Crisis Management: Sharing Thoughts

Ever since I was employed here in UP Manila, I have thought of the College's capability to respond to a crisis. The crises I thought of were not all that disastrous, of course. Some were actually just pseudo-crisis, for example, a bomb threat.

Of course, I also thought of realistic crises, such as earthquakes and inclement weather. I never had the financial capability to do a formal risk assessment, but I thought it is obvious that the College can use whatever free services are available to have the capability to alleviate stress in crisis times.

I have been interested with crisis management since the time I was in ROTC. In ROTC, when we conducted program or project planning, we always considered uncertainty. In Oplan jargon, they were called "Assumptions," as compared to "Friendly Forces" or "Enemy Forces," which were sentient individuals or organizations. Assumptions are the clearly identified situational indicators that you will need to have, considering that they are out of your control or influence, in order to carry out your operation.

In my thesis for my undergraduate degree, I studied crisis management in an educational institution. It was then when I understood--among others--that crisis is relative, and that there are different types of crisis.

Crisis is relative means that a situation maybe a crisis to one person or organization and it may be normal for another. An example given to me by my key informants (in my undergraduate thesis) is tuberculosis. TB has been an ongoing health crisis for health practitioners, but it seems that a lot of other people do not care about it.

The typology of crisis is also important because the spectrum of your types of crisis will allow you to prepare with your limited resources for crisis--from one end to the next--while not interfering with your day-to-day operations.

As the College's information officer, my main responsibility is to communicate to the public information of importance to them. The way I look at it, my principal publics were:

1. College Students
2. College faculty
3. College Administrative Staff
4. College Alumni
5. Partners
   

Besides these five is a heterogenous group of groups and individuals who will have a unique stake in the actions, decisions or status of the College.

Synthesizing crisis management and communication, you have crisis communication--a critical component in crisis management.

The minimalist goal of crisis communication is to minimize stress, fear, uncertainty and to bring order in a highly dynamic environment. This has been the basis of my initiative to lay out--without being asked by the Dean--a crisis communication system, using all free services that I know.

(Of course, the Dean actually initiated the idea of using online resources to increase interactive communication between the Office of the Dean and the various stakeholders of the College. My take on it was only in increasing the ability of the College to use it for crisis situations.)

Social networks proved to be useful, so I created a CAS Facebook Group, a Multiply Group, a YM ID for the CAS, and Twitter. I also made my mobile number easier to remember for CAS members (4636 spells INFO in mobile keypad). I designed the faculty database so that I can communicate with a lot of people faster.

Then, it was September 26, 2009. And I was at CAS.

To be continued....

UP Manila leads awareness campaign on climate change

August 21, 2009, Manila -- The University of the Philippines Manila College of Arts and Sciences is joining the call for an immediate and collective effort to mitigate the grave effects of global climate change as it holds its conference on Global Climate Change on October 22 to 23, 2009 at the Pearl Garden Hotel, Ermita, Manila.

With the theme “The Science and Social Impact of Global Climate Change: A Philippine Setting,” the conference will highlight the effects of global climate change to different natural and social resources and development initiatives.

With renowned authorities as speakers on the environmental, social, legal and other aspects of global climate change, the conference will benefit individuals and organizations in the academe, research, development policy, environmental and natural sciences, and advocacy.

Aside from the plenary sessions, the conference has parallel sessions which will serve as a venue for presentation of research studies completed by various organizations. The parallel sessions will discuss Energy and Environment; Society; and Health.

Interested individuals and organizations may log on to http://sites.google.com/site/upmgcc or http://www.upm.edu.ph/climatechange for more information.

The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) is the liberal arts unit of UP Manila, the Health Sciences Center. CAS holds the distinction of being a Center of Development for its BS Biology program. The College also administers natural and social sciences programs and provides general education courses to the health science programs of the University. For more information about UP Manila, you may log on to http://www.upm.edu.ph.

New blogs

Parang wala akong kapaguran, parang ang dami kong oras. Bakit ko nasabi?

Dahil kahit ang dami kong ginagawa, ang lakas pa rin ng loob kong gumawa ng 2 pang blogs.

Visit ninyo na lang.

http://casupm.blogspot.com
http://castechbytes.blogspot.com

I did not give you a spirit of fear

Yesterday, when I was going home, I felt afraid.
I felt afraid because I didn't know what would happen. I failed my final exam in [Managerial] Economic Analysis, a required subject in my course (Master of Management).
I also failed my mid-term in the same exam.
If you were in my position, would you not feel afraid?
I tried to rationalize what was happening. I thought, If I would watch my life in a television, how would I look like? Maybe, I would say that that person is stupid for putting so much with such an unimportant, "un-everlasting" (in reference to everlasting things in Purpose Driven Life) idea.
Usually, I could do that. But not that time.
In the train, I felt afraid and hopeless. I was about to give up.
I mean just give up. Not to motivate myself (which I do everyday considering the number of things I have to do). Not to plan. Not to innovate or adopt. Just give up.
I felt the masters flying away.
(My feelings for the failure was compounded with the idea that I have not failed the graduate course when I was working for private companies, but now that I work at the school where I take it, that is when the threat comes in!)
Those were the things going through my head.
I read the Bible today. Early. I thought I have to make sure I don't forget reading it this time, and try to rush it in the evening. But I was not able to.
At 7 pm, I went to Gloria Jeans (Gateway), so get some files. I decided to read the Bible. And this time, I read it at www.biblegateway.com (what can I say?).
I decided to search for free downloadble Bibles for my Linux laptop. I want to have one, preferably an NIV. I got to some sites, but I was not able to get one because the idea of ProTIPS came in. I decided to search for it because I want to have an idea what the book is like.
Incidentally, I came across the ProTIPS blog.
I have tried searching for it more than a year ago at the FEBC website, to no avail. Now, I see all the tips I have been searching for.
But of course, I'm still buying the book. :)
Actually, all of that is just the introduction. My main point is short and simple.
In the post that I read (which is actually for November 4 2008), it saw two sentences:
You say: "I'm afraid."
God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear. (2 Tim. 11:7)
That's it.

My Micu

I am blogging because I want to brag about the “katas” of my work at UP. When I worked for PeopleSupport, I was able to purchase two cellular phones, but they were purchased one at a time, and using credit card of my co-worker. When I worked for Convergys, I was able to get a mobile phone—cash this time, but it is worth 6K including the extras. It is a China-made phone with dual active sims. Those were good buys, I must admit.

My latest electronic device, however, is worth blogging about as it is really a good buy in terms of what it does and what more it can do.

My laptop is an Acer 4730Z, T3200 processor, 2GB of memory, total of 160GB storage. It also has a DVD-RW, 5-in-1 card reader, 2 USB slots, Crystal Eye web camera, and wifi (According to the ad, the wifi has 802.11 b/g/N-Certified... Wow!). When I bought it, it had Linpus Linux.

Linpus Linux is a text-based operating system... or maybe, I just don't have an idea how to add a graphical user interface like GNOME or KDE to it (I actually don't know what those are.). So when I bought it, I was not able to use my laptop immediately.

I had it installed with Windows XP SP2... the popular XP version (that I know). I still have to use it because most of my classmates at my masters classes and even my co-workers at UP Manila still have Windows. I have to stay compatible with their systems.

I am, however, very much interested and drawn to the Ubuntu Linux operating system. My teacher in Management Information Systems, Prof Ariel Betan (who is Assistant to the Vice President for Administration of the University of the Philippines), introduced the idea of dual operating systems last semester, so I had that interest in dual operating systems to suit my needs and the needs of my friends.

Ubuntu (and Linux, in general) seems difficult. When I try to get instructions on how to install OpenOffice.org 3.0 (which is easy to install in Windows), I had lines of text commands that—not only was it difficult to understand—difficult to follow. For example, when I tried to use the su - command, and entered the password, I got an “Authentication Failure” error.

I asked Professor Betan about it and, at the same time, Googled for instructions on how to install the office suite in my Linux. I got an article on how to use the Synaptics Package Manager. I was afraid to use it because I read earlier (and followed the article) that I had to uninstall OpenOffice.org 2.4.1 before I install 3.0. That means I uninstalled 2.4.1 and had no office suite for one day.

Professor Betan gave me the article that I found. I followed it. And voila! I have OpenOffice.org 3.0! I actually used it to type this article at home (before I uploaded it to this blog).

Now, I know how to install applications in Ubuntu easily. Look for Debian file URLs and add it to the list of Software sources. And that is how easy it is.

It is so easy to change desktop images. It is as easy as creating an image using OpenOffice.org 3.0 Drawing application.

The effects are way better, and with the swap that the IMS staff has done, I have 4GB of memory to use!

I am really proud of my laptop that I have decided to give it a name: MICU, or Mobile Information and Communication Unit.

I first thought of giving it MX, from the book that I was writing. I find it difficult to think of a reason for the acronym, however, so I had to change it to something that can reflect what it is for.

There were about five names, but the only other contenders were MICE, or Mobile Information and Communication Equipment, and Information Operations Unit, or IOU. Neither was acceptable because the idea that is conjured from those do not reflect the effect I intend them to have.

I also thought of MICA, for Mobile Information and Communication Associate/Assistant. I thought, however, that MICA is a female name. I think computers are male, because you have to turn them on to make them work (this is an anti-male joke :).

MICU (or Mobile ICU also), on the other hand, may be related to intensive operations in the hospital. I believe that my information needs and operations reflect this.

With that long explanation, I am now giving my laptop a name: MICU (pronounced mee-ku).

I hope we can work together well and for a long time. MICU is my Information Operations Assistant.

Here are pictures of the hardware and screenshots of Ubuntu (There is nothing new to see at my Windows XP.).