence youths in a way that can cause ruthless harm towards their bodies by aiming for impossible weight achieving goals. This ruthless harm that haunts so many youths today just so happens to be what we call eating disorders. Anorexia and bulimia are the primary diseases that go in the category of eating disorders. Who is to blame for this daunting occurrence? In most cases, the media is either some or all to blame for the eating disorder and standards placed for youths.
Commercials, billboards, youth's magazine advertisements (Seventeen, Cleo, etc) are all forms of the media that portray negative images of youths. When the youth in today’s society sees what is being advertised, it is not so shocking that many of them strive for these impossible body images. It is when the want and desire becomes so strong that these youths drive themselves to starvation and other forms of eating disorders. For example, United States is a fat-phobic society and from early age, youths are taught to believe that thin is better. Many of them associate fat with ugliness and failure. Therefore, many healthy children of normal weight are conscious of their weight and are afraid of becoming too fat.
Advertisements of the worlds’ famous fashion doll icon, Barbie also make youths hate themselves even more. Being compared to her body shape is an utter embarrassment. Barbie's larger-than-life breasts and microscopic waist which make her look like a cartoon doesn’t seem to stop youths from the urge of getting thinner. They idolized her looks and strive for the same perfectionism. Barbie actually doesn't look like a woman. Her form is perhaps best described as ‘woman-like’. But, many youths misinterpret this fact and force themselves to be like her, hoping to be as thin and famous as her.
ANOREXIA
Anorexia is a state where the anorexic patients starve, driving themselves to exhaustion or eat so little food that is not fit for a healthy individual. They have the habit of calculating calories, go on with ridiculous diets, exercise excessively, and have the inclination to hide food; fear of going to parties with huge amount of food and the list goes on. They have lost too much weight in a short period of time but still have the assumption that they are as fat as ever.
Tech Alley
Thin is the word. Indeed. It is funny how so many women and youths are led to believe that the only way to feel attractive and beautiful is to have their bodies consist of nothing but skin and bones. The social pressure to be thin seems to affect the youths to some extent. The media inundates them with messages on television, in the movies, in magazines, on billboards, and on the internet, that thinness brings beauty, success, and happiness. Youths are striving for an unattainable body figure that is portrayed by the media as being the ideal standard for today’s youth. Television and media influence youths in a way that can cause ruthless harm towards their bodies by aiming for impossible weight achieving goals. This ruthless harm that haunts so many youths today just so happens to be what we call eating disorders. Anorexia and bulimia are the primary diseases that go in the category of eating disorders. Who is to blame for this daunting occurrence? In most cases, the media is either some or all to blame for the eating disorder and standards placed for youths.
Commercials, billboards, youth's magazine advertisements (Seventeen, Cleo, etc) are all forms of the media that portray negative images of youths. When the youth in today’s society sees what is being advertised, it is not so shocking that many of them strive for these impossible body images. It is when the want and desire becomes so strong that these youths drive themselves to starvation and other forms of eating disorders. For example, United States is a fat-phobic society and from early age, youths are taught to believe that thin is better. Many of them associate fat with ugliness and failure. Therefore, many healthy children of normal weight are conscious of their weight and are afraid of becoming too fat.
Advertisements of the worlds’ famous fashion doll icon, Barbie also make youths hate themselves even more. Being compared to her body shape is an utter embarrassment. Barbie's larger-than-life breasts and microscopic waist which make her look like a cartoon doesn’t seem to stop youths from the urge of getting thinner. They idolized her looks and strive for the same perfectionism. Barbie actually doesn't look like a woman. Her form is perhaps best described as ‘woman-like’. But, many youths misinterpret this fact and force themselves to be like her, hoping to be as thin and famous as her.
ANOREXIA
Anorexia is a state where the anorexic patients starve, driving themselves to exhaustion or eat so little food that is not fit for a healthy individual. They have the habit of calculating calories, go on with ridiculous diets, exercise excessively, and have the inclination to hide food; fear of going to parties with huge amount of food and the list goes on. They have lost too much weight in a short period of time but still have the assumption that they are as fat as ever.
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BULIMIA
Bulimia is a state where the bulimic patients binge after they eat a huge amount of food. This is due to the guilt of over-eating. They have no control over the amount of food they consume. Therefore, they practice compulsive vomiting (visiting of toilet right after meal) and use laxatives to wash away what have been eaten. Bulimic patients have the feeling of guilt and hatred towards themselves and self-control is absent in their cases.
In conclusion, what we are trying to arise here is how far media and television influence eating disorders among youths? Will youths stop their obsession of being thin once the media and television stop portraying advertisements with super skinny models? Would that action put a stop to eating disorders among youths? Probably not, but it would be a step in the right direction. Youths should feel that it is okay to be different and that not everybody is obligated to live up to these false advertised standards. Labeling of ‘plus size’ should be stopped. Therefore, if the society wants to change what youths are doing to themselves every day, then, it is up to the media to start showing youths today that it is okay to be who you are, big or small. Just be yourself before you lose yourself.
RESOURCES:
Anorexia and Bulimia
Barbie, Body Image and Eating Disorders
Television and Media Advertising Cause Eating Disorders
Labels: anorexia and bulimia, youths
Posted by Tech Alley at 10:04 AM
Time Warner production seems to be a familiar name in our country. Every time we enter the cinema we can see that many films by Warner Bro’s are shown. When we chat about the greatest hits, they are mostly American pop singers from EMI and Warner Music like Madonna and Ricky Martin. Everywhere you go in this small country, a huge number of people know about Harry Potter, Batman and so on.
**SO what?? Is there a problem???
Entertainment such as movies, music, and television programs hold a special appeal to young people. The American moviemakers obviously know what the audience like and enjoy watching and I am sure that the cinemas here would be empty without American production like WB films. Young people do not think that is a problem by watching imported movies from the United States.
** Yo yoo…wat’s up man??
Young urban hip-hop culture contained in those WB films, television programs, and recorded music which dominate our market increase the popularity of hip hop culture. 
More and more youths are turning to more urban and underprivileged “gangster” styles of violent rap subculture. Besides, they are applying the hip-hop culture in their fashion such as baggy jeans and baseball caps turned backwards which seem cool.
**English or Manglish (Malaysian style of English..) ??
As a result of English influence, young people speak English in their daily life as they think of English as a “high class” language. Our national language even borrows English words, adapts them, and subsequently integrates them into our daily professional and personal vocabularies. Every day, we hear words like "OK", "good", "shopping", "pub", "blockbuster", "pop singer", and "computer". Besides, we have our own Malaysia style of words like “can’t tahan”, “sub sub water”... Even in one of the 8tv singing competitions, they named the contest as “绝对superstar” as showing the balance between 'own' language and loan-stems.
**Language represents social identity. Do they still have their own memory of history about their own social identity in this hybrid culture?
**Wats hidden ?? **
A media corporate like Time Warner is working towards a 'free flow' of information and influence, bringing the cultures and nations of the world closer together. However, this development is not seen positively, as there are indicators pointing in the direction of cultural imperialism and possible identity crises due to what theorists call a homogenization of culture.
As what we think about the American movies, there are a many easy ways to spread American culture because often people are influenced by what they see on the screen. Most of the entertainment programs, documentaries, movies we watch are from America. Sometimes, cinemas are swamped with negative films like violent films. This can create negative effects on youth.
So however romantic the idea of cultures being brought closer together is, there are also power struggles and the possibility to exploit this development, which American officials openly admit to be attempting.
References:
American Cultural Imperialism & Media Globalisation
American Media Industries
Media Marketing Madness
Tech Alley
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Time Warner production seems to be a familiar name in our country. Every time we enter the cinema we can see that many films by Warner Bro’s are shown. When we chat about the greatest hits, they are mostly American pop singers from EMI and Warner Music like Madonna and Ricky Martin. Everywhere you go in this small country, a huge number of people know about Harry Potter, Batman and so on.
**SO what?? Is there a problem???Entertainment such as movies, music, and television programs hold a special appeal to young people. The American moviemakers obviously know what the audience like and enjoy watching and I am sure that the cinemas here would be empty without American production like WB films. Young people do not think that is a problem by watching imported movies from the United States.
** Yo yoo…wat’s up man??
Young urban hip-hop culture contained in those WB films, television programs, and recorded music which dominate our market increase the popularity of hip hop culture. 
More and more youths are turning to more urban and underprivileged “gangster” styles of violent rap subculture. Besides, they are applying the hip-hop culture in their fashion such as baggy jeans and baseball caps turned backwards which seem cool.**English or Manglish (Malaysian style of English..) ??
As a result of English influence, young people speak English in their daily life as they think of English as a “high class” language. Our national language even borrows English words, adapts them, and subsequently integrates them into our daily professional and personal vocabularies. Every day, we hear words like "OK", "good", "shopping", "pub", "blockbuster", "pop singer", and "computer". Besides, we have our own Malaysia style of words like “can’t tahan”, “sub sub water”... Even in one of the 8tv singing competitions, they named the contest as “绝对superstar” as showing the balance between 'own' language and loan-stems.
**Language represents social identity. Do they still have their own memory of history about their own social identity in this hybrid culture?
**Wats hidden ?? **A media corporate like Time Warner is working towards a 'free flow' of information and influence, bringing the cultures and nations of the world closer together. However, this development is not seen positively, as there are indicators pointing in the direction of cultural imperialism and possible identity crises due to what theorists call a homogenization of culture.
As what we think about the American movies, there are a many easy ways to spread American culture because often people are influenced by what they see on the screen. Most of the entertainment programs, documentaries, movies we watch are from America. Sometimes, cinemas are swamped with negative films like violent films. This can create negative effects on youth.
So however romantic the idea of cultures being brought closer together is, there are also power struggles and the possibility to exploit this development, which American officials openly admit to be attempting.
References:
American Cultural Imperialism & Media Globalisation
American Media Industries
Media Marketing Madness
Labels: Conglomerates, youths
Posted by Tech Alley at 9:26 AM
History of Time Warner
The corporate name honours the four founding Warner brothers, Harry Warner (1881–1958), Albert Warner (1883–1967), Sam Warner (1887–1927) and Jack L. Warner (1892–1978), Polish Jewish brothers who emigrated from Poland to Ontario, Canada. In 1995, Warner and station-owner Tribune Company of Chicago launched The WB Network, finding a niche market in teenagers. The WB's early programming included an abundance of teenage fare like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville and Dawson's Creek.
About Time Warner
Time Warner is the largest media company in the world. It is the standard bearer of synergy and vertical integration in the modern digital age. Entertainment is a global leader in all forms of entertainment and their related businesses across all current and emerging media and platforms. The fully integrated, broad-based Studio is an entertainment industry leader -- from feature film, television and home entertainment production and worldwide distribution to DVD, digital distribution, animation, comic books, video games, product and brand licensing, international cinemas and broadcasting.
Movies
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
Synopsis: It's Harry's third year at Hogwarts, but a shadow hangs over Hogwarts. The most dangerous mass murderer in Wizarding history, Sirius Black, has escaped the Azkaban Fortress - the Wizards Prison and everyone believes he is coming to kill Harry. While learning to cope with the Dementors sent to protect Hogwarts, Harry learns about the disturbing story of Sirius Black and his close connection to Harry's family. This story twists and turns with many surprising revelations. Hence, this is a movie that shows how a young boy and his friends solve their problems by themselves.
SPEED RACER
Synopsis: Speed Racer is an 18-year-old whose life and love has always been racing. Speed Racer is a natural behind the wheel. Born to race cars, Speed is aggressive, instinctive and most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized—the legendary Rex Racer—whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill. When Speed turns down a lucrative and tempting offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company's maniacal owner but uncovers a terrible secret. With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend, Trixie Speed teams with his one-time rival—the mysterious Racer X to win the race that had taken his brother's life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible. So as we know, speed racer is a very good young guy. He loves his family very much. Because of his brother, he is willing to sacrifice a lot of things. This is a good attitude that can be followed by youths nowadays.
Television
SMALLVILLE
Synopsis: Smallville tells the tale of a teenage Clark Kent in the days before he was Superman. It is the town where he came from where very strange things started happening since his arrival in a spaceship in the middle of a meteor storm of green rocks. Clark must deal with a variety of individuals given powers by the green rocks, keep his powers a secret, cope with his friendship with a young Lex Luthor, and balance the two girls in his life, Chloe and Lana. The show also shows us how Lex Luthor develops from a friend of Clark's and quite a nice guy to the villain who will plague Superman in his later years. This TV show is also about the relationship between friends. Clark Kent is a youth, but he usually manages to solve the entire problem that he faces by himself.
ER
ER follows the medical personnel and patients in the emergency room of
Chicago's fictional County General Hospital. The doctors and nurses of County's ER confront the daily challenges of a busy urban hospital, including overcrowded waiting rooms, staffing shortages, and the impact of life-and-death decisions. While they teach the next generation of doctors, each must tackle the demands of their personal lives, at times unsuccessfully. In this show, there are also some cases of how youths get injured by doing some “bad things”. It also describes about the bad effects when youths indulge in negative activities.
Music
The Kooks – “Always Where I Need To Be”
This is a rock song which is now very popular among the young generation. The lyrics talk about freedom and very suitable to describe youths' feelings nowadays.
Madonna - "Crazy For You"
'Crazy For You' is a ballad by Madonna, which was released in 1985. The song lyrics are talking about somebody who's crazy in love for someone else. The younger generation like to translate their love in songs. They can’t live without the partners that they have. Thus this song is suitable to them especially for youths in love nowadays.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros.
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/speed-racer/28066/synopsis
http://www.tvrage.com/Smallville
Tech Alley
History of Time WarnerThe corporate name honours the four founding Warner brothers, Harry Warner (1881–1958), Albert Warner (1883–1967), Sam Warner (1887–1927) and Jack L. Warner (1892–1978), Polish Jewish brothers who emigrated from Poland to Ontario, Canada. In 1995, Warner and station-owner Tribune Company of Chicago launched The WB Network, finding a niche market in teenagers. The WB's early programming included an abundance of teenage fare like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville and Dawson's Creek.
About Time WarnerTime Warner is the largest media company in the world. It is the standard bearer of synergy and vertical integration in the modern digital age. Entertainment is a global leader in all forms of entertainment and their related businesses across all current and emerging media and platforms. The fully integrated, broad-based Studio is an entertainment industry leader -- from feature film, television and home entertainment production and worldwide distribution to DVD, digital distribution, animation, comic books, video games, product and brand licensing, international cinemas and broadcasting.
Movies
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABANSynopsis: It's Harry's third year at Hogwarts, but a shadow hangs over Hogwarts. The most dangerous mass murderer in Wizarding history, Sirius Black, has escaped the Azkaban Fortress - the Wizards Prison and everyone believes he is coming to kill Harry. While learning to cope with the Dementors sent to protect Hogwarts, Harry learns about the disturbing story of Sirius Black and his close connection to Harry's family. This story twists and turns with many surprising revelations. Hence, this is a movie that shows how a young boy and his friends solve their problems by themselves.
SPEED RACERSynopsis: Speed Racer is an 18-year-old whose life and love has always been racing. Speed Racer is a natural behind the wheel. Born to race cars, Speed is aggressive, instinctive and most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized—the legendary Rex Racer—whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill. When Speed turns down a lucrative and tempting offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company's maniacal owner but uncovers a terrible secret. With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend, Trixie Speed teams with his one-time rival—the mysterious Racer X to win the race that had taken his brother's life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible. So as we know, speed racer is a very good young guy. He loves his family very much. Because of his brother, he is willing to sacrifice a lot of things. This is a good attitude that can be followed by youths nowadays.
Television
SMALLVILLESynopsis: Smallville tells the tale of a teenage Clark Kent in the days before he was Superman. It is the town where he came from where very strange things started happening since his arrival in a spaceship in the middle of a meteor storm of green rocks. Clark must deal with a variety of individuals given powers by the green rocks, keep his powers a secret, cope with his friendship with a young Lex Luthor, and balance the two girls in his life, Chloe and Lana. The show also shows us how Lex Luthor develops from a friend of Clark's and quite a nice guy to the villain who will plague Superman in his later years. This TV show is also about the relationship between friends. Clark Kent is a youth, but he usually manages to solve the entire problem that he faces by himself.
ER
ER follows the medical personnel and patients in the emergency room of
Chicago's fictional County General Hospital. The doctors and nurses of County's ER confront the daily challenges of a busy urban hospital, including overcrowded waiting rooms, staffing shortages, and the impact of life-and-death decisions. While they teach the next generation of doctors, each must tackle the demands of their personal lives, at times unsuccessfully. In this show, there are also some cases of how youths get injured by doing some “bad things”. It also describes about the bad effects when youths indulge in negative activities.Music
The Kooks – “Always Where I Need To Be”This is a rock song which is now very popular among the young generation. The lyrics talk about freedom and very suitable to describe youths' feelings nowadays.
Madonna - "Crazy For You"'Crazy For You' is a ballad by Madonna, which was released in 1985. The song lyrics are talking about somebody who's crazy in love for someone else. The younger generation like to translate their love in songs. They can’t live without the partners that they have. Thus this song is suitable to them especially for youths in love nowadays.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros.
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/speed-racer/28066/synopsis
http://www.tvrage.com/Smallville
Labels: Conglomerates
Posted by Tech Alley at 8:27 AM
If there’s one website that is irresistible to youths, friendster would be it. Yes. You heard me alright. FRIENDSTER!!! Our blog team has done a survey regarding the rates of most visited websites among students of University Science Malaysia and the results are spectacular. Friendster was top of course, followed by Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo, Hotmail, Google, and Wikipedia. Many of them go for their own blogs and friends’ as well but they are just a teeny weenie bit compared to the examples above. Apart from that, students who lived outside the campus loves downloading from websites like youtube, xunlei, baidu and the lists go on. Interestingly, youths only go for certain websites created by Malaysian. Even if they are interested, they only choose local news websites such as malaysiakini, sinchew, and the star online. This shows that Malaysian is more socialize to foreign website, mainly western websites. Our survey indicates that western websites have a better market among youths compared to local ones.
BUT WHY???
Why do these phenomena occur? Why do the youths of Malaysia prefer searching for data through foreign websites rather than websites produced by their own country? And why does youths from foreign countries are capable of creating their own information but the youths of Malaysia are just gullibly accepting rather than creating information or new websites? It’s simply because we as Malaysian youths are mostly passive. It’s quite unfair if I were to point fingers to all the youths out there for I am sure there are a handful of them who have done their fair share of contribution. But what has happened to most of them? They had rather stay in their own shell, staying far from the sensitive issues and having the attitude of ‘Mind your own business’. Youths of Malaysia have become followers rather than leaders or creators. They focus too much on studies by studying hard when they can study a smarter way. Good results are their biggest goals but are that enough? We need more than good grades to survive in this world, honestly. So who are we to blame here? Does this happen because youths do not have enough freedom? Or youths lack of opportunity to present their abilities? There is a comment from Umminajah Salleh and she has shared her views and said that she has confidence that Malaysian youths would rise to the occasion if they were given the chances to do so by authorities. She also said that youths have the potential to lead and make a mark in civil society or even in the political scenario, if they were given the faith, the trust and the chance to show their prowess (News Strait Times 2006).
THEREFORE, WHAT DO WE WANT???
We want progress, we want determination and we want to be a step above others. No more excuses of overprotective or spoon-fed education system and the lack of chances to grab to be more active. Back in the 1970’s, students were more dynamic and patriotic. Thus, many of the student leaders have become Ministers in the government. They are not under act like ISA and AUKU. To become like the pass leaders, we have to educate ourselves to be like them, to be even better than them. We owe the next generation a better tomorrow. Therefore, we as youths should buck up in order to achieve this dream. According to Saidina Ali, one of the closest companions of Prophet Muhammad, “if you want to see the future leader of a nation, look upon their youth.”
RESOURCES
Survey from 50 random University Science Malaysia students
News Strait Times 2006
Quotations from pass leaders
Tech Alley
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
If there’s one website that is irresistible to youths, friendster would be it. Yes. You heard me alright. FRIENDSTER!!! Our blog team has done a survey regarding the rates of most visited websites among students of University Science Malaysia and the results are spectacular. Friendster was top of course, followed by Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo, Hotmail, Google, and Wikipedia. Many of them go for their own blogs and friends’ as well but they are just a teeny weenie bit compared to the examples above. Apart from that, students who lived outside the campus loves downloading from websites like youtube, xunlei, baidu and the lists go on. Interestingly, youths only go for certain websites created by Malaysian. Even if they are interested, they only choose local news websites such as malaysiakini, sinchew, and the star online. This shows that Malaysian is more socialize to foreign website, mainly western websites. Our survey indicates that western websites have a better market among youths compared to local ones.
BUT WHY???
Why do these phenomena occur? Why do the youths of Malaysia prefer searching for data through foreign websites rather than websites produced by their own country? And why does youths from foreign countries are capable of creating their own information but the youths of Malaysia are just gullibly accepting rather than creating information or new websites? It’s simply because we as Malaysian youths are mostly passive. It’s quite unfair if I were to point fingers to all the youths out there for I am sure there are a handful of them who have done their fair share of contribution. But what has happened to most of them? They had rather stay in their own shell, staying far from the sensitive issues and having the attitude of ‘Mind your own business’. Youths of Malaysia have become followers rather than leaders or creators. They focus too much on studies by studying hard when they can study a smarter way. Good results are their biggest goals but are that enough? We need more than good grades to survive in this world, honestly. So who are we to blame here? Does this happen because youths do not have enough freedom? Or youths lack of opportunity to present their abilities? There is a comment from Umminajah Salleh and she has shared her views and said that she has confidence that Malaysian youths would rise to the occasion if they were given the chances to do so by authorities. She also said that youths have the potential to lead and make a mark in civil society or even in the political scenario, if they were given the faith, the trust and the chance to show their prowess (News Strait Times 2006). THEREFORE, WHAT DO WE WANT???
We want progress, we want determination and we want to be a step above others. No more excuses of overprotective or spoon-fed education system and the lack of chances to grab to be more active. Back in the 1970’s, students were more dynamic and patriotic. Thus, many of the student leaders have become Ministers in the government. They are not under act like ISA and AUKU. To become like the pass leaders, we have to educate ourselves to be like them, to be even better than them. We owe the next generation a better tomorrow. Therefore, we as youths should buck up in order to achieve this dream. According to Saidina Ali, one of the closest companions of Prophet Muhammad, “if you want to see the future leader of a nation, look upon their youth.” RESOURCES
Survey from 50 random University Science Malaysia students
News Strait Times 2006
Quotations from pass leaders
Labels: foreign websites versus local ones, youths
Posted by Tech Alley at 8:44 PM
It wouldn’t be a surprise when we say that youths are the internet biggest fans. They use the internet day in and day out for numerous reasons. For example, the internet are their source for academic purposes, entertainment, news, just to name a few. In this post, we are trying to narrow down our scope to university students. Many university students sigh when it comes to assignments. Why? It’s simply because they have insufficient information. This insufficient information is due to restricted accessing system. Certain content will be restricted and various internet applications will be blocked. Accesses are logged. There are times where the activities of students are monitored, investigated and this can even lead to disciplinary acts when the students crossed the line. Most of the universities in our country reserve the right to block access to any network, protocol or network based application at any time, especially local universities. Therefore, students have boundaries in finding vital information. In other words, they have limited and insufficient information to produce quality masterpieces.
There are two sides to every story. Therefore, it would not be fair to look at this matter based only from the students’ perspectives. In order to look at a bigger picture, we interviewed the authority regarding the access of internet. According to Encik Khairil Anwar bin Jusoh, who is an officer of Information Technology in University Science Malaysia (USM), most universities block some websites based on policies that are set up by the government but the blocked websites are slighty different from one universities to another. USM restrict and filter some websites like:-
www.playboy.com
www.xniaga.com
www.penangtraveltips.com
www.wangmatrix.com
www.anugerahcsrmalaysia.org
www.antivirus2009_freescan.com
www.gtonlineasistance.com
www.micronext.info
During the interview, we asked Encik Khairil Anwar bin Jusoh for the reasons of the restriction of websites. He stated the reasons which sounds very reasonable once we understand the authority from their side of the story. There are four main reasons for the prohibited websites which are:-
COPYRIGHT RESERVE
Some websites are banned by the authorities to protect the rights of the author. Some websites need subscriptions before the students can actually view the websites. Many people does not actknowledge the fact that they are downloading information illegally. Therefore, they invade the privacy of the author without the slightest guilt. By banning some of these websites, illegal downloading can be be stopped.
PORNOGRAPHY
Nowadays, many students spend their time surfing for pornography materials, which is not a very healthy activity for university students. They can easily obtain these materials by keying in a simple word like ‘sex’ and get in touch with thousands of websites and links which is related to that particular word. Many universities banned websites containing pornography because they think that students should put more effort on academic purposes rather than pornography. In USM, students are able to get wireless connections as long as they register with the authority. Since most universities provide wireless connection for the students within the campus, it is therefore their duty to control and limit the students’ assessment on such materials.
PREVENTION FROM INTERNET VIRUSES
Certain websites might convey viruses to others through the process of downloading. Dangerous internet viruses such as ‘Trojan’ might bring harm to the whole internet system. Internet delinquents like hackers can hacked into private and confidential websites and misused the information they found. In order to protect students, authorities play a role to limit their assessment to harmful websites.
TO COPE WITH TRAFFIC CONNECTIONS AROUND THE CAMPUS
Most universities which provide wireless connection within the campus limit the range of assessment for each particular person. This is to enable everyone to have their fair share of internet connection. For example, in USM, each user will be provided 155mbps to gain access to the internet. Besides that, authorities also prevent students from being able to access to large capacity usage of wireless connection by blocking certain webpage with large capacity.
In a nutshell, we found out that most students are ignorant of why the universities have gone through so much trouble by restricting some of the websites. They feel that their freedom for assessing is limited by boundaries even though they do not have the intention of invading or violating the rules. They want to have a say and make the authorities understand their needs and the pressure of not having access to some websites they considered important. For example, some students complain that they face problems accessing to you-tube to get electronic advertisements for academic purposes. They feel that there is no harm in doing so. Yet, all these complain comes back to the reasons why the authorities blocked the websites at the first place. So what we are trying to arise here is; although the authorities are restricting some websites for the sake of the students, their efforts might end up bringing inconvenience to the students. It is indeed hard to meet the needs of both sides. Therefore, what we are trying to propose here is; the students need to know and be informed the reasons of the restrictions and at the same time, authorities should try to reconsider some websites which is less harmful and beneficial to students.
RESOURCES
http://www.curtin.edu.my/sch_dept/ICT/students/AccomInternetAccessPolicy.pdf
Interview with Encik Khairil Anwar bin Jusoh,an officer of Information Technology in University Science Malaysia (USM)
Tech Alley
It wouldn’t be a surprise when we say that youths are the internet biggest fans. They use the internet day in and day out for numerous reasons. For example, the internet are their source for academic purposes, entertainment, news, just to name a few. In this post, we are trying to narrow down our scope to university students. Many university students sigh when it comes to assignments. Why? It’s simply because they have insufficient information. This insufficient information is due to restricted accessing system. Certain content will be restricted and various internet applications will be blocked. Accesses are logged. There are times where the activities of students are monitored, investigated and this can even lead to disciplinary acts when the students crossed the line. Most of the universities in our country reserve the right to block access to any network, protocol or network based application at any time, especially local universities. Therefore, students have boundaries in finding vital information. In other words, they have limited and insufficient information to produce quality masterpieces.There are two sides to every story. Therefore, it would not be fair to look at this matter based only from the students’ perspectives. In order to look at a bigger picture, we interviewed the authority regarding the access of internet. According to Encik Khairil Anwar bin Jusoh, who is an officer of Information Technology in University Science Malaysia (USM), most universities block some websites based on policies that are set up by the government but the blocked websites are slighty different from one universities to another. USM restrict and filter some websites like:-
www.playboy.com
www.xniaga.com
www.penangtraveltips.com
www.wangmatrix.com
www.anugerahcsrmalaysia.org
www.antivirus2009_freescan.com
www.gtonlineasistance.com
www.micronext.info
During the interview, we asked Encik Khairil Anwar bin Jusoh for the reasons of the restriction of websites. He stated the reasons which sounds very reasonable once we understand the authority from their side of the story. There are four main reasons for the prohibited websites which are:-
COPYRIGHT RESERVE
Some websites are banned by the authorities to protect the rights of the author. Some websites need subscriptions before the students can actually view the websites. Many people does not actknowledge the fact that they are downloading information illegally. Therefore, they invade the privacy of the author without the slightest guilt. By banning some of these websites, illegal downloading can be be stopped.PORNOGRAPHY
Nowadays, many students spend their time surfing for pornography materials, which is not a very healthy activity for university students. They can easily obtain these materials by keying in a simple word like ‘sex’ and get in touch with thousands of websites and links which is related to that particular word. Many universities banned websites containing pornography because they think that students should put more effort on academic purposes rather than pornography. In USM, students are able to get wireless connections as long as they register with the authority. Since most universities provide wireless connection for the students within the campus, it is therefore their duty to control and limit the students’ assessment on such materials.PREVENTION FROM INTERNET VIRUSES
Certain websites might convey viruses to others through the process of downloading. Dangerous internet viruses such as ‘Trojan’ might bring harm to the whole internet system. Internet delinquents like hackers can hacked into private and confidential websites and misused the information they found. In order to protect students, authorities play a role to limit their assessment to harmful websites.TO COPE WITH TRAFFIC CONNECTIONS AROUND THE CAMPUS
Most universities which provide wireless connection within the campus limit the range of assessment for each particular person. This is to enable everyone to have their fair share of internet connection. For example, in USM, each user will be provided 155mbps to gain access to the internet. Besides that, authorities also prevent students from being able to access to large capacity usage of wireless connection by blocking certain webpage with large capacity.In a nutshell, we found out that most students are ignorant of why the universities have gone through so much trouble by restricting some of the websites. They feel that their freedom for assessing is limited by boundaries even though they do not have the intention of invading or violating the rules. They want to have a say and make the authorities understand their needs and the pressure of not having access to some websites they considered important. For example, some students complain that they face problems accessing to you-tube to get electronic advertisements for academic purposes. They feel that there is no harm in doing so. Yet, all these complain comes back to the reasons why the authorities blocked the websites at the first place. So what we are trying to arise here is; although the authorities are restricting some websites for the sake of the students, their efforts might end up bringing inconvenience to the students. It is indeed hard to meet the needs of both sides. Therefore, what we are trying to propose here is; the students need to know and be informed the reasons of the restrictions and at the same time, authorities should try to reconsider some websites which is less harmful and beneficial to students.
RESOURCES
http://www.curtin.edu.my/sch_dept/ICT/students/AccomInternetAccessPolicy.pdf
Interview with Encik Khairil Anwar bin Jusoh,an officer of Information Technology in University Science Malaysia (USM)
Labels: blockage towards certain websites, youths
Posted by Tech Alley at 4:45 PM
How should we categorize teen pregnancy, as the lack of fear for God or the lack of education? In the society we live in today, there is a wide divide in personal stance of the older and the newer generation when it comes to this particular subject. How do we compromise with the growing culture of openness in sexuality and the instilled ‘shush’ attitude of the Asian clan?
In 2005, our government proudly announced that they have agreed to implement sex education in the school’s syllabus in January 2006. However, until today, in the year 2008, we have yet to see any progress in this matter. We were supposed to be among the first Muslim countries to implement the subject in our system. What is it that is holding us back from moving forward?
This is exactly why sex education is necessary. Education is the key to solving problems in the society such as sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy. To ensure the correct information is being obtained by youngsters, it ought to be made available by reliable and credible sources and where better than schools.
Tech Alley
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
How should we categorize teen pregnancy, as the lack of fear for God or the lack of education? In the society we live in today, there is a wide divide in personal stance of the older and the newer generation when it comes to this particular subject. How do we compromise with the growing culture of openness in sexuality and the instilled ‘shush’ attitude of the Asian clan?
In 2005, our government proudly announced that they have agreed to implement sex education in the school’s syllabus in January 2006. However, until today, in the year 2008, we have yet to see any progress in this matter. We were supposed to be among the first Muslim countries to implement the subject in our system. What is it that is holding us back from moving forward?
As preparation, surveys of all sorts were conducted in our community; from primary school children to working adults. In my opinion, if a survey was conducted every 5 years, the results will vary because of the changing generations. What was not known in the past is common knowledge today. For example, the all-time favourite question, “Where did babies come from?” Kids know their parents had something to do with it. No story of the stork delivering the baby to a home will sell, even among kindergarten children.
Bethany Connection 2008
In this information-rich society, we can no longer fool ourselves by not acknowledging the change in believes and practices. One of the main reasons sex education was initially considered was the worry of AIDS becoming an epidemic in the world. However, our focus here is teen pregnancy, an increasing medical concern. In Malaysia, the Organisation for Economics Co-operation and Development reported in 2007 that the percentage of teen pregnancy has and will reduce in the years to come. This is also true for the Western countries.
Surprised? How is it that this is possible when the Population Reference Bureau reported that more teens are sexually active today than 10 years ago. And they claim that this number will keep increasing in the years to come. One does not have to pull their hair out to figure out the answer. EDUC
ATION.
Bethany Connection 2008
In this information-rich society, we can no longer fool ourselves by not acknowledging the change in believes and practices. One of the main reasons sex education was initially considered was the worry of AIDS becoming an epidemic in the world. However, our focus here is teen pregnancy, an increasing medical concern. In Malaysia, the Organisation for Economics Co-operation and Development reported in 2007 that the percentage of teen pregnancy has and will reduce in the years to come. This is also true for the Western countries.
Surprised? How is it that this is possible when the Population Reference Bureau reported that more teens are sexually active today than 10 years ago. And they claim that this number will keep increasing in the years to come. One does not have to pull their hair out to figure out the answer. EDUC
ATION.The preaching of abstinence is slowly being replaced by talks of safe sex, using contraceptives and fidelity. Even though sex education is yet to be in the Malaysian education system, teenagers and youths throughout the country are in a world where knowledge is just a mouse click away. It is no surprise if a boy who looks like he just attained puberty walks into 7-11 to purchase condoms. The reason he needs it in the first place maybe of concern to some but to others, the concern is one step further. Does he know how to use it?
CondomProtection.com
CondomProtection.com
The existence of protections may be common knowledge but steps of using it and the dangers or possible inefficiencies of an IUD or condom may not be known to most. This is why sex education is important and is in fact vital in today’s society. Youths should know exactly what are the possibilities of being sexually active and the responsibilities of getting pregnant for both the male and the female counterpart.
This is exactly why sex education is necessary. Education is the key to solving problems in the society such as sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy. To ensure the correct information is being obtained by youngsters, it ought to be made available by reliable and credible sources and where better than schools.
Labels: teen pregnancy
Posted by Tech Alley at 9:10 AM
Tech Alley