ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MALAYSIA: AN ANALYSIS ON ENVIRONMENTAL NGOs WEBSITES DESIGN

Environmental concern has become increasingly integrated into the public domain and mainstream, traditional, and new media. Investigations into the phenomena of environmental communication (EC) using online advocacy are increasingly trans-disciplinary endeavors. My research question focused on how the websites design of the environmental NGOs in Malaysia (ENGOM) can effectively support the sustainability development in Malaysia. The result shows that the majority of the ENGOM websites met the ‘well designed’ requirements. The outcome of this study can especially helps environmental organisations develop the Internet and the web strategies which take into account the issues examined herein, in order to best utilise this medium for their purposes. The usability test was suggested to evaluate the user’s point of view regarding what constitutes an effective and well designed environmental website.Keywords: environmental communication; environmental NGOs, homepage, internet, web design, web page, websit

Communicating change in organizational restructuring: A grounded theory case study

Literature has shown that planned change is accompanied by excitement and hope.People affected by change require quality information.Failure to communicate change may lead to resistance.This paper presents a change involving the amalgamation of two university faculties into one.Within the framework of a case study research design and the used of the Constructivist Grounded Theory for data collection and analysis, the theme of communication during the change process is presented through the experiences and life accounts of faculty members involved and affected by it.The paper ends with useful suggestions for change agents in today's complex organization

ENVIRONMENTAL ONLINE CAMPAIGNS THROUGH WEBSITE INTERACTIVITY: THE CASE OF MALAYSIA ENVIRONMENTAL NGOs (MENGO)

Online campaigns reflect all the advantages; namely speed, low cost, accessibility, customisation, interactivity, and persuasive ability over other media channels. Normally via websites, expensive campaigns could be done not only faster and cheaper, but also successfully (Ward, 2012). Web interactivity seems to be highly beneficial to ENGOs in advocating environmental campaigns and trigger interaction (Petersson, 2010; Ward, 2012). This paper looks into the environmental online campaigns through websites of the environmental NGOs in Malaysia (MENGO); particularly on how is web interactivity structured and employed by the selected the MENGO to conduct campaigns on important issues and encourage dialogue among the audience. In this study, a quantitative method for website content analysis was conducted to investigate the availability of the coded units and to determine on which level(s) the units were placed. Twelve (12) interactivity features were coded, including the placement of units of analysis for interactivity category as units of analysis until the fourth level (Level 0-Level 3). The result demonstrates how the MENGO do not effectively structure and employ the web interactivity to conduct campaigns on important issues and encourage dialogue among the audience. It is suggested that the MENGO should redevelop the interactive website in order to effectively advocate environmental campaigns on important issues and encourage dialogue among the audience. Keywords: environmental NGOs (ENGO), Malaysia environmental NGOs (MENGO), Internet, website, online campaigns, web interactivity

EFFECT OF E-MAIL USE ON OTHER COMMUNICATION

The Internet has become the nerve of global communication and became a growing popularity and ubiquity of personal computers and Internet services and part of everyday existence at workplace, home and cybercafés environments. This study examines the effect of Internet (confine to E-mail) use as opposed to other communication media among women’s administrative staff in Malaysia and the United Kingdom. The two universities selected in this study are Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (henceforth UTeM), Malaysia and University of Brighton (henceforth UB), United Kingdom. This study is motivated by the desire to explore women’s Internet experiences concerning their use of Internet (E-mail). That is to say, its aim is to investigate effect of E-mail use as opposed to other communication media. The focus of the investigation is the use of E-mail patterns. Data was collected from a semi-structured interview and it was carried out among ten women of who are administrative staffs. The study revealed substantial differences on E-mail use between participants in the two countries. Keywords: internet, e-mail, women, university settings, Malaysia, United Kingdom

UTeM's Undergraduate Experience on Facebook: Preliminary Findings

Social network sites are becoming more popular and are being used by different groups of people. A market study conducted by Nickburcher (2009) on facebook usage reported that there are now 27 countries with over 1 million people using facebook. Malaysia was reported to have 1,069,260 million of people log on to facebook by March 2009. Among the popular social networking sites are facebook, MySpace and Twitter. However, in Malaysia little is known about how much, why and how users use Facebook. In this study, 100 engineering undergraduates comprises of 50 males and 50 females of Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka completed their reflecting journaling method across five days and supplemented by survey were completed, reporting the prevalence and time spent, why and how they use the facebook. Preliminary findings of the study indicated that females participants spent more often for social interaction with whom they have built offline relationship. Implications of facebook use for the development of identity and peer relationships are discussed

BENEFITS OF YOUTUBE VIDEOS USAGE IN STUDENTS’ LEARNING

This is case study research based provides a practical knowledge of how Web 2.0 particularly YouTube which is accessible freely online to support active learning in negotiation classroom. The video clips are selected based on its appropriateness to improve teaching and learning purposes which include the technical qualities, contents, learners’ attitude and readiness and learners’ engagement. These video clips were disseminated and viewed by 30 participants who registered for negotiation skills course at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM). A semi-structured interview was conducted to retrieve participant’s views on four themes specifically the technical qualities, contents, learners’ attitude and readiness and learners’ engagement. The result indicates that participants have strong inclination to the integration of YouTube in their lesson as it enhances and support learning activities.KEYWORDS: YouTube, technologies, negotiation, active learning, thematic analysis

Comparing student's perceptions of blended learning and traditional classroom deliveries in an english professional communication course in a technical university

An interview was conducted to under graduates of Bachelor of Computer Engineering and Electronic who were sat for English Professional Communication course at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) in Malaysia. This study compares students' perceptions of the overall satisfaction of the course and the delive1ies methods. One group of students were kept in a traditional in-class section, and another group in a blended-learning section in which the primary course delive1y method was partly online, whereby students met in class on a limited number of occasions. Overall perceptions of the course, lecturer/instructor and learning outcomes were positive for both groups. Students depicted strong inclination that they would use the material in their careers. The majority of students in the blended learning section indicated that they would take another elective course using blended learning approach if it were offered. However, some interesting differences were noted. Specifically, students in the traditional setting were more satisfied with the clarity of instruction. Blended-learning students also indicated fitmly that their analytical skills improved as a result of the course. The results suggest that the two delive1y methods were similar in terms of final learning outcomes

Malaysian environmental NGOs on the world wide web: Communicating campaigns through the power of photographs

Photographs are one of the key aspects available on environmental websites that may transcend environmental stories in ways that words cannot. Lately, photographs are used widely in communicating the environment campaigns online.Three environmental NGOs in Malaysia (ENGOMs) were chosen for this study. A content analysis was conducted on their websites to investigate how they used photographs as powerful tools to communicate environmental campaigns and potentially call people to take action.The result indicates that MNS had well utilised the photographs for its online campaigns, whereas both of WWFM and SAM had moderately utilised the photographs for the same purpose

Best Website of Practices by Malaysian Environmental NGOs: A Comparative Study

This research is the first attempt to cover best practices for environmental websites in Malaysia. We choose five environmental NGOs in Malaysia (ENGOMs) for a case study and evaluated website practices they used to communicate their missions and goals. A quantitative data was collected and analyzed via content analysis of the five ENGOM websites. The content analysis of the websites sought to determine, identify and assess the best practices of the environmental issues and potentially mobilize government or public action on these issues. How do the ENGOMs effectively use the website to communicate their organizations' missions goals? We conducted an extensive literature review to identify features of websites such as the usefulness of information, interactivity, navigability and design that have been evaluated as important by previous researchers. Then we used these features as a basis for assessing the effectiveness of the practices of environmental websites in Malaysia. The web content analysis demonstrates that all the five ENGOMs had relatively small websites, providing useful information such as mission, goals and organization background. Most of the global issues advocated by them were meant to mobilise support and action. This is considered a rather ineffective use of OC. Interactivity features available across their websites were categorized as a 'low' level of utilization. The ENGOMs did not fully utilize them for the purpose of conducting online campaigns and encouraging dialogue. The navigability of the five ENGOMs websites was categorized at a 'good' level, given that the majority of them provided good and easy navigation. The majority of the websites also met the 'well designed' requirements. Overall, the five ENGOMs have delivered most of the best practice features expected in effective environmental websites; Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) was ranked as the best websites, while Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) is at the opposite end of the spectrum. ENGOMs in their endeavor to develop their websites. However, a key finding is that the websites with more resources did not use them as effectively as websites with fewer resources. Thus, one or two conscientious and well trained employees could be successful with limited resources

BEST PRACTICES USED BY MALAYSIAN ENVIRONMENTAL WEBSITES: A COMPARISON STUDY

This research is the first attempt to cover best practices for environmental websites in Malaysia. We chose five environmental NGOs in Malaysia (ENGOMs) for a case study, and evaluated website practices they used to communicate their missions and goals. A quantitative data was collected and analysed via content analysis of the five ENGOM websites. The content analysis of the websites sought to determine, identify and assess the best practices of the environmental websites features. The research questions focused on the use of online communication (OC) by ENGOMs in order to advocate specific environmental issues and potentially mobilise government or public action on these issues. How do the ENGOMs effectively use the website to communicate their organisations’ missions and goals? We conducted an extensive literature review to identify features of websites such as the usefulness of information, interactivity, navigability, and design that have been evaluated as important by previous researchers. Then we used these features as a basis for assessing the effectiveness of the practices of environmental websites in Malaysia. The web content analysis demonstrates that all the five ENGOMs had relatively small websites, providing useful information such as mission, goals, and organisation background. Most of the global issues advocated by them were meant to mobilise support and action. This is considered a rather ineffective use of OC. Interactivity features available across their websites were categorised at a ‘low’ level of utilisation. The ENGOMs did not fully utilise them for the purpose of conducting online campaigns and encouraging dialogue. The navigability of the five ENGOMs’ websites was categorised at a ‘good’ level, given that the majority of them provided good and easy navigation. The majority of the websites also met the ‘well designed’ requirements. Overall, the five ENGOMs have delivered most of the best practise features expected in effective environmental websites; Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) was ranked as the best website, while Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) is at the opposite end of the spectrum. ENGOMs’ employees expressed views about enhancing their websites to be more interactive in the future. Financial constraints seemed to be the biggest problem faced by all ENGOMs in their endeavour to develop their websites. However, a key finding is that the websites with more resources did not use them as effectively as websites with fewer resources. Thus, one or two conscientious and well trained employees could be successful with limited resources. Keywords: online communication, interactivity, navigation, web design, online campaigns