Ang Pilipinas: Lakbay at Kalagayan

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) today, began its “Express Yourself!” Reloaded, a workshop promoting a new, hip, and definitely the easiest, cheapest and fastest means of reaching out to a new and wider range of audience that is in the world of the net.

My Opinion: Who Says I Can’t Publish It?

In this age where everything is made possible by new and fast changing technologies made available to the public, yes I can publish my opinion. This is exactly the objective of the FNF in its workshop. WeBlogging. It is what Dr. Ronald Meinardus called an “empowering” mechanism by which one’s own ideas are promoted.

What is Blogging?

The Rules and the Norms. The speaker, Mr. Manuel Quezon III explained the nature of blogging which is essentially, political. Every aspect of our views are bred from political origins. For blogging then, one should choose one’s personality/ies, issue/s, political purposes, political roles. One also should define one’s rights and expectations. It’s all about the norms to keep the blogger in the right track and to be sustained in the world of blogging. All courtesy of Mr. Quezon.

The Techie Stuff. Tutorials. Mr. Abe Olandes opened up for the group the world of making one’s own blog. He discussed the following:

1. applications
2. advantages and disadvantages
3. choosing the right blog
4. getting your own blog
5. basic features of blogging
6. customizing
7. promoting blogs, and
8. monitoring blogs.

Then came the real exciting part. Hands-On! Finally, grasping the full breadth of the world of blogging, the participants make their own.

The High Impact Blog Copy

But one does not just write and publish. There are still norms. And most importantly, how do you get noticed? Dr. Meinardus outlined said norms and later discussed important points in creating highly effective blog copies. Essentially, he said, “the basic rules of journalism apply”. (see text on “Some Notes on Writing for Political Web-sites”).

My Blog

As i previously have mentioned in my other work, in my work at the government peace process in the Philippines, i have gathered that much truths are to be said about the plight of the grassroots, the work of the government, the opposing forces, and just about anything from the ground and up, matters which i believe should be discussed and be made known. And indeed, I have found, and very much agree with Mr. Freidrich Naumann’s belief, “that a functioning democracy needs politically informed and educated citizens”.

As my personal objective is, it is my goal to somehow, in my own little way, help empower more people, down to the grassroots, to have more independent minds with what’s happening to their surroundings and their country and eventually have the courage to make their own stand, starting from the FNF Weblogging and Podcasting Workshop.