Monday, May 22, 2006

A Singapore visit

I went on a three-day visit to Singapore to attend Hewlett-Packard's PrintWatchLive! workshop last 17-19 May. I have started a series about the workshop in Manila Bulletin. Here are some photos taken in the vicinity of the Esplanade and Fullerton Road. I didn't get to see much of Singapore but the sights were very pleasing nonetheless. We stayed at the Pan Pacific Hotel at Raffles Blvd. If there's one thing I can say about Singapore, it's a clean city.

A view of the atrium from the landing of the 17th floor where I stayed.

I couldn't look out of these scenic elevators each time I rode. Seeing the floors zoom by made me sick.


The Esplanade

At the Merlion Park

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Ulirang Guro

I don't normally bring attention to myself but I'm making an exception this time because I am the featured Ulirang Guro this week at Pinoy Teachers Network. It's not everyday somebody gets featured as "uliran" so I might as well grab the opportunity.

Thanks PTN, especially to Bing.


Friday, May 05, 2006

Want to lose weight? Write

The following exchange of conversation occurred after a writing exercise in the IELTS review course I facilititated:

Me: Okay time's up, pens down. (while going around to collect their answer sheets)

Issa: Ano ba yan nakakatuyo ng utak! (My brain dried up!)

Leah: Grabe nga e, wala na akong maisulat. (I ran out of things to write about.)

Ross: Naubusan ako ng Ingles dun a! (I ran out of English words!)

Me: (While distributing a new set of questionnaire) Are you still up to it or would you like to take a break?

Everyone: Break muna mam!

Me: Fine, so you can recover all the energy you lost.

Issa: Kaya siguro mam walang writer na mataba kasi nakakaubos ng lakas ang magsulat. (Maybe mam, the reason why there are no fat writers because it's such a draining work.)

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Why librarians need to be fluent in IT

Here's an outline of the lecture I presented during ASLP's seminar on ICT in libraries: trends, security and ethics last 27 April 2006 at Hotel Kimberly in Ermita, Manila:

I. Introduction
The 21st century suffers from progeria, so says Alvin Toffler, author of the best selling book Future Shock.

II. Why know about IT?
a. for personal use
b. for work
c. for education
d. for society

III. Why do I need to learn more?

  • to help cope with difficulties in using IT
  • to make more effective use of whatever technology is available
  • to use an ICT tool safely, effectively, and flexibly
  • to exploit developments in technology & to comprehend capabilities & implications of these technologies
  • to give a feeling of confidence and feeling of control when something goes wrong
IV. What must you know and understand about IT to use it effectively and productively?

Be FIT - fluent with information technology. Fluency with information technology goes beyond being computer literate. The three elements of FITness are: intellectual capabilities, knowledge of the fundamental concepts basic to information and computing, and contemporary skills.

Additional material was taken from Jenny Levine's post on the 20 technology skills every librarian should have from her blog The Shifted Librarian.

V. How will these skills be useful in the library?

IT fluency will be very helpful in adapting to current trends in various library operations such as library automation, circulation, collection development, cataloging, and user services that make use of information and communication technologies.

VI. Conclusion: How FIT are you?

Being FIT does not mean one does not have to rely on an expert nor does consulting with one imply a lack of it. Librarians need to have some level of IT fluency to the extent that she/he does not need an expert to fix an information technology problem or to harness a new opportunity IT offers.

A detailed discussion of my lecture is available here. A summary of the two-day seminar is available here and here.

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