Electronic Communication on Community Development

Community development is the process of helping a community to strengthen itself and develop toward its full potential. Communication is the key component of sustainable and human development.

In the Philippine setting, one of the major problems is Lack of employment.  With the use of Electronic communication, the rate of unemployment can be decreased. It can provide jobs in the Business process outsourcing or known as Call/Contact Centers in which they can communicate with the people from other countries. Many Filipinos are fluent in speaking English and many developed countries like China, Korea and Japan need to keep with the global standard by learning the English language.

Electronic communications creates a new form of many-to-many communications that lets geographically distributed groups communicate interactively and simultaneously through text, sound and video. Actually for me it's a big help, It requires only few seconds to communicate with my students because it supports quick transmission. 

I also think that due to advancement of electronic communication, businessmen can easily control operation across the globe. You can hold inexpensive video conferences from your desk, or conference with people at several desks located across the world.

Electronic communication is not only for providing employment or making the business life easier, it is also very important for information dissemination. It is necessary for people are aware of what is happening around them, with the use of an advance technology, we can spread important information that people need to know. So I can say Electronic communication is really a big help in community development.

Potentials and Criticisms Of Electronic Communication

Electronic communication: Is it really helpful?

Email, instant messaging, websites, blogs, text messaging and voice mail are a few examples of electronic communication. Electronic communication has changed the way businesses communicate with each other. In the case of the development in the Philippines, Electronic communication can help in the Business process outsourcing or known as Call/Contact Centers, It can also be used to increase the employment rate, because many Filipinos are fluent in speaking English and many developed countries like China, Korea and Japan need to keep with the global standard by learning the English language. 

Electronic Communication can be very beneficial if used effectively. Knowing the proper medium to communicate your message is important to effective electronic communication. Email is a common communication method for sharing information with businesses. However, email is not always the best method of communication when sending to mass amounts of people.  Many recipients of mass email will delete the email without reading it.  If you have a message to communicate with many businesses, electronic newsletters can be an alternative to mass email. Blogs are useful electronic communication method for marketing. Many businesses use blogs to reach a new audience of potential customers.

Even though Electronic communication has been known to be effective, it can't guarantee a positive result. Using some examples of Electronic communication might lead to miscommunication unlike communicating face to face, you can reaffirm the message that is being sent to you with the use of body language, facial expression and the tone of voice.  If you are not so good in writing an email, it might have a different meaning and cause misinterpretation. Since electronic communication is very easy to use and many people can share their opinions and Ideas in some social networking sites, one of the disadvantages of it is that, people might use Facebook, Twitter, and SMS to offend other people, that’s why E-communication users need to be very mindful of a few key matters that could lead to inappropriate use of new media, at times unintended, and at other times without a proper understanding, that once comments are made or published, they are in public for a long time and it’s really hard to remove it. Electronic messages are hard to stop once you've sent them: they can be delivered and read in seconds. And electronic messages are awfully easy to copy and resend -- you can't be sure who will read them eventually and form a negative impression about you for sending them.

Importance of Electronic Communication in my present Job

Application of Electronic communication in my present Job and its potentials:

Effective communication has a relation to my present job, since I am an English teacher, I can also make the communication effectual with the use of Electronic Communication; if it is used correctly it can help limit the barriers of communication, it can help us keep in touch with other people in different parts of the world. I use electronic communication to teach my students in China, Korea, Saudi Arabia and Japan, I only need an updated computer, stable internet connection, headset and camera to have classes with them. Electronic communication is very convenient for me, it only requires few seconds to contact people from other countries, and it saves time and money not only for me but also for my students. I also give their homework through Skype, QQ, YY and email and it allows an instant exchange of feedback. The new electronic forms of communication are very efficient for private users, particularly in chats; you can just immediately reply if there is something important to talk about.

In the case of the development in the Philippines, Electronic communication can be used to increase the employment rate, because many Filipinos are fluent in speaking English and many developed countries like China, Korea and Japan need to keep with the global standard by learning the English language. It can also help in the Business process outsourcing or known as Call/Contact Centers.

Be patient: Only God knows the perfect time

  Don't cling. "If a person loves you, 

it's unnecessary. And if he doesn't, why bother?"

That guy and I have met when we were in high school. We were both in the same year level but different sections. I have joined the school newspaper organization as a writer even though I was not enthusiastic about writing articles; he was also one of the members. I found him interesting, probably because opposite attracts, I’m bold and he is silent but I really enjoy being with him. He is out of the ordinary, whenever I see him I melt.(cheesy!!!eer but that's true!)

We've been a high school couple, at that time we were young and immature. Unfortunately our “first” relationship lasted for only a year because we both had to go to college, at first I knew that the love won't fade, so I was confident that after summer vacation he would still be there and we can continue as if nothing happened but there was one thing I failed to do, I didn’t keep in touch with him for two months not knowing that he began to lose hope and fell out of love.It was just like the Korean saying “out of sight, out of mind”. But for me it was not yet the end.

Since we went to different universities, it was hard for me to talk to him but I exerted an effort in order to save our relationship. I’ve waited for five to six hours in front of his university, I stayed near his house, I kept calling and texting him but I got only short replies, I was like a stalker but I didn’t mind that, even though some of my friends were telling me that I was degrading myself. One day, I spotted him with his friends and tried to grab his hands; his face was cold, instead of asking how am I, he just gave a smirk and said “it’s done, can’t you understand?” when I heard that I slapped him and walked away. (ang drama lang ng peg!!!)I didn't bother him from that day on.

It was hard but I set him free. I tried to date other people; however I couldn't get him off my mind. He was so special and nobody could replace him, and for some reason I had faith that he would contact me. I was crying for months but I tried to be as strong as I could. I met different friends, I became happy without him but whenever I pass through those places where we accidentally met,I stopped and looked around hoping that I would meet him again. 

We didn’t have any communication for 5 years. I had a boyfriend but I couldn’t help but to compare them, in spite of the fact that He did something terrible to me. He left me out of the blue but it was difficult to explain why I was still longing for him.

Facebook was really a big help. When I was surfing the internet, I saw my high school batch mates’ pictures they have created a group, so I joined. I searched for his name and added him to my friends’ list. At first I didn’t contact him because I was thinking that he was doing great without me. Until I realized that I was not fully recovered with our break up, I sent him a message but no reply, so I left my number and told him to contact me when he’s free.  After few days I received a message from a number that was not in my phone-book. I didn’t expect it was him since the format of his message has changed(alam ko talaga format text nya before). It took ages before he replied. We exchanged three to four messages but I couldn't be so nice to him probably because I was deeply hurt. 

I thought the reason why I was still looking for him was to make things clear. After few weeks of thinking, I decided to contact him again. At first it was just a casual conversation until we talked about the past. I told him that I was still mad at him. At that time we started to update each other, we noticed that we grew up separately, and now we could communicate better and understand each other like adults. It may sound “corny” but love is sweeter the second time around. We lived our lives separately for five years, now; it’s our 5^th year again since we got back together.(Imagine it's been a decade!!!)

The reason why I wrote this story is to tell you that, Never get obsessed, Let them go and give them the space they want. Be patient – only God knows the perfect timing. Sabi nga sa movie "If you love something set it free. If it comes back to you, it's yours. If it doesn't, it never was.”

I am sure that he is someone I want to marry "someday" not now because we still have individual plans for professional development. I guess we were destined to meet. We grew up miles apart so how come we've crossed each other's path? Whatever that reason is, I could care less as long as I'm with him. 

Child Labor

http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/philippines-gold-mines-child-labor-economy

Through my research about child labor, I came up with four major reasons why child labor

exists.

First is the violation and enforcement of laws regarding child labor R.A. no. 1658 is an act

prohibiting the employment of children below 15 years of age in Public and private undertaking. However, it is being violated because it is not being enforced or monitored properly.

For example, in a factory there are thousands of workers, so the workers' profile is often not properly monitored. Sometimes they also intentionally hide child labor because they want to cut back production costs.

Second is Poverty. Due to this, poor children and their families would depend to child labor to attain basic needs. There are many factors to Poverty, if I would explain this further; this paper would not be enough, so I focused only on poverty as the reason for Child labor. Corruption is one of the main reasons why there is Poverty. Corruption in the Philippines is very rampant, that it affects the economic growth of the country. Another reason to Poverty is Unemployment, Lack of opportunities due to lack of education, it leads to having no proper income to obtain basic needs. And lastly is Indolence, a trait influenced by Spaniards. They

http://www.borgenmagazine.com/child-labor-today/#prettyPhoto

conquered the Philippines. They burned a lot of houses and they let the Filipinos work and gain

less money than them. That was the reason why Filipinos became indolent, because they we’re

thinking that even they work hard, it won’t never be enough. Spaniards also introduced siesta,which until now, most of Filipinos are still doing.

Third reason for child labor is access to free education. Though there is an easy access to freeeducation, there are still miscellaneous fees to be paid making it hard for the families to really send their kids to school. There are also failures in the educational system; instead on mandating that all children must go to school, the government allows the families to decide.Most of families would rather have their children to work and bring an income than going to school. Last reason that I came up to is the ethical tradition. In the Filipino community, it’s a tradition for children to obey their parents and elders, because they must compensate as much as possible to reduce the economic burden.

My opinion

Most of the kids who are into child labor came from poor families. I think the best way to end Child labor is to understand its root causes. Poverty is always the main reason of all social issues. Many families need child labor to attain basic needs. If we help these families come out from poverty and get a steady income, I think they would not sacrifice their children to work. However, the government should be the one to support this system and they may not be as enthusiastic about supporting this Idea, perhaps, because they don't have the capability to do so. Since greed and personal interests are also causes of poverty, I guess we should be wise enough to choose a trustworthy leader that would focus on the development of the country and not to steal money from the government. If we eliminate corruption, they would be able to give more opportunities to poor people to have a source of livelihood. It’s very hard for poor people to be emancipated from poverty if the government will remain unsympathetic to them. Chinese proverb says “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”.

DEARtime (Drop Everything and Read)

http://www.whydev.org/missioncreep-4-arseholes-perceptions-and-books/

This program is being implemented in Pines City National High school to improve the reading comprehension of students and to instill the love for reading. It gives students time to read what they want to read, share what they have read, and receive the support they need for further reading explorations and reflections. Daily reading sessions last for 10 minutes. They will have a conference with their English teachers as soon as they had finished reading the book, to share what they have understood. A daily DEARtime project provides students with much more than a just-sit-there-and-read experience since, during their English subject the teacher is able to evaluate the students’ progress in reading and comprehension. It gives the English teacher a structured time to touch base with each student over a period of time, assess improvement, and target instruction. To measure students’ oral reading speed and accuracy, teachers will do the procedure that uses regular classroom texts to determine the number of words that students can read correctly in one minute. To obtain a words-correct-per-minute (WCPM) score, students are assessed individually as they read aloud for one minute from an unpracticed passage of text. All teachers implement this program but only English teachers can measure students’ improvement.

The theory about literacy instruction and learning; they think that Students learn best in a community of learners, in a safe environment, and when they are being guided by teachers’ instructions and of course independent practice. This Theory about the daily reading program where students select their own readings and share their reactions to the texts with others in the learning community will help them to become competent in the future.

This program is being practiced in other western countries not only by students who are in the classroom but also by people who have little free time to relax. Pines City national High school used the diffusion approach in order to implement this program, teachers got the instructions/message from the person who initiated the DEARtime program, and explain it to their respective advisory classes which will be followed up and monitored by the English teachers and students will accept this program for their development.

On the other hand, some teachers think that this program is not useful for students; they say that 10 minutes will not be enough for students to develop their reading habit and because of that students’ improvement will take some time.

Blogging: Make it Right!!!

You, Yes You... Be.A.Ware!

Every one of us has the right to publish a blog; we are free to write about personal interest, events, situation, topics or opinions and post it worldwide via Internet then let visitors leave comments and even messages. A web blog will help us to gain knowledge from someone thru the World Wide Web. I think, it is one of the enjoyable things to do because it makes us feel better at the same time we’re providing information to our readers.

 “A blog can be seen as a form of social networking service, because they build social relations with the readers and other bloggers”

- Blog. {n.d.} In Wikipedia. Retrieved July 4, 2014- from  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

Not all bloggers are Journalists but they also need to follow Moral ethics and laws. If we just want to write a blog for fun and enjoyment we should still be responsible enough in publicizing our blogs.

CyberJournalist.net has created a bloggers’ code of ethics, by modifying society of professional Journalists code of ethics for the Weblog world. CyberJournalist.net follows this code and impels the use of it.

“Professional integrity is the cornerstone of our credibility.”

- Jun Pasaylo, 2013 THE PORTAL, Grand Inquisitor, retrieved from 

http://junpasaylo.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/the-portal-professional-integrity-is-the-cornerstone-of-our-credibility/

 Bloggers who use this code of principles are not only practicing ethical publishing but they are also telling the readers that they can be trusted.

Here is the bloggers’ code of ethics from the CyberJournalist.net but the explanations however are mine. I’m explaining it based on my own understanding.

Ø  Be Honest and Fair

Since I am just a newbie in the world of blogging, I’ve learned that bloggers must be honest and fair in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. We should know how to give credits to our sources. We should not plagiarize. If possible ask permission from our sources that we are going to cite the information from.

 It’s also our right to voice our opinion out, but we should know how to differentiate an opinion from a fact. Even though you disagree with a fact you, still have to present them, remember to always tell the truth. If you are going to publish something that you are not sure of about, state your own stance what you thought of with regards to the topic.

Ø  Minimize Harm

We need to treat our sources and subjects with respect.

Tim O’Reilly called for bloggers to work together to create a blogger’s code of Conduct.

According to a Blogger's Code of Conduct:

You must….

·         Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog

·         Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.

·         Consider eliminating anonymous comments.

·         Ignore the trolls.

·         Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so.

·         If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.

·         Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say in person.

You must not…

·         Violate any local, state, national or international law or post any Content that would encourage or provide instructions for a criminal offense.

·         Impersonate any person or entity or otherwise misrepresent yourself, your age or your affiliation with any person or entity

·         Send or make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, solicitations, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation

·         Post or share any personally identifiable or private information of any third party

·         Solicit passwords or personal information from anyone, including those under 18

·         Use information or content you obtained on the AMYC website or service in any manner not authorized by the AMYC Code of Conduct or Terms of Use.

·         Post any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment

·         Register more than one account or use or attempt to use another's account, service or system without authorization or create a false identity on the Service or the Site

·         Engage in any predatory or stalking conduct

In this case, I think they urge the bloggers not to harm others by avoiding strong language about hatred and profanity they also want to encourage us to become civil at all times when we disagree with someone else’s opinion.

Ø   Be Accountable

Bloggers should admit mistakes and correct them promptly.

We need to apologize. It is not a good Idea to deny or hide the mistakes in our blog; our mistakes can make people disappointed. Admitting them save our credibility as bloggers.

“Making a correction while retaining the error is best (unless it was libellous or is causing legal trouble) rather than simply changing the text as if it was never there.”

How to Admit Mistakes on Your Blog {n.d.} Wiley-Dummies, retrieved from http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-admit-mistakes-on-your-blog.html

If we are going to promote something, make sure that we have examined the product before publishing it. If not, we will be bombarded with questions about our motives for promoting it. If we noticed some exceptions about the product it would be better if we are going to disclose it to our readers. It is our responsibility to provide the necessary information to our readers so we need to explain clearly the content of our blog.

Bloggers’ Legal guide:

"With Blogging Comes Great Responsibility”

Raymond R. May, 2013, With blogging comes great responsibility (University of San Francisco) retrieve form http://lawblog.usfca.edu/internetjustice/2013/with-blogging-comes-great-responsibility-a-bloggers-legal-duties-and-dilemmas/

Blogging is free for everyone, but we also need to consider abiding the laws of blogging.

Ø  Copyright infringement

 This is a law that Protect Bloggers’ Content from Theft.

 According to the Oxford dictionary, Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone’s work or Ideas and passing them off as one’s own. Sometimes we also put designs on our blog to attract more readers but if we use those images and designs without permission it is also considered as plagiarism.

“If you’re desperate to use something really fantastic that you’ve seen elsewhere, you can always email the creator and ask if the image is available for use and if there are conditions to this”--- JESSICA MEDDOWS (JANUARY 31, 2014)

Ø  Trademark infringement

As bloggers it’s not recommended to use trademarks of other companies to support our topics in our blogs because we might mislead our readers. They might think that we are related to the owner of the trademark and we are representing them. If we do, we will be in a big trouble.

Ø  Defamation

“The action of damaging the good reputation of someone; slander or libel”-oxford dictionary

A false statement or a fact can also be an element of defamation, but if you are just sharing your own opinion it will not be considered as Defamatory as long as you have stated clearly that it’s just your own opinion.

If we publish untrue information about anyone or anything that could negatively affect them. If we don’t have a proof about the subject that we want to publish, we better not publish it at all or else we will be facing a big trouble which is called Libel.