Year 2, here we go!

The <form> function & class mini web design conference season is back in full swing and the first one is happening on Saturday, November 14, in Rm. 409, Benilde Building, De La Salle –College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) from 1:00-4:00 pm. Brought to you by the Philippine Web Designers Organization and the Association of Information Management of DLS-CSB.

For the uninitiated: Unlike the annual conference, The FFC Mini Web Design Conferences are small, informal gatherings held every other month, where anybody can talk and learn about web design. For free.

Register now!

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There’s really not much profit (monetary or otherwise) to be had in making local “copies” of the most popular sites today; you’ll probably just be called unimaginative and lame (read: jologs). But these sites are fun little ideas that stir up the chunks in our cultural halo-halo and remind us that quirky is interesting and copying is okay, as long as we make it our own.

(But first, sites that didn’t make the cut:

1. akomismo.com
2. akalamo.com
3. mysandbox.com
4. twinoy.com

Go figure.) Now, onto the honorable mentions:

Para Sa Tabi

Google Maps may have reached Philippine shores—and that is an achievement in itself, actually—but getting directions to navigate the metro requires local knowledge. Para Sa Tabi lets you enter an origin and destination then returns a list of routes and commute options for getting there.

See also its analog counterparts, the PEx Commuters’ Guide thread and the ph-commute blog.

May Pasok Ba?

(Happy Ninoy Aquino Day by the way.)

In the tradition of single serving sites like Is Obama President (yes!) and Is Today Friday (hell yes!), and probably a DIY solution to how pathetic class suspension announcements are handled in this country especially during typhoon season, May Pasok Ba tells you if there are classes tomorrow (meron) or not (wala). With footnotes for notable exceptions.

The site runs on WordPress (gasp!), which means feedback (crowdsource it, baby) and syndication (subscribe to it, baby) are built in.

Facebuko

Parody, like rice, is not exclusive to the Philippines, but it’s our staple nonetheless. And there’s something about the Facebook news feed, whose status updates and app notifications are just begging to be used as allegories for the daily cirques of showbiz, politics, and even ancient history. Another highly customized WordPress install here; a deconstruction of its code must be in order.

Web 2.0 who?

What I love about these sites is they’re not of the “let’s build a web 2.0 product even if we don’t know what that means” mindset. Instead they exhibit one of the better characteristics of web 2.0: paying attention to what people need, not dictating what detached honchos think people need.

Yuppies need commute guides in this crazy U-turn-infested, footbridge-ridden concrete jungle (and no, Mr. MMDA Chairman, a Flash game will not help). Students need reliable updates on class suspensions (I’m looking at you, DepEd, CHED, and PAGASA). And the Filipino people need art imitating real life in a language and setting that’s more appealing, less intimidating.

Lastly, they’re innovative not because they’re telling everyone else they are, but because they listened and responded.

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An unapologetic, uncensored list of lessons learned from the <form> function() & class Philippine Web Design Conference last July 10 at the Asian Institute of Management, Makati—because if we have to figure out how we can improve next time, we might as well start with ourselves.

Registration went surprisingly well.

It was a bit rocky at first, but thankfully our long list of volunteers from UST ISyS, UST TomWeb, iAcademy, UP ACM, and UP CURSOR handled the queues well.

My only regret was not being able to streamline the process further, but something tells me computer-based data entry would only slow things down.

Some speakers were late.

Mae, our speaker relations officer (SRO for short!), was on the verge of multiple breakdowns when she couldn’t contact several of our speakers who were running late.

Of course we couldn’t blame anyone since every single one of us was up against Murphy’s Law then, but next time there has to be extra extra leeway for the most important component of the conference.

Food wasn’t great.

It was a bit naive of us to spend so little on it, and consequently got what we paid for. Of course the reason was simple: a glaring lack of funds before the day of the event. We weren’t exactly confident about spending anything big. We were lucky to get into a partnership with AIM so that we wouldn’t have to worry about 50% downpayments on the big-ticket items.

At least now we have funds we can work with. Next time we’ll have to make the food count. It’s a whole-day affair, after all.

Wi-Fi was intermittent.

Perhaps this wasn’t a big deal for the majority because that’s not what they came for, but it was a web conference; and the experience could’ve been improved.

We were pretty geeky, but apparently not geeky enough.

I’m particularly proud of the conference IDs—the web browser motif varied depending on your affiliation. Attendees had Firefox. Media and sponsors had Internet Explorer. Speakers had Safari. PWDO had Chrome. Volunteers had Opera.

Live tweeting and plurking went well; the liveblogging not so much. I’d blame it on the wonky internet, but it was also because everybody had something to attend to.

I guess you shouldn’t promise something you can’t deliver. And why liveblog when you can microblog, the very definition of the real-time web today? Maybe someday we’d have snazzier systems in place—when we get to “Apple Keynote status” or something.

Lastly, the projector screens looked small, washed out, and too far away from the back. I’m not sure if the bigger replacement screen installed after lunch was any better. Next time, it’s either we set strict requirements for the speakers slides (high contrast, minimal text, exaggerated proportions) or we find better screens. I’d say the former is more doable.

Don’t stress out.

I almost couldn’t be at the conference that day because when the AIM security guard scanned my forehead, the temperature read 37.7 degrees. After five minutes of rest it rose to 38. I got kicked out of the building.

Don’t ask me how I got back in (I’d have to kill you), but I can assure you that despite my hypochondria for the rest of the day, I had no other swine flu/A(H1N1) symptoms. I’m still fine!

I still can’t explain why I had a fever that morning; I wasn’t even feeling remotely ill. Regnard says it might have been an adrenaline rush.

This is just the beginning.

It’s been only 10 months since this little wish finally got fulfilled, but it’s been a long, expensive, debate-filled, sleep-robbing ride. And it’s really just the beginning. The real test is in keeping all of this up.

You think we can do this? With your help, most definitely. Stay tuned for the upcoming mini web design conferences, and see you at the second big one next year!

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Someone deleted this comment because it was supposedly irrelevant to the discussion:

Meh. I prefer Japan, it’s got the mothaf*cken lifesize Gundam.

Of course someone who can’t see how Lapu-Lapu, Andres Bonifacio, Jose Rizal, and Jose Abad Santos are worthy of being called heroes of this country would have even more difficulty parsing said sarcasm.

You can’t see how people who sacrificed themselves contributed to the country’s well-being; it’s easier to just accuse them of being sensationalist, petty, and disruptive. You can’t see how the Philippines can crawl out of this deep hole of poverty, corruption, and illiteracy; it’s easier to just run off to some some country where the climate, economy, and telenovelas are better.

But if it were me giving up and running off, I’d pick Japan. It’s got the mothaf*cken lifesize Gundam.

Of course, it’s just you.

Happy birthday, Jose Protacio Mercado Rizal Alonzo y Realonda. Here’s to not dying in vain.

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The Great Book Blockade of 2009 has been buzzing for a few weeks now, but not as loudly as one would have wanted. It’s about the taxation of books and the pathetic notion by Philippine customs that books are not educational. It seems a lot of things are more newsworthy than this.

Like how American Idol finalist David Archuleta appeared on Philippine noontime show Eat Bulaga and suddenly Pinoy twitterers were gushing about him so much that it hit Twitter’s most popular keywords. Unfortunately Filipinos seem to care more about singing sensations than this pressing issue (even Neil Gaiman tweeted about it before most), but some of us realized we could piggyback on the existing buzz. (To be sure, we posted on Plurk too.)

After a couple of hours of tweeting and retweeting, #bookblockade finally made it to the trending topics on Twitter’s sidebar. There’s also a nod to it on The Blog Herald.

It’s exhilarating to realize that in a short span of time you can make a difference. While our efforts haven’t eradicated the taxation of imported books or fired the officials who can’t see how novels are educational or hit the headlines as of yet, it’s still progress. This is the kind of influence that people dabbling in social media—whether personally or professionally—should focus on.

Now go read the timeline so far on the Book Blockade. And keep up the good tweets.

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Websites for <form> function() & .class, the first web design conference in the Philippines and Asia, and the Philippine Web Designers Organization (PWDO) are now up. Visit the site, register for the big event on July 10, and spread the word!

Learn

Our speakers:

• Rico Sta. Cruz – Creative Director, U.S. Auto Parts Philippines
• Nap Lara – Software Developer, Friendster
• Regnard Raquedan – Web & Usability Consultant
• Jojo Esposa – Founder, Philippine Web Accessibility Group
• Marco Palinar – User Interface/Web Design Consultant
• Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva – Creative Director, Sheero Media
• Luis Buenaventura II – Co-founder and Social Software Architect, Syndeo Labs Director of Engineering, Exist Global

Win

Get a chance to win an Adobe Creative Suite 4 bundle (either Web Standard or Design Standard) courtesy of the Adobe User Group – Philippines. Join AUGPhil and become eligible for this raffle.

Sponsor

Download our sponsorship packages here!

Socialize

Add us on Twitter, Plurk, Facebook, and LinkedIn too!

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The Runners-up

Comic haven from velociraptors: XKCD (@xkcd)

One of the greatest, geekiest web comics of all time, XKCD’s syndication on Plurk feels like a match made in heaven and not just a Ping.fm post that reeks of afterthought.

Each comic strip is a click and an inline popup away. Then the “mouseover-text” you find on the website appears as the first reply in the thread, and followers can comment away. XKCD also cares about its new fans, so it also posts old strips aside from the new ones.

See also: The Fail Blog (@failblog) and I Can Has Cheezburger (@ICanHasCheezburger)

Philippine literature 2.0: Jose Rizal (@laonglaan )

Unfortunately somebody snapped up @joserizal already, but what a great way to bring pen names into the 21st century.

More importantly, what a modern way to preserve and propagate the works of our national hero—which in all likelihood will never get read again outside of required readings in high school and college.

Bob Ong (@BobOng) also deserves props since he’s influential in his own right: although I’m told the owner of the account is just a fan, not the already enigmatic author, the reply counts on his posts are off the charts. Taking advantage of online anonymity plus his own take on Pinoy experiences, particularly humorous ones, is refreshing to experience in a place like Plurk.

See also: William Shakespeare (@ WilliamShakespeare)

Satire at its best: George W. Bush (@GeorgeWBush)

He may be out of the White House and is no longer that active as a plurker, but George W. Bush has the probably the best quips in the timeline. And they’re always in context, since they contain links to the news he refers to.

Don’t disappear, because I’ll miss you dearly, GeorgieBoy!

Winner: Paulo Coelho (@PauloCoelho)

Paulo Coelho (of The Alchemist, Veronika Decides to Die, The Witch of Portobello) is a staggeringly industrious writer who’s built an online presence every which way. He blogs, vlogs, tweets, plurks, and more.

He’s got the social media thing down pat, not because he wants to make money but because he wants to engage with his audience. If he’s not discussing developments on his latest book or sharing both funny and inspiring tidbits, he invites his readers to sound off.

Note: Paulo Coelho seems to be the only real person in here.

Special mentions: @phPlurk and @whengmaresigns

I just want to mention phPlurk and thank the people behind it for their generous efforts. An SMS gateway is much more accessible than loading Plurk mobile through 3G or Wi-Fi, and that’s something only Filipinos who actually use Plurk—neither the Western startups nor the big mobile phone networks—would understand. Plurk (and Twitter) are bridging the gap between the Internet and mobile communication, but keep in mind that executing a webapp idea varies across continents too.

And some shameless plugging: When GMA Resigns displays plurk replies in a random fashion and makes for a fun single-serving site. More on it here.

So, who’s up for a local microblogging conference?

Postscript: A rant about Twitter Politicians

Remember the 2007 Philippine local and legislative elections going online? We’re less than a year away from electing a new president, and online campaigning has gotten worse.

I wasn’t going to mention Twitter here but this is to show the other side of the coin, i.e., how to not get it. I’d like to give the Worst Use of Twitter award to Jejomar Binay and even more so, Corazon Aquino. Update (05/10/09): Scratch that, Corazon Aquino’s Twitter account looks thoroughly trashed now—by a French DJ. That is, whoever’s fronting for them, abusing their names, and proclaiming how all this “new media” / “social media” crap will get them sworn into office just like Obama. Philippine campaign season always been about the theatrics instead of the platforms, after all. We just got an upgrade.

But there’s no room for trapo techniques in a medium as simple and transparent as microblogging. So I’ll grab some popcorn then watch them crash and burn in excruciatingly slow motion, as though they haven’t already.

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The Philippine Web Designers Organization held another successful <form> function() & .class Mini Web Design Conference last January 22, and we’re really thankful for everybody who supported us once more.

Speakers

It was a full roster again for the night, and it’s amazing how topics remain fresh and diverse each time. See if you can match the images above to the talks below:

• Starting out with Concrete5 CMS by Jan Pabellon
• SEO and Web Design by Alfredo Palconit
• Pricing your web design work by Regnard Raquedan
• How to Write a Good ALT Text by Jojo Esposa
• Overview on front-end optimization and best practices by JP dela Torre
• An intro to Textpattern by Eugene Alvin Villar

Download the slides for the presentations here. And please share your feedback so we can improve on future events.

Sketchnotes!

You know what’s even better than slides? Sketchnotes of the event, made by my dear friend Mia Sereno, that’s what!

It’s actually inspired by the creative conference note-taking Mike Rohde started. I fell in love with the idea the second I saw them and now I’m glad we have our own version! You can find more brilliant inspiration at this Flickr group.

Sponsors

We also had a long list of sponsors that night! Cosmopoint International Institute of Technology (CIIT) graciously offered us their venue and free food. They’re a new school in Quezon City that’s offering all kinds of courses from multimedia and computer graphic design to software engineering and other e-services.

And then we had lots of goodies to raffle off:

• 10 copies of Basic Web Accessibility Guide for Filipinos from Philippine Web Accessibility Group (PWAG)
• 5 t-shirts from MunchPunch
• 1-year EDSA 1 hosting package and 29 car stickers from EDSAHosting

Big conference: soon!

So what about the big conference we keep mentioning? All we can say right now is we’ve set a date (July 10th) and a venue (the Asian Institute of Management). So clear your schedules, tell your friends, and wait till we open registrations. If you’re interested in helping us out, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

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The cabinet secretary

Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman pleaded to bloggers to stop blogging about the Valley Golf incident because the whole issue has gotten so big that it has traumatized his family, especially his grandson.

“I appeal to the bloggers to stop this. They also have their families, they have parents and siblings. Our family is already hurting. I hope this doesn’t happen to you (bloggers),” the secretary said.

The de la Pazes and Pangandamans are battling it out in the courts. Both parties have been penalized by the golf club. But everybody was traumatized by this, Mr. Secretary, and not just your grandson. It’s why we blogged about it.

The hospital owner and the journalists

Visayan Star columnist Primo Esleyer concludes that Congress should move to regulate the Internet because he received word from a hospital owner that its officials are “using the Internet to malign her”.

Congress should press a law regulating the use of Internet. Dr. Evangeline Johnson, owner of Our Lady of Mercy Hospital and another hospital in Iloilo complained to the NBI of hospital secretary and the other nursing college secretary allegedly using the Internet to malign her.

We believe the NBI can do the job. We want to help Dr. Johnson by getting in touch with our friend, local NBI Boss, Atty. Mamerto Cortez. But, what is necessary is having Congress to enact a law to stop abuses through the Internet.

Businesses and personalities can be destroyed. Libel law must include the Internet. We are confident Dr. Evangeline Johnson will stand up and fight.

This opinion was later echoed by Panay News Philippines:

THERE must be a law regulating the use of the internet.

This is because there are many bloggers abusing this wonderful communication facility never before imagined by previous generations.

Bloggers with evil minds use the internet to malign and vilify innocent people.

Even granting for the sake of argument that they have reasons to vilify and libel their subjects for personal reasons, such act is tantamount to condemnation without due process of law.

This is true in the case of Dr. Evangeline Camarista Johnson, who has been the object of scurrilous, libelous and defamatory allegations not proven beyond reasonable doubt before a court of law.

Internet posts about her paint her as inhuman, not capale of doing the right things, and an evil woman who victimizes unsuspecting rich people for pecuniary gain.

We pity her because she has been vilified, villainized and scandalized.

We agree with Bacolod City columnist Primo Esleyer that Congress should pass a law regulating the use of the internet, and that libel laws must include the internet because of abuses by charlatans and people with evil minds.

We know the author of the blog that continuously maligns Dr. Johnson.

We hope he will come to his sense that what he is doing is not right and that later on, the law of karma will fatally strike him.

I agree that we should not tolerate any kind of abuse, including libel. But regulating the Internet is a dreadful scenario that just erases our right to call our country a democracy.

The science high school principal

Update (01/18/09): The suspension has been lifted by the Department of Education. Please read the clarifications by one of the 4 students involved.

Four students from Quezon City Science High school were suspended for 10 days because they defamed their principal Dr. Zenaida Panti Sadsad on their blogs.

While Sadsad cites the school’s code of discipline as grounds for the suspension, Department of Education Undersecretary Franklin Sunga warned against it:

“We have to be very careful about punishing students for what they are going to write because of the constitutional right of all persons, including the students, the right of the freedom of expression and of the speech. Public officials should not have onion skin. They should be more tolerant about criticism,” Sunga said in an interview with QTV’s Trisha Zafra.

Now you have to look at the situation in QueSci that led to these students being suspended. These students seem to be reacting to what Dr. Zenaida Panti Sadsad has done to their school.

From shenanigans? at my alma mater? SAY IT AIN’T SO! (June 22, 2008):

1. “Removed Mr. Rex San Diego from his position as school paper adviser”
2. “Stopped the operation of both The Electron and The Banyuhay”
3. “Stopped Quesci from joining any local competitions…All other competitions without an international level—the MTAP included—are to be ignored completely”
4. “Varsity squads have already been disbanded”

From Happy Birthday, Quesci! (September 17, 2008):

1. Condemned the use of the Internet and blogging during its foundation day and graduation: “Wala nang inter internet, pa-blog blog. Kalimutan na ang mga internet, mga blog blog.”
2. Barred their school choir Himig Xientia from singing
3. Advised teachers, “pakialaman niyo naman ang mga ibang bagay ng mga bata”
4. Declared “walang magagawa ang sinuman sa anumang nangyayari sa Kisay”

How can a principal cause this much damage to a school and get away with it? If there were to be a dialogue between the administration and the student body, however, how can it not be a futile exercise if her actions are so dictatorial and demoralizing?

The posts at GOD SAVE THE QUEEN OUST SADSAD show that the resistance continues. While the insulting images, jokes, songs, and acts of vandalism were just begging for disciplinary action, I’d say it’s a sign of how bad things have gotten. The principal will maintain her chokehold because of the students, and the students will continue act out because of the principal.

I hope things get fixed soon. I don’t want to see one of the best high schools in the country go down in flames like this.

The vilified

Can these people just stop running around with their lawsuits or bills or suspensions and settle things in a civilized manner?

They couldn’t. That’s why the de la Pazes, the hospital and nursing college secretaries, and the Quezon City Science high school students resorted to blogging. They felt nobody was listening to them, and nothing was being done about their grievances. Is it any coincidence that these three groups were up against persons with greater power than them?

The worst part is that Sec. Pangandaman, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Esleyer, and Dr. Sadsad blame the Internet for directing insult towards them, and conclude that regulating or banning its use would solve the problem. What ignorant, paranoid, and ungrateful wretches.

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If there’s one thing I know about this guy, it’s how disarmingly honest he is. And from what I know, this trait also belongs to his father, who happens to be one of the DOJ prosecutors accused of bribery (50 million pesos) in the “Alabang Boys” drug case.

So please take a moment to read his letter to The Philippine Star and hear them out. Excerpts have also been published in Jarius Bondoc’s column.

I’ve talked about politicians’ tendencies before, but what about ours? We tend to close off the possibility that there are, indeed, people in the government who endure and sacrifice to serve the country.

It’s time we listen to their side.

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