New Media Communications Course @ SMU

It was exciting conducting a second round of a two-day program on new media communications for colleagues in Singapore’s public service. On Day 1, participants were brought through some trends and developments of Singapore’s online space, and agencies such as the Health Promotion Board, the National Heritage Board (pics below are of Walter in action), and the Ministry of Education shared case studies, followed by a sharing on Wikipedia.

Day 2 saw many of the participants making their maiden foray into Web 2.0, creating their very first blog posts, contributing their first pictures onto Flickr, and uploading their first YouTube video. Ivan from the National Library Board brought the participants through how to create a podcast. Here are some pics.

The participants came from diverse walks of Singapore’s public service, such as Temasek Polytechnic, MINDEF, the Central Provident Board, the Energy Market Authority, and Tan Tock Seng Hospital, just to name a few. Here is a video of the class in session, taken from Day 1. If you were part of this class, please send me your blog URL.

NBC newsman Tim Russert dies at 58

Although I do not consider myself a fan of TV political talkshows, I have off-and-on caught episodes of NBC newsman Tim Russert’s “Meet the Press,” and he came across as a tenacious, hardnosed veteran journalist with a passion to get past political smokescreens.

My personal encounter with Tim Russert was at the PRSA International Conference in 2007, where Russert was one of the featured speakers. He talked about the poisonous atmosphere that pervaded beltway politics in Washington D.C., but what struck me the most was his admiration of the everyday goodness, decency, and work ethics of so many working class Americans, as embodied by his father. When sharing how his father’s life impacted him and set an example for him, Russert’s voice shook with emotion. Clearly despite all his successes, Russert stayed rooted to his family and to the ethos of everyday working Americans.

Read CNN’s report of Russert’s untimely death here. Three-term governor of New York, Mario Cuomo (whom Russert served as press secretary) wrote a piece on Russert when the journalist was named in 2008 by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.