iBlog2....
In a strange twist of fate, I found myself in attendance to iBlog2, the 2nd Philippine Blogging Summit held at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law in Diliman, Quezon City.
Actually I was supposed to be attending the first day of review classes at the neighboring UP Law Center, but since I hadn't been issued my ID yet, and that the prospect of meeting some of the more famous bloggers in the Pinoy blogging community seemed too good to pass up, I decided to see for myself how it is to be in the presence of all the people behind the blogs I get to visit.
I wasn't disappointed.
I got to meet in person reknowned bloggers Atty. Punzi, Manuel "Manolo" L. Quezon III, Jove, J. Angelo Racoma, Abe "Yuga" Olandres, Dean Bocobo, Atty. Marvin, and Ajay, among others.
I also got to pick up a few things from the various speakers who covered a variety of topics ranging from political blogging to blogging as a career. Add to that virtually all of the iced tea I could drink, the summit turned out to be a real sweet deal. :-) Here are a few photos from the event:
That's Dr. Ronald Meinardus of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in the distance, talking about the significance of blogging and podcasting as tools in political education.
Manuel "Manolo" L. Quezon III talking about blogs and the battle for ideas.
Marc Hil Macalua, J. Angelo Racoma, Charo Nuguid, and Abe "Yuga" Olandres talking about blogging as a profession. No kidding. You can actually make money from blogging.
I guess blogging is turning out to be a real force to reckon with in Philippine society, with its power to inform, educate and influence, as well as its advocacy of free and unrestrained expression of ideas. Blogging has come a long way in a relatively short time, though it still has some ways to go. Like many other bloggers out there, I fully intend to keep up with this activity for the long haul.
Go Pinoy bloggers! :-)
Comments
Punzi: Oh yes you are. :-)
Thanks for the kind words. What they failed to mention though was that I was the only one in that panel who hasn't been getting anything out of Google AdSense. Haha! But I did get something more valuable than money (for me) from my blog though, and that's and endless stream of techie contacts both here and abroad. That "stream" gives me business as well. :D
In any case, I'm glad you enjoyed my talk!
@tk, you're right. The blog is considered to be new media and it is only lately that people have been seeing how important blogs can be. Locally, not many companies are using the blog as a marketing tool. M-Ph (http://www.m-ph.com) more or less does that. The new company I'll be joining in a couple weeks does that too. Then of course, there's podcasting and videocasting. Will written blogs be overtaken though? I don't think so. It's like saying people have no need for the newspaper and would rather watch the news or listen to the radio.
Then again, that's me. :D
TK: The nice thing about frontiers, is that just when you conquer one, there's always another waiting along the horizon.
As technology grows, surely there will be more frontiers to conquer in the future. I guess what's important is that we get to express our ideas, meet new people, and get to conquer these new frontiers together, and have fun all at the same time (some even make a buck...or two, or three). :-)
And whatever the medium is, content is always number one. As long as there are ideas, there will always be frontiers.
Charo: Yeah, its quite intimidating to be with people who have successfully mastered the art of blogging and managed to turn it into a worthwhile career. :-) I wonder...
Will stay tuned for future activities. :-)
Angelo
http://www.racoma.net