A CICT Commissioner Blogs

February 8, 2005

I’m happy to report that CICT Commissioner Domingo Damian (better known as Dondi) Mapa has started blogging.  This is great news.  I hope the blog can be a venue for discussing policy issues as Dondi reportedly handles the Internet Governance issues for the Commission. Visit his blog and post a comment.

If memory serves, this is probably the first time an Undersecretary-level goverment official has started a blog.

ICT Worker Database?

The Inquirer reports that the CICT, through Commr. Dondi Mapa, will set up an ICT Worker Database. The news item goes on to say:

The profiles of those registered in the database will be used for surveying purposes, he said.

To build up the database, ICT workers who register at the website will be encouraged to ask other ICT workers to join in a manner similar to that found in social networking sites such as Friendster, Mapa added.

Registered users earn points when those they refer also register in the database. Points can then be redeemed for prizes such as mobile phones and other electronic gadgets, the official said. I think the proposed site raises a variety of issues foremost of which relates to relevance. Who are ICT workers and why do we need to keep track of them? It’s implied that the CICT wants to make sure that these folks are properly tallied up for the President’s jobs creation target of 1 million for the ICT industry by 2010. But will the site do a good job of tracking these workers? (more…)