I was chatting earlier with one of our Philippine internet icons, Migs Paraz (I think he's going to kill me for coining him as an icon LOL). Anyway, I was ranting about the lack of Philippine internet news. I read a lot of local tech blogs and news, but there are just aren't any stuff about local IT stuff. How come?I asked the same question with other tech bloggers last weekend and the indomitable Mon Lizardo of Inquirer.net, they all said the same thing - there's not much local IT news. (Yes, I could be really that kulit when I'm curious about something.)
I don't think so. I go around a lot. I must've met at least a thousand people in the last 6 months and I know there is so much stuff ongoing in the IT scene. Like I know Migs and his colleagues work on many things in the news but they don't claim that they did it.
Will the Pinoy techie be relegated to the behind the scenes na lang?
I think we should continuously challenge ourselves and help push forward and promote our talents and skills - especially in the IT scene. Aside from Yehey.com did you guys know about Davao based Andrew's local search engine Alleba.com? Or that Titikpilipino.com is now on its tenth year and going strong? Or that Pinoydelikasi.com now has offices abroad? That Chikka.com is spreading its technology worldwide? That local mobile technologies produced locally are far more advanced than those in other countries? That foreign companies are coming here to get their products coded/programmed here?
Migs said maybe I should write for PTB. I gracefully declined and said I'm no tech blogger. I just like reading about it and that my work blog is more of a way for me to explain techie stuff to non-techie people. And, besides, that will ruin my galawgaw, simple lang image LOL.
I am sure there are a lot of tech news out there that aren't getting any mileage. If the people behind it had a chance to speak out (remember geeks/nerds are usually really shy), then we can get things going around.
What say you?
And, yes, this is a challenge for you tech bloggers and journalists :)
*Photo by Sasha Manuel
pinoytechblog? how about pinoy tech scene?
ReplyDeletehi aileen,
ReplyDeleteShort answer to your question: It's elections. Most stories now focus on this regular exercise of democracy. But you might have missed the story about the CICT chief resigning. We got that story on Inquirer.net. I think what you're looking for are business-oriented IT news that would show how this sector is moving. I think after the elections, you'll be reading more news from us. Happy blogging!
p.s. I would love to know what Google plans for the Philippines! LOL
@nightfox - yes, including pinoy tech scene sana :)
ReplyDelete@cyberbaguioboy - Tapos na elections! Yehey! We can go back to business. I hope Inquirer can feature more IT stuff like how you do it with bloggers. Like perhaps, successful Netpreneurs? Successful IT people... anything Pinoy IT.
P.S. You can always ask po our PR department. Lawrence has their contact na. Cheerios! :)
Hmmm.. I used to read stuff from Computerworld, PC World, and Businessworld online, I think. I rarely do that stuff nowadays. Pero local IT news from mainstream media is really hard to find.
ReplyDeleteBlogie's Sunstar column and its blog extension ittalks.robilloblog.com talks about the Davao IT Scene... :D
ReplyDeletelocal IT news? how about Manila Bulletin's TechNews?
ReplyDeleteThere's some interesting things happening in the software development scene, but a lot of it is covered by NDA. :-)
ReplyDelete@midnight rainbow - lately the magazines have been concentrating on gadgets and stuff. Well hopefully things are going to head up. Sabi nga ni Erwin, tapos na elections.
ReplyDelete@hoop - swerte ng Davao, may Blogie!
@nightfox - problem with MB, their archiving is... hehehe.
@calen - ahhh the perpetual NDA. Tell me about it haha. Well, I'm sure there's lots of other stuff that's not being shared but is not covered by NDA. Hmmm...
i doubt that there is little IT news in the philippines. internet providers alone are a hotbed of news. example. they advertise one thing and then make you suffer later when you find out its not what theyre giving you. trends in programming languages. which government agencies, if there are any, are tapping into IT. example. citizens could help the government by reporting in bad drivers. specifically bad taxi drivers.
ReplyDeletehehe .. haba na nito ..
Alang pera sa IT news. Mas patok pa rin mga jolog news katulad ng eleksyon, politika, at syempre mga tsismis :D
ReplyDeleteWell I blog about it stuff, but i do it for fun.
ReplyDelete@rmacapobre - I still think we should help each other in promoting our IT skills. Dibah? Talk to you in Cebu!
ReplyDelete@anonymous - Yes I know. But then ka-jologsan isn't really going to help our economy right?
@jan2x - be passionate :)
hello! this was the same comment i posted in abe's blog. realized na i should post it here na rin:
ReplyDeleteactually, there is a lot of IT news around the country. i feel however that in terms of slice of the pie, not a lot of news journalists are allocated to the tech sector. tech is usually given to the magazines, IMO.
secondly, i feel that there are a lot of newsworthy items thats dying to be reported but journos do not know where to get this from. so it also works on the reverse side, where tech journos need to be educated on where they can also source information.
to sum my opinion:
1. although cyberpress exists (i am not a member), there seems to be more focus on the other sectors
2. journos need to be more well connected with tech startups. tech startups should know that tech journos are more than willing to publish their story.
i feel that the whole “company secrecy” thing may be pushed a bit far. if so, then why do niche coverages such as hackenslash (joey alarilla’s gaming industry report / advocacy) have a lot of news?