April 2008 Archives

By Candice Montenegro, Contributor INQUIRER.net ONE boredom buster I've shared with all my friends is Googling. It's basically just typing in random words or names on Google and looking at the websites that the search returns. It's actually a fun way to learn new things everyday. When you type the word "falafel," for example, you can read the origin of the famou s Middle Eastern food as well as yummy recipes that teach you how to make some. Anyway, if you're up for it, try typing in the word "Filipina." Here are some o f the results you'll get -- Filipina Penpals, Filipina Dating, Filipina Singles , Sexy Filipina, Pinay and Exotic Models. Yes, that's apparently the stereotypi cal Filipina that is shown online. Good thing the top-ranked site now is a blog called The Filipina Images. The Filipina Images is an advocacy blog and news site that aims to, as its head er proudly says, "Reshape the Filipina Image Online." The Filipina is more than just mail order brides or models -- she is a mother, a sister, a professional, a beautiful person inside and out -- and the blog aims to show the world exact ly who she is. Created in August 2007 by Lorna Lardizabal-Dietz, Dine Racoma and Noemi Lardiza bal-Dado, the site aims to âbalanceâ the Filipina image available online by gat hering blog entries, stories and news items that highlight accomplishments of P inays here and abroad. The blog contains stories ranging from Pinay talents winning competitions abroa d to Pinays who made a difference in other people's lives. It also provides lin ks to other blogs that contain entries that help promote their advocacy of show ing a more diverse and more complex Filipina. It doesn't try to cover up the truth that there really are Filipina mail order brides. What it tries to promote is the fact that all Filipinas, no matter what their careers are, have dignity and deserve the right to empower themselves. The Filipina Images offers three easy ways for ordinary bloggers like you and m e to help change the Filipina image online. First, they encourage bloggers (men and women alike) to post entries and discus s anything about the Filipina. The use of the word in discussing things apart f rom penpals or online dates will help in slowly changing the sites in the searc h engine results page (SERP). Second, they encourage a Google bombing campaign -- an attempt to influence the ranking of a given page by linking certain words to a particular site. A Filip ino-American production group called Touchblue once suggested a similar campaign to Goog le bomb the word Filipina and to link it to websites such as the Gabriela Network and Babae San Francisco. However, this Go ogle bombing campaign encourages people to link to just one site -- the Filipina Womenâs Network (FWN ) site -- which makes it more effective and more likely to affect the SERP. Lastly, the site provides a cute little badge that says âYan ang Pinay,â which bloggers can use to link to the FWN site or to the Filipina Images site. The blog is a solid effort to consolidate stories that empower the image not on ly of Filipino women but Filipinos in general. It breaks the stereotypes and sh ows the world what we have and what we truly are. But more importantly, it remi nds fellow Filipinos that thereâs so much we have to offer. More than just chan ging the image of Filipinas online, The Filipina Image changes the way we look at ourselves. It makes us proud of our fellow Filipinas, and thereâs no need fo r Googling to know that at the end of the day, that's what matters most.

By Candice Montenegro INQUIRER.net WE'RE always told that the world is our classroom. Now, blogging gives a whole new meaning to that cliché and proves there really is a virtual classroom in t he world (wide web). Edublogs are blogs primarily used for educational purposes. These include blogs written by teachers (for a class or co-teachers) and those maintained by stude nts for a particular school subject or class. The blog is becoming a popular outlet for education-related discussions because it provides a fast and convenient way to share insights, resources and even ho mework. It is easy to update regularly, and feedback can come in the form of co mments. Edublogs are a great way for teachers to find information related to their disc ipline or interests. Edublogs.org , for instance, categorizes other edublogs, offering an organized list of l inks related to the subject you need. It can also be used to communicate with t eachers from other schools and even other parts of the world. Teachers also use edublogs to provide additional input for a class. Examples an d homework can be posted on a blog. Teachers can post tips or even website link s and activities to help students understand a particular lesson. The edublogs then become a convenient extension of the class discussion. Other teachers also use edublogs to communicate with the class. Announcements a nd schedules can be posted on a blog that both student and parent can access. I t removes the need to print and distribute letters with reply slips that are of ten not returned on time anyway. Edublogs are also very beneficial for students. Just as teachers post tips and extra input, the students can post questions and clarifications through comment s. And the good thing is other students can join in the discussion and learn fr om others' questions as well. It becomes an online class recitation, where ever ybody replies almost instantaneously to the comments. It can also be used as a collaborative tool for the class, especially when stud ents post their insights on a particular topic or subject. Some edublogs even c ater to students from different schools that are taking up the same class. Work ing in a group becomes much easier, and the easy archiving enables students to just click on a link and go back to a discussion that he or she missed. The advantage of an edublog is its accessibility. Often, there is not enough ti me to discuss everything inside the classroom. Not all students are given the c hance to speak up, while some consciously choose not to recite at all. Edublogs give both teachers and students an almost unlimited ability to communicate, so that everyone has an equal chance to participate in the discussion. On the other hand, edublogs will only serve their purpose if all students have access to the Internet. In the Philippines, only 15 percent of our population h ad Internet access in 2007, and some students do not even have their own books, let alone their own computers. While it may work for private schools and unive rsities, it will take time before they can become truly beneficial for all our students and teachers. Nevertheless, the edublog is just one of the many innovations that will push ed ucation forward, so that it can continuously adapt to the changing times. It pr ovides a different approach to teacher-student communication and even faculty r elations, and proves that learning can indeed go beyond the four walls of the c lassroom.

TV host Bianca Gonzalez talks about her blog, The Diary of a Supergirl Wannabe, which she start ed back in 2003 when she was in college. Video taken by INQUIRER.net online videographer Janie Christine Octia.

By Candice Montenegro, Contributor INQUIRER.net WHAT if you were given a chance to reveal a secret without anyone ever knowing itâs yours? Would you? PostSecret is a blog that allows you share your deepest, darkest secrets anonymously. The blog is a collection of secrets from people across the US and around the world conta ining revelations ranging from childhood humiliation and betrayal, to funny exp eriences and fantasies. You can reveal practically anything, and you only have to follow two rules: it must be true and it should never have been previously shared with anyone else. Frank Warren, the artist behind the project, put up the blog in January 2005 an d has since received and displayed up to 200,000 secrets. The site is updated e very Sunday with 20 new secrets, all 4-by-6-inch postcards in which the secrets are written, drawn or otherwise creatively put together. The site is simple and straightforward. The artwork is posted one after the oth er, sometimes with a short explanation or story. Past secrets arenât archived a nd cannot be accessed after an update. And you can't post comments on the blog, in keeping with its non-judgmental feel. The blog also features a PostSecret Community where readers can participate in a forum and check schedules for PostSecret events. It also features Video Secrets that are much like the traditional postcards, except the secrets are revealed throu gh a montage of sorts. PostSecret won the Best Blog category in the 2007 Weblog Awards. It also gave birth to inter national counterparts PostSecret France and PostSecret auf Deutsch. The idea is also starting to catch on locally, in young blogs such as Code Blued. Warren stresses in the site that he cannot vouch for the truthfulness of all th e secrets he receives. Each postcard, however, is a work of art that has differ ent layers of truth that can mean different things to different people. He also says that a secret we keep to ourselves sometimes becomes true only aft er we read it on a strangerâs postcard. Some people probably find consolation in knowing that somewhere out there, some one is hiding the same dirty little secret. To most, it's simply entertaining t o read another person's embarrassing, disgusting or stupid secret. Is it any wonder then that the postcards keep coming?

IN THIS video, Lea Salonga talks about her blog on Multiply, The World According to Manang. She shares that the blog h as become an outlet for her and a means to communicate with her fans. Interview conducted by INQUIRER.net online videographer Janie Christine Octia. Video taken by INQUIRER.net reporter Relly Carpio. Want more videos of Lea courtesy of INQUIRER.net VDO? Check out this video of Lea talking about her role in Rodgers and Hammerstein's " Cinderella," which will have its world premiere in Manila this July. And this 30-seco nd clip of Lea singing "There's Music in You," one of the songs in "Cindere lla."