Lesson 11-ICT as a Platform for Change (Summary)

Good day!

As you can see, this is a summary of Lesson 11 in Empowerment Technologies: Innovative Training Works Inc., which tackles how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can be used as an instrument/platform for achieving social change.

And ICT as a platform for social change came into effect in some of the following events in the Philippines:

• EDSA People Power Revolution (22-25 February 1986) - The People Power Revolution lasted from 1983 to 1986. During a radio broadcast of Radyo Veritas, Cardinal Sin encouraged the Filipinos to help end the regime of (then) President Ferdinand Marcos. A major protest took place along EDSA from 22-25 February 1986, involving two million Filipinos from different sectors.

EDSA People Power Revolution

Cardinal Jaime Sin

• EDSA Dos (17-21 January 2001) - Also known as the 2001 EDSA Revolution, this mass protest was fueled after 11 prosecutors of (then) President Joseph Estrada walked out of the impeachment trial. This revolution became successful through text brigades.

EDSA Dos (1)

EDSA Dos (2)

A Nokia phone used for text brigades

• Million People March (22-26 Aug 2013) - This is a series of protests that mainly took place in Luneta Park. There were also several demonstrations that happened around key cities in the Philippines and some overseas locations. This protest was to condemn the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). Though it was dubbed as the "Million People March", the number of total attendees were only around 400,000. Social Media was used as a means of spreading campaigns/goals intended to be achieved in this protest.

Million People March

Yolanda People Finder - A people finder database powered by Google, this was a means for people searching for missing friends/relatives during the Typhoon Yolanda (Internationally known as Haiyan) last November 2013.

Screenshot from Google People Finder

Change.org

Change.org is dubbed as the world's platform for change where anyone from the online community can create a petition and ask others to sign it.

Change.org's mission is to help people from around the world to create the change they want to see. For years, Change.org hosted several petitions that help solve the following problems: economic problems, criminal injustice,. abuse of human rights, animal rights protection, and so on.

Screenshot from the website change.org

 

Lesson 9 - Collaborative ICT Development

Good day!

This here is a summary of lesson 9 in the book Empowerment Technologies: Innovative Training Works Inc.,

As you can see in this lesson, the discussion is all about collaborative working over the internet with the use of:

• Web portals
• Online collaborative tools

Web Portals are websites that contains information from different sources and place them in one location in a uniform way.

Examples of web portals include Yahoo!, as the site mentioned includes news, email, weather, etc.

A Wikipedia portal

uk.yahoo.com

Google is also an example of a web portal, as this includes also news, email, weather, and online shopping (Google Play).

By working through online collaborative tools, the people involved does not necessarily need to be physically present together. These can be done through online groups.

But.... What are online collaborative tools?

Online collaborative tools are sites/online groups where 2 or more people can work together on something as to attain a goal through the internet.

Examples of online collaborative tools:

• Facebook (www.facebook.com)
• Trello (www.trello.com)
• Jimdo (www.jimdo.com)
• LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com)

Online collaboration via groups can also be a concern of security, hence the presence of so-called "privacy settings".

Through privacy settings, groups can be set to public or private. On facebook, a group can be public (visible to all), closed (visible from the outside but only visible from the inside if you are a member) or secret (visible to members only, invitation required).

Lesson 6 - Imaging and Design for Online Environment

In this blog, I am going to show you my reflection of the lesson mentioned above.

This lesson is all about Imaging and Design for Online Environment, which shows how to get the hand of basic principles of graphics and layout, creating infographics, online file formats for images, and so on.

sample of an infographic

The most visited site on earth is Google, as per alexa.com . Google was ranked number one on alexa.com, a website known for ranking web page popularity.

screenshot of the google home page from google.com.sa

alexa.com

What has also been discussed in this lesson are the basic principles of graphics and layout.

The Basic Principles of Graphics and Layout

• Balance. The visual weight of objects, texture, colours, and space is evenly distributed on the screen.

sample illustration of balance (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijSFW8JZXmlEac9tb5LcIsA8MKzwOqU7-l_ygndiMb2l69-YcuDF7udCgxLv-ekNajZW09Eztg-iKmRHWdhscl1heYSvbMb1FyLXhDx31TPkHlduQUzTLCCo6gkKF3pKqmZA1i0BYoCj0/s1600/balance+in+graphic+design.jpg)

• Emphasis. An area in the design that may appear different in size, texture, shape, or color to attract the viewer's attention.

sample illustration of emphasis (http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5272f3e8e4b0804eedc16282/5272f79de4b0da349d7ff0c6/53f26dc9e4b0c307b92bc3c2/1408396764201//img.png)

• Movement. Visual elements that guide the viewer's eyes around the screen.

sample illustration of movement (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijSFW8JZXmlEac9tb5LcIsA8MKzwOqU7-l_ygndiMb2l69-YcuDF7udCgxLv-ekNajZW09Eztg-iKmRHWdhscl1heYSvbMb1FyLXhDx31TPkHlduQUzTLCCo6gkKF3pKqmZA1i0BYoCj0/s1600/balance+in+graphic+design.jpg)

• Pattern, repetition, and rhythm. These are the repeating visual elements on an image or layout to create unity in the layout or image.

sample illustration of pattern, repetition, and rhythm (http://www.designorate.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/design-principles-01.jpg)

• Proportion. Visual elements create a sense of unity where they relate well with one another.

Proportion (http://char.txa.cornell.edu/language/principl/fish.gif)

• Variety. This uses several design elements to draw a viewer's attention.

Infographics

Also known as Information Graphics, these are used to represent information, statistical date, or knowledge in a graphical manner usually done in a creative way to attract the viewer's attention.

Infographics make complex data become more visually appealing to an average user.

Above shown is an example of an infographic, illustrating education around the world.

Information graphics can be made using the website called Piktochart (piktochart.com).

For further reference, please refer to pages 103-119 of Empowerment Technologies: Innovative Training Works, Inc. (ISBN 978-971-23-7830-0)