Me me me
Who's this guy on the left?
Hi! I am Siam, Siam Rahman (read like you'd read James Bond's name like you know: Bond, James Bond).
I am an undergrad student of University of Technology Malaysia. I study Software Engineering at Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology. Although I act sometimes like a 5 year old kid and sometimes like a wise, old oak tree, I am actually 20 and a half and I'm in the first year of my undergrad studies.
I like studying physics, teaching, reading, coding, and writing.
More About Me
- Religion : Islam
- Pronouns : he/his/him
- Nationality : Bangladesh
- Date of Birth : 16/04/2001
- Current Address : Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Email Address : siam@graduate.utm.my
- LinkedIn : Siam Rahman | LinkedIn
Weekly Wisdom Bomb
This is a place for stuff that I realized while daydreaming
They say when life gives you lemons you should make lemonades. Clearly, they have never had sugar-less lemonades.
Internship Review
Stuff I've been up to
Machine Learning
I have been teaching myself machine learning from the internet. I know how to build neural networks and regression algorithms. I have also learned basic data visualization.
Project Pisces
Pisces is a website in construction that aims to enable Bangladeshi high-schoolers to do practice their practical experiments online. I used HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to make it. Currently it can completely simulate the salt-testing experiments. Here's a photo of the project.
Amazon AWS
Amazon Web Services is a cloud computing service provider. I have recently finished a course of theirs and earned this badge!
My Often-Paradoxical Rants (Courses Edition)
RSS
Digital Media
Media has been a part of human civilization ever since its inception. Compared to the long history of humans, digital media is a recent addition to our societies. Though digital media is all around us, and easy for us to notice, it is difficult to define. A broad definition would be, "Digital Media is transmitted as digital data, which at its simplest involves digital cables or satellites sending binary signals -- 0s and 1s -- to devices that translate them into audio, video, graphics, text, and more." [1]
Tony Feldman in his book Introduction to Digital Media [2] categorizes digital media into two categories to make it easier for us to define digital media. These categories can be crudely labelled as offline (like CD-rom, USB drives) and online media (like television, social media).
In the modern world it is impossible to imagine a day without the involvement of digital media. It is woven into the very fabric of our daily lives. In the last year, people have spent an average of 147 minutes every day on social media [3], and that is only one aspect of digital media. There are other and more common kinds of digital media, like television, video streaming sites and online newspapers.
So, digital media is inseparable from our lives. This makes our lives more convenient in many ways. It is a very powerful tool; therefore, it must be handled carefully. Because, the more powerful a tool is the more damage it could cause in the wrong or untrained hands. According to a Royal Institute of Public Health study [4], social media is linked with increased rates of anxiety, depression, and poor sleep. Other media like television is not free from this flaw. Access to cable television is related to decline of I.Q. [5]
The danger and opportunities digital media bring to communities is what makes the dynamics of various digital media communities important and concerning. This is the motivation behind our project in Hulu Langat: to help a community learn to use digital media properly.
The Community
The target community of our project was the youth of Dusun Tua. Dusun Tua is a village of Hulu Langat, Selangor, Malaysia. Hulu Langat is the fifth largest state of Selangor with 840 square kilometers, but it is second most populous with 1,400,461. It is also the second most densely populated district with 1688 people per square kilometers. [6]
Though it has a dense population, the technology or information literacy rate in this district is classified as average to poor by its residents according to study. [7] This makes Hulu Langat a good target for our project. A good untrained population with poor technology literacy is at great risk of damaging itself through digital media. A breakdown of the district’s economy and lifestyle puts more emphasis on this fact.
Hulu Langat has a median income of RM 8361, which is the fourth highest in the state. [8] If we look at the district’s economy, especially that of Dusun Tua, we see that the economy is dependent on agriculture. [9] This pattern fits a model of development. Agricultural dependent and populationally dense communities tend to be growing rapidly. But Dusun Tua cannot develop properly without proper technological literacy.
Thus, Dusun Tua is a community where digital media literacy is of great importance. Absence of literacy plans can harm the community greatly and soon. On the contrary, proper technological education can boost its development. So digital media literacy in schools must be take seriously because digital literacy can improve the productivity of the future workforce [10]. As a district, with a dense population, that is a must for proper socio-economic development.
References
- What Is Digital Media? All You Need to Know About This Booming Industry, Maryville University, https://online.maryville.edu/blog/what-is-digital-media/
- Feldman, T. (1996). Introduction to Digital Media. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203398401
- We Are Social, & DataReportal, & Hootsuite. (January 26, 2022). Daily time spent on social networking by internet users worldwide from 2012 to 2022 (in minutes) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved February 01, 2023, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide/
- Royal Society for Public Health, Status of Mind, https://www.rsph.org.uk/our-work/campaigns/status-of-mind.html
- Hernæs, Ø., Markussen, S., & Røed, K. (2019). Television, cognitive ability, and high school completion. Journal of Human Resources, 54(2), 371-400.
- "Key Findings Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2020: Administrative District".dosm.gov.my. 29 Dec 2021. Retrieved 5 Jan 2022.
- Tan, Shyh-Mee & Singh, Diljit. (2008). AN ASSESSMENT OF THE INFORMATION LITERACY LEVELS OF LIBRARY AND MEDIA TEACHERS IN THE HULU LANGAT DISTRICT, MALAYSIA.
- "HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND BASIC AMENITIES SURVEY REPORT 2019" (PDF).dosm.gov.my. July 2020. Retrieved 5 Jan 2022.
- Selangor State Economic Planning Unit. (2018). Economic Development of Selangor. Retrieved from https://www.epu.selangor.gov.my/images/Publications/Economic_Report_2018.pdf.
- MARKHAICHUK, M., & PANSHIN, I. (2022). The Impact of Digital Literacy on Labor Productivity in the Context of the Educational Environment Transformation. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research (EJER), (97).
Digital Media
Media has been a part of human civilization ever since its inception. Compared to the long history of humans, digital media is a recent addition to our societies. Though digital media is all around us, and easy for us to notice, it is difficult to define. A broad definition would be, "Digital Media is transmitted as digital data, which at its simplest involves digital cables or satellites sending binary signals -- 0s and 1s -- to devices that translate them into audio, video, graphics, text, and more." [¹]
Tony Feldman in his book Introduction to Digital Media[²] categorizes, digital media into two categories to make it easier for us to define digital media. These categories can be crudely labelled as offline (like CD-rom, usb drives) and online media (like television, social media). So, in layman's terms it is every
PSDA project was pretty good. It felt nice to be working with real data. It felt like we were actually doing something in the real world and learning in a professional environment. The R programming part was a bit difficult as it was a whole new programming language. But we already had a pretty good understanding of the math so in the end it just came down to crunching numbers on the programming part. We did face another setback at first. We tried a tackle dataset without much numeric data. But we were able to work past it and finish everything in time. Our leader Youssef had a really hectic time. Also he was ill. In the end he pulled us all through so it was a good experience.
First when I started the course on AWS, it seemed boring. It seemed like an ad that won't stop of a company built by a person I don't really like. That start was painful; excruciating at times. But I had a fair amounts of marks riding on it, so finishing was my only choice.
I tried to keep my motivations up, and told myself repeatedly about the importance of cloud computing. No matter how difficult the course was, AWS is one of the leading cloud computing service providers and I will need in future regardless of where I work. Plus, most companies cannot afford to run without cloud computing because that requires huge investments and maintenance. So, as someone who wants to make a good living in the future had to learn it well.
Thus, I tied myself to the chair and put my mind to it. It got interesting with the lab parts. And I did learn a lot about the services Amazon provides. This knowledge helped with the TIS project and will probably help in the future as well. So it was worth it.
I think it was a really good move to include AWS in SECP1513 course because if I wasn't forced do it, I wouldn't have. And I am glad that it was included because I feel like I know something more than I did before after this course. So, I would like to advice all my friends on this course that try to get yourself motivated and realize why this course is important then put effort into it. You will not regret it.
- «Previous page
- 1
- 2
- »Next page
Education
- B.Sc in Software Engineering with Honors at UTM (2021 - Present)
- UTM is top 200 ranked institute and with the blessings of Allah, I am able to study here. Although I have not done anything significant here yet, I hope to learn, develop, and push my limits
- Higher Secondary School Certificate from Notre Dame College, Dhaka, Bangladesh (2018 - 2020)
- Notre Dame College is one of the best higher-secondary schools in Bangladesh. I graduated with an Honorable Mention Award, and I was the vice-president of publication in the school's Eco and Space Club. I also represented my school in MACFAIR International in Lucknow, India in September 2018.
- Faizur Rahman Ideal Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh (2007 - 2017)
- The most colorful box in my brain contains the memories of this place. I enjoyed school and my teachers here shaped a lot of who I am now. Also, I graduated as the batch salutatorian.
Volleyball | Sports Festival
RSS
The sports festival was held from 31 October to 13 November. It was organized by HEP UTM and it was held in Kolej Siswa Jaya and UTM KL premises. I was a member of the volleyball team.
I joined the activity firstly because I am interested in sports, and I wanted to play volleyball. I had never played volleyball before but I had watched an anime about it. That motivated me to try the sport hence, I tried to encourage other students to join the volleyball team. I also wanted to make some acquaintances as I was new in Malaysia at that time and what better way to get to know people then playing a sport together.
The attributes this activity focused on was leadership and teamworking skills. Playing in any team-sport teaches us a lot about teamwork and leadership. Training and playing the matches with the 6 of my teammates allowed to me learn about them and how to get the best out of them.
We trained for a week with some practice drills and matches. Then we played 3 games in the first round. We were rusty at first, but we played better in the later matches. Unfortunately, we were still knocked out in the first round.
Participating in the event with my teammates taught me about leadership and teamwork. As I was new in Malaysia, it was a bit different to cooperate with students of a different culture. This event solved those troubles for me. The event also improved my communication skills. I had to communicate with my teammates effectively so that we could bring out the best of the team. I also had to organize the team for volleyball because there was no team for volleyball previously.
My advantage in the game was my fitness. I played football in high school, so I was athletic and fit. I also had a high motivation for volleyball, and I had already learned some basic skills and rules watching the anime.
The biggest challenge was that I had never played volleyball before. I overcame that challenge by training and practicing with my teammates. I also played some matches with the volleyball enthusiasts of Kolej Siswa Jaya.
Talk on smart solutions in ubiquitous environment, smart sensors, medical image analysis, machine learning, deep neural network
RSS
The event was titled smart solutions in ubiquitous environment, smart sensors, medical image analysis, machine learning, deep neural network. It was organized by UTM and held at MJIIT on 15 February. I was a participant in the talk.
I joined this activity because I was and still am interested in academia. I want to enter the research field after my education and for that I need to get started as soon as possible. Undergrad is the best time to get started and I thought participating in this activity would benefit me towards that cause.
The event helped me improve my scholarship and adaptability. It provided knowledge on how to be a better academic or a better scholar. It also taught me about the education of the Czech Republic. This polished my attribute of being a global citizen.
The talk was offered by Professor Ondrej, Vice-Rector for Science and Creative Activities from the University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. He started with an introduction of his university. He talked about education and university life in Czech Republic and his work in his university. Then he talked about his work and research interests. Finally, he answered the question of the audience.
From the event I learned about the long and fruitful career of Prof Ondrej. I learned about smart sensors, medical imagery, application of machine learning and deep neural networks in making smart cities etc. I learned about definitions of many of the topics he researches on and his process of research. I also saw the results of many of his work. All these gave me food for thought and encouraged me on my journey down the path of academia.
My advantage in the activity was my passion and interest in research. I was eager to learn from this talk, so I was able to absorb a lot during the event. I also had some background in machine learning so some of his research struck a chord with me. I understood and was inspired by his work.
The talk itself was not that challenging but it gave me the skills I needed to meet a lot of my challenges in the future.
Webinar on Research Information Literacy for Undergrads
RSS
The activity was a webinar on research information literacy for undergraduates. It was held online on 12 April 2022. It was organized by UTM. I was a participant in the webinar.
I joined this activity because I was and still am interested in academia. I want to enter the research field after my education and for that I need to get started as soon as possible. Undergrad is the best time to get started and I thought participating in this activity would benefit me towards that cause.
The event helped me improve my scholarship and adaptability. It provided knowledge on how to be a better academic or a better scholar. It also showed how to adapt to the modern academic culture.
In the research information literacy webinar, we were informed about basic procedures of research. We were shown how to look for high quality journals and research articles, especially by using the UTM library system. We were also notified about which sources were credible, which were not. And we were also told about how to cite the sources we use for our writings. Some helpful tools like Endnote were also demonstrated.
From the event I learned the basics of research. I was unaware of the nuances of finding credible and high-quality journals and research papers. This webinar informed me about that and taught me how to overcome that. I also learned how to cite sources effectively. These skills helped me become a better researchers and scholar. They also helped me adapt to the academic life of an undergraduate student.
My advantage in the activity was my passion and interest for research. I was eager to learn from this webinar so I was able to absorb a lot during the event. Another advantage was my keen observation skill. I was able to catch on the cues of an unreliable source quickly so much of the things taught on that particular issue were familiar to me.
The webinar itself was not that challenging but it gave me the skills I needed to meet a lot of my challenges in the future.
