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excerpts from "Discover the power of blogging" by S. A. J. Shirazi
[http://www.mblog.com/light_within/ ], Dawn Sci-tech World (29 May 2004)
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[...] Local blogs are a whole new world out there. As anywhere else,
Pakistani blogs offer a view of what is thought in public and discussed
in private. Bloggers here vent, flirt, and tell jokes. They also waffle,
whine, or weasel. Some folk showcase their work with by lines of their
own choosing or propagate a cause. Some users are producing surprisingly
good qualities while some others are sloppy and rudderless.
Pakistani bloggers seem to be very innovative. Their blogs are oozing
out with individualism and diversity. During my hunt, I have seen
translation of a complete book by one writer posted on a blog - single
entry! Blogging is still not an economic hobbyhorse here but one can see
some sponsored ads on a few blogs already. Many use them as a safe
storage place to keep their hard disks free. Photo blogs are being used
as online family photo albums.
Zahid Shahzad, a Pakistani IT professional who has migrated to
Australia, had his CV pasted on his sole blog when he was looking for
job. "Whatever I have in my personal computer is also on some of my
private blogs! (not assessable by others) and I can access them where
ever I happen to be," says an avid blogger Karim Dad. Though English is
a predominant language at the net but look for it and you may find blogs
in all languages including Urdu as well.
There are still some impediments, the most obvious being access to
technology, lack of purpose to reach out to the world and matters of ego
and social background. Email conversations with local bloggers revealed
some more reservations: People are afraid to speak up.
Mastery of language, technical, or compositional skills are another set
of barriers for those who do not have them. Karim Dad thinks, "Though
these days blogging is as easy as signing in for email account and
operating it yet those who are gifted with writing skills are often web
novice and those who are skilful internet users have nothing much to say."
There are almost as many critics as there are enthusiasts of blogging
trend. But evidence is that Weblogs have already become more than just a
passing whim. Critics, however, say that this "inconsequential chatter"
has given rise to plagiarism of a different kind and the whole thing is
nothing but recycling. There is hardly anything original in blogs.
Some users just mark their presence; create a blog, post initial entry,
submit it to one or two blog directories and forget about it. Frequent
switchers leave one service and join another to build their blog afresh.
More blogs are coming up every day.
A few bloggers decide to dump their labour of love in cyber graveyard
for good after some time due to variety of reason: blogging as an
activity cease to have an importance in their lives, or they do not have
enough to say in their blogs.
Aamir Waqas says, "I started blogging because I have an opinion and I
wanted to have a place where I could voice my views about things around.
Moreover, everyone else was having one in my circle. Writing is a very
daunting job sometimes. The stress of daily updates became a distraction
in my work and I left it after doing it for a year."
