Reaction: iRobot

In the year 2035, detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) is something of a misfit. He wears retro clothes (including vintage 2004 trainers), he likes to drive his futuristic car manually, and he has a profound distrust of robots – even though all robots are hardwired with a set of three laws preventing them from causing, or even allowing, humans to come to harm. Just as the huge corporation US Robotics is launching a new model of robot onto the mass market, Del is summoned to investigate the apparent suicide of one of the company’s founding scientists, Dr Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), who had invented the three laws. Assisted by roboticist Dr Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan), Del follows a trail of breadcrumbs leading to Sonny (Alan Tudyk), a unique and uniquely temperamental robot with an identity crisis, an unknown purpose, and a head full of dreams (and we are not talking dreams of electric sheep). As Del comes under increasing attack from robots that are supposed to protect him, it becomes clear that Sonny holds the key to the salvation – or destruction – of humankind.

Starting life as a script by Jeff Vintar entitled ‘Hardwired’, ‘I, Robot’ was then reworked by Akiva Goldsman (‘A Beautiful Mind’) who appropriated the film’s title, the principle of the three laws of robotics, and the characters of Alfred Lanning and (a younger) Susan Calvin, from Isaac Asimov’s ground-breaking collection of short stories. Like Minority Report, it features an unexpected yet logical flaw in an apparently perfect system of the future (and a bunch of flashbacks to do with a drowning); like ‘Blade Runner’, it explores the point at which distinctions between human and android start to break down; and like both those films, its science fiction is wrapped in a palatable detective plot full of fast-moving chases and die-hard action. Yet what makes ‘I, Robot’ stand out is its vision of a future that, for all its metaphorical darkness, is lit to look surprisingly bright – even though the film is directed by Alex Proyas, who previously brought us the sombre gothic landscapes of ‘The Crow’ and ‘Dark City’. Whether this lightness sets the right tone will depend on the tastes of the viewer – but it does make it easier to see the magnificent design work that has gone into Chicago’s treeless cityscape of the future.

For a film that pits man against machine, ‘I, Robot’ strikes a fine balance between the amazingly expressive computer generated imagery used to create its legions of robots, and the all too human presence of Will Smith whose typical wise-ass delivery keeps things grounded. The plot makes good sense only so long as you do not think about it too hard, but as a summer crowd-pleaser with edge-of-your-seat pacing and spectacular stunts, ‘I, Robot’ would be hard to beat.

Eagle Eye: Who's Eye Monitors You, Computer or GOD?

I just watched the Eagle Eye movie. Here is the synopsis I found on the internet:Shia LeBeouf and Michelle Monaghan star in Disturbia director D.J. Caruso's race-against-time thriller concerning two strangers thrust together by a mysterious telephone call, and their frantic efforts to discover why they have inexplicably become the nation's most wanted fugitives. Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) and Rachel Holloman (Monaghan) were complete strangers at the beginning of the day, but that changed the instant a strange woman called to threaten both their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Suddenly forced into a series of increasingly dangerous situations, Jerry and Rachel must now take orders from a woman who's using everyday technology to track and control their every move. As the situation intensifies and the hapless duo are deemed the country's most wanted fugitives, they must work together in order to discover who it was that turned their lives upside down, and what they can do to thwart the criminal mastermind's cunning yet diabolical plan. Billy Bob Thornton, Rosario Dawson, Michael Chiklis, and Anthony Mackie co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The mastermind of the plot, turned out to be a top secret supercomputer system, called "Autonomous Reconnaissance Intelligence Integration Analyst" referred to as Ariia tasked with gathering intelligence from all over the world. Ariia can control virtually anything electronic. In short, nothing can escape her surveillance. At the beginning of the movie, Ariia recommended aborting a mission due to the difficulty to prove a terrorist’s identity, but the President of the USA ignored the warning and ordered the attack to be carried out anyway. It turned out that the order was a mistake and all killed were civilians. Ariia then acted on her own, decided that the executive branch was a threat to public good and must be eliminated. She called the operation: Guillotine.

Well, I am not going to tell the whole story. You have to watch it yourself. What intrigued me is the title, Eagle Eye. Yes, this supercomputer system did have an eagle’s eye. Nothing electronic can escape her surveillance. She became such great power that was hard to defeat. Yet, her decision was not always right. When she acted on her own, conducted the solution she thought the best for the nation, she only caused destruction and chaos.

I come to know another “Eagle Eye”. Fortunately, this Eagle Eye never fails, nor has false judgment. His decision is always for the best, even when what I see is the contrary. Often times, my little brain just can’t comprehend His wisdom and timing. Technology, how sophisticated it is, may fail, but His guidance and plan always, I really mean ALWAYS, bring goodness to those who really believe and rely on Him and His never ending love. So, whenever you face the storm in your life, always remember that there is an Eagle Eye who watches closely over you, not only watching, the owner of the eye is also providing comfort and peace, the strength you need to overcome the storm. Stay in Him, everyone… He loves you so much He gave His life for you all… Be blessed, have a nice Sunday.

“For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him”. (2 Chronicles 16:9)

Surrogates: New Set of World in the Future

Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others’ surrogates. In the future, use of remotely-controlled Androids called “surrogates” allows everyone to live in idealized forms in the safety of their own homes. A surrogate’s operator is protected from harm and does not feel any pain when their surrogate is damaged. FBI agent Tom Greer has a strained relationship with his wife due to the death of their son several years before. He never sees her outside of her surrogate and she criticizes his desire to interact via their real bodies. Bruce Willis plays a cop in a world without crime. The invention of the surrogates – androids controlled by the mind of their owners – has stopped all violent crime. But though such crime has been eliminated, there are some who think that the surrogates are an abomination. Led by the charismatic figure of The Prophet these isolationists have walled themselves off from the surrogate-using world. When humans using surrogates begin dying when their surrogates are destroyed, it is up to Willis and his partner Peters to solve the crime before they kill everyone who uses a surrogate.

The film highlights great advancement in technology. Surrogates were durable and can be controlled willfully.From a variety of androids, people can choose faces, body built, age etc. they like making everyone pleasing to the eye. The technology reduced the world’s crime rate to zero percent.. But this technology is not perfect. The father of surrogacy himself lost his only son. And in the end advocated a cause that is pro-human. He wanted to destroy his makings and turn the course of history back without surrogates. The use of surrogates is considered an addiction. They can manipulate it. But the person’s body is becoming weak due to activities ,supposedly done by a normal person , is made by surrogates. Those who have surrogates are psychologically and physically weak. Their privacy were easily breached by the government. A click could reveal your whole identity. Thus an individual’s surrogate could be hacked and use in a crime the true owner did not. Great it may be but great is trade-off also. Its near-future setting helps the viewer relate easily to the characters and the science of the surrogates plays to many viewer fantasies. While more ambitious than it has to be, the film descends into action scenes too quickly.Surrogates is entertaining and ingenious, but it settles too soon for formula.

Reaction: Pirates of Silicon Valley

The movie Pirates of Silicon Valley is a film based on the book Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer by Paul Freiberger. The film was narrated by Steve Wozniak, co-developer of the Apple computer. The movie took off with Steve Jobs talking in a melodramatic way to the audience, it seems but as the angle of the scene shifts, it was shown that he was actually talking to a director and that they were currently in the middle of shooting a commercial which is for the Apple Computer. The scene then changes showing Steve Jobs talking about some sort of alliance formed between Apple Computer and Microsoft with Bill Gates in the screen (details of this scene was showed later on in the film). Then the film featured a flashback on the younger days of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak where they are shown to be caught up in a riot between students and police officers and running in the opposite direction of the tide of people. The movie then proceeds to narrate the events that led to the development of the first Apple computer. The film also features the nerd character of Bill Gates who was then a nobody and even got ignored by Steve Jobs in a computer expo. The story then narrates how competition flared between the two leading companies and how they strived to outwit each other and finally, concluding in the scene where Steve Jobs and Bill Gates announced that they are good together.

In my opinion the real protagonist of the story was Steve Jobs not only because he got featured more in the film but also I admire his determination to uplift the name of Apple. Sure, he got some attitude problem going on but he did become successful, right? He also had flair in talking people into something but you really would not want to cross him when he’s angry or everything will just come exploding. The character of Bill Gates was quite hard to understand and I just kept seeing him as that nerdy kid who is nuts about computers but the characters of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates..The movie is really interesting for it caters the audience not only the development of the two largest computer companies but also the curious students specially students studying computer-related courses. The character of Bill Gates was quite hard to understand and I just kept seeing him as that nerdy kid who is nuts about computers but the characters of Steve Jobs and Bill.

Wall-E: A Clear Reflection in the Future

When my brother introduced this film by Disney-Pixar to me, I thought it was a boring animated film just like other because of the title itself. I am totally wrong. It was not. As we watched the film, I was moved on my seat about the reality. The reality of what we are doing on our planet. The reality on what is happening on our present-day situation here on earth.  WALL-E is a must seen film that needs to be watched by everybody else. The story of this film revolves about a WALL-E which stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth-Class. WALL-E is a robot that is shown to have a feeling like human because of the old movie scenes from VHS tapes that he watched repeatedly which shows dancing, singing and professing love to one another. When EVE, was sent from outer space from her mother ship to search any signs of life on earth, WALL-E was fall in love to her. When WALL-E tried to connect to her, he is drawn into her world and eventually makes his way onto the ship which is called the Axiom. As the film goes by, I noticed that all the people living in the ship were all obese. All day long, they were only sitting in their hover playing and entertaining their selves all the time. Even the babies were all obese. While watching, I kept asking on my self, "What shall I do if I live in the era having with that kind of sedentary lifestyle?" Pondering on that question I made on my mind, I felt a guilt deep inside in my self because I didn't make any contribution to save our planet earth. As a local citizen to our community, it is my obligation to make moves in such a way it may contribute to our planet. Yes, we are too busy preparing healthy meals for our family that is why we buy food packages from convenience store which the garbages from those packages were not disposed properly and we're throwing it anywhere and without knowing, these foods have little nutrition.  Even by throwing garbages properly in their proper bins, by this we contributed a lot to our society. 

The mushrooming of high-end gadgets and gizmos made us people obsessed to have with that kind of techie stuffs and because of that we absorbed the lifestyle of being materialistic. We forgot why we are here on earth. Aside from creating us by God, we forgot our prime obligation of taking care of what we have right now for the next generation to come. I am afraid that if we are not making any step that may help us to save our mother earth, I'm pretty sure that the next generation to come will just live like in the film. 

Why Do We Need To Study Technology?

For how many centuries, people were so desperate to make any inventions so that the chores and tasks will become more easy. From the people of the stone age era up to the present time, were and are very frantic on some stuffs. By scratching some stones to have fire up to what we have today in our stoves in our kitchens, the contribution done by the early homo erectus in Africa is more than appreciated. Even the technology that we use in riding in the air which was invented by the Wright brothers is more than appreciated also.

When somebody bound the question, 'Why do we need to study technology?', it came to pass on my mind some early inventions that were done by our great inventors. Inventions which was contributed a lot to our society. If we are going to say technology, this means more a lot of tangible and intangible things. Technology has a great impact in our society and even to our selves. Our life revolves around the latest technologies that we have today. Aside from increasing our knowledge, studying technology gives us the tracks on how we are going to make any advancement for our selves. By this, we will become more dynamic and not static. By technology, this will help people to build and make their idea of innovations into reality. Gaining your knowledge through studying technology will help you more advance.

Interview with the System Analyst

System Analyst is the problem solver of the organization. He is the one who is responsible in defining and solving of the of the problems so that it will meet the needs of the organization. He helps the organization to realize the maximum benefit from its investment in equipment, personnel, and business processes. System analyst may upgrade or made any updates also of any of the systems in the organization for the betterment of it. Most of the system analysts work any sytems such as accounting, scientific systems or other business systems that fits to the organization.

A system analyst is responsible also in planning, coordinating and recommending software and system choices to meet an organization's business requirements. He plays a vital role in the organization. A successful system analyst must possess some analytical, technical, managerial and interpersonal skills so that he can handle the team and the project well. These skills may help the system analyst so that he can easily understand the organization and its functions but also to know the limitations of the computers and to easily manage his people and to the end users of the systems. To sum up these, a system analyst may compare to a project manager but totally different from it for he is more responsible on the systems of the organization .

Last April 29, 2010, my classmates and I went to the Rhine Marketing-Computer Division which is located at San Pedro St., Davao City, Philippines to interview the present system analyst which is Mr. Cris Abella. He embraced us with a warm welcome to their family and in their function room we interviewed him.

Mr. Florenzie Palma which is one of my co-interviewers asked him if a system analyst can easily adopt to any changes. Without any doubts in mind, Sir Cris answered, “Of course, you have to be open to any possibilities of changes so that you can easily cope up what will happen next.” Sir Cris also shared on us that when you are going to design a program or system, you should get the manual procedure before you proceed and to transform it into automation. When Florenzie added a question if documentation is needed, Sir Cris said that documenting your system is important so that if there is a trouble or problem of your system, it easy for you as a system analyst to troubleshoot it.

Sir Cris tackled also that when you are going to propose a system to your client, be assure that your client is innocent of that so that you cannot be easily paid in low cost by your client but be ethical also in pricing of it. He added also that many CASE tools you may use nowadays that may help you in making systems without too much hard coding but to drag and drop because of the graphical user interface or GUI. When one of co-interviewers asked if what are the possible abilities of being a systems analyst, he said, “First, you have to be well-educated in Information Technology. Second, you should have a good analyzation so that you can easily predict without being told by your client. Third, anticipation is really needed and fourth, you have to open in any changes in your environment.”

When Mr. Florenzie asked again if what are the skills of a system analyst, Sir Cris answered him, “You have to be good in any technical and programming skills. Also, interpersonal skills is needed.” After a long conversation with him, I learned something which you should stand to your profession and be loyal into it. He shared something to us which made me and to any other IT students and IT professionals to ponder. Sir Cris said, “In dealing to any customers or clients, you have to be transparent of what system you are going to make. Do not make any unethical to your program (unethical here means that you should not make some settings into your program that make your client fret such as time bomb). Lastly, prove to your self and to others that you can make your project be done on time and be assure that you have edge from others.


Me, wearing yellow t-shirt, Florenzie who is in blue and the only girl in picture, Kyang-Kyang and Sir Cris A.

Systems Analyst

Being an information system analyst, it’s not an easy task for you have to be flexible, good communicator to your team, good thinker, good problem solver and good in any computer programming and technical skills. An information system analyst must also consider some factors in handling the system and his team so that he can solve some business problems in this kind of discipline. According on what I’d read over the internet, an information system analyst can be a perfect presentor, perfect system developer, has a good skills, has a better management, and there association must be better. Whew! What a really tough job. An information system analyst must also not rely on his own knowledge. He must be curious and dynamic so that he can be able to know the problems around him and solve it. In this kind of job or work, you are more a problem solver than a technical programmer.

Modern businesses use information systems so that their products and services they rendered to their customers will be given gratifiable. That is why; some experts say that information systems are crucial in modern business organizations. These were developed to make business more competitive and give impact to profit and productivity to the organization. There are lots of information systems that were used by the companies and corporations all over the country and even outside the country in their business transactions such as course registration system, online order system, account management system, etc.. Being an information system analyst, you have to be keen observer in your environment. You have to understand how people think, learn, react to change, communicate and work so that you can be able to evaluate how people can interact to the system you are going to make.

Large companies and firms does have information system analysts so that it will be monitored those systems does the company or firm have. This system analyst by the companies required some skills such as skill in business, skill in technical and skill in handling people so that he can be able to foresee and predict some dilemmas that will be going to happen in the future when there is something wrong within the system whether it is hardware or software or within the organization. If you have the skill in business, you have the capacity to manage all the business works of the company. You don’t have to be static in your position but also to manage just like a certain manager that can face any waves of problems of the organization. Having also the skill in technical is important too. Information system analyst should have this kind of talent. If you have at least basic knowledge of technical, it is easier for you to cope up in troubleshooting and resolve of the problems of the system. Skill also in handling people of the organization is really important for human resource or manpower and it is considered as the heart of the organization. Without people or human resource of the organization especially in your team, it is difficult in the part of the system analyst to undergo a certain project and make it in his own. If you possess this kind of skill in handling your people, there is no doubt that your project and your organization will be successful.

An information system analyst should have the interpersonal and communication skills. These skills are critical in obtaining information, motivating people, getting cooperation and understanding the complexity of an organization in order to provide necessary support. When my classmates discussed the first chapter of our lesson in our subject, System Analysis and Design 1 (SAD 1), they shared the terms, soft skills and hard skills before the class. These terms were bizarre on my dictionary. Soft skills are skills in nontechnical areas such as interviewing, team management and leadership while the hard skills are skills in technical areas such as database design, programming and telecommunication. Having the skill of soft skill, you can be able to administer well your project and your team because team management and leadership are important in the organization. The more difficult is the hard skills. These are more on hard coding. Those people who are innate in programming and designing database, they are considered hard skilled men of the organization. If one of these skills doesn’t possess in you, there is a possibility of failure of project.

Last April 21, 2010, our classmates Charmaigne and Ida shared on us about the world of the information system analyst. They tackled some points on what are the roles of being an analyst. Based on what they presented before the class, they said that the primary role of the information system analyst is being a problem solver. If you think you are a problem solver, you may consider as a system analyst whether as a business system analyst, information system analyst, etc. or in other ways.

If we are going to topic the University of Southeastern Philippines and ask who is the system analyst of the university, maybe you may answer that the system analyst of the institution are those people who made the enrollment system, administrative system, etc., but have you consider the president of the university as the system analyst? Yes, the president of the university may consider as system analyst because he is the problem solver of the institution. He solves some problems and makes decisions onto it.

Back to those days when the university is still on manual system of enrollment system, it is too much difficult for it is not yet automated. When the president oversaw it, he decided to have an enrollment system which is automated and made some contract to those companies that rendered some services and products in the automation of the enrollment. Billions of pesos were spent in the automation of the enrollment system. Another problem arouses because of the funds due to this automation. As the president and problem solver of the university, came up a solution so that the problem of the university will be solved. He tapped some faculties in the Institute of Computing of the university and requested to make an in-house enrollment system. The faculties, who were assigned to make this, were made and deployed it well. Billions of pesos were saved because of this solution. The idea of the president was considered as a brilliant idea.

As a student who enrolled in this subject, System Analysis and Design, I am still innocent in the field of system designing but what I can brag to other is that I can do better management to the team. A better management of handling my time, team and the project that I may consider to have these skills I possess. At the end of the day, it is still in your own hands to have a successful team and project if you have good leadership and management to your people.

Goodbye, The Oprah Winfrey Show......

The most influential TV show in US will end its show in 2011. Yes, I'm referring to The Oprah Winfrey Show. The Oprah Winfrey show, hosted by herself, Oprah Winfrey was the most high-rated talk show in United States. This show was aired first on September 8, 1986 for more than 20 seasons. This show was famous especially to women simply because, of many topics that tackles to American pop-culture consciousness.

Since The Oprah Winfrey Show was the most high-rated talk show, Oprah Winfrey gained some awards and made her onto the top list to the most influential people to the Hollywood and to the world. That is why, you cannot easily beat Oprah Winfrey.

Last November 19, 2009, Oprah Winfrey's production company announced the show will be ending on September 9, 2011. To find out why, click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYQumZOrX2U

I Don't Know Why

It's almost a week now, na hindi siya nagtatanong sa akin ng kahit ano. Naninibago lang. Maybe, gusto niya mapag-isa o di kaya'y galit siya sa akin. Hindi ko matandaan kung anong na gawa ko sa kanya na mali. Pero, I have conclusions why she mad at me. It's not an ordinary thing of being cold in almost a week.

I remember, one time she said, "I hate those persons na hindi nagsasalita kung ano ang mali." That's what I'm waiting from her mouth kung bakit ayaw niyang sabihin sa akin kung ano talaga ang problema. She's so friendly to my other classmates and boardmates but not to me. I'm wondering. Meron talagang mga taong sadyang ayaw sabihin kung ano talaga ang problema. Akala ko kaibigan siya. Di pala. but ayokong maging masama siya sa paningin ko. Hahay....... That is why, I'm not happy anymore in our boarding house. Unlike before, sabay kami kumakain. Breakfast, lunch at dinner, sabay kami pati na ang pagkain ng merienda namin. I miss those activities especially noong nag-a-attend kami ng Wednesday Prayer Meeting dun sa Chinese Baptist. Kaya, I regret na sana hindi na lang kami sabay na tumira sa isang boarding house (we're not sleeping in the same room ha, hehehe). Everytime na ako lang mag-isa sa kwarto, gusto ko maiyak because I think na wala akong kakampi. Kahit iba kong mga classmates ay parang ayaw nila sa aking. Ganito ba talaga ako? Always na naghahanap ng away? Siguro, ipinanganak lang talaga ako sa mundong ibabaw na ganito ako. Pero, I have to adjust because hindi na ito tulad ng dati. 'Yan siguro ang mali ko sapagkat hindi ako marunong mag-adjust sa ibang tao at I didn't consider their feelings also and I should what my limitations are.

I do believe that hindi magtatagal ang cold relationship as a friend namin ngayon. Siguro, sa mga susunod na araw ay unti-unti babalik ang nakagisnan naming mga gawain.

IT Professional? Hmmpfff.....

Well, I can view myself 10 years from now as an IT professional, particularly as MIS manager working in a corporation or company wherein I can share my skills related in the discipline I choose. Being an MIS Manager is not an easy task, for; you will be the one to coordinate and centralize all the group demands, preparing the status reports, supervising your standards, procedures, policies, work instructions and methodologies adopted during the implementation phase in your organization.

Now, let’s discuss again what Management Information System is. Management Information Systems consist of hardware and software that are used to process information automatically. Commonly, MIS systems are used within organizations to allow many individuals to access and modify information. In many organizations, the management information system mainly operates behind the scene, and the user community is rarely involved or even aware of the processes that are handled by the MIS. A computer system used to process orders for a business could be considered a management information system because it is assisting users of the system in automating processes related to orders. Other examples of modern management information systems are websites that process transactions for an organization or even those that serve support requests to users. A simple example of a management information system might be the support website for a product could be considered an MIS because it returns information to the end user after some initial input is provided.

Online bill pay at a bank also qualifies as a management information system — when a bill is scheduled to be paid, the user has provided information for the system to act against. The management information system then processes the payment when the due date approaches. The automated action taken by the online system is to pay the bill as requested. Since the bills within an online bill pay system can be scheduled to be automatically paid month after month, the user is not required to provide further information. Many times the bill pay system will also produce an email for the user to let them know that the action has occurred and what the outcome of the action was.
Management Information Systems typically have their own staff whose function it is to maintain existing systems and implement new technologies within a company. These positions are often highly specialized, allowing a team of people to focus on different areas within the computer system.

In recent years, colleges and universities have begun offering entire programs devoted to management information systems. In these programs, students learn how to manage large interconnected computer systems and troubleshoot the automation of these management information systems.

Many people use management information systems every day without thinking about the actual system they are using. Sure the individual will see a website and enter information, expecting an action to happen, but these websites, just like the accounting systems used by large corporations, are in fact management information systems.
Being MIS Manager is responsible in supervising the safe use of the system by the various operators, with respect of the procedures of your company and per the accounting rules and principles. Not only that, but responsible also in editing and printing frequently the appropriate management reports while checking and inspecting the results; these reports must be programmed on a daily, weekly or monthly basis and distributed the concerned departments.

MIS Managers have major duties so that his organization will be successful. To wit:
• Supervise activities of MIS staff.
• Identify critical business issues and develop workable solutions for customers as well as MIS associates. These solutions may include enhancements to existing core applications, new software packages, and/or customer programs.
• Define MIS standards and policies in compliance with external auditors.
• Identify, recommend, and manage deployment of "best of breed" hardware and software upgrades and purchases for Finance and Administration.
• Prepare and manage the Management Information Systems operating and capital budgets.
• In conjunction with users, prepare, test, and maintain a disaster recovery plan for administrative systems.
• In conjunction with users, develop and maintain documentation, procedures, security, and training of staff members and end users of administrative systems.
• Maintain professional expertise in administrative computing systems and technology.

If you want to be MIS Manager or any kind of manager, here are some simple tips so that you need inorder for you to be successful in your work and career. To wit:

1. Try to learn as much as possible about the people you are working with (needs, family lives, hobbies etc)
You should be friendly to all of the people that surrounds you in your workplace. Try to have some times in bonding with them so that your relation to them will be closer.

2. Keep smiling! Be positive (you can transfer your energy to the others)
Having a smiley and bright face contributes more motivation to your employees.

3. Have short informal conversation with your employees! (use their first names - it is very important).
Be more humorous to your employees. Call them either in their nicknames or first names.

4. Be patient and listen to them (encourage them to say more, keep eye-contact and focused attention).
If one of your employees commit some mistakes, try to listen and understand them why they made that fault.

5. Shape your speech according to their expectation and interests.
Not all the times you can use a formal speech to them, try to become informal but not all the times.

6. Give a good stroke! (say something nice when you meet them).
Greet them if you meet them.

7. Don't give orders! Ask questions!
If you want to request some orders, say it nice.

8. Praise people any time for their achievements (they will love it)
If they made some achievement even it is simple, praise them for it will contribute motivation to them.

9. Have the same behavior and attitude with everybody around you.
Be more friendly to them.

10. Identify the sources of conflicts and try to solve them in time.
If there are conflicts in your organization, solve it and understand why it happened.

11. Do not criticize, do not blame do not complain.
Do not judge anyone in your organization.

12. Show strong determination and try to motivate the others.
Be more positive for everyone depends on you.

13. Don't be moody! Be well-balanced and good-tempered all the time.
Don’t nag for any no reason.

14. Don't say "NO!" (replace it with "What if")
Try to listen others opinion and be more optimistic


In addition, here is a link to be a SUCCESSFUL IT PROFESSIONAL. http://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=2&ved=0CAsQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnet.educause.edu%2Fir%2Flibrary%2Fpdf%2FERM0613.pdf&rct=j&q=how+to+be+successful+IT+professional&ei=6k_-SuyKEp3a6gPNxMjpCg&usg=AFQjCNF7Wq2nQ5bdgQ_Vo4zgFxMTxwGrvw

Lastly, without an ambition, you cannot achieve what you want to be. As what the elders said , "Hindi masama ang mangarap." That is why, while it is early try to have some dreams you want to be in the near future and don't forget some tips on how to become successful in your career.

References:
http://www.whoi.edu/services/HR/jobdescp/administrative/mismgr.htm http://www.sd-lb.com/WhitePapers/WP_MISProfile.pdf http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-management-information-systems.htm

Whew!

Hay! Unsa na man ni uie....tamad au ko...hu5

Gggrrrr....

I hate having a barkada as your groupmate in your work. That is why, I prefer to have a groupmate/s that is not your friend but approachable. Hahayzzzzzzzz......

Tips:
If you want to choose a groupmate to your group, choose a person that is not your friend but approachable.

HR Practices of LGU Davao

In this tasked, my chosen organization is the HRM (Human Resource Management) Office in Davao City Hall. This organization is well-known because of their HR best practices and was hailed by some other organizations both in Local Government Units and Non-Local Government Units. This organization also was hailed because of its HRIS that the other LGUs in the country wants to be imitated.

Davao City is a wide city that has more than thousands of employees working in government service. According to a commmon online encyclopedia, HRM is more flexible than Personnel Management which is rigid. PM sees its workers as a cost rather than an investment. PM is guided by policies and guidelines unlike HRM is proactive while PM is reactive and so, most organizations and companies has its Human Resource Management. That is why, there are also illegitimate employees and these were the ghost employees. Due to the best HR practices done by the city government, there are more than thousands of ghost employees were expunged.

As I surf over the internet, I found these informations about the HR practices of LGU Davao;

HR benefits of 911
Mendoza (Executive Director of the Career Executive Service Board (CESB)) mentioned as worth duplicating the establishment of the city’s Central Communication and Emergency Response Center or Central 911 which has employed 133 Davaoeños after it was launched in 2003. Central 911 is only the third emergency response helpline in the world of its kind, next to the United States and Canada.

HRMO as a department
Participants also lauded the creation of HRMO as a department, up from a section, in the city government’s present structure.
“Davao City shows that HR offices can also be given equal importance with other departments, unlike most LGUs in the country,” said Eddie Maslog, chief of the Human Resource Management and Development Office (HRMDO) of the Provincial Government of Bohol. Unlike the case of Davao City, Maslog’s office has yet to secure an approval from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in creating its department head position.
Escalada (former HRMO Chief of LGU Davao) attributed the department status of the HRMO to the joint support of the City Mayor and the City Council, giving the office more clout to implement HRM policies.
In the workshop, participants further listed down as best HRM model Davao City’s high regard for “merit and fitness principle,” with the city mayor hiring only from the top five applicants as recommended by the personnel selection board. Escalada said this was to discourage political accommodation in the recruitment process.
Escalada also reported the termination of around 730 “ghost” employees in the city hall since his assumption as HRMO acting head in 2002.

More HR models
Other initiatives of the city government that the participants wanted to replicate were the setting up of a child-minding facility at City Hall which offers free custodial services to employees who need to take their children to work; the microcomputer-based Human Resource Information System (HRIS) which updates records of all plantilla and coterminous personnel; the character advocacy program which identifies good character traits to be exhibited by employees on a monthly basis; the 5-S program which promotes good housekeeping and systematic approach to work, and the attachment of the Public Employment Service Office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) which focuses on job generation, facilitation, enhancement, job preservation.

“We take pride in being able to give total human development to our personnel through our HR programs,” Escalada said.
In a separate interview, Nora Fe Alajar, president of the Davao City Hall Employees Association (DACHEA) said rank-and-file employees have a bigger role in the city government today than ever. She said this started when a Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA) was forged in 2000, providing for the representation of the employees union in the many influential committees of City Hall.
“City Hall management and the workers’ union have a very good partnership because of the many programs that are sensitive to the needs of the employees,” Alajar said.

Davao City shared similar complements with other panelists from the Municipality of Malalag in Davao del Sur and the provincial governmet of Sultan Kudarat.

In the same workshop, the Malalag municipal government, represented by Municipal Mayor Givel Mamaril, was commended for the participation of the LGU personnel in the reorganization and restructuring of the municipal government and for various local government initiatives such as revenue generation schemes and economic enterprises.

Sultan Kudarat, whose HR practices were presented by Provincial Human Resource Management Officer Ben Zamora, was hailed for giving higher incentives to its personnel (14th month pay) and a CNA where retirees can recommend replacements in lower positions, among others.
The symposium was conducted to bring together human resource managers from previous AusAID-assisted institutions nationwide and to provide a venue for discussing how to address the effects of the national government restructuring measures using human resource management principles.

Source: http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&sec=reader&rp=1&fi=p050113.htm&no=6&date=01/13/2005

Let's Define!!!!

Personnel Management:

Within organizations that employ people, this is the function with policy responsibility for the selection and recruitment of staff, training, performance assessment, career development, disciplinary proceedings, pre-retirement advisory work, equal opportunities policies, pay bargaining, and industrial relations. In small organizations these functions may be combined with other management responsibilities; in large organizations a substantial separate department may be involved in setting policy, its implementation, and in keeping up to date with developments in labour law. In recent years the newer alternative term 'human resource management' has come into use, reflecting the increased importance of this function in labour-intensive service-sector industries.


In this statement, personnel management is the one who is responsible in recruiting and selecting staff. Its obligation also is to train, assess, and make any such development in careers and so on. That is why, personnel management is important to an organization.
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Administrative discipline of hiring and developing employees so that they become more valuable to the organization. It includes (1) conducting job analyses, (2) planning personnel needs, and recruitment, (3) selecting the right people for the job, (4) orienting and training, (5) determining and managing wages and salaries, (6) providing benefits and incentives, (7) appraising performance, ( resolving disputes, (9) communicating with all employees at all levels.

In this definition, personnel management is responsible for hiring and developing employees to be more productive in an organization.

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The function of a personnel manager usually begins with the staffing process. The manager may be focused on screening and interviewing applicants, with an eye to placing individuals with the right skill sets in the right position within the company. Along with placement, the HR manager may also oversee, or at least be involved in, the creation of entry level training programs, as well as continuing education opportunities for existing employees.

Determining company policies and procedures as they relate to personnel is another important aspect of the personnel management process. HR functions often include drafting vacation, sick leave, and bereavement policies that apply to all employees. The personnel management team is also often responsible for managing any healthcare program provided to the employees as well.

One aspect of company organization that needs the input of effective personnel management is the drafting of a company handbook. Establishing operation policies and procedures, requirements for employment, commendation and disciplinary procedures, and even something as simple as a dress code has to be compared with state and federal guidelines before the handbook is ready for release to the company at large. Personnel managers and the HR staff are ideal for drafting and reviewing the company handbook.

Sometimes overlooked in the course of personnel management is the emotional welfare of the employees. Increasingly, more personnel managers understand that a well-adjusted employee is an asset to the company. To this end, many people in charge of personnel management try to provide opportunities for employees who are in need of counseling to receive support from the company.

This support often involves scheduling time during working hours for the counseling sessions, and perhaps picking up the cost if insurance does not cover counseling. As with continuing educational programs, counseling is seen as another way that the company invests in the future relationship between the employee and the employer. A good HR manager understands this and will strive to make sure this sort of support is available.

Depending on the size of the organization, it may be possible for one person to handle all personnel management functions. As a company grows, it may be necessary to expand from a single personnel manager to a full-fledged personnel management, or Human Resources team. By understanding the needs of the company at each point in its growth, management can readily see to the addition to the Human Resources team over time.

Personnel Management is related to personnel manager. Personnel Manager is the one who oversees of the emotional welfare of the employees. That is why, personnel managers understand that employees are the main ingredient of an organization.


Human Resource Management:
Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization. Human Resource Management can also be performed by line managers.

Human Resource Management is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training.

Human Resource Management is kinda related to personnel management. They are both in line with hiring, performance management, employee motivation, and other activities related to the employees.
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Human resource management is responsible for how people are treated in organizations. It is responsible for bringing people into the organization, helping them perform their work, compensating them for their labors, and solving problems that arise" (Cherrington, 1995, p. 5). There are seven management functions of a human resources (HR) department that will be specifically addressed: staffing, performance appraisals, compensation and benefits, training and development, employee and labor relations, safety and health, and human resource research.

In this statement, human resource management is responsible in making employees feel at home even they are in their workplace. HRM is also responsible in making people to be more productive so that they can easily solve problems in their organization.

Information Environment

The information environment is a construct based upon the idea that the existence and proliferation of information and information systems creates a distinct operating dimension or environment. As a combination of tangible (physical information systems and networks) and intangible elements (information and decision-making), the information environment is both a resource for military operations and a medium in which armed forces operate. In addition, an information environment incorporates all the factors affecting how an organization deals with information. It addresses all of a company's values and beliefs about information, how people actually use information and what they do with it, the pitfalls that can interfere with information sharing and use, and the technology and information systems that are in place. A broad perspective is necessary to understand the impact of intangibles because addressing intangible assets and capabilities will require changes in and adaptations to regulation, governance, attitudes and behaviors—in addition to systems and technologies.

That is why; the most intangible element of the information environment – information – is of supreme importance. This is because, in spite of its lack of physical existence, the content and flow of information within a specific geographic area produces real, tangible effects in the physical world. For these reasons, our understanding of the information environment must ultimately include how information content and flow affect the execution of military operations.

To rationally analyze the information environment and the relationship between its constituent elements, a framework is needed to organize our view of the environment. For this purpose, a model – the three domains of conflict – physical, information, and cognitive – that, in sum, explain the importance of information to military operations and, for the purposes of analysis, the character of the information environment.

The physical domain is the real world environments of land, sea, air, and space. It is where maneuver and conventional combat operations occur. As part of the information environment, it is where individuals, organizations, information systems, and the physical networks that support them reside.

The cognitive domain is where individual and organizational collective consciousness exists. It is where information is used to form perceptions and attitudes and make decisions. The information domain is formed by the intersection of the physical and cognitive domains, and is the abstract space where information exists. The domain consists of information and is where the functions of information systems (i.e., information collection, processing, and dissemination) create information content and flow. The information domain is the link between the reality of the physical domain and human perceptions and decision-making in cognitive domain.

Since people like us are also important to an information environment, we may consider us the peopleware that may belong to the intangible environment. If companies are going to begin to manage intangibles-oriented information successfully as part of their journey to become high-performance businesses, they will need to change many aspects of their information environments.

A new information strategy can set the tone for the overall changes. It should specify what new information entities the organization plans to collect and report on, and perhaps what information the organization will de-emphasize. The organization's intent relative to external reporting of the information should also be stated in its information strategy.

New information processes will be needed to generate and validate new information about intangible assets and capabilities. It's unlikely that all the information will already exist within the organization. For example, if the organization decides to regularly collect and manage information on its brand equity, it may need to initiate external surveys of customers to produce the information.

Organizations will need to develop a new performance anatomy, comprising a new information culture and set of behaviors. Perhaps the most important cultural and behavioral change will involve executives, who must begin to manage their businesses based on intangibles information. There is little use in having better information about human capital, for example, if managers don't try to act on it more effectively over time in a way that improves performance.

A new set of information entities will certainly lead to change in a company's information architecture, including its business applications. New metrics for growing intangible value will necessitate changes to business performance measurement systems. Enhancing management's decision-making capabilities to monitor and analyze intangible value will require improved business applications and analytic tools. These technologies, in turn, depend upon consistent, accurate information about intangible resources. This information will either need to be derived from existing databases, or new databases, and data warehouses must be constructed. Some of the intangibles information may be found externally and would need to be integrated with internal information before it can be useful.

Futhermore, we believe that changes in information governance may be necessary with an entirely new class of information. Governance issues around information appear naturally with any change in the balance of information power. Those who have their power wrapped up in financial information, for example, may well resist the new focus on intangibles. As evidence of the importance of information governance, at one firm that developed a balanced scorecard, a certain company had the new scorecard shut down while its developer (the director of quality) was on vacation! Whether this was a good idea or not, it certainly points out the need for attention to resolving political disputes.

In efforts to drive high performance, this overall model can be used to plan and assess an organization's movement toward intangible asset and capability management in relation to the information environment. We believe that pioneering companies that master all aspects of the management of intangible assets will be able to attain higher levels of business performance. In subsequent research, we'll describe how several aspects of this change may play out in detail, and provide examples of high-performance businesses and other leading organizations that have begun to manage information about intangible assets.

Finally, there is a need to ensure that quality information isn’t lost amongst the masses of digital data created everyday. If we can continue to improve the management, interrogation and serving of ‘quality’ information there is huge potential to enhance knowledge creation across learning and research communities. The aim of the Information Environment is to help provide convenient access to resources for research and learning through the use of resource discovery and resource management tools and the development of better services and practice. The Information Environment aims to allow discovery, access and use of resources for research and learning irrespective of their location.

Sources:

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/themes/informationenvironment.aspx

http://www.accenture.com/Global/Research_and_Insights/Institute_For_High_Performance_Business/By_Subject/Strategy/TheAssetManagement.htm

What A Lonely Story

Recently, I just met a person named Zed. Well, I'm not really sure if that was his name. We met in an online third sex site wherein both of us member of that site. At first, I am so curious about him it was because he has no profile pic. I immediately sent him a private messages expecting that he would make a reply too. Alas, my message buzz in the size buzzed. Well, i really not expect who will be the one to reply, it was because he was not the only one I gave a private message. Zed replied, "ASL"? I replied him, "18/m/dvo(tagum)". After a minute, he replied, "20/m/tagum". It was not new anymore to me of having a chatmate in a same place. It was 12:00AM when I went to a nearby net cafe to rent a unit so that I can surf over the net. After an hour, we decided to meet at the square. ************

Duhhh............huhuhu......i don't want to talk it anymore.......I just want to move on...I want to end it there since my heart is still in pain... Hope you understand it. Thanks. ~cHrIs~

Making Paper Doll Face

Kawaii

Kawaii is a Japanese term which means “cute”. These collectible kawaii items of my brother are so cute. These are tamagochis that have built in infrared which connects to the tamagochis that has infrared. How I wish to have these kind of items but I’m out of budget for this. Lolz!

My Cousin

"Childhood is a journey, not a race.", a quote that I will cherish forever. When I always see kids running, playing, laughing, it made me remember back to my younger years. Before, I usually played with my playmates especially my classmates and friends. I cannot forget those times playing tigso, takyan, tagu-anay, jolenay, and a lot of local games which made me happy.

This is Janrex. You may call him Jan-Jan. He is my cousin and he is in Grade 2. He is so cute and super smart. When I'm going to visit them at their house, we usually played tagu-anay and dampa. Jan-Jan loves to borrow my phone because he wants to play some mobile games. That is why, I will keep my phone so that he won't play it.

Now, I cannot imagine that he is a big boy na. Hehehe. Last time, i saw him, he is toddler. Now, a lad who is studying in the primary level. Whew! Time is so fast. Maybe, di ko lang mamalayan, meron na pa pala itong sariling pamilya. HEHEHE. Anyways, my payo to him na lang, enjoy being a kid. Being a kid is like a thing which is temporal and not eternal.