#iBlog10: A Decade for Philippine Blogging Summit Day 2

Honestly, I am trying to digest all the talks of our speakers from the 1^st day up to the second day but there is a topic that will hit your interest (I am not saying other topics are not interested). For me, we (newbie blogger) are not too familiar with the other terminologies discussed at the plenary. Other topics are applicable for those institutions already in the blogging community.

To give a highlight from the 2^nd day of the #iBlog10: The Philippine Blogging Summit, as a health blogger, I will give this in the way I see blogging for health is important.

Why Doctors and other Professionals should Blog? 

Credits: virtualhungary.com 

Today, a lot of professionals are blogging, not just to earn money but also to share something important to the readers, the professionals including the health care professionals (doctors, nurses, med tech, physical therapist, etc).

According to Bien Nillos, “Doctors are natural story teller”. Yes! I’m agreeing to him. In their medical school, they do several data gathering which is necessary for the treatment and management of their patients which includes taking history, case presentations, reporting to your head or resident and a lot more. Just like in nursing, we do several case presentations, chartings, endorsements and a lot of writings for documenting the case of our patients.  

Here are the five reasons why to blog:

1. Because there is so much to write about the profession
2. Blogging is Educational
3. Because you need therapy, too (from day-day stress)
4. It is an extension of your clinic/practice
5. Because doctors are natural story-teller and writers.

Blogging can be a way of advocacy for the profession. Just like the ads of Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) which is trending on social media, the public school teacher carrying a medical doctor on her shoulder (the ads of the BIR saying that medical doctors are not paying their taxes). This ad gained a lot of discussions online, also there is a doctor who wrote an open letter to President Benigno Simeon Aquino III about the burden being a doctor in a public hospital.

Blogs are sources of information. There is breakdown on monopoly of knowledge. Patients can now research.  Just like the story shared to us by Dr. Nillos, “May pasyente nga minsan na nagpapacheck up tapos sasabihin na, Doc may highblood ata ako…. Doc may flu po ako… Doc asthma na ata ako.” Reading from blogs and any other related searches on net, the public are much more aware of the condition s/he’s suffering.

Selfie with Idol Howie Severino 

In the afternoon, the plenary started with a sponsor talk by GMA Network by Howie Severino, the co-founder of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) and Editor-in-Chief of GMA News Online, GMA Network's news website. He’s one of my idols in journalism and documentaries. 

The internet is now on its 25^th year, in the Philippines it is 20 years already. "Broadband is a basic human right". ~ Dr. Rudy Villarica (father of the Philippine internet in the Philippines).

Howie shared his experience on gathering news before and today. He tell that when they are trying to get an aerial shot before they used to ride a chopper but now they’re using Drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) a Phantom Quadcopter is now being used to take aerial shots. 

Traditional media, reporters are going to the scene, gather datas, write, edit and publish which takes a lot of time to deliver up to date news. Social media, now days are just once click away and you will see updated news on real time with the help of the netizens. It’s a two-way system, wherein you can get news from other person and delivered via television, radio, print and social Medias. But verification is important before delivering gathered news via internet.

Media interactions on screen (tablets, mobile phones, laptops, television, and personal computers is ninety percent (90%) while non-screen based media interactions (radio, newspapers, magazines) are only ten percent (10%). This means people are depending on the screens to read news rather than printed materials.

Let me end this post by leaving the quotes given by Howie Severino, “You need to behave online the way you would in real life”. Think before you click! ~ The GMA News Online tagline. 

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