Awash with the Sendai tsunami videos

How are we going to use this technology of web video after such a tragedy?

With so many videos of the tsunami and earthquake uploaded on video sharing websites, passed on, replied to and re-appropriated by other web users, it would be timely to ask ourselves, just what are we passing on? Are we keeping the horror alive? For whom? Are we reliving the morbid awe we experience as we view the devastation again and again from the safety of our rooms and offices, schools or malls? What images are we proliferating?

It's the same thing we see on the news, isn't it? The more harrowing, the better. The idea is that, aside from informing the audience that a tragic, horrific, morbid event has just occured, they can invite audiences to tune in to them for more "awesome" footage. How you define awesome -- that's another blog post.

However, right now, I feel that web video, and the technology to capture it should turn to other uses now. People who have the means to report on people on the ground, should. Their stories should be shared, not as a way of spectacularizing their suffering but to document how they are coping, to get word out that they are more than numbers. They are people who need help. It's also a call to their government, humanitarian organizations and even fellow citizens on the kind assistance they may need.

I am no social scientist, but I would also like to think it is a way for them to purge the horror they experienced. For them to be able to talk about it may help them make sense of it. The technology and the opportunity should be there for them so that they can muster the strength to move forward, not for us to record and edit and apply our own scripts to. There are producers and news editors doing that already.

They just need to tell their side of the story, in their own words, in their own time, according to how they experienced it. The job of the videographer and the video camera begins and ends with the record button.

Facebook's new addictive apps

If being sucked into an FB vortex of incessant status updates, status checking, FB stalking and profile picture-plucking weren't enough, some quirky users came up with an FB profile VIDEO! You can now make your avatar into a video! Check out the how-to's on this Mashable page.

Now, while waiting for your video to render, why not think about joining the campaign to create a an FB wall in Mashable's New York office? Aside from being able to say you've been to NY virtually and you have the photo to prove it, you are part of a world wide experiment on social networking. Mashable details the objectives and instructions on this page.

Too bad concrete walls don't have video specs yet. It won't be long before they do though. Just keep checking back to find out!

A Visitor on my Own blog

The last post here was over a month ago. Again, it seemed like things came hurtling towards me. Though at the time, I didn't know how I was going to survive the tsunami of tasks and tedium. But I did. And here I am, sitting in our makeshift living room, among boxes and overturned shelves, tattered odds and ends fitted into niches above where I sit to give a semblance of relaxed decor, a spot where the eyes can rest for a moment before scanning the practically-empty first floor of our new home. Yes, a new home, where there is more space to move, grow, and entertain. I promised myself I would simply enjoy the process of fixing up the place, and not be too obsessed with filling it up right away. I catch myself wanting everything I see in the magazines, a virtual model of our home spinning in my head as I try to figure out where I should place this piece of decor or furniture. I'm glad that, several times, I was able to stop myself and make the wise decision to just walk away.

Our priority now is a work desk and a couple of chairs for the home office. It's imperative, since we do additional work at home. Gosh it never ends.

All of this on top of regular work load, and what my heart longs to do: write. I should just start making it a habit again, to write everyday, even just a line. What's the point of having a notebook and not writing in it. There are the Palancas to consider, CANVAS, papers, researches, etc. SIGH. I want to take a week off to just write. And sleep. And do yoga. What a vacation that would be!

I continue to dream.

In other news, my sister has a boyfriend! :) Sorry for the mundane-ness of this post. I just need to give my mind a break. Hope yours is faring better.

Saving Face

Recently I nearly gave a friend the cold shoulder because I thought I was being blown off online. F was a new-found friend and we were both getting along well. Over the Christmas break when I tried to catch my friend online, through Facebook and FB chat, I had a feeling F was avoiding me. As if, I had said something to offend her. She'd show up on the chat window and then quickly exit.

What was up with that?

I decided not to connect with F the whole time over the Christmas season. All I did was greet her through text on Christmas Day and that was that. I was quite miffed by her behavior. And here I thought we would be really good friends.

What is it about connecting on FB that seems to be an important requirement for building relationships these days? (or is that just me?) It's as if our online personas have to link up so that there's a permission of sorts that gets exchanged non-verbally. It seems to give us a pass to investigate each other quietly, stealthily. It's as if we need to "study" what went on, what is going on in a person's life prior to deepening the relationship. Will judgements come into play? Perhaps, but we can never know for sure, can we?

I mean, take for instance the way I quickly judged F for avoiding me online. After checking out her page, I wanted to chat about some of the photos, or the common connections we had. However it seemed to me that whenever I came online, she would go offline, and I'd watch as the little green dot in the chat window suddenly became a hollow, gray little round icon.

Whatever happened to common experiences, and building a relationship from that? What happened to face to face conversations and exploring common interests together? Even quarrels are a necessary element in deepening relationships. Are we afraid of confrontations now, and would we rather poke at one another indirectly via our status messages? Is it less messy that way? It it more complicated in person?

Our behavior online could be an indication of the actions we wish for ourselves offline. Online, despite the fact that we have our photos to identify our page, our names, and our "voice" in our texts, the asynchronicity still seems to provide a veil that aids in letting go and also accepting otherwise effacing actions. Maybe it's because we're so Asian that we really do set much store on saving face. Facial reactions definitely belie what is in our heads, and our responses cannot be changed or taken back once the facial muscles contract or contort in reaction. At least online, we can project an image of being cool and introspective despite snarky remarks. Wittiness is not lost on us as we can quickly pull up an emoticon or a smiley to mask our true emotions.

The next time I saw F, she seemed happy to see me, and I was befuddled. So I told her how I felt and she was just as surprised. Turns out she wasn't a chat person, and never liked instant messaging. She hardly ever chatted with her old friends, and she almost never responds to chat messages when she's on FB. So I had misinterpreted her actions. I laughed, and she laughed, and we were friends again, but it got me thinking some more of why I interpreted her actions that way. Was it just me and personal expectations of exchanging conventional gestures of friendship online? Or was she really violating some unspoken netiquette that I adhered to but didn't think she needed to?

Were we trying to save the friendship, or were we simply just saving face?

Clickety click

I'm feeling the pressure to be online.

Because of my self-proclaimed ambition to build an expertise about the web and new media, I have been hearing the familiar critical, nagging voice in my head berating me for not posting more often, reading more often, exploring more often. In a world that is increasingly wired and where information is exchanged and is accessible in a snort, I am constantly on edge when I am not online. It's as if there are a million things to do that don't get done -- that's in addition to the things that don't get done in the offline world.

It's a shame I'm not online more often to do some substantial work and writing. Real life gets in the way, not to mention the laundry, sleeping and and having coffee. Instead I browse FB, then find myself going off to other sites when a thought hits me. I end up not finishing what I started. Most of the time I forget what I started. THus, more things end up not getting done.

Take for instance my application to a university in the US. I have been staring at my laptop for the past three weeks, trying to finish the dang application essay. I've typed something, but it's far from being acceptable. And so off I go checking samples online. I hop and hop til the time I allotted for the task has run out. Oh world wide web. Why do you tempt me so?

But I suppose it's not because of the Web, but because I procrastinate and compare what I have with the others have. I am locked into a cycle of analysis paralysis because of all the information that overwhelms me. And all of these are available as long as I type the right word.

Ka-Ching! Another reason to stall.

Sometimes all the options at our fingertips can make it harder to decide. While we benefit from the access we suffer too from information glut. There has to be a way to get over the addiction of searching and clicking hyperlinks. While the offline world presents many viable options, I think the most effective one is to simply turn of the wi-fi router, and remember there's still an analog world to deal with, and a life to live, outside of the web.

It's 2011. I hope to write more, be distracted less, love more, criticize less, explore more, berate myself less. Smile more, hug more, give thanks. And it will all start with this happy medium.

The Music lives on in Many forms

I found it ironic that I should be listening to the last few minutes of NU 107's broadcast on my cellphone, while watching and reading tweets of devotion and kudos on my laptop, via the internet. I suppose it's a symptom of the digital times, a far cry from the way radio was once experienced.



The "Home of NuRock" fashioned itself as an innovator on the FM band, differentiating itself from its counterparts by playing non-mainstream music, and featuring independent and obscure musicians in its playlists. Growing up in the 80s, I came to associate NU listeners as the cool ones, enigmatic schoolmates and friends who seemed to float on a different plane of musical preference. I remember, on many occasions, being asked what station I listened to -- this was usually the standard getting-to-know-you line it seemed. When I as much as mentioned NU, the station's avid listeners would raise their palms in a high-five, while the "others" would give out a soft, slightly impressed "aaaahhhhh." I guess we all knew the music was different, the artists almost unheard of, and the DJs spoke English with a near-perfect accent in that slightly detached, "I know you know I'm cool so why should I even bother articulating it" tone.



NU's fan/audience base was built in the late 80s to early 90s, catering to punk, indie and new wave music aficionados and "alternative" content. Outlasting its predecessor, 102 DWXB, NU provided became a platform for launching independent Filipino bands and artists, and a gateway to music genres removed from the mainstream, top 40 hits played by other radio stations. When the Pinoy Band scene erupted in the early 90s with the raw sounds of the Eraserheads, Rivermaya, Put3Ska, and Yano, NU became the launch pad of choice. This brought new and loyal listeners alike onto common ground, and seemed to create a market for these new Pinoy rock musicians. Moreover, younger generations of listeners were reintroduced to the classic Pinoy rock sounds of The Jerks and Juan de la Cruz Band.

Tuning in and actually waiting for your favorite song to be played was the traditional way of patronizing the content. And because music licenses and physical recordings then were difficult (and expensive) to come by (obscure = rare = costly, the law of supply and demand), purchasing channels were limited and focused on NU. However as technology improved, and digital rendering of music became ubiquitous, acquiring the CDs became easier and cheaper. Soon it wasn't only NU that had access to the music; other radio stations could afford to invest in it too, if it meant being able to grab a share of NUs audiences . As the technology became massively available to listeners in portable form, music lovers spent close to nothing in acquiring the music they wanted. No more waiting for hours on the radio, no more spending thousands of pesos on CDs. Peer to peer technology allowed the audiences to collect their songs and make their own playlists.

I don't know for sure if the DJs or artists themselves ever considered this a threat. But for sure the businessmen and financial investors were concerned. What was a scarce resource no longer seemed in short supply on the web. Suddenly, the audiences themselves were the businessmen's biggest competition.

Definitely one cannot discount the changing business landscape of the mass media in the Philippines, and the world because of the internet, and the speed with which it assimilated itself into our lives. New business models and profit strategies emerged in the wake of digital connectivity and two great financial crises in the last two decades alone. The goal of earning revenue and partaking of the thinning financial resources forced like-business outfits to merge and be bought out by one financial entity. With more stations to carry ad content, the more clients will feel they're getting their investments' worth. The more stations acquired, the more audiences the are able to reach and "collect". But for the plan to be viable, the acquired entities need a homogenous flavor, to appeal to as wide a mass audience as possible,



What a lot of those in the old paradigm miss is that audiences who are part of the spread of music is a formidable ally in pushing the integrity and credibility of a product or movement. The audience just has to believe in it to pass it on. Old marketing models that are hinged on the cost-benefit ratio of the material, tangible form/structures are slowly growing obsolete. What strategists need to embrace is the realization that they no longer dictate what the hits are; their audiences now have the ability to join in on the discussion; not in the conference room, but through their mobile and internet devices. If any of the businessmen need proof of this, one just has to take a look at the videos that captured the final moments of NU 107's broadcast. Through word of mouth, people gathered outside the station to see it sign off. No incentives offered, no recognition promised. In fact it was they who spent on their transportation fare, gas, and time to be there. It was something they believed in, and they saw it through to its Huling El Bimbo. The lights and sounds have been captured on a portable camera/video phone and uploaded on the web, passed around via social networking sites. This is proof that though NU 107 as an entity, a physical space, is no more, it will live on in many forms, relived through just as many gadgets,immortalized and brought to life every time songs are played on individual playlists and their final video is viewed online.

I should send a tweet out to my friend that the video is up.

The Walking Dead

or close to it. Aside from trying to catch up with academic duties, there are administrative and personal obligations that have to be fulfilled. In between trying to make sense of the overwhelming workload, one texts, shoots off emails, manages FB profiles and tries to organize lessons on a laptop. And still I feel like nothing gets done.

Or maybe we want too much done.

The fine line that separates home and work has blurred so that one continues to plod through office backlog while in bed as new items fill email inboxes. There's a compulsion to check, and then we never stop checking. The to-do list becomes irrelevant, because it doesn't seem to ever "empty." As one task gets crossed off the list, another is added. Updating the list itself becomes a huge task.

My only measure now of how much work I've been doing is volume of laundry and the thickness of the dust gathering on my window. It reminds me that I'm home and that aside from living on the Web, I also live in the physical world. Too bad the it's only on the Web that people don't mind so much if I smell or not.

FLASH REPORT!

This just in: a tweet from Maria Ressa about an article from the Harvard Business Review, which also talks about the work-life balance in the internet age. :)

The Syllabus Link

Hello Comm 150 Students!

You may download the syllabus HERE.

Please let me know if there are any broken hyperlinks in the document. See you next week!

DTC

A Jewel of a Book

I nearly knocked over a National Bookstore book shelf a few days ago in my hysteria at seeing a copy of a book I've been salivating over for the last two years. Urs Gasser and John Palfrey's Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives, is, to my mind, one of the seminal works about the online lives of today's younger generation.

Gasser and Palfrey say that kids born after 1980 are considered the Digital Natives, those born knowing nothing but the digital world. The implications of these are huge, as they have to deal with issues previous generations didn't even have to think about, including privacy, access to information, even the changing nature of how we simply consume media and information.

It's an exciting foray into scenarios that typify life in the next decade. Everything from shifting to malleable identities, the creation and collaboration online, a public sphere where everyone can finally participate. However it rightly deals with the issue of the information and digital divide, including how some nations are proposing legislation to keep certain websites blocked, and the information filtered. Other issues deal with the issue of political economy, and how those with more money and education naturally have more access.

I'm still reading it, and I've a ways to go but I anticipate an enlightening read. I'm excited to find out about their recommendations regarding new media literacies and how people like me can join the campaign.

I think we all need to be part of the campaign.

The internet and the web will be around for a long time, and may evolve into a whole new organism before long. We all need to learn how to navigate it now, with the kids, so that we may teach the future generations how to do it better.

Salud should shut up

If it weren't for her mobile phone, presence of mind and courage, we would not have proof of how blatantly some of our public officials s*** on the dignity and human rights of our OFWs.

May I just remind you, Mr. Salud, that our OFWs provide 13% of our GDP. That's nearly $17.40 BILLION that our OFWs earn for this ungrateful country of corrupt, plagiarizing, imbecilic public servants. They're the ones keeping this country, well, a country.

We don't provide jobs for them then we disrespect them? How would Salud and his ilk feel if they were made to watch other people's children, clean toilets that aren't theirs, and suffer emotional, verbal, sexual and physical abuse from their employers...who can't even communicate with them?

I'd like to see him try. No, I'd like to see him live as an OFW for a year and then suffer the same thing he did to Tenorio. The difference is, he won't be able to leave his employer.

If that won't happen will someone just chuck him out of the airplane the next time he flies? kthxbai.

The Ultimate YouTube playlist

They are redefining our visual culture!

YouTube's Play Biennial video fest is showcasing, once again, innovative, groundbreaking ideas in online video. The awarding and event will be streamed live today at 8am from the Guggenheim Museum.

This project is mindblowing on so many levels!

First, there's the concept of creating the even itself: submissions and views from literally, all over the world. Practically no restrictions in the topics, styles, technology, language, treatment of the videos allows a free flow of ideas and creativity. The partnership with the Guggenheim Museum, where, according to the YouTube channel on the Play Biennial says, video is now exhibited alongside paintings and sculpture. It's a celebration of technology and the unleashing of ideas; an open dam of creativity and expression. Most of all it is one of the signposts of a changing media culture. It's redefining how a generation of human beings are maximizing the tools to learn from each other, collaborate and subvert the superstructures that used to dictate how we were supposed to see the world.

We are changing right before our eyes. And we're putting it all up on YouTube for others to see.

WOW!

How is this new media ecology changing you?

Check out the event page on YouTube. The omnibus plug alone is awesome!

A fitting tribute

Nothing captures the drama and spirit of an event like this as video does.

The rescue of the 33 Chilean miners trapped for two months in a mine in the Atacama desert was "made for television," said one kibitzer. I think it was made to be captured and shared on video at the very least, because I am not sure if there is any prime time news program that would air the full 14-minute or so video of each miner being brought to the surface.

On Philippine news, this would have been cut up to about 2 minutes, to augment the voice overs accompanying the newscast. Editorial judgment on which video images to use will be made, and I am willing to bet that only 3-5 of the faces of the 33 miners would be shown. Not that the newscast has any real choice: the nature and form of the news dictates it. The time limit, standards and requirements of video that will help "tell" the story, and the visual hook it needs to keep the audience watching necessitate sifting through the material, choosing and discarding the rest.

However, thanks to the web, we are able to see ALL of their faces. Here they are all identified, which, I think is the proper tribute to be paid to these men. This video was from the CNN website, and I'm glad they wrote in the names of the miners.

Still, it must be noted, the video was edited for brevity. In this instance it was edited precisely to show miners' names and faces. It's another question if there would be any venue or platform that will run the 33 hours (if it exists) of rescue video.

Globalization in Reverse: nothing comes close to chicken adobo

It's undeniable.

Pinoys, whether born in the Motherland or not will always have their brains and taste buds wired for the distinct taste of Filipino food. The flavors of home-cooked meals come at you from all directions, at once savory and sweet, hot and cool, pungent and sharply salty or sour.

However more than the food, I am attracted to this video for the way it globalizes the local -- glocalization, that business and political buzzword that has been used so liberally the past decade. Culturally it is used to define how new communication technologies are catapulting otherwise unknown aspects of a community onto the global stage. Sociologist Anthony Giddens defines it as "not just an 'out there' phenomenon, but an 'in-here' phenomenon" as well.

This video, by a Filipino living overseas named dvalix (according to his YouTube channel) must have created this video on a recent visit to Manila, to see family. Here I am particularly interested with how glocalization has permeated the everyday: using the catchy pop song "California Girls" by Katy Perry, he tries to organize his experience of the culture by focusing on food. Matching his created lyrics to the beat, and creating the particular video to illustrate his meaning, he uses the same device as Perry does in her song: singling out particular practices, activities, even manners of dressing and mundane, everyday experiences to heighten a particular Californian's identity.

Visuals of home-cooked meals and the set-up of the family table with plates stacked high, several cuts of scenes with big broods around a table, eating. Endless visuals of standard Filipino vayan, especially fried lumpia, pepper the music video. People in the act of eating and chewing, and in some instances holding up the food to their faces as if happily presenting it to the world and equating the foodstuff with their identity, seem to underscore just how important or how central food is to Filipino culture. He pays particular homage to the Filipinos' "national food," singing:

"you can travel the world, but nothing comes close to chicken adobo."

Sharing a meal, anywhere, has been considered a social event. dvalix however zooms in on how socialization with food in the Philippines takes them to the beach, where they eat pancit, or how one is sure to eat all the time because of the many parties a balikbayan is invited to. Panning shots of food set up in restaurants imply that family outings are anchored on food.

It is also family that seems to have defined for dvalix what good food is. Video of extended family gathered around the table, and close-ups of them savoring the bites of their food emphasize how lutong-bahay is a phenomenon that many overseas-born Filipinos find particularly quaint -- having no sense of the kasambahay who cooks for them on a daily basis. In one part of the video, he sings about how, when "mama tries to cook, everyone grabs [the food]." He implies how sinigang should be served ("be careful! Don't touch the bowl"), and lays down the proper pairing for "fried fresh fish" with the video showing the no-frills presentation of mangga, itlog na maalat, kamatis at sibuyas.

dvalix doesn't miss out on some unique Filipino practices as well: he mentions drinking coconut juice from its shell and juxtaposes it with drinking Coke from a "plastic bag." Visuals of fresh fish, typically stacked the way they would be in a wet market imply he had a close encounter with a palengke. Activities such as riding a jeepney and tricycle, using a magic mic, and even mixing msg in a pot of water serve to highlight the peculiarities of the Pinoy. All these are only possible outside of tourist-y travel deals, home-grown customs and activities that can only be passed down by family members and the communities they grew up in.

Though some may find these mundane, I believe these are the "everyday" things balikbayans and overseas-born Filipinos crave. These scenes are from experiences that are rooted in the culture of the everyday, the culture that is lived and is struggled with in order to survive. The phenomena of the everyday are alien to these overseas-born Filipinos but they need to find a way to connect to the experiences. The best way for them is to use familiar memes ("California Girls," t-shirts with the words "adobo" and "sinigang") to construct their idea of Filipino culture in the Motherland. As a unique kind of visitor, the experience is compounded on many levels (being a Filipino born overseas, rediscovering roots, discovering unique customs for the first time, similarities with customs practiced "at home" in the United States, etc.).

Taking available forms (pop songs, video, music) to "adequately" express their feelings and insights about the experience as it happens allows them to transmit these "raw" data. While this opens up questions of exoticization and welcomes discussions on constructions of Filipino identity, I believe it is videos like these that will serve to document and create for the global (even nomadic) Filipino a sense of knowing that there is more to what even our local media present the Philippines to be. It is from personal experiences and individual stories that we get more raw, less conglomerate-mediated perspectives of what it is to be a certain identity, or not, having been born/living in one place but struggling with a strong sense of being from a totally different lineage.

The new media and the technological tools allow us to tell those stories, and sing the songs that help define, or redefine for us the Filipino identity. It's also a constant negotiation. Many may agree with dvalix's presentation/interpretation of the Filipino culture, and others may not. In fact the creator may even change his tact after another visit. But I believe it's all right for our identities to be fluid. These content provide markers for us, buoys if you will, in an ocean of information and reconstruction. It's the exercise that matters, the opening up of the discussion, and the exchanges that will allow communities, online and offline, to keep these artifacts of Filipino culture (or any culture fort that matter) alive.

What is New Media - according to this kid named Dan Brown

New Media and Pedagogy

The University of the Philippines honored five of the students' favorite faculty members at the Great Ideas symposium on Wednesday, 6 October. The Great Ideas Project aims to highlight the great ideas -- projects, activities, passions and pedagogies -- of the faculty members of the University, and in turn inspire others to come up with their own great ideas as well.

Think brilliant, spread brilliance was this year's slogan, and five brilliant professors out of the over 400 other brilliant professors nominated in the polls, did just that. Check out greatideas.ph to read the abstracts of the winners.

What I found interesting among all these winners is their use of new media, specifically, media found on the web, in their discussions. This jumped out at me as Prof. Gonzales discussed his documentation strategy using digital video; Dr. David's demo of the forecasting software using available photos, video and data on the web; Dr. Gonzales' and Dr. Tolentino's references to YouTube stars and the virality of certain videos on the media-sharing site; and Prof. Billedo's use of social media to explain cyberpsychology.

While appropriating any media in the way we teach is not new, it should be mentioned how these new media figured in the great ideas of these faculty. Scholarship and pedagogy are starting to build around the software, platforms and content on the web. How we begin to approach solutions and explanations to many long-suffering issues and problems are starting to take on new forms. How we think and do things now are informed by the tools and media that are available via the internet.

This begs the question, if the internet were not around now, would these ideas have been born? I think they would still be born, albeit much later in our history, in someone else's brain, with far more effort and more cost. This isn't to say there isn't any effort in what we see today. It's just that, we're lucky this happened in our lifetime, otherwise none of us would probably be alive to even see a hint of these ideas.

Thanks to these ideas, we are able to add infinitely more to our methods, we are able to share and exchange insights in almost real time with our students. We are able to communicate both formally and informally online, and keep those links long after they graduate. We start to build a network and this network suddenly becomes a well of relationships, wisdom and praxis both students and faculty can draw from. I am particularly interested with how Prof. Gonzales and Prof. Billedo have successfully integrated new media into their methods. Their use of the media endears themselves to their students, and there is a sense of understanding. In an information glut human beings want to be identified, want to be understood as individuals.

This is what their use of the new media allows these professors to do: it opens up a venue for students to express their individuality, preference, beliefs, passions and desires in a familiar, unthreatening way. When they know they are on safe ground, in an environment that is open to their opinions, they will be less inhibited, they will have impassioned exchanges, and subsequently learn from their peers, and learn from doing.

It's a great way to build true confidence in kids. They need that confidence and self esteem to properly navigate their identities online, and not fall prey to the bullying and influencing that can happen online. It takes a strong character and self-awareness to safely navigate the many unexplored territories of the Web. But we use those very tools that were employed to create it, to teach kids to trek through it safely.

It is this confidence to speak out that allows them to throw their great ideas out there. It is the self-awareness and self-esteem that allows them to see their ideas through to fruition. They've been trained using the web, now they can go conquer it. Many say using the Web can seriously affect learning and attention spans; it will make them more prone to plagiarism and induce them to laziness. But if we as teachers show them the potential to use these tools responsibly and use these tools to inspire change, then we have an army of change agents at our fingertips.

What is important to me is that they are here now - the internet, the Web, the new media, the students -- and we have the means to spread these ideas, right on the very platform that inspired or pegged the great ideas in the first place. Here is a genuine way to share and collaborate, to pass on best practices, to document processes and pass it on. Here is a way to study and teach, and reach out to generations still waiting to be born.

The Future of TV is here

This is it guys! Google is ready to take center stage in the age of convergence.

GoogleTV is set to launch a whole new experience in television viewing and web surfing. Google TV now allows us to see graphic information right from our television sets while interacting online. If you visit the GoogleTV website, you'll see all the different features it offers, including apps (yes, just like the ones on your smart phone), search and a graphic tv homepage.

It's mind blowing, to say the least, that we actually get to see this media form come into being in this century, a mere 20-something years since the internet was made accessible to the public. Now this opens up a floodgate of questions and implications, not least of which are attention spans, content creation, consumption and access.

Among other things. But the good thing is, we no longer have to depend on one tv remote control and go berserk when we misplace it. Our cell phones (smart phones) can now double as tv remotes.

I hope they tell us when and how to subscribe. I can't wait to try it out.

And now, the end (of the sem) is near

Who woulda thunk it? It's been a pretty eventful semester -- for me anyway. Exciting outputs from my BC classes. I'm looking forward to teaching an all-new subject next sem too, though.

Communications 150 - Internet Studies (Comm150) is being offered by the college for the first time ever. Comm150 will discuss how the technology of the Web and the architecture of the internet as permeated our lives, the industries we move in, and simply, everyday life. Exciting! I've been tasked to teach it, and I took it.

It's funny that this is being offered as an elective, but in some universities it's practically a whole degree! In fact there are even subjects offered in high school! Wild, eh?

Anyway, more about that later. For now, I just wanted to share this video made by one of my students: a mash up of shots during our "Take It Off" Campaign for the UP Pep Squad during the UAAP Cheerdance Competition. The campaign was the final project for my Interactive Broadcasting Class and this mash-up tried to recreate the energy and excitement of that winning day.

So many stories to tell about that day, and the whole experience of teaching such a dynamic class! But in the meantime, enjoy this video, put together by Sisigman Jason Laxamana.

The Great Thing about the Internet

is that you can start over.

And so here it is, my "Starting Over," season 35, episode 5. This is a personal and professional (and passionate) attempt to revive my life as a blogger.

This naturally presupposes I actually HAVE time to THINK. Time -- the one commodity isn't easy to come by these days, filled as it is with all sorts of tasks and distractions, but I have to MAKE that time.

So the theme of this episode is MAKING TIME to THINK. Hopefully this blog will be proof positive that I can turn off all other stimuli and let my brain breathe and relax long enough to produce something substantial.

Cheers to a new effort, and a new semester!

A New Leader in a Time of Change

I want to write a post about the swearing in of the new president of the USA. I want to talk about the things i saw last night, when it was high noon in Washington and it was midnignt in my part of the world, in Manila.

But there are just too many things to say because he stands for so many things. And every time he does or says something, it adds another layer, and words become redundant; instead it's easier to just feel the impact on your humanity, and on the human race.

It feels good somehow to say those three words: President Barack Obama. Finally a different name, one with a lot of vowels, and phonetically a name that opens up your mouth to say something different. At the same time the man who owns that name seems to open us up to alternative possibilities. But he says, those possibilities only come with responsibility and accountability. And I like that. For too long we've expected others to make the world a good place for us. But really it all depends on us. I also like that he reiterates the importance of community. The world is getting smaller, her says, and big countries like the US can no longer be indifferent to the needs and sufferings of others, especially a country like theirs, that has plenty.

It felt like, he was addressing my country in particular. I suppose it felt that way for a lot of people. Because of the "patchwork heritage" he so often mentions, you feel a personal affinity towards him. "He's just like me," you say. He has experienced discrimination, he has seen hunger and poverty and lived in its midst. He knows what it's like to have your destiny limited simply because of the color of his skin or the misfortune of his race. Now here he is showing us the countless possibilities, by reminding us he was the son of a black man who wouldn't be served in a restaurant 60 years ago; and that man is now taking a most sacred oath as the first African American President of the United States.

Now these are all rather lofty, and high hopes are sometimes dangerous because we set such store on them. We have hight hopes for this man, and it remains to be seen if indeed, he will not let us down. Notice I use the all-inclusive pronoun, us. The extent to which we are affected by the actions and decisions of this one man is deep. The history and the hurts trace their roots back to over a century. What will happen to the Philippines now? Will he indeed extend his hand, will he give us an ear? Will there be policies to help our veterans, our immigrants, and protect our overseas Filipino workers? Will he give it to us? We will find out.

Hopefully he does begin this revolution of change, and all nations come out and take up the challenge. Let's hope he does take us through the icy currents and create a wealth of possibilities for all those who are willing to roll up their sleeves and get things done!

Alam niyo kung bakit di man lang tayo nagpe-place sa Olympics?

Dahil sa point of view pa lang natin, talo na tayo. It's in the nuances in which we refer to our chances (the elusive gold), the way we skew angles in how we discuss it (the sorry state of philippine sports; the disadvantaged athletes), and when we talk about the results, napaka condescending (she finished with a mere 107 kg, placing second to last).

Case in point: the media. I wanted to slam Anthony Suntay's head on the counter when he reported the results of the women's weightlifting category in such a condescending way. can he and his producers do what Hidilyn Diaz did? I dare him & his "news team" (emphasis on the quotation marks) to lift that "mere 107 kgs". I dare them to train and sweat and work their butts off in the face of all that politicking, corruption and lack of support. The kind he and his writers just demonstrated.

Obviously he, and every media person like him (the educated, the ones trained abroad, those who made their bones thru a hard knock life--bar none) forget their responsibility when they are handed the power to talk about other people . Granted, these are truths, and they are just telling it like it is. But there are other ways to tell it. Tell it impartially if you can't tell it positively. Whoever wrote that copy should eat it.

News is not objective. That's a fundamental truth (just reiterating a bit of broadcasting 101 here, and communication theory in case they were absent from school that day). And the fact that they wrote their news the way they did shows just how much faith they have in our own athletes.