Producing something really tangible with RECOM?

[silverblue]

Hi friends,

I was just thinking... we have all these healthy discussions going on about various issues like Sex Education, Transportation System, Malaysian Education System, and blah blah blah... and it gets really hot for a while and then it just dies off and people forget about them..

Can we do something to turn these discussions into something that can actually have an impact on country or something like that?

This is just a suggestion, but maybe we can write to The Star or NSTP or sth like that and make them aware of this Msian Overseas Student Network... and perhaps they could give us a weekly column or sth where we can post the summary or some kinda discussion from our site (someone has to compile them and write it up, of course). The purpose of this is so that our voice is heard. I feel that some of the discussions and suggestions that has been posted in our forums are really good stuff! Something's saying in my head that "The Government should hear us because we can contribute ideas/opinions when they want to implement something (eg. sex education syllabus, etc)"

On the other hand, we need not be so far-fetched and do all that.. but maybe we can think of some ways to do something really tangible from our discussions... I don't know... any suggestions?

[littlebigone]

I've been thinking what Recom has to offer that other sites don't. What's exciting about Recom.

1. Well, firstly, I think what excites me about Recom is that it's young. Everyone of us, all 400+ members who are currently registered (yes, even those who are not active), all of us have the chance and means to help shape Recom into something that we can be proud of. Something big. Something that's not just a past time or a hobby. Recom can be a platform for us to get to bigger places.

2. The amount of talent in Recom is amazing. All this while we've been seeing smart people with science and engineering. Lately we've seen a push for the arts and creative thinkers too. So Recom is really a immense pool of intellect, skill, and most importantly potential. We only need to find a way to tap this valuable resource.

3. I personally think that Recom can make history. In what? No idea. But I have such a strong feeling about this. Recom can make history.

But we have to start somewhere. We're moving in the right track with all these forums. But we have to move to the next step. And I think silverblue has the right idea. I think we need something tangible. The Star thing is an excellent idea, the best part about it is that it's really within our grasp. SO i fully support this idea. Maybe, Youthquake would be more willing to have us as guest writers, so we could give them a try. THis effort would also give us better promotion.

If I may, I would also like to propose a second idea. I think that with the number of students right now, maybe we could gather for a Merdeka Week/Day convention. We can celebrate our national day as well as have some kind of activities. I think we should aim for 1000 participants. We could have discussions and distinguished speakers to come give speeches. I think funding would not be a problem as we could use it as a place for companies to interview prospective employees. THis is just a halfbaked idea but as I;m writing this, i feel really excited about it. We've been talking about having a gathering for sometime now. Maybe this could give us a concrete start to make plans.

Come on people, dare to dream this dream. If you have any ideas out there just shout out in the forums. We can make Recom our special achievement...all 400+ of us.

[chenchow]

silverblue, i think Worldwide Malaysian Students Network would sound better, as it would include all Malaysians, including those who study in Malaysia....these would complement back to littlebigone's suggestion to bring in high school students as well, to help building awareness to country and critical thinking....

littlebigone's idea of YouthQuake would be a very good idea....i would add youthquake's website into weblinks!!!.. littlebigone, you could help draft the intro to Youthquake.

[littlebigone]

Do we really want to approach YouthQUake?
How many people support this idea? Please give some form of feedback on the two proposed ideas in this topic

[silverblue]

Well, I am into the idea of putting our website in the papers...

not only YouthQuake, but also TheStar (education section mebbe) bcos these are the two major newspapers...

hmm actually, it'd be better if it's not in YouthQuake, cos this will mean only youths read it... i was thinking more of a broader base... so that people in general, our rakyat and our kerajaan will also be able to look into our thoughts... :D

[Thirdshifter]

It's useless. Let recom grow a bit more. I'm sure the traffic isn't that high yet in the forums yet. I see recom average about 20-25 post on a busy day. About 15-20 on a slow one.

Let the traffic to the site pick up a little bit.. by then star would probaly notice it themself.

after doing some maths.. the average number post since Recom was opened.. 3.5 post a day in the period of 8 months.

[masterof_none]

Do we really want to approach YouthQUake?
How many people support this idea? Please give some form of feedback on the two proposed ideas in this topic

I support 150% of this idea. We need PR for ReCom eventually.
I "dah tak cukup tangan" :roll:

But I support your idea. We need to eventually produce something meaningful out of ReCom.
Hopefully through our discussions, creative , etc.

"Let The Chaos Reign!. "

[royston]

I am not sure how many type of media in overseas can help to increase the publicity of Recom but I would suggest, for the time being, let's start it from overseas. We may try to find something to promote our website towards overseas universities, I am not sure your universities have such intranet and allow students to speak, but if there is, we may take the chance to introduce them about this site.

The reasons why we should NOT go for Malaysia newspaper such as STAR, NSTP, Kwong Wah and so on at this moment (silverblue, I am supporting your idea, no worries, I know that is the right thing to do)are:

1. Malaysian like branded. If this forum has been published in overseas, they will treasure the live-and-dead of this site. Else, they will just announce the existence of this site that's all, nothing further.

2. I echo what have mentioned by thirdshifter, what we have and what we gain today, still not enough "strong". We should try to work out as much as possible, make this site more active. The promotion towards Internet, overseas universities and so on can be carried out simultaneously.

Once we have our foundation built, then we approach the local newspaper, radio and so on.

Any comment? I love to listen to your inputs, regardless is supportive or not :wink:

~ roy ~

[littlebigone]

I guess thirdshifter has a good point. By the way, how did you get the numbers for the traffic?

I agree that the first step is to work harder. But it's exciting no? hehehehe

[silverblue]

Well, you are right... perhaps we should build up a stronger base first.... but that is why we should start dreaming... in everything that we do, we much have a goal, an ultimate driving force that motivates and excites you to achieve something.

While this may not be our ultimate goal, it could very well be one of our BIG goals... and we should start aiming towards it or plan towards it...
eg. ideas have already come up about promoting this site at Overseas Universities etc etc...
so maybe having these exciting goals will take Recom a step further and a jump higher that where we are right now..

These are just random thoughts btw, I really hope to see discussion pouring in, cos I want to hear ur views...

[chenchow]

yeah, good idea guys!!! Continue the flowing of ideas and I hope that more would join in... Lets build a very strong think thank about it.

On thirdshifter's question, Recom was not active, until I would say october, so our average of post was quite low earlier, but I think we have gained a lot of momentum within these few weeks, thanks to everyone's interest and help. Hope that we could attract more people to share their thoughts etc. I have been messaging many members personally to welcome them to Recom and encourage them to join in. I have been sending invitation email to many of my friends and hope that everyone could join in the acts...

One thing to do would be to get our present members to be active! That is very important, as we have so many members who are not active currently. On starting from overseas or local, I think we could have a two-pronged action. Get more Malaysians from various universities to join in and BE ACTIVE members of Recom.

Could I plead with everyone that read this message to help spread the words of Recom to all or at least many of your friends?

Thanks for everyone's support to Recom!!! Lets build it up!!!

[topdog]

Pardon my cutting in here, but what does Recom stand for?

[Thirdshifter]

Pardon my cutting in here, but what does Recom stand for?

reborned community i believe. not sure though.

[masterof_none]

reborned community i believe. not sure though.

yep, Recom came from reborn community.ReCom is the truncated version of it. and easier for us to type too!

[masterof_none]

I've been thinking what Recom has to offer that other sites don't. What's exciting about Recom.

3. I personally think that Recom can make history. In what? No idea. But I have such a strong feeling about this. Recom can make history.

Come on people, dare to dream this dream. If you have any ideas out there just shout out in the forums. We can make Recom our special achievement...all 400+ of us.


When we first started ReCom, we don't know that it is going to be this big. But, we keep trying. We push forward. Our members are increasing.
We aimed at 300 people at the end of last summer. but now, we're approaching 500.

And, you're witnessing the history being created.
History being created here at ReCom. ReCom would be the first Malaysian students group who really push Malaysia into a develop nation.

There's nobody else. NOBODY ELSE. There's no OTHER guys who can make it happen. It is US. And we hope this would be a history.
We're the guys who eventually turn 50 sth by the year 2020.


IT's gotta start from here. Right here. Right Now.

What can we do now?.

1. Focusing on united Malaysians. Only United Malaysians can make it happen.

2. Focusing on the desire to learn and apply it into real life.
Not only Good Grades.

3. Turning our knowledge into something good.

4. Focusing on technology that make world a better place. Turn crazy tech idea into reality.

Get investors to help finance implementing our idea.

We can do more. So much. But we have to have confidence.
The seed of the idea must come through here.

And, everyone should be working on something to be brought back home. Share it here, and everyone would give opinion.

There may be more. But we're at the right track.
Come join us!. Let's make things happen.
Be a part of history.

[silverblue]

What inspirational posts by Masterofnone!! It sure sparks some fire in me!! :wink:

May I suggest that we somehow start creating a vision plan or some kinda target... so that when we reach that level, we can start making directed steps towards a higher level..

examples and suggestions:

1) We can start promoting our site to newspapers or try to initiate a column in our local newspapers when say... our membership reaches a certain number... 600 mebbe??

2) We can start making 'action-groups' when we get at least say... 50-80 active members. By active I mean ppl who log on often or ppl who makes a certain average number of posts a day/week.

By 'action-groups' I am suggesting that we could sorta form groups of different interest and tackle on a certain issue or topic to produce tangible results...eg. it could be a group of students coming together to come up with a 'proposal' to the govn or whatever that could help make a positive change in our country. Or it could be a group of 'technologically' inclined people coming together to built some machine or sth (lol), or people wanting to do business together or whatever!!

3) We can start getting 'backing' from 'influencial' people or people who can provide full support or act as an advisor when we reach another certain level (i dont know what). Examples may be the Director of MSD?? A minister? An investor?? A local private company?? An NGO? :lol:

4)???

5)???

These are just merely suggestions and random numbers.... and I guess they are more directed to the recom anchors... but I really do think we need these target points.

[iQing]

yeah... good idea. I agree that ReCom should have more Action, where more things are done...
of perhaps we should leave ReCom as a virtual platform ? and create another NGO or something? or ReCom should be the main body carry out missions?

I think it's alright if ReCom becomes semi profite organisation. we can make advertisement for other Corp and charge them low ad fees (lower than market price) as we dun really wanna make profit.. with the money we gain we can do a lot o things.........
with money we have more power.. more ability...

what do u think about it?

"think, try and trimph"

iQing

[chenchow]

I think as of currently, i would think that Recom should stay on its current mission and not think of making any profit or anything. We are doing this, for the sake of our country; Hence, we should stay the way currently and try to expand the size and activeness in Recom, before looking at our next step...

[royston]

Chenchow, I agree with your point.

I know that building up Recom is kinda tiring and money is needed. But don't forget that, users/members are looking at us 8O

When we promote Recom, as how masterof_none described in the "What is Recom.org" in our front page. It is not really advisable to misled our members that the Recom spirits are almost same like other websites, keep advertising banners and so on to earn money.

I don't mean the rest of your opinion are wrong. We have our own different point of view, but do you know that we have the same target, which is bring up Recom? And if we wish to get this done, we have plenty of things to do.

Getting some profit is also part of our tasks, but not our plan. We need money to keep Recom growing, but at this moment, a lot of things that we can do and still need no cost. Let's do all these tasks hand in hand, any problems we may bring it out to the forum to discuss, even if we need money, we may voice it out, I am not sure others but hey... I can give some help coz ... I like Recom and all the friends here! I mean, if you want to eat chicken rice, you have to pay... if you want to smoke dunhill, you still have to buy. So... since I like Recom, I like friends here, I can't contact you guys through phone, sharing our thought, happiness and so on through emails, right?

This is just a station for us, in the meantime, we can share our discussion to the public (part of our plan to expand Recom) and get the whole Malaysia know us, support us. So, I don't think I need to give any lousy excuses if I wish to contribute to Recom in terms of money.

I have offered my help to chenchow, bachok and so on... whatever I can provide (not my life... :P ), not only money. I do not know why, I am definitely not a student anymore but I like the spirit that is still burning inside your heart, I have never seen any Malaysian website with this kind of outstanding performance. Frankly, I used to pin-point Malaysian websites, including mine... :P But Recom, damn it!! I have been surfing it almost 1 week since I joined, non-stop. I may forget about all those games site, porn sites and so on ... but not Recom.

Listen ladies and gentlement, this is the right thing to do, but we got to do it right, proper planned and so on. Again, I wish to help, as long as those things are within my capabilities and knowledge.

I believe there are a lot of members have the same thinking like mine, so don't make us disappointed...

Thanks,
~ roy ~

[littlebigone]

i don't know if you need help but if you guys want and need more space, I could volunteer my computer for a server too. I have too much space on my com which I don't use at all.

[silverblue]

But Recom, damn it!! I have been surfing it almost 1 week since I joined, non-stop. I may forget about all those games site, porn sites and so on ... but not Recom.



Hahaha... that was funny... and really great! Hey anchors!! Look what you've done to people out there! They stopped surfing porn sites just bcos of recom! Isn't that great?! :P gosh.. the power of recom can even pull people away from the very addictive comp games! hehe..

well, i definitely agree that once u become active, there's no turning back, u yearn to come in everytime to see if someone has replied ur posts or if someone has posted something interesting..... so perhaps this is a way to get more members to be active :- get them to post something! be it an opinion, a comment or criticism or whatever... and they'll be glued!! cos they'd want to see feedback from other people... i guess we really do thrive on feedback... we like to see people supporting our ideas or arguing against it so that we can come back at them to give a good rebuttal. And these are all healthy discussions.

My point? Figure a way to make people post something! Not just be spectators! How? Hmm that we gotta think harder...

[silverblue]

Well... and oh about the profit issue for recom.. or about setting up an NGO, well I guess that could come later.. perhaps much later...

like i said, we should first just set up targets and goals so that we have a clearer picture when we have the right amount of substance to move recom forward, step by step.

Recom has to have short and long term goals, and lay out a proper plan to achieve them. We are getting strong and that is really inspirational but we cannot 'rest on our laurels' now because, just like any other website, the initial traffic will be great, but we wouldn't want it to subside... we have to have some tangible short term goal to keep people engaged and prevent active members from slipping away... u know what i mean?

[iQing]

yup... it needs planing
but we need visions as well.... seeing far ahead
that's why ideas and concept is needed
money is just a tool for us to carry out our task....

[eeyore]

i guess if we want to send our articles to be published in the newspapers/articles, would it be wise to have a target audience first? this way, we can narrow down on the discussion topics. i just feel it might be easier to get a column if we narrow down on topics of interest than just random ideas, however, discussions on current issues might be very attractive ... of course, getting someone/the press willing enough to give us a column is only the first step, then we need to come up with great and wonderful ideas regularly, and have a work force for this

on the whole, i'm excited about this, and i'm really glad this idea came up

[royston]

Hi eeyore, I am quite disagree with what you said... :cry:

What we are discussing here, mostly related to our visions, our aim. When we promote our site to press/newspaper, we use back the same purpose, visions... I mean, we do what we feel it is right thing to do. If we narrow down or selecting some interesting topic to talk about just for the sake of audience/readers from newspaper, then we are surviving for the press, not for ourselves.

My opinion is, we should continue what are the good jobs we currently doing, press/newspapers are our side job. It only helps to introduce our site to more people, more active members know us.

Please don't take it personally, you may bring out your point and I wish to listen too... :)

~ roy ~

[eeyore]

oh no. thanks royston for pointing this out.

i wasn't clear about my previous post. all i meant was we should still continue discussing on issues like we are doing right now, however, my point is if we want to have say a column in the papers, how are we to convince the editors that we will have substance that they'll find interesting enough to publish? i mean i think the editors will feel better about this idea if we can tell them that we can provide for a target audience ... i mean i'm not sure if having a common discussion group will excite them too much ... but again, by no means am i saying that we limit our discussions (this is where i made the mistake .. sorry) all i meant was if this becomes a reality, we need to ALSO include topics that are for the targeted audience and also something we feel strongly about

again, just my $0.02 ... cos i'm not really sure how the press works in terms of giving out columns to writers ... i'm just plainly speculating

[silverblue]

What I initially thought of when it came to writing in the papers, was like TheStar giving us a column (weekly or sth) so that we can publish a certain topic from our discussion...

My main worry was that the discussions that go on here just gets heated up for a while and then dies off.... and no one knows what is the conclusion or what we really got out of the discussion. I was thinking that we could perhaps chanel all these healthy discussions into a generally agreed summary or conclusion and then publish it in 'our' column, so that people back home can look into the minds of their next generation of leaders - US!! (us as in 'kita'... not United States ok! keke)

For example, the discussion on sex education will make a good article (not too general, not too specific AND it is relevant to ALL levels of our community - the young, the teens, the adults, the old, not only a specific group)... we gave ideas like how sex education should also encompass the mental aspect etc etc... which are all good ideas! And it should be heard by people who are going to implement this system in the near future!

Another example was on Public Transportation, English Language, or more recently the 'how to cut red tape' issue...all these forums has generated really good arguments or suggestions... and should be documented.

No? Urm..? Maybe? Yes? Definitely? 8)

[silverblue]

In response to Eeyore's post, I feel that it's good to think about all these... like what will the editors be expecting and all

but i personally feel that the papers would really be interested with this idea..esp when we are mostly overseas students... hehehe i am sure they will want us to feel a sense of connection with our home country and most of all, u know why the government will support our website?? Because they will WANT US to go home to contribute to our nation and not run away (break our bonds etc) or stay in the foreign countries that we are in right now...

just a feeling.

[royston]

oh oh ... eeyore... seems like i got you wrong... sorreee... :oops:

Yeah... if this is what you meant, I agree. Select some of the interesting topic of "arguement" among ourselves, post it out and allow the public to know that we are focusing on these items and all arguement with facts. meanwhile, this will attract them to join in our forum and discuss with us.

And for Cheryl, regarding the "5 mins hot", i guess it is a norm. What I mean is, we have to go through this period. Normally when a new thing started, it will be viewed, read, supported by a lot of ppl but anyhow when time goes on, if as the owner of this "new thing" - we don't create new stuff to "stimulate" the readers/audiences, then everything will be slow down.

Take this as a new challenge, but as I have mentioned earlier, we need to create a lot of new stuff, get our foundation firm and well-built before we approach the public. And of course, we need to keep all our new stuff like "study forum", "creative corner", "graphic/webpage competition" from the public but slowly release them to public. this will help to save our resources and meanwhile, we have more time to prepare the next projects. not sure you guys understand what shit i am talking about... hahaha!!!

AND, if the public/government know that Recom has a group of oversea students who love their country so much, I am sure the government will sponsor our activities.

~ roy ~

[equuelus]

can anybody tell me what actions are made in response to this topic after a week of rigorous discussion. This topic is dead for more than a month now.

action speaks louder than words.

[masterof_none]

Hi equuelus!



action speaks louder than words.

Yep, I agree.


our code name for winter break project is Buzz.

Last dec 20th, Me and Jiin Joo met a Malaysian researcher...he agree to be ReCom's advisor, and some sponsorships.

Last dec 23rd, we're having meeting(videocenferencing) from around the world.

Some projects already started.Such as Recommerce. I've already seen it. It still at the baby stage.
Soon to be released

Luke is still enhancing the Creative Corner code.

Schye in Japan still working with me on getting contacts from Professionals

Cheryl and Kevin are approaching newspapers, etc

I'm still working with Chen Chow in Penang and Dharman in Germany on Forum, and together with Bachok researching around to solve the webhosting problem...

Hui Lin in Malaysia are working on registration stuff.

__earth , Dennis and Ishveir are still at the baby stage to produce the
Malaysian Students Newsletter.

and a whole lot more background work from ReCom Anchors......

we're now working on the NeXT Step.
And we are REALLY WORKING on it right now.

Hope you can join us too!. It's really fun.

[Ishveir]

Nice...
I have to say with that well detailed list of people we are heading somewhere

and to see all that much of cooperation, man it is great!
ok well what do you think on approaching sponsorship the traditional online way. By having organizations and companies advertise (education, social-youth, sports, online resources..etc) to advertise on ReCom..
in that way we can get some funds from that dont you guys think?
what say ya'll?

[equuelus]

i have to praise, a job well done! keep up the good work.