The Philippine Online Chronicles

Sign up here and be part of our citizen media coverage on May 10.

Problems and controversies in the first ever automated elections continue to persist. Is there anything we can do? There are bound to be technical glitches and transparency problems but we, the electorate can take a proactive role in monitoring the elections. Yesterday, individuals, online citizen journalism and groups interested in watching and monitoring the May 10 elections gathered today at the University of the Philippines’ University Hotel for the National Conference on Citizen Election Monitoring.

Spearheaded by the Computer Professionals Union , the conference aimed “to update the ICT sector with the current situation of the 2010 automated elections, showcase the different ICT initiatives being conducted to monitor the elections, and express solidarity with the rest of the ICT sector to help uphold the integrity of this democratic exercise in a concerted effort”.

Synthesis of election monitoring initiatives

The conference resulted in a pledge and call to vigilance: Monitor the automated elections and safeguard the people’s vote. There were many of us there including Blog Watch, as follows:

• Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
• Automated Election System Watch (AES Watch)
• Kontra Daya
• Voter Ed & Mobile SMS election monitoring by We-Watch
• Vote Mapping & Monitoring- ElectionExchange.ph
• Google Precint Mapper
• Voter Report PH- Voter Ed and Fraud Monitoring through Ushahidi
• 100araw.com
• Blogwatch.ph
• Pinoy Weekly

At the end of the conference, all of us  pledged to engage in a concerted action by pooling resources on election day.  It is timely because Blog Watch made plans for citizen's journalism on that day. Comelec granted Blog Watch media accreditation, a first for bloggers and it  will come in handy during poll monitoring . There are hot spots all around the country. In Metro Manila, these cities have been identified as the top 10 potential ranked congestion hot spots with Las Pinas as the number 1 hot spot.

Source: synthesistblog.com

Citizen Power - "Being the media"

There are citizens like you and me who will be there not just to vote but to cover and document this important and special democratic exercise. We can do it. We can help cover elections -- thanks to the many technologies available online and offline.  You are already using those tools anyway.  Common among citizen media initiatives on the elections is the extensive and intensive use of all available new media tools, be they email, blogs, microblogs (Twitter and Plurk), photo and video uploads, social networking sites, podcasts, feeds, and livestreaming.

I am inviting our online friends, those interested to join our citizen journalism and electoral monitoring  by using this sign-up sheet. Once you have signed up, take time to read our guidelines on how to resolve potential problems in an Automated Election System . The guide illustrates what can go wrong, what Commission on Election (COMELEC) has done, and what you can do to prevent further problems. A briefing on citizen journalism will be made available to all the volunteers. Basic ethical standards light the way: Accuracy should be our news guidepost, while fairness should characterize our commentary. In the days to come,  the election monitoring initiatives of all the groups involved will be finalized.

Looks like election day is something to look forward to. Come, join us now.

Blog Watch stock photo. Some Rights Reserved