Regional ICT Congress 2009 - Day One

As what the title says, I would like to share you the highlights (and some side comments) of what happened for the first day of the 2nd Regional ICT Congress 2009. With the theme, "Bolstering Region 1's Strengths with the Latest ICT Trends and Technologies", the 2nd ICT Congress features Robotics, Nanotechnology, Animation and Game Development.

Before the affair started, we - me and some 3rd year BS Math CIT students of PSU Lingayen - are outside the dome waiting for the program to begin. I was so uncomfortable when no co-instructors appeared. I know somebody's worried about the tickets, too, hehe. But we finally entered Dagupan City Astrodome, to keep the story of waiting-scenario short.

The program started with how it should start, except for the time-frame listed on the program. The first part of the congress appears like a singing contest rather than an ICT Congress, haha. But, to be fair enough, the singers can really sing. :) Yes, that's a complement to the organizer. There was also a question and answer portion after some speeches. Of course PSU Lingayen students can outwit other colleges and universities on that department, haha. They got 2 out of 3 prizes - with a consideration to the third, since the emcee thought that it's unfair. Wow!

The welcome address wasn't from Dagupan Mayor Al Fernandez. I forgot the name of the proxy. You can write on the comment on who was that. :) Followed by Hon. Monchito B. Ibrahim - Commissioner of ICT, Cyberservices Group. Then by the most-awaited (by the people around me), Senator Richard "Dick" Gordon, gave his talk.

I can only remember some of the commisioner's messages.

• Manufacturing industry is now on India and China because of cheaper salary there.
• Services is the ideal industry in the Philippines because of the abilities and qualities of Filipinos, like fluency in English, proficiency of different technologies and being hospitable.

Oh, I forgot the others. He showed some slides proving his statements. He also proved that IT is not that affected by global crisis. I already heard it from phil-jobs. It says that IT experts are the most wanted employees. (I really forgot the other ideas. I should have taken notes. Please share through posting your comments. Thanks!)

Senator Gordon, talked about the walls of Bagumbayan. :) He talked about the physical walls and the figurative walls. He imparted that Filipinos are naturally horizon-seekers. Filipinos naturally wanted to widen out, conquer the boundaries and learning more. But colonizers created walls physically and figuratively. The figurative wall is more destructive than the physical one. It discourages people to improve themselves and the community where they belonged. But according to Gordon, he already remove the walls from his mind, so that the seemingly impossible is possible. As usual, from a politician, he talked politics at some points. :)

Lunch break! They should have given more, since I was already starving when my lunch packed arrived.

Back to the program. Dr. Elmer P. Dadios, discussed about Robots and featured the school where he is teaching - De La Salle University. He showed some thesis of his students regarding robotics.

He also discussed four types of robotics - Six-legged, four legged, two-legged, and humanoid robots. The six-legged, is of course has six legs coordinated with each other. Same thing with four-legged and two-legged robots. The humanoid robot, though, is a bit more complicated. It has an upper body, needed to be considered by the engineers. They should take it for consideration, since it added weight. So, a sensor for gravity is needed. You also need to compute for the center of gravity to make the robot have a sense of balance.

I was (and the crowd, hehe I almost forgot the crowd) entertained by the dancing robot, haha! Three thumbs up to the makers! If I have three thumbs, haha.

Mr. Wilson Chua was next. Through web conference, he talked about the themes, "Blogging: The Social Marketing Tool" and "Social Software Innovations in IT Industry". Though, I really did not understand much about the blogging. I thought he is going to teach us how to improve our page rank or even how to create readership on our blogs or how to earn through blog. He talked more about how to search on google, especially for job seekers.

One of the interesting part of the first day is Ms. Marie Grace Dimaranan's speech. She discussed "Animation and Game Development". She is the President of the Animation Council of the Philippines Incorporated. She presented the missions, visions and current projects of ACPI. She encouraged the delegates to pursue Animation if they really wanted to. She showed the possibility of having such career.

The first step is to determine ourselves if we are in Creativity or Technical side. On Creativity, the person should be good in drawing. On Technical, the person should have the still on existing technologies concerning Animation - 2D, 3D, and Flash animations.

Oh, I'll be back next time. I am already starving. I'll make updates on this Regional ICT Congress 2009 - Day One if I can remember the other ideas. And wait for the Regional ICT Congress 2009 - Day Two! I'll also try to upload the photos of the said affair.

Thanks for parking in. :) Please leave a comment. It is always free. :)

Updates still ongoing. :)

The dancing little robots.