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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2014 13:10:32 GMT 8
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Post by Registrar on Nov 28, 2014 16:14:36 GMT 8
Welcome. I sure agree that the way to build awareness and understanding across a society is now by using the Internet, and that the reference book of yesteryear has now become the website. The amount of money being spent on publicly funded libraries is constantly contracting per head of population, making the website correspondingly more important. On the other hand, the cost per head of getting the message conveyed is significantly improved via the internet. This is not a local trend, but worldwide. Websites will become the school-books of the future.
Earlier this year I was involved in a "roadshow" which involved displaying a movie I had co-produced concerning the retaking of Corregidor. The roadshow visited a number of university level educational institutions in various Luzon provinces, and I was struck by two things in the main: (a) the desire of intermediate and undergrad students for obtaining knowledge and (b) their lack of knowing where to start so as to acquire it.
The development of a more active digital community interested in the history of the Philippines will surely begin to address both of these.
This supports the role of the Presidential Library in showing other institutions, much like a guide, where they hould be heading. The Presidential Library has an innate advantage, of course, because it is able to leverage its prestige to maximise its presence. Private institutions need to raise funding, and they operate under constraints which never would apply to the Presidential Library. For example, I have been involved in trying to establish a digital archive project but have found it slowed - perhaps to a stall - by concerns over how far the educational use of images can be taken vis a vis copyright restrictions applicable locally. Their concern about copyright has literally paralyzed them. (The same fears do not appear to affect foreign developed websites.)
This is not to diminish the role of the Presidential Library, for indeed, I believe that it is the best vehicle to lead by example. In one respect, the better part of leadership is not the actual dleading, but the ability to create, train and encourage numerous other people to embrace the leadership role-model. The best leadership creates more leaders, not followers.
I have had a look at the selection of pages you have been involved with, and they are quite impressive. You clearly are able to call upon some very talented people.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2014 12:01:15 GMT 8
Thank you for your kind words. It's really an uphill battle, for several reasons. First, only a few people are interested (though the knowledge and dedication is amazing!) which leads to the unfortunate tendency on the part of many (including myself! to overpromise and underdeliver). The second is the lack of permanence because the era is unfashionable because of fifty years of Left-oriented history textbooks (and basically, very little progress in terms of thinking, since then). So even our efforts are an experiment conducted under the radar so to speak, trying to nudge things along. So your words are really highly appreciated. One thing we're trying to do is to use our limited bandwidth to help promote what others are doing because of one of the fantastic things about this effort is the generosity of those who have been devoting their time and resources to sites and forums like this one.
One thing I've observed, besides wholeheartedy agreeing with your observations, is that libraries and librarians themselves feel threatened by the internet. The other thing is that setting aside problems of copyright from more famous digital sources, is the tremendous amount of stuff --documents, photos, accounts-- being brought out in places like this forum and SkyScraperCity. One way forward is suggested by this kind of activity: there is so much to preserve, and share. In a ghoulish sense this is particularly urgent now, as the wartime generation passes and descendants worry (or don't, which is worse) about what to do with all the clippings and photos and mementoes hoarded by their parents and grandparents.
Going back to your frustrated efforts, one problem, too, the obsession on the part of institutions to make money and you're right that government isn't worried about that --but then again they're hard pressed to embark on digitization which opens up a different can of worms, which is that anything to do with digitization can become quite a racket! We've been trying to demonstrate to agencies that it can be done at minimal cost but since the clock is reset with every new administration the problem arises: even if digitized, will collections be maintained? And with policies changing every six years, can continuity be ensured, and if not, then the tendency to want to do it all, now, is there. I have to admit that even my answers to these questions changes over time, not least depending on my level of frustration at the time.
In this I think one way forward is being demonstrated by Rod Hall, who has been decisive and insistent enough to put a way forward for the Filipinas Heritage Library.
On another tangent, I recall the Sons and Daughters of Bataan and Corregidor are facing another problem, which is maintaining the cohesion of their organization. There might be possibilities there?
Imagine the possibilities if your efforts, John Tewell's, Rod Hall's, and others all joined forces?
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Post by chadhill on Dec 1, 2014 12:05:33 GMT 8
Welcome, sir! Very glad to have you aboard.
Chad Hill
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