STARMETRO, TUESDAY 23 JUNE 2009

EVENTS

M9

Learning about blogs

MBPJ recognises that young people are comfortable using the new media
By JADE CHAN
jade@thestar.com.my

IS tender age belies his

knowledge and familiarity
with blogging as Gloson
Teh, 11, has been blogging for
nearly a year.
I write about anything interesting that I have learnt, particularly things related to IT, said the
SK USJ 20 Year Five pupil.
Teh had signed up for the Blog
411 workshop for advanced bloggers at the PJ Challenge 09: Bloggers
Karnival, in hopes of finding
methods to drive more traffic to
his blog and learning how to gain
more RSS (Really Simple
Syndication) subscribers.
Organised by Kaspersky Lab in
association with the Association of
Backpackers Malaysia (ABM) and
the Petaling Jaya City Council
(MPBJ), the carnival is one of the
events being held to commemorate PJs third anniversary as a city.
MBPJ Local Agenda 21 (LA21)
programme senior assistant director Lee Lih Shyan said in line with
LA21, the anniversary celebrations
would integrate environmental,
social and economic elements to
engage different segments of society.
The bloggers carnival is aimed
at enhancing communication
skills and getting the community
to learn about blogging.

Social networking activity: Puasa (seated, second from right)

being briefed on the features of the Kaspersky Friends & Fan Klub
(K-Klub) community. With him are Wong (seated, right) and Gun
(standing, right).
We also have a sports and recreation carnival, and well be having a childrens forum that will be
run by children, as we hope to
become a child-friendly city by
2011, Lee said.
In his speech, PJ deputy mayor
Puasa Md Taib (who was representing PJ mayor Datuk Mohamad
Roslan Sakiman) said: Young
people are more comfortable
using the new media for social
networking, information search
and political news, hence there is
no reason for the MBPJ to stop

embracing this trend.

This event complements the
councils effort in making PJ a
knowledge city within a dynamic,
healthy and sustainable environment.
The high level of literacy
among PJ folk is another good
reason to have community blogs
as a channel to create a better liveable city, said ABM president and
event organising chairman Datuk
Dr Wong Sai Hou.
ABM was formed in 1991 with
core activities focusing on back-

to-nature backpacking, and has

been organising the recreationoriented PJ Challenge since 2004.
Kaspersky Lab South East Asia
channel director Gun Suk Ling
believes that blogging is a great
way of sharing information, as
anyone can blog to reach out to
the community and the world.
She estimated that 100 bloggers
and 130 non-bloggers had signed
up for the carnivals workshops,
which included a session for
youngsters aged eight to 18.
First-time bloggers comprising
VIP guests, community leaders,
children from underprivileged
homes and the public were taught
the basics of blogging during the
Blog 101 workshops, while experienced bloggers learnt about
security tips and how they could
enhance their blogs during the
Blog 411 session.
Popular bloggers Kenny Sia,
Amanda Choe, Ellie Chee, Niki
Cheong, Josh Lim, Jason Goh and
Rames Harikrishnasamy shared
ideas on how to blog more humorously, the drama and emotions of
blogging, secrets of the Malaysian
blogosphere and how blogging
related to journalism.
The carnival included activities
like face-painting, colouring contest, photography contest, treasure hunt, lucky draws, Fathers
Day dress-up contest, and special
Kaspersky giveaways.