The Bhutanese Blogosphere - Tara Limbu, Bhutan Times

Excerpts from my last post on Blogging Trends made it to the news. Tara Limbu, Reporter for Bhutan Times newspaper, and a dear friend of mine, sent me this piece that appeared in 27th September edition of the newspaper

More Bhutanese are taking to Blogging

TARA LIMBU
THIMPHU

If you can write, you can blog too. If you cannot write, you can still blog. That is how simple it is to be a blogger.

Free blog sites like blogspot.com where you can create your own profile page and upload write ups and pictures are giving Bhutanese writers a new leash of life.

Welcome to the world of bloggers where Bhutanese are getting caught up every which way.

It’s a platform for expression and creativity, say the bloggers.

“Blogging at least keeps me busy when I have got nothing else to do. Writing is not suffering,” an avid blogger says.

A cursory glance through the Bhutanese blogosphere is enough to convince you what they have been so busily punching in.

From personal experiences, political views to writings on current issues, from poems to venting out frustrations, everything is there.

While some use the blogs to advertise their products (in case of a company), others use it as a technical forum. For a few it is for whimsical ravings, and for others it is about philosophical outpourings. Think of any subject, and viola, there will at least be hundred blogs on it.

Manju Wakhley who completed MSc in biodiversity conservation and management from London has been a steady blogger since 2007. She says blogs to her are her cluttered papers that no longer get lost but remains lingering in the humungous cyberspace which she can always retrieve.

“My blog represents not only my thoughts and how dynamic they are, it in some vague ways monitors my growth as a writer, which honestly hasn't been much,” she says. “The contents of my blog are anything spontaneous that I write mostly poems and prose.”

“Unlike networking groups like face book and twitter, where a profile is created and people are added to a group of friend at face value, blogging is more intrinsic and extensive,” says Sonam Dorji, who has been blogging for five years.

He says links and people are added or followed depending on what the bloggers appreciate and value.

“Think of it as searching for Easter eggs,” he says, “It is interesting, more interesting than adding and subtracting people of networking groups like face book. You might come across a gem of a blog you might not want to part in life.”

Citizen journalism?

Blogging was defined across the world as the next big thing in media and it is proving to be one.

Barack Obama, the president of the United States giving a telephonic interview to American bloggers tells of the magnitude of blogging in shaping public opinions.

Tired of conventional media, citizens are using this new media to communicate their views on issues.

“The sort of connection that a blogger has with the common man the mass media lacks. The element of person is introduced in a blog. This has given birth to what we today know as citizen journalism,” says Dinesh Pradhan, who is a medical student in India and a blogger.

Some members of the public have realized that sometimes they are the ones at the forefront making news and rather than having their stories told by others, says Thinley Namgay, a civil servant. “They resort to giving their own accounts. They even bring out stories as they happen, and if that’s not breaking news then what is?”

A few bloggers point out that mainstream media can incorporate blogs that deal with serious issues that have been neglected or missed out.

This form of ‘participatory journalism’ has however been criticized for its lack of credibility and respect for copyright.

“But beyond that its impact on the psyche of the common man is undeniable and cannot be ignored by the conventional media for long,” says Dinesh Pradhan.

Who regulates the online content?

With the increasing numbers of bloggers, it is feared, if not regulated properly, it may go out of hand.

Bloggers can write about anything and everything and at times they may even misuse the freedom to defame others, says Sonam Tobgay, an IT engineer.

According to the Bhutan InfoComm and Media Authority (BICMA) Act 2006, it shall be the duty of the authority so far as it is practical from time to time, to regularly review ICT and media activities being carried out both within and outside Bhutan.

The BICMA director, Kinley T Wangchuk, says there is no specific regulation to monitor the online contents of the blogs.

“We are working on a draft on internet/online content. First draft is almost complete but we need to refine it,” he adds.
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I would like to thank her for this, maybe take her out for a drink next time I'm home ;)

Weblogging Trends

I’ve been a very irregular blogger but I read a series of blogs almost daily. I bookmark any blog I find interesting and recently there’ve been a lot of Bhutanese bloggers who’ve caught my eye.

Blogging is an extension of free speech online, only that it gets recorded for people to see anywhere, anytime, over and over again. If one has an opinion that needs to be voiced out there is no need to wait for a public forum in the real life to bring it up. Such forums are a rarity nowadays and the lack of time on everyone’s hands makes it kind of difficult to attend those that are there.

Meanwhile, a blog is a public domain where the words need not be spoken out loud and there is no need for appearances, not even a face to be put on it. It can be laid out in the convenience of our homes or our offices, even from our mobile phones, and it gives us time to gather our thoughts and arrange it in the form of proper sentences. Such efforts go a long way than raising a voice in a public meeting where one’s disposition matters more to the listener than the ideas being shared.

Now, if these ideas are of any good in policy making, and if they are read by the right people, then their voices will have been heard.

Blogging makes a huge impact in presenting a citizen’s view of the world and that in a democratic society should be the first place to look for politicians and bureaucrats alike. One can take the example of the crackdown on blogging during the recent protests in Iran, and the impact that it made on the world stage. Very soon, blogging will be considered a birthright by a large section of the general population and the politicians better be taking note of that. If they want to keep their fingers on the pulse of today’s society, one of the ways of doing it is to keep track of blogs and begin using them as tools for outreach and opinion forming.

I read a lot online; many of those are from foreign writers, most of them journalists and freelance writers. The way they present current affairs, in more than the mundane way of just spelling out the facts that the news agencies do, and the depth of their analysis, has broadened my outlook into how I see and perceive the things happening around the world.

I sometimes read from online columnists about various subject interests and it shows me a world that I can’t otherwise. It gives me access to information when I want them, and in the manner that I want them.

I was scouring blogspot.com when I came across many Bhutanese who had their blogs set up there. It was encouraging to see so many of them there. Some do just creative writing, some write about their lives, some comment critically on issues and current affairs.

It encouraged me to set up my own blog (only I haven’t been that regular in updating it). It was heartening to see that our people had a way to unleash their creative potential and also to voice out their opinions now. They don’t write badly at all, maybe because of the good command we have in English thanks to our education system. Some of their thoughts are really deep and it connects to you even more when you know that the other person is a Bhutanese or better in fact if you know the person in real life.

It is that sort of connection that the blogger has with the common man which the mass media lacks; the element of person is introduced in a blog. This gave birth to what we today know as citizen journalism. The public is no longer satisfied at being at the receiving end of the media system. It is now a time of citizens communicating with each other without the media system in between. This gives rise to a form of communication never seen before, and all this has been made possible due to the technological marvels of our time.

Some members of the public have realized that sometimes they are the ones at the forefront making news and rather than have their stories told by others, they resort to giving their own accounts. They even bring out stories as they happen, and if that’s not breaking news then what is?

Often when the ‘players’ in the ‘news’ themselves give out their points of view it is made realer and less fictional. The ‘audience’ connects better with this sort of reporting rather than the conventional one. Combine this with more features like audio, video and pictures, along with a textual account and you have an unbeatable combination, a wholesome experience. This form of ‘participatory journalism’ has been criticized for its lack of credibility and respect for copyright but beyond that its impact on the psyche of the common man is undeniable and cannot be ignored by the conventional media for long.

It is therefore high time media systems started incorporating contributions from local residents of their service areas, who report on topics which concern them and more so if these topics are ignored by the conventional media.