History comes alive in Filipiniana.net

If you do not know Philippine history, would you be proud to call yourself a Filipino?

History is inextricably linked to identity. We are required to study Philippine history as soon as we enter school. Yet few of us know how the Katipunan evolved, or about Jose Rizal 's insights on women. Do we know the exact location of the Battle of Tirad,or the monument to Tandang Sora?

Our understanding of history is limited to what we read in books or what has been taught to us since we were young. It is problematic to have such a short-term memory of our culture; yet it is also problematic when the truth we believe in is debunked. Shortage of knowledge is due to shortage of scholastic resources.

In this wired age, information should be easily accessible. Technology is an important way to increase awareness and understanding of Philippine culture and history.

Filipiniana.net, an oline library in the Philippines maximizes the use of digital media in disseminating knowledge on the Philippines with the launch of three valuable collections: Virtual Katipunan , ICOPHIL Collection and World of Agusan Manobo Music.

The Kataastaasan, Kaggalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK) was the first anticolonial movement that had a profound impact on the country's struggle for independence. Accounts of Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan are mostly read from secondary sources like school textbooks. A comprehensive understanding of the movement, from its foundation and organization to its victories and defeat, up to its downfall, has now been made available through the Virtual Katipunan collection.

"If you want to be true to the original vision of the true revolution, we have to read the original account. The Katipunan documents are the foundational documents of the Philippines. Read the original documents and connect back to the past,"says Gaspar Vibal, executive director of Vibal Foundation and founder of Filipiniana.net.

Virtual Katipunan is Filipiniana.net's contibution to remembering the movement's legacy in Philippine history. The foundation believes that it is a step in nation building to promote nationalist consciousness and historical awareness. The collection includes foundational documents, letters, doctrines and other significant materials on Katipunan and all events that led to the Philippine Revolution of 1896. In putting the documents of the Katipunan online, Filipiniana.net is not expecting that everyone would read and appreciate the collection. "What's important is not whether people read it, but they are there," says Gaspar Vibal.

The ICOPHIL Collection is another breakthrough in the field of Philippine studies. The multi-disciplinary project includes abstracts and full text versions of research papers and case studies presented during the 8^th International Conference on Philippine Studies held at the Philippine Social Science Center in July 2008. Through this project, Filipiniana.net hopes to further enhance and disseminate trends in the study of Philippine history, culture and society.

One of the researches presented in the collection is Emil Flores's "Future visions and past anxieties: Science fictions in the Philippines from the 1990s onwards," which focuses on the how contemporary writers utilize the genre of science fiction to reflect Philippine society. Different studies in other disciplines such as anthroplogy, history, government and politics, culture and sociology are also included.The full-text manuscripts were provided by the International Conference on Philippine Studies Board.

Wikipilipinas.org, the world's largest online Philippine encyclopedia and Filipiniana.net's counterpart portal for popular knowledge, also included the 8^th ICOPHIL presenters in its new Philippine Scholars Database. The portal contains profiles and lists of works of scholars worldwide who have "distinguished themselves in the area of Philippine studies."

Philippine history has been traced through written artifacts. But another medium that narrates our heritage is music. The World of Agusan Manobo Music serves as the first multimedia collection published online by Filipiniana.net. Hosting Dr. Jose S. Buenconsejo's multimedia interpretation of the Agusan Manobos, the project aims to be the most comprehensive repository of all traditional and contemporary musical artifacts of the Agusan Manobo.

"In society, music does not exist alone. It is multimedia. Instrumental music, for example, is linked to myths of nature, propels and synchronizes dance movements, and it can simulate speech," Dr. Buenconsejo says.

The multimedia collection focuses on the sociocultural importance of the indigenous group's traditional instrumental music. It contains audio and video files of the tribe's songs and rituals. Dr. Buenconsejo explains that music,such as the "tud-om," a solo song associated with shamanic ritual performances, reflects the lifestyle of the Agusan Manobo. "This verbal art is obviously multimedia for in ritual performance, participants experience song along with visual and kinesthetic gestures and objects. Hence, it is experienced multisensorially."

As Filipiniana.net disseminates knowledge, it also preserves culture. Yet it is still up to the Filipino people whether they want to study and read the documents or not, or whether they even think these are important. The digitization of Philippine history makes it available to those who should benefit the most. "The young generation, the consumer of media," says Gaspar Vibal, "are very hungry seekers of knowledge."

Photo: Filipiniana.net Special Portal Logos courtesy of filipiniana.net

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