Message from the CEO
During my talks in schools, not only once was I asked about educating educators. It would seem that there is a great number of them who sees incompatibility as a bug, instead of a limitation. A student who uses a Mac and submits a presentation file without exporting it to a format which the instructor uses got berated for submitting a file with a virus.
There are those who are more forgiving.
A friend’s 6-year old daughter complains that she can not find the computer lesson that they are doing in school because her dad’s laptop does not have Paint. (It has Gimp). She asks her dad to get Microsoft so she can pass kindergarten.
Younger, I would have been frustrated. Younger and if I were in my friend’s shoes, I would have stormed into the kindergarten class and berate the teacher for putting my kid into proprietary softwares.
The lacking ability of some to learn and keep pace with technology should not be a burden for the others to bear. Older, and hopefully wiser, I ask, “Should it?”
8Layer is 8 years. 2 years passed kindergarten. Robert Fulghum lists what we should have learned by this time in his modern classic book. First on the list: Share everything.
We are proud to share a vision. Ambitious, it is, but not impossible – an IT-enabled nation. Here, we recognize the growing importance of enabling individuals. It hasn’t been over a year, but with a team so dedicated, we have touched base with a lot more schools than we have anticipated. Zenzic, how the program would be later known, has almost skidded to a stop. The team fought to go on. Share everything. Trials and triumphs, everything.
Fulghum’s lesson learned number two: Play fair. Responsibility and accountability have been used interchangeably somehow. Most often, in the corporate setting. It could be because an effective worker can not live without the other. If an employee failed to file and pay the necessary tax forms, and the employee leaves, do we blame the government for imposing taxes? The limitation of one could be a burden and if overlooked too often, it is the company’s failure, too.
On 8layer’s 8th year, I am proud to walk alongside my team, bruised yet still prodding on to cascade what we have believed in our hearts since the beginning. We are free to choose, we are free to think. We hope to reach as many individuals and share these to them.
On 8layer’s 8th year, I stand indebted by the continuous support of and partnership with IBM-APAC, Intel
Philippines, PLDT, Epson Philippines and Philippine Opensource Network. These big names have humbled us. Like a father to a son, they have fueled and nurtured our greatest interest and passion to learn, to share and to teach opensource.
8layer’s 8th year beckons an exciting year ahead. This year, milestones will be created and celebrated. This year, we shall strengthen a service-oriented strategy in all areas of our operations. This year, we shall continue to affirm the magic and wonder of collaborative interactions.
This year, we share the fruits of what we have learned and plant the seeds of sharing and collaboration as we move forward.
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