Think Internet. In iComDev, the i puts digital intelligence into communication for development, so now you can disseminate it anywhere instantly.
A little history. I was physically on the campus of the University of the Philippines’ College of Agriculture, UPCA, now UP Los Baños, from 1959 to 1966 – I taught in Xavier University College of Agriculture in Cagayan De Oro City in 1968-1969. I was out of (touch of) UP Los Baños up to 1974; so I did not know Nora C Quebral, NCQ, gave birth to DevCom[2] in 1971 (Wikipedia).
In April 1975, I became the Chief Information Officer (not the title) of the Forest Research Institute, FORI, where from 1975 to 1981, I was the founder and Editor In Chief of 3 regular FORI publications: monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly popular color magazine Habitat. Being a wide reader, I had read about DevCom and reacted by writing a technical paper that I published in Sylvatrop about Communication for Development, ComDev. The name and acronym were intentionally the opposites of NCQ’s Development Communication and DevCom. At that time, I already had accumulated too much communication experience not to know which is which and what is what for. So now I am resurrecting ComDev in the personality of iComDev.
For the record, here are some Guidelines for iComDev I have generated:
Communication: Communication is passing on any message in any form & medium from person to person either physically or digitally, directly or indirectly, on paper or onscreen.
Development: Whatever happens to help whole villages ascend Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Knowledge Base: In iComDev, it is by design that there is a database of knowledge, expressed in scientific terms or technical jargon. This is for those who understand the Science of Agriculture.
Popular Knowledge: This is the iKnow, which is in fact a popularization of the whole technical knowledge base. For knowledge seekers who are not familiar with scientific terms.
Options for Decision: The components of which are the raw materials for communication. The iKnow is composed of options for action such as inbred vs hybrid, organic vs inorganic fertilizer, direct seeding vs transplanting, and individual farming vs cooperative. It must be emphasized that iKnow is all digital and accessible via the Internet.
Mother Language: Initially, the language used is American English, for the technical terms as well as the equivalent and/or translated non-technical terms. Later, the knowledge base in popular English will be translated into several Filipino languages such as Tagalog, Ilocano, Bicolano, and Waray.
With or without the pandemic lockdown, we should not lockdown knowledge – in agriculture, the best way to share it today is digital. iComDev!@517
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