Gus Vibal of Vibal Publishing House, a respected name in the Philippines’ educational book business industry, is tenacious and unstoppable in his efforts to get the word out about “the joys of the wiki” for Filipinos and about Filipinos. Vibal’s substantial investment in wikiPilipinas.org, the hip ‘n free Philippine Encyclopedia, is accomplishing major milestones by attracting partnering organizations to collaborate with writing projects. Wiki writers can now take advantage of the opportunities to promote literacy and history in the following languages: English, Filipino, Cebuano, Waray, Ilokano, Bicol, and Kapampangan. Those who are familiar with Wikipedia’s platform will find wikiPilipinas’s format familiar territory.
A month-long program of activities has been organized to celebrate March as Women’s History Month in the Philippines. According to WikiPilipinas.org, a special portal called the “Encyclopedia of Philippine Women” will be launched during March 2008, compiling and detailing the achievements and triumphs of Filipinas everywhere. According to Vibal, “Filipiniana.net will also host a Philippine Women Microsite containing selected scholarly texts, research documents and abstracts, as well as selected literary works from Filipina writers.”
Philippine-based bloggers also provided an online community presence for the March activities through FilipinaImages.com, an advocacy portal and news site that promotes an empowering “Reshaping the Filipina Image Online” campaign. Co-founders Noemi Lardizabal Dado, Dine Racoma, and Lorna Lardizabal Dietz collaborated with wikiPilipinas.org in launching a writing contest, “Filipina Stories,” for bloggers. Details about the writing contest are found at the main page of wikiPilipinas.org or FilipinaImages.com. The deadline for entries is March 15, 2008.
For bloggers and non-bloggers alike, a wiki project can be the next best thing to publishing and showcasing the stories of Filipinos worldwide without burdening financial resources. Media organizations, researchers, industry leaders and experts, community activists, and people from all walks of life are given an equal opportunity to interactively collaborate in writing and editing an ongoing documentation, history, and evolution of Filipinos worldwide — as it happens.
For more information about how to get involved in a wiki project for your organization, contact any of the following: Noemi Dado (AboutMyRecovery.com) at NoemiDado@gmail.com, Dine Racoma (DineRacoma.com.ph) at bracoma@gmail.com, or Lorna Dietz (RadiantView.com) at lornadietz@gmail.com.