Showing posts with label GDayX. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GDayX. Show all posts
Thursday, 28 November 2013
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Mikko Chino R. Salvador / 2013-70157
Reaction Paper #1
November 28, 2013


GDayX is an event organized by the Google Business Group here in the Philippines, commonly known as GBG Philippines, to educate entrepreneurs and educators on how they can use Google’s services to their own advantage. Different entrepreneurs and GBG heads talk about how Google’s services helped them and they also share some tips on how to efficiently use them.

When we arrived at the venue, Kring Elenzano was lecturing on how a business blog can help in promoting your business. She said that every blog entry, may it be about your products or just something related to your business, can help promote your business. She also showed one of her vlogs and told us how the popularity of her vlogs helped her business to gain some traction in the market.

After Kring, Aileen Apolo, from Google, discussed how they use Google Maps to help the victims of calamity. She explained how they gather information to put up crisis-specific landing pages and crisis maps. She also told us how they created Person Finder so that information about the people who are looking for someone and people who are missing can be aggregated in a single place that can be accessed easily. Fleire Castro then took the stage to further elaborate on how they create crisis maps and how people can volunteer in contributing data to Google maps.

Next is JR Padilla, a volunteer mapper. He discussed the history of Google Maps and the evolution of its data and interface. He also explained the benefits of contributing data to Google Maps. Map Maker, MapUps, Google Places and Google+ Local are great tools to add your businesses in Google Maps. By adding your business, you’re not only helping Google widen their collection of data, you’re also making data about your business more accessible to the public, thus, gaining you potential buyers.

Even before I attended GDayXMNL, I already really liked Google’s philosophy as a company. Their products and services aren’t only meant for them to gain profits; it also helps the public in so many ways. We give them information, they collect it, process it and present it in such a way that the public can benefit from it and of course, that includes you.

In this event, I learned how Google operates from the inside. Yes, it’s mostly machines that are doing the work but the people behind Google are the ones responsible in analyzing and presenting the data sent to them. They are a vital part of Google. We are also a vital part of Google. Without us, Google wouldn’t have collected this much information. In a way, Google is a working medium for us; we are a society, working hand in hand, trying to build a large collection of data so that we can preserve our knowledge for future use and at the same time, so that we can easily access that knowledge. It’s amazing to think that in the past, we struggled to get information across a city yet here we are, just a click away in sending information to someone at the other side of the Earth.
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by Jessa V. De Guzman

            GdayX has been a very interesting and useful event especially for entrepreneurs but also for students like me. Interesting because it had showed that Google was not only useful for gathering information but it can also be a powerful tool in enhancing businesses. It gave me new ideas about the applications and new features of Google specifically, Google Maps.

            Google mapping is a great breakthrough of Google technology. It is not only useful in tracking and finding specific locations, it was also enhanced to aid entrepreneurs. Using Google Map, a starting entrepreneur can advertise and tell its customers its specific location. It also allows a business owner to get reviews from its customers, which will help in improving the business. In case of a business which includes delivery of product service, Google mapping helps in tracking the location of the customers with less hassle and minimal time. Google mapping was also beneficial in emergency crises just like the recent calamities of the Philippines. Through Google Map, donators can easily locate the place and facilitate relief giving operations on affected areas. It also provides information to other people about the nearest place where they can give their donations. Thus, relief giving can be conducted with minimal time hassles on locating the area.


            This information will really be useful for entrepreneurs but as a student of STS, it teaches me to develop a positive attitude towards technology and use it to the fullest. I just imagine the development from the crude maps with less precision to the present Google Maps which will not only tell the location of a certain place, it can also provide the estimated time to reach a destination and show 3 dimensional pictures of that place. Through advancement of technology, our world was made small to communicate and locate people from all parts of the globe. Technology after all, was not really made to broaden the gap but to build bridges between the relationships of people. As an example, Google map serves as a bridge to help other people in times of emergency crises. Thus, if technology were only to be used for its sole purpose, world’s great dilemmas will be reduced. The event also encouraged me to become a part in developing this technology by using and harnessing its benefits responsibly.
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
GDAYSX 2013

One of the GDAYSX Speakers
Google Developers had arranged an event called GDAYSX, wherein there were different speakers talking about latest technologies. These technologies are not only beneficial to the country’s economy as a whole but are also beneficial to every citizen in our country. Honestly, I think this event was more on introductions to the latest technologies present in our country today. I expected discussions on how complex new innovations work. But still, I appreciate the effort of making each discussion interesting to everyone by giving a time limit to each speaker so that everyone’s attention span won’t shorten that easily.

One talk was about the Google Map used as a help for disasters. Honestly, I appreciate the great effort of finding new ways to help those people affected by the super typhoon, Yolanda. Commonly, people think that the best way to help those affected by the typhoon is through donations. But for me, relief goods might overflow soon since, not only the Filipinos gave their own donations, but even other nationalities. I think the best way is to use the resources we have around us to help them, like what Google Developers had done. They used Google Map in searching for places that are hard to reach when on land. Google Developers had thought of a way of helping those victims of the typhoon by using their knowledge and skills. This, I think, is better than giving donations.

Another talk was about the Google Map for Business. I think this talk would be a lot helpful to me if I were handling a business. If I were to handle a business, I would definitely enjoy this talk since it taught me a lot of techniques that I could use to extend and flourish my business more. But, to be able to enjoy these benefits of Google Map, I think I should be briefed enough to understand what Google Map is and how to use it.

Lastly, there was a talk which was about Blogging for Your Business. This one would also be a great help if I were already an entrepreneur. But as a student, it gave me some knowledge on what blogging is all about. The talk gave me some perceptions on what a blog should have and not have. For entrepreneurs, I think, this talk would be a great help to them especially now that they knew blogging is just an easy task, since the speaker himself had done one for a business, which helped that certain business be recognized more.


Outside the Hall
The event, as a whole, was a great one. Talking about the fun side of the event, I personally love the freebies available during the event: free food, free picture, and free drinks. For people who have very short attention spans, these treats will surely divert their attention from the discussion, if ever they got bored, enough for them to regain their interest in the topic. But talking about the discussions and talks itself, in my opinion, I think some of the discussions are a bit information-lacking. I was looking for more new technologies, something that will surprise and amaze me.  Still, I think, the whole event was a really fun event. I just hope that there would be more complex information than just introducing the basics about a new technology.



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