SMART Communications Inc. (Smart) recently introduced an online platform that will make it easier for schools to augment their traditional printed campus paper with a faster and more interactive version on the Web.

Through journ.ph, teachers and students will be able to upload features, news articles and comment on and react to stories online.

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Smart recently unveiled its efforts to revolutionize online campus journalism in collaboration with media, academe and journalism institutions during the student forum: “Reaching out to Future Journalists: Challenges of New Media.”

Organized by Sun.Star, the event was one of the highlights of the celebration of the 15th Annual Cebu Press Freedom Week, which tackles, among others, the popularity of social networking and its vast potential as an information and communications tool.

“Through this project, we hope to empower teachers and students to join the rest of the Internet-savvy Filipinos who are learning how to maximize the Internet for news gathering, dissemination and feedback, starting with their campus publications,” said lawyer Maria Jane Paredes, Smart senior manager for Public Affairs VisMin.

Participants of the forum were given a preview of the beta version of journ.ph during a presentation of its features by Sandra Lovenia, program manager of the Ateneo Java Wireless Competency Center, which developed the online platform in tandem with Blue Blade Technologies.

Paredes invited interested participants to sign up for journ.ph. “The online platform is just one part of journ.ph. We are also looking at trainings and mentorship to give you the skills you need to do online publication,” she said.

She also said that under phase two, users of journ.ph will be able to post stories on the site using their mobile phones.

Results of a survey conducted by New York-based media agency Universal McCann last year ranks the Philippines among countries with the highest percentage of Internet users using social networks.

The study surveyed 17,000 Internet users in 29 countries.

In the Philippines, the study noted 15 percent Internet penetration and estimated 37 million "active" Internet users (aged between 16 to 54) or those who go online daily or every other day.

The study also estimated 83 percent of Internet users in the Philippines have created social network profiles, having the highest percentage ahead of Hungary (80 percent), Poland (77 percent) and Mexico (76 percent).

“These days, everybody is a publisher. Anybody can blog. Smart is simply using its technology and partnering with the right institutions to channel the Filipinos’ love for blogging and to create an online community of student journalists who have one goal: to revive, reform, and recreate campus journalism,” Paredes said.

Smart is piloting journ.ph in Cebu, in partnership with Sun.Star Cebu. Future plans include bringing journ.ph to the cities of Baguio and Davao in partnership with community journalists.