May 19 to 23: Women Empowerment in the Age of ICT

I just partnered with the University Center for Women's Studies of UP (UCWS-UP) for the conduct of their training workshop on "Women Empowerment in the Age of ICT".

This is part of the UCWS-UP ICT project called "Women and Gender Advocacy, Training, Education, and research in the Age of ICT (WgATER-ICT). This is an action plan output of a trainer's training on ICT in 207 with APEC Digital Opportunity Center as lead sponsor.

As the coordination for the said training was quite tight, I've decided to tap into the existing women members in the DigitalFilipino.com Club to contribute their time and effort for this training. The program outline where the club members participated are as follows:

May 19 Monday

ICT for Business
Resource person, Gwen Nava

• Introduction to E-Commerce
• Internet Safety
• Introduction to E-Shopping and E-Transactions
• Hands-on
• Trial of e-commerce / e-government websites
• Comparison of e-commerce sites
• Case study: AbsoluteTraders.com

May 21

ICT for Data Management, Research, and Communication
Resource person: Aileen Apolo

• Introduction to search engines
• Introduction to keywords
• Tips on finding information you need onlnie
• How to promote your business through the Internet (e-mail and blog marketing)
• Search engine marketing
• Introduction to information research tracking (RSS and alerts)

May 22

ICT for Data Management, Research, and Communication
Resource person: Joan Pinon

• Information research result communication (online collaboration tools, wiki, blogs, podcast, vlogs)
• Using online collaboration tools and blogs (setting up and posting content)
• Hands-on workshop:
• Creating your own blog
• Using blogs for advocacy
• Case study: FilipinaImages.com
• Guest resource: Dine Racoma

May 23

ICT for Data Management, Research and E-Commerce
Resource persons:

• Katrina Inocencio, Kaban
• Reggie Bundang, RegaloService

Internet Payment

• Accepting online payment
• Case study: Kaban

E-Commerce for Women Entrepreneurs

• E-Commerce project planning
  
• Case Study: RegaloService
• Lessons learned
• Project Planning Workshop

Many thanks for this opportunity and we hope that more women will be empowered through ICT and e-commerce!

Blogging for "Filipina" Advocacy

Multi-awarded blogger Noemi Dado believes that blogs and other user-generated content are the latest tool for communication today and can be an effective tool for advocacy. "Blogs enhance social online networking, where a campaign can be generated exponentially through a limitless number of ways well, limited only by the number of bloggers who are willing to write about it, and then link to each other and generate a buzz. A blog should bring a positive tone and quality that aims to engage bloggers in long term community and change, and only then will it be effective."

Blogs have played an important role to the success of the Filipina Image campaign and contributes to the growing number of Filipina content available online today. Although Noemi admitted that Filipina content is not easy to measure . "What is measurable is the search engine page results (SERPs) of the keyword "Filipina". Based on findings of Philippines and USA Google SERPs, the sites that we wanted to rank has made it to the first page of the SERPs. When we renewed the Uplifting the Filipina Timeless Campaign (the Filipina campaign existed as early as 1998) in August 2007 and renamed it "Reshaping the Filipina Image Online", the first 10 sites showed only dating sites. Two months after, filipinaimages.com already showed in the first 5 sites of Google SERPs in the keyword results of "Filipina"."

Noemi encourages bloggers and even non-bloggers to contribute to the Filipina Campaign. "Even if they have already blogged about the Filipina. We need fresh content all the time. Second, Link to FilipinaImages.com. Turn every mention of the word "Filipina" into a link. Third, If you are a woman of Filipino descent, be proud to be a Filipina. Identify yourself as a Filipina and not just as a "Filipino" or "Filipino woman" on your blog or website. If you don't own a blog or website, encourage those with blogs or websites to join the Filipina campaign."

"We still have a long way to go. Google SERPs in Europe does not show FilipinaImages.com in the first page. Same with MSN and other search engines."

Noemi is one of the speakers in the recent iBlog4: the 4th Philippine Blogging Summit. She shared her insight on how can blogs be used for advocacy such as the Filipina image campaign where she is one of the proponents. Here's her presentation and talk.

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Moving on with Motherhood

(photo taken last May 4 at Shangri-la Hotel Makati)

Just like to greet you all a Happy Mother's Day!

Mom (wearing glasses) now spends her time reading, just enjoying herself, and catch up with friends. I will be teaching her how to use the Internet one of these days.

The girl behind me, midde, is Jenny. She runs her own e-store and my partner at Prima Day Care and Play School. As she just started her own family last year and my frequent traveling, we've decided to finally start finding buyers for the small school we invested in.

The girl beside her and right behind me is Jehan (wearing brown blouse). In addition to her full time I.T. work, she is into kids party organizing and retail selling of various items. She has two very charming pre-school kids and actively showing off their talent during gatherings.

Beside me is Jhermie and she just arrived in Adelaide a few days ago to join her husband who is now working there.

Who is not in this photo? Well my adventurous and the only single lady in our family, Jherlie. In addition to being busy with her events marketing business, she loves to travel and contributes some of her adventures through this blog.

Motherhood
As I settled down quite early, I'm quite through with all the babies and stuff while my sisters are starting on their own. I must admit though that with the Internet, motherhood is much more fun as you could post regular developments, share photos, get motherhood tips and tricks, and even find a great recipe from a friends blog. I'm glad to see my sisters enjoying this and despite not seeing each other than often, it keeps us connected.

Do you have a photo with your mom posted on your blog or any other photo sharing site? Share it!