Although the term is widely used, I must give credit to Joey Climaco for lobbying the term nation building whenever we dialogue about advocacy campaigns.
Back in June, I volunteered my time with the Coca Cola Foundation for a project that made use of blogs as tools for documenting effective ways to help save the environment. This project is currently running as part of a contest for Coke Barkada, which involves the participation of 100+ college organizations across Metro Manila. Meaningful blogging is but one of the measures for this contest outcome as the students have to undergo tasks ala Amazing Race to determine the winners. Here is one of the examples of the blog of the UP Sandigan Organization maintained by Efriel Hazel Leynes:
8th Step: Ang cute ng baunan ko! (my lunchbox is cute!)
CAN you still remember how it felt when you first acquired your lunchbox? That particular lunchbox that you have been eyeing on the mall… wishing that mommy will buy that barbie/ spiderman baunan?
yes, it really felt exciting, exhilarating even, to finally get something that you have actually wanted….
the feeling is so surreal….
what’s more endearing is that you get to sit at the canteen with your favorite friends, comparing who’s baunan is better and more cute… plus you are able to share your favorite mom’s specialty baon with your friends…
imagine? life at that age was really simple, hassle-free and enjoyable…
right now? we are already comfortable with easy and convenient meals packed in the ever-popular styro… [source | the permalink system needs some work so you may actually have to look for the entry manually from the blog itself]
The judging for the winners is happening in the next two weeks. Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet is participating as one of the judges to help determine relevance of content.
Observation: Why does there seem to be a bigger fascination with bloggers talking about making money through blogs vs. using blogs as tools for building the nation?
More importantly, and I always ask Joey Climaco and Gang Badoy this question, how exactly do you build a nation? Joey says that nation building has to do with communication and dialogue. How do you define nation building?
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