Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Want to blog today?
|
So why are we talking about blogging now? It might sound amazing but Chennai is supposed to have one of the strongest blogging communities in the country.
|
THE WHOLE world is blogging. From journalists to lawyers to environmentalists to technology freaks. Just run a search on www.weblogs.com to confirm the latest hyperactivity of Netizens all over the world. One such search at the time of filing this report yielded no less than 620 blogs (computerese for web logs) in the past two and half hours on subjects varying from the invasion of coalition forces to plain good old gossip.
So what is a blog or a web log? It is the `in' thing as far as Net surfers go wherein people log on to blog sites (such as www.blogspot.com) and create their own blog on just about any favourite topic. This is similar to maintaining a personal website, only the process is simpler than that. For example, in order to create a web log on Iraq war, all that the person on the scene has to do is register himself in any blog site, and apart from writing a personal article on what is happening in Iraq, the blogger can also provide links to substantiate his views.
So why are we talking about blogging now? It might sound amazing but Chennai is supposed to have one of the strongest blogging communities in the country. A reason enough for "Blog `03", a national panel discussion on blogging organised by Anna University's department of Media Sciences in association with rediff.com on Saturday.
Though it was relatively technical in nature, the sessions were also informative on how `blogs could become a personal image builder' and `the practical uses of blogs'.
The summit featured one of the eldest bloggers of the country, Prasanjeet Dutta of Cybernet Software, who created his first blog as early as 2001. What started casually for Dutta became a passion and today he spends Rs. 750 per year to maintain his blog on a paid site.
He recalled how his casual article on ways to mend a hacked window server found appreciation even among his own office colleagues. "I just posted a blog on hacking of windows server after my own system got hacked. Several months later, my colleague and friends appreciated the blog on how it helped them out of crises," he said.
For Anish Raju, a popular quizzer in the city circuit, his blog on his passion for conducting quiz shows even got him two prospective clients. He has been blogging for one-and-half years now.
He used all his experience to conduct a quiz for bloggers on Saturday.
Anita Bora of rediff.com exuded confidence that her company's latest blog section will soon find takers among local Netizens.
In the ongoing Iraq war, television audiences are not entirely convinced that it is all there in the visuals that are being aired. Many describe them as `biased' in favour of the occupying forces and unwilling to give equal time to those affected by the invasion, while the Net is not fettered in its ability to become the voice of those who want to provide an alternative view. That is witnessed in many Iraq blogs now seen on the Net, some of them maintained by independent war correspondents who are not under strict codes like the `embedded' journalists.
"During hours of crises, there is a definite increase in blogging because people feel the need to make a statement. Unlike conventional media there is nothing restraining their flow of thoughts. This happened post September 11 and it is happening now," Anita said.
By Karthik Subramanian
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
|
