elmer.harold
(Member since over 4 years ago)Last seen online: over 1 year ago
Print Media, Teaching, Public Relations
My first job was as an information officer/editor at the "press arm" of the university where I finished my undergraduate degree. After a year, I transferred (more like returned) to my college and started working as a member of the faculty. Right now, I'm an assistant professor at the Department of Development Journalism, College of Development Communication, UP Los Baños. I teach development journalism, development writing, publications writing and editing, and management and production of a community
newspaper.
In my current job as assistant professor, what I enjoy the most is serving as the adviser of the Los Baños Times. It is a community newspaper produced by students taking DEVC 123 (Production and Management of a Community Newspaper). I'm very proud of the output since students really take care of everything -- from the financing up to the marketing of the newspaper. The journalism part -- interviewing, writing, editing, and layout -- is already daunting and tiring enough. Yet, they all need to go through the production and management sides to appreciate the amount of work that goes into every newspaper copy that we read. It also makes them more aware of the issues in their community and take their roles seriously as communicators/journalists with a purpose.
College of Development Communication, University of the Philippines Los Baños
I want to be a practitioner. I want to get into publishing work. I want to be an editor in chief of a magazine. I also want to get into public relations. All these I will do soon. :) After doing/achieving all these, I'd resume my teaching. :)
I love to engage in creative pursuits especially in publishing, writing, photography, and graphic designing. I find it very challenging to think of new ways to present information. I also get excited working with highly creative people. I love to be inspired and learn new ideas. As with my present work, I love mentoring young development communicators.
I consider myself a media person. But taking development communication for my undergraduate and master's degrees, I've developed a deeper appreciation towards other forms of communication as well as the growing relevance of the discipline in addressing issues and problems in the community. Just last year, I studied how the T'boli indigenous peoples of Lake Sebu, South Cotabato in Mindanao employed participatory development communication in the planning and implementation of their own community projects. Conducting the study is one of the most difficult yet most fulfilling experiences I've had as a development communication scholar.
