Hackerteen as an educational tool on responsible Internet use

Last week, I received my copy of Hackerteen Volume 1 Internet Blackout comic book. It is a story of teenagers and inspired of the Hackerteen program - that trains talented teenagers and teach them skills to be used for good purposes. The story has the necessary components of conspiracy and feature Internet related crimes like identity theft, spyware installation, hacking, fraud, exploitation of talented teenagers, among others.

It is an interesting way of educating teenagers, parents, and educators alike on the potential and possible misuse of the Internet and computer technology.

However, seeing how my kids adore comics, manga, and anime, I partly felt that the comic book packaging felt too trying hard by insinuating that this is all about hacking and teenagers. For geeks, educators, and advocates, that may work. But for ordinary teenagers with sufficient Internet knowledge, it may not necessarily attract. For instance, I tried putting this comic book in the living room and only one of my teens browsed through it after I asked him to check it out.

But after watching the video above, I realized that this is really meant to be used as a compliment for a campaign or educational resource. It is not an entertainment material that kids or teens will pick up for its recreational value. And in that perspective, I think Hackerteen can be a useful material for educators and advocates to be given to students. Instead of speaking in pure geek terms, a story can be told while educating the target audience using Hackerteen as a resource. In that light, this project has a lot of potential and may set as an example for others.

P.S. Have you been a victim of viruses, spam, spoofing? Find out how you can protect yourself online! Open SafetyNet now!

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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