My blog

Blogs making headway in Brunei (bb-30/6/07)

Khairil, 39 is a veterinarian employed at a local farm. Mak, 22, an IT technician at government agency and Jamila, 22, a student. They may come from a different background and profession but they have one obsession in common; they are bloggers.

“Blogging is a new subject to me. I have just started a month ago but I find it very encouraging when I started getting comments from friends and visitors on the quality of photos I posted in my blog,” said Khairil after discovering a new way to reach out apart from other conventional communications. “My blog is all about my personal routine and interest,” Jamilah said. The statement is echoed by her colleague, Mak, an affectionate photographer. “By blogging, I able to promote my interest and feedbacks from visitors allow me to improve my techniques of capturing pictures”.

Kairil's blog; a passionate photographer dedicating to his 'masterpiece' collections (khairilfa.blogspot.com)

Rightly so, this novel technological advancement has transcended beyond our imagination and helped people around the globe to interconnect thereby providing a new mean of communication for millions of bloggers since the first-hand made blog is said to appear in 1999 created by Evan Williams.

Historically, in his quest to find the solution to an updating issue leads Williams to discover a flexible way to reduce time and hassle by inventing a suitable software or program to deal with webpage contents. Normally, to update a website, we must use an HTML editor, edit the text and add HTML formatting, use FTP to upload it and the page is then available. But his new method allowed him to open a webpage, type into a text box, clicks submit and it is instantly accessible as a webpage.

Jamila' blog; "its all about my daily routine and interest" (stars-light.blogspot.com)

What is blog anyway which has taken the internet by storm? It is basically a journal or a diary that is available on the website. Blogs by their nature are short spontaneous entries, a series of observations, comments, notes and so on. They are frequently written in a personal tone where the writer or blogger will write in different themes or provide links to useful websites. Blogs or weblogs can offer RSS feeds and are interactive where users can post comments on the content.

During my attachment at a local IT company in the mid 90’s, blog is virtually unheard off. Webpage or homepage was the newest mode of advertising at that time. As part of an assignment, I was given a task to create a homepage of the company to replace the out of date one. Given the fact that HTM editors are scarce and books are the only reference, I have to rely heavily on HTML codes. For instance, if I mistyped ‘#3299CC’ instead of ‘#3232CC’, my intended background color is turned to sky blue from medium blue. Sadly, my ‘masterpiece’ never materialized because of some other technical difficulties linking it externally to a web host.

I doubt even die-hard ones would bother to stretch off their fingers with HTML codes. The once and the only predominantly old guards in the old days have been pushed out of the limelight with the availability of advanced internet-friendly HTML editing tools flooding the internet market.

Nonetheless, blogs didn’t really start to take off until the late 90’s; they gained in popularity only after 2000. Early blogs were mostly lists of recommended links with some commentaries. Since then, they have evolved to something different. Now anyone without technical or minimal knowledge could fancy blogging. For some, blogs are strictly self-importance projects as they ramble on about their daily observations to family and friends. For others, blogs take on a deeper meaning. Blogs can be used to make political statements, promote products, provide research information and give tutorial services.

Thanks to its convenience of use, blogs have turned a website into an active information distribution and many people actually have a blog as a subset of their website. This subculture which sprung up around the blogsphere giving rise to much more interactive websites for organizations, small companies, divisions within companies, clubs, schools, associations and others. In a way, blogs also allow collaborative publishing. A small group of experts can discuss an issue and it can be read by thousands. A blog can also be opened and allowed anyone to create new topics and start discussions.

Mak's blog; dedicated to his personal collection of photos (hanshen135photo.blogspot.com)

But there's more to blogs. The advanced blog tools are in fact content management and distribution tools. These can be used for business. Blogs aren't just public either; there are private blogs as well. These can be internal newsletters for a family, a group of friends, a school class, a project team and so forth. They can share daily information, such as major family events, like new babies, updates on an upcoming wedding or get-together, collection of personal photos and ubiquitous topics.

To run and maintain the blog, a blogger usually updates his blogs daily using simply and easy-to-use software such as Blogger.com, Wordpress.com and many other more innovative software. Postings on a blog are always arranged in chronological order with the most recent additions features most prominently. In laymen’s term, it is a public way for people of speaking over the internet, share what they are thinking and what is on their mind. Simple blogs are mostly just diaries but the advanced blog tools can distribute information to a greater effect and reach wider audiences. Blogs tools are normally easier to use and its unparalleled power may someday replace chat lists, mailing lists and email newsletters.

It is not surprising though, everyone seems to hook up and jump on the blogging bandwagon with Brunei without an exception. Blogs have gained a strong foothold and an instant craze in this country. Seemingly a large number of bloggers making the airwaves with a diverse interest in food, education, business, economics, personal, photo journalists, tech, travel, lifestyles and hobbies. Blogs could be simple and straightforward to a more appealing content with beautifully crafted design and flashy. Hundreds of blogs have sprung up as more individuals or groups found it convenient and fastest to share their opinions, views and complaints and promoting or advertising their products and services. Nevertheless, keep away from writing defamatory statements or raising controversial issues to avoid infringing the applicable terms and conditions.

Realizing the importance of bloggers in promoting the local tourism industry, a local internet service provider has come up with an idea by organizing the first ever ‘Blog Competition’ for bloggers in support of Brunei Tourism’s Year long ‘Kenali Negara Kitani’ (Get to know our country) campaign in the run up to Visit Brunei Year 2008 by blogging about any place worth visiting in Brunei. Cool prizes are up for grabs and I predict blogs will overtake the ‘conventional’ websites largely due to its phenomenal power of ease and flexibility.

Will blogs replace books and other forms of information? In comparison, books are organized writing which means a unified multi-page document, constructed with a central idea, table of contents, introduction, chapters, summaries, index and others. Organized writing includes reviewers, editors and often publishers. On the other hand, blogs are good for making observations but the nature of blog tools (a serial collection of entries) is not good for writing a document and naturally places a limit on blogs.

But for now, it appears that blogging is here to stay. If you are considered a blog, you will be happy to learn that many services to create your own blog as easy as typing and clicking. Why not start your own blog now!