Drupal Camp Manila: Crossing the Tech Side (again)

Yesterday, I was at Drupal Camp Manila at G2iX to give full support to DigitalFilipino Club member Rachel Jaro.

The nice thing I enjoyed about this event is the opportunity of meeting new people especially on the tech side.

I admire the work that Rick Bahague does in CP-Union where they develop and teach Drupal to non-profits. Discovered Open Atrium as well and included this in my must try experiment soon.

Impressed also on how Jeffrey Ocaya used sites like Picasa Web album to store and publish photo streams in his site. Managing photos is one of the concerns I have with Drupal.

Easy Drupal installation techniques and tools suggestion by Marc Caballero were more than helpful. Will tinker on Mobify and the top 40 Drupal modules.

I've been thinking about Drupal for quite sometime now as a possible platform for DigitalFilipino.com's future site. However, I had my share of hesitation for the work that needs to be done that includes url redirect, SEO friendliness, site structure, among others. However, Daniel Honrade Jr.'s Devavrata theme for Drupal is something that I am eager to tinker and see if it can be used for the site.

Jan Pabellon talked about workflow automation matching with that of John Ross Castaño about forms API just made me realize about a solution being asked of me on workflow.

One session that also got me thinking about opportunities is that of Globe Labs' Greg Igaya.

Look forward joining Drupal Camp again next year.

My Perspective on Cyber Bullying for Teenagers, Teachers, Educators, and Parents

Last October 12, I got invited by fellow blogger Br. Vince Celeste of Marist School Marikina to talk about "Cyber Bullying". Here are some of the talk points I made about this topic.

1. Teens dominate Filipino Internet user population

• 49% of the country's Internet users today are age 19 years old and below.
• 83% hang-out in social networks
• 63% blog

The popularity of Internet use, listening to music, mobile phone usage, and other online/offline activities shows that teenagers today multi-task and has a 5 minutes attention span.

This also allowed teenagers to have more friends and not limited to their physical neighborhood and school environment. An average online teenager has nearly a hundred friends on instant messaging tools, social networks, and in their mobile phone.

(Source: MTV Circuits of Cool 2008 and MTV Music Matters 2008)

2. Social networks as hang-out

In addition to the usual face-to-face mingling with friends, teenagers appreciated what the world of social networks has to offer and have flocked sites like Friendster that provides facilities such as photo sharing, home page customization, information exhange, testimonials, blogging, application sharing, and profile view monitor.

Being online today allows teenagers to:

• Meet new people.
• Build an identity.
• Collaborate with others.
• Learn.
• Earn.
• Discover groups that caters to a variety of interest.

3. Teenagers can make a name for themselves online.

Some notable teenagers online that I know of, making a name for themselves and even influence the communities they are a part of, include:

• Charice Pempengco
  Aspiring artist who reached international acclaim by joining competitions and sharing her talent via YouTube.
• Carl Ocab
  Uses the Internet to teach people how to make money online in collaboration with his father.
• Kevin Ray Chua
  Users the Internet to share his political perspective and take a stand for it. He played an important role in the creation of Cebu Bloggers Society.
• Kelvin Servigon
  Shares his talent/skill through his blog.

4. Setbacks on being online

The power that one feels for being online, where you can do almost anything you want, also has its own consequence if not managed well. This includes:

• Meeting people who can be a bad influence. Or you becoming a bad influence to others.
• Attracting or giving too much attention on developments happening in your online community to the point of being abused.
• Reckless uploading of photos and videos which may inflict harm or humiliation to yourself or to others.
• Rants expressed through blog posts, forums, status messages, among others that can be misinterpreted and maybe used against you later on.
• Nicknames whose meaning may be misinterpreted and create a perception about the person.
• Posting of contact information online that may result to unwanted phone calls, text messages, e-mails, and are sometimes used by others to create fake profiles of you.

5. Rules of engagement

I think teenagers going online should make it clear to themselves basic rules of engagement and constantly checks it before things can go out of hand. Such as:

• Opinion and feedback
  Although each one of us are entitled to our own opinion, readers can also post to express what they think. If you can dish it out, you have to be able to take in the response you'll get - positive or negative.
  
• Think before you post.
  Teenagers should think if what they are about to post online is something that they won't mind saying to the person or strangers face-to-face. If it can result trouble, will it be worth your time? Can you take accountability, ownership, and responsibility for what you are about to say online?
  
• Can you admit your mistakes?
  Whenever we post an opinion online, one possibility is our actions will be analyzed and mistakes (out-of-line) being called upon. If and when that happens, will you be cool enough to admit your mistake?
  
• Be constructive and respectful.
  There is definitely nothing wrong in expressing our opinion about those around us. However, if it is something that prefer to post online rather than discuss privately, it is encourage that you communicate your concerns in a manner that is constructive and respectful. Make sure as well that you have done your due diligence rather than appear as reckless.
  
• You have the right not to be harassed.
  Therefore you can take action against those who does such to you and this can be explored in legal means (among others). Do not hesitate to ask for help, especially from cyber-savvy elders, before things blow out of proportion.
  
• Expectations from friends
  Just because they are your friends, you can't assume that they will pick up the battles you are in and otherwise. True friendship should prompt us to care more about our relationships rather than engage in activities that will endanger it. Friendship that grows and mature are those that foster mutual respect, tolerance, and understanding.

Parents and educators need to be more technology savvy now than ever before in order to be capable in supporting teenagers today. You are encouraged to:

• Learn and be tech-savvy
  Familiarize yourself with social networks and other sites frequently visited by teenagers today. Read up on the terms of service especially on "abuse" related policies. Connect with online groups and individuals who can provide advise and help later on.
  
• Respect individuality and privacy
  We will see a lot of content being posted online and it is best to stay on the background rather than be intrusive.

Reed diffusers for long lasting home fragrances

For the past few years, I have grown quite fond of aromatherapy home fragrance. We have a few stocks of reed diffuser (usually in the form of bamboo stick or aroma oil) at home and this I look forward to whenever I get to visit the family in Australia. What I like about these scents is the relaxation they bring. Some can even make you nostalgic and remember special past events.



As I spend most of my time in the Philippines taking care of family and business concerns, I get my taste of aromatherapy using hair care products infused by them such as Palmolive shampoo and conditioner aromatherapy series (I prefer the Lavander fragrance). When the occassion arises to visit a spa, I prefer those that has abundant fragrances available such as The Spa and Blue Water.

Self-publishing trial & error

Last year, I made a blog post about lessons learned in self-publishing. It was made before the release of Blogging from Home (my 11th published work composed of books and research reports).

Holly Jahangiri just posted a three-part series on this topic tackling a prospective author's desire to write a book, avoiding scams aimed at writers, and to self-publish or not. As I am now working on 2 books, the said blog posts are more than timely.

The benefits of publishing a book

It will depend on the field you are in. Publishing a book helps in documenting what you know and being able to position yourself. It can become a powerful resume or body of work. In my case, I also use my book as a perk or benefit to those joining the DigitalFilipino Club where active members get a free copy.

It can help boost your credibility as well especially if the completed work is done well enough and reaches the hands of people who makes decisions.

Be realistic

It depends on the subject you are tackling, the number of people eager in buying a copy of your book can be easily miscalculated. With information explosion online, it is tougher to sell a book now than before. Some models you can consider:

• Sell at an affordable price and go for volume sales
• Sell at an upper price range and recover your investment within a year

Self-publishing or not
It depends. Had past experiences where two of my works were published by others but the whole dissemination was entirely left to me. If you can find one who can do the cover, layout, registration, sales, and promotion, then you got a great deal.

However, not many had that kind of opportunity and are mostly left in taking care most parts on their own.

Self-publishing is a worthy exercise as long as you are realistic on the returns and not relying solely on book sales.