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New information tools such as digital cameras, Internet-ready phones
and fast Internet connections, as well as new methods and approaches
to tell one’s experience, are now at the hands of more people than
before. The recent events in Mumbai were heard first around the
world via new Internet tools such as Twitter and blogs before they
were even reported by traditional media outfits. Chances are you are
reading this column through the Internet even before your
neighborhood vendor has the print copy out for sale.
On Saturday, Agham Youth, the Computer
Professionals Union, the UP Geological Majors Society, the College
Editors Guild of the Philippines and Pinoy Weekly held a citizen
journalism seminar entitled “May kuwenta ba kamo? E-kuwento mo!: A
Citizen Journalism Seminar” at the National Institute of
Geological Sciences Auditorium at the UP Diliman. It was a standing
room event attended by students and ordinary citizens from different
sectors. The seminar had different lectures from experts and
proponents of citizen journalism, training sessions on basic news
and feature writing, photography, videography and a special session
on science blogging.
The activity highlighted how the reportage of
ordinary citizens are slowly becoming important in documenting
momentous events and exposing the situation they are in with the
tools provided by Internet technology. In the past few decades, the
cue to smile when photographs of people are being taken was
“Cheese!” Today it is “Pa-picture tayo, pang-Friendster.”
The seminar was a venture into developing both the awareness for
citizen journalism and the citizens’ skills needed to more
efficiently report their own stories.
Professor Danny Arao of the UP College of Mass
Communication talked about Citizen Journalism in general, its roots
and current practices and why ordinary citizens should understand
media work to be effective citizen journalists. Award-winning
blog-ger and writer Tonyo Cruz, shared his experience in using
technology to effectively reach out to a wide sector of society. His
different advocacies have found different technological conduits
through websites, blogs, the cellphone and other new Internet
enabled tools. The skills training in the afternoon was a sharing by
experts in news writing, features writing, video and photography.
The session on science blog-ging focused on
popularizing scientific content and promoting local research and
development in the country. It is hard to imagine writing about
local and international science news within the context of a country
that is lagging behind in science and mathematics, as reflected in
various international surveys and studies. Although the youth
comprise a large part of the country’s Internet users, it seems
that they hardly use the net to browse about science and technology.
Science blogging has been an untapped potential
for learning. Even though Filipinos are the world’s leading
cellphone users, we also rank as top readers of blogs and users of
social networking sites such as Friendster and Facebook. Filipinos
have found ways to connect to each other, especially since many of
our family and friends are in other countries as migrant workers.
One can go about different ways in making a
science blog. Since science appears to be mysterious and obscure for
most people, a blog that aims to take current scientific research
and rewrite it in a more popular manner would be of great help to
many. Other science blogs are there to make available correct
information to counter “bad science” sites, although this can be
done both ways.
During the session, a new initiative aiming to
create avenues for organizations and individuals to share their
understanding of science, mathematics and engineering to secondary
and elementary schools in different parts of the country was
introduced. Called the SciPop project, it will maximize the use of
information and communications technology in generating interest and
appreciation of scientific, mathematical and engineering concepts.
Much like a collaborative blog, or a Wiki, the site aims to create
local content for online sharing and collaboration, with the
ultimate aim of making these accessible to public school teachers,
students and other educators.
Hosted at http://www.scipop-ph.org, the project
bridges together Filipino science bloggers, researchers and science
organizations that are willing to share their understanding of
science concepts to others. It also aims to have SciPop Days in
public elementary and high schools, where discussions of recent
discoveries, popularization of basic science concepts and effective
teaching methods will be organized. Career orientation programs for
graduating high school students will also be held to encourage them
to choose science and engineering-related courses. Although the
project is still in its very early stages of implementation,
everyone is welcome to give their share in making science accessible
for everyone.
Mr. Rick Bahague is a physicist by training
and was a former Chairperson of AGHAM youth. He is now an IT
professional and coordinator of the Computer Professionals Union.
Prom.bound@gmail.com
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