Let visit be like flipping pages in history

The Star, 10 Oct, 2009.

THE writer of the letter “Real-life movie studio” (The Star, Oct was spot on.

Having Malaccan roots myself and having gone back various times to visit the historical city, I feel that Malacca as a “movie set” is an interesting concept.

It could be done in such a way that when someone enters Malacca, it would be akin to flipping the pages of a history book. Every page presents an adventure that transports locals and tourists alike to a time when merchants from all over the world met and traded their spices and wares, or a walk with Hang Tuah on his way to the Sultan’s palace or to fight with Jebat, or the spot where the Portuguese landed.

People can experience how it felt to dress, eat, drink, dance and talk during the time and place when Malacca was at the height of her popularity.

Fathers & Sons E-Book

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Get the Basics Right

THE article “Teaching children to fail” (Aug 17) is unbelievable. Unbelievably spot on, that is. Growing up, my late dad John Pillai, a former journalist and my mum, a retired teacher, definitely helped shape my communication and language skills.

As one became older and supposedly wiser, one also at times, ignored the discipline and passion poured into English, instilled by the “old folks”. One became sloppy, sometimes irritated when dad was checking my work.

Yes, he still did at this stage although no more knuckle raps. But when a person so passionate about the language and words is no more, who is there to discourse and debate about this article or another? Teachers are there to be this guiding force to our young, to ensure that the road ahead is cleared. Minimise the obstacles. But let’s also not underestimate the “new young”, the Gen Y and beyond. They live in two parallel worlds, the ones we live in and the virtual one. They know how important language and communication is.

After all, any Facebook account will show friends from all over the world. Language barriers broken by one common communication tool namely, English.The whole debate is being laughed at by teens. They will probably fine tune their English by going online more often. The ones we need to worry about are the ones just entering school.

Set up some task force within another task force to “menilai semula” all that has been happening.

(Letter by Gerry Pillai appeared in theSun,WEDNESDAY AUGUST 19 2009)

Content Development Requirement in Malaysia

Content.

Sounds simple right?

For most people, especially in the country, this usually refers to 2D or 3D animation such as those meant for TV and the Cinema.

Sometimes, the term 'creative content' is used. Usually referring to the use of multimedia tools (software and hardware) to come out with content work as mentioned above.

However, 'content' could also refer to other types that do not fall under the 'movie' types that we are all used to.

What about:

1. Content that captures the country's images from the past to now, to illustrate the evolution of the nation's history, culture, heritage and people. This could be in the form of still images and/or videos

2. Content that records the indigenous tribes of Malaysia and the natural habitats

3. Content that helps people, both locals and foreigners alike, to appreciate our country's kampung environments

4. Content that captures the sounds of our variety of languages, dialects, their differences, similarities etc

5. Content that helps our people to learn another's language and customs

Think about this for a bit

Anti Drugs Campaign: Capitalising on New Media

What do we mean by ‘New Media’?

New media is a term meant to encompass the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies in the later part of the 20th century.

Most technologies described as "new media" are digital, often having characteristics of being manipulable, networkable, dense, compressible, and impartial. New Media products are usually those that have been designed and developed using a variety of multimedia tools and technologies such as Adobe Flash, Dreamweaver, HTML, Studio3D Max, SoundForge, Photoshop, Maya etc. New Media encompasses Videos, Images, Audio, Graphics, Raw Text and Animation all bundled interactively. Messages that are built into New Media packages are often quite compelling and are aimed at reaching out to the intended target audience in the most effective manner possible.

Web 2.0 Application Snapshot