Back to Iskul Bukol Special Cinco - A Nine-part Series

(continuation) Observe Silence But Dare To Explore - this is the slogan that I came up with. At first I thought of just creating an emoticon doing the “Observe Silence” gesture, but for me the idea that I had was more complex and more interesting than just a simple image.

The rationale for this campaign was to promote the library and its services. “Observe silence” is a stereotype amongst students when talking about libraries, and I wanted to smash and break the glass where these stereotypes were kept. A library’s image wont be boxed like a molded espasol ( a native delicacy) that wasn’t eaten. Libraries are an important part of our society and we have to utilize them and not have an image of an “old shelf lady” or an “old man with a feather duster.”

“Dare to explore”… with the Internet capturing a big chunk of the population from the social networking to downloading freebies, the Internet was able to “educate” the online community and learning became so easy that even my mother, who was scared to touch the mouse and keyboard, now “likes” anything I share on facebook. And it’s this innate ability of a person to adapt or to learn that fuels the campaign. That is why libraries should challenge each and every one to explore their collections, to explore the possibilities they can offer, to explore the services that are available, to explore and communicate with the friendly librarians…they are not what we thought they were. (to be continued)

Back to Iskul Bukol Special Cuatro - A Nine-part Series

(continuation)… Doing those assignments hyped me up so much that I finished and submitted them early because for me, cramming is not an option. I used to cram back in the days but this time I am a revitalized person and the fire inside me was so hot that it could melt pure gold in seconds.

Then came another group assignment, but this time I wanted my groupmates involved and contributing. Since our tasks were to search the right components and list down the complete specification of a game developer’s computer, they were able to do it since they are more up to date with the current gaming world.

I started to conceptualize the slogan for another group assignment, I was not really familiar with the term Internet meme, but I was able to come up with a library campaign that as of now I am still in the process of completing…a campaign that LIS 160 inspired me to produce, and I intend on continuing with more in-depth focus on explaining the library’s strengths to encourage students to use its resources.(to be continued)

Back to Iskul Bukol Special Tres - A Nine-part Series

(continuation) …And so groupings were set, I was lucky enough to be a part of the coolest group.. the non-majors, a group consisting of promising potential and powerful people (hehehe) , although most of us were already admitted in the college we chose to use the term non majors maybe just to look and sound like underdogs, but the non-majors will rule!! we just have to be ready and look forward with intense passion to the tasks(projects) ahead.

Report topics were drawn, the first glance I was already sure on what I wanted to report, something that I as a human being and an information student treasures a lot …FILE SHARING…although I wasn’t able to pick the topic, I was able to trace and trade topics with one of my groupmates …but I had to wait for 3-4 months for my turn.

Assignments were laid out, the first assignment was to put together a dream computer, an idealistic multimedia guy like me for now can only think and dream about my ideal machine…and I have to think BIG….a group assignment was to watch films and observe what type of machines were used; me being a film buff, I hadn’t really focused before on what computers the actors/actresses used or what they really do with their laptops.. when I saw Hackers during my high school years, I was more preoccupied with watching Angelina Jolie glide on the skateboard than trying to analyze what they were doing with the computer…I think if I ever focus and watch the “Hackers” do their coding closely and compare it with the Open-Source dynamic movement, it might look like the visual effects from Lou Ferigno’s Hercules vs 300’s After Effects-injected cinematic look. (to be continued)

Back to Iskul Bukol Special Dos - A Nine-part Series

(continuation) …After that first day, my mind was bombarded with cliche quotes such as “Try and try until you succeed”“better late than never“ “it’s sweeter the second time around” “one more chance” “first impression lasts”…and it really did, although a part of me still wanted to just stop and quit, a large part of me was telling me to push through and finish what I’d started; my youthful subconscious and my mature consciousness was willing to take that challenge.

The LIS 160 course interests me a lot, because my ideas for the library are more IT related, and LIS 160 is digitally compatible with the endeavors that I really want to do. One more reason is that the way the class is conducted is something truly engaging.

A positive vibration reverberates inside the room, a relaxed, lenient environment that a student like me needs everyday, far from the pressured academic stereotype. Lecturing and discussions flow naturally unlike stiff classes that I was used to a long time ago. (to be continued)

Back to Iskul Bukol Special Una - A Nine-part Series

“It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education” - Albert Einstein

I don’t remember myself liking going to class everyday, I’d get claustrophobic inside those “four corners of learning”, my youthful subconscious back in the days overpowered the straight A student in me, there’s something about a structured classroom that really freaked me out or that i never agreed with, the only thing I remember is that I constantly appeared like a magical rabbit in a hat when there were scheduled exams. I’ve always been a learner, I just chose not to attend classes in college. Now, I’m back in college resuming my academic career. After more than a decade of informally educating myself through experiential life quizzes, exams, etcetera, here I am back in the system that I never wanted to be a part of. I’m enrolled now because I wanted to create a better foundation for furthering my education and be able to execute ideas in my head.

I had ice-cold sweat on the first day of my “re-education,” maybe it’s the feeling of being inside the classroom. Flashbacks of memories circled around in my head like Voltes V and Smurf reruns. My first subject was LIS 61 (cataloging and classification). The introductions and brief orientation of the subject went well – my body temperature went from below zero to 5 degrees Celcius, LIS 55 was next – a course about collection development, had a “know your classmate” bingo activity. My temperature went up to 15 degrees – the thought of interacting with students almost half my age released some tension that I was having at the start of the day. Then I transferred to the other room for the next class, and I saw the arrangement of chairs in circles and got interested instantly because of the “alternative” look of the classroom. It looked more like a discussion group rather than the normal class; the description of the course is about theories, principles, components and issues of ICT and its applications in LIS. By this time I think my body temp was almost back to normal because it’s a subject that I am really interested in. The following activities of introducing oneself made me feel like I’m already starting to sweat, the thermometer had reached 37.9 Celcius – now my confidence was at a high, and I thought might get feverish in my next class (hehe). I no longer had the first-day jitters; I no longer was computing my age in comparison to my peers and professors, and I realized that age doesn’t matter in the learning environment. I literally felt like I was a freshman again – I was like Spongebob – ready to take on and conquer the academic world once again….(to be continued)