Back in my university days, I learned of a useful framework for analysing the ills of the educational system called "ABCs". It stands for: Access and participation, Bureaucracy and control, and (Counter-)Consciousness formation. The ABCs describe the fundamental problems faced by the educational … [Read more...]
Crowdsourcing: more than just an online solution
Interesting development in the Philippines: The Crowdsourcing Act of 2012 introduced by Senator TG Guingona, the lone dissenter in the passing of the Cybercrime Law. The Senator is asking for comments, acknowledging that as a first draft, this bill is far from perfect. So here are my three thoughts … [Read more...]
Internet libel: a new criminal offense in the Philippines
A Cybercrime Law has recently been enacted in the Philippines that contains a last-minute and poorly thought out internet libel clause, specifically targeting social media use. Senator Sotto inserted this libel clause with the intention to make people accountable for the content they produce and … [Read more...]
Naming a bully, catching a plagiarist
There were two incidents in Manila last week that caught the attention of Filipino netizens, sparked some online sleuthing, and gave a good demonstration of social density. One involved a traffic aide who got slapped around by a motorist. The other, a Senator who plagiarised an American blogger. … [Read more...]
Social media as platforms for good governance
Here's my take on the furor in the Philippines over Mislang's Twitter fiasco and the recent moves to regulate the use of social networks by government employees. This whole issue goes beyond an individual's mistakes; turning to mere regulation of social networks is the worst way to move forward. … [Read more...]
Democratising and socialising data to empower the public domain – other examples
This serves more as an appendix to the main articles I've written on the subject. I plan to update this list of best practices in e-democacy / e-governance / open civic governance / gov 2.0. I've already listed some inspiring initiatives in part 3 of the main article, but I know there are a lot … [Read more...]