Old Landmarks, New Landmarks at UPLB and Los Baños

Perhaps one of the most popular landmarks of the then UPCA was its gate, distinctive because of the heads of carabaos atop each of two concrete tower-posts, as well as the farmer-and-carabao statue.  In the mid-60s these were moved back to where they are now, the UPLB Alumni Plaza.   

Today, the UPLB Gate has two tower-posts with mosaic artworks depicting the scientific and educational programs of UPLB.

 In 1934, this was how the Royal Palm Drive looked like (view from the UPCA Gate).  The building on the left side of the picture was the Department of Plant Pathology (DPP) building.  







Today, the Royal Palm Drive look like this.  The building on the spot where the DPP used to stand is the UPLB Administration building.  Last year, the Offices of the Chancellor and Vice Chancellors transferred to the third floor of the UPLB Library.  The Office of the Dean, College of Agriculture, has moved in to the former Office of the UPLB Chancellor.  

This building was UPCA’s Library of past years.  It hasn’t changed much, except that it’s now known as the UPLB College of Arts and Sciences Building, housing the CAS Dean’s Office and the Department of Humanities.  The basement of this building used to house the College Post Office, the Farm and Home Development Office (precursor of the OVCRE), and the then Department of Agricultural Information and Communication (precursor of the College of Development Communication).

This is now the Department of Citizen Military Training (which used to be Department of Military Science and Tactics when ROTC was still required), but this used to be the UPCA Infirmary.  Behind this building is the famous Baker Hall, which used to house the then Department of Military Science and Tactics of UPCA.

 
This is how the present UPLB Health Services 
look like.

The building to the left used to be known as the Farm Management Building of UPCA that housed farm machines and implements.

Today, it houses the UPLB Station of PhilRice (right).  They have added a couple of new buildings (buildings at left and right of pix).

UPCA students in the first years of the College built their own residences (right).  









Today (picture below), UPLB has this row of dormitories (Women’s Dorm to the right, Veterinary Dorm at center in the background, and Coed Dorm at left. the Men’s Dorm (not shown) is located to the left of the Coed Dorm building).

This (right) was the old St. Therese Chapel.  In the 70’s the new chapel was constructed and the picture below shows how it looks today with its new bell tower.  The old Chapel is still there (right side of picture below).

 The Azkals may have popularized soccer in the Philippines, but in 1930, UPCA already had its own soccer team.

Quite possibly this might have been the precursor
of the bottled water industry in the country.  

 In the 1930s, there was a bottled water plant in Los Baños, called ISUAN.

This was the Calamba-Los Baños Road in 1915, view from Calamba Crossing.  There were only Kalesas then and certainly there was no traffic jam on the 15-km stretch.  Today, the distance from Calamba Crossing, through Lecheria, Bucal, and until Pansol is completely filled with both residential and commercial buildings.  This road, connecting Calamba and Los Baños now takes, on the average, about an hour to negotiate due to heavy traffic on a daily basis.  We used to traverse this by jeepney in the 60s for only 15 minutes.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, fish cages and fish pens became popular in Laguna de Bay.  I recall having hosted a radio program for fish cage and fish pen operators and caretakers called ORAS NG MANGINGISDA over Radio DZLB, the rural educational radio station of UPLB.  That program promoted use of fish cages and fish pens which were then new technologies from the Fisheries Commission (precursor of today’s BFAR).  In the coastal area of Mayondon was a place known then as Malakoko Beach, where UPCA students used to swim and picnic up until the very early 60s.  This picture shows old fishpens in the Mayondon area.  They contributed largely to the pollution of the waters in that place.  Those fish pens aren’t there anymore, but the waters have continued to become dirtier and dirtier.  At the Mayondon point, in the early 60s waters there used to be as deep as 2 meters and the bottom was all sand.  Today, the water is no more than one meter deep and the silt is at least 1.5 meters deep.  The water color is dark brown.

UPCA Revisited (Part 2)

When UPCA turned 50 years old in 1959, Dean Uichangco retired.  Dr. Dioscoro L. Umali, a plant breeder, took over as Dean.  He was responsible for the rapid growth and development of UPCA.  Among the many programs and innovations introduced during Umali’s time was the introduction of the Flower and Garden Show in 1962.  During that time also, there were more female than male students at UPCA.  Soon enough the “baka-bakahan” society became popular.  Baka-bakahan is an insect that entomology students were required to collect for their laboratory classes.  Normally, these insects, particularly during mating season, are seen conjoined (male and female) in most tree barks on campus.  The “baka-bakahan” society also invariably referred to  male and female students becoming more frequently seen strolling on the UPCA campus during weekends.

Dean Dioscoro L. Umali was largely known as the "father of UPCA's Five Year Development Program" which focused on the physical development of UPCA.  It was also during his time that the UP-Cornell Program was implemented at UPCA.

Another past time among faculty and students during the Umali years was the Faculty Follies, a stage presentation where the members of the faculty let their hair down and participate in a spoof of officials and events at UPCA mainly for fun.  The Faculty Follies was last staged in 1968 purely as clean fun.  The Faculty Follies in succeeding years became competitive because it was made a competition rather than entertainment.  Many have lost their interest in this event.  At about this time, as well, Dean Umali was concurrently Vice President (of UP) for Agriculture and Forestry Affairs and Undersecretary of Agriculture.

In 1969, Dean Umali accepted the position of Deputy Director-General of the FAO.  It was Dr. Faustino T. Orrilo who succeeded him as Dean.  Dean Orillo assumed the deanship amidst worsening national economic slowdown and increasing student activism.  It was observed at that time that there were two groups of students: the activists, and the hippies (usually referred to as pe-hips).  Many from the ranks of the activists and the hippies didn’t finish their studies.  When Marcos declared Martial Law in September 1971, many UPCA activists went to the mountains.  Some stayed on campus and simply kept low profiles, until they completed their studies.

On 20 November 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos signed Presidential Decree No. 58, establishing the University of the Philippines System and declaring UPCA as the first Autonomous Campus of the UP.  The first chancellor of UPLB was the late Dr. Abelardo G. Samonte, a political scientist from UP Diliman.  That ushered many significant changes at UPCA.  Under the UPLB, the College of Agriculture was essentially dismembered. 

Dr. Fernando Bernardo became the first Dean of the College of Agriculture under the new structure of the UPLB.  It was during his time when UPCA departments were weaned and became the nucleus of new colleges: Department of Humanities became College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Agricultural Economics became College of Economics and Management; Department of Agricultural Engineering became the College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology, Department of Home Technology became the College of Human Ecology, and ultimately the Department of Development Communication became the College of Development Communication (under the deanship of Cecilio Arboleda).

When Dean Bernardo accepted the position of Deputy Director-General of PCAR (Philippine Council for Agricultural Research) in 1972, Dr. Cledualdo Perez, Jr. took over as Dean.  It was during Dean Perez’ time when the campus experienced rapid changes that ultimately led to a modernized College of Agriculture but which ushered in an era where more and more institutions of higher learning in agriculture in the Southeast Asian Region  and in the country completely changed the landscape of agricultural education in Asia.  Competitors of UPCA as the “premier” college of agriculture in the region came into the picture.  Curiously, the nucleus of agriculture faculty in these institutions studied at UPCA in previous years.

The succession of deans who took over the reigns of the UPLB College of Agriculture after Perez included Deans Ruben Villareal, Cecilio Arboleda, Luis Rey Velasco, Candida Adalia, and Domingo Angeles (present).  All that transpired during these deanships are fresh in the minds of recent alumni.

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(Old pictures coming.)

UPCA Revisited (Part 1)

In our entry on 1^st February, titled Down Nostalgia Lane, we talked about how we chanced upon the script of the first and only multimedia production about the history of the UPCA done in 1984.  Reviewing that script, we unearthed again pieces of information many have forgotten but remain part of rich history.  I’d like to revisit the script and share with you what those historical footnotes are.

Perhaps all UPLB alumni and students know that UP was founded in 1909, but one wonders if any one knows that the exact date of the foundation of UP was March 6, 1909, and the date that UPCA (now UPLB) was founded on June 14, 1909.  UPCA alumni, of course, know by heart that the first four faculty members (Americans) and 12 Filipino students had their first class in October 1909 in tents at Camp Eldridge in Los Baños.  When the UPCA got its first building later, that building housed everything from classrooms, to offices, to tool shed, and even a post office.  One should no longer wonder where the postal address “College, Laguna” started.   Of course, this particular postal address has always been an irritant between UPLB and the town of Los Baños.

The following year, in 1910, the first four-year curricular program in agriculture was put in place at UPCA, together with the two-year program called “Forest Ranger” course.  Those were hard times for the first students under the BSA program.  During days of classes, they had to clear the forest and grassland to prepare land for crop experiments.  Usually, these same students would fetch water for household use, do their laundry, and take their weekly bath at Molawin Creek.  It is said that students subsisted on penoy for breakfast, lunch, and supper for months on ends.  Even in those times, students found it usually difficult to find a place to stay.

The first graduates of UPCA finished their BSA program and graduated in 1911.  They were Manuel Roxas, Clodualdo Tempongco, and Jose Zamora.  Two years later in 1913, Manuel Roxas finished his MS degree and became the first MS graduate of UPCA.  It was also in 1913 that the Student Body Organization at UPCA was organized.   In 1917, eight years after its establishment, the UPCA had 500 students, six academic buildings and various agricultural experiments going on.  It was time also for Dean Copeland to retire.  Dean Charles Fuller Baker became the second UPCA Dean, from whom one of the later buildings of UPCA was named after (Baker Hall).  The following year, 1918, after a speech by Laguna’s military commander, Gen. Gailles, the faculty and studentry of UPCA volunteered en masse on October 10 to fight for freedom and democracy in WWI in Europe.  The volunteers never got to Europe as the war ended before they could be transported, but October became what, for a long time, was known as Los Baños Loyalty Day, the birth of the Los Baños Spirit.

The UPCA Administration Bldg. was located right where the UPLB Library (and current Office of the UPLB Chancellor) stands today.  We used to call this, The Hill. 

Loyalty Day celebrations were made much more popular with the Loyalty Day Ball.  Coeds from UP's Padre Faura campus and other Manila-based universities were invited to Los Banos as special guests during the Loyalty Day Ball.











By 1921, five females enrolled at UPCA, One of them, Mamerta Manahan, even got elected later on as President of the UPCA Student Body Organization.  That time, too, UPCA admitted the first four foreign students from China, Indonesia, India, and Thailand.

Because of the Los Baños Spirit, UPCA Alumni began trooping back to Los Baños every October 10^th to renew their allegiance to UPCA.  One such alumnus was Joaquin J. Gonzales (class 1919), who upon coming back to celebrate the Loyalty Day in 1925, promised to give a medal, for eternity, to the UPCA graduate with the highest GPA.  Until today, the Joaquin J. Gonzales medal remains the most coveted medal for all aggie graduates.

Dean Baker died on July 22, 1927 at age 55.  He was succeeded by Dr. Bienvenido Ma.
Gonzales, an animal scientist who was a student of Dean Copeland.  During the deanship of Gonzales, UPCA became known for its scientific endeavors.  The animal scientists of UPCA developed the Bekjala swine,  Philamin (cattle breed), and the Los Baños Cantonese chicken.  To promote excellence in research, the Los Baños Biological Club was also born.  Many Filipino members of this Club also became members of the prestigious American Men of Science.  At about this time, too, the UPCA constructed its Main Gate, which became a significant marker until today.  The Gate, by the way, was a donation of the entire UP studentry that time.

The old UPCA Gate (right pix).

Dean Gonzales was known as a disciplinarian and absolutely strict when it came to academic and professional performance.  He was, indeed, quoted as having said, “I want every product of this College, whether it be a student, a plant, a domestic animal, or a scientific paper, to bear a mark similar to that of sterling on silver.”  It was also during the time of Dean Gonzales when UPCA graduated its first alumna, Ms. Victoria Mendiola, who became the first Filipina plant pathologist of the country.  At about that time, UPCA had 822 students, 88 faculty members, 369 has. of land, 61 buildings, 130 courses offered, a library with 7,000 volumes of holdings, and many more resources.

Dean Gonzales left UPCA to become the first Filipino scientist to be appointed President of the University of the Philippines on April 20, 1938.  Dean Leopoldo Uichangco took over the Deanship of UPCA.  It was Uichangco’s time when WWII broke out and Baker Hall became the Concentration Camp of the Japanese Imperial Army, holding the American Faculty of UPCA as prisoners of war from Christmas 1941 until September 1942.  Dean Uichangco was held prisoner and even charged as protector of Americans who were considered enemies.  Many at UPCA thought Uichangco was siding with the Japanese so not a few were surprised when the Japanese held him prisoner and gave him a death sentence.  Lucky Uichangco was because there were individuals close to the Japanese military who interceded so that instead of having Uichangco put to death he was just removed from office.  The Japanese Army installed Dr. Fancisco O. Santos as UPCA Dean, but after the war Dean Uichangco took over again the UPCA Deanship.

When Uichangco inspected the campus on April 4, 1945, he found UPCA completely devastated.  Only three buildings were left standing and 180 books were recovered out of 20,000.  But after WWII, UPCA reopened still.  Nineteen professors reported for work and 119 students enrolled.  Between 1942 and 1946, UPCA even managed to graduate some 51 individuals, one of whom was the first summa cum laude from UPCA, Obdulia Fronda.

Between 1948 and 1954, UPCA greenhorms (new entrants or freshmen) couldn’t avoid what could have been the most pervasive hazing in those times – the mandatory wearing of skull caps among freshmen.  No freshman could ever be on campus without the skull cap.  Upperclassmen were not required to wear skull caps.  Soon after, more events transpired on campus, including the famous rodeo.  Around that time, UPCA already had some 4,000 students for a student-faculty ratio of 22:1.

(To be continued.  Meantime, drop me a note at: flibrero@upou.edu.ph)

Down Nostalgia Lane

 

A few days ago, as I was unmindfully going through my bookshelf in the office, trying to clean up and to rearrange my books and collection of what before I thought were important papers that I should preserve, I happened to pull out an old booklet with faded  cartolina cover.  It turned out to be the final script of a multimedia presentation on June 14, 1984 about the history of UPCA, which turned 75 years old in that year.

I was then a young PhD looking for additional assignments on the side, even one that was remotely related to my PhD specialization (instructional systems technology), when then UPLBCA Dean Cled Perez asked me in mid-April 1984 (graduation month) to organize a presentation for the 75^th Anniversary of the College of Agriculture.  Armed with enthusiasm, I designated myself as the over-all coordinator of the project (focusing on conceptualizing the presentation, directing the research, producing the script, and putting together the entire production including casting), and coopting young faculty members of the then Department of Development Communication (in the person of Maricel Cadiz, Sandy Flor and Ning Matulac) to assist me.  I asked Cel Cadiz to help me out in some parts of the script, while Sandy and Ning assisted in putting together the entire production. 

My concept of the presentation was based on the knowledge that in previous years all presentations were invariably photo-exhibits depicting important events in the life of the UPCA.  I thought a stage presentation was appropriate, but I never knew anything about theatre productions.  So I decided that a multimedia presentation might be a novel idea (mixture of stage acting or pantomine and use of projected visuals on the upper portion of screen that also serves as stage backdrop).  This called for an intricate lighting system because what were to be projected on the screen needed to be visible together with performers on the stage.

To get more people from the College of Agriculture involved, I requested Dean Perez to issue an Administrative Order assigning roles to selected people from various departments of the CA.  Between the time we completed the script and casting for the presentation, and June 14, 1984, the Anniversary Day of the CA, we had four weeks to get prepared for a once-in-a-lifetime presentation.  Indeed, that was the first and only multimedia presentation about the history of the UPLBCA until today. 

The production was staged at the Umali Auditorium, and we used fabricated stage props.  In those times, our most advanced visual effects system comprised of an old slide projector.  The stage presentation, therefore, was a mixture of pantomines, projected artworks and color slides, manually but creatively prepared sound effects, including lively narration.  Lighting effects (timing, especially) were crucial in the appreciation of the stage presentation, so I took control of the lighting system.  As it was a stage presentation designed to inform, educate, and entertain the audience, we selected our scenes and lines carefully. 

The presentation was not perfect.  In fact, there were a lot of miscues and mistakes, but all these were essentially considered by the audience as “intentional errors” and were widely appreciated and applaused.

I knew we needed to be symbolic and creative in our production because certain episodes in the history of the UPCA were difficult to dramatize quickly.  For example, to start the presentation we used a series of six color slides showing the UP Seal becoming bigger and bigger on the screen then dissolved to an artwork showing the date “March 6, 1909” which was the date of the legal document creating UP, then dissolved to what looked like a legal document transcription, and with the following narration: “Through the consensus of the Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines, I hereby proclaim the establishment of the College of Agriculture as the third unit of this university.  Dr. Edwin Bingham Copeland, the American botanist, shall be responsible for finding the appropriate location for the College of Agriculture.”  This was the start of everything that transpired in the UPCA.

The presentation, the first and only multimedia presentation about the history of UPCA, was an intricate flow of events woven in a story which I referred to as the “Story Behind the History.”  Reliving the first 75 years of UPCA through this script is melancholic for us who experienced that part of the College’s history.  This production was really amateurish (we were) but it turned out to be entertaining, even educational.  What set the mood of the audience during the presentation was the disclaimer which was projected on the large screen at the beginning: “THIS IS A TRUE STORY.  THE NAMES OF THE CHARACTERS ARE NOT DISGUISED.  ANY SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE EVENTS PORTRAYED IN THIS PRESENTATION AND EVENTS THAT REALLY HAPPENED IS INTENDED.”

In general, this was how our story flowed: we related the story of how the UPCA got established and how the first faculty members and students lived in those times, tracing the flow of events through the years, including during the Second World War, and the rise of student activism, until the 1980s when academic programs were being re-strengthened.  What got me interested at the end of the script was how I focused on what the UPCA could become after 25 more years, so here is the scene depicting the year 2009 at the College of Agriculture of UPLB (remember, this was conceived in 1984).

Seen on stage: Lights on.  Three students (one male, two female) enter from right.  They wear nationalistic type clothes, simple and practical.  One (female) listening to a walkman, male with computer printouts and conferring to the other woman student.

Heard (narration):  Ah, eto na siguro ang mga estubyante,  Mukhang bigatin!  Computer exercises na raw and kanilang ginagawa sa animal breeding courses.  Yung isa, mukhang nakikinig sa pop music.  Pero sa totoo, ang pinakikinggan niya ay yung listening assignment sa horticulture.  Hindi lamang mga aklat ang ginagamit ngayon, multimedia presentation na ngayon ang uso.  Kasama rito ang computers, video recordings, at iba pang makabagong pamamaraan ng pagtuturo.

Fast forward to  (what’s seen):  Dissolve to extension scene.  Farmer in clean polo shirt, with shoes.  Extensionist in barong.  Farmer shows his farm journal, they talk.  Lights out.

The accompanying sound (male voice, “voice” of the Dean in 2009):  One thing remains certain.  The College of Agriculture exerts its best to remain sensitive and responsive to the needs, problems and aspirations of our people.

Visiting the script again, I see very extensive use of symbolism.  For example, in the end scene where the script refers to a group of students (1 male and 2 female) was symbolic of the larger proportion of female students at UPLB not only in 2009 but until today.  There’s a lot of this symbolism in the entire script.

Unfortunately, a similar production wasn’t prepared in 2009.  In fact, I think this idea which was supposed to have been established in 1984 was completely forgotten.  Well, even those involved in the production in 1984 apparently forgot to recall that another multimedia presentation was due in 2009 (25 years after).  That production could’ve been fantastic given new ways of doing multimedia productions then.

Got an idea, though!  How about a devcom student or group of devcom students doing a sequel for the UPLB College of Agriculture?  Or perhaps do a similar production for the College of Development Communication!  Should be a good project for the student organizations of devcom, part of their cultural projects for presentation during the anniversary of the CDC.

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Still on Communicating Climate Change

   

Another in the series of significant efforts undertaken by the UPLB Interdisciplinary Program on Climate Change (UPLB-IPCO) to further educate the public regarding the issue of climate change is the seminar conducted at UPLB on 31 January, where two experts from PAGASA and the Mines and Geoscience Bureau (MGB) were invited to speak as resource persons. PAGASA’s Climatologist Rosalinda de Guzman discussed the climate trends in the Philippines as well as that in Laguna.

In general, she said, the Philippines is susceptible to flooding and storm surges.  The Philippines was ranked first in the world in terms of natural disasters, and third in terms of vulnerability to natural disasters in 2011.  Now, how do we in the Philippines fare in terms of the global warning phenomenon?  Our historical data, as presented by the PAGASA Climatologist, indicate that in the last decade temperature increased much faster than it did the previous decades combined.  And in most parts of the Philippines, there has been an increasing rate in rising temperatures so that cold days are becoming warmer and warm nights have become hotter.

We were informed in the seminar that the tropical cyclone trends in the country from 1948-2010 indicate that most of the 19-20 yearly tropical storms that enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility originate originate from the Northwest Pacific.  In spite of the storms, however, the general trend in the Philippines is that of widespread warming.  This is perhaps one reason why more and more we’re experiencing what we normally call in the vernacular as “maalinsangan na panahon” which happens when there’s high humidity and temperature.

Ms. De Guzman concluded by highlighting two major lessons learnt based on PAGASA’s experiences over the years.  First, she pointed to the need for an effective early warning system to warn the public about impending disasters.  Second, there’s need to include in the plans of all LGUs community-based warning systems to mitigate disastrous effects of climate changes.

I must point out that in October 2009, RA No. 9720, otherwise known as the Climate Change Act of 2009, was signed into law.  Among other things, this law provides that the “LGUs shall be the frontline agencies in the formulation, planning and implementation of climate change action plans in their areas, consistent with the provisions of the Local Government Code, the National Framework Strategy on Climate Change and the National climate Change Action Plans.”

At this time, therefore, all LGUs (Barangays, particularly) must already have their respective Climate Change Action Plans.  Funding for the preparation and implementation of this plan shouldn’t be a problem because RA 9729 also provides that a certain portion, some say 5%, of the LGU’s IRA is automatically allocated for this purpose.  The question, now, is, do our Barangays already have such plan?  Presumably, such plan as well provides for a plan of action for relocation of residents and implementation of other mitigating measures.  When asked during the open forum, what percentage of the Barangays in the country, already have their respective Climate Change Action Plans, Ms. De Guzman  said, “just a miniscule.”  She couldn’t give the names of the LGUs that already have said plan, though.

The topic discussed by MGB’s Engr. Patricia Vergel de Dios-Kennedy was very interesting because it dealt with disaster experiences in Laguna and Metro-Manila, which struck very close to “home” for most of those in the audience.  She presented data, including graphic pictures, of disasters in Laguna and Metro-Manila in the last five years.  She also presented pictures of different deadly landslides resulting from heavy rainfall.  Incidentally, rainfall has been increasing not only in terms of frequency but also in volume over the last few years.  Again, this is the effect of climate change.

Engr. Kennedy was asked about a curious case in Los Baños.  Over the years, many have experienced sudden earth shaking in Los Baños, but which apparently have never been detected by the seismographs of MGB.  In fact, Engr. Kennedy said she was not aware of these events.  Many in the audience, however, corroborated the information that, indeed, in Los Baños, there is this phenomenon.  Someone from the audience suggested that this was due possibly to the presence of a geothermal plant in the area, but this has not been confirmed by the appropriate government agency such as the MGB.

Curiously, Engr. Kennedy informed by seminar participants that they (engineers of the MGB) normally do their barangay visit and talk directly to the Barangay officials.  Apparently, this was how they (MGB) distributed copies of their geohazard maps to the barangays concerned. 

The seminar series was sponsored and organized by the UPLB-IPCC, UPLB-SESAM, and the UPLB Environmental Science Society.  It’s, indeed, a laudable effort.

Pix shows part of the seminar audience at the UPLB Operations Room.

Still, I have some personal comments and suggestions.

Given the nature of presentations made by the resource persons invited to speak in the seminar, I’d say that there was no problem in connecting with the UPLB audience.  By and large, those in attendance understood the language and content of the presentations.  Using the same presentation techniques and content treatment, the resource persons would have difficulty reaching a less science-oriented audience.  But that, exactly, is what they’ve been doing, they said.  For example, the MGB experts go directly to barangays to explain their geohazard maps.  And the data of PAGASA are presented in statistical graphs and trends, even in their website.  These are hardly designed for the general public. 

There are various groups interested to get involved in trying to solve the problems of climate change.  Many of these include NGOs and even student and advocacy groups.  My suggestion to these groups is, if you want to make a difference, go help those Barangays plan and implement practical early warning system for natural disasters.  Begin by determining what communication systems and tools are available to residents of communities and use these as the tools to inform and educate people about the hazards in their communities during times of natural calamities.  Use the PAGASA and MGB data and construct understandable messages to the general public.

Come to think of it, if asked to walk my talk, I certainly would like to get involved, if I’m invited to get involved, even pro bono.  But you should understand that I’m not going around volunteering my services, which, for all I know, might not be needed.

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Major IT Trends Affecting Devcom Practice

Three years ago, I talked about three trends in IT that were already affecting the way we practice development communication worldwide.  What I said then remains true today.  Let me recall those issues in the hope that colleagues in the field of devcom, especially devcom education, might refocus certain aspects of their skills development programs for development communicators.  Thus:

Development communication practice today is changing much faster than it did decades ago.  Suffice it to say that in the 50s to the 60s, we were focused on rural and agricultural development issues; in the 70’s our major concerns were in the areas of health, economic development, and population.  In the 80’s, we added environmentalism to our fields of interests.  Then in the 90’s we were into the beginnings of knowledge management. 

Today, we are into varied concerns and development issues worldwide.  We need, however, to strengthen further our efforts at gaining a deeper understanding of what and how exactly we are able to employ devcom as a tool for solving social ills.

A current concern, for example, is the science behind climate change.  But as the climatic pattern changes for the worse, we find ourselves unable to explain more forcefully what this scientific phenomenon actually means in the lives especially of our urban poor.  There are sporadic efforts linking human activities to climate change, but I feel that the gap is wide and deep.  We really need to start at the beginning, which is appropriate scientific literacy from an early age.

Proper appreciation of the significance of climate change necessarily must tackle the issue of whether or not people, even of less schooling, are able to fully understand the meaning of this scientific phenomenon, including their respective responsibilities in insuring that such climate change does not adversely affect our daily lives.  What seems clear to many is that the problems are the responsibility of governments but not theirs as individuals.  In this respect, we may have been remiss of our responsibilities as development communicators.

To me, it is a question of whether or not we are able to educate our citizens regarding their responsibilities while at the same time enjoying the good life that Mother Earth provides us.  Devcom, I have always believed, is both informing and educating in an entertaining way.  This is not a new phenomenon.  For years educators have been talking about learning being a pleasant experience if it is to be effective.

Significant Trends Influencing Development Communication Protocols

Development communication strategies and tools have always been influenced by developments in the field of communication technology.  In the past, we had focused on the specialized use of media not necessarily in the manner that media are used the way they are in mass communication but in the focused use of media for the purpose of informing and educating people particularly in the conceptualization and implementation of human development.

There are very distinct trends in the information technology arena that are playing and will continue to play significant roles in the effective implementation of development communication programs.   Let me focus on these trends briefly

Miniaturization

Communication gadgets today are becoming smaller and smaller.  In terms of capacity to store information, however, they are becoming more powerful.  In the past, more information meant more space.  Today, we have palm-sized computers.  Remember your calculators, for example?  They used to be large pieces of equipment on top of your equally large desks. 

When computers started, they were large frames occupying entire floors of buildings.  And we also used boxes of cards.  Then small computers appeared.  These were called table-top models. They initially used audio tapes, then floppy diskettes, then smaller disks, and now we have flash drives and minute external hard discs and small memory chips.  As these gadgets become smaller and smaller, their capacity to store data and information have increased practically geometrically.  In the very recent past, we talked about kilobytes, then gigabytes.  Now we talk about terabytes.

Development communication practitioners today have taken note of the basic characteristics of our gadgets, which are of larger storage capacities and higher portability coupled with durability.  Clearly, the direction is miniaturization in size and enlargement in capacity.

Miniaturization will continue and gadget designers will intentionally make things tinier and tinier even as they become smarter and smarter.  Look forward to the day when all the data and information you need shall be stored in chips small enough to fit underneath the stick-on label on the power switch of your cellphones.

Digitization

Among other things, digitization enables us to store and work on large volumes of data and materials without having to change the formats of these data and information.  This power enables us to improve substantially our ability to understand and interpret data and information because digitized information makes it much easier for us to rearrange data and arrive at more meaningful interpretations.

The very basic reason why we need to digitize is to enable users, such as development communicators, to work with extremely important and delicate materials without having to worry about damaging the original material itself.  We can, for example, run simulations on digitized versions of our data without fear of accidentally transforming or changing the original data.  A good example of this is when experts use 3-D versions of, say, archeological artifacts for analysis and interpretation.

The additional advantage of digitization is that we can improve the quality of information.  We can easily enhance pictures to convey more relevant meanings to people.  We can store more data and information into smaller spaces that can be transported electronically anywhere for other communication experts to work on.  And most of all, we can transport data and information at the snap of our fingers.

Convergence

Here I am referring to convergence of technologies which has enabled us to combine the features of different media formats.  For example, radio broadcasting now is done through computers and radio programs are even broadcast on television.  All sorts of communication gadgets are put into use and the combined effects have been mind-boggling, something we never thought possible in the early days of radio broadcasting.  Podcasting has long come into vogue and has changed the way in which broadcast communication is practiced, particularly in terms of production techniques.

We are now able to work with large volumes of data and information over much shorter periods of time with much easier processes.  In fact, through mere click of the mouse we are able to transfer, save, store, and retrieve large volumes of materials in split-second.  In short, information processing, storage, and retrieval have become possible in a wink of an eye.

There seems to be no limit to what we can do to improve our system of developing and sharing information.  In other words, the volume of work is no longer a serious variable in performing our communication tasks.

Where Should We Be Heading?

Traditionally, it has always been the engineers, the developers of technology, who have been telling us, “well, here is a gadget, why don’t you find use for it?”  Is it not now possible to tell the engineers, “I want to be able to do this and I can’t do it given existing gadgets, so why not develop one customized to achieve what I want to achieve?”

It’s 2012.  Can we finally catch up? 

I’m sure our colleagues at the UPLB College of Development Communication have thought of innovations in the area of devcom education.  There’s a need to perhaps strengthen devcom training to reflect Dr. Nora Quebral’s new definition of development communication as the “science of human communication linked to the transitioning of communities from poverty in all its form to a dynamic, over-all growth that fosters equity and the unfolding of human potential” (Lecture delivered at the Honorary Doctorate Celebration Seminar, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, December 13, 2011).