DOT wiki project enlists public for new campaign

Just days before his resignation, tourism undersecretary Vicente Romano III initiated a public-driven collaboration to replace the beleaguered "Pilipinas Kay Ganda" campaign. Surprisingly, the project has taken on a life of its own as Pinoy netizens heeded his call to devise new ways and collaborate online. Project DOT wiki Dubbed as "Project DOT wiki", the initiative was quietly launched by Romano himself via a post on his personal Facebook page on Oct. 19. People who went to www.tourismpilipinas.com were shown step-by-step instructions on how to join. "[We] have gotten close to 60 responses... since it was announced [and] I am now doing a matrix of assignments so as to optimize contributions," said Evelyn Macayayong, DOT officer-in-charge of tourism information and the main contact person for the project. In his post, Romano said he started the initiative after people began expressing via Twitter their eagerness to help out with the new campaign. The online collaboration has also taken on a life of its own as various groups have pitched in their own ideas and contributions. Other interactive initiatives One of the earliest endeavors was DOT D.I.Y., an independent effort which was reported earlier by GMANews.TV. The initiative was quickly followed by another Facebook page, HelpDOT. As of 3 p.m. Nov. 24, the pages had 1,117 and 910 followers, respectively. Also, following the popular slogan generator, more serious efforts at online collaboration came, such as digital design studio Rain Creative Lab's My Pilipinas interactive design website. "The idea is straightforward. Create your own montage out of the Philipine map, draft your own personal tagline with the words 'Pilipinas.' To cut the long story short, create something like 'Photoshop' this time, (but) on the web," its creators explained. Upon opening the site, users are greeted by a blank canvas and several drawing tools that they can use to make their own designs. Online photo group Even well-known local design studio Team Manila has pitched in with its own suggestions, and has even set up a Flickr photo group where people can contribute photographs of various places in the Philippines for possible use in the tourism campaign. — VS, GMANews.TV