ABOUT THE WRITERS

ABOUT BLOG WATCH

When Blog Watch launched in 2009, it was our vision to simply provide another avenue to promote voter education. We began as a motley group of 16 bloggers and over the succeeding months, we grew to about 25 by the time of the May 10 elections. By the time the elections were over, Blog Watch had managed to interview seven presidential candidates, other candidates running for national positions, train with the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), attend several electoral fora and presidential debates, guest in several talk shows covering the elections, and host a 3-hour TV slot on Global News Network (GNN) last May 10 for its own election coverage.

Today, Blog Watch is a citizens' watchdog for transparency and good governance. Blog Watch intends to enable the new administration to fulfill its promise to include the citizenry in solving the nation's problems. It is a forum for constructive engagement in the democratic process.

In light of our continuing efforts, we envision our tasks to include the following, but not limited to:

Encouraging feedback from our online community through their discussions and comments in various social media networks and where feasible, compile these comments and provide them as feedback to the Communications Group;

Direct communication with the Aquino administration on concerns echoed by the online community or to clarify/obtain statements from Malacanang on current issues;

Writing commentaries, making recommendations and featuring stories on relevant issues so that these concerns can be translated into action by the appropriate government bodies;

Continuing education of the online community on proper citizen monitoring, good governance and voter education;

Encouraging the various government bodies to utilize new media technologies that will make them inclusive, transparent, accountable and responsible.(e.g. livestreaming of Cabinet meetings and other important events, openly posting projects of the various departments and the financial reports in respective websites, engaging the public in social network sites, etc);

Monitoring of the progress of the campaign promises of the President , the House of Representatives and the Senate;

Then presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino with Blog Watch and VFI Executive Director Gaspar Vibal and VPHI President Esther Vibal (extreme right) on February 6, 2010

FAQ

1. Who are involved in Blog Watch?

Noemi Lardizabal-Dado (Editor)

Blog Watch is non-partisan and not affiliated with any political group or party but because bloggers are also voters, our bloggers have their own political views and bias. Bloggers in Blog Watch range from 20 years old to 60 plus something.

blog-watch-citizen-journalism

Blog Watch Social Media day celebration, July 9, 2011

Bloggers that have written with us the past years:

Their individual profiles can be found in the About Staff page.

2. Is Blog Watch affiliated with any politician or political party?

Blog Watch and thepoc.net are not affiliated with any political party. Ideally, bloggers in Blog Watch should be non-partisan so that they can serve as reliable and credible sources of information. However, realistically, this is not possible because bloggers are also voters with their own political views and biases. Bloggers will thus disclose in their profiles any affiliations with a politician or a political party.

3. Where can I find Blog Watch articles on your experiences in citizen journalism?

Visit these articles on the work we have done on citizen journalism.

Reflection: Blog Watch, a year after (November 24, 2010)
Media in an Active Democracy (October 9, 2010)
Social Media Coverage at the SONA 2010 (July 28, 2010)
Continuing citizen voters' education (July 9, 2010)
Participative citizenry in the Aquino administration (July 6, 2010)
Blog Watch gets media accreditation (June 28, 2010)
A participative citizenry needs freedom of information (May 28, 2010)
Playing a role in the online coverage of the 2010 elections (May 20, 2010)
#juanvote, first social media coverage by citizens (May 9, 2010)
Be part of citizen power (April 25, 2010)
Citizen power: Being the "media" (March 15, 2010)
Blog Watch: behind the Scenes (March 5, 2010)

4. What are your other social media sites?

You can also find us here:

Website: http://blogwatch.ph
Social media portal: http://blogwatch.tv
Facebook: http://facebook.com/blogwatchph
Twitter: http://twitter.com/blogwatchdotph or momblogger (editor)
YouTube: http://youtube.com/blogwatchdotph
Ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/blogwatch
Justin.tv: http://justin.tv/blogwatch
Qik.com: http://qik.com/blogwatch
Scribd: http://www.scribd.com/blogwatch
Podcast: momblogger.podomatic.com

5. What gadgets or tools do you use?

Blogger Jane Uymatiao takes you behind the scenes and gives you a flavor of what Blog Watch is all about. We carry our tools when we cover livestreaming interviews or significant events like the Inaugural and the SONA. We carry out laptop/netbook, DSLR/Digital Camera or Videocam, Camera Phones with 3G and Livestreaming Capability, USB stick/s and other peripherals. The equipment behind livestreaming and podcasting makes a whole lot of difference in terms of the quality of streaming. Blog Watch is very lucky to have as our ‘partner-in-tech’ the CreatiVoices team headed by Pocholo Gonzales. Our project editor, who is an advanced iPhone user, serves as our backup livestreamer in case the WIFI goes down completely. Our livestreaming channel is at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/blogwatch

6. Can I share/copy Blog Watch content in my blog?

Yes, you are free to share the content of Blog Watch and thepoc.net under our Creative Commons License – BY-NC-SA-3.0 Philippines (Attribution, Noncommercial, Share-Alike) under the following conditions: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ph.

7. Why is Blog Watch at Philippine Online Chronicles?

The Blog Watch editor and Vibal Foundation had long been working together in blog-related projects. The idea of working together stemmed from an informal conversation. Philippine Online Chronicles (POC) wanted to have a citizen journalism aspect in their site while the Blog Watch Editor conceptualized on creating a bloggers' portal. Credibility needed to be established. The editor believed that working with an established media organization can assist them with the credibility and logistics issues especially when it came to the best practices as established by the Philippine Press Council Code of Ethics on Covering Elections. POC does not interfere with our production and editorial production.

The social media portal, blogwatch.tv is owned by the editor.

8. What is the contact information of Blog Watch?

Please email the editor, Noemi Lardizabal-Dado at noemidado@gmail.com or nlardizabal-dado@thepoc.net

Videos : Blog Watch in the News