UPLB Wants To Future-Proof Itself, But Has So Far Ignored That Magic Wand!

Today, is UP Los Baños Aware of the Digital Universe? Aware, but not Adept. UPLB is a century old – so, I am not surprised that as far as I can determine, it has largely ignored the modern wonders of the computer world.

Starting as University of the Philippines College of Agriculture (UPCA), the first classes, without walls, were held on a promontory at the foot of Mt Makiling in Los Baños, Laguna, overlooking the tranquil Laguna Lake. UPCA was officially established by the American Board of Regents on 06 March 1909[1], a Saturday (Kahimyang.com). The college was founded by American botanist Edwin B Copeland, who thereby declared the strict scientific rigor of curricula and classes.

UPLB celebrates its 112^th Foundation Day today 06 March, also a Saturday, with the theme “Future-Proof UPLB: Responding To The Challenges Of The Times[2]” (UPLB.edu.ph). Now, a future-proofed system, computer, program etc is “guaranteed not to be superseded by future versions, developments, etc[3]” (Collins English Dictionary). Now, Chancellor Jose V Camacho Jr said earlier: “My vision of ‘future-proofing UPLB’ is about sustaining UPLB’s relevance by developing methods, approaches and framework to minimize the cost and impacts of shocks of future events[4].”

Now, thinking costs and causes, with due respect, I believe the best way to future-proof UPLB is to computerize the contents of curricula, courses & classes. I mean, for educational purposes, use the Internet for Juan’s sake!

Unfortunately, up to this very minute that I am writing this essay, even the most-likely candidate avant-garde, UPLB College of Development Communication (DevCom), does not teach its students digital journalism.

Today, journalism begins and ends with what it considers Truth, no matter who gets hurt. To survive the future, DevCom must teach what I call “THiNK Journalism” – True? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind? It should be creative writing.

In- or out-of-school, digital journalism can be learned. Ask me. I am a self-taught digital warrior, beginning when I was already 45, in 1985. Since then, I have been Editor In Chief for several publications, including WFH authoring and desktop publishing 7 books for the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, based in India, when William Dar was Director General of ICRISAT; he is now Secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA). (Sorry, but right now there are no plans for DA publications.)

All 10 UPLB colleges are digital candidates for future-proofing: Agriculture & Food Science, Arts & Sciences, Development Communication, Economics & Management, Engineering & Agro-Industrial Technology, Environmental Science & Management, Forestry & Natural Resources, Human Ecology, Public Affairs & Development, and Veterinary Medicine. (Plus the Graduate School.)

To survive, UP Los Baños must computerize, transform into a digital universe. UPLB can future-proof itself via an Internet of Things (IoT) that it will develop itself for its own purposes. IoT? Today, so much challenge. Today, UPLB does not even have a Knowledge Bank for Agriculture!

Yes, UP Los Baños can make herself future-proof by speaking the language of the future now: “Knowledge Programming.”@517

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[1]https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/979/today-in-philippine-history-march-6-1909-the-university-of-the-philippines-los-ba-os-was-officially-established

[2]https://uplb.edu.ph/all-news/uplb-to-celebrate-112th-foundation-day/#:~:text=UPLB%20is%20set%20to%20celebrate,series%20of%20programs%20and%20events.

[3]https://www.thefreedictionary.com/future-proof

[4]https://uplb.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/VISION_JVCAMACHO.pdf