A Study on Participants’ Feedback on Program Delivery of Klik Dengan Bijak (KDB) Organized by Malaysian Communications
and Multimedia Commission
Nurul Nisa Omar1*, Che Nur Amalina S. Che Zainal1, Shawal Ras1, Abdul Basit2
1 Faculty of Arts & Science, International University of Malaya-Wales, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2 Faculty of Business, International University of Malaya-Wales, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: [email protected] Accepted: 15 September 2022 | Published: 1 October 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ajress.2022.4.3.7
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Abstract: This study explores the participants’ feedback on the program delivery of Klik Dengan Bijak (KDB) through the focus group discussion method. To encourage positive use of the Internet, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) organised the KDB program as part of the government initiative to educate the public about internet safety and security. In any program, it is important to study the actual feedback from participants who took part in the program to assess their awareness and receptiveness towards the program delivery. For this paper, the researchers conduct focus group discussions with KDB participants from four different backgrounds; professionals, educators, parents, and students. The analysis is to measure the feedback based on participants’ awareness, receptiveness, knowledge, attitude, and practice. The findings of the study reveal that the strength of the KDB program delivery is in the choice of topic and knowledgeable speaker that does provide a positive impact on participants’ knowledge and behaviour. The results also indicate other strengths and weaknesses before coming up with recommendations and suggestions to assist Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to improve the delivery of the KDB program in the future.
Keywords: klik dengan bijak, participants’ feedback, focus group, program delivery _________________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
In the current era, the rise of digital technologies sparks a debate on the appropriate usage of technologies and their negative/positive influence on users’ life. The users need a deep understanding and are encouraged to obtain lifelong knowledge and skill in the current environment. Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), introduced
‘Klik Dengan Bijak’ (KDB) program to spread awareness of digital literacy among public users in the Malaysian context. Overall, the program aims to spread awareness of safety, security, and responsible usage of the internet among children, parents, youth, and adults (MCMC, n.d). Internet usage awareness and education are the government responsibility to avoid any unintentional harm to society. To educate public users’ governments in a different part of the world-initiated campaigns which are effective to enhance awareness about critical issues associated with the usage of the internet (Dutt, Dev, & Ferrara, 2018). The rise of digital technology adoption and internet use around the globe, increases the risk of fake news and
malware attacks in 2016 targeted individuals with poor online behaviors and unawareness of the usage (Goh, Neo & Chen, 2020).
Thus, internet users need to understand digital literacy’s importance and competency, which government needs to ensure for the safety of the public. The programs conducted by ‘Klik Dengan Bijak’ (KDB) by MCMC in the Malaysian context can reduce cybersecurity incidents in the country. In recent times, total of 7495 cyber security cases were reported between January till August 2021 in Malaysia which is alarming and cases are still on the rise (The Star, 2021). Hence this article explores the effectiveness of ‘Klik Dengan Bijak’ (KDB) program to assess the overall strength and delivery of it towards audience awareness, receptivity, attitude and, behaviors of digital literacy and competency.
To achieve that researcher formulated the following research objectives:
• To evaluate the effectiveness of KDB materials by studying participants’ awareness, receptiveness, knowledge, attitude, and practice.
• To assess and provide recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of KDB materials in the future
This study explores a study on participants’ feedback on the program delivery of Klik Dengan Bijak (KDB) Organized by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission in Malaysia. The study is structured into four main sections; the introduction, literature review, methodology, findings, recommendations along with the conclusion of the study.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Klik Dengan Bijak (KDB) Program
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) launched the Klik Dengan Bijak (KDB) or "click wisely" as an online effort to inform and raise Malaysians' understanding of Internet safety and security. The campaign was developed and launched in 2012 to raise awareness regarding a safer online experience for the user.
To support the campaign throughout the years, MCMC has provided safety guides which include information and videos on how to use the Internet in a safe, secure, and responsible manner which comprises various areas, including online shopping, fake profile, personal information, computer security, and many more.
Some of the programs organised by the KDB include workshops, physical seminars and webinars, social media feeds through Instagram and Facebook, website, video content via YouTube, and many more (MCMC, n.d.). But despite the efforts, studies reported number of cybercrimes in Malaysia has not declined (Waheed, Samani, & Tiung, 2020).
2.2 Similar government-led inititiatives
Government-initiated campaigns have been seen as an effective method to raise awareness among the public and educate them regarding important issues. According to Hyland-Wood, Gardner, Leask and Ecker (2021) the public often views the government as a trustworthy authority, allowing the information to be taken in a serious manner. Moreover, Dutt, Dev, and Ferrara (2018) stated two of the key ingredients to reaching efficacy are effectiveness and receptivity.
Cybersecurity dangers are a rising source of concern as Internet usage and popularity rise.
Numerous initiatives have been created by both government and non-government organisations to raise awareness of cybersecurity. Such campaigns are fundamental as they are used to stimulate, motivate, and remind their audience what is expected of them (Bada, Solms, &
Agrafiotis, 2019).
The usage of websites, infographics, social media, videos, and many more are common in any awareness campaign and have been seen as successful in delivering key messages of any campaign (De Bruijn & Janssen, 2017). Aside from the ‘Klik Dengan Bijak’ program discussed above, the writers have identified several government-led cybersecurity campaigns, including
“Cyber Baykin” from Myanmar and “Cyber Tips 4 You” from Singapore.
2.3 Participants’ awareness, receptiveness, knowledge, attitude, and practice
Communication campaigns can be successfully held if their impacts are measurable to the public. Organisers are responsible for ensuring the public's participation could enable changes in their life (Jabli, Alghamdi, & Demir, 2018). Ono and Chiaghana (2020) stated campaigns, especially those produced and led by governments, are meant to affect the public positively and inculcate positive attitudes and behavioral changes.
Agaku, et al. (2017) reported that a campaigns effectiveness can be measured through its exposure and audience's knowledge of the campaign, as well as their receptivity or willingness in accepting the message of the campaign. Audience awareness and receptivity can be categorised as ‘aware but unreceptive’, ‘unaware & unreceptive’, ‘aware & receptive’, or
‘unaware but receptive’. The success of a campaign will bring a healthy level of audience attention, recognition, and emotions (Pozharliev, Verbeke & Bagozzi, 2017).
Parenting programs are often attended and participated by mothers and fathers are underrepresented. A study conducted revealed that a father’s participation is important for child’s mental outcomes. The media campaign on ‘ParentWorks’ resulted in an increase awareness of fathers’ participation as compared to mothers. Thus, it shows the effectiveness of the campaign organized and knowledge on the importance of the fathers’ involvement (Tully et al., 2019). Other aspects which are the attitude toward behaviour change lead to successfulness of a campaign. Community participation in waste management will not be a success when there is no participation. As it is vital, participation is required in all aspects of societal development. Thus, with a good attitude, leads to good practice in overcoming waste management (Nmere et al., 2020). Moreover, the changes in behaviour in one person are determined by providing extensive knowledge of information.
2.4 Program delivery
Prompted and unprompted recall of campaign messages affects the recognition of one delivery of a program. In a study conducted by Charlesworth et al. (2022) indicates further recall of the messages shared during a campaign creates awareness and behavior to take the next action.
The prompted recall of messages however related to the demographic differences in campaign message recall. The other factor in program delivery is choosing the right media platforms to communicate the messages to the audience.
Various platforms, for example television and social media engagement change over time therefore high considerations are needed to ensure the effectiveness of the program delivery.
As there is high engagement in social media, stories on Facebook now have 500 million users
by Hutchinson (2019). This shows the importance of understanding programs that are delivered on different platforms.
3. Research Methodology
To explore participants’ feedback on the program delivery of Klik Dengan Bijak (KDB) in the Malaysian context, the researcher adopted the qualitative method with a focus group open ended data instrument in the study. Researcher formulated open-ended questionnaire from the past recent literature. The researcher conducted the pre and post approach method were before the KDB workshop and after 1 month of the KDB workshop focus group interview was conducted by the current study authors. The questionnaire was based on the following factors:
i. Awareness ii. Receptiveness iii. Knowledge iv. Attitude
v. Practice
Various platforms, for example television and social media engagement change over time therefore high considerations are needed to ensure the effectiveness of the program delivery.
As there is high engagement in social media, stories on Facebook now have 500 million users daily and have the same amount as those on WhatsApp status and Instagram stories as reported by Hutchinson (2019). This shows the importance of understanding programs that are delivered on different platforms.
4. Findings & Discussion
The presentation of findings and discussion will be based on two research objectives. The first is to present findings of participants’ awareness, receptiveness, knowledge, attitude, and practice. The second is to provide recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of KDB program delivery in the future. The findings will cover the observable feedback one month after the simulation program from the focus group discussion with a group of educators, parents, professionals, and students.
Table 1: Results analysis on FGD with educators
Category Observable feedback
Awareness & Knowledge • Participants find the content of the program to be memorable.
• Participants were able to identify cyber-crime through what was taught in the program.
• Participants became more cautious with the information online.
Receptiveness • Participants find the program helpful in bringing awareness to the issues pertaining to the internet.
Attitude • Participants are now aware they cannot believe the information online and needs further research.
• Participants share the information they got from the program with their peers and students.
Practice • Participants find their information processing behavior improved.
• Participants find their social media usage has lessened due to online misbehavior they saw on their own.
• Participants are aware of content creation and know what to post and not to post online.
• Participants learned to heighten their security online, including changing passwords, and more.
• Participants adapted to research first before sharing anything online.
As shown in Table 1, even after 30 days of attending the program, this group of educators found the content memorable, interesting, and important. They were found to be more cautious in receiving information on the internet. The program manages to change their attitude especially in the way information was shared with family members, friends, and colleagues.
As for improvement, participants would like to see a more interactive session rather than the one-way type of communication delivery.
Table 2: Results analysis on FGD with students
Category Observable feedback
Awareness & Knowledge • Participants find the content of the program to be memorable, especially on
• Participants were able to identify cybercrime (such as Fake news &
Scams) through what was taught in the program.
• Participants became more cautious with the information online shared.
Receptiveness • Participants find the program helpful in bringing awareness to the issues pertaining to the internet.
Attitude • Participants were aware they cannot believe the information online and needs further research.
• Participants share the information they got from the program with their peers and students.
Practice • Participants find their information processing behavior improved but their social media usage has lessened due to their online misbehavior
• Participants are aware of content creation and know what to post and not to post online.
• Participants learned to heighten their security online, including changing passwords, and unknown links.
• Participants adapted to research first before sharing anything online.
As shown in Table 2, this group of students found that even 30 days after attending the program, they still remember the talk especially about the topic covering scams and fake news. They unanimously agree that the program is helpful, and they are aware of the importance to increase online security practices such as changing passwords. One of the suggestions that were made is for the program to include activities that provide them opportunities to interact and have a conversation with the trainer.
Table 3: Results analysis on FGD with parents
Category Observable feedback
Awareness &
Knowledge
• Participants are more cautious in using the internet with the knowledge they received from the program. They will do a background check to avoid scammers and they frequently check their children on social media
• They also apologize to other people for sharing inaccurate information and start cross-checking
• Participants share the info that they get during the session with their kids Receptiveness • The participants feel that the program should be exposed more especially to the young generation as they find it important to bring added knowledge to their children. The participants feel that they need to share with other parents how to be responsible especially when it concerns their children Attitude • Monitor the children and be more cautious about any information the
participants receive
• Participants use two-way authentication for their social media account Practice • Participants started to pay more attention to security. They look at double
authentication and they find problems whereby some platform such as online shopping does not have this feature. And they start monitoring what their passwords are and where is it kept.
As shown in Table 3, 30 days after attending the program, this group of parents is certainly more cautious with the use of the internet especially towards the children. Thus, they downloaded several security features to monitor the kids’ online activities. Nevertheless, they agree that they do need more guidance and a program such as this can certainly help them to have more direction. They are now more alert and learning new methods to strengthen internet security such as implementing two-way authentication.
Table 4: Results analysis on FGD with professionals
Category Observable feedback
Awareness &
Knowledge
• After a month after attending the KDB (Klik Dengan Bijak) program, participants still remember and are aware of the knowledge sharing and, they remember about internet crimes such as personal data and false news.
• Within the month after they attended the KDB program, they tend to take note when they experience questionable calls, messages, etc
• Participants are more cautious with internet crime after attending the KDB program
Receptiveness • Regarding the participants’ receptivity towards the program content, they feel like it is only to the extent of improving their knowledge of internet crime
• One participant takes up new action after the January program by installing an application related to mobile security.
Attitude • Participants do not really identify any changes in their conduct after attending the program, other than being more cautious, they do not exactly go to the extent of changing their habits as they did not exactly face any issues in that matter.
• One of the more obvious changes in attitude is that participants are active in sharing their knowledge and key facts.
Practice • Participants do see some changes in their practice in content dissemination where they will check the legitimacy of the content before sharing it around.
• Most participants already being cautious when it comes to security matters on the internet, but it is something that they have done so even before the program.
As shown in Table 4, 30 days after attending the program, this group of professionals agrees that program such as this is useful, important, and good for their knowledge. They are certainly motivated and intend to join the similar programs in the future. Some of them has a bad experience with scammers before, thus, it is not an unusual concept for them. After attending the program, they practice a healthier and safer way to share information with others. One improvement they suggested for the future would be the reduce the duration of the program as it can be too lengthy.
Based on the findings, the following would be the list of recommendations for KDB to consider:
• The program delivery can be more interactive whereby there could be more hands-on activities for the audience to participate in.
• The program runs for close to three hours, therefore short breaks in between will be ideal.
• The content of the program is too heavy with information. It could be broken down into 2 days of workshops where it can reduce the duration to around 90 minutes.
• To improve the receptiveness of the program content, there could be a live demonstration such as how to report fake news or how to cross-check information or what to do when receiving questionable emails or WhatsApp. It is important not only to assess the ability to understand the topic but also to know how to apply it to be a responsible internet user (Agaku, et al., 2017).
• The content must be fun so participants are not only able to learn, but also to engage and interact. Any campaign will only be successful depending on the impact it brings to the public (Jabli, Alghamdi, & Demir, 2018).
5. Conclusion
This research is very significant and vital in obtaining a positive result on government-initiated programs. ‘Klik Dengan Bijak’ for instance, is a good initiative, and therefore it is important to assess and evaluate its effectiveness of it for future improvement such as ‘Klik Dengan Bijak’. The study is to analyse participants’ feedback of the KDB program delivery in knowledge, awareness, receptiveness, attitude, and practice. Thus, discussions were conducted with four groups of participants consisting of educators, parents, professionals, and students.
The study concluded that KDB program delivery is effective and does bring a good impact to the participants. Evidently, participants can see the changes and improvement in their attitude and practice while using the internet. They are more cautious and vigilant especially in tightening internet security. Despite a lot of positive feedback, several recommendations were made to improve the program delivery on two more prominent suggestions; one to reduce the duration or to present a lighter load of information, and another is to make the session more engaging and interactive. In conclusion, this program is a success.
Acknowledgement
This research was funded through the research grant for the provision of MCMC Digital Society Research, 2021/2022.
References
Agaku, I. T., Davis, K., Patel, D., Shafer, P., Cox, S., Ridgeway, W., & King, B. A. (2017). A longitudinal study of the relationship between receptivity to e-cigarette advertisements and e-cigarette use among baseline non-users of cigarettes and e-
cigarettes, United States. Tobacco Induced Diseases, 15(1), 1–7.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12971-017-0145-8
Bada, M. Solms, B. V., & Agradiotis, I. (2019). Reviewing national cybersecurity awareness
in Africa: An empirical study.
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810 /293742/Bada.et.al.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y
Charlesworth, J., Liddelow, C., Mullan, B., Tan, H., Abbott, B., & Potter, A. (2022). Did you get the message? Examining prompted and unprompted recall of messages in a safe food-handling media campaign. British Food Journal. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ- 03-2022-0279
De Bruijn, H. & Janssen, M. (2017). Building cybersecurity awareness: the need for evidence- based framing strategies. Government Information Quarterly, 34, 1, 1-7.
https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.giq.2017.02.007
Dutt, R. Deb, A. & Ferrara, E. (2018). “Senator, we sell ads”: Analysis of the 2016 Russian Facebook ads campaign. Communications in Computer and Information Science, 151–168. doi:10.1007/978-981-13-3582-2_12
Goh, P., Neo, L. S., & Chen, X. (2020). The Importance of the Human-Centric Approach in Combating Cyber Threats. In Encyclopedia of Criminal Activities and the Deep Web (pp. 965-978). IGI Global.
Hutchinson, A. (2019). Facebook Reaches 2.38 Billion Users, Beats Revenue Estimates in Latest Update. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/facebook-reaches-238- billion-users-beats-revenue-estimates-in-latest-upda/553403/
Hyland-Wood, B., Gardner, J., Leask, J. et al. (2021). Toward effective government communication strategies in the era of COVID-19. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 8, 30.
https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-00701-w
Jabli, N., Alghamdi, H., & Demir, F. (2018). The Usability Of King Khalid University Website:
Assessing Effectiveness, Efficiency, And Satisfaction. Www.Ijahss.Com International Journal of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, 3. Retrieved from www.ijahss.com
Lim, S. S., & Tan, K. R. (2020). Front liners fighting fake news: Global perspectives on mobilising young people as media literacy advocates. Journal of Children and Media, 14(4), 529-535.
MCMC. (n.d.). Klik dengan bijak campaign. Retrieved from https://www.mcmc.gov.my/en/
media/announcements/klik-dengan-bijak
Nmere, O. N., Okolo, V. O., Abugu, J. O., Alio, F. C., & Aneto, J. C. (2020). Influence of public relations’ media public enlightenment campaign and community participation strategies on waste management. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 18(1), 82–96. https://doi.org/10.21511/ppm.18(1).2020.08
Ono, G. N., & Chiaghana, C. A. (2020). Assessment of Consumers’ Awareness and Exposure Levels to NAFDAC Media Campaign in South East Nigeria. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.7176/rhss/10-4-04
Pozharliev, R., Verbeke, W. J. M. I., & Bagozzi, R. P. (2017). Social Consumer Neuroscience:
Neurophysiological Measures of Advertising Effectiveness in a Social Context.
Journal of Advertising, 46(3), 351–362.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2017.1343162
Tully, L. A., Piotrowska, P. J., Collins, D. A. J., Frick, P. J., Anderson, V., Moul, C., Lenroot, R. K., Kimonis, E. R., Hawes, D., & Dadds, M. R. (2019). Evaluation of ‘The Father Effect’ Media Campaign to Increase Awareness of, and Participation in, an Online Father-Inclusive Parenting Program. In Health Communication (Vol. 34, Issue 12, pp. 1423–1432). https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2018.1495160
Waheed, M. Samani, M. C. & Tiung, L. K. (2020). Klik dengan bijak (click wisely):
Safeguarding youth in the digital age. Media Matters: Networked Media Research
Report (Volume 3).
https://www.mcmc.gov.my/skmmgovmy/media/General/pdf/MEDIA-MATTERS- Vol-3.pdf#page=30.