SCHOOL OF INFORMATICS STUDENTS AND FACULTY ATTEND “Y4IT 2010”

The 8th Philippine Youth Congress in Information Technology was attended by the Aldersgate College IT students and faculty on September 14-17, 2010 at the University of the Philippines, Diliman Campus, Quezon City. This event, popularly known as “Y4IT” is hosted annually by the University of the Philippines Information Technology Training Center (UPITTC), the UP System IT Foundation (SITF) and the Student Volunteer Corps (SVC) in cooperation with PSITE, GDAP, JICA, CSP, PCS, PSIA, European IT Services Center (EITSC) and Hans Seidel Foundation (HSF); some special partners like JobQuest.ph, avantlink, BPOCareerHub; media partners like Manila Bulletin, Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star, BusinessWorld, PC Buyer’s Guide, Tech O’ Clock and NBN.

IT students in 8th Philippine Youth Congress in Information Technology

This year, more or less than 25,000 delegates from the different regions of the country attended this very significant annual gathering of IT students, IT experts, faculty and professionals for new perspectives on current trends, innovations and career opportunities in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The “Y4IT” also provides an avenue for discovering and evaluating the new technologies’ impact not only on human lives, but on the developments that prevail in the environment. This year’s activity turnout made the three venues: the UP Theater, “Ang Bahay ng Alumni” and UP Film Institute jampacked with delegates. IT experts served as speakers and presented a variety of interesting topics such as the following: “Mobile Computing: Trends and Technology”, “Business Intelligence”, “Development of Emotionally Intelligent Interfaces”, “Innovating the Web: Google Tools for Developers”, “Open Web Technologies”, “Parallel Computing on the Web”, “Social Computing”, “Blending Service and e-Learning”, “The Evolution of Sales and Business Development in the IT and BPO Industry”, “MariaDB: The New M in LAMP’, “Turning Libraries and Information Centers to Learning Commons”, “Free and Open Source Software in e-Health”, “Career Opportunities in Game Development”, “Comics and Digital Arts”, “The Resurgence of Independent Games”, and many others. Government officials or well-known politicians also served as keynote speakers like Undersecretary Fortunato “Boy” Dela Peña of DOST; Mayor Herbert Bautista of Quezon City; and Chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, former Senator Richard Gordon.  Most of them focused on the role of IT people in the development and growth of the economy and the country and how the Philippines would cope with globalization in terms of the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The delegates were entertained by musical artists, one of which is the popular group “100 Percent Band”. Our student delegates visited the UP Bahay ng Alumni where IT industry partners had the opportunity to conduct job recruitment, marketing and promotions, and the giving of “freebies” to the delegates.  The different products and services provided by the Industry Partners or IT Companies were displayed for the delegates’ viewing. The last and final day of the

congress was the “1st Philippine Game Development Festival” with the theme, “Game Festival Showcase: The art of Multicultural Gaming” held at the “UP Ang Bahay ng Alumni”. The festival showcased the projects of local game development companies and the training programs of educational institutions to the academic community and visitors from the local and international business communities.

The Aldersgate College delegates to the “2010 IT Congress or Y4IT” held on September 14-17, 2010 at UP Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines hosted annually by the University of the Philippines Information Technology Training Center (UPITTC), the UP System IT Foundation (SITF) and the Student Volunteer Corps (SVC).

How about a pose with a new found friend- a tall white guy (Uncle Sam), says Mark Aguirre, SI-SC President? Some AC-IT delegates together with Mr. Alfred Benson C. Co, IT faculty, posed with their new found friend during the IT Congress.

The AC – IT delegates, Dean Romeo M. Bicad together with other delegates from all over the country while inside the UP Theater as they listen to various interesting topics in ICT presented by the Keynote Speakers, IT Experts and Professionals.