Computers, Education and Music: Y4IT Congress 2010

There was still time for malling after the JPCS Workshop... So me and the guys spent the entire Monday visiting 168 at Divisoria, and the prestigious SM Mall of Asia!!! (Note to self: Never visit Manila without bringing extra cash. This is something I learned, since I spent most of the time window-shopping and drooling...) And we all went back to our hotel after a day of shopping (window-shopping) and eating...

The next day came. It was the 1st day of the annual Y4IT Convention, which was always held at UP Diliman campus. It was a short 5-minute ride from the Hotel to UP. We were welcomed by a "swarm" of participants coming from different parts of the Philippines. The parking lot was loaded with buses and vans all coming from their respective schools.

It came as a surprise to me when I was informed by the secretariat that our names were not included in the list. Accordingly, our registration forms and deposit slips were not faxed to their office. Frustrating as it may seem, I had to verify from our very own dean about the situation. Fortunately, after countless attempts of contacting the school, the secretariat accepted our registration. It was so late!!! We were not able to go inside the UP Theater 'cause it was already full. The Film Institute was also already full. The Bahay ng Alumni, although full, gave us the access to look at booths and sales. We spent the whole day roaming around around the UP campus and taking pictures of anything, and everything that moved.

We were able to enter the Theater on the 2nd day. Dr. Randy Gamboa gave the welcome remarks, which was followed by the talk of Mr. Efren Penyaflorida, who was CNN's Hero of the Year recipient for 2009. He talked about how ONE person can do so much to reach out and help his fellow men. The second speaker was none other than the honorable Richard "Dick" Gordon. He talked about how technology became a very big help especially when it came to responding to emergency situations. He also talked about how fast technology is changing. He showed us his i-Pad and boasted about its features and talked about how it was not present last year. Last year there was the i-Pod and the i-Pod Nano. Sir Dick also asked for volunteers who could be part of the National Red Cross. More speakers came and talked about Curves and Cryptography (Computer Security using Math, by Fidel Nemenzo), How to Open Source Your Career (Johan Janssens), and Microsoft Technology Updates (Tim Vergel de Dios).

On the 3rd day, we were seated at the balcony area (the bleachers were full). We had a good view of the entire participants below. We can see the 3-wide screens, but we could barely see the speakers. The Opening remarks was given by Dr. Melinda Bandarias. I was excited about the next speaker, Mayor Herbert Bautista, but unfortunately, he was caught up with his work at the Quezon City Hall. A representative, in the person of Mr. Gabby Lopez, took his place (not the Gabby Lopez of ABS-CBN). He talked about how IT has renovated the image of Quezon city, Metro Manila, and the entire Philippines as well. He talked about how technology could bring people together, even people who are abroad, in a single click. And we dozed off after that. (hehehe...) We were startled with the sound of banging drums and guitars. It was break time already. And an intermission number was being presented by a two-man band (forgot the band's name...) Then other speakers also came out and talked about Harnessing ideas in the community through social networks, and Research objectives in the Gaming industry.

4th day... we were seated outside the balcony area, presented with two wide screens, the sound was poor, the crowd was bad, and the heat was... HOT! Anyway... welcome remarks was given by Ms. Lyshiel Valencia, GDAP President. The next speaker was CICT Chairman, Atty. Ivan Uy. Atty. Uy talked about the advantages of online gaming, and how it will benefit students. I actually asked Mr. Uy's opinion about students who would much rather waste their time playing online games, instead of focusing on their studies. His response was simply "Too much gaming is an addiction. Stay away from being addicted. Learn to manage your time between playing and studying."

Later, Mr. Allan Simonsen, came out and talked about The Life of a game Developer. It was kinda weird and funny at the same time, 'cause he would talk about how to get fired from work in your 1st week. How NOT to get promoted, and basically, all of the don'ts of being an employee in a positive perspective. He also talked about how to earn "big-dough" by simply sitting and testing all of their newly developed games. Playing 8 to 12 hours straight, trying to look for bugs and glitches. That's actually exciting!

Perhaps the most memorable thing during the Y4IT were the snacks and lunch breaks! I was actually relieved because the lunch being sold was cheap! For only P50 you get a meal complete with rice, choice of viands, and drinks... snacks was free ofcourse (but it was part of the registration fee...).

Anyway, we learned a lot during the entire 9-days in Manila. The JPCS LTW was fun and exciting, and the Y4IT (although boring) was still filled with very significant and relevant information about what's up and coming in the Information Technology field.

Enjoy some of the pictures below...

The Session Hall at the "Bahay ng Alumni"

Ang Bahay ng Alumni

The guys (and gal) at the entrance of the UP Theater

The Mascots of this year's Y4IT Congress...

The emcees in their mini's...

Efren Penyaflorida or Kuya F giving his speech... He was the recipient of CNN's Hero of the Year award, 2009...

The Honorable Richard "Dick" Gordon giving his speech about Technology and the Red Cross

A closer shot of Dick Gordon...

Taking a break...

el subay! onde onde tan su-ut!!!

The statue of the Women who knitted the 1st Philippine Flag...

A walk in the park...

The UP Oblation

Taking another break...

The Terminator? Mr. Burns? NO!!!

It's Supre SUBAY!!!

The triple wide screen, flashed from behind by 3 powerful projectors...

Mr. Fidel Nemenzo talks about Cryptography and Mathematical Curves... It's interesting, because it can actually be used for computer security...

This speaker talks about Cryptography and Mathematical Curves... It's interesting, because it can actually be used for computer security...

Mr. Johan Janssens, co-founder of Joomla, talks about how to Open Source Your Career...

Mr. De Dios talks about Microsoft Updates and Cloud Computing using SkyDrive, and other Microsoft Free Online Service...

getting ready for another break...

at the balcony...

the view from the balcony...

This speaker talks about Kine-Spell 2, an educational game for kids which will help them in their vocabulary, spelling, and hand-and-eye coordination... they also modified the original Kine-Spell to allow the use of a Wii Controller...