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User:Alternativity

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Philippine Barnstar amulet Awards and Recognition
Alternativity's lineup of awards include:
  • The Philippine Barnstar of National Merit, awarded for his "10+ years of hard work in improving the quality and credibility of Philippine history-related articles.";
  • The Philippine Barnstar, awarded for his work on various Philippine culture articles;
  • The Philippine Barnstar Protection Amulet, awarded for his work on various Philippine mythology articles; and
  • a Kaleidoscope Pattern Commemorative Barnstar, awarded for his work on articles related to the late Francis Magalona, in commemoration of the artist's passing.

A separate page containing these awards can be accessed by clicking here.

User:Alternativity is a Filipino writer, businessman, and academic whose particular interests focus on the complex relationships between Narratives (Information, Education, Communication and Art); Personal and Collective Identity; and the ongoing development process.

He began his career as a Univeristy Instructor (and later Assistant Professor) of Development Communication at the University of the Philippines, Los Baños. He then took some time after that to run an independent specialty coffeeshop/reading room/advocacy space in his hometown, and to do some writing. Later, he went back to life in the capital, and took on a number of different roles in the development advocacy sector.

He likes to spend his spare time working on a series of short novels set in 8th century Laguna, Philippines - the main motivation that got him into doing wikipedia research in the first place.

He received his Bachelor's Degree in Development Communication in 2000, focusing on Business and Environment Journalism. Upon graduating, he was awarded the Higino A. Ables Award for Best Undergraduate Research. In 2005, he received his Master's Degree in the same field, this time taking a minor in Information Science. His Master's Thesis focused on the health-related knowledge processes and flows in a Tagalog coastal village.

In April 2018, he [[1]] accepted a three-month post]] as Wikipedian in Residence at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani[2], where he will be serving from April to June, 2018. (Further details will be posted on Wikimedia outreach, and in a section to be added on this Talk page below. Talk page and MainSpace Edits related to the project start on 5 April 2018.)

(Updated as of April 2018)

Editing Philosophy and Work on Wikipedia

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This editor is a Veteran Editor II and is entitled to display this Bronze Editor Star.

My work on Wikipedia mostly focuses on expanding the discussion in areas where there are not yet many online sources available - most notably Philippine History and Culture, and the Development Process.

This means I often (but not always) rely on printed academic sources. Of course, this means that my work has severe limitations. Even though I try to balance points of view in the articles I edit, I may not have access to the print sources I need to properly represent all points of view. Obviously, if I don't have the book, I can't cite it.

In other words, I have no choice but to work with the print sources I have.

This is why I strongly believe in Wikipedia's admonition to Be Bold. If you feel that an article I've been working on is skewed and you have sources I haven't been able to cite, please feel free to edit the article yourself. I will be grateful for the help in expanding the available wiki-knowledge in that area, as long as you use reliable sources.

However, I must also insist on upholding Wikipedia's standards for what is and isn't a reliable source, as expressed in the relevant Wikipedia guideline page.

Where self-published sources and recorded oral histories come into direct conflict with orthodox interpretations in scholarly texts (such as textbooks and refereed journals), I will insist on the removal of that point of view from the article. This is the only way to prevent fringe theories and conflicting family/oral traditions from taking over Wikipedia.

That said, in terms of Wikipedia Philosophy, I am for the most part an Eventualist and an Inclusionist, except in the most blatant cases of WP:NOTADVOCATE.

A last word: my knowledge in these fields is in itself an evolving process, and as I learn more, I often find need to add new nuances my own edits. And discussions on the talk pages are very educational. As a result, I cannot understate the value I put on talk page politeness. Please read up Wikipedia's admonition Assume Good Faith. After that, I look forward to working with you to help make knowledge more freely available to the world.

Thank you.

Wikipedian in Residence at Bantayog ng mga Bayani (beginning April 2018)

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The Bantayog ng mga Bayani[3], hired its first Wikipedian in Residence, en:User:Alternativity in April 2018. Bantayog ng mga Bayani (literally "Monument to the Heroes") is a Philippine-based foundation that maintains a memorial, museum, and library dedicated to remembering and honoring the heroes, martyrs, and victims of the Ferdinand Marcos regime.

He will be working with a small team to help the digitize portions of Bantayog's library as well as to improve coverage of topics related to the Marcos regime, especially the Martial Law era, in Wikipedia and its sister projects. He will also serve as a liaison between Bantayog and the Wikimedia community by organizing events and workshops.

Further details can be found at https://outreach.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedian_in_Residence_at_Bantayog_ng_mga_Bayani

(Updated as of 5 April 2018)

Personal user projects

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The Ma-Yi Novels Research Project

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In the early 2000s, I began work on a series of novels set on the shores of Laguna de Bay at or around the year 800 CE. I originally named this the "Ma-Yi Project," and I started doing background research. This background research for the novels is what first got me started editing Wikipedia.

The original idea was to use Wikipedia to organize my research: to take advantage of encyclopedic knowledge already on wikipedia, I would use my userpage as reference index. In the meantime, I would take the facts I discovered during my research and upload it to the appropriate pages, thus enriching Wikipedia's coverage on Philippine mythology, culture, geography, and early history.

Needless to say, this involved a lot of work. As my library of print references and the scale of my inputs on Wikipedia have grown, the novels themselves have evolved significantly, and my understanding of the geographical and sociopolitical conditions at the time of my setting has evolved dramatically. I'm barely able to keep track of things, much less maintain an index in my talkspace.

However, some of these efforts have been moved to a subpage, User:Alternativity/Ma-Yi. For the moment, it's a messand I don't think it will be useful to anyone, so please don't expect much. But I do hope to improve it at a later time. (Updated as of March 2018)

Reference Collection

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I have decided to create a separate subpage in which I can organize reference templates I frequently use. Feel free to use these as a pattern for your own reference templates. I must warn you, though: they may not be very well organized, and I can't promise you there isn't an occassional unintentional error. I don't have time to constantly maintain this list.

Blacklist Collection

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Over the years, I've had to fight a good number of misconceptions, fabrications, hoaxes, and fringe theories. Some of them are collected at User:Alternativity/Blacklist. As with the reference collection, though, I don't really have time to maintain this list constantly, so apologies if it's a bit disorganized.

Projects On Hold

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  • On 21 November 2016, I started work on a Draft User Essay on the use of Sources in Philippine History on Wikipedia. The intent of this page was to gather my thougts for a proposed Wikiproject Philippines Advice Page on Sources in Philippine History. However, I have not had much opportunity to work on the project, and I feel I will only be able to work on it occasionally.
  • I am also working on a number of articles which aren't quite ready for uploading to Wikipedia's mainspace): mostly re-creations of articles that have been deleted because the earlier versions (usually written by less-expereinced wikipedians) did not clearly show that the subject was appropriate for an article on Wikipedia. These include:
*/Lightning Scientific Arnis - this article about a school/style of Arnis was deleted because it seems to have been described as "an obscure martial art," rather than a significant school within the field/art of Arnis/Kali/Eskrima. As a school of Arnis, however, it is clearly recognized by the scholarly texts within the field. This article is still here, however, because I would like to beef it up with more sources first before propsing the revival of the full article.

Pages Created

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Historiography and Early History of the Philippines

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Early Philippine History
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Early Cultural History of the Philippines
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Historiography of the Philippines
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Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines

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Material Culture among Philippine Indigenous Peoples
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Philippine folk literature

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Contemporary Philippine Culture

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Foundational Concepts in Filipino Culture
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Weapons and Fighting Arts of the Philippines
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Creative Works

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Architecture
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Cuisine
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Books and Scripts
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Music (Album releases)
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Films
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Films by Monster Jimenez (also, created category)
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Films Directed by Jerrold Tarog (also, created category)
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Philippine Geography

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Travel routes
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Canals and Esteros of Manila
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Tributaries of Laguna de bay
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  1. Molawin River NEW! (Home sweet home. hehe.)
  2. Bay River NEW! (Article also covering the Calo and Maitem Rivers, which are the Bae River's sisters. Also made Calo River, and Maitim River redirects to Bay River)
  3. Mangangate River NEW!
  4. Tunasan River NEW!
  5. Pagsanjan River NEW!
  6. Morong River NEW!
  7. Santa Cruz River (Philippines) NEW!
  8. San Cristobal River NEW!
  9. San Juan River (Calamba) NEW!
  10. Sapang Baho River NEW!
  11. Pangil River NEW!
  12. Siniloan River NEW! Also now contains my first ever image! Ha! Proud of myself. :-D

Note to self -- Remaining Tributaries of Laguna de bay: Angono River - Balanak River - Cabuyao River - Tanay River - San Pedro River (Philippines) - Pila River - Pililla River - Prinsa River - Banca Banca River - Tirado River - Mabitac River - Dampalit River - Biñan River - Jalajala River - Napindan Channel Some Questions in my head:(a) Is the Napindan Channel part of the Pasig river, or a separate body of water altogether? (b) Which of the two is the Calamba river? The San Cristobal or the San Juan?

Other Tagalog region Mountains, Islands, etc.
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Mount Sembrano NEW!


Species

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plants
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Anos Schizostachyum lima (Stub Class Article)

Kakawate Gliricidia sepium

Lipang Kalabaw Dendrocnide meyeniana (Stub Class Article) NEW!

Dao Dracontomelon dao (Stub Class Article) NEW!


Institutions

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Academic Institutions
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Government Agencies
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Civic entities
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Philippine Ships
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Laws, Policies, and Government Projects
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Personalities

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Social Issue Advocates
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Gang Badoy

Bodjie Pascua

Michael Bengwayan NEW!

Samira Gutoc-Tomawis NEW!

Journalists and Authors
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Karen Kunawicz (Start/B Class Article)

Carmen Guerrero Nakpil (Stub Class Article)

León María Guerrero III

Natashya Gutierrez NEW!

TJ Dimacali NEW!

Ermin Garcia (Sr.) NEW!

Nicole Curato NEW!

Budjette Tan NEW!

Emiliana Kampilan (Stub Class Article) NEW!

Academics
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Nora C. Quebral

D. Lawrence Kincaid

Alexander Flor

Virgilio Enriquez

Antoon Postma

Wilhelm G. Solheim II

Bambi Harper (Stub Class Article)

F. Landa Jocano (Stub Class Article)

Melba Padilla Maggay (Stub Class Article)

Ambeth Ocampo (Stub Class Article)

William Henry Scott (historian) (Stub Class Article)

Wilhelm Solheim (Stub Class Article)

Michael Tan NEW!

Adelina Barrion

Ramon Barba (Stub Class Article)

Caroline Hau (Stub Class Article)

Xiao Chua (Stub Class Article)

Damon Woods (Stub Class Article)

E. Arsenio Manuel (Stub Class Article)

Zeus A. Salazar (Stub Class Article)

Maris Diokno

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Benedicto Cabrera NEW! - Oh, horror of horrors, I seriously have to de-stubbify this. BenCab deserves at least a decent article. - R.

Joy Mallari

Elmer Borlongan

Musicians
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Dondi Ledesma NEW!

Manskee (Start Class Article) NEW!

TOI (band) (Start Class Article) NEW!

Cyrus Fernandez(Stub Class Article) NEW!

Lourd de Veyra NEW!

Jim Paredes (Stub Class Article) NEW!

Ala Paredes (Start Class Article Na!!!) NEW!

Perfecto de Castro (Stub Class Article)

Sinosikat? (Stub Class Article)

Bullet Dumas (Stub Class Article) NEW!

Johnoy Danao (Stub Class Article) NEW!

Kakoy Legaspi (Stub Class Article) NEW!

Reese and Vica (Stub Class Article) NEW!

Kai Honasan (Stub Class Article) NEW! (also created category "Filipino ukulele players")

Reese Lansangan (Stub Class Article) NEW!

Cheats (Filipino band) (Stub Class Article) NEW!

Candy Gamos (Still just a redirect.)

Film Personalities
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  • Jerrold Tarog(Also created category "Films directed by Jerrold Tarog")
Theater, Dance, and Other Artists
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Tony Fabella

Lucrecia Kasilag

Cris Villonco

Ildefonso P. Santos, Jr.

Amelia Lapeña Bonifacio New (Stub Class Article)

Historical Figures
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León María Guerrero III Felix Huerta, OFM (Stub Class Article)

Rajah Matanda

Tarik Sulayman

Gen. Tiburcio de Leon

Thimuay Imbing NEW!

Magnifico Osorio NEW!

Contemporary Media Personalities or Political Figures
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Alex Lacson

Teodoro Locsin, Jr. (Stub Class Article)

Risa Hontiveros

Pia Hontiveros

Natashya Gutierrez NEW!

Nicole Curato NEW!

Other Personalities
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Mang Pandoy

Daniel Dingel (also redirect Hydrogen Reactor) (Stub Class Article) NEW! - Claims to be the inventor of a water-fuelled car. Why am I not so proud of this one? It's my most controversial entry yet, I think.


Complete or Near Complete Rewrites

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The following articles were not ones I created originally, but I created all or most of their content at some point in the article history.

Pages Significantly Worked Upon

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The following are articles I did significant work upon - either in the form of factchecking, a major expansion, or the addition of a major section.

DYK Lineup

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The following facts from pages I worked on have been featured on Wikipedia's Did you know? Template.

Updated DYK query On 29 December, 2007, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Tigmamanukan, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.
Updated DYK query On 18 August, 2007, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Tiyanak, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.
Updated DYK query On 10 February, 2008, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Ancient Tondo, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.
Updated DYK query On 2 October, 2008, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Gliricidia sepium, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.
Updated DYK query On 5 November, 2007, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Siniloan River , which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Ongoing DYK Nominations

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A separate list of Ongoing DYK nominations is at /Ongoing DYK Nominations.

Notices

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