Sem Break Pre-summer 2011

Finally I'm already done with my semester!
I am now home. My dad and I together with Kuya Miko went to UP Diliman early morning for me to submit a requirement. We came home at 5 PM. I drove from Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac to here.
I am so excited to take long hours of sleep!

Katapusan at Pagguho ng mga Pangarap

Sa wakas, natapos na rin ang aking final examination sa Media Law class.

Kasabay ng pagkatapos ng pagsusulit ay ang pagtatapos din ng aking pangarap.

Pangarap ko para sa aking mga magulang, para sa aking pamilya, para sa aking sarili.

Malayo na siguro mangyari iyon at ito ay kasinlinaw marahil ng umaga para sa isang bulag.

Doomed Wednesday

So I am here inside my room. Revamping my final concept paper for my audience research class. Oh, Lady Gaga why are you so hard to study on? HAHA

Anyway, I still got a final examination for my media law class under my so-urghhhh-I-do-not-know-how-to-describe professor. Now that's not libelous. HAHA

Alright, I need to be back and write, and write. Out of five papers due today, I am only done with two major papers which is 5% each in my final grade so those papers make 10 % of my final grade.

And this oh-so-nakakabaliw-na-concept paper is worth 30% of my final grade. Damn it!

Now I need to stop ranting and must finish these papers. I have not reviewed for my finals yet! Yes, I am doomed!

First yet Last Exam this Year

My first examination in my media law class was kind of okay for me. It was my last examination this year. I say kind of okay because I was able to answer more than half of the total number of the questions. Thank God!
Prior to the examination, I was this anxious kid who was memorizing all the things that he needed to memorize but when the test paper arrived, it was not at all difficult as compared to the preliminary exam comments of some friends and classmates.

Funny because the first examination paper that our professor gave and passed out was not the real examination. I had a gut feeling that it was not the real examination because it was indicated in the paper the date when the examination was taken last semester. But I still answered.

I was not able to answer immediately because all the things that were there are not covered in the discussion, yet I still answered the things that I know. There were only five questions, I guess, that I was able to answer. Then after a few minutes the professor said that it was the wrong exam. She reasoned that she had two windowes open in her desktop and the secretary of the Journalism Department missed supposed test for us. So she went out and printed the right examination for us. 

The second round of the examination, or should I say the correct set of the questions of the exam was a bit easy than the first set which was given to us. I found the first part of the exam fine but the second and last part was difficult. It took me minutes to decipher and guess the answers. I believe I was the fifth to the last to submit my answer and question sheets.

I am praying that I will pass the examination. I wanted my efforts to be paid out. I missed this year's Oblation Run because of this examination. 

First Legal Examination

This will be my first legal examination. I am excited though I can say that I am partly ready though not as prepared as other maybe. I only had a week to review and not the entire week were spent reviewing. So there.
Oblation run and hagikhikan- the teachers' follies, and my examinations are all set in one day!

Wish me lots of luck.

Junior year- second semester

Lately I have been thinking why am I being so unproductive this semester.
I realized that the nightly cramming of papers and reviewing of exams has never been this traumatic than ever before. I don not know if it is me who is having problems or is it just really because of me.
I am bothered by this. I hope by next year I will not reach this kind of academic tension and stress.
Oh, please. Junior year- second semester, are you really this hard?

AUGUST 1991: The WEBvolution begins

Photo available here. Used here non-commercially, for academic purposes only.

                   I found it interesting that eight days before I came out from my mother’s womb on the 14^th day of August in 1991, Sir Tim Berners-Lee publicly introduced the World Wide Web or the WWW[1]. The World Wide Web is made out of billions of data such as documents, photos, music, videos, that were interconnected by to computers all around the world, enabling the users to share files whenever and wherever they may be. [2]  It is quite intimidating to know that the web’s years of existence is the same as my existence in the world.

                I say intimidating because during the first class meeting on the 9^th of November in our Communication 150 class, I realized that we encountered the web and the internet late for our age, and in our generation. For my case, I first encountered the web when I was a 6^th grader when we were tasked to search for something for our subject back then. Yes, it was 2004 and the web was 13 years old already and again, yes, I was also 13 then.  

                Looking at how the web started, you may not even believe that the proposal was at first doubted by the boss of Sir Tim burners-Lee, yet the success is truly significant in the lives of the people in the current century. This is an excerpt from an interview to Sir Berners-Lee by Dr. Aleks Krotoski wherein the web inventor showed how happy he was upon the first flight of the web on the 6^th of August, 1991 as shown in the TV series produced by the BBC entitled The Virtual Revolution[3];

“I get it all wired up then that was the big switch… through the switch the lights went on… and that was the web taking off across the world. People started to log on and typing hypertext and I could feel the power of all these links spreading across the planet and we just have to hold on tight… and a call came from BBC… to cover the incredible uptake.”

               

                Although looking at how big the impact of the web in our life today, it is still seen as not encompassing some of the traditional media such as the television and the radio.[4] But I think it is because as compared to the traditional media, the new media is younger when it comes to the domination aspect. Because looking at it, as young as it may be, the influence and the impact it has made to the people is much bigger than that of other media.  

                As a “Digital Native” or as a person who is born and raised in a world of digitalization, as what John Palfrey and Urs Gasser called it in their book Born Digital[5], I am happy how our life has become more comfortable especially in doing academic works wherein a single click may lead to thousands of ideas ready to be acquired online.  It has also broadened our horizons because what was difficult to achieve before is now a single search away, even in our capabilities on doing some things such as buying expensive books and music. My mother would always tell me that I am blessed having such gadgets and internet because I can chat with and see our relatives who are miles away from us, virtually.

                If the web has its good sides, it is undeniable that it has also bad sides. The most important is the privacy of the individual who publishes almost everything on the internet. According to my professor in my English 30 or my English for the Profession class, Prof. Dr. Helen L.  Lopez when I asked her if I can publish my written output made in class online, she was against the thought of publishing it online. She said that my privacy can be intruded and that the paper I wrote might get criticisms and if other finds it unworthy to be published, then my reputation and also the University’s reputation might be ruined. I was unable to express my point to her. I believe that the web gives an opportunity for us to express ourselves and to let others know what we think or what our opinions are on certain issues.

                According to Stan Yee, our culture now is a “share everything” culture wherein the private data about us is easily disclosed to public which in turn might be subjected to exploitation and abuse[6].  I believe that it also relies on the information that you are sharing online and the settings you establish on the media or channel that you are publishing it on.

                Even there are negative sides on using the web as a medium on expressing yourself, I am still happy that the internet and the web help everything from doing a simple to the most complex actions, easy. And even though I was born with the month and the year when the web was also born, I can say that as I grow old with it, I get to study how it evolves and how it can deeply penetrate the lives of the people particularly its users- the very fact that we are of the same age helps. In short, I am part of making and even witnessing how it evolves!

               

               

---

[1] “Internet History” available at Computer Hope website at http://www.computerhope.com/history/internet.htm; Internet, accessed 9 November 2010.

[2] “WWW” available at the Computer Hope website at http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/w/www.htm; Internet , accessed 9 November 2010.

[3] The Virtual revolution is documentary series which has four episodes. It was presented by Dr. Aleks Krotoski. For more information, check the website of the series at http://www.bbc.co.uk/virtualrevolution/.

[4] “ Is the Web the ultimate propaganda machine?” available at Dr. Aleks Krotoski’s website at http://alekskrotoski.com/post/event-digifest-is-the-web-the-ultimate-propaganda-machine; Internet, accessed 11 November 2010.

[5] “About the Book” available at the Born Digital website at http://borndigitalbook.com/about.php; Internet, accessed 15 November 2010.

[6] “Are You Checking In- or Out?” in Reader’s Digest Asia’s Guide Tech section, November 2010, 145. 

XXXXX

A REPOST from the UP Cybernomads website at http://upcybernomads.blogspot.com/2010/11/august-1991-webvolution-begins.html. The author decided to post the same content in his own blog site for the future references. 

Finally done, for now

Done with my internet stuff. I still need to do and to catch up with my academic stuff.
I learned and discovered so much about the new media today!
Now, I need a rest and a break to have more time in reading a bunch of readings piled up on my table.
I wish I won't be sleepy tomorrow for my 1-7 PM classes.

Morning Class on the Fourth Day of the Second Sem

Now I am in my afternoon class as the new professor in the Broadcast Department takes over the class for BC 174 or the Broadcast Marketing and Promotion class. We are currently four attendees so far, excluding the professor.


BC 181: "OKAY LANG KUMPLIKADO KAYSA SIMPLISTIKO."
My morning class was BC 180 or the Criticisms of the Broadcast Texts. Prof. Choi, another new professor in the department took in-charge. I was absolutely taken away by that morning class as the prof presented the class syllabus, the readings- I tell you it is a bunch of readings.  Now I am realizing the statement of my peers and friends, "Sana hindi mo pinagsabay ang BC 181 at BC 182."

Third Day of the Second Semester

I woke up late today.
There was stealing in the dormitory.
I went and made tambay at UPCE.
Planned about and designed the bulletin board with Buddy Janel.
Learned that Flickr to Y! mail thing.
Attended an evening mass.
Went to TechnoHub.
Asked about a router.
Ate a BIG dinner at KFC.
Went home.
Printed some important readings.
Blogged.
Connected with the family.
Our room was inspected.
Blogged.

Second Day of the Second Semester

Today was the second day of second semester and what made me excited are my professors. I have 1 to 7 PM classes today and thank God I have not-so-cruel professors, or maybe it's just me thinking they are not cruel.

In my first class which is Comm 120 or the Law on Mass Media, I had my first encounter with the professor Atty. Marichu C. Lambino and some of my classmates. She really looks like Korina Sanchez in person. She asked us to choose our own case among the 31 cases in the syllabus. I chose the case about orgy. :) She asked the class if we know the meaning of that word. And majority knew the answer. She looked at me and it kind of like asking "tell me the meaning", so I answered that it is a sexual intercourse involving three and more individuals. She smiled, and it is kind of of like saying to me, "how the hell these kids know that word." I just smiled. :) She dismissed the class early. The supposed 1-4 PM class was dismissed at 2 PM.

So while I was waiting for my next class, I decided not to waste time and just went to the OUR and paid my AdMat form, if you can still recall my earlier post that I added a PE class to my schedule. So I stayed there for an hour.

Upon arriving to CMC, I immediately went to the cafeteria and ate a BIG snacks. Yes, i spend almost a hundred pesos just for snacks. Well, that is to ensure that I will not be sleepy for my 4-7 PM class. I have had classes during my second year in CMC and I found out that the 4-7 class is boring. Thank God I have a better professor now.

My second class this day was BC 182 or the Broadcast Audience Research class. It was fun because Prof. Jun Austria is the professor. He asked us to read two looooong articles and asked us to formulate questions about the articles we read. I made eight questions but only read seven wherein one was rejected. The purpose of the activity is to determine if we already know how to formulate questions since the course is about knowing how to make good questions for the audience.

I am unhappy knowing that I was not appointed as the secretary of the class, another guy raised his hand faster than me. Haha, sooo high school, right? But I am collecting all my classmates' e-mails and making it as a habit to keep the papers in a folder and make them as souvenir, so that when one of my classmates becomes famous, I have an evidence that he or she has been my classmate. LOL

Anyway, junks of reading materials await me this semester. I hope I keep my sanity on these subjects.

Walking for Fitness

And yes, finally I got a PE after minutes of waiting and looking for the professor.
The long wait and agony is worth it after the professor who is to teach that PE class agreed for me to have that PE. I was so thankful to her as she signed my AdMat form.
Now I am looking forward for an afternoon of fun, and lots of walk. :))
I just hope I'd maintain my complexion after this semester.

PE class, please..

I will try my luck this afternoon to prerog a PE class since I want to be involved in a physical activity. Last semester was a boring sem without a PE,  honestly. So I decided to take Walking for Fitness as my PE because it fits my schedule and it's lesser hassle than Running for Fitness. 

Lastly, i want to burn more calories, faster. :| 

FIRSTs on the First Day

This day is my first day in class this semester in my first subject, too, wherein our first topic was about our first encounter with Internet. So here's the result of the first class activity.

The first question for the activity was, "When was the first time you encountered the Internet?" We were divided into two groups so that we will be able to get to know our classmates better and to know the intensity of our "relationship" with the internet. Our group was composed of Marji, Jara, Wacky, Gelly, Jervis, Kath, Marjo, and Jamay. Majority of us did encounter the web during our elementary days when we were curious about the stuff and when we first made our e-mail, visited websites such as sfogs, and connecting with family as what Jervis told the group. It was also when Wacky first downloaded a Pokemon stuff and when Marji did Meteor Garden stuff online.

Our professor, Ma'am Data was taken aback by that fact that majority of us had their first encounter with the Internet during elementary years from 2002-2004. She shared that her first encounter was on 1994 at the College of Science Library when she sent a message over the net. Lucky for us now that we have an access in almost everywhere within the College of Mass Communication.

GOING STRONG.
The current relationship with the internet is "going strong" as what Jara said. I came to sum that there are basically two purposes of the internet for us, according to the discussion. First is that it is used for connection. It slowly changes the cellphone as a medium for fast communication because Skype is now available and it's free and you are able to view the one you are talking to. You will also meet a total stranger  wherein the traditional "know-the-name-first system" when meeting someone is also changing to "guess-me" or "this-is-my-codename" system. Second it is used for entertainment such as to watch television since most of us are dormers wherein television is scarce or even not available at all. Hence, we rely on the internet to watch the programs we'd like to watch on TV.  Marji pointed out that television can sometimes be delayed since some programs were already online and she was able to catch up on these programs online.

FIRST ASSIGNMENT.
Yes, assignment was also given on the first day and that is to search for the month and year when we were born about what was happening online then and share our thoughts about it. I also volunteered to make the Yahoo groups of our class and I find it relevant for us to immediately check the syllabus which will be uploaded therein. Tell you, billions of readings are included therein.

PHENOMENON.
The class discussion was so interactive and also very opening since I discovered a lot from my classmates and even new points laid out by Ma'am Data. I am hoping to learn more about this phenomenon, the virtual revolution as what Dr. Aleks Krotoski would say. Ma'am Data keeps on pointing out that there really is a change that is happening and we are part and in the middle of these phenomena. And we will be part of a solution or contribute something to it, hopefully beyond and even inside the class.

Now that excites me so much!