From Digital Divide to Digital Inclusion - Part I

The Internet has come a long way since its invention in the 60’s. It started as a research project and slowly became a tool for the knowledgeable elites to use. Today, we would think that many people in Malaysia use the Internet for some reasons. However, as government and businesses move their presence to the Internet to capitalize on its effectiveness as a business and communication medium, we would like to think that no one will be left behind in this new way of interacting with government and businesses. And that is the essence of a digital divide program - to bridge the gap between the ‘know’ and the ‘don’t know’, and between the ‘have’ and the ‘don’t have’ so as to ensure that no one is left behind.

From one generation to another. Teaching an adult requires a different skill.

DANAU has been fortunate to be given the opportunity to design the learning experience and conduct learning sessions in a program that was originally intended to bridge the digital divide between the rural and urban communities. The project which was conducted from March to June 2008 took us to ten rural communities in Melaka. We spent two full days with each of the communities in a learning program that provides hands-on experience about the Internet and the use of computers in education to adults (men and women), youths (girls and boys) and children.

Never too old to learn? This man is in his 90’s and still keen to know.

Preparation for the program was massive. This includes site visits, printed learning materials, goodies, prizes for the lucky draw, hundreds of quiz questions, educational games, reference website for the program (http://internet.danauilmu.net and the recently updated Menguasai Internet Blog) , and many more. A program which looks good on paper when it was first proposed often requires some adjustments, changes and additions during implementation. Fortunately, DANAU has the capability and flexibility to handle these changes and additions so we were able to overcome the challenges successfully.

Landing the space shuttle barely a year after Sheikh Muszapha went to ISS.

Using a virtual reality software which have been developed earlier to learn about architecture in the context of religion and culture

In the next posting (Part II) we will highlight the other interactive learning sessions as experienced by the participants. We will also highlight some of the key findings from our observation and interaction with rural community participants in the program which we have conducted.

July 18, 2009 | Filed Under Knowledge Exchange, Our Works | Leave a Comment

Menguasai Internet Cara Malaysia

compshopper_review2

A review in Computer Shopper

I wrote the book Menguasai Internet, the first Malay language book of its kind at that time, almost than ten years ago. I decided to write the book in Malay, or Bahasa Malaysia, to give Malay speaking audiences a chance to learn to master the Internet. Hence the book was named Menguasai Internet, or Mastering the Internet in English.

The book started as seminar notes - the notes which I gave to my Menguasai Internet seminar participants somewhere between 1996 and 1997. Writing the book was really interesting although I had to put in hours of research and writing to get the first draft completed. I am quite used to research and writing so I took the challenge quite well. To discover and understand the true spirit of the Internet was extremely satisfying. I also had the opportunity to interview Dr. Mohamed Awang Lah, the person responsible for setting up RANGKOM (Rangkaian Komputer Malaysia), the first computer network in Malaysia before it was eventually connected to the Internet. Dr. Mohamed is currently the CEO of Jaring Communications.

On a different nnote, something which I found a bit difficult to accept was the editor trying to change the words and the sentences in the book during the editorial process, not knowing that it is normal for editors to do that. So if you are planning to write a book, it pays to understand the editorial process and to learn to trust the judgments of the editors. The book was published by Pustaka Cipta Sdn Bhd and the company was amongst the very few companies that adopted the web quite early. Interestingly enough, though, they have not updated or moved their website from one of the pioneers of free web hosting sites, Anglefire. If you wish to travel back in time to see how websites used to be then you should visit them here.

The welcome page of Menguasai Internet

The Menguasai Internet blog is written in Malay, the original language of the book. It can be reached at the following URL http://menguasaiinternet.danauilmu.net. This internally funded blog is established as part of our commitment to provide communities living in Malaysia access to knowledge and learning opportunities that are highly relevant to them. Your comments and suggestions on how the blog can be evolved to be more relevant to the local communities are welcomed. Do visit the blog and spread the URL around.

July 6, 2009 | Filed Under Social Commitment | Leave a Comment

Final Round of Supervisor Visit

The internship period for Batch #9 is almost over. We had two visits in the last two weeks. Prof. Dr. Mohd Maarof Moksin from the Department of Physics came to visit Azura to find out her progress. Azura has been helping us on some content development work. We will be happy to consider any internship application from UPM next year.

Same place but different people, with Prof. Mohd Maarof and Azura at our feature wall

Last week was Dr. Azah Kamilah’s turn to visit her four intern students, Nur Azza, Amiera, Zulhilmi and Hazwan Hakim, from the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology. The four of them have been helping us on a variety of tasks but mostly graphic related.

Posing with Dr. Azah after a presentation session.

We hope to see more of them next year.

July 1, 2009 | Filed Under Internship Update | 1 Comment