Lance's World

a 22-year-old blogging about advocacies and design in the Philippines

[itslancesworld]

Journal Entry #8: Guess That Fallacy Quiz

I recently learned in my Communication for Development class about logicial fallacies and how they can be used in arguments or debates, whether intentional or unintentional. 

I’m guilty in doing one or two of those fallacies when I argue or convince people so being aware of them is important. With this, I made a quiz where you guess that logical fallacy! 

Scenario 1: You either become a good attorney with good values or you become a corrupt person. It’s really one thing or the other.

Scenario 2: Phoenix Wright is not the best candidate for the job because he can get very heated in discussions and you don’t want that, do you?

Scenario 3: Detective Gumshoe was at the scene of the crime yesterday, and today the crime scene was gone. He must have committed the crime. 

Scenario 4: My lawyer friends don’t have a loving partner or are currently dating anyone, so maybe pursuing a career in law entails sacrificing your love life. 

Scenario 5: Every law student has seen the movie Legally Blonde or have played Ace Attorney, so those media must be a good representation of the justice system.

[itslancesworld]

Journal Entry #7: Think Twice With Social Media

When I encountered social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter as a child, I thought of them as my toys. They were better than those tamagotchi toys and game boy advance because I can communicate with other people, I can post pictures and I can see the lives of other people online. The internet was a new world, and social media was a vast ocean. 

After learning about the importance of critical thinking, I recently watched a TED video from Damon Brown who tells us “How to Choose Your News”. One way to practice critical thinking is to be selective in reading our news. Brown explains in his video that news became too broad; there were too many topics to cover. Mainstream news can influence and manipulate public trust through concealment and censorship but because of social media, information cannot be controlled like before. In a world where social media has enabled people to become their own news reporters, Brown proposes several tips: 

Get the official news instead of the middlemen. Better yet, follow media reporters and newscasters

Published articles are retouched and edited by editors who possibly did not experience the story, so find the raw reporting of media reporters

Check for the latest information in different times because sometimes, continuous coverage can have incorrect info or false accusations 

Read the news in multiple outlets because media bias is unavoidable 

Social media is scary to me because I was comfortable with it. Now, fake news has become a threat. The creation of trolls, fake accounts and falsified news accounts or articles has been increasing lately so it’s important to think twice with social media. I’m also scared because while all these tips from Damon Brown were very helpful to me, it wasn’t common sense to me. Fact-checking was never in my mind when reading information in social media. 

Brown later ends the video with a provoking line: with freedom comes responsibility, we should ensure that our information flow does not get flooded [by fake news, biased media and incorrect information].

It’s easier said than done to change the behavior of the people, but shouldn’t this change start with the media and social institutions too?

[itslancesworld]

Journal Entry #6: Dear PH and Your Public Transpo

Dear Philippines, 

I’ve been residing at your place for over 22 years. Sometimes, I go out for a few months every now and then to travel. China, Taiwan, Hong Kong were my standouts because they have one thing that I loved that you don’t have –– commuting. 

Commuting started when my parents were getting old and wanted convenience. The Metro Manila traffic is a pain and it wastes their hours just to drive me back and forth to school. Well, one thing’s for sure: commuting helps me think and maybe train my critical thinking.

Whenever I commute, I can’t just help but compare the public transportation I take here to Taiwan’s or Hong Kong’s. Their transportation systems can cover the whole country that can carry millions of of people while our capacity in our system is just a fraction. The rail transit system of Taiwan and Hong Kong was a sight to see, having been to their rural provinces in less than 30 minutes. The bus routes and lines are organized and can be easily understood. And many more that I love about their public transpo. 

Our public transportation can’t do all these things, let alone benefit the masses. The capacity for our jeepneys and buses are limited, the LRTs and MRTs are jampacked where looting is frequent and even the authorities handling our transportation systems prioritize private cars than the public transportation. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown me that our social institutions have no regard for our hardworking jeepney drivers, bus drivers and mechanics. Your officials and lead caretakers lack the urgency and concern for us Filipino people, and it shows through our title of the longest lockdown and lack of concrete plans –– and no, waiting for the vaccine isn’t one.

Dear Philippines, it’s time for you to shift focus to public transportation because whenever I’m not here at your home, traveling and commuting in other countries was a breeze

[itslancesworld]

Journal Entry #5: Art & Design Covers

Artworks have always interested me, no matter how lowbrow or high class the work seems. Although my mind has always been biased to the Expressionist movements and the works of Fernando Zobel, art was always my way of communication. 

Design, on the other hand, was my way of innovating or you can say, adapting to the modern world. I find technology everywhere now and designing has become the new art. 

I realized that I haven’t been creating art and design, things that I am so passionate about. The pandemic has slowly coerced me to rest and relax. I mean its not bad to rest but I think it’s been a long overdue for me to start creating art and design again. For my next entries, I promise to attach the art and designs I will be making. 

This isn’t related to anything on development communication, but an accountability journal entry! However, these mediums also serve importance when communicating. How we design a system, how we design a visual poster, how we design newspapers? 

Design and writing go hand and hand, and hopefully, I can create artworks in my online journal.

[itslancesworld]

Journal Entry #4: The Power of Writing (ft. the NO Project)

September 15, 2020

The NO Project is an award-winning global and educational campaign on anti-slavery that targets the youths to be aware of this issue through social media, music, art, journalism, etc. 

Judy Boyle, asked how she started this, instead changes the question into how she first became aware of the crime of trafficking. Surprisingly, she says it was all because of an article on commercial sexual exploitation. With her background on research, she researched and discovered things she did not know about. 

It amazes me because this whole project started because of an article that a journalist has written to spread awareness about this topic. 

My Communication for Development class has thought me the importance of writing and development communication, but how the NO Project started made me truly realize the value of development communication. 

A single written article has lead Judy Boyle to create a massive campaign that educated youths in order to learn, be aware or even spot signs of commercial sexual exploitation. You could say that this single written article has saved the lives of so many people because they became more educated and aware of commercial sexual exploitation.

It surprises me and angers me that Judy Boyle did not know anything about commercial sexual exploitation. I’m currently 22-year-old as I write this and I know about trafficking ever since I was in high school. Looking back at it now, I only know about this issue because of the internet. Social and development problems like commercial sexual exploitation have never been talked about in school. 

How am I supposed to learn about commercial sexual exploitation like if my social institutions don’t even communicate this to me?

This could happen to any child and if they don’t see the warnings, signs or any information about commercial sexual exploitation, they’re more probable to be victims of this. 

“What skills do I have that can contribute to a better situation?” - Judy Boyle, after reading the article on commercial sexual exploitation and researching about the issue

That’s why I really appreciate and see the value and importance of development journalists and development communicators. Because writers can’t solve problems themselves, so they write and write in order for them to reach it to more people. Sometimes, these readers can be like Judy, who can make social change and development. 

APPRECIATE WRITERS!!!

[itslancesworld]

Journal Entry #3: Insights & Critique: Development Communication Articles by Servaes, Quebral & Chatterjee

September 11, 2020 

At first glance, development communication is such a powerful word to me. The things that come into mind when I read it are related to progression, betterment or simply leveling up societies. 

Jan Servaes, a development communicator from Europe, writes how development communication is nurturing the knowledge from the people involved and turning them into action for their betterment or social progress.

Some concepts that I had a hard time understanding were some terms that Jan Servaes defined like ideology, power and identity. I cannot seem to grasp them concretely or citations/examples that he gives, maybe because he’s writing for readers who are development communicators? However, it was insightful to hear how ideologies can be very powerful.

I believe that development communication is not a one-man kind of job or action but it can be started as one. It needs the participation of all the people involved and to make them realize the importance of communicating one another. If one person or faction does not see this, it will be hard to achieve development or social change. 

Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee, a MassComm professor from India, sees development communication in two definitions. He then provides the World Bank definition of DevCom as integrating strategic communication in development projects. Compared to Servaes, he emphasizes the importance of strategic communication instead. He brings up the goals of development communication and several social institutions importance in carrying out those goals. 

Some terms and concepts I wished he tackled more on were on “strategic communication” and “development journalism”. Both of these words sound very promising. I wished he provided more elaboration on those by maybe giving case studies or the processes and frameworks used.

I also wished Chatterjee wrote more examples and the context from where he is residing in, which is India. He talked a lot on the history of the West but not really development communication from the East.

I believe that development communication requires empathy.  Chatterjee talks about meaningful conversation through building understanding and responding to them, and that is part of empathy. We need to gain their perspective through communicating what, how and why their current behavior is like this. We need to remember that when we are building development projects for our stakeholders or beneficiaries, we are not the beneficiary. 

Nora Cruz Quebral, a Development Communication professor from my home country the Philippines, ponders how there is an interaction between development and communication. She sees the value of both terms and the need for each other. However, what strikes me the most is the circumstances developing countries face when using development communication, particularly the Philippines. She mentions that communications media is concentrated in cities. How about the rural communities and indigenous tribes who rely on non-modernized information methodologies?

I find it very overwhelming because the development communicators like Quebral do want social change and she wants to focus on rural communities. However, they do not have the technological and digital media. It’s simple to just say to urbanize rural areas but we, as a developing country, do not have the capacity or the resources to cover all. Quebral mentions that we must not copy the solutions or methods of developed countries because their context is different than developing countries. In order to find the solution, we need to communicate with not just the rural communities, but also the government and other social institutions.

I believe that development communication in developing countries should be more focused on viability and capability. As development communicators, understanding the perspectives of different stakeholders is not enough, we should acknowledge the resources we have in order to find a viable way to achieve development.

Some commonalities I noticed between these three development communicators is how they see the media having a huge potential in Development Communication. They play a huge role in information dissemination, raising awareness and educating people. Media can be an effective way to create development and social change. However, there are still concerns regarding the effectivity, conversion and evaluation of these media strategies. Developing countries have areas with no media. Do all people receive the information the media is disseminating? 

Another commonality I see between the three is that although their definitions and views on development communication have different processes and emphasizing on different aspects, the outcome of human betterment and social progress is the same. Keeping this in mind, a good characteristic I can see among development communicators is that they’re driven by three things: the people, the problem and the outcome. To be oriented with these areas will make a development communicator’s role easier and impactful.

[itslancesworld]

Journal Entry #2: My Writing Aspirations

September 9, 2020 

I do not consider myself to be a good writer. This is why I tend to use actions instead of words. Writing in my online journal still feels kind of weird but I should start getting used to it since this is going to be a good habit. 

I aspire to be a good writer -- one who is able to express his emotions and opinions in a very engaging way. I want to write articles and posts that have educated or impacted me so I would like to share these learnings to the online world. Not only do I want to have better grammar or engaging writing style, I want my writing to be able to affect communities.

[itslancesworld]

Journal Entry #1: What benefit will keeping a journal bring to me?

September 9, 2020 

It’s September 9 and all morning I could think of is the start of my online classes in Ateneo de Manila University. With my mug full of tea on my left hand and the mouse of my laptop on my right hand, I couldn’t wait to begin this. 

It was a good distraction for me because it feels like you’re stuck or frozen in time here in the Philippines. The COVID-19 pandemic is still here (damn!) in the country. Lockdowns and quarantines has been the norm since the month of March (I’ve lost track of time already so I don’t know when the lockdown started). 

DEV 108: Communication for Development 

This is one of my classes that I am taking for my first online semester, and we are instructed to create an online journal. Frankly, it’s been so long since I’ve written or typed one and I’m afraid that my words and grammar will be wrong or what my friends call my vocabulary as “wacky but at the same time, smart”. 

Anyways, I think keeping a journal would help my critical thinking -- one of the things that I am pretty horrible at. Writing my thoughts on to a piece of paper or even a digital notepad can be scary for me because I don’t like to read what I write sometimes. My ideas do tend to be very all over the place.

Having this journal would help me organize my thoughts, ideas and especially my emotions. I can be a very emotional and sensitive person sometimes. My loved ones have told me that I tend to shut down when I get offended or experienced negative events. I don’t say anything. I know it’s important to communicate with people but sometimes when you get hurt, you just wanna be alone. This thought made me realize that this doesn’t keep my emotions in check at all. Why am I mad? Why am I sad? Shutting down won’t help me or anyone else. 

It might be hard to have this habit of journaling but I just need to remind myself that this is not just going to help me, but also how I can communicate with other people better. 

Hope this journal can help manage my emotions and developing my critical thinking. It’s time for me to have better communication now.