Regnard Raquedan

Swan Song

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:44:00 +0000

The past few weeks have been very busy, especially on the community activities. It's really good because I see the last few weeks as my swan song.

Philippine Web Designers Organization
Last September 10-11, 2011, the Philippine Web Designers Organization (PWDO) had its second Form Function & Class Web Design Conference.

I was very active in the planning and helping out in the logistics and promotion, but it was primarily led by Ia Lucero and Mae Paulino. Unlike in 2009, I did not give a talk but I gave the opening addresses for both days (Day 1 Opening Remarks & Day 2 Opening Remarks).

The outcome of the event was very great-- PWDO was able to raise funds and roughly double its money in the bank. The event was also smoother and there were more sponsors.

The future of PWDO is really looking good, even at my departure from the core group.

The recent FFC ushered in reforms and changes in the group, plus the activity level of the core group is very high.

Mozilla Philippines Community
I represented the Mozilla Philippines Community on two major events: Software Freedom Day 2011 at the University of Santo Tomas and the Philippine Youth Congress on Information Technology (Y4IT) at the University of the Philippines - Diliman.

Representing Mozilla is always a joy, especially here in the Philippines, since Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox has such strong brand equities. This brand is even more adored by the college and geek crowd.

Based on the feedback from my parting words at the Mozilla Philippines mailing list, people appreciate the effort I've put in the community. This is huge considering that I've only been a volunteer for the Mozilla initiative.

Moving forward, the group will be led by Eusebio "Jun" Barrun.

Jun has been a solid contributor to the community and his acceptance of the leadership role is a big coup for the community. The way I see it, the Mozilla Philippines will continue to grow under Jun's helm.

Usability Professionals Association - Philippines
This a relatively new effort and it's rather unfortunate that I'm leaving soon.

Dr. Rose Seva, Allan Caeg, and I were in the process of bringing together a usability/user experience community here through the formation of a local Usability Professionals Association chapter. The group will organize and hold the upcoming World Usability Day - Manila.

The group will now work double time to get the chapter recognition in order.

Conclusion
I believe that the communities I'm leaving behind are in great shape and its really because of team effort.

To everyone I've worked with (you know who you are), thanks a lot and all the best in reaching the respective vision of each group.

Tags: Personal

Streamlining my Personal Online Brand

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 07:32:00 +0000

I just realized that my online presence needs some streamlining. Why? Because I feel my personal brand on the web is not focused enough.

If you search for "Regnard Raquedan" on Google, the result is a little scattered. There are results that point to my blogs (like Standard Web Standards, Screensucked, and The AIM Blogger), professional sites I've made (Raquedan Consulting, Usability Consultant, and Internet Marketing Coach), plus the social network profiles (LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+).

I was recently inspired by the stuff I've been reading about focus. One Steve Jobs quote that comes to mind is:

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”

There are many other nice insights about it and I realized I need to make my personal brand online more focused.

I want to highlight these things about me:

My work - I've decided that I want to focus on User Experience and Community Management. I plan to put more about these in my professional websites.
My writing - I wrote an e-book entitled "Did You Read The Case?" that I had Amazon publish on the Kindle Store. I see myself doing this more in the future.
My blogs - This is where things get a little complicated. Right now, I blog about a slew of topics and I'm starting to think that I'm spreading myself too thin.

The question I'm thinking about now is what blogs to keep. I analyzed the data on the blogs and their advertising performance and I've decided to to focus on these topics:

Movies - Screensucked
Basketball - Big Lakers Fan
Work - Weboplex (Yep, it's a new blog powered by Tumblr!)
Personal - RegnardRaquedan.com

Four blogs may be too much for some, but those topics are things that are I'm very much interested in.

Also, I'll be retiring some of my professional websites. I'm in the process of making a professional transition so I feel this is a good time to do it. I'll only maintain Raquedan.com as my professional website.

This streamlining will be an ongoing process that will probably stretch to early next year.

Tags: Internet

Day 2 Opening Remarks at PWDO's Form Function Class Web Design Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 01:22:00 +0000

Good morning everyone!

I hope everyone didn’t get hung over from last night’s afterparty-- we still have a great number of workshops today. It would be too bad if you killed too much of your braincells because of the alcohol.

This is the second day of the 2011 edition of the Form Function Class Web Design Conference. A lot of you were here yesterday, but those who are here for today only, I have some bad news for you: you missed a lot.

In yesterday’s session, we had a great design exercise with Dan Matutina, we had a great talk about branding in today’s age with John Leyson, witnessed Rico Sta. Cruz’s legen-(wait for it)...dary HTML5 and CSS3 coding skills, and got nice nuggets of busines and web startup insights from Jason Torres. To add to that, we had a great number of Lightning Talk speakers about DevCon, Balsamiq, the Mozilla Reps program, and the Philippine Graphic Design Awards.

And then there was the afterparty, which needs no further elaboration, basing on your grizzled appearances.

Like I said we had a ton of things yesterday and I believe we will gave an equally enriching session today.

I’m very confident that the talks about JavaScript, Mobile UI Design, User Experience Design, and the future of design will be talks of value for everyone. After all, we at PWDO labored, debated, and nitpicked on what the program is going to be today for months. I’m not kidding when I day that us planning this event is like creating a Facebook-clone that acts like Groupon in 30 minutes.

It goes without saying that we at PWDO are learning as the FFC goes on. For those who were here yesterday, you will notice that we make some little tweaks to make the event better. We got the ideas from you-- from your tweets to our Twitter account to the feedback you gave personally. We are serious in making this the best F’n event for you possible.

On a final note, PWDO will feel warm and fuzzy if everyone comes out of FFC thinking “It feels great to be a web designer now-- there are so many opportunities and possibilities and there are still loads of things to learn.” If you grow as a web designer after the FFC, the PWDO would have done its job.

So with that, let’s have a productive session in today’s Form Function Class Web Design Conference.

Tags: Form Function Class Web Design Conference

My Opening Talk at the 2011 Form Function Class Web Design Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 01:16:00 +0000

Good morning everyone!

First and foremost, congratulations!

I congratulate everyone here because you are part of an event that is two years in the making-- that is the PWDO guarantee that you are not guinea pigs nor lab rats.

There was a time when the most difficult thing a web designer would go through is explaining to his parents what his job was all about. When you mention IT, your parents immediately think MS Office; when you mention internet, your parents think about the latest sex scandal; and when you say web design, your parents think about you playing computer games then typing for a few hours.

But things have changed.

The web is a big part of our lives now that even your lola, who still think a typewriter is better than an iPad, has a Facebook account. You’ve probably bought something online, whether from the group deals websites or in Sulit.com.ph. You’ve probably engaged in a debate about which browser is the best (Hint: It’s Mozilla Firefox). Your parents probably read on Inquirer.net that MS Office is not the internet.

All that is made possible by the medium that is the Web. And that puts pressure on us web designers. If you’re designing websites the same way you were five years ago, you’re setting yourself up to becoming professional roadkill, you know the stinky and gross kind.

People’s expectations are exponentially growing and we can’t let our skills grow incrementally, or worse flatline.

This is one of the main reasons why the Philippine Web Designers Organization was formed and the Form Function Class Web Design Conference was instituted. Being the first grassroots Web Design conference in Asia, it’s part of our mission to champion excellence in webcraft and contribute to raising the standards for Philippine web design. If you’re wondering, we’re also striving for world peace.

Kidding aside, I congratulate everyone here, from the PWDO core group that has done a massive job in juggling tasks. Imagine, they worry about CSS layout and then worry about how our nice venue will be laid out. A disclaimer though, we are web designers and not event coordinators, so I apologize beforehand for our small oversights. Please judge us the same way you would a 5-year old that colored outside the lines.

I also congratulate our sponsors (let’s give them a round of applause)-- To our sponsors, you did the right move in supporting this event. Your help will go a long way in making this event the most kick-ass web design event. Ever.

Finally, I go back to you, the participants of this event. I congratulate you again because you recognize the need to become better in your craft and I salute you for taking web design seriously. I know you still surf the web at work and call it “research,” even though the window you opened is Google+ and

Twitter. I know you work with high conviction even though you get distracted by reading random articles in Wikipedia and watching Nyan Cat videos in YouTube. I say that with conviction, the same conviction when I argue with IT when the Wi-Fi is down.

Congratulations and have a great experience at 2011 Form Function Class Web Design Conference.

Tags: Form Function Class Web Design Conference

Globe Tattoo Tonino Lamborghini (Or What's a Fake These Days?)

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 02:25:00 +0000

I was a little skeptical when I read a Tweet saying that Globe Tattoo's Tonino Lamborghini 4G product was a fake. But then I read the press release (PDF) from Tonino Lamborghini and realized that it was legit, so I was a bit shocked.

In the press release, Tonino Lamborghini CEO said that Globe's 4G stick is a "counterfeited product" and that anyone making them constituted "a serious trademark infringement."

Let's stop right there. Those are really serious stuff-- counterfeiting and copyright infringement are words that go together with million-dollar lawsuits.To counterfeit means imitating something and passing it off as the original. I don't see Tonino Lamboghini making 4G USB sticks, so to say the Globe product is counterfeit is fairly inaccurate.

I think it's more of a licensing and branding issue.

To set the record straight, Tonino Lamborghini is different from Automobili Lamborghini, the company more popular globally for the sports cars it makes. Tonino Lamborghini, looking at its website, is a diversified manufacturer and distributor of a slew of products. Their product line includes watches, eyewear, perfumes, fashion accessories, furnishings, apparel lines, and gadgets. I only knew about the distinction between the two after the story broke out.

For their part, Globe responded with an official statement in their Tumblr account. Globe says that they got their license from Primo Mobile, the master franchisor of mobile phone related products for the Italian brand Tonino Lamborghini. This means that Globe has some basis to use the trademark.

My theory is that the Tonino Lamboghini folks saw the Globe Tattoo 4G stick online and were shocked-- this is not a product they licensed to be manufactured. Their jaw dropped further down when they saw how Globe positioned the 4G stick-- "Feed Your Need for Speed" was a tagline that harkened Automobili Lamborghini.

These folks jumped the gun and made the press release last August 3, roughly two months after 4G stick was launched.

The gap now is the licensing agreement between Tonino Lamborghini and Primo Mobile. If Primo Mobile is authorized to sub-license, what are its responsibility to the trademark owner? In effect, Tonino Lamborghini is second-guessing the sub-licensing process at Primo Mobile.

In my view, Globe is a casualty in this messy situation.

Tags: Globe Tattoo

My Favorite #MozNewsLab Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:49:00 +0000

The Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab is done and the works of all the folks involved are awesome. Each submitted a "show and sell" video for his/her projects that's meant to inform and convince people that the project is a great hack to news.

Here are some of my favorite "show and sell" videos:

Amy Zerba's News Gist

Corbin Smith's Open Can

Jason Smigarn-Koff's CrowdCam

James Greenaway's Open News Player

Jordan Wirfs-Brock's The Infinte Story

Trina Chiasson's Curious?

Your browser does not support HTML5 video. Get Firefox 4 now!

This list reflects my leanings towards easy to understand videos and works that make an effort to sell the idea. It doesn't hurt add some production values as well. (Yeah, I know the screencast folks are probably groaning right now).

But like I said, all the ideas in #MozNewsLab are awesome. :)

One final thing: I invite you to check out my submission, WiND:Wikified News Dashboard.

Tags: Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab

WiND: Wikified News Dashboard

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:30:00 +0000

I'm finished with the proposal for my idea for the Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab: WiND or the Wikified News Dashboard.

Here's a short video that pitches WiND:

You'll see in the video that I went with a simple value proposition for WiND:

Community-driven and Junk-free News in One View.

This encapsulates that WiND is an open platform where quality is given importance and everything is shown in an easy-to-use dashboard.

Also, the two-minute time constraint was a huge challenge, but hopefully it's enough to convince folks that WiND is a worthy endeavor.

I also made a concept map of WiND to explain it further:

I've posted several iterations of the WiND prototype wireframe in previous blog posts and I've stuck with the last update. It's easy to fall into a trap of perfecting it to the very last detail, but I realized I had to freeze it at some point.

I also designed the mobile-optimized version:

For the purpose of the challenge, I did write a project proposal, and it shows WiND more in detail and outlines the business case for it. The PDF version is available for download in Scribd.

Finally, there's an interactive wireframe demo of WiND and I've uploaded it at http://www.raquedan.com/wind.

I would appreciate any type of feedback (positive, negative, violent) on the stuff I've posted on WiND. I really do think this idea has promise.

It has been a busy last few days and I'm relieved that I've decided to post my submission. I'll post my reflection on the Knight-Mozilla learning lab in the next post.

Tags: Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab

Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab Week 3

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:42:00 +0000

I'm posting the blog post for the Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab early because of stuff I have to do over the weekend.

The third week's theme was focused on journalism and the challenges it currently faces when it comes to collaboration. After listening to Shazna Nessa of the Associated Press and Mohamed Nanabhay of Al Jazeera English, I reflected on the journalistic challenges with collaboration internally (with colleagues) and externally (with the public).

I've tweaked the Wikified News Dashboard (WiND) again to reflect on those challenges. If last week's motivation was to simplify and de-clutter WiND and rely on JavaScript and jQuery to smooth the interaction, here are my motivations for the tweaks:

Give emphasis on journalists and their expertise
Make it easy for the public to contribute, ie, place the contribution feature in a more conspicuous place

Here's the resulting tweak:

As you can see, I've added Experts in the Event updates section to reflect the journalists or community power users who have developed a certain credibility in sharing. I've also placed the "Post Event Update" place above the fold.

On Collaboration

My other personal theme this week is collaboration.

I've thought about the ideas and open source pieces that help build WiND. I was pointed to Crows by Phillip Smith. It's an open source crowdsourcing platform that can serve as the initial shell of WiND. Come to think of it, Crows and WiND seem to go together. :)

I've also looked at the current pool of ideas at the Knight Mozilla Learning Lab and here are some which I think can mesh well with WiND:

Engin Endrogan's idea on interactive timelines - could collaborate in the timeline section
Juan Gonzalez' idea on a digital video dashboard - could collaborate in building multimedia section
Tobias Reitz' Corrigo, a crowdsourced fact-checking idea - signals from here can define REPRank
Neil Dawson's idea on tracking single news items - could collaborate in user contributions
Nicola Hughes' THE BIG PICTURE: an editorial crowd-sourced democracy for news issues - could collaborate on user-generated contributions
Kabir Soorya's idea on a infographic interface - could collaborate for the timeline creation

By the way, thanks to Tagatha's collaboration info page.

If anyone of the folks would work with me in his/her ideas or just bounce-off ideas, feel free to reach me here at my blog or in Twitter (@regnard)

Tags: Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab

Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:07:00 +0000

Week 2 of the Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab is done and I caught two lectures: Christian Heilmann and John Resig. (Ironically, I missed the one I've been looking forward to, the one by Jesse James Garrett. But that's a different story.)

Anyways, I got feedback from Phillip Smith that the blog post should be more of a "thinking out loud" rumination and I think I'd like to make my posts move to show the evolution of my idea, the Wikified News Dashboard (WiND).

These were the last items I thought I'd focus on for WiND (based on my last post):

Needs to give quick information about the news - At the very least, the page will answer What, Who, When, How, and Why right off the bat
Easier contributions - I temporarily placed a contribution area above the fold, although I think this will be tweaked in future iterations

These resulted in this revision:

I also want to add these functionality to differentiate the idea:

REPRank - I think this can be a master's thesis, as the signals to define what makes a story relevant or credible needs some research. It needs an algorithm to take into account many items like contributor authority, quality of submissions, social media signals. This algorithm should be fast and high quality.
Breaking news - I just realized that I haven't firmed up how a breaking news would evolve to become a Rich Event Page (REP). This process should be easy, even for tech luddites.
Less cluttered interface - One of the things I picked up from this week's lectures is the involvement of better interfaces using Javascript and jQuery. I think I can de-clutter the current version and rely on jQuery tricks to tighten the interaction.

What's Next?

Here's the updated idea:

De-cluttered
Bigger contribute area, still under development

I need also need to do a couple of things:

Define use cases for easy creation of the REP
Making the Key People section like a social graph

Tags: Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab

Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 03:22:00 +0000

One week and three lectures in to the Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab, it's turning out to be a very interesting set of first lectures.

I'm posting my takeaways from the lectures and how it means to my ideas.

Lecture 1: Aza Raskin, Founder of Massive Health

Aza's lectures reminded me of the importance of two things:

The value of communicating ideas effectively
The importance of solving the right problems

For the first point, I picked up from Aza how prototypes (like paper sketches and wireframes) give the audience of your idea something tangible. As he said, to the users, the interface is the product.

The second point is more on staying focus to your design objective and problem. I can relate this to a quote by Steve Jobs saying it's better to focus on one or two things and be extremely good at it. This philosophy shows how Apple rarely strays from solving the right problems.

It also reminded of laying down specific design problems for my future ideas.

Lecture 2: Burt Herman, Founder of Storify

If there's a key phrase I picked up from Burt's talk, it's "Minimum Viable Product." (Which ironically appeared in the text chat from the learning lab participants.)

There's value in finding out through feedback what's enough to make ideas fly. Relating this to Aza's point in finding the right problem, this tempers our tendencies to dilute ideas and products with cool, but inessential features.

Lecture 3: Amanda Cox, Graphics Editor at the New York Times

Although optional, I wanted to attend this as one of my design ideas dealt with infographics.

Amanda's lecture tied her team's data visualization work at the New York Times with key concepts in data visualization. She shared that context and the people's good old "what's in it for me?" thinking are elements of compelling visualizations and infographics.

My idea

Putting the three lectures together, here's a revised prototype of the Wikified News Dashboard:

I addressed some of the things I realized needed tweaking:

Needs to give quick information about the news - At the very least, the page will answer What, Who, When, How, and Why right off the bat
Easier contributions - I temporarily placed a contribution area above the fold, although I think this will be tweaked in future iterations

What do you think of the revised version?

Tags: Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab

Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:00:00 +0000

I've mentioned this in my tweets a couple of weeks ago, but here goes: I've been selected to take part in the Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab.

What's the Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab? It's a course that is part of News Technology initiative brought about by the partnership between the Knight Foundation (media innovation) and Mozilla (open web). The initiative is housed as a Drumbeat project and it aims to get Web developers and designers around the world to collaborate and invent the future of news.

The course is a four-week program covering software, journalism, and news. The exciting part is that there are plenty of notable resource persons that will mentor the program participants. They include:

Aza Raskin of Massive Health
Burt Herman of Storify
John Resig, developer of jQuery
Jesse James Garrett (one of my UX heroes)

To get in the program, I submitted two ideas: The Wikified News Dashboard and News Q&A Expert Matching. (To be honest I don't know which idea got me in). But both ideas were grounded on the notion of making collaboration and community in news more efficient.

For the learning lab activities, I'll be using this blog so expect the next posts to be related to the Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab.

Tags: Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab

Asia on the Edge 2011 Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 03:26:00 +0000

A few days ago, I posted a poem called "Soup" and probably folks are wondering what inspired me to write such a creative turn in this blog.

The reason is that I attended the Asia on the Edge 2011 event in Singapore and one of the activities to spur creativity is to place "creative constraints" as speaker and author Dilip Mukerjea shared in one of the workshops. Poetry, specifically the Cinquain, is a good way to place these creative constraints.

As for the event itself, it was a great way to network but I've discovered that I'm not that good a networker. Why do I say that? I wasn't able to go up to the people I wanted to approach and introduce myself. I had my chances but I wasn't able to muster enough confidence (even with a couple of glasses of wine).

Well, I guess going up to creative luminaries like Kenneth Cobonpue, Rajo Laurel, Manet Dayrit, Mich Dulce, and Jay Aldeguer, is really a tough task, especially for a simple guy like me. Ironically, I was able to approach Đinh Bá Thành, one of the media moguls from Vietnam:

But despite my spineless moments, I was able to amass a great deal of new contacts from different industries, and meet exceptional people. Here are some of the profiles of the people I met:

Director of one of the films I reviewed before
Owner of one of the Philippines' top group buying sites
Developer from one of the web applications I really love to use
Writer of a film I recently liked
Owner of a dance studio in Tokyo
Organizers of international film and music festivals
A designer named "Tree Wizard"

Another good thing about Asia on the Edge: I was also able to reconnect with folks I've met in the past.

Over-all, my experience at Asia on the Edge 2011 was a very memorable one and interacting with very creative people has gotten me feeling that spark to do create something. :)

--

Here are some photos I took:

Tags: Asia on the Edge

Poetry: Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 03:52:00 +0000

Soup

Soup
Hot Thick
Moving Rippling Spilling
It is happening
Mess

Tags: Poetry

Conan O'Brien's Address to Dartmouth College Grads

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 09:30:00 +0000

I'm a huge fan of Conan O'Brien and when I read his address to the 2011 graduating class at Dartmouth College, I was genuinely laughing. And this was when I only read the transcript.

Here are my favorite lines:

Before I begin, I must point out that behind me sits a highly admired President of the United States and decorated war hero while I, a cable television talk show host, has been chosen to stand here and impart wisdom. I pray I never witness a more damning example of what is wrong with America today.
And Dartmouth is giving me the same degree for interviewing the fourth lead in Twilight. Deal with it. Another example that life is not fair: if it does rain, the powerful rich people on stage get the tent. Deal with it.
Dartmouth, you have an inferiority complex, and you should not. You have graduated more great fictitious Americans than any other college. Meredith Grey of Grey's Anatomy. Pete Campbell from Mad Men. Michael Corleone from The Godfather.
Finally, if I had gone to Dartmouth, today I'd be getting an honorary degree at Harvard. Imagine how awesome that would be.
And I bet, today, most of you would admit that your time here was very different from what you imagined. Your roommates changed, your major changed, for some of you your sexual orientation changed. I bet some of you have changed your sexual orientation since I began this speech. I know I have.

Man, I wish I was as funny as Conan O'Brien.

Walk the World Pilipinas 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Tue, 24 May 2011 09:59:00 +0000

A good friend forwarded this event this coming May 29, 2011. It's the UN World Food Programme's Walk the World Pilipinas 2011. It's a fundraising event that primarily aims to raise the awareness on the issues of hunger and child malnutrition in the Philippines. The event will be held at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

The event features a 2-km walk against hunger, plus a 5-km fun run and 10-km group run. All proceeds will go to the UN WFP's Emergency School Feeding Programme, an intitative that feeds 80,000 children affected by the armed conflict in Central Mindanao.

Running and fitness enthusiasts may find this event worth supporting, especially with a worthy beneficiary receiving the aid. Interested folks can register online at the event website or register at selected R.O.X., Brat Pack, Columbia, The North Face, Res Toe Run, Sanuk and Travel Club Stores.

Tags: Walk the World Pilipinas

Why I'm Giving Globe's "Fair Use Policy" A Chance

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:22:00 +0000

I have a Globe Tattoo wireless broadband stick that I use whenever leave home. Lately, the connection leaves a lot to be desired. To think that I only use it for checking my email, reading news, and blogging. Even using Facebook with it has been groan-inducing.

Today, I read that Globe Telecoms has implemented a "Fair Use Policy", which the company claims will maintain "quality of resources in order to provide subscribers with seamless, uninterrupted and reliable Internet connections." The company argues that it is because of a small minority (around 5%) hogs most of the available bandwidth. With this policy, Globe now officially puts a hard cap on each of its subscribers.

Looking at Globe's statement, I think I don't qualify as a heavy user of their network, And yet, I often scratch my head because I get a service that I feel could still be MUCH better.

I've already mentioned why it makes sense to have a broadband cap here in the Philippines in the big picture. There's a lot of skepticism with this, but the broadband cap could actually be a tool to make the bandwidth hogs pay more and the light users pay less, making the use of the network equitable.

Now that Globe is moving, my expectation as a Globe Tattoo user has gotten much, much higher. Since they are implementing with the promise of improved services, then I better see the improvement in the quality. I don't see any logic in experiencing the same wireless broadband speed when I know that there are supposedly fewer bandwidth hogs in the network. I'm giving it a chance because Globe says that reliability will be a given, not a lucky break.

So to Globe, there better be major improvements as a result of the "Fair Use" policy. I, along with the thousands of wireless broadband users, deserve it with the steep price of a 1GB daily data transfer.

Tags: Globe

The Princess and The Wizards: A Social Media Story

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:07:00 +0000

(Note: This is the story I shared in iBlog7 )

The Princess and the Wizards: A Social Media Story
By Regnard Raquedan

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there was a magical kingdom called Clueless. For thousands of years, the kingdom settled in peace, with their townsfolk using their simple magical powers to tend flock, farm, and craft magical items, such as wands, and elixirs.

But five years ago, the greedy Kingdom of Competition wanted to take over their land and declared war on the Kingdom of Clueless. The invaders were strong and relentless-- they pillaged towns, razed magical farms, and vandalized royal monuments.

The Clueless King became scared and worried. His kingdom and magical army were getting smaller and smaller by the day. He realized that it was time to call the ordinary townsfolk to join the battles against the invaders. With all his sons leading the charge in the southern provinces, he summoned his only daughter, the Princess.

The King said, “My child, I know you are inexperienced but in this time of crisis, I need you to embark on a quest. It’s time we get the help of the townsfolk to help defend the countryside.”

The Princess said, “Are you out of your mind, Father? The townsfolk are a peaceful people and they only have simple magical abilities.”

The King replied, “Your inexperience is showing, my child. There is a force very powerful that we can use it to turn the tide against the Kingdom of Competition. That force is called Social Media. With that force, we can empower our townsfolk and help us defend our kingdom. With that force we can unlock their collective strength.”

The Princess quizzed, “How do we unleash that force?”

The King said, “The force is magically locked inside a cave. The person who can only open the cave is the Social Media Champion. To become the Social Media Champion, you must have four keys possessed by four wizards. You must answer one question from one wizard to convince them you are worthy to be the Social Media Champion.”

The Princess relented but still went on in her quest.

The first wizard she went to was the Wizard of Marketing and PR. His house was a very colourful house in the busy market district.

The Princess met the wizard and asked, “Wizard of Marketing and PR, I need your key to unlock the power of Social Media.”

The Wizard replied, “Very well, answer my question and show me that you are worthy: What can Social media do for Marketing and PR?”

The Princess replied, “Social media can help reach out to more people and an inexpensive way to send messages.”

The Wizard said, “Very well said, Princess. I am convinced that you are worthy. Here is my key.”

The second wizard the Princess went to was the Wizard of Customer Service. His house was very busy with elves running all over the place tending to the hundreds of mailboxes.

The Princess met the wizard and asked, “Wizard of Customer Service, I need your key to unlock the power of Social Media.”

The Wizard replied, “Very well, answer my question and show me that you are worthy: What can Social media do for Customer Service?”

The Princess replied, “Social media can proactively address people’s concerns in a very timely way.”

The Wizard said, “I am convinced, Princess. You are worthy. Here is my key.”

The third wizard the Princess went to was the Wizard of IT. His house was a full of trinkets and mechanical tools in the craftsmen’s district.

The Princess met the wizard and asked, “Wizard of IT, I need your key to unlock the power of Social Media.”

The Wizard replied, “If you answer my question and I shall give you my key: What is IT’s role in Social Media?”

The Princess replied, “IT ensures that everything is reliable and accessible at all times.”

The Wizard said, “Great answer, Princess. You are worthy of my key. Take it.”

The last wizard the Princess went to was the Wizard of Legal. His house was a very big house with scrolls posted on the walls.

The Princess met the wizard and asked, “Wizard of Legal, I need your key to unlock the power of Social Media.”

The Wizard replied, “If you are able to convince me, I shall give you the key. Here is my question: What is the role of Legal in Social Media?”

The Princess replied, “Legal ensures that there are rules to be followed in using social media and reviews messages will not have legal effects in the future.”

The Wizard said, “Very well said, Princess. You are worthy. Here is my key.”

The Princess then travelled three days to the cave with her four keys.

As she came to the cave’s big door, she was surprised—there were five key holes!

The Princess lamented, “How could this be? My father the King told me that I only needed four keys. I don’t have the fifth key. I have failed in my quest.”

But from the shadows, there emerged a wizard.

The wizard said, “There, there Princess. I am the Wizard of Internal Controls. I have the fifth key to open the cave. I can see that you have come a long way in your journey. If you answer my question, I shall give you my key: What is the role of Internal Controls in Social Media?”

The Princess, still in tears, answered, “Internal Controls makes sure that the activities of each person or group is aligned with their goals and processes. Also, they help in making sure that the proper measurements are made.”

The wizard replied, “You are definitely worthy Princess. Here is the fifth key.”

The Princess then used all five keys to unleash the force of Social Media. A magical torrent burst from the cave and swept through the entire kingdom like a rolling thunder.

From that moment, the kingdom’s defenders found themselves helped by townsfolk who use simple magic to repel the invaders. Battles that seemed hopeless were won with the help of the townsfolk.

The Kingdom of Clueless eventually won their war against the Kingdom of Competition and lived in peace once again, thanks to the Princess who became the Social Media Champion.

THE END

--
What do you think of the story? Feel free to give feedback. :)

Why I'm Not Joining the National Bloggers Association

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 09:44:00 +0000

I've said my piece about the Philippine Blogging Association being an organization focused on professionals. But with Tonyo Cruz moving forward in organizing the group based on its manifesto, I considered whether to join the National Bloggers Association or not.

There are items on the manifesto I agree on, there are items that I don't. I wanted to make my decision as objective as possible. I personally know most of the folks behind the initiative and I have no problems with them being the leaders and convenors. As a matter of fact, I believe their hearts are in the right place and competent in mobilizing the proposed group forward.

I did my research and I have come to the conclusion that the National Bloggers Association in its current (potential?) form is not for me. My sense is that its progressive outlook will bring itself to too many political battles, positions on issues, and agenda pushing (but not necessarily becoming a political organization). This is just not for me and I'll let the willing folks to fight in the frontlines.

I'm well aware that the proposed bloggers' organization will do and be more, but I choose to help the blogging community in a different way.

Tags: National Blogging Association

Philippine Bloggers' Association? Make it Professional

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 09:03:00 +0000

There's been some buzz online on the formation of a National Bloggers' Association here in the Philippines. Some, like the Mommy Bloggers Club, oppose it. And then there are those pushing for it.

Before I say my piece, I want to get two things established:

Fact: There are bloggers in the Philippines who make money via blogging.
Fact: There are professional organizations out there that exist that put the welfare of its members and the protection of industry's customers as its main priorities. (Think Philippine Medical Association, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, or the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines)

It is along those two facts that I believe that a group for professional bloggers can help the industry. The setting of guidelines and standards can help protect the bloggers, advertisers, and readers. In an ideal scenario, this organization will elevate the state and professionalism of bloggers who do it for pay. This body can also be the "ethical police" where maligned customers can report errant bloggers.

Representation is a key concept in our society (Isn't that the intent of the party list system?). Even if the context is not political, representation and establishment of a position on a relevant issue (professional or otherwise) becomes an important function of this organization. Of course, it assumes that the body and its leadership will at all times put the body's mission and goals ahead of any other agenda.

This group should not pursue bloggers who are blogging as a hobby and as a means of expression. And clearly, the group should present itself as a representative of the professional bloggers, not all bloggers in general. Making such a claim would be downright wrong.

I believe no one group can represent the Philippine blogosphere-- it's akin to attempting to represent all those who can express themselves. But I believe that a group focused on one aspect of blogging, that is professional blogging or blogging with an agenda, can be helpful in legitimizing Philippine blogging as a practice.

Tags: Bloggers

I'll be at iBlog7!

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 02:15:00 +0000

I'm pleased to share that I'll be speaking at iBlog7. This will be my first time to speak in iBlog, the first and biggest blogging event in the Philippines.

My topic is "Be the Blogging and Social Media Champion in your Company" and it's based on my experience working with companies who have integrated social media and blogging in their efforts. I'm sure it will be an interesting talk for bloggers who are employed or are working as consultants to corporations.

This year's event is filled with equally great topics. Here's the program so far:

Day 1 (April 1, 2011)

9:00 – 9:15 - Welcome
9:15 – 9:35 - Sponsor Talk
9:45 – 10:05 - Blogger Etiquette: How to be a Blogger with Integrity (Earth Rullan)
BREAK
10:45 – 11:05 - Public Relations Success through Effective Social Media Management (Ruben Licera Jr.)
11:15 – 11:35 - Be the Blogging and Social Media Champion in your Company (Regnard Raquedan)
BREAK
1:00 – 1:20 - Blog Traffic 102 (Melvin Dichoso)
1:30 – 2:00 - Organizing Online Contest (Jayson Biadog and another resource person)
2:15 – 2:35 - Offline Marketing for your Blog (Ginger Arboleda)
2:45 – 3:05 - Ten Power Blogging Advance Tips (Carlo Ople)
BREAK
3:45 – 4:05 - Earning from Blogging (EJ Arboleda)
4:15 – 4:25 - Are we ready for a National Bloggers Association or Professional Bloggers Association? (Janette Toral)
Raffle, Group Picture

Day 2 (April 2, 2011)

9:00 – 9:15 - Welcome
9:15 – 9:35 - Sponsor Talk
9:45 – 10:15 - Blogging 101 (Jonel Uy & Jinkee Umali)
BREAK
11:00 – 11:20 - Podcasting 101 (Adrian Jeric Peña)
11:30 – 11:50 - Dealing with Writer’s Block (Roy Dela Cruz)
BREAK
1:00 – 2:00 - Blogging for Advocacy (Sonnie Santos, Grace Nicolas, Gus Cosio, Ivan Henares)
2:15 – 2:35 - Blog Traffic without SEO (Fitz Villafuerte)
BREAK
3:15 – 3:35 - Your Blog and Facebook (Mon Macutay)
3:45 – 4:05 - Building a Discussion Community (Michael Rubio)
4:15 – 4:35 - Blogging, Social Networks, Online Relationships as Support System (Ria Tirazona)
Raffle, Group Picture

Interested folks who want to use blogging and social media, plus folks who want to get into blogging should definitely attend. Registration is now open. See you folks at iBlog7!

Tags: iBlog

Why the "Big Bad Blogger" Issue is Really a Non-Issue

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 05:23:00 +0000

The "Big Bad Blogger" issue was whipping up a major media storm if not for the more relevant issues (the EDSA bombing, the ETON construction mishap) that happened in the last couple of weeks. After reading Margaux Salcedo's follow-up article and a few of blog posts on it (particularly from Noemi Dado, Janette Toral, and Carlo Ople) on it again, I've decided to chime in.

Let me get this off my chest: The Big Bad Blogger issue is really a non-issue.

Perhaps it was the way the issue was raised (though a blind item story) and the way the Philippine blogosphere reacted that it got traction in the traditional media and social media. It echoed the old "blogging community under siege" feeling that was chorused in the past. But if you ask me, it shouldn't have garnered much attention in the first place.

Here's why:

This is not a new issue - It was really a story of the presence of unethical "journalism" in the blogging media. It's not a new issue since unethical entities are present even in the traditional and established media. To think that bloggers are not subjected to temptation or pressure to "post for pay" is pure naivete.
The Philippine online community is self-correcting - I've said this in my Twitter account: I believe that the Philippine online community is self-correcting. Once proven guilty, unethical bloggers and PR firms will be ostracized. No one is untouchable in the Pinoy Blogosphere.
No one has a monopoly on social media - It's really easy for negative PR "victims" to defend themselves. Social media is not a one-way street. Once an establishment gets a negative review, call out the blogger. Better yet, the establishment can start their own social media spin campaign for a minimal investment.

If the goals of the article were to raise awareness and build opinions on the dark side of blogger engagement, it has achieved them. But it was the rather sensational nature of Ms. Salcedo's story and the sensitivity of the bloggers that blew this whole "Big Bad Blogger" thing up to unnecessary levels.

Tags: Blogging

Why A Broadband Cap Makes Sense in the Philippines

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 02:06:00 +0000

I was out of the country when the issue of telcos implementing a cap on the bandwidth to customers came out. Service providers like Smart, Globe, and Sun were gearing to put a hard limit on how much a subscriber can use their broadband services like wireless internet and residential DSL.The NTC hearing on this issue essentially have put a stop on this idea, but merely on paper.

A lot of people have raised hell on this broadband cap issue, especially in the Philippine blogosphere, but let me chime in.

The way I see it, it has become imperative for service providers to implement the broadband cap for mere survival in the next decade or so.

I don't have the hard data, but look around you. More and more people are using their mobile phones for internet access. More homes are subscribing to broadband internet, whether via DSL or wireless. More malls and establishments are enabling wi-fi services in their premises.

All this points to the same thing: everyone is gobbling up more bandwidth.

The question now is, why don't the telcos invest more in improving infrastructure? The answer is simple: it's too freakin' expensive. If I were running Smart or Globe, I have to make sure my past capital expenditure is maximized to the hilt. It would be fiscally irresponsible to improve infrastructure at the same pace as the consumers' appetite right now.

However, it is the responsibility of the telcos to provide the service the customers paid for-- it's a simple consumer right. It's also a huge marketing blooper not to satisfy what their customers are willing to pay for.

The way I see it, implement a broadband cap now as a way to segment customers. For example, those who are low users should get a discounted price. Those who are willing pay for he use of bandwidth should pay the price.

Tags: Broadband Cap

2nd Quezon City International Marathon: A Motorist's Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 11:51:00 +0000

For the second straight year, I've experienced the Quezon City International Marathon (QCIM) as a motorist. Last year, my experience was very bad as I found the running event a major headache. What happened this year? let me break it down:

The Good

Compared to lat year, the organizers did a good job in placing information on what roads were going to be closed on the day of the marathon. There were billboards in Commonwealth Avenue that very hard to miss. This enabled me to plan ahead, especially thinking of ways to avoid Katipunan Avenue at six o'clock in the morning. (I took the Anonas route to Cubao to go to EDSA).
There was an adequate number of traffic marshals in the points where the roads were closed.

The Bad

Traffic along Commonwealth Avenue was smooth until you reached the St. Peter's Church. The reason? The traffic enforcers were not able to control the commuters hailing buses and jeepneys on the road.
There were no signs of alternate routes to avoid the dreaded Commonwealth Avenue traffic. Good thing for me, I knew the route from Holy Spirit Drive near Ever Gotesco going to Fairlane Street (Via Sampaguita Avenue & Dahlia Avenue). This helped me made my drive easier amidst the traffic trap.

My Suggestions to the QCIM Organizers

Apart from placing the closed roads, alternate routes should also be placed.
It wouldn't hurt to advertise in Facebook, especially to those who live in Quezon City, about the event website, the traffic advisories, and alternate routes.
Designate loading/unloading areas for commuters during marathon hours.
Hire more traffic enforcers to control the public utility vehicles and commuters at the loading/unloading areas, plus points where it becomes a bottleneck.

The Verdict

Compared to last year, the second Quezon City International Marathon was less painful for non-participants, but was still quite a hassle.

Tags: Quezon City International Marathon

Lessons to Be Learned from My Chinabank Debacle

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:28:00 +0000

Last week, I experienced one of the most frustrating customer service gaffes I've ever encountered. It was the time when the folks from Chinabank completely forgot how to handle extremely urgent transaction errors.

To recap, I tried to transfer money online at the Chinabnk website but the transaction failed. The next thing I knew my bank account was empty. I sought the help of the customer support and a branch manager of the branch of my account but I felt they did not hear me out, even dismissed. Frustrated by the way I was treated, I became livid and started an online and social media assault on Chinabank.

I started a hashtag called #chinabanksucks in Twitter and registered the domain chinabanksucks.com. I was planning to come up with a massive anti-Chinabank campaign online. After sending the messages, one person from a UP alumni group I was part of informed me that he would pass the story to the president of Chinabank.

True enough, in the morning of the following day, I learned that the president of Chinabank himself learned of the situation and instructed the quick resolution of the matter. A few hours later, several Chinabank officers had contacted me to apologize and informed me that they have investigated the matter and will be solved within the morning. They sought the explanation of the officers whom I talked to and it became clear that the customer service officer and branch manager did not know what to do to solve my case.

One of the officers who talked to me also assured me that the bank will now draft proper protocol and operating guidelines for situations like mine.

I've softened my stance in Chinabank and I've withdrawn any attempt to attack them online. I'm gracious and I appreciate the quick action from the officers (especially the very helpful Jun Bandal), but it could have been avoided in the first place. Here are my suggestions:

Have a clear-cut escalation procedure
Chinabank should have a well-defined set of exceptions and a exception-handling protocol
Customer-interfacing employees should be trained to assess the gravity of situations better

Finally, thanks to all those who supported my plight, from the folks at Twitter and Facebook, plus the very helpful folks from the Tau Alpha alumni group. It could have been real messy (for me and Chinabank), but thankfully it was all avoided.

Tags: Chinabank

Chinabank Sucks: A Customer Service Nightmare

noreply@blogger.com (Regnard Raquedan) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 10:29:00 +0000

I rarely go online and share my frustrations with services, but my experience with Chinabank was a nightmare.

I used their online banking facility to transfer money to an account in a different bank. I was notified that the transfer was failed, but when I checked my account, the money was not credited back. If you checked my account, it will show big fat zero.

I needed the money to be transferred ASAP, so I called their support to get the money back so that I can withdraw it in an ATM. I called Chinabank's online banking support and I got in touch with a supervisor. She said that they were not in a position to return the money ASAP because they needed a report to find out where the money got lost.

I told the supervisor that this was unacceptable because I needed the money that time. She said that it was an unfortunate effect that customers have to wait for rare errors that happened to me. She said though that the Chinabank branch of my account had the capability to credit the money.

I then called the branch of my account (the main office in Makati) and I was able to talk to the branch manager. I shared my plight and he apologized but did not seem sincere, especially when he explained the intricate system of Chinabank that customers have to wait for situations I was in. He was unwilling to stop the whole system because someone was complaining. In a very arrogant manner, he said that since I was familiar with a bank's operations, I should be aware of the limitations.

I told him that I was also aware that there are mechanisms to help out customers and end their suffering. The branch manager did not budge and told me to talk to the online banking supervisor.
It was a frustrating cycle but I then called the supervisor again. She told me that the branch manager did not approve my request, using their discretion to wait for the report. I will have to wait until they resolve the matter on their end before I get my money back. In extreme frustration, I ended Chinabank's farce of "customer service."

My main problem with Chinabank can be summarized in three points:

Chinabank virtually admitted that it is the customers who will suffer when the system breaks down. If your money gets lost and you need it ASAP, tough luck for you.
The Chinabank branch manager had the discretion and power to make my situation better, but for reasons only known to him, he shot my request down. Apparently, my plight is not worth their effort.
The supervisor did not facilitate my request to make the necessary steps to find out where the error occurred. This would have made the process faster.

Having said these, I'm extremely disappointed and frustrated with Chinabank. The bank claims that "your success is our business" but they have exhibited none of that. I felt that their business was to make my financial maze as hellish as possible.

Bottomline: Folks should be warned about Chinabank's poor customer service.

Update: Several folks from Chinabank has contacted me. Let's see how it goes...

Tags: Chinabank