Meeting the SEXY MOM!

Last July 1, 2008, I was able to attend the seminar "Riding the Web 2.0 Wave: Issues and Challenges in Research and Advocacy Today. This was sponsored by the Institute for Labor Studies and Vibal Foundation at the DOLE Ople Hall in Intramuros, Manila.

Being involved in a government web site myself as a content editor (www.ncca.gov.ph), I soaked up all that was discussed during the seminar. Web 2.0, coined by O'Reilly Media in 2004, is a phrase used to describe a change in the way people use the internet. I was particularly taken by the presentation of speaker Robert Matthew Romero. He said that these days, we have become our own broadcaster, our own DJs, our own publisher. Because of the internet, people have ceased being merely an audience. Instead, we have become participants and collaborators, with our content contributions becoming the media. WE HAVE BECOME THE MEDIA. He pointed to currently existing Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis, social networking sites (flickr, friendster, multiply, facebook), social bookmarking (http://del.icio.us/.), RSS (really simple syndication, which makes it possible for people to keep up with web sites in an automated manner), and mashups (hybridb applications, i.e. google earth project). Romero posed the challenge to government agencies to take advantage of these Web 2.0 technologies to bridge what he termed as the Digital Divide. And that the sooner government agencies start using the Web 2.0 technologies to extend their services to the public, the sooner will the end users benefit. In relation to this, the participants were introduced to Wikipilipinas, the country's own online encyclopedia built by the readers themselves. This knowledge sharing and dynamic content building was also exemplified for the participants in the web site http://www.filipiniana.net/

The highlight of my attendance to the said seminar, of course, was my encounter with the Sexy Mom herself. Ask any blogger, and chances are, they've heard of Sexy Mom. Sexy Mom is Ms. Dine Racoma whose own web site has already attracted 331195 visitors (as of Aug 14, 2008 when I checked)based on the blog counter that said: "since 2006". Try googling "sexy mom," and her web site comes up on top of the list. Yes, she candidly admitted that she has received flak for the label "sexy mom" as one reader had once confronted her. But she explained that her reason for using "sexy mom" was far from what that reader had harangued her for. She explained that she started that blog after retiring from the corporate world. She became conscious of her figure, and one time, she asked her children if she had started to look fat. They replied that she was the sexiest mom for them. Hence, the now famous tag for her site. But lest you think she was writing sleazy material, go check http://dine.racoma.com.ph. She writes about almost anything, sharing with the readers lessons in her experiences, even by merely writing about her granddaughters. And rather than take a beating from that angry reader, she has since shared her knowledge and energy with a web site that is helping erase the sleazy image attached with the word Filipina. She happily talked about the web site http://filipinaimages.com/, which she co-founded with Noemi Dado and Lorna Dietz. The site is a collaborative effort of all bloggers who believe that the Filipina deserves a more empowered, better image online. Her presence for that afternoon's seminar was by itself already a proof of her message. That yes, Filipinas are sexy, but more importantly, that Filipinas had, all along, been carrying worthier labels. So, I was happy that afternoon to discover, so to speak, a proud sexy Filipina mom. And this photo here is my proof of that. Don't you just love us here? :)