Technology Deconstructed at ‘Technobiography’
By Annalyn S. Jusay (now blogging at www.annalyn.net)
"Technobiography" is a blog about the sundry uses of technology in our daily life. Whether you want to know about the location of wi-fi hotspots in Manila or simply curious to find out about the grandma who uses Skype for calling and how you can upload audio books on your cellphone, this is the site to go. Its proponent is Edwin Soriano, an electrical engineer by profession who calls himself "Ka Edong," the "technology usyusero (kibitzer)." He is an ICT development consultant specializing in mobile commerce and its applications. He previously published "the first definitive study of e-Government in the Philippines and an e-Primer on Information Structure circulated in developing countries in the Asia-Pacific." Edwin says his blog over at http://technobiography.edongskey.com is simply about his "tech encounters and reflections," all written in relaxed, casual language to make the ordinary man understand that technology can be utilized to the fullest and should not be as lofty as it sounds. More in the following interview:
Q. What made you come up with a technology blog?
A. I like how technology can change the lives of people. My blog is all about my dealings with technology, my thoughts, my dreams, my experiences with technology.
Technobiography is my second attempt at blogging. My first attempt at blogging was about Cuyo, Palawan but I didn’t have much regular information to write about. When I started Technobiography, I knew that technology was a topic that I wouldn’t run out of things to write about.
Q. What were your objectives in putting up the site?
A. When I started Technobiography, it was just a way for me to express myself. I just wanted to write. Having an audience and readers that appreciated my writing was a bonus for me. I wasn’t expecting many people to read my work.
It was much later when I realized that there is influence in what I write. I learned this when a telco took note of my articles about their service, gave me a SIM and asked me to write more about their m-commerce service and my experience with it. I was more than glad to write about the m-commerce service.
I also enjoy the interaction I get through my blog. I get to meet many different people when they leave comments on my blog. I especially enjoy receiving notes from OFWs. I like being able to help OFWs with questions they have about the Philippines or our telcos etc.
I’ve also formed a circle of blogger friends through Pinoy.Tech.Blog (http://www.pinoytechblog.com) and Pinoy.Travel.Blog (http://www.pinoytravelblog.com ) and by dropping in on blogger meet-ups. It’s fun meeting people with similar interests.
Q. You have your own domain now. What are the advantages of this, as opposed to just having a free site on WP or Blogger?
A. I needed to gain full control over my blog layout. I started with Blogger.com. But there were so many things I wanted to do with my blog that I couldn’t do with blogger at that time. I remember asking Abe ( Olandres) and Connie (Veneracion) how I could achieve the many things I wanted to do with my blog. They were the ones who encouraged me to invest in my own domain and install my own wordpress.
Having a domain gives me full control over layout and features of my blogs. It’s always a work in progress and there’s still sooooo much to learn with so little time.
Q. As a technophile, what blogging trends do you see in the future, as they are evolving now? How supportive do you think will big business be to blogging?
A. Blogging is becoming part of mainstream media. Some blogs have gained enough popularity and public trust that traditional media has accepted some blogs as a valuable source of information for news, trends and opinions.
(As to the support of big business) it’s hard to tell. Let me relate it to the Philippines. I don’t know of any big company in the Philippines that uses blogging as a corporate strategy for internal or external communications. I don’t know of any big company in the Philippines that uses blogging for customer relations or as a marketing tool.
I do know that there are some multinationals that have turned to blogging for internal communications. One front-page feature on Newsweek more than a year ago gave an advice to companies to "figure out blogging because the competition is already figuring it out."
I sure would like to see how companies in the Philippines can use the power of blogging as a competitive advantage in business.
Q. What’s your forecast on blogging’s growth in the country and other technologies that will emerge?
A. We’ll see a lot more mobile blogging with the emergence of better mobile connectivity (3G, WiFi, mobile e-mail etc.).
We’ll see more photo and video blog content as our mobile phones allow us to capture reality snapshots of our lives. The Internet infrastructure is also making things easier for the bloggers to post photos and videos on blogs.
Filipinos are natural bloggers. Filipinos like interacting with other people. I think the success of SMS is based on the need of the Filipino to be in regular contact with their relatives and friends. After SMS, chat, e-mail and Friendster, blogging is the natural next step for interacting with relatives and friends across the globe.
Filipinos have also been described as social chameleons, being able to fit right in with a wide variety of cultures. That’s how the Filipino is, a good communicator wherever in the world they go. That’s why Filipinos will continue to have a strong presence in the blogging universe.
Q. What do you think is the role of blogs in tech/computer literacy in the country?
A. Blogs are a very rich source of local content. When I was working with an IT NGO circa 2002, one of the challenges identified in the Philippine IT environment was a lack of local content on the web. We were working on connectivity and information literacy, but there was limited local content for an ordinary Filipino student or teacher (or farmer) to access.
With the emergence of blogs and thousands of Filipino bloggers churning out a wide variety of articles every day, the amount of local content is increasing at an exponential rate. Of course there’s a lot of garbage out there, but it just challenges us to sift through information and be more discriminating of good content to read/consume. There’s still a gap in relevant/useful content for the Filipino masses. It will take a lot of time to develop the right content and blogging is here to help bridge that gap.
On a personal note, I like how blogging allows me to process my thoughts on certain subjects and enshrine them in articles on the web. I had many online e-mail discussions with friends and I often quoted some of my old articles. My blog has become a repository of my knowledge. It gives me easy access to ideas and acts as my extended memory.
I imagine other bloggers developing their skill in writing as well as developing more fertile ideas as they write their blogs.
Q. Can you share some blogging rules and principles you live by?
A. Write something useful for readers -- I try as much as possible to contribute to my readers’ knowledge, through information or through ideas. I want my readers to take away something useful each time they read an article on Technobiography
*Protect my friends’ privacy -- I usually don’t ask permission from my friends when I tell stories about them (asking permission takes too much time). Instead I use aliases so that I can tell the essence of the story without divulging identities.
*Protect my own privacy -- I avoid writing anything that is too private.
*Write it as it is, both good and bad -- I am a technology usiyosero. I write both good and bad sides of a technology or a service. When the telco offered me a SIM to help me tryout their service, I made sure to clarify that I will write both good and bad -- write it as it is. This gives me the leeway to be truthful to myself and to my readers.
*Have fun!
Q.Plans for your blogs....
A. I’m focusing some resources into my OFW blog dubbed "eOFW -- Financial and communications services for OFWs and their family" ( http://eofw.edongskey.com ).
I have a heart for OFWs. I like to provide them with information on how to handle their finances better and how to stay in touch with their family from across the seas. It’s partly my personal interest in finance and communications technologies, and partly a personal contribution to our country and our OFW heroes.
(For comments and inquiries, email annalyn.jusay@gmail.com)
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