My thoughts on News Writing for Print & Broadcast

The 'masked' photographer in Asaban Fest 2012. Photo taken by Matthew C.

The course was as simple and straightforward as the lectures introduced throughout the class. There were a lot of guidelines, tips, definition of terms and how-to-deal with certain situations on the job.

I treated my assignments as though I was really on the job. I interviewed, I took photos, I made friends (contact) and I went through the pros (what's it like to be prep up and ready on the job) and cons (mistakes of being unprepared on certain areas on the job).

This is what happen when one is 'very' early on the job. I was having fun before the Comm Fest 2012 began.  Photo taken by Amanda.

My thoughts on having a blog to show one's work for one's peers and lecturer to view is truly creative and effective (to learn from one's mistakes and viewing others style of writing). I hope that this blog will stay here for the future batches whom will view and learn from the previous users. I will also be updating my blog with local events within Taylor's or whatever I got along the way.

Matthew C. took a photo of me interviewing about the Vanguard card game competition during Asaban Fest 2012.

Behind the Scene: Taylor's CommFest

TAYLOR's UNIVERSITY staff and students had a blast while bonding amongst one another throughout CommFest 2012: Social Media Olympics (Social-lympics) at Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus, on October 31, Wednesday.

While most of the participants of the event have truly enjoyed themselves with experiencing sports and social media at the same time. There is more to this event than they think.

Taylor’s School of Communication (SOC) lecturer and CommFest project advisor Thaera Yousef along with SOC Public Relation (PR) student and ProPassion operations director Tristan Fung share their thoughts.

What is CommFest?

“It is called Communication Festival and it is an event organised by the SOC students to look at (the field of) communication being expressed in different ways.

“Every year we have different themes, which the students have to come up with; one of the (CommFest) objectives is to see how creative and versatile they can communicate (their ideas) through different medium or modes (to their audience).

“Another objective of CommFest is to get people to interact especially between students and staff; that’s what our activities has always been about: participation and games.

“CommFest gives them (PR students) the exposure they may not have experienced from their internship.

“Very seldom in their internship, they get to do things like proposal planning and pitching to the media. Generally they (the company) will ask them to do a small role because the company is afraid they will make a mistake.

“In this project (CommFest), the (PR) students have to do an event from the beginning until the end, so the exposure would be a lot more than their internship,” she added.

What is ProPassion?

Thaera explains, “proPassion is a student PR consultancy, so basically what happens is that they will have positions in that consultancy like operations director, marketing director, events director; in this consultancy they have to find a client to work for projects. When they pitch for a project, it gives them a hands-on experience of how to run a PR campaign, it depends what (client) they get, this is the time where they put their first four semesters of theories to the final semester into practice.

What happens after CommFest?

Thaera mentions, “Additional funds will be used to pay our sponsors and the rest will be distributed to the Bario Project.

"Bario Project is a Corporate Social Responsibility project spearheaded by Taylor's. This project is dedicated to help the community in Bario, Sabah. By building facilities like hostels for the family who can't afford to send their children to school; it is still ongoing," she added.

Why Social-lympics?

Thaera mentioned, “Since (CommFest) 2010, we are still looking at social media because this is the current issue with youth today.

“They are so much in the virtual world that they are not in-touch with their reality; the hours spent on social media and what is happening is that: if you are an avid social media user, it doesn’t really mean you are a good communicator and that’s why we sort of went onto the same platform but this time we ask (the PR) students to go into sports and activities.

“I have my fair share of students who communicates well when they are online but face-to-face, (they) do not know how to interact.

“We are embracing social media, it is not going anywhere. Although there is a lot of problems now like when you use social media you become more narcissistic, where all you think about is yourself.

“Facebook users, everything is me, I upload the latest Char Kuey Teow I ate, I do this; I did that.

“Since almost everything is done through social media, what we are trying to tell the public to come out from it (virtual reality) and interact with people. Face-to-face communication cannot be eliminated. I mean if you want a real relationship with someone, whether it is friendship or whatever; you have to do that face-to-face.

“That’s why we called it Social Media Olympics,” Thaera added.

However from Tristan’s point of view, “The idea (Social-Lympics) was taken from CommFest 2010 and CommFest 2011, the issue now is the lack of (physical) activities and sports; they (youth) are always on social media.

“Basically we want to imply the sports and social media together and bring up this event where social media is brought up with sports.

“We want them (online users) to know that even though you are so attached to social media today but you can still go out to have fun with activities especially (like) sports. We want youths these days to have a healthier lifestyle.

“You can still have both worlds, you can have a healthier lifestyle while you can be very technologically-wise.

“Whether the message was sent out or not, hopefully it is out there, that’s why we have this social media event, we want them to have fun and to keep in mind that you can have both: sports and social media as well,” Tristan added.

For more information, visit: https://www.facebook.com/CommFest2012.

How healthy are you?

There is no health without mental health was an emphasis of what Health Psychologist and Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine & Health Sciences senior lecturer (psychology) Carina Chan spoke during a Befrienders seminar on October 13, Saturday.

Many of the participants thought that as long as one does not fall ill, they are ‘healthy’ but from World Health Organization (WHO)’s definition and from Carina Chan perceptive, to be healthy: it falls under more than one factor.

WHO defined Health as: a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being; not merely the absence of disease.

Physical well-being like fitness and social well-being on relationships with family, friends; society are understandable factors but what about mental well-being?

WHO's definition on mental health is not just the absences of mental disorder; it is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.

Mental Health & Physical Health

From Chan’s understanding, she stated that our moods can affect our physiology while our physical condition can also affect out mental health, “Experiencing malnutrition can create risks of cognitive deficits while being exposed to stress can also increase vulnerability for developing common cold”.  Some of the common behaviours that may lead to Chan’s example can be determined by:

• How much physical activity has the individual been doing?
• Has the individual been practicing a healthy diet?
• Does the individual have adequate sleep?
• Is the individual drug/alcohol free?

Chan later mentioned that our moods, attitudes, resilience, beliefs and behaviours towards life are a part of how our mental health works.

After Chan’s short introduction on what is mental health is all about, she proceeds to give tips on improving our mental health.

Time to work out or just move!

“If there is a will, there is a way; remember, ‘Malaysia Boleh…’” as Chan drags the last two words, the participants of the seminar burst out with laughter after saying it along with her.

Chan later stated the advantages of physical activity, “for the younger population, physical activity can reduce depression, reduce anxiety, and improve (short term) self-esteem while improving their cognitive performance and possibly their academic achievement as well’,

“Whereas for the older population, physical activity they can improve with their well-being by delaying the risks of getting disability while encouraging them to live independently; it can also (maintain or) improve their cognitive function too”.

“Many have told me that there is just not enough time to exercise due to their busy schedule. Just try, practice 3 times a week and spend a minimum of 30 minutes per day. If not, then do more physical activity than usual: take the stairs instead of using the elevator. Spend time to stretch and walk around the office before sitting back down to do your work, do gardening, clean up the house; just move, often.”

Rest and Recuperation

“We need an average of seven to eight hours of sleep as our body needs to go through the repair and rejuvenating processes”, after Chan said that, some of the audiences commented that were times that they or their peers have experience otherwise.

Chan replied, “If you feel rejuvenated from a five hour sleep, that’s good but for those who can sleep for more than 8 hours or more, well, you must be really lucky”, then came another burst of laughter erupted.

A Feeling Being

“Always practice emotional disclosure by letting go of the negative (feelings) and learn to express your emotions by talking actively”. By active talking, Chan explained that when we suppress our feelings, we become passive talkers and those who have suppress their feelings suffers more than the ones who spoke as they have felt.

Competence versus Confidence

“Have you ever thought you had the ability to do things? Enhancing your self-efficacy can improve your mental health”, Chan later explained that having the competence to do things is important but with over-confidence can bring arrogance and snobbishness. “It’s always better that you are competent but with less confidence than vice versa”.

“Everyone must realise that however we feel and whatever we do is done by our individual choice, have some sense of control and be aware of your action(s)”.

Growing Japanese Culture within Taylor's community

 Group photoshoot of ⅓  the cosplayers during TAF 2012.
Photo by Davie Gan

IN an effort to promote Japan’s modern and traditional culture, Taylor’s Anime Society (TAS) have recently held their third Taylor’s Asaban Festival (TAF) 2012 at Taylor’s Lakeside Campus* last weekend. (* means it is related, read futher)

About 500 visitors attended the two-day (September 1 and 2) event which consist of members of the public and the ACG (Anime, Comics and Games) community.

Two of the convention’s VIP guests were Malaysia’s ACG convention representative Soloman Freeman and Japanese band Haku.

TAF has been known for its signature sessions, ‘Asa’ (Day) and ‘Ban’ (Night). The day session will focus on the ACG aspects, complete with figurines and doujin (self published works and products) booths, along with cosplayers and crossdressers. The night session will showcase (an example of) modern and traditional aspect of Japanese culture.

“The purpose of Asaban is to share our (TAS) passion and interest of Japanese culture to the local community. The event has been staged to promote our love of the Japanese culture while we (TAS members) learn to bond with each other before, during and after the event”, said TAS: Lakeside human resource director, Chong Er Whey.

“To me, this is the time whereby the members of TAS will have a chance to experience the pros and cons in organising a convention, it is a learning experience”, said TAS: Lakeside president 2012 Wong Jun Ee.

Figurines that were displayed throughout the two-day event.

Participants of the Moekana card competition are playing to win the
limited edition Touch 'n'  Go Mirai Suenaga card which was organised by Soloman.

Visitors were given a drawing booth and some drawing boards to explore or show-off their artistic side.
Photo by Zoe Gan

A group photoshot of Haku and their Malaysian fans after the concert.
Photo by Nadzmi

For TAF 2012, the agenda on September 1, four performances from local J-Rock bands were held throughout the day to keep the hall lively while visitors shop and browse through the doujin (self published works and products) booths in the Multi Purpose Hall*. At night, a band from Japan called Haku had their "J-Rock no Tamashii 3” concert at the Multi Purpose Hall* to entertain their fans and to showcase an example of Japanese pop culture and music.

While on September 2, prizes were given away to those who participated in the cosplay competition, the singing competition and Asaban Mini Quest (a remodeled version of ‘treasure hunt’) throughout the day. After that a night festival called Asaban no Matsuri had booths selling Japanese food and drink, with mini-games and activities to enhance the atmosphere; to give visitors the feel of traditional Japanese culture.

JOG members in their yukata during the night festival.

At the end of the event, members of the Japanese Otaku Guild (JOG) from HELP university mentioned that they will visit TAF again to support the event.