Apart from the huge amount of blog buzz created by the participants of the 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit, there have also been news and feature coverage by traditional media. A huge photo of Councilor Pete Laviña, myself and a group of bloggers came out on Sun•Star Davao last 29 October… An article written by Walter Balane was carried by Mindanao Times…
Here in Davao City, this has resulted in a lot of interest in the whole business of blogging among media personalities and others. An interesting and positive aftereffect that I hadn’t really counted on. I’ve had so many inquiries from my friends in the media that I think I will go ahead and conduct that Blogging 101 seminar-workshop that I’ve been planning. Read on»
It was a very productive — albeit momentarily heated — meeting we had last night, a group of bloggers and an NGO representative together in a workshop at Fwendz Diner. (Btw, try their chimichanga!) It was for the MBS1 Pre-Summit Workshop, where we tackled this concern: the role of bloggers in fostering understanding & peace in Mindanao.
On a lighter side, it was also where Mandaya Moore-Orlis revealed herself to the workshop participants and a number of The Usual Suspects. Would you like to know who he/she is? Attend the Summit and you just might find out! 
Read on»
Davao’s Food Huntress, My Davao City, Dbaa’s Clutter — these are a sampling of blogs whose owners write about dining experiences in Davao. I’m sure there are more out there, though. So, I’m planning a seminar on how to write well about food, with a possible side topic on food photography. (My friends Tope & Christian, in their sometimes unfathomable brand of humor, call this “food porn“.)
No, I’m not going to conduct this seminar myself. I do try to write about restaurants, coffee shops, etc. @ Ang Dabawenyo, but I’m no expert at all. Far from it. That’s why I thought of coming up with this food-blogging seminar in the first place! I really want to learn how to write effectively about cuisine. My dream is to someday blog about food and get people’s mouths watering just by reading my blog. On a more serious note, if you also want to be able to do food critiquing, I guess this seminar’s a good way to start!
Hopefully, the good people over at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies (Holiday Spa compound, F. Torres st.) will agree to provide us with resource speakers for this. I’ve already informally spoken to Chefs Toto and Jenny of CACS-Davao about my plan, so the ball is rolling…
Now who’s interested to join this gastronomic, educational adventure? Just leave a comment here, or drop me a line. If everything falls in place, we just might be able to do this this month. And if we can get sponsors for the venue and the food, then we won’t have to pay for participation. 
In my position in life, I’ve gotten to rub elbows with a few industry bigwigs and even some celebrities, but I don’t really get gushy or tense around them. So last night was mildly surprising when I found myself rather schoolgirlishly nervous as I waited for my Skype chat with Matt Mullenweg. I’m embarrassed to say I got tongue-tied for a little while when we were talking. But I suppose it’s understandable — Matt’s only the founder of the most awesome blogging platform on the globe. Ok stop! now I’m gushing…
The Usual Suspects (the bad boys behind the bloggers’ bash) had wanted to invite Matt to Davao City for the October Summit, but unfortunately he’s already scheduled to be somewhere else during our event (not at liberty to say where, sorry). Shucks. It would’ve been quite a coup! Read on»
Last night I took time off to help out a good friend with some of the more technical aspects of blogging. After maintaining his blog for some time now, Mandaya Moore decided it was time to take the next step — the one that’s beyond merely writing articles. Specifically, he was curious about MyBlogLog. So I apprised him of the wonders of social bookmarking services. For good measure, I also showed him the ropes around Technorati. Well, the basics anyway.
Sitting down with my friend and having been able to share my knowledge gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling yesterday. Not only because Mandaya and I are friends, but also because I realized I’d gotten so busy lately that I’d neglected my objective this year. And that’s to get more people to start blogging. Earlier, around summer, I was able to inspire two friends to take it up, but that was it. So I’m glad that my friend, who will remain anonymous behind his blogging pseudonym (for now), gave me the chance to pick up where I’d left off. Read on»
I was blog-hopping after not doing it for a while, and I chanced upon Karlo’s PinoyBlogero.com. He’d linked to MindanaoBloggers.com to help spread the word about the upcoming bloggers summit in Davao this October, and that’s how I found his site. Thanks for the helping hand, Karlo!
What attracted me to the blog, and made me stay and browse, was the blogger’s use of anime characters that he’d drawn himself. I like this style, because I try to use it myself over at AngDabawenyo.com (although it’s not me doing the drawings of “Dave” but my cousin Ria). Aside from photos and videos, I believe that original artwork like drawings and even paintings can encourage your blog’s readers to stay longer and read more posts. Read on»
Today I finally gave myself practically the whole day to sit down and start a site I’d been planning since early this year — www.davaoblogs.net (davaoblogs.com is the Davao Blogspace). Actually, I’ve been using davaoblogs.net as an email service, powered by Google Apps, but kept the website itself on the backburner… Until now.
Now it’s been conceived and born all in one afternoon as a community blog, called the Davao Bloggers Network, with Marc J., Christian T. and myself as the initial authors. It’s generally going to be all about blogging — tips, best practices, what have you — from the perspective of Filipino bloggers. But who knows what my co-authors will come up with, eh?
Why don’t you head on to the brand-spanking-new blogsite and leave us some feedback? Some link-love would be nice, too!
Last night’s blogger and SEO get-together at 51 Coffee Shop with Aileen Apolo (Google country consultant) gave us a chance to meet up with a few new faces in the Davao blogosphere. We were hoping to get more people to show up, but I guess the rain was one culprit why many didn’t make it. Hmmm… why is it that each time we hold a bloggers’ meet-up here, it rains…. But Andrew, Jun, Marc, Migs and Ria were present, of course — The Usual Suspects are always where the action is, come hell or high water. Read on»
I just want to share a great new idea I’ve found at a fellow blogger’s site. It’s about “blog convictions“, as coined by Jayvee of A Bugged Life. The excerpt below is particularly evocative, in my opinion.
This got me thinking about how blogs are extensions, or manifestations rather of our own personal convictions. Thus, I’d like to ask you to sit back from your computer monitor and think about your personal BLOG CONVICTIONS. Why did I start this blog? How has this blog evolved through time? Am I still on track with my original vision?
Why don’t you check it out? Who knows, Jayvee might be right about becoming a better blogger if you define your own blog conviction.
I recently gave someone (unsolicited) advice to go bloghopping before forming opinions about something or other. So, before that advice rebounds to me, I thought I’d do some of my own. It’s amazing how much about a person you can deduce just by rummaging through his personal stuff, right? Well, the same goes for a person’s blogs, I think. That is, if he or she has several blogs.
Read on»
