andrew olmstead[tag]Andrew Olmsted[/tag], also known as G’Kar the blogger, was killed yesterday in Iraq. Andy gave a friend a post to publish in the event of his death; the last revisions to it were made in July. Here is Andy’s final post. His actual blog is here. Andy must have known of his imminent death since he prepared his final post last July. Losing someone who can write well from the dreaded war zone is a tremendous loss – most people never get the chance to know how, when, and where they might probably die. Andrew knew death was a possible outcome enough to write this last post . For me, some of the most insightful parts are the following: (The quotes are from Andy and my comments are below it.)

It’s not easy asking anyone to do something for you in the event of your death, and it is a testament to her quality that she didn’t hesitate to accept the charge. As with many bloggers, I have a disgustingly large ego, and so I just couldn’t bear the thought of not being able to have the last word if the need arose.

I would never ask anyone to post a final post for me. I know we will all die eventually. I guess if you’re a blogger and based in Iraq, death is a big possibility. It was Andy’s way of immortalizing his life through this last post.

Read More →

The great thing about blogger meet-ups is the fact that I am usually the oldest in the group.
bloggersmeet.jpg
Mingling with young bloggers means that I get to babble endlessly about techie topics which I can never really discuss with my husband or non-blogger friends. Oh I talk with my daughters but I seem to know more about computer gadgets and other tech topics than they do. Last night, Shai Coggins, co-founder of B5 Media took time off from her vacation to the Philippines for a meet and greet in Kape Isla at Serendra. Shai was one of the first bloggers that I often visited when I launched this blog. In fact, I lovingly stole her Tell Me About You idea which paved the way for me to explore other blog topics other than grief education. Meeting Shai and other blogger friends in the cozy cafe covered a lot of activities like ranting about Google’s Page Rank Penalty, the Trillanes Revolt , the curfew, Monetizing Blogs, raving over the B5 media Schwags, Shai’s personalized prints and Sasha’s fashion loot. But aside from the company of Shai Coggins and the bloggers, the other limelight of the party was this cute little thing…

Read More →

wii_and_bloggers.jpgIf I didn’t know what the Nintendo Wii Games Console was all about, I’d think Jayvee, AJ, Juned including my daughter are loonies waving their “wands” about in front of my TV set. Jayvee brought along his Nintendo Wii and lots of party games to amuse the bloggers. The gathering was intended to be a podcast event which included the guys behind The Man Blog. The Man bloggers took forever to arrive so the interactive Wii games filled the gap.

Read More →

Please join the survey on Filipino Bloggers (this is the last one, promise!)

My daughter and her groupmates are a group of Psychology undergraduate students from the University of the Philippines, Diliman. For their final study in Psychology 118 class (Field Methods in Psychology), they would like to explore the blogging phenomenon in the Philippines. To that end, they are asking your help to fill out this survey that will help them understand what motivates you to blog, how blogging has helped you and how much of yourself is present in your blogs.

They need 250 bloggers by Wednesday.

Qualifications:
1. Must be a Filipino by blood or citizenship
2. Must be residing in the Philippines
3. Must own and maintain a personal blog

They would like to assure you that they will respect your privacy, and will render all results anonymous. All blog URLs will be deleted after this study is completed. At the end of the survey, you have the option of receiving the survey results.

If you have any questions about this survey, please email them at: sikolohiya118@gmail.com

Once again, please join the survey on Filipino Bloggers.

Thanks for your help!

Blogging has been so good to me. Blogging has brought me so much, more than I ever imagined it to be that I want to give back to the blogging community. It doesn’t matter what the sour grapes say about certain bloggers (including myself) in the blogging community but chilling with bloggers is really fun! What a weekend. I got the chance to mingle and talk with bloggers of all ages. Who says that bloggers are only interested to party and eat out or attend new media events ? Oh my, you will be surprised. We love to talk non-stop! Let me count the ways that you might learn from my weekend with some bloggers:

1. Focused Group Discussion

For the love of my daughter, I gathered five bloggers for a focused group discussion for her Psychology 118 study over at my house for a Friday night dinner. It was such a short notice and knowing young bloggers, their friday night often gets fully booked. Am I glad that Dine, Shari, Juned, Rico and Sasha took time off from their busy schedules for a round table discussion on why bloggers blog. Since it’s an academic study, I can’t give out much details on the discussion but Juned’s Talk and Dinner and Rico’s Why are Bloggers Great for Focus Group Discussions? will give you an idea.

It might interest you to know that I have the same reasons as Juned on why I write in my blog.

 

1. I blog to point things out. Anything worth pointing both tho beautiful and not-so-beautiful, the exciting and the mundane; A perfect ice crystal or the drip-drop and sloosh of the monsoon as it makes its way to the house.

2. To chronicle events. To record things for posterity and probably more i importantly to record events from your own perspective.

3. To move people or a group a desired way. It could be political and then again it could be not. The important thing to remember is the personal need to motivate, convince and a maybe even inspire.

4. To satisfy the Ego.

M needs 5 to 7 bloggers for a Focused Group Discussion- Part 2 on Wednesday, September 12. If interested, please SIGN UP HERE

2. Bloggers’ Kapihan 1 Blogging Basics

I arrived at around 2:00 PM at the Philippine Science High School last saturday. Feeling lost, I called Abe Olandres knowing he was going to be around since he was a speaker. Oh my, we were both surprised. Yuga was still in Makati because he was not sure if he was supposed to talk that afternoon. It’s a good thing I called. He made it all the way to Quezon City in 30 minutes. The topics and speakers for the afternoon were:

Some Interesting tidbits of their talk:
quezon.jpg
Manolo says that “Everything is political, and it all begins with sex.”

  1. A lot of people will say it won’t matter. The more you say, the greater the chances you will say thing that matters.
  2. Considering the opportunity , don’t leave it to us. Do your part also. It may not matter to Filipinos but it will matter to others outside the Philippines.

yuga.jpg
Yuga warns that blogging is not a racket. It took him two years or more to get to where he is right now. It’s not that easy. He emphasizes some points:

  1. Focus on a specific topic
  2. Blog to share to or influence people
  3. It is not the writing but in the message.
  4. Earning from your blogs follow the same business model as Inquirer.net except that blogs earn on a smaller scale.

bikoy.jpg

Bikoy has been blogging for the past 7 years so he is quite a role model for student bloggers. He gives tips to student bloggers:

KNOW WHAT YOU’RE SAYING

1. Be prepared to face up consequences because of what you write.
2. Be prepared for confrontation.
3. Deleting your blog entries can be futile.


TRY TO BE VISUAL

1. Don’t limit your audience to your friends or schoolmates
2. Tendency to talk about school routine in a mundane and monotonous way
3. Take pictures to help readers, to visualize what you’re writing.

LINK UP

1. Student blogger unions
2. Don’t limit your audience to people within your social circles.
3.More than raising page ranks or blog rnarks, it’s raising awareness

GO OUT

1. You can only blog so much if you confine yourself to the four
corners of your classroom
2. Seek new experiences, Enrich your experiences as a young person.

CHALLENGE

1. take student blogging beyond the stereotyped teenage diary or
journal writing.
2. Blogging more representative of a community of young Filipinos, our
interests and aspirations.

3. Blog and Soul Movement

blog and soul
(Photo from Aileen Apolo

I signed up as a volunteer for the Blog and Soul Movement initiated by Jayvee, oh yes, the same Jayvee who got attacked for being a blog elite or mafia or mob! Whatever! They don’t even know what runs inside the heart and soul of this blogger. Anyway, the movement is now run my volunteers who believe in the goals of the Blog and Soul Movement : (i) Blogcentric; (ii) Skills enhancing; (iii) Fun and (iv) altruistic. After the Bloggers Kapihan, I drove over to Serendra for a Blog and Soul meeting with the volunteers. This time, we discussed on the future activities of the movement. Just watch out for the announcements. They will surely tickle your imagination. Most of all, it’s going to be fun.

Lastly, bloggers might be interested to know that my friend, Jove Francisco, a news reporter (and a blogger too) of ABC Channel 5 has a new portion in the SENTRO news called Sidetracked every 9:30 PM:

Sentro’s new segment: SIDETRACKED — a portion that serves as a round up of what’s happening in the world wide web, among other stuff or areas that will be featured in the future. In the first edition, Jove Francisco –me, hehehe— discussed the return of Malu Fernandez and the quick response of the Philippine Blogging Community. So who did we quote? It might be your blog! There’s also a follow up about the now famous beauty pageant incident involving Miss Teen South Carolina. Plus other news links. The segment is named SIDETRACKED because the concept is for our reporters to continue covering their respective beats but from time to time get sidetracked by anything of interest and newsworthy. Tonight, it was my turn and the internet SIDETRACKED me.)

If you missed the past episdoes of SIDETRACKED, Jove added youtube videos in his blog.

What have I learned about my weekend with bloggers?

1. Whether there is a blogging elite or not, It’s your attitude and actions towards your fellow that defines what you are.

2. Age is blurred when chilling among bloggers.

3. Bloggers can either be exhibitionists, voyeurs or both.

4. Bloggers love to talk and the non-bloggable chit-chat is even more interesting than the blog entries.

One of these days, I am going to host a blogging 101 especially for mommies. Now what would mommies want to learn about blogging?

malu fernandez
(Via Annalyn.net)
Tonight at 6:00 PM, Benj with other bloggers and journalists and possibly [tag]Malu Fernandez[/tag] will appear in Media In Focus at the ABS-CBN News Channel Studios. (Media in Focus replays: 11 PM tonight, SAT 6 AM and 5 PM ) I talked to Anton de Leon , a fellow blogger based in Dubai and he admits that:

The reactions from people from all over the globe have been going strong. To this day, i have had reactions come from bloggers and readers who speak vehemently of Miss Malu and the acerbic wit she has pushed. It really has become an angry mob, but who is to blame here. Aside from Malu, i think part of it should be shifted to the people who allowed the commentary to be published. This is why, in this circle of work that i revolve in. we have these things called editors. Editors are supposed to make the call and check for content.

Over 2000 angry comments expressed to date! I can understand their feelings. Feelings are just feelings; there is no morality in the feeling, only in our behavior. We can feel angry without hurting or abusing others or ourselves. The thing is not a lot of people can express their anger appropriately. I too have been guilty in the past of name-calling but I have learned. Anger is an emotion we’re all prone to experience. Yes, it’s okay to feel angry , I agree. It points to a problem. In this case, it signals a problem that needs to be solved. Sometimes , it points to boundaries we need to set. Sometimes , it’s the final burst of energy before letting go, or acceptance settles in.

I would like to believe that this anger should now have a positive resolution. A few bloggers point out the lessons learned from the Malu Fernandez article:

Read More →

A list of 13 bonding moments seems more interesting to read and at the same time serves as my contribution to the 107th Edition of Thursday Thirteen Meme. (I know, I know, it’s a bit late for Thursday Thirteen but I fell asleep. ) Thanks to SM Hypermarket and Aileen Apolo, the bloggers party brought about this wonderful opportunity to get to know the bloggers we only read in our Google Reader or during blog-hopping.

Here are a few of the bonding moments:

1. Lauren showing off an all original and gorgeous WordPress- Tshirt and myself.
lauren

2. Chats, Cookie. Julie, Annmanila, Rowena and I finally meet and having photos taken in a clique booth
cliquebooth1.jpg

Read More →

filipinaHow to Reshape the Sexy Filipina Image campaign started a month ago. Around mid-July, my sister, Lorna, spoke up at WordPress’s WordCamp in San Francisco and told the 300-something participants about our campaign.

I told my fellow conference attendees about the google bombing campaign my sister, Noemi Dado, and her friends were undertaking to take back the word “[tag]Filipina[/tag]” online from its massive “dating and penpal websites” and put this word in a more balanced context. The loud applause caught me off-guard.

The bloggers liked the idea of the campaign and immediately approached my sister and chatted with her about taking back the word “Jew” online. (Google posted an explanation on the offensive results for the keyword Jew)

It’s inspiring other bloggers to start their own campaign. in the Philippines.

read more? (moved to its new domain, FilipinaImages.com)

keypalsTwelve- year old Lauren and a couple of her keypal friends started an advice column for their club members (Keypals Club) in 1997. I was looking at the now defunct site because Lauren told me to plug her new blog. I am sure that gives a clue to her new site. Before I plug it , let me show you that advice page which was started in 1997. Aww, her advice to this I have never had a boyfriend made me smile.

The age when you should start worrying about not having a boyfriend is when you’re 20. Now there’s a problem. Don’t mind those peeps that are shocked because you don’t have a boyfriend! Besides, if you have a boyfriend this young, chances are, you will have a million more boyfriends and getting married would be difficult because boys don’t like “playgirls” or a girl who has a billion boyfriends. Enjoy your youth.

That’s Lauren as a 12 year old. Almost ten years later, she worries that she will never find The One. Despite her fears, and a broken heart, she is using this humbling experience to help others in her new blog which she co-writes with her best friend, Kristel.

Read More →