Synthesist

Comelec proactively and innovatively designs VAC to help manage congestion
The Comelec inserted a new provision – a really creative one – in the updated Res 8786 to create a Voters Assistance Center (VAC) in each school to help manage congestion that is the main consequence of clustering.

In this automated election, congestion from clustering due to a limited budget that allowed the procurement of only one PCOS machine per five precincts is the twin problem to implementing technology change that has hogged the headlines the past few months.

Congestion is the bigger problem requiring more preparation because people-oriented; but fear of unknown technology held sway read all »

Entrepreneur-students of the 1st EDP at AIM help draw an insight

Scholars and analysts often derive their theories after practitioners in the real world have been implementing them successfully for years.

At the first ever Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP) at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), my class found a key insight linking the classic Chinese-Filipino pricing practice with innovation theory developed in the western world. The EDP at AIM is a management development program designed for entrepreneurs who are starting to traverse up the the growth phase of the typical venture life cycle.

This theory involves competence-building read all »

Comelec Res 8786 is now posted above on the navigation line. It updates the first GI for BEI in Res 8739 issued on December 29, 2009. It was promulgated on March 4 but was just released on Saturday after we published this post. Please consider as Res 8786 addressed some concerns pointed out here.

Difficult hurdles for tech-enabled social innovation in the Philippines

Still, the benefits in making wholesale cheating difficult – the main purpose for automating counting and canvassing in this election – and getting the results quicker for the national officials may be well worth the hard work.

For me, the most emblematic story on the management of change from manual to automated elections is a recent banner headline by the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) that 1.7 million ballots for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao ARMM that have been printed “without security marks”. It reflects on mistrust and a climate of cheating that generates suspicion as reflex on any hint of anything unusual.

With a little more investigation, the true situation would have been found. It turns out that read all »

I am extremely happy to share the news that I have been welcomed as one of 28 associate editors of the AJSTID.

The ASJTID is a new peer-reviewed journal focused on science, technology, innovation and development in the emerging nations of Africa.

A print of the Table of Contents for the issue pictured above follows.
read all »

Celebrating EDSA I …

Today, I wanted to write about SYNTHESiST as February 25, 2010 is its first year anniversary of publication.

Instead, to celebrate EDSA I, I give way like a retweet of sorts and invite you to visit James Miraflor’s blog, Rantings, in free verse. Find the link below.

He posted the poem Imortal, in Filipino, that he dedicates:

“Isinulat sa ika-24 na anibersaryo ng EDSA I. Para sa isang di-namamatay na pakikipaglaban para sa demokrasya.”

I met James for the first and only time at last month’s session of the Manila Reading Group read all »

Hypothesis on systems of innovation for emerging markets from Denmark, Israel and New Zealand

Filipinos, in general, are America-centered especially in learning about new things.

In one sense, this is correct as America leads the world in many technologies.

In another, it is not appropriate because there can be no bigger disparities than between America and the Philippines in terms of scale, level of development, maturity of institutions, and the like.

To a large extent, we are better off in learning, especially about innovation systems, from small, developed nations. In this post, I posit that these three countries can be Denmark, New Zealand and Israel. read all »

Tells a lot about Filipinos preferences online

read all »

To enhance shareability and improve searchability

As you can see, I just installed a Google Buzz This button at the top of each SYNTHESiST post.

The button installs such “-abilities” on the blog that is so necessary to compete robustly for attention in the blogosphere.

Again, I thank my internet marketing guru and friend, Raque Raquedan, for the insight on shareability and searchability read all »

SYNTHESiST rises above #1 million. Surveys describe its readers.
As I thought, the mathematical formula behind Alexa’s ranking quickly brought SYNTHESiST above the 1 millionth from the low 8.6 million rank when I enrolled on December 25, 2009.

Today, Alexa ranks SYNTHESiST at #983,845, its highest ever.

Sulit.com.ph is the highest ranked Filipino site at #1,821. The Inquirer is at #3,325. Market Manila, an ad-free and content-focused blog, is ranked at #86,591. Cocktales is ranked today by Alexa at #620,505.

The ranking curve is logarithmic so it will take more and more effort as one moves closer and closer to the top. read all »

Fiesta and infra are muscle and bone of the Philippine body politic
On the way back from a conference in Tagaytay on Thursday, I took a wrong turn and luckily ended up at the fiesta celebration and Karakol procession at Paligawan, Silang in Cavite.

Fiesta. Critics have charged fiestas as wasteful. Yet, as with Ben Okri’s comment in my Avatar post, they also serve as anthropological institutions, in fact, an important part of the muscle that binds the body politic of the nation together and makes community action easier.

Infrastructure. Driving back to Tagaytay the following day, I noted the bones that support the body politic. read all »

Today Gmail gets the Buzz. The roll out is ongoing.

Social media overtook email by volume of use within the past two years. Similarly, more and more people are asking their friends than searching on Google to learn about things that people ought know better.

Two days ago, five out of the top twenty hottest search topics on Alexa was about, “What time is the Superbowl on?” That’s not a topic most people would search on Google.

Thus, it was almost a foregone conclusion that Gmail would get Social, in some form. read all »

(1) Have released advance post on Voters Assistance Center implemented by Res 8786 today, March 8.

(2) I have a new post on the Philippine automated elections posted on March 4, 2010. Please click here for link.

Sets the bar in testing the candidates. I’m down to 4 choices.
Crisply run and with clear-cut time constraints, it forced the debaters to speak to the point.

The microphone was gently shut-off on the long-winded. Still, it captured enough meaningful sound bites.

Held at the University of the Philippines National Theater before a full audience, the debate confirmed for me the four candidates who remain in my selection frame. Needless to say, former President Estrada who did not show up is not one of them.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer deserves kudos for a well-designed and expertly run debate. read all »

(1) Have released advance post on Voters Assistance Center implemented by Res 8786 today, March 8.

(2) I have a new post on the Philippine automated elections posted on March 4, 2010. Please click here for link.

Filipinos are engaged but Tech usability issues can disenfranchise.
We have always been enthusiastic about elections with past participation around the 80% range.

And Juan voter was well engaged at the Maharlika Elementary School in Taguig as voter, as BEI member, as monitor, as media and, as typical, kibitzer in mock elections to further test the automation machines.

Still, the elections is more than just about the Precinct Count Optical Scan or PCOS machine. More mock elections must be conducted to test the whole voting process and at the same time continue voters’ education with exposure to the technology. read all »

Surprisingly, Kathleen Eisenhardt and inductive case research wins
To help improve blog content, the very first principle of white hat SEO, I installed a keyword cloud plug-in at the Sidebar on the right to compare results with my tag cloud.

At the footer below, the tag cloud is my own view about what is important in this blog; the keyword cloud tells me what visitors searched and found on the blog – one is author-defined and the other is market-driven information.

And SYNTHESiST’s readers tell me differently since the keyword cloud was installed two weeks ago! And the keyword cloud leader, Kathleen Eisenhardt … read all »

The scan-adapt-diffuse approach to technology acquisition.
Consumers’ desire for healthier food creates opportunities for the enterprising innovator.

A more sedentary lifestyle especially in the developed world and increasingly so in emerging markets makes a sodium-rich diet a high risk of cardiovascular disease.

The major source of sodium in our diet is salt so that it makes a lot of sense to reduce salt in our food.

Unfortunately, replacing salt is not easy because of its functions in food and its very low cost as ingredient. read all »