eurekian-awesomer

[eurekian-awesomer]

Lemons and Oreos

PUBLISH, after all the Saturday afternoons, has finally concluded. And like every other major subject, I’m relieved it’s finished. 

The main reason is that I don’t have to wake up so early in the morning to prepare for my 3-hour commute from Angono, Rizal to Taft. Hassle. Just a single word that encompasses the feeling I get when Saturday has already come. 

Despite that, some things keep me going. The staggering amount of my tuition, mainly. Combine that with the education I would get. It’s a shame if I put it all to waste. 

But some days I just want to say: To hell with it.

Why learn something that’s lifted from the internet? Don’t get me wrong, during the first few weeks of PUBLISH, I was honestly excited to go to class. However, as meetings passed, I find myself lost and confused, saying, “Didn’t we discuss this before?” I find myself learning the same thing that I stopped writing notes altogether, only typing in a few keywords here and there if I find them interesting. I believe this aspect should be improved on. Though the Powerpoint presentations are structured, if you look at the entirety of the lessons, I don’t see a structure at all. It’s like if I put the last discussion in the first weeks of PUBLISH, it still would make sense. If I take out at least one discussion, the subject would still make sense. And it shouldn’t. I believe that every lesson should be so important that if you take one meeting out, or rearrange the order of the lessons, there would be a missing link. But this is not the case for PUBLISH which leads me to feel that some discussions are of no relevance. 

Add to that, it bothers me that we are expected to write suitably for the internet but we weren’t thought comprehensively on HOW to write that way. Sure, there were tips and tricks but no specificity. “Keep it short and simple”, our prof would say. Sure, but how exactly? I find that very frustrating. 

I’d appreciate if there were more structure in the entirety of the course. That way I can see that every meeting is important and so one should make them count. I’d also appreciate if our prof is more engaging with the class. During some lessons, I find myself wanting to say something related to the discussion, like an experience I felt, or a piece of news I’ve read. 

However, almost always I felt restrained because I didn’t want to interrupt the discussion. But, see, that’s the thing - students SHOULD not feel restrained. It’s our curiosity and questions that lead to a deeper understanding. I just hope that there will be more engagement with the next batch of PUBLISH classes.  

Though there are difficulties and misses, there are also things I’m thankful for - mainly, the challenges in digital media project where we had to interview traditional and digital brands. It was stressful, honestly. I had to contact at least 10 reporters of GMA News Network in the hopes of even one of them replying. But thank the heavens three of them did. We had a mini adventure to the GMA headquarters in Quezon City. We even had the chance to get a peek of the TV studio and newsroom! It was quite an experience. If I had to do that all over again, I surely would. 

And though there were meetings that I found irrelevant, there were still pieces of information that I would carry with me like the strategies in launching and doing a campaign (thanks Oreo), building a brand (Oh Darling, Dear Darling), and even advertising the right way (Lemon). 

But, alas, it has ended. PUBLISH has ended. And like every other major subject, I’m just relieved it’s finished. 

[eurekian-awesomer]

#DearDarling: Kwentong pag-ibig mula sa iba’t ibang henerasyon

Dear Darling is all about the meaning of LOVE by different generations.

Our goal is to let the people know the perceptions of people on love from different generations particularly from the Baby Boomers generation, the X, Y, and Z Generation.

We consider this page successful since we had built our audience and had an engagement with them.

At first, our target for the Facebook page was to get 500 likes and 1000 engagement. On Twitter and Instagram, we wanted to have at least 100 followers. As of 8th of April, 2:50 PM, we have 287 likes and 702 followers in Facebook, 80 followers on Twitter, and 28 followers on Instagram. Though we have exceeded our target number of audience on Facebook, it became difficult for us to reach our goal on the other two platforms.

The term Dear Darling is inspired by the famous line from a local television series - Maalala Mo Kaya - which tells true stories on television by starting with the line, Dear Charo. Darling, on the other hand, came from the BUZZFEED post regarding the endearments used by Filipinos.

Goal and Social Media Platforms

The goal of our page is to bridge the gap between generations when it comes to love. We want to share the perceptions of people on different aspects of love from the Baby Boomers generation, the X, Y, and Z Generation through photos and videos. Ultimately, our goal is to show that true love still exists.

Content and Results

On March 25 at 9:30 pm, we officially launched our Facebook page. The day after, we had a change of profile pictures in our respective Facebook accounts.

Our caption was:

In love? Hinahanap si "the one"? Nanliligaw? O nililigawan? Pakinggan ang mga kuwentong pag-ibig mula sa iba’t-ibang henerasyon. I-kwento mo na rin ang iyong istorya!

April 1 & 4 | 9:30 pm

Connect with us through: Facebook: facebook.com/DearDarling2017 Twitter: @DearDarling2017 Instagram: @DearDarling2017 #DearDarling

Combining the likes of our profile pictures, we gained 664 likes, almost 700. With this, we believe that our profile pictures contributed a lot of engagement and hype.

The content of the page focuses on sharing experiences about “LOVE” from different generations. We posted “humans” where we ask individuals certain questions and their answers are posted along with their pictures. These stories are posted every night from March 27 to April 7 at 9:30 PM, the peak hour on Facebook.

For the main videos, we have tackled two different aspects of love namely, courtship and relationship. The videos only ran for 3 to 4 minutes. The first video had 10k reach and 1.6k engagement. The latter video garnered 3k reach and 315 engagement.

Before posting the main videos, we also had teasers which included short clips and gifs including the one below. These teasers were done to pique the interest of the audience.

In posting every publicity material, we made sure that we had captions that would catch the audience’s attention. For example: In our 2nd main video (Relationship), our caption was, “Commitment, sagabal sa pag-aaral? Ano ang "relationship" para sa'yo?”

Another example is the caption on our 2nd Teaser Video (What is “Dating” for Generation Z?):

Dating? Uso pa ba 'yon? Pakinggan ang mga kuwentong pag-ibig mula sa iba’t-ibang henerasyon. Bukas na!

We used Filipino in writing our caption since we believe that our own language was more heartfelt. In addition, we always made sure to put open-ended questions so that our audience were compelled to think and ponder. This way, we would engage them with our content.

The challenges our page and group have faced included the inconsistency and rescheduling of posts. Our lack of participants and weak household internet connection contributed in the difficulty of sharing and posting our pubs.

This, of course, forced us to meet in person despite having no classes on certain days.

It was also hard to edit all the videos on time. We had a total of fifteen videos to merge into at a four minute video and the raw videos were not given on time to our editors which led to a lot of adjusting and rushing.

This led to us having to deviate from our original plans and also contributed in the problem with inconsistency of posting.

However, despite the problems we faced, we were still able to successfully promote and update our page. We were able to post both planned main videos, teasers, and the humans as well.

Learnings and Realizations

First of all, making a concept that would appeal to people is not a piece of cake. Making our audience hooked into the content we posted daily is also not an easy task.

Despite the difficulties we have encountered, it was exciting, honestly, when it was time to post our content. It was undeniable that the post engagements, Facebook likes and Twitter & IG followers gave us the satisfaction and motivation to improve the products & content we present through these social media platforms.

Another realization that we had was that no matter how prepared we are (as proved by our nifty Google Drive), some things don’t workout the way we expected it to be. Specially when our initial goal was to a reach a half a thousand likes on FB and a hundred followers on Instagram & Twitter. One then should know how to adjust to different scenarios. Plan B and even C should always be available. For our group, the files were accessible to the rest of the team that made it easy for everyone to post it on our social media platforms. Also, being responsible for social media management is never easy. It takes patience and discipline to launch a campaign. A simple mistake can affect our page and/or your campaign. 

Publishing online may seem an easy task, but it really is difficult to know what content may encourage an individual to stop scrolling and engage with the post.

[eurekian-awesomer]

Embracing the digital age: A study on how news organizations deal with the internet

     Digital media has indeed affected the print media in terms of circulation (1), distribution of news (2), and its mere existence in today’s age (3). How then do the news publications deal with both opportunities and challenges in the digital age?

     With the rise of smartphones and of the internet, information becomes more diverse and accessible. It’s no secret that this information is heavily obtained through the internet. This makes journalism different today. The purpose of journalism is to provide information to the people to “make them (to) play their role in the society” (1). For the purpose of this report, we would tackle two news organizations - the Daily Tribune and GMA News Online - and their strategies to combat the challenges and to make use of the opportunities brought by digital age.

     Focusing on two different news organizations, their respective approach to the industry of media varies. The Daily Tribune, a traditional newspaper organization, is not entirely felt in the digital media. On the other hand, GMA News Online was built on the model of digital media branching out of the traditional perspective.

      The approaches, for example, on writing articles is different from one another. From the length of the article to the language used, the approach of both organizations differs. However, if there’s a similarity that they both thrive on, it is the existing in the same industry and the audience that they intend to inform.

Mr. Lozada, the deputy editor of The Daily Tribune, on what is the internet for them: “[The] Internet is a complementary to the publication.” 

Keep reading to know more about the report.

“WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR” OF THE DIGITAL SPACE?

     You may be familiar with the notion that print is dead. And though many claim that print is indeed dead, newspapers are still everywhere – in convenient stores, restaurants, and even along the streets. The Daily Tribune, despite its economical struggle, still continues to print and distribute traditional newspapers with the belief that there are people, particularly those in the urban areas, who do not have access to technology and the internet.

The Daily Tribune’s official newspaper logo and tagline.

     The Daily Tribune is a newspaper often accused as an opposition paper - a paper identified as actively opposing every administration. However, this accusation is brought about by publishing blunt, tough, critical and factual stories, situating themselves under the newspaper’s motto - ‘without fear or favor’. Mr. Tuvera, one of the Tribune’s reporters, said that this is what sets them apart: “We never write things that are incensing or glorifying the government.” The interpretation, however, is up to the readers. In their 17 years of existence, how do they deal with the negative impact of digital media in terms of revenue and profit (1)?

To embrace or not 

     2016 has seen the worst decline for newspapers, “the worst since 2008-2009 recession”, according to the report of the 13th annual Pew Research of the State of the News Media Report (4). On the other hand, according to Mr. Lozada, the deputy editor of The Daily Tribune, he does not see print dying anytime soon. 

      The largest expense of the publication is its actual printing. They too have not yet fully embraced the digital media since they believe that the internet is not yet as stable as the traditional media. By fully embraced means that they have not yet invested much compared to printing. Four reasons arose as to why they have not yet totally depended on to digital space for their publication: 

The more details, the better. Yet in the digital space, less is more. The editor-in-chief of Quartz, a business news website, said that their readers do not like 500-800 word articles (5), which is difficult to achieve for a news publication that intends to show how accurate a news story is according to one of the reporters in Tribune. Murcia shared that they do not rely heavily on the internet to disseminate news.  “Digital reporting” as he called it, offers fewer details to its readers; thus, there is no depth in these stories. Accuracy and truthfulness of a news may also be affected. The traditional, however, offers more details which the readers appreciate, he added.  The readers are assured of the quality of work (3).

Murcia indicated that they do not have enough funds for their digital publication; however, they have been lenient in going with the flow in the digital age. For them, advertisements - the heart of the news publication - is much more difficult online. And besides, they are a “newspaper” publication for a reason which leads us to the second point.

Contrary to the common belief, the internet access in the Philippines is not yet as widespread compared to the other countries. This is the fact that this publication adheres to disseminate news in print.

“Newspapers are different from social media sites,” Lozada said. His colleague, Murcia, envisions their publication as a newspaper organization that would still print and utilize the traditional media. “Alternative lang ‘yung digital printing,” Alvin denoted.  He added that social media sites and digital space is the place where people go and dwell, and these people are the millennials. The millennials are not only the people of this country, “Marami pa kaming 60s [at] 70s [ang nagbabasa ng dyaryo]”.

      The digital world has greatly affected the traditional media (1, 2, 6), but many still believe that digital would and could not kill traditional media. One of these believers, Barry Eisler (7), insisted that “Publishing isn’t dying; it is evolving.” Even the news publications must adapt to this evolution according to Murcia. Merging, he shared, is the key.

THE SHIFT TO DIGITAL

Mr. Joyas on media as a never ending evolution: “Media is a changing environment.”

       In a research conducted by Cherian, most people get updated with the news and current affairs of the world through television, then the internet, and ranking third would be the newspaper  (1). “Youngsters” also are not anymore interested in reading news from newspapers (1). 

      They opt to go to online news websites and even their social media for information. Unlike newspapers and free television (TV), online news websites are on the job 24/7. GMA News keeps up with the need to do real-time journalism with other platforms it is existing with. As what Mr. Joyas, Assistant Social Media Manager of GMA News, said, “Media is a changing environment”.

     It is normal for media companies to embrace the shift in media and adjust to the ongoing trends. These days, people heavily rely on mobile phones and the internet to get their daily dose of news (1). Ms. Athena Imperial, GMA News Correspondent and Anchor, explains that mobile phones are not even considered a luxury anymore. It has become a necessity.

    Even social media accounts are not just for personal purposes but also for the source of current information in the society. As a media company, it is important to keep an open mind to the shifts in media and the tactics for survival in the industry.

GMA NEWS: SERBISYONG TOTOO EVEN ONLINE

   In January of 2007, GMA News Online was introduced to the public. The website, which was a result of GMA news branching out to the online world, became one of the internet platforms for people to see, watch and read the news. As the world, slowly embraces the shift in the world of media, it is no secret that the pressure to deliver factual and reliable news is more evident now more than ever. Just like newspapers that the people see everywhere, online news publications can also be seen everywhere in the internet space. 

   In a world where competition is highly seen, the survival of such platforms gets tougher (8), and GMA News is not an exception. “YouScoop on the other hand focuses on citizen journalism reports and user-generated content. It accepts, verifies, posts, and airs content from ordinary citizens (online),” said Ms. Audrey Domasian, YouScoop Producer for GMA News.

Coexistence, not competition

     As technology continues to evolve, they too must get along. With people flocking to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like, the organization had to make their presence known in these online platforms. Mr. Joyas denotes that it is difficult to compete with such big sites. Thus, instead of competing, it is important to learn how to co-exist with social media sites.

    Ms. Domasian explained that at times, social media plays a larger role than traditional news. She said, “For example, traditional media may not be present in Dinagat Islands to monitor news there, but thanks to social media and digital media, we are able to see how a mysterious object appeared on its shores (and verified that it was a decomposing whale carcass). 

   This led to a story on air and online, featuring photos and videos sent by YouScoopers through YouScoop. Another way we have taken advantage of the digital world is that we post video clips online, like video clips of newscasts that have aired, so people who may want to re-watch our shows can do so. We also post full episodes of documentaries, such as I-Witness, and special features from our GMA News and Public Affairs shows.”

     An interesting statement that  Ms. Imperial said is how her Facebook page is a mixture of news and her daily personal activities. And this is where the secret to thriving in social media lies - in the building of a connection and a relationship with your audience. She says that it’s not so much of the organization dictating people to read their content, rather it’s in their strategy of keeping the reader's’ attention that they would ultimately read their content without hesitation because they have given their trust to the news organization and its people.

    Keeping this in mind, Ms. Imperial does just that. She incorporates her personal daily activities like the usual route she uses when going to GMA or photos of the GMA crew behind the scene. Brilliant, we say. It’s a strategy that has worked in the past and is still working today.

     With the goal of delivering news to anyone anywhere in any given time, the organization tries all possibilities to tap their audiences and build their market through utilizing what social media sites offer. In addition to, Ms. Imperial explains that there are some news personalities who runs a blog where they feature the stories they cover. Although these stories are injected with their opinion, Ms. Imperial says, “It’s another way of letting people know kung ano na bang nangyayari sa lipunan natin”.

Measuring the digital success

Ms. Imperial on how numbers do not measure success: “Hindi ibig sabihin na mas maraming nag-like sa balitang ito, mas importante ‘yon.”

        GMA News Online, just like most online news publishers, is still on its early days with still a lot of room for change. Though online news websites have pleased their particular audience (1), most news websites are still testing out the waters of the platform of the internet. These news websites continue to cope up with the demand of audiences of the digital media. Moreover, Mr. Joyas shared that success in the digital space can be measured by the number of followers, and heavily on engagement.

     However, Ms. Imperial believes in the opposite. For her, it’s not so much of the number of followers and likes, but by the number of viewers their news garner. She says that everyone has their own opinion and so we cannot measure success in the digital space by a simple thumbs up. Ms. Imperial says, “Hindi ibig sabihin na mas maraming nag like sa balitang ito, mas importante ‘yon”. 

       Ms. Domasian adds, “We measure success by our ability to deliver the news. If we are able to deliver relevant and timely news to our audience online and on air, this is success for us. If we’re able to inform the public of breaking news through their Facebook or Twitter feed, this is success”

Challenges on the web

Even if measures of success may differ, challenges in digital publishing still arise. The following are the challenges of GMA News Online:

In order to cope up with the demand for real-time news, online news sites have limited time to make and release news articles, making them more prone to mistakes.

Another issue is retaining the audience’s concentration by catching their attention in order for them to stick with the company. In order to solve such issues, studying the audiences and knowing what they like is highly important in order for the company to think of ways to capture the attention of the readers.

Lastly, there is also the issue of ‘trolls’  on comment sections of the site. “Of course, maraming trolls,” Ms. Imperial is quick to respond when asked about the challenges in the digital media.

      In an article published by Inquirer.net last August 28, 2016, Trolls/Professional Trolls are identified as salaried employees who go online to pick a fight for different reasons, but mostly political reasons (9). “Troll” has become a common word ever since last year’s presidential campaign and elections, with people labeling each other “dilawan”, “dutertard” to name a few.

     With the anonymity to label strangers on the Internet comes a hefty price. Last October 2016, Rappler published a 3-part expose on internet trolls which discusses the manufactured reality brought by fake people on social media (10, 11, 12). The 3-part special discussed how the internet has become a place for propaganda set by both government and anti-government organizations. Moreover, weaponizing the internet has been affecting our democracy without us knowing.

     However, GMA News Online makes sure that the guidelines for the people working for the company are loud and clear in terms of acting towards those people. “Most of the time –snob mo na lang sila. Talagang hindi mo sila papansinin kasi hindi rin naman matatapos and you can’t convince them kasi ‘yon na ‘yung pinaniniwalaan nila,” Ms. Imperial says.

    On the other hand, Ms. Domasian said, “I think the challenge we are facing is how to make sure we deliver the right news to our audience. Another challenge is how we can reach more people given that digital media is very competitive. We resolve these issues by making sure that we are timely in our posts so that everyone can see our posts immediately. We also try to avoid errors, keep our captions short and relatable, and make sure that our audience understands the news items we are posting”

Mr. Joyas on the rapidly changing environment of media: “The media will adapt to the changing environment.”

What the future is like for GMA News Online

     With the continuous change in the nature of media, the future seems to be a bright spot for any platform. As Mr. Joyas believes, he sees a future of data-driven digital media while continuously adapting to the changes. Moreover, he sees people embracing digital media more in the future because he believes that for one news organization to thrive in today’s era, it must have a digital presence to not crack only the older generations, but the younger generations as well.

     On the other hand, Ms. Imperial believes for digital media to thrive, there should be visuals like photos and videos for every news article so readers can vividly picture the scene on their mind. She adds that journalists can incorporate a “creative side” for feature stories to avoid creating content heavy on statistics which people tend to avoid. 

     The main goal is to get the audience’s attention and maintain that attention until the end.

    Moreover, Ms. Domasian believes that GMA has a long way to go. She says, “There’s so much more to be explored. There’s 360 photos and videos, immersive graphics, parallax scrolling, virtual reality to name a few. There are many ways to present a story with the help of digital media, but at the end of the day it boils down to content and I know GMA News is capable of producing good, accurate, and verified content”.

DIGITAL AGE: A MISHAP OR A HOPE FOR NEWS ORGANIZATIONS

     As said before, media is a rapidly changing industry and thus, adjustments are inevitable. Survival and success are both hard to sustain with each organization. As most of us highlight the said competition between the media organizations (traditional and digital), we tend to forget that it is also possible for them to co-exist with one another. Most of us see the digital media industry as a mishap of different companies that will eventually lead to a fall of one company to another. The changes, if media companies learn to adapt and adjust, can actually give hope to the betterment of news organizations.

     Although there seems to be a fall on the traditional publishing, it is important to realize that these newspapers paved the way for the start of journalism, that we now also see with digital news organizations. This, if accepted and integrated properly by the newspaper organizations, can help them crack the digital code to success in today’s era. At the same time, if traditional media paved the way for the practice of journalism that we have, digital media can also serve as the reason for traditional media to upgrade and exist in the digital era (2), while still embracing the remains of the practices of the traditional newspapers.

Acceptance of change does not entail the foregoing of what was, but instead an openness to what is and what will be.

References:

Ressa, Maria. "How Facebook Algorithms Impact Democracy." Rappler. Rappler, 09 Oct. 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2017

Cherian, Jacob. “Emergence of Digital Publishing - A Great Challenge to The Print Publication.” Procedia Economics and Finance, vol. 23, 2015, pp. 576 - 586.

Flavián, Carlos, and Raquel Gurrea. "Digital Versus Traditional Newspapers." International Journal Of Market Research 51.5 (2009): 635-657. Business Source Complete. Web. 3 Feb. 2017.

"The resurgence of traditional publishing in a digital world." Ribbonfish. Ribbonfish, 04 Apr. 2016. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.

Edmonds, Rick. "Newspaper Declines Accelerate, Latest Pew Research Finds, Other Sectors Healthier." Poynter. Poynter, 15 June 2016. Web. 3 Feb. 2017.

Jackson, Jasper. "Is This Article Too Long or Too Short? Why Newspapers Are Writing the Wrong Articles for the Web." TheMediaBriefing. The Media Briefing, 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

Wolff, Michael (2016). Traditional media goes to digital rescue. USA Today, 2016.

Eisler, Barry. "The digital truths traditional publishers don't want to hear." Books blog. Guardian News and Media, 29 Apr. 2013. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.

Manyika, Michael Chui and James. "Competition at the digital edge: 'Hyperscale' businesses." McKinsey & Company. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

Caruncho, Eric. "Confessions of a Troll." Inquirer.net. Inquirer, 28 Aug. 2016. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

Hofileña, Chay. "Fake Accounts, Manufactured Reality on Social Media." Rappler. Rappler, 15 Oct. 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.

Resa, Maria. "Propaganda War: Weaponizing the Internet." Rappler. Rappler, 4 Oct. 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.

[eurekian-awesomer]

Men are spending more than women on Valentine’s and people are FREAKIN’ OUT

Men spend 65% more than women during Valentine’s Day

$210 are spent over gift by men; $127 by women

Jewelry is the preferred gift over flowers and romantic dinners

Next is clothing with approx. $110

Wait, what?

These were the results in a study conducted by Poder .IO, the artificial intelligence company for marketing and customer behavior prediction.

Next to jewelry, men spend on clothing.

While women spend the most on jewelry and on nights out or dinners.

And people on Twitter had a LOT to say:

No chill Cesar.

The company also found out that 64% of millennials celebrate Valentine’s Day more, spending about $210.

 The company says that knowing the customer’s behavior enables retailers and marketers to advertise their products effectively.

Paramo, Diego Paramo Co-founder and VP of Global Sales & Partnerships of Poder.IO., says that brands start to market Valentine’s merchandise by the 3rd week of January to “seize” that “consumer moment”.

Hmmm smart.

Every millennial in the planet right now:

[eurekian-awesomer]

y8: a middle schooler’s paradise

Middle school was the time for discovering talents, and it was through Internet that I found mine. Y8.com was the paradise for middle schoolers. You name the game, they have it. You want to practice your parking skills? They have over a hundred of flash player games that let you practice the art of parking cars! Want to feel like you’re in a Fast and Furious movie? The website has over 6,000 driving and racing games! 

“Did someone say 6,000 racing games??!!”

Yes. You heard that right my friends. 6,000!!!

For words may fail to explain my sentiment towards the website I was hooked on for YEARS, I’d like to create an analogy. See, if Athens was the center for the Greeks, Y8 was the center of activities in the life of an 8 year-old. I can’t exactly remember how I found out about the website. I only know that I heard it from a classmate of mine in 5th grade because EVERYONE was talking about it. The boys were bragging about how they perfected their parallel parking, and the girls were swooning over their fashion designs.

However, as superficial and shallow as it may sound, Y8 helped me (and children alike) to believe that I can do anything I want to be. It helped me live different lives, and explore interests that I didn’t know I have. When there are days that I feel like being a Master Chef, I have Y8 to fulfill that interest. If I’m feeling like Nancy Drew, there are thousands of mystery and detective games to play with. Truly, with Y8 the possibilities are limitless. 

Let me tell you a little story. My childhood dream was to be a fashion designer. Every weekend, I would draw sketches of princesses dressed in pink sparkly gowns. I would try on my mother’s heels and model on the house as if it were a runway. And on most days, I would be on Y8 endlessly playing those Korean Dress Up games.

I’m not sure of the reason why I was so engulfed in that dress up game for several years. I just know that I enjoyed the art of fashion. I was quite the fashionista back then. I still am. And perhaps I have Y8 to thank for that.

So here’s to you Y8, even though that childhood dream of mine is now forever gone, I know that when I visit you one day, you’ll still bring the inner child and dreamer in me. 

[eurekian-awesomer]

What am I expecting for PUBLISH?

Hello everyone! Let me introduce myself first. I’m Nicole Rey, 18 years old, a Communication Arts student in De La Salle University - Manila. Having said that, my course requires me to take different subjects that would expand my knowledge in the different fields of arts. One of which is PUBLISH, a subject that focuses on digital media. However, in all honesty, I’m still quite confused as to what topics we will delve on. So you can say that this is me right now:

But I’ve seen some of the upperclassmen execute projects for this subject so I have a little bit of idea on what to expect for this class. The first is a one-on-one interview with someone using Facebook Live. As a person who has a love-hate relationship with public speaking, I can definitely feel the horror of conducting a live interview which will be seen by hundreds....#mortified

The second and last one is a digital magazine. Now this one, I’m not that nervous to create because I’ve done the layout of a magazine project we had for English class in high school. I didn’t use any of that complicated Photoshop or InDesign though, rather I used the good ol’ Microsoft Word to design an entire freakin’ magazine. 

But really though, I should definitely learn Photoshop. I’ve been meaning to have an in-depth study about it but I just can’t force myself too. Perhaps if we really will create a digital magazine for PUBLISH, it will serve as the catalyst of my journey to Photoshop. 

Aside from those two projects that I’m expecting for PUBLISH (given that the higher batch did them), I’m also expecting to learn more about the digital media. Though I’ve always regularly exposed myself to media (film and photography), and have been active online, I exactly do not know how they will combine themselves together to create another form of media which is digital media. With PUBLISH, I’m expecting to learn the process of it all. I’m really excited for this course because I’ve been wanting to expand my knowledge in media for some time now and I know that PUBLISH will definitely push me to think of ideas that will push my creativity out of the box.