YugaTech | Philippines, Technology News & Reviews » Pinoy Bloggers

Technology drives Citizen Journalism

yuga — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:26:40 +0000

When I saw this hi-def video of the Serendra car explosion yesterday, I thought this is the future of citizen journalism — live or almost live video broadcast of incidents as they happen, taken by ordinary people.

Still images are no longer enough. People want live video — high definition video. Take for example these series of footages taken by one of the witnesses in yesterday’s incident at Serendra / Boni High Street.

Technology drives citizens journalism. We need more mobile phones with HD video recording, more portables devices like the Flip MinoHD to be more affordable, and convergent devices like the iPod Nano Video to be more connected over-the-air and a much faster/better 3G connections for live “by the minute” coverage.

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PopDev Media Awards to cite Bloggers

yuga — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:17:40 +0000

For the last two years, I’ve been invited by the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) to be in the panel of judges for their annual PopDev Media Awards. This year, they’ve decided to add a special citation for citizen journalists (bloggers).

This year’s awards will include Citations for Blog (text) and Photo Blogs (Single Photo and Photo Essay) in recognition of the significant contribution of bloggers, or citizen journalists, in enriching the public discussion of population and human development concerns vis-à-vis socio-economic issues.

Click here for bigger version of the poster.

The 5th PopDev Media Awards is open to all print, broadcast, online, photo, and citizen journalists nationwide and covers topics on public health, reproduction, climate change, poverty, education, housing and urban development.

Winners in the major categories will receive a cash prize, trophy, certificate, and a chance to participate in a study trip to a PLCPD project area in the Philippines.

We had some pretty interesting discussion during the last roundtable of judges between the criteria on “form vs. substance”. It was an easy debate when it comes to professional journalists but is different when you bring in bloggers to the list.

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The Anatomy of a Blog Libel

yuga — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 06:26:26 +0000

Ever since I wrote my story on surviving a libel case about two years ago, there were a couple other people who asked recommendations for legal counsel (apparently, encountering the same situation I had).

Back then, news about online libel are very few and far between; the only other case I knew of was the TRO against PCIJ’s blog in 2005 (now there’s your precedent). Those who are not familiar with my case can read thru my lawyer’s explanation here.

Facing such a criminal lawsuit is no laughing matter. True, very few get convicted of libel — the only one that I knew of was the 6-month prison term for a guilty verdict against The Daily Tribune publisher and editor-in-chief Ninez Cacho-Olivares in June of last year.

Unfortunately, the problem starts even before the case goes to court. Libel is about power, influence and money, the latter carrying the most weight. The time and money you spent just to get representation and appear in the fiscal’s office on a subpoena costs a fortune. Elevating it to the sala of a judge, which could drag on for years, may spell bankruptcy to the less fortunate. It’s like getting a life sentence before the final verdict has been passed.

Today, libel on the internet seems too common and we hear/read a lot of lawsuits being filed left and right. (I won’t enumerate them here anymore as those issues have been debated way too much, IMO.)

What’s more ironic is that “free speech or freedom of expression”, which is supposed to be literally free, isn’t cheap when confronted with a libel suit.

The guy who sued me 2 years ago may have successfully sued dozens, maybe more, individuals and companies. The latest victim is i.PH, the local blog service provider. I got a call from them months ago asking for info/advise as we both have the same complainant. I urged them to stand their ground and fight this libel suit. They are now looking for more evidence and testimonies to help them defend their case.

I am no lawyer (though my experience has sparked much interest into going to law school) but I think there must be something that needs to be done with Libel Laws in the Philippines. They’re outdated, unreasonsable and extreme.

Maybe we should already decriminalize libel. If people wants to sue, they go to the civil court. There’s a filing fee of 2% (if you sue for Php1M, you pay a fee of Php20,000) so people just don’t claim outrageous amounts in moral/punitive damages. By decriminalizing it, you remove the fear of imprisonment (that’s a 6-year jail term).

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On T3 Mag’s Movers and Shakers List

yuga — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:53:23 +0000

This came as a surprise last night when I learned I made it to T3 Magazine’s list of “The Philippines’ Most Influential”.

The list include people in the techbiz, both on the international and local scene.

Other people mentioned were Intel GM Ricky Banaag, Canon President Ramon Arteficio, Microsoft Managing Director Rafael Rollan, Level-Up Founder Ben Colayco, Chikka Asia Founder Dennis Mendiola, and Anino Entertainment Founder/President Niel Dagondon. Tech journos TJ Manotoc, Leo Magno and Jing Garcia completed the local list.

It’s great to know that bloggers such as myself were considered on this list. I hope more bloggers will make it next year. Thanks to T3 for the mention.

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Why Blogger isn’t that popular in the Philippines?

yuga — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:19:04 +0000

During a cocktail party held yesterday for several folks from Google Asia-Pacific, the Product Manager from SEA asked me this — while blogging is huge in the Philippines, why isn’t Blogger enjoying the same popularity? I gave him some figures off my head as he wrote it down. And here are some reasons why.

Yes, Blogger is also widely used as a blogging platform by a lot of Filipinos but it did not generate the same level of popularity as YouTube in the country. This is primarily because of other competing platforms:

While Blogger had the first mover advantage, it did not enjoy as much popularity in the early 2000 as LiveJournal (DiaryLand, Pitas, Blogger and LiveJournal were all launched in 1999). The Philippines is on the Top 10 LiveJournal users worldwide, at #8 with 60,961 users. In terms of search volume, Philippines is at #5 for LiveJournal.com
According to Google Trends, Multiply has 200,000 daily unique visitors from the Philippines, twice as many from a year ago. In Alexa, the Philippines ranked #5 for Multiply’s traffic origins contributing to an estimated 13.4% of its total users. With Google Insights, Philippines is #1 for Multiply searches. (Read my related story on ABS-CBN and Multiply deal.)
According to Google Insights, the Philippines is in the Top 5 for Xanga.
Friendster also enjoys the #1 spot for the Philippines worldwide. Google trends estimate 1 Million daily unique visitors to the site. There’s an estimated 10 Million Filipinos having a Friendster account. If just 1% of them opens a Friendster blog, that’s already 100,000 users.

On the other hand, Blogger.com isn’t even on the Top 25 of countries by usage according to Alexa. I can’t get any more traffic details since Google Trends don’t show data from Blogger.com. However, Google Insights rank the Philippines #5 for blogger.com searches.

And almost everybody knows that BlogSpot is the #1 host for spammers. Last year, a study found out that 75% of all blogspot.com accounts are spam blogs. Even antivirus and security company Sophos noted that the number one host for malware on the web is Blogger, with blogspot.com accounts contributing to at least 2% of total malware webpages globally.

There’s also the growth of an alternative (and ad free) platform in i.PH, WordPress.com as well as the self-hosted WordPress.org application. Even offline support is present, credited to the two upcoming WordCamp Philippines. We’re not even counting the local Drupal and Joomla community as well as alternative platforms such as TextPattern, Expression Engine, and MovableType.

Unlike YouTube, Blogger has so many other popular competing platforms being used in the Philippines that it failed to dominate the market despite the surge of blogging in the country.

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Sen. Mar Roxas blogs, for real

yuga — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 09:16:54 +0000

Yesterday on a round-table discussion with bloggers, Sen. Mar Roxas announced that he start blogging himself. This time, it’s for real. Likewise, he’s bringing his campaign for the suspension of VAT on oil (Senate Bill 1962) online.

The Fuel Price Protest, an initiative to suspend the VAT on the ever-increasing oil prices. This is complemented by a website called Virtual Rally where people can sign up, select an avatar and join the rally in a virtual EDSA against oil price hikes.

In a welcome entry in his new blog, the senator invites people to share their views with him and spends the rest talking about how our taxes (i.e. VAT) should be spent.

The race to reach as many Filipino people online before the 2010 elections has already started. There are close 9 million Filipinos abroad and a sizable percentage of them are voters that can only be reached thru the internet.

We’ve seen this happening in the current US presidential elections. Whether this trend will be adopted and be as effective on this side of the globe is something we’ve yet to see in the next 2 years.

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Manila Bulletin files counter suit against Photoblogger

yuga — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:31:52 +0000

Now it’s Manila Bulletin’s turn. The newspaper filed a counter suit against photographer and blogger Anton Sheker.

Anton earlier filed a Php 1.2 Million copyright lawsuit against Manila Bulletin (including the graphics artist and section editor) for publishing his photos without his permission {see earlier story here and the first coverage here}.

In return, Manila Bulletin is suing back Anton with exemplary and moral damages for Php 2.0 Million. MB claims fair use in its publication of the photos.

The developments are getting juicer. Will post updates once I get a copy of the complaint.

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PMPToday on Sprint Samsung Instinct Commercial

yuga — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:37:32 +0000

PMPToday, a Pinoy blog about portable media players, landed a cameo role in the upcoming Sprint/Samsung Instinct commercial to be aired in the United States next week. See a copy of the video after the jump.

The Sprint-Samsung Instinct Commercial:

It’s a commercial spot equally deserving for Gizmodo or Engadget. Congrats to Brian of PMPToday.

Disclosure: I have a blog monetization agreement with PMPToday.

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Filipino Photographer sues Manila Bulletin

yuga — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:27:52 +0000

In a potentially landmark case, a Php1.2 Million copyright infringement suit was filed against print publication Manila Bulletin for illegally using and printing photos of professional photographer and blogger Anton Sheker.

This issue first came to light back in October 2007 when I suggested to Anton he send Manila Bulletin a bill for using his photos.

Several months have passed and discussions between the two parties didn’t end up with an acceptable agreement.

On June 5, 2008, Anton finally elevated the issue to the Regional Trial Court.

The picture above is the subject of the case. Is this going to be the first time that a case on copyright infringement and the Internet as a medium is in question? Will it be the first time that camera EXIF data will be used as evidence in the Philippines?

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Getting sued for Linking

yuga — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:14:09 +0000

When they said you can get sued for linking to a libelous blog, some people do really mean it.

I was just informed that a website I’m previously connected with is being sued for linking out to a blog. Can’t share any more details for now and yeah, I know it’s a stupid thing to be sued for libel because you just linked to the offending source but that’s how it goes here in the Philippines. I know this case will be dismissed and all but the hassle of getting and paying for a lawyer is a pain in the neck and the pocket. We’ll have to wait and see how this pans out.

The clincher here is that it could have been me. Again! And to think I’m not yet through with my own libel case in the civil courts.

As for the previous case, one of the defendants posted a blog entry (dated March 19, 2008 at 1:04 am) about his own experience:

For those who do not know, I have been under legal fire during the past couple of years – late in 2006, someone sued me for libel over a string of allegedly defamatory comments posted in a private internet forum. Last year, I recieved a warrant of arrest and was temporarily held under the custody of the Makati Police (I was never jailed nor handcuffed for those who want to ask) and within that day I was able to bail out, with a scheduled arraignment in September. I asked for legal and financial assistance (we even did a benefit event) and was able to support my ordeal.

Reference to this case can be read by following these links:

http://www.yugatech.com/blog/daily-dose/surviving-a-libel-case/

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=68456

My case was dismissed last month over a technicality that questions the court’s jurisdiction of the case. In this case, records show that “the Prosecution failed to allege in the informations the province or city where the libelous article is printed and first published or where any of the offended parties actually resides at the time of the commission of the offense” – and I just have to wonder at the fact that the alleged libelous comments were posted online and the website is hosted in a facility outside the country where different laws on libel apply. There will be a whole lot of definitions to go by in order to determine what should be applied in this case. Bottomline is, you cannot just sue someone for libel over a forum or blog post where the local trial court has no clear jurisdiction on the case.

Anyway, I am just thankful that this is over and I’m sure my co-accused is very much relieved as well. It’s a learning experience for me, and while I am still a strong advocate of freedom of speech and self expression, there is still the responsibility of exercising our freedom – in my case I got into a whole lot of trouble and was almost living dangerously. To the person who sued me, I can only wish that he would let go of all the anger in his system and be able to accept his own mistakes as well. I will admit that there has been some wrong in my part but I will make a stand on what is right and truthful. It is time to move on now and attend to more important matters, holding a grudge would only do more harm.

The blog’s domain has expired but I was able to get this from Google cache.

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TopBlogs Philippines Update

yuga — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:30:58 +0000

Here are some updates from Enthropia on their first month of launching the new Top Blogs Philippines. Their blog is not yet up so I’m republishing the announcement here for the meantime.

Hello everyone,

A quick update on how things are going.

First off, we have now tracked over 1 million unique visitors and almost 3.5 million pageviews, and we have sent out over 11,000 clicks to our participating members. You can see the stats here.

Also there has been some discussion about cheating and so forth, and let me quickly address it with some history.

The first top list we created was in 2000, and was named GameSites200.com. It is a site that now gets over 100,000 unique visitors a day, and has sent out over 100,000,000 clicks to the participating sites. That was the first version of our ‘top list’ script.

We then released the script publicly as evoTopsites. This was the script that Abe (Yuga) used to setup PinoyTopBlogs.com. It was a nice engine, but it had problems with scaling.

The next version we released was for BlogTopSites.com. It took evoTopsites and added performance measures, and extra stuff such as tag-support.

The latest version is what we have on TopBlogs.com.ph. What it does is analyze traffic over a bunch of days and, finding anomalies, reports them to us.

Now – this analysis takes time. Having two days or even a week of data does not make for good analysis. It takes time for the system to become ’smarter’ as it recognizes what is regular and irregular behavior.

Furthermore, we have to err on the side of a mistake. For example, a blogger who operated multiple blogs was copying over some HTML from one blog to another, and accidentally included the TopBlogs.com.ph code. We could have taken the quick (and unnecessarily harsh) option of just banning his blogs.

Instead what our system does is flag potential blogs, and we had check over them. No system is perfect, and we want to make sure that we give legitimate bloggers a chance to fix anything they may have done wrongly.

With that in mind, I expect the fruits of the automated system to start coming into play next week. In the mean time, if you do see someone cheating, please do not hesitate to contact us.

I can only thank everyone for all the input we are receiving – it helps solidify that what we are doing is a valued part of the Filipino blogosphere.

Thanks again for using TopBlogs.com.ph.

- Andre
TopBlogs.com.ph

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Brand New Pinoy Top Blogs Launched

yuga — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:47:12 +0000

The very long wait is over. A brand new Pinoy Top Blogs has just been re-launched, with entirely new code-base and design. All previous accounts have been imported. All you need is to get the new tracking code. Check it out here!

It was about 6 months ago that I let go of the project and handed it over to the guys at Enthropia, Inc., who originally developed the top lists. The last 6 months since then was spent re-coding everything from the ground up and doing a much better design. Congrats to the guys at Enthropia for getting this done.

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A couple more out of the Blog Barn

yuga — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:19:23 +0000

Since my last post about seeding blog ideas, I’ve had a few additional blog projects collaborated with several more bloggers.

When Guitar Tutee and Blog ni Inday became a hit, it was obvious we had to explore several more ideas. There were some hits and misses but so far, here’s what we’ve got out of the barn:

Pinoys Got Talent. The content model was a bit blurry when this was conceptualized but it’s now turning out a bit clearer. That is, to scout for Pinoy talents everywhere and feature them on the blog. It had to start somewhere and YouTube had tons of Pinoys with exceptional potential and indie Fil-Am YouTubers with huge following.
Mundiarios. It’s a travel blog written in Spanish. The blogger is a friend from Argentina I met in Germany last December. Other big blog networks are doing foreign language blogs (usually Japanese, Chinese, German, and Spanish) so I thought this was one way to spread the network. It may open new doors to more blogs in Spanish too.
Mac Complainer. The most recent one we just launched. This was in anticipation of MacWorld 2008. Written by PMPToday blogger BrianB (also a regular reader here), this week old blog has already had relative success. In the twit-words of Migs Paraz, “Looks like the guy who put up maccomplainer.com has a winner site!“. Credit goes to Brian.

The other one was supposed to be a group blog on sports — Spike it Hard is a huge hit in the UAAP & NCAA volleyball crowd. Though I also used to play volleyball and I love the sports, I don’t think I can be a sports blogger.

MarcVill sure knows how to get things going in there. Hundreds of replies in the comment discussions and thousands of voters in the polls. For now, I’m just a photo-contributor. The rest of the photos are here.

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To Boracay, Contest Prizes and a new PhotoBlog

yuga — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 02:30:48 +0000

By this time, we’ll be in Boracay for an early summer get-away. That means I won’t be able to send out the giveaway prizes by this week-end.

I’m tagging along with a bunch of travel and photo bloggers to Microtel Boracay. Big thanks to our sponsors Microtel, SeAir and Zuzuni Boracay for this blogger excursion.

So, while I’m out, I’d like to apologize to those who won the last giveaway winners. I won’t be able to send your new year’s gift by the week-end. Will do that on Monday. Also, reminders to everyone else on that list to email me before Friday, 5:00PM. Otherwise, we’ll re-raffle them again.

To those who won the Auction.PH eMoney Contest, please email Manu Ofiaza (mofiaza@auction.ph) of Auction.PH so you can have your accounts credited with the 300 prize. Send him your Auction.PH username/email. Don’t make him wait any further or else we won’t get any more prizes from them in the future. *hehe*

And lastly, I’m launching my very own photo blog — the Abe Olandres Photography. It’s just a hobby blog by a really amateur photography enthusiast (please take it easy on me in the comments). I’m hoping I could post one picture each day for the entire year. You can subscribe to the feeds here too.

Ah, and yes, I got my domain (abeolandres.com) back. Apparently, they were domain tasters as some of the commenters hinted. The domain was released 5 days later and I grabbed it right away.

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2008 Philippine Blog Awards

yuga — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:00:05 +0000

It’s coming sooner than you’ve expected. We’d like to announce the official launching of the 2008 Philippine Blog Awards.

This time, we want to make it bigger and grander. So, we’d like to seek your support for biggest blogger gathering of the year.

Please help spread the news.

If you’d like to sponsor this event, you may contact me (abeolandres@gmail.com) for the Sponsorship Package or fill out the sponsorship form here.
We’d like to allow the blogging community to participant, not only in the awards, but also during the awards night itself. If you’d like to help by lending us your time, skills and talent, please contact Gail at kutitots {at} gmail {dot} com.
If you’d like to help promote the event and the awards itself, please blog about it, put up a logo on your site/blog (get logos here), submit creative banners and badges for distribution, and send us your photos of last year’s event (send to Gail again).

The details on the venue, time and dates will be announced later on.

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Did Twitter Popularize Mobile Blogging in the Philippines?

yuga — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 06:18:15 +0000

As we close in on the end of the year, I’d like to go back and review some of the more interesting discussions and debates we had throughout the year. One of them is mobile blogging (moblogging) and its future in the Philippine cybersphere.

Back in April, Jayvee, Marc and I were debating on the viability of mobile blogging in the Philippines (see: Why MoBlogging isn’t hot in the Philippines?).

Different viewpoints were shared — moblogging is expensive, there are usability problems and more. My contention then was that Filipinos aren’t really that hot with personal blogging. Later on, I got a tip that Smart rolled out a mobile blogging platform (via MMS) and it drew over 100,000 users. The bait — it was totally free. Well, until they made it for pay and then the people stopped using it.

Fast forward today, where every other active blogger also has a Twitter account. Add to that the availability of cheap 3G services from Smart. And since Twitter Mobile (http://m.twitter.com) is a click away, you’ve already solve all the earlier issues on usability, cost and accessibility.

Does that mean that Mobile Blogging in the Philippines has started or maybe even reached its peak?

Let’s do a quick survey, shall we? If you are on Twitter, do you:

1) Use your Mobile Phone Regularly to Post and Access Twitter
2) Sometimes Use Mobile Twitter
3) Don’t Use Your Phone to Post on Twitter
4) You seldom use Twitter

I’ve been making some rounds doing spot checks on Twitter and I also found a lot of them are not actually updating for months now. Would also be interesting to do a survey on Filipino Twitters and see how active or inactive we are on the twitterspace.

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What attracts you: the Blog or the Blogger?

yuga — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:14:06 +0000

There’s this one observation that when a blog/blogger becomes famous, they usually grow thin on content. Gone are the quality posts and coasting becomes a daily blogging habit. Still, they continue to be famous and admired.

Scott of AfftoolBox thinks John Chow and Shoemoney belongs to that exclusive list. I must first admit that I read these two blogs mentioned and subscribe to their feeds because they had quality content. I didn’t add them right away. Took me weeks before finally deciding they had consistent valuable content.

The Cartoon Blog once put out a funny strip — the 2 Ways of Becoming a Popular Blogger.

Witty.

That brings me to our question — what attracts you to subscribe and read a blog?

The person is already popular, so when he/she opened up a blog, I subscribed to it.
The blog is popular and useful with great content.

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McDo, the Webbys and a Funny Cartoon Blog

yuga — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 10:32:29 +0000

I never realized talking 8 hour straight was so exhausting that after arriving home I hit the sack right away. My seminar on problogging was well received. Missed some stuff over the week-end so here’s a recap.

Jayvee, Nomei and I attended last Friday’s 10th Web Awards at the Promenade in GreenHills. I initially didn’t want to go as I was pissed at them telling me I didn’t RSVP to a non-existent invitation they allegedly sent two weeks ago. The guys from Globe (which was a sponsor) sent me several tickets (PWA was selling Php1,000 a ticket!) and Noemi convinced me so I went even if it was a little late and traffic was awful. As expected, Noemi won the Best Blog Category (again!) and James of PMT won the People’s Choice. But the luckiest guy in the room was me! I won the raffle for a new Nokia 7370. *hehehe*
Three Filipinos made it to the semis (out of 35) for the 2008 Voice of McDonalds. Two Filipinas are on the Asia-Pacific list and another pinoy blogger is on the European list. Check out the website and vote for Michael Pimentel.
Eugene is a genius for coming up with a comics blog. Blogenyo is as funny and promising. More cartoons please! Just be careful with the byline — t’might offend some people. *hehe*

Apparently, a lot of people are still confused between a “personal website” and “a blog” as Gail reveals. The two are mutually non-exclusive. There are blogs, and there are personal websites — it’s possible for one to be the other but not at all times. All blogs are websites — yes. But not all blogs fall under the category “personal”.

In the social sphere, it’s LinkedIn that’s growing the fastest and not Facebook. That’s according to the latest research from Nielsen Online, but that has got to do with the existing size of these social networking sites. The bigger you get, the slower your growth rate becomes.

On a different note, I found units of the Asus PC Eee over at Greenhills, Virramall selling for Php18,500. The only stock they got was in white. I would have bought the black version for a hands-on right away if they were available.

According to a source who attended the recent Philippine Advertising Congress in Subic, a lot of agencies are now allocating budgets for new media. Where these budget will go is yet to be determined — might not be for advertising but more on social engagement.

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Master Link Baiter of the Year

yuga — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:32:47 +0000

Who could have thought that our early forays into the controversial blogosphere was all just a huge link bait? Follow the link to discover who this master link baiter of the year is.

Just over a year ago, I wrote an entry entitled “Filipino Catholics petition against Bryanboy“. It was probably one of the first few controversies the local blogosphere had witnessed. It was so hot the topic even got the major daily news.

What we all didn’t know that this incident was a masterfully crafted plan by Bryanboy himself. He emailed me the other day and confessed:

One of the challenges on this year’s gay bloggies is to confess something you’ve never written on your blog before. Well, I thought I’d drop you a note, albeit belated, to say THANKS with last year’s antichrist brouhaha.

His entry, Attention whores, poke, poke and provoke (warning: NSFW!) explains it in detail.

Exactly one year ago I made headlines in my country because of a simple yet effective blog entry that I posted.

What people didn’t know (until now) is that blog entry was planned and executed with military-grade precision.

Anyway, my friend and I concocted a cheap little plan.

* Fake email account? Check.
* Fake online petition because anyone new on teh internets think online petitions are still effective? Check.
* Sanctimonious holier-than-thou quote? Check.
* Crazy “ZOMG YOU ARE SO GONNA BURN IN HELL” letter with a ludicrous call-to-action? Check.
* Email a few folk and leave it to their hands to do a little viral marketing campaign. Check.

First time I read his email, I said “Dang, I’ve been had!!!!”.

B, you’re really gonna get it this time. *hehehe* But I have to hand it to you, master link baiter.

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Why I’m into Open Source Consulting

yuga — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:41:23 +0000

If I remember correctly, it was from Nick Nichols whom I first heard of this term. Nick says blogging is a form of open source consulting. I guess that was my approach ever since I first started my online presence back in 2000.

Back then, I saw the power of the internet as sort of dynamic collaboration with free flowing information and discussions of almost anything one can ever imagine. I was awed and thought the Internet was inherently good as it opens new possibilities for everyone who has access to it.

One of the first websites I created when I was just starting to learn HTML was a mix of a tutorial + guide + how to website. I posted computer shop information, some price lists I saw at Buy & Sell, guides on how to troubleshoot a computer, comparative reviews of some new gadgets or peripherals, and even a hand-coded marketplace to sell really cheap but used computer spare parts. It was my way of sharing what I know to the rest of the intarwebs.

Today, I go out to meetings with people I hardly ever know. They just happen to chance upon my blog and thought I could help them out. They could be a geeky foreigner who just came to the Philippines for the first time and wanted to have some beer, a stay-at-home mom who wants to start blogging, a group of students who needed help with their thesis paper, an office worker who wants to earn on the side, an IT company seeking fresh input for their consumer-oriented services, a new graduate who needs a career advice, or an NGO that wants to market their fund-raising efforts online.

All those time, I never (directly) made a cent and on some occasion, I’m the one who shells out for lunch. No biggie. I thought I was actually helping people. Last night, I met with a project coordinator for a local company’s NGO effort. They wanted some help to go into blogging, ICT being part of their advocacy. They said they didn’t have money but badly needed the help. I said, it’s for charity, we’re not suppose to make money off charity work. Long story short, I volunteered my time and expertise to their foundation. I was happy thinking I was making a difference, however small it was. I thought I could also learn a thing or two from them as I’ve been planning on putting up an educational foundation myself.

So, my recent meeting with Carl and his dad seeking for advice on how to face their predicament was a way to bridge the distance and resolve the miscommunication. I thought I was helping. Apparently, Anton de Leon thinks I was being nosy and overdoing it. Wow, even the best of intentions are being frowned upon. I know, I’m not new to this but sometimes, fresh perspective can strike a cord. Was I really being nosy? Some time back, I was also invited to observe in an interview about the spat between Gail and her client with allegations of a libelous blog entry. Was I being nosy then too?

But that is the beauty of blogging. Everyone wields the power, not just a small group of people. Anybody can express their opinions and be heard. No one is preventing anyone from joining the conversation. It’s all there and you are free to join or exclude yourself from the discussion. That power is so potent that you can even shut it off in a blink by clicking on that small square box with an x at the top right corner of your browser. Out of sight, out of mind.

The exchange of opinions (minus the cussing) is a sign that the blogging space is vibrant. Anyone can add or subtract to it and that choice is solely theirs. What would have been more sad was if nobody cared nor lift a finger. I feel blessed that we are free to express our thoughts and we’re aggressively expressing that freedom. My workshops around Asia opened up my eyes on why some people in neighboring countries are afraid of blogging while others are being jailed for it.

I believe that the recent rounds of debate is a testament of our growth, both personal and as a society.

“No great advance has ever been made in science, politics, or religion, without controversy.” – Lyman Beecher

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Who’s MISrepresenting who?

yuga — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 02:01:05 +0000

As though we haven’t had our fill of controversies, Jayvee opens up a new one and is calling out somebody who he claims is misrepresenting bloggers:

It is such a sad experience to have a blogger misrepresent the Philippine blogosphere for his or her own merit. Recently, a huge conference was held and some industry folk mentioned a particular blogger who gave such a compelling presentation about the Philippine blogosphere. It was so compelling because it was the first BIG time that the local industry’s eyes were opened to the spectacle that is the Philippine blogosphere.

And while my curiosity wants to get the better of me (who are you referring to Jayvs?), I was more curious on the issue of “who’s misrepresenting who”. I mean, the second who, not the first one.

The class noun we often referred to as the philippine blogosphere is being misrepresented, according to Jayvee and his sources. As to who is making the misrepresentation, only he can answer. The bigger question is who are the bloggers in the “philippine blogosphere” that have been misrepresented? How were they misrepresented? I’m a blogger, was I misrepresented? Was my blog or my name used/presented in a different context? Who else?

Before Jayvee can go around and gather allies for this cause, he may want to explain and qualify his statements.

So fire away, Jayvs. If this is all about responsibility and transparency, lay out all the cards.

Update:

Jayvee has finally named names.

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Yuga meets the Kid Blogger

yuga — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 00:47:09 +0000

People have been calling and texting me all day yesterday. The common question — is there a blog wars going on? I believe the Philippine blogging community is going through growth pains. I think it’s a sign that we’re maturing as a microcosm of the society we actually live in. And yes, this society is so full of characters, with differing opinions. All these will come to pass but for the meantime, let’s all feel the pain.

So I had dinner with father and son Allan and Carl Ocab last night. And here’s my take on this issue…

We originally arranged the meeting for Thursday afternoon as I am swamped with so many meetings and deadlines. However, Carl’s mother felt it might be too late to wait that long so I cleared up my evening to talk to them.

We chatted the whole night for about 3 hours between 7 to 10PM and I asked a ton of questions. Mostly, the questions are about Carl’s personal relationship with his family (especially his father), his other hobbies and interests or how well he does in school. But why did I ask those questions when I can just give the boy a writing assignment while I look from behind him and see if he can come up with such well thought out discussions on monetization, traffic-generation or arbitrage? Well, I look at it differently.

I saw the need to answer the more critical questions:

1) How’s the relationship between the father and the son?

2) Is the son being forced to enter into this arena or he did this on his own volition?

3) Is there indeed any form of child exploitation going on, as alleged by several parties?

Before I try to answer the questions above, let me be clear to everyone and state that there was coaching involved. The father played a significant role in the kid’s direction toward problogging. In fact, Allan Ocab admitted that he was the one who thought of the title “Make Money Online with a 13-year old” after a week of discussing about it with Carl.

Yes, Carl had help. He was taught a bit of grammar, spelling and even tone of writing. As to how far the coaching went, I could not determine. This, both parent and child do not deny. “But what’s so wrong with that?“, the father asked. John Chow and Darren Rowse helped him too thru their blogs.

Yes, Carl isn’t a very eloquent speaker. He talks like a 14-year old — a 14-year old who knows how to reverse-engineer some WP templates, or prowl the DigitalPoint forums and bid out some simple projects to Indians. That does not mean he can’t write better than a regular 14-year old. He’s a bit shy, yes, but if you treat him like a mature person and not look at him as a kid, he’s very open and candid. I actually learned a thing or two from the stories he shared.

I wasn’t there to size him up. He doesn’t deserve it. I was there to size up the father. A person can mull over a well–written paragraph and not be obvious about it but they can’t pause for 5 minutes at a time before answering a question face-to-face. That’d be a dead giveaway, and I’ve talked to each one separately albeit for a brief moment during CR breaks.

So here are my answers to the questions above. I believe the father and the son has a good relationship. I couldn’t remember talking with my dad about serious stuff around Carl’s age. I don’t think Carl is being forced to go into internet marketing/problogging by his father (well, he has access to his dad’s credit card, that’s for sure). The kid had other previous interests in sports, music and even girls. That being said, I don’t believe there was any issue of exploitation, whatsoever.

Still, don’t just take my word for it. These are just my observations. My interpretations could be skewed or prejudiced by my own sets of belief or how I interpret ethics which is what this issue is all about. What might be fine by me could by unethical to someone else. We might not agree on some things, yet, it’s nice to know that we can agree to disagree.

I told Carl that he shouldn’t be disconcerted with this and should continue blogging if he’s really passionate about it. In fact, I encouraged both of them to join more of the upcoming events, mingle with other bloggers and try to get to know people more. I’m hoping Carl won’t be as quiet and seemingly evasive as the first time. Next time you see him on August 23 at the SM Hypermart event, do greet him and say hi. Get to know him first on a personal level before shooting hard-hitting questions. Despite what we read on his blog, he’s still a very young kid.

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Will the real kid blogger, please stand up?

yuga — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 01:49:09 +0000

As I pointed out a few days back, there’s been a ruckus over at Noemi’s blog about the identity, ownership and authorship of the blog used to run by a 13-year old kid (he’s 14 now).

I have to be frank and say I initially believed it was really a 13-year old boy who created his own blog and wrote all those posts. First time I heard of him was thru the popular blogs of Darren Rowse and John Chow. I was proud to see a grassroots Filipino blogger succeed in blogging and at a very young age.

Nevertheless, a cloud of suspicion and curiosity looms on all those we see as “too good to be true“.

I wanted to personally meet this kid, talk to him and get more inspiration for myself. I even mentioned him in some of my recent talks. Set aside the writing style, I thought his enthusiasm in blogging and making money online reflects his very young age.

However, all that has change now that every other blogger is calling him (or his dad) out.

Noemi started out the conversation:

Responsible bloggers recognize that they are publishing words for everyone to read. Does it follow that they have certain ethical obligations to their readers, the people they write about, and society in general ? The blog’s greatest strength, particularly its uncensored and uncontrolled voice, is deemed its greatest weakness. Most bloggers are against anything that constrain their freedom. But most bloggers also know that The blogosphere runs on customs and norms – on what the community feels is acceptable…

BA Racoma says:

What’s so cool and disturbing about Web2.0 is that it’s sooooooo easy to fake your identity. That’s why I use my real nickname and last name in the blogosphere, so as not to lose my identity when I read and comment on other blogs.

Andrew adds:

We see something that’s so blatantly wrong but have no guts to acknowledge it. But I guess that can be attributed to the fact that this grand scheme of deception involves a minor, a teenager, a boy who’s basically just coming to grips with himself. When and if his cover is blown by the blogosphere and, God forbid, the media, only he will end up as the major casualty.

Several months ago, someone told me that the author of the kid’s blog wasn’t the kid but the father. I thought it made sense, considering the marketing background of the dad as I was told. I said to myself, “wow sneaky marketing campaign, nice…”. But for the record, there has been no irrefutable evidence that these allegations are true.

This wasn’t new. We’ve read or heard about those Walmart bloggers and YouTube’s phenomenal lonelygirl15. While some failed miserably, others like lonelygirl15 were rewarded even more.

So what makes this one any different? I think it’s because it was closer to home. We have a prodigy blogger in our midst. Bloggers admired the kid and were proud of him only to be disappointed after finally meeting him and talking to him about the subject he’s so passionate about. The inspiration fizzled and we thought we’ve been had. Some of us are not immune to issues of disclosure, transparency and openness to conversation.

But that’s just one side of the story. What about the kid’s story? Well, it’s up to him (or his dad) to stand up to the occasion. Write their story and be heard. That’s what blogging is all about.

Accustomed to the veneer of noise, to the shibboleths of promotion, public relations, and market research, society is suspicious of those who value silence. ~John Lahr

Update:

Dine Racoma shares her take on the issue: If Your Son is Attacked, Defend Him Fast, If You Must

Manuel Viloria does his own investigation: Carl Ocab’s Ghostwriter

More Update:

Spoke to the father, Allan Ocab, on the phone. Will meet with both of them later today so I can independently verify/nullify these allegations. Carl is prepared to take the test/interview to authenticate his authorship of the blog.

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Here’s why bloggers need proper PR Disclosures

yuga — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 08:32:17 +0000

Bryanboy throws in the towel on Globe Visibility. I’m a bit embarrassed, considering I was the one who hooked him up with the Globe guys. To be fair though, I also referred him to the people from PLDT WeRoam. In that same entry, the B alludes to the apparent silence of tech bloggers who are also Globe subscribers:

I also find it strange that some of the “top” tech bloggers in the land of the brown (who, I’m sure, are also Globe Visibility users) aren’t even mentioning this whole thing on their blogs and to think, they’re usually on top of everything “new” when it comes to tech whatever news. They know who they are. Maybe they sold their soul to the devil? Perhaps Globe Telecom sponsored them one way or another? You know, free phones, free internet access, free everything? You certainly don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you…

And though I am not a Globe Visibility subscriber (I use Smart 3G), I’d like to point out this statement begs the reason why bloggers need to state their PR disclosures properly. Otherwise, all bloggers who have PR relationships with companies trying to reach out to the blogosphere will be labeled as ’shills’.

Whether you’ve been to one of the sponsored parties/events, been given gifts or prizes, sent out on trips, dined in a posh restaurant or handed out free stuff and services — you are automatically subject to questions of credibility. It may not happen now but it’s possible in the future. Reputation management need not be merely reactive. In fact, I think it should be pro-active (touch base with your target market now so that miscommunication and inconveniences could be minimized if not totally avoided in the future).

I will not go far and defend the other tech bloggers but it’s possible they didn’t experience the same problem as the rest OR (crackle! crackle!) Bryanboy’s accusation was plain and simply, the truth.

We may be just seeing the tip of the iceberg here. As more and more companies and PR agencies are trying to reach out to the blogosphere, the more bloggers are exposed to the same scrutiny. Marc’s witty title on “Have free food, will blog” shows how the power of blogosphere can be harnessed by corporate entities for offline marketing. In the recent weeks, I had to avoid several PR invitations because of this reason. However, total avoidance may not be the solution. I think transparency is the key. And that’s why proper blog disclosures are necessary.

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Why no Michelle Malkin on the list?

yuga — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:58:53 +0000

There are so many top list in the cropping up Philippine blogosphere nowadays and it’s a good thing because it allows us to discover the yet un-discovered. It also gives us a different perspective, depending on who’s creating the list and what that list represents.

However, if you regularly visited all these lists, you will see almost the same trend — the same names keep making it on the top, except for several bloggers who wanted to keep their identity a secret (nobody even knows what’s Bryanboy’s real name or if he’s really just 17).

There’s also one other very distinct similarity — not one of these top lists includes Filipina blogger and columnist Michelle Malkin. I just read her on Business Week just now being listed as one of the 14 top earners in the blogosphere.

So, I went over and checked her Wikipedia entry:

Michelle Malkin (née Maglalang) (born October 20, 1970) is an American columnist, blogger, author and political commentator. She is a social and political conservative who makes frequent guest appearances on national syndicated radio programs and on television networks such as MSNBC, Fox News Channel, and C-SPAN. As well as her written blog, she posts regular video blogs. Her syndicated column “appears in nearly 200 newspapers nationwide.”

Malkin was born in Philadelphia to Filipino parents, Dr. Apolo and Rafaela Maglalang. Her maternal grandfather fought under General Douglas MacArthur.[2] She grew up in Absecon, New Jersey, and graduated from Oberlin College. In 1993, she married Jesse Malkin, a Rhodes Scholar and RAND Corporation economist. They have two children.

Clearly, she’s ~~Filipina~~ of Filipino descent. She also blogs about the Philippines and links to other Filipino bloggers. She’s also in Technorati’s Popular 100 list, number 11 to be exact, so I’m pretty sure a lot of people know her.

But why isn’t she on our list?

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What’s your PR policy?

yuga — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:55:13 +0000

For sometime now, local PR agencies have been trying to court bloggers by inviting them to press events, parties, treating them to lunches, sending them gifts and tokens. Jayvee’s Blog and Soul project is a testament to the growing interest of these public relations agencies to either enhance, protect, repair and/or preserve the brands of their client companies. Marc aptly refers to it as online reputation management.

Likewise, there’s also the paradigm shift where bloggers are slowly being considered as members of the press or media. Eric recounts his experiences being a grassroots blogger getting invites to press events and explains that his initial hesitation was primarily due to the fact that he’s just a blogger and not really part of the press. Does acceptance of an invite also requires you to report about it (by blogging of course) and does it also entail you following journalistic standards?

Anyhow, I’ll go back to the main topic and ask the question – what’s your PR policy? Here are the possible answers and scenarios:

a.) Completely avoid PR involvement as much as possible. Do not attend press events, party invites, accept gifts or tokens and paying for your own meal (if it involves you writing a blog review of it later on). A friend and fellow blogger always tell me it’s hard to write a negative review of a restaurant if the owner let you in on a free buffet. If you pay for your own meal, you’re free to say whatever it is you really thought of it.

b.) Accept invitations without commitments. You attend but express that you will not blog or review anything about it. That way, there no expectations from both parties. That goes without saying “you got something and they didn’t get any“. However, that actually defeats the purpose why you were invited in the first place (at least 90% of the time).

c.) Get involved and disclose. Accepting invitations, gifts/tokens and free services and blogging about it as a matter of full disclosure to your blog readers is another option. A disclosure will at least serve as a warning to your readers if later on you make a positive review of their products/services, it was influenced in some manner.

Anton says he invented and follows another school of thought in handling PR events. I could not quite catch it but I think it’s more like option C.

I’ve had my own fair share of invites, gifts and free services. I thanked them for these and always disclose any involvement with such companies or agencies. I guess I’m more inclined on the principle of transparency. And oh, sometimes I do pick up the tab too.

So, what’s yours?

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Do you need to explain to your blog readers?

yuga — Mon, 21 May 2007 00:50:23 +0000

Around April, Filipino designer and blogger Bryan Veloso shut down his blog. His girlfriend left a one-page open letter in its place suggesting that Bryan is facing some problems and that there are some issues which prompted him to pull down his blog. His readers thought it was another well-pulled April Fool’s prank and days passed by and his site was still offline. It got so many loyal readers worried.

Later, Bryan re-launched his new blog design but failed to explain what really transpired during his hiatus despite the hundres of messages, emails sent to him and people close to him.

Scrivs calls it irresponsible and somewhat egotistic. As always, there are two sides here — one who thinks Scrivs is right and that Bryan Veloso seemed to have played on the emotions of his readers by not really explaining the whole brouhaha and the others who felt everyone is entitled to their own personal reasons however mundane it is an without explaining to the readers.

The question here resonates — are bloggers responsible in explaining to their readers? I would say yes but only to a certain extent and thatdepends on the individual. But that’s a stretch — up to what extent do you need to explain yourself to all your blog visitors?

P.S.
Bryan was also one of our panel of judges in the Philippine Blog Awards. However, we failed to get any note from him and never got his score sheet.

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The BoB visits Yehey

yuga — Wed, 16 May 2007 06:15:02 +0000

Last night the Band of Bloggers were invited by Yehey to visit their office at Discovery Suites in Ortigas. At the same time, we were also able to do Episode 9 of the BoBCast there thoroughly discussing Yehey’s new payment system called Kaban.

My problem now is that during our recording session, Audacity hanged up on me. I had to force a reboot without saving the almost 1 hour recording. Now, whenever I fire up Audacity it says that there are files in the temp folder which wasn’t save from the previous session and gives me the option to delete it or not. Still, I can’t find those files in any temp folder anywhere. This is a disaster. I won’t use Audacity ever again, if I live to see those missing files.

And before I forget, no we didn’t skip Episode 8 of the BoBCast. We recorded it in La Union the other week with Lauren, Aileen and Sasha. Problem is, all the topics we they discussed in that podcast is all about relationships. I didn’t even host the show. But don’t worry, I’ll post that one BUT not here at YugaTech. Maybe somewhere else. Noemi has agreed to host that episode for us.

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Don’t think we’re cut for this.

yuga — Tue, 08 May 2007 08:48:32 +0000

When we were invited to join the Karavan ni Kiko, we specifically asked what was expected of us as bloggers. This was not the first time I was invited by their office to attend a prescon or meeting though it’s the first time I said yes. We were there as part of the media entourage that will cover the 3-day trip.

From top left: Kiko Pangilinan Prescon, the BoB Girls at the same prescon, Kiko & Sharon at the tarmac, Rally at Laoag City

I was curious and at the same time excited that blogging is playing a somewhat active role, albeit how small others would think of it, in this year’s election.

We were amongst other giants in mainstream media — ABS CBN, GMA 7, Phil. Daily Inquirer among other scores of local print and broadcast journalist. It was a bit weird whenever one of the photographers or cameramen would ask me which station or TV network we belong and I’d answer “oh, we belong to a new local blog network”. And yes, we were treated like any other rep of a media outfit, getting full access to the personalities (politicians and showbiz alike) and the best seats to take photos and videos.

From top left: Wife Sharon Cuneta, Francis Pangilinan, Bongbong Marcos, Gary Valenciano, son Gabriel Valenciano, daughter Frankie Pangilinan (no KC Concepcion in sight)

This experience was an eye-opener to me as we get to see the news-gatherers in action — the exhausting travels and restless nights with early-morning press briefings, always on their feet and running, rushing meals and sometimes completely skipping it — no bones about it.

So dare I say, I don’t think we’re cut for this? Compared to what these guys are doing day-in and day-out, blogging seems to be a really easy task.

[tags]Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Kiko Pangilinan, Kasama si Kiko Karavan[/tags]

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Chikka threatens blogger over noypiTunes post

yuga — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 08:37:55 +0000

When I wrote about noypiTunes which Christian reviewed on his blog KissNewMedia, I shared the same opinion about the similarities and the subtle use of iTunes in the wording. I didn’t realize the site/service was being operated by Chikka until Chris pointed out to me a comment they left on his blog:

Dear KissNewMedia,
Be careful of what you’re writing. NOYPITUNES is far from the brand iTunes. Noypi is slang for Pinoy. It’s like saying pinoytunes. iTunes sells mp3 and NOYPITUNES sells ringtones for Pinoys/Filipinos. As for the record, NOYPITUNES is a registered brand in the U.S. and they passed all the legal requirements.

First, Apple’s iTunes Store are not selling mp3s. They are selling licensed TV shows, movies and songs in digital format, specifically in protected AAC file format.

Second, if noypiTunes was targeted towards mobile phone users, then it should have been noypiTones, referring to ringtones which is what they’re actually selling. So, one cannot avoid the idea that the use of Tunes instead of Tones was largely influenced by iTunes and not because they’re selling ring tones. Just look at their logo. (Note: although noypiTones.com is already taken, it was only registered Dec. 28, 2006 while noypiTunes was registered Sept. 15, 2006.)

And lastly, the tone of the comment smells like a threat. Yeah, I think it sounds like a threat. C’mon guys, can’t take a public opinion?

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