Just Another Manic Monday

"These are the days when you wish your bed was already made"

Get a glimpse of my typical Monday as a working student at home.

In case that you want more context, you can watch this clip for a more extensive idea of how my day went:

How about you? How's your Monday?

Lockdown Anniversary

Sometimes, it still feels surreal that the world is experiencing a pandemic today. 

For our generation, it used to be only a part of history read through textbooks and taught in classrooms. During the last few days of face-to-face classes, news about the novel coronavirus can be heard everywhere and felt because we were already advised to wear face masks and postpone organizational events that require huge crowds. The last day never felt as if it was the last day we will be at school. For me, personally, it was just my daily routine: I go to school, attend classes, eat lunch, do student council duties, and stay at the field for a while before going home. Spoiler alert, I would trade anything just to have this old routine back.

Then the one-week suspension came which was, at first, a good news for a lot of students because it meant rest from academic works. However, the one-week lockdown got extended and extended and extended until the ending is filled with uncertainty—the other end of the tunnel has been blocked for this country. Although, as we excruciatingly went through the whole year, the lockdown has eased significantly not because the country has flatten the curve but because our economic status is collapsing and businesses want to go back from being “business as usual.” However, just as we hit the 1-year mark, we have to go back from the beginning as if we are experiencing a major déjà vu. The Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) has been imposed once again with stricter regulations as if what happened for the past year is not depressing enough.

If I were to compare my ECQ experience last year and today, I would say that at least my 2020 self was able to be creative on coping with the fear and stress brought by the pandemic—well, for the first four months at least. The first few months felt like it was the rest that I deserve after a stressful year as a second year student who had to maintain her scholarship while leading an entire college as their student council president. I slept for as much as I can, finished reading a book that was long overdue, discovered my love for baking and sold some, and decided to start my own online business. Above all, I was able to bond and get closer with my family which I never got a chance to do before.

As I have said, the first four months were less hard to get by until August came and it became more challenging for a lot of students especially those who are less privileged. A lot of students especially from the low income families have no choice but to stop with their studies since they do not have the means to adapt to the online learning set-up. As time went by, each day became harder to surpass for us who continued despite the adversities. I am one among all the students who are slowly losing their motivation to study as if our laptops and cellphones are sucking the life out of us. The countless activities are piling up and crushing us further against the solid ground of agony and despair.

Read: ‘Students renew call for break as pandemic learning takes its toll’ (philstar.com)

Skipping all the way to the present, the experience was way worse than last year. A month before the ECQ was imposed once again, the virus has gravely affected me and my family. One of my family members had to be admitted at a hospital while the rest of us who also caught the virus had to isolate on our respective rooms. The isolation was the worst part. I did not have the heart to tell my friends about it because I was afraid of the prejudice that might come with it. Only a few people were aware but the rest only found out when I got fully recovered after a month.

The experience was painful because every day, the anxiety and fear that the symptoms might get worse greet and stay for a while. I did my best to look for ways to cope and luckily, I found the best companion—my collection of books. I was able to read again with no worries of time and also discovered my fondness for hoarding second hand books. By the end of my isolation, I was able to collect more than thirteen books. I was not able to read all of them but the idea that these books can transport me elsewhere in case this lockdown prolongs helps to ease my worries and distracts me from overthinking.

One of the best things that ever happened to me despite the pandemic and other issues affecting us must be me realizing how much I actually love and care for my family. After all that has happened and continues to happen, I am just beyond grateful that my family has successfully got up from the horrible experience brought upon by the virus. However, I acknowledge that it is due to my privilege and will never deny nor invalidate the sufferings of my fellowmen. This pandemic has never been easy for me to go through but I can only ever imagine how worse it would be for my fellow students who do not have the means to continue their studies and for my fellowmen who have to sacrifice their own health and safety just to feed their families. Even if I enjoy comfort, it will not stop me from speaking up and defending those who deserve better.

NOTE: This is only activity in compliance with our Digital Publishing subject under Sir Bert Apostol | @bertongbigtime​

Engaging Your Audience

           When it comes to sharing news stories and building discussion surrounding these topics, Facebook and Twitter has always been two of the top most used social media platforms. That being said, I am not surprised to see how the article focused on gaining exposure through Twitter and Facebook. These two platforms are very distinct from one another since Twitter has limited characters per tweet while on Facebook, with all the updates that occurred since it emerged in 2004, there is nothing you cannot possibly do on that application when it comes to interacting. If I were a journalist or an influence, I can really see the benefit of sharing your story out on those two social media platforms since these give so much traffic on every content that is being posted. Personally, these are also my preferred platforms--also Instagram--whenever I am about to promote something, for example, an event for our organization.

          Upon analyzing the given 5 small steps for building a bigger audience engagement, I can really see myself applying every step since I am always active on Twitter and Facebook. To be more specific, there are at least two steps that I believe will be my favorite things to keep in mind. First one is the "be precise, personal in identifying and contacting potential readers" step because I always prefer to create personal or "handcrafted" contents even if it is only for promotions of a certain event of our organization. I don't prefer a very systematic choice of words especially if my intention is to attract readers and encourage them to engage. The last step that I prefer the most is the "engage with others on your beat" simply because I am certain that it is important on industry to build connections and quality relationship among your colleagues because from their experiences, this is also where you can grow.

NOTE: This is only activity in compliance with our Digital Publishing subject under Sir Bert Apostol | @bertongbigtime​

After watching the provided video of a man caught sleeping during a game, I already understood why it has gone viral and why he was filmed in the first place even though he is just a simple part of the audience. It went viral simply because people find it funny since it is unusual to see someone sleeping peacefully despite of how cheerful and loud the audience is. The length of the video also helped on making it more shareable since it only took 13 seconds to watch which is perfect for human's short attention span on the Internet. It may be out of the person's will but it seems to be part of the Internet culture where your content will go viral if it is unusual or weird, short, and funny.

As oppose to the video, the provided articles about the two different cases of people watching (and paying) content creators as they sleep during livestream may be the same but the intention is slightly different. Aside from the aspiration to go viral--which is actually just a bonus--the intention of their contents is mainly to give new kind of entertainment and earn money through their content. Unlike the man sleeping at a stadium, what they are doing is intentional to provide entertainment. The reason why they went viral is just the same as the previous video. It is weird for someone to go live and film himself as he sleeps but for some reason, it is entertaining and funny for those who have the same sense of humor. In addition, considering that their livestreams occurred during quarantine, a lot of people are definitely bored and looking for distraction on the Internet. Seeing that their content is just them sleeping and occasionally engaging with the viewers, people find it light and easy to watch as they go through tough times.

In terms of how the articles were constructed, we can observe how the articles have applied some steps that were enumerated on our previous lecture about "Engaging Your Audience." One of these is how they customized their SEO by adding buttons that will direct the readers on various platforms if they want to share the article on the provided social media platforms. This does not only provides convenience to the readers but it also encourages them to share the article since they can see that they have the option to do so. If we will observe the interface, the buttons can be automatically seen on the right side before we even begin to scroll down. Last one is how they also provided hyperlinks of the other articles that are related on the specific terminologies found on their article. Sometimes these are their old articles, links of the videos or pictures, or the articles of other publishers. This may not guarantee that their articles will be seen and share by the sources but again, it gives the sources an option to do so.

NOTE: This is only an activity in compliance with our Digital Publishing subject under Sir Bert Apostol | @bertongbigtime

Why Go Digital?

         Upon reading the article, I do agree with every reason stated as to why publishers should go digital. I, for one, really believes that these are the prime years of Internet where everyone discovers that we can do a lot of things on it aside from just simply scrolling to your feed or sharing your life stories. Aside from the six given reasons, I also believe that it is also one way for us to create less waste and reducing the harm that humans produce in our environment since there will be no paper, ink, and other materials needed for digital content. I am really one of those who support this idea especially as a Communication student, since I have observed that this is the fastest and easiest way to reach and disseminate information to the citizens. Also, it will be helpful for journalists to inform the citizens since they can even do this in real time through different methods depending on their preferences such as: posting a livestream or there’s even what we call as the “live tweeting.”

         However, while I am one of those who believe on making the most out of the best years of the Internet, I still stand that there should be traditional publishing still intended for those who do not have access on the Internet. Rural or remote areas, for example, are one of those who, aside from having no Internet connection, receive little to no signal because there are no signal towers nearby. Just like here in the Philippines where although as of 2019, 70.7 million of the population is using the Internet, there are still 37.4 million Filipinos that do not have the privilege and we should not rule them out just because 70.7 million is a huge number. Lastly, I think there should be certain guidelines or regulations to be imposed that will be intended for digital content publishing since being on the Internet also has its price especially when a person is not mindful about what they post. As easy and fast as you can reach the people, they also tend to react immediately, sometimes violently, depending if they liked your content or not so having regulations pave way for a better and more responsible digital publishing.

NOTE: This is only an activity in compliance with our Digital Publishing subject under Sir Bert Apostol | @bertongbigtime​

Digital Publishing

Upon my observation since the quarantine has begun, the demand for anything convenient and fast has increased significantly since a lot of people are stuck at their homes with limited things to do. It is not only online delivery of food, clothes, and other stuff you can purchase online that has gained more popularity these days but even digital publishing since a lot of people want to stay updated about the COVID-19 news through their mobile devices. Upon reading the suggested article about the 7 digital publishing trends for 2020 and beyond, I can most certainly tell that I have adopted most of the stated trends. The main reason is that these trends are effective on acquiring information faster and these new approaches prevent me from getting tired of finding the same content and format over and over again. In addition, as a Communication student, I find it also interesting to try and study these new trends to see whether these are beneficial and effective for a better communication.

Among the trends, I believe that there are at least two that Filipino consumers will surely adapt to. First is the utilization of mobile devices since according to statistics, in 2019, there were nearly 169 million mobile subscriptions in the Philippines which is more than the population of the country. Undoubtedly, since nowadays, a person can buy a decent phone with internet or data connection that is relatively cheap unlike laptops or personal computers that cost around 30,000 pesos and above. Lastly, I think that Filipinos will definitely like the thought of just listening to any news articles or blogs instead of reading a lengthy post. It has always been an issue in the country about how Filipino netizens only read what is stated on the headline and never bother to read the full article so having to just listen to the audio, it would be possibly effective since it will be the same as listening to the radio.

NOTE: This is only an activity in compliance with our Digital Publishing subject under Sir Bert Apostol | @bertongbigtime​

The Raffy Tulfo Justice System

Before “Raffy Tulfo In Action” there used to be a show entitled “Face-To-Face.” Both shows may have different concepts but they do have similarities in terms of gaining audience by serving scandalous cases of people who are at each other’s throats. Schadenfreude or the pleasure over someone’s misfortune explains why a show like Tulfo’s keeps on getting millions of views. The misfortune of others such as their personal issues being publicized gives the audience the feeling of satisfaction and superiority—at the same time, pity or despise—because it is not them who is being humiliated. In addition, there is a segment from the show where they ask about the audience’s opinions about the cases which in return, gives the audience an opportunity to involve themselves more on the show.

    Even before watching the compilation of episodes, I have already watched some full length versions of the show. Nonetheless, I never liked the format because the show is a clear illustration of “trial by publicity.” Everyone who is convicted of a crime deserves due process and equal protection of the law and I believe that the show does the exact opposite because the decision is always based on Tulfo’s perspective even if he is not a judge nor a lawyer. Worse, he is a broadcast journalist who must have forgotten the first element of journalism which is “the obligation to the truth.” By that, journalists can be as transparent as possible about the sources of facts but not to the point of calling out an ordinary citizen in a national program as it deprives a person from their constitutional rights and places their dignity at stake.

NOTE: This is only an activity in compliance with our Digital Publishing subject under Sir Bert Apostol | @bertongbigtime