youngyew
27-06-2010, 03:47 PM
ReCom.org is featured (http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/6/27/education/6549343&sec=education) in The Star today! One of our founders Syamsul and an important pioneer Chen Chow were interviewed.
Creating cyber-communities
WITH nearly 18,000 members, over 9,000 discussion threads and around 304,000 posts, the ReCom: The WorldWide Malaysian Students Network website (http://www.recom.org) is probably one of the most active websites on Malaysian education on the World Wide Web.
Started in 2003 by then University of Southern California, USA, students Syamsul Hani Hasran and Mohd Yusuf Abdul Hamid, the duo envisioned the website as a bridge between Malaysian students and the rest of the world.
SYAMSUL: We want to encourage people to speak up and not shut up just because their views don’t agree with ours. - YAP CHEE HONG / The Star
It was meant to be a place where students could gather online and exchange thoughts and ideas, with the goal of helping Malaysia become a developed nation.
“As the first few members were scholarship holders, the site kind of evolved into sharing how to get scholarships,” said Syamsul, 29.
Both he and Yusuf were Public Service Department scholarship holders.
He added: “One of my passions is how to help people get direction for their studies.
“It’s a very confusing period (after SPM and pre-university), and I think, by running this website with my friends, it offers a kind of platform and gives hope to students that there are a lot of other people out there with the same questions and problems.”
The discussion forums are run by a team of moderators who oversee the posts to ensure that nothing offensive is put up.
“I’d like to keep it open, like a bazaar, so that people can say what they want within reasonable limits,” explained Syamsul, who currently works as a programmer with Openet Telecom Malaysia.
Although the Education discussion board is the most active one on the website, there are also other discussion boards like Malaysia Today, Window to the World and Debates, among others.
After seven years, the website is still a work in progress, with the latest application being a Wiki to gather all the answers to frequently asked questions into one collaborative online education encyclopaedia.
“I’m trying to balance between what people want, and where we want to go.
“We haven’t really achieved what we wanted to achieve, but it’s just a matter of time,” said Syamsul with a smile.
Online connections
YEOH: All the different online youth communities based in Malaysia support one another and help promote each other’s events. - AZLINA ABDULLAH / The Star
Yeoh Chen Chow, 29, is a well-known name among the Malaysian student online community.
A founding member of the ReCom website, the JobStreet.com product manager is also involved in a number of other voluntary youth-centred projects.
Among them are the non-profit What’s After SPM? book project and the Young Corporate Malaysians organisation.
The What’s After SPM? book (http://whatsafterspm.blogspot.com) is meant to be a compilation of short articles written by Malaysian youths on the various different pathways they have taken after their secondary education.
The articles were solicited mainly online and through word of mouth, without a marketing or advertising campaign.
The brainchild of four university students — Gabrielle Chong Yong Wei, Kimberley Mei Kay, Tara Thean and Charis Loke — the project received over 100 articles within a period of three months.
The articles are being edited currently, while publishing and sponsorship options are being discussed.
Meanwhile, the Young Corporate Malaysians organisation is an example of the power of social media.
Founded in January 2008, its main activity at the moment is The CEO Series for Young Professionals — a talk series given by notable CEOs of various industries.
According to Yeoh, the organisation’s sole tool of communication when it first started up was its Facebook group. Later on, the team developed their own website (http://youngcorporatemalaysians.com) and started a mailing list just last year.
Despite that, Yeoh shared that their talks regularly attract around 150 people, just through notices on Facebook, their mailing list, and word of mouth.
And sometimes, notice can be quite short as the invited speakers might only confirm their availability a few days before the event.
The inspiring thing about the series is that the speakers — CEOs of well-known corporations — all give their talks for free, and focus more on their own life experience, rather than their organisations.
In fact, in the early days, Yeoh shared that the organisation had so few resources that speakers were requested to bring their own projectors!
Yeoh also created and helps maintain the Facebook page Educating Malaysian Youth (http://www.facebook.com/educatingmalaysianyouth).
The page serves as a place to share links on any events, groups, scholarships, blogs, articles or forums that can help benefit Malaysian youths and students in the fastest and easiest way, said Yeoh.
Creating cyber-communities
WITH nearly 18,000 members, over 9,000 discussion threads and around 304,000 posts, the ReCom: The WorldWide Malaysian Students Network website (http://www.recom.org) is probably one of the most active websites on Malaysian education on the World Wide Web.
Started in 2003 by then University of Southern California, USA, students Syamsul Hani Hasran and Mohd Yusuf Abdul Hamid, the duo envisioned the website as a bridge between Malaysian students and the rest of the world.
SYAMSUL: We want to encourage people to speak up and not shut up just because their views don’t agree with ours. - YAP CHEE HONG / The Star
It was meant to be a place where students could gather online and exchange thoughts and ideas, with the goal of helping Malaysia become a developed nation.
“As the first few members were scholarship holders, the site kind of evolved into sharing how to get scholarships,” said Syamsul, 29.
Both he and Yusuf were Public Service Department scholarship holders.
He added: “One of my passions is how to help people get direction for their studies.
“It’s a very confusing period (after SPM and pre-university), and I think, by running this website with my friends, it offers a kind of platform and gives hope to students that there are a lot of other people out there with the same questions and problems.”
The discussion forums are run by a team of moderators who oversee the posts to ensure that nothing offensive is put up.
“I’d like to keep it open, like a bazaar, so that people can say what they want within reasonable limits,” explained Syamsul, who currently works as a programmer with Openet Telecom Malaysia.
Although the Education discussion board is the most active one on the website, there are also other discussion boards like Malaysia Today, Window to the World and Debates, among others.
After seven years, the website is still a work in progress, with the latest application being a Wiki to gather all the answers to frequently asked questions into one collaborative online education encyclopaedia.
“I’m trying to balance between what people want, and where we want to go.
“We haven’t really achieved what we wanted to achieve, but it’s just a matter of time,” said Syamsul with a smile.
Online connections
YEOH: All the different online youth communities based in Malaysia support one another and help promote each other’s events. - AZLINA ABDULLAH / The Star
Yeoh Chen Chow, 29, is a well-known name among the Malaysian student online community.
A founding member of the ReCom website, the JobStreet.com product manager is also involved in a number of other voluntary youth-centred projects.
Among them are the non-profit What’s After SPM? book project and the Young Corporate Malaysians organisation.
The What’s After SPM? book (http://whatsafterspm.blogspot.com) is meant to be a compilation of short articles written by Malaysian youths on the various different pathways they have taken after their secondary education.
The articles were solicited mainly online and through word of mouth, without a marketing or advertising campaign.
The brainchild of four university students — Gabrielle Chong Yong Wei, Kimberley Mei Kay, Tara Thean and Charis Loke — the project received over 100 articles within a period of three months.
The articles are being edited currently, while publishing and sponsorship options are being discussed.
Meanwhile, the Young Corporate Malaysians organisation is an example of the power of social media.
Founded in January 2008, its main activity at the moment is The CEO Series for Young Professionals — a talk series given by notable CEOs of various industries.
According to Yeoh, the organisation’s sole tool of communication when it first started up was its Facebook group. Later on, the team developed their own website (http://youngcorporatemalaysians.com) and started a mailing list just last year.
Despite that, Yeoh shared that their talks regularly attract around 150 people, just through notices on Facebook, their mailing list, and word of mouth.
And sometimes, notice can be quite short as the invited speakers might only confirm their availability a few days before the event.
The inspiring thing about the series is that the speakers — CEOs of well-known corporations — all give their talks for free, and focus more on their own life experience, rather than their organisations.
In fact, in the early days, Yeoh shared that the organisation had so few resources that speakers were requested to bring their own projectors!
Yeoh also created and helps maintain the Facebook page Educating Malaysian Youth (http://www.facebook.com/educatingmalaysianyouth).
The page serves as a place to share links on any events, groups, scholarships, blogs, articles or forums that can help benefit Malaysian youths and students in the fastest and easiest way, said Yeoh.