Introduction to Citizen Media
Cambodian blogger Sopheap Chak uses her weblog to share information about human rights in Cambodia.
Case Studies:
This Argentinian might be considered the first blog novelist. Two of his blogs “More respect, I am your mother” and “Orsai” have now been published in book form in many languages.Chilanga Banda
Chilanga Banda is what is often referred to as a ‘metro blog’; that is, a blog that covers a particular city and is authored by multiple people. In this case, Chilanga Banda reports on the latest events and best places to go in Mexico City.
Afrigadget
AfriGadget is a website dedicated to showcasing African ingenuity. A team of bloggers and readers contribute their pictures, videos and stories from around the continent. The stories of innovation are inspiring. It is a testament to Africans bending the little they have to their will, using creativity to overcome life’s challenges.
EastSouthNorthWest
Chinese blogger Roland Soong has become an important bridge between China and the West thanks to his blog where he translates various newspaper articles and blog posts from Chinese to English.
You’ll soon discover that many blogs are devoted to celebrities and tabloid gossip. There is nothing new about that. But where else might you find a blog focused specifically on Tanzanian celebrities? Most of the posts are written in Swahili.
Mentalacrobatics
Nairobi-based Kenyan blogger Daudi Were covers an impressive number of topics ranging from Kenyan politics to Pan-African identity to new advances in technology.
Tharum Bun
Tharum is often credited as being the first Cambodian blogger. His online journal is a rare glimpse into the life of a young, middle-class Cambodian as his country heals from the violent era of the Khmer Rouge and starts to integrate into the global economy.
Konfused Kid
One of the thousands of Iraqi refugees living in Jordan, ‘Konfused Kid’ helps explain the complexities or Iraqi society and the Arab world.
Desi Pundit
Desi Pundit is another group blog which covers India-related topics and is authored by mostly Indian bloggers who live around the world.
Blogging won’t make you famous or rich
Some people start to blog because they want to be famous. While there are a handful of blogs that are read by tens of thousands of people every day, most blogs only have 10 - 20 dedicated readers. In the days of just a few television and radio stations, everyone was searching for his or her 15 minutes of fame. In the Internet era, everyone is ‘famous’ to just about 15 people. But the support, encouragement, and advice that comes from those 15 individuals is much more valuable and longer-lasting than anything that comes from 15 minutes of celebrity fame.
There are also very few blogs that are able to make much money by posting advertisements. The majority of bloggers can only expect US $3 - $10 a month. However, there are other ways in which blogging can help you realize your dreams. Many people have been offered jobs or partnerships because of the expertise they demonstrate about a certain topic on their blog. Others start to build a reputation and are invited to speak at international conferences. Business owners are able to write about their products and services in a way that is more meaningful (and much cheaper) than traditional advertising. Finally, blogging introduces you to people with similar interests who may live thousands of miles away. Those contacts can be valuable when you need help or assistance, or even if you just have a question. You can get more ideas about why people start to blog by reading the case studies on the previous page.
Find new voices
The previous page gave us a few examples of people who are using blogs in creative ways. By visiting their blogs you can get a good sense of the length of their posts, the comments they attract, and the style of their writing. Unlike standard journalism, blogging tends to be more informal and conversational.
A valuable resource to find blogs that match your interests is a website called Technorati. It is similar to Google, but rather than searching all of the internet, it only searches citizen media like blogs, photographs and video. Let’s say, for example, that you live in Mexico and you would like to find some blogs that discuss your country. All you have to do is point your browser to http://technorati.com and then search for “Mexico”. You can then narrow down your search by looking at just blogs, posts, photos, or videos. If there are too many blogs and it is too overwhelming, you can search for your specific city or even neighborhood. Alternatively, if you’re passionate about a certain music group, football player, or book, you can search for it and see who else shares your interests. We will review all of this in further detail in the guide titled “Intro to RSS.”
Choose your news
One of the most useful aspects of blogs can also seem like the most confusing. Rather than visiting dozens of different websites, you are now able to read all the latest posts from all of your favorite blogs on a single web page. That single web page is called a feed aggregator and it is helpful to think of it as your own online newspaper — you are able to select which articles appear each day based on which blogs you subscribe to.
This is thanks to a technology called RSS (or, Really Simple Syndication). Every time you publish a post on your blog, the content of that post appears both on the blog itself as well as in a RSS feed that can be displayed on other websites and by software programs that sit on your computer. This will all make more sense once we run through how to use one of the most popular feed readers - Google Reader - in the guide titled “Intro to RSS”.
Have fun
Of course, most important is that you enjoy yourself and that blogging is a fun and rewarding way to spend your time. We can now share our experiences and stories with the rest of the world. And we can learn about the rest of the world from people just like us.
