Poong Yuan (0340185) Individual Reflective Journal

Introduction

To begin with, before the start of the semester, I made the decision to select the pro-bono module alongside with other modules for my last semester in law school. Even before the commencement of the semester, I was beyond excited to start the module as I expected it to be an interactive and more hands-on activity.

Pre-execution phase of the project

On my first day of class, after a brief introduction by the module supervisor Dr. Sia Chin Chin, I had to decide between Deepfake and another project in collaboration with the School of Mass Communication (SOMAC). Upon reading through the project aims of both projects, I made the choice to collaborate with other like-minded classmates to work on the Deep fake project which aligns with my interest to understand more about deepfake. Subsequently, we made the decision that Uthraa should be appointed as the group leader and she assisted in creating a WhatsApp group so to communicate more easily. Since we had to work with the School of Computer and Engineering (SCE), our module supervisor was kind enough to conduct an ice-breaking session with the other school, which I find it extremely helpful for me to get to know them better. To ensure that we are able to run the project smoothly, we decided that we should meet up every alternative week to check on the progress of each respective member through using platform such as Microsoft Teams. Considering that each of us is taking various modules, it was rather tough for us to find a common time where everyone can attend the meeting. However, the team leader was very effective and she took the initiative to list down various time slots for the team member to choose from and somehow we manage to resolve the issue. Reflecting back, despite the challenges faced, my team was able to commit to every meeting and update each other on our progress. I am incredibly blessed to be in a team that values communication and is able to work effectively.

(The end product of our presentation)

Group Project Report

Since our project aim focuses on addressing the gap area of User Rights and Protection that targets on general users of communication and multimedia services, this is a new area that we were not exposed throughout our time in law school. Therefore, to answer the question on the (PO1) legal effectiveness in managing and mitigating deepfake, I paired up with another teammate (Florence) to examine the legal framework of Deepfake in Malaysia.

When I first started working on the research part, I find it to be extremely taxing apart from this project, it was during the peak of our assignment season. Having to juggle between my other academic commitments and constantly stay up to date with the progress on this group project was not easy. At first, I find it incredibly frustrating when I could not find any resources on the law on deepfake, particularly in the context of Malaysia. My partner was very understanding and she too faced the same problem. Fortunately, I somehow manage to find websites that explain the law and was able to relate the concept of deepfake with the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 (also known as the CMA) and the law on defamation. Another problem that I had faced was on trying to figure out the correlation of both laws to deepfake. Again, with the help of my partner, I manage to brainstorm and find cases from LexisNexis that talk about that. Moving on to the next part, a presentation of my findings to my other groupmates on PO1. I am grateful for how supportive my group mates are when it comes to the feedback session, they were satisfied with the outcome and my research and that indicate that I can start working on my final draft of our group report.

Personally, I find this part of the project most challenging. Since my part is the first PO1, this indicates that my other group mates would have to ensure that our parts do not overlap. Especially, PO2 that requires an investigation on the effectiveness of the law in curbing deepfake in Malaysia. To better facilitate, I created another group chat that include members doing PO1 and PO2. Another initiative that we had taken was to attend a few consultation sessions with Dr. Sia for her professional guidance and advice on how to tackle the group report. Upon attending that, it became clearer on what we should do and it also provided me with a clearer guidelines on what I can do for my part. Considering how closely related and relevant Po1 and Po2 are, we created a shared google document for the three of us (Florence, me, and Yoong Earn) to ensure that each of our parts wouldn't overlap. This certainly has helped a lot and if not for how effective and cooperative they are, I am certain that our progress will be stagnant.

Reflecting on our collaboration with the SCE

In my opinion, this is also another highlight of the project. Throughout three years of law school, the opportunity to work with other students from other faculty is extremely rare which is why I appreciate how the pro bono module allows us to collaborate with students from the SCE as this would enable us to meet new friends and to know how the other students apply their knowledge to real-life application. As by the end of the day, we had to provide feedback mitigation digital solutions by SCE from the perspective of investigator and jurors, this meant that we had to ensure that both sides are on track. To illustrate more, our group leader would always drop them a message in the Whatsapp group we created to make sure that the prototype that we will be testing is ready while their group leader would also ensure that everything is going well from our side. This is truly a unique experience to me as through this I manage to communicate effectively with someone from different background and this can be useful in prepping me for the 'real world' which not only comprises of people from the legal industry but also other industries such as the business or even IT Sector. In summary, despite we were clueless when it comes to navigating through their prototype at first, eventually we manage to figure out how to work around it and in resolving the crisis. This is truly a fruitful and exciting experience.

Group oral presentation

Coming to the final stage of our pro bono module. We had to present our findings and research in Week 13 through a group oral presentation. I was assigned to the media and content group which involved working on the PowerPoint deck with other team-members. We first chose a few templates and allow the other members to vote for the most desired template. We came up with the current design because it fits in to our theme (deepfake). Having prior experience in designing posters and using the Canva app, this was not a very challenging task. In fact, I enjoyed working on this a lot. Closer to the presentation, I was feeling quite nervous as I have been doing presentation online throughout my degree. After raising my concern, the team leader arrange a few mock presentation for us to get used to presenting but we faced a problem which is how we exceeded the time limit allocated to us which is 20 minutes. It was extremely difficult to cut down on our research and I find it really challenging too as I felt that every point is linked to another. I decided to seek help from my team-mate, to assist me in cutting down the part that she thinks is less relevant. On the day itself, we faced some issues when it comes to projecting our PPT on-screen and exceeded the time limit by a bit. Despite the challenges we faced on the day itself, Dr.Sia was happy with our work and graded us in the 'outstanding' band. I felt relieved that my last assignment in law school ended with a good one.

Reflection of teamwork

Looking back, the process of preparation for this project wasn't the smoothest. We had faced challenges and had diverging opinions as to how we approached the question. However, by the end of the day, we still respect each other's opinions and perspectives. Working in a team is never easy but this experience taught me to be more open-minded in accepting everyone's thought which I believe will come handy when I start practicing. Once again, I appreciate how the module requires us to work with students from other department as it would really enhance our communication and networking skills. I am thankful for how supportive my other teammates are in the decisions I have made.

Overall reflection and conclusion

In conclusion, through this deepfake project, I have a few takeaways. First being how I had gained informations on what deepfake is and the law that regulates it. Secondly, the opportunity to sharpen my communication skills through working with people from different backgrounds, and lastly on how I have improved my digital literacy skills by conducting researches and screening through credible legal sources through LexisNexis and Westlaw. Coming towards the end of my reflective journal, I am glad that I had an incredible time working with my fellow classmates. I am especially thankful to Dr.Sia who has been very supportive and reachable with regard to the queries we have. Without all the support that I have gotten from my lecturers and peers, this project would not have been so successful. That said, this concludes my reflective journal and I look forward to embark on a new journey.