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The new edition of the book, Philippine Communication Today , was launched in Dumaguete recently by New Day Publishers, which also published the first edition under the title, Philippine Communication: An Introduction . No less than the book's editor and main author, Dr. Crispin C. Maslog, graced the event where he also did the customary signing of books for early buyers who were given a discounted price.

The simple ceremony, held at the foyer of the Luce Auditorium in Silliman University, was held in consonance with the “3-in-1 in Silliman” that saw the staging of the ABS-CBN's Pinoy Media Congress (Visayas-Mindanao edition), the national conference of the Philippine Association of Communication Educators, and the first Echo Seminar Series of Anvil Publishing.

Dr. Maslog earned his Ph. D. from the University of Minnesota . A retired professor of communication from the College of Development Communication , UP Los Baños, he was founding director of the School of Communication (now College of Mass Communication ), Silliman University and former president of the Philippine Association of Communication Educators. He is author/editor of 22 books in communication and communication education, four of them textbooks, including Philippine Communication Today . A former journalist with the Agence France-Presse, he was the Philippine Jaycees' 1995 Outstanding Filipino awardee in journalism and communication. He was visiting professor in Nanyang Technological University in Singapore , and University of North Dakota and Minnesota State University Moorhead in the US from 2001 to 2006.

Two faculty members of the Silliman University College of Mass Communication wrote chapters in the book, including this columnist who contributed a chapter on “Feature Writing in the Philippines .” Film director Jonah Añonuevo Lim wrote about a profile and analysis of the Philippine film industry.

In his preface to the new edition, Dr. Maslog (who, through the years, has learned to be technologically savvy, thus keeping abreast with the rapidly changing trends in communication technology; all these he has done, despite his advancing years, which refutes the notion that innovative technology is the realm of the youth) wrote:

“When we were writing the manuscript for the first edition of this book in 1986-1987, we used the manual typewriter. The older generation will recognize what we are talking about – the heavy, black, metal typewriter that made a lot of noise into the night as we pounded away page after page of our book. It was exciting to hear the staccato of the machine as we forged ideas in our head and transferred them unto paper.

“Today, as we write the manuscript for this second edition we are using a Pentium 4 computer, quieter but infinitely faster and more efficient. On this machine the writer can insert, delete, revise, cut, paste, enlarge, reduce, illustrate in color, spell check, word count, and store the manuscript in its memory bank to be revised and printed as clean copy another day. We can later send the manuscript, chapter by chapter, into cyberspace to an editor who can look at the copy without even printing it, then forward it to the waiting publisher who will process it electronically into the end product. This product can be an electronic or a traditional printed book. The old metal machine did not have a brain and could not do any of these things.

“The world of mass communication has indeed changed dramatically in the last two decades since we wrote that first book in 1986-1987. That first edition went through five printings before we could find time to revise it for today's generation of students, born in the age of the computer and the cell phone. We apologize for the delay. But better late than never, as they say. The students who will be reading this new book were not yet born when we wrote the first edition. Imagine that! This new edition was rewritten and completely revamped with that student in mind.

“. . . Two chapters narrate the events and document the central and compelling role of communication d uring the two People Power Revolutions in the Philippines in a span of 15 years (1986 and 2001). These are historic feats that became a model of nonviolent change to other oppressed nations which today's young generation too easily forgets.

“ . . . The chapters on “New Trends in Journalism,” “Civic Journalism: The Philippine Experience,” “Philippine Online Journalism,” “New Media in the Cyber Age,” and “New Media and Convergence” tackle exciting, mind-blowing new developments in the fields of journalism and communication today. They bring the book up to the minute and hopefully make it more relevant to today's computer literate and cell phone-dependent student.

“We have entered the global village that Marshal McLuhan predicted more than four decades ago, a society where communication technology will have conquered distance and time. The buzz words in communication today are new media, convergence, and digitalization. To quote one of the chapter writers for this book, “The digital system will result not only in clearer and better signals but also in the convergence of technology – broadcasting, cable, telecommunication, and computer services. Thus, on the same monitor, the media user can watch a TV program or movie, send e-mail messages, perform banking transactions, listen to quality music, publish an e-newsletter, buy groceries, or videoconference.” And, we might add chat, webcam, and phone family and friends overseas for the price of one hour on the Internet.”

The book aptly welcomes everyone to the “New Communication Age.”