Friday, January 9, 2009

Blogosphere

An Introduction to Weblogs

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/An_Introduction_to_Weblogs

This is a wikibook on web blogs. It covers the terminology, its history, use and influence. It also teaches you how to create your own blog.

State of the Blogosphere / 2008

http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/

This is a report by Technorati on the state of blogosphere and emreging facts.

Israel takes battle with Hamas to YouTube

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081231/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians_youtube

This news item is an example of  how important blogosphere is?  Even militaries cannot afford to do away with it!. and how blogosphere affects the mainstream media?

19 comments:

  1. Quite Enlightening

    However, it is sad to read the news item though.
    Blogosphere is being used as a mean to provide excuses for war by both the parties.

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  2. Informative! Reviewed the wikipedia entry; I've previously read blogs but never made one of my own till now!
    The other articles added to my knowledge too..it's apalling how technology is being abused.

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  3. There is no doubt that blogs are important in U.S, Europe and other developed countries. President-Elect Obama used it to raise funding and reach the people directly, nations are using it to propagate their message and companies use it as well to reach their customers directly and answer their inquiries.

    But the question is how useful are blogs in a country like Pakistan where the majority of the population is illiterate and doesn't even know where tomorrow's meal is coming from. Do blogs affect anyone over here?

    As for people like us who can use blogs, we hardly know of any popular blogospheres which focus on Pakistani issues.. so why blog?

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  4. Taimur your comments are thought provoking. Can anyone answer Taimur's questions?....

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  5. Taimur-
    I beg to differ. BLOGS are a GREAT way for those of us who are on the internet a lot to connect with like-minded people ALL OVER THE WORLD...
    Your arguement is that how do we use BLOGS in a fast and effective manner so as to transfer local information... well it's OBVIOUS that that is not going to happen in a long, LONG time...
    But the problem then is not with BLOGS... its with the majority of the masses simply not having access to the internet let alone a computer/laptop.
    But BELIEVE ME this is a GREAT resource for those few, priveleged might I add, that do...
    And the blogging scene in Karachi is prettyy hot and happening...
    Check out karachi.metblogs.com
    Interesting, to say the least :)

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  6. taimur,

    there are blogs that discuss the political and the security problems faced by the pakistan.you can find pakistan's issues being discussed not only on blogs but on forums and sites like orkut and facebook.you will be surprised by the extent of the content being discussed on different sites (specially the security and society problems).therefore blogs form an important part in discussing the issues faced by pakistan and it's use is significant for us. yes our literacy percentage is low but lets not be pessimistic we are progressing! .

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  7. In my opinion blogs are a great source of idea sharing and all we need is to keep an open mind to listen about other views.

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  8. After reading all the blogs and especially Taimur's ,i have a message for all of us that can blog . Have you people actually read the anti pakistan blogging being done among Indians?? Just visit the website of NDTV and read some of the blogs related to the mumbai attacks and the related links to Pakistan.
    Shouldn't we respond in a rationale way to defend our country on these indian news channel blogs??

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  9. http://bloggers.pk/

    Taimur my friend... you'd be surprised :)

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  10. ok sorry taimur..no answer for you:P:)

    This might seem utter digression but just today I received this email from a classmate...it's an emergency petition calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
    I was just wondering whether such petitions ever really get anywhere.I might be wrong but I feel the whole thing is kind of useless in practicality.I mean sure I'll put my name down there..and then what?How does that contribute to the whole media protest-warfare thing, if at all?

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  11. I read an article on blogging in Pakistan...I'll give a brief overview. It mentioned that when blogging was first introduced, people used to utter "blaaging" instead of blogging. Later the martial law of 2007 came and that was the turning point in the Pakistani blogosphere which multiplied to a lage blogging community in 2008.Bloggers united after Benazir's assasination and tried to expose the perpetrators. A mobile video of the suicide bomber was caught on the blog. Then in 2008, the most talked about figure was none other than Asif Zardari(it's the Bhutto family talked about again!).Ranging from the presidential elections to broken promises to his final appointment as the president to his Sarah Palin "if he is insisting, i might hug" had the blogging community ripping.So in Pakistan blogs are mostly political. However, there is a difference between blogging and journalism. Bloggers have a personal bias whereas journalist present an unbiased opinion.That is why journalists are ahead of bloggers but we cannot discount the fact that they provide valuable insight.Had Zardari not been talked about in blogs, it would surely have been the economic recession or the global financial crisis....so blogging is still relevant to Pakistan!

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  12. I read an article on blogging in Pakistan...I'll give a brief overview. It mentioned that when blogging was first introduced, people used to utter "blaaging" instead of blogging. Later the martial law of 2007 came and that was the turning point in the Pakistani blogosphere which multiplied to a large blogging community in 2008.Bloggers united after Benazir's assasination and tried to expose the perpetrators. A mobile video of the suicide bomber was caught on the blog. Then in 2008, the most talked about figure was none other than Asif Zardari(it's the Bhutto family talked about again!).Ranging from the presidential elections to broken promises to his final appointment as the president to his Sarah Palin "if he is insisting, i might hug" had the blogging community ripping.So in Pakistan blogs are mostly political. However, there is a difference between blogging and journalism. Bloggers have a personal bias whereas journalists present an unbiased opinion.That is why journalists are ahead of bloggers but we cannot discount the fact that they provide valuable insight.Had Zardari not been talked about in blogs, it would surely have been the economic recession or the global financial crisis....so blogging is still relevant to Pakistan!

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  13. @taimur like your question. the thing is that blogging is like any other tool. you can use, abuse or not use it at all due to lack of need or knowledge about it or the incapability of doing so. as far as our society is concerned there are a few variables which if set right , can do wonders.

    variable # 1 - technology the very first thing required for blogging is technology. at urban cities there are net cafes which have affordable charges. however, even smaller cities can with the help of the government and public set up cafes because wireless connections have made it much easier. in such a way the IT industry can flourish as well.

    variable # 2 - language according to the unesco, 50% pakistanis do know urdu so they CAN blog. now its our duty to develop blogging communities in urdu and help our country men advance.

    variable # 3 - content other than written ones, the content there is also in the form of picutes, audio and videos. so, if we make transitional websites that can direct searches made in urdu to youtube results our urdu speaking people will be able to access a whole world of information. in fact, an illiterate person with the help of a literate one can equally benefit

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  14. I feel blogging is indeed a great platform for sharing one's opinions and views and it is even a source of learning. But how many people actually blog...not too many even among the literate class...the number may be high but very little as a percentage..!!

    I myself sometimes do read blogs but never contribute...and i feel this is a step towards progress..!!

    I don't know whether signing petitions online is indeed real or it helps...i think it doesn't..!!

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  15. Answer to the digression :)

    It always depend on the case!

    Whenever a situation arises, people do exploit the public in the name of petitions for their benefit.

    So doubt, in this regard, is pretty much justified.

    What I'll suggest is to thoroughly research to see if their is a credible source behind.

    As for that gaza petition, it is being conducted by a global web movement 'Avaaz' comprising of 3.2 million members from around the world.

    You can check their list of campaigns and their impact on the following url

    https://secure.avaaz.org/en/report_back_2/

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  16. For Gaza everyone

    http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_for_peace

    I personally believe that doing anything positive is better than doing nothing

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  17. @ Taimur

    i agree to the fact that many people have no connection what so ever with internet in Pakistan let alone blogging..........but First if you want to beat your enemy use tools which are better or even equivalent to his so use the media to defend your self which west is using
    Secondly think about the future. what if people are not using it today they would tomorrow....

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  18. Now its my turn to repeat and emphaise on few things to sum-up the debate here. What I am doing is reproducing some of the excerpts from the technoratti report.

    “The word blog is irrelevant, what's important is that it is now common, and will soon be expected, that every intelligent person (and quite a few unintelligent ones) will have a media platform where they share what they care about with the world.”
    Seth Godin
    Author
    Tribes

    “Although today's form of blogging is a volunatary form of self-expression, in the future our experiences, actions, locations, and preferecnes will be auto-recorded directly to the web.”

    “The future of blogging will be an auto-synching of our lives directly to the web —often a quiet recording in the background”
    Jeremiah Owyang
    Senior Analyst, Social Computing
    Forrester Research

    I think this explains that why we should blog.

    Secondly instead of following indian blogs and replying to their propaganda it would be better to kick off your own blog and invite like minded people to contribute to create a hype or prapaganda machinery of your own!

    keep thinking...

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  19. Applications of MIS

    With computers being as ubiquitous as they are today, there's hardly any large business that does not rely extensively on their IT systems.

    However, there are several specific fields in which MIS has become invaluable.

    * Strategy Support

    While computers cannot create business strategies by themselves they can assist management in understanding the effects of their strategies, and help enable effective decision-making.

    MIS systems can be used to transform data into information useful for decision making. Computers can provide financial statements and performance reports to assist in the planning, monitoring and implementation of strategy.

    MIS systems provide a valuable function in that they can collate into coherent reports unmanageable volumes of data that would otherwise be broadly useless to decision makers. By studying these reports decision-makers can identify patterns and trends that would have remained unseen if the raw data were consulted manually.

    MIS systems can also use these raw data to run simulations – hypothetical scenarios that answer a range of ‘what if’ questions regarding alterations in strategy. For instance, MIS systems can provide predictions about the effect on sales that an alteration in price would have on a product. These Decision Support Systems (DSS) enable more informed decision making within an enterprise than would be possible without MIS systems.
    data processing:
    Not only do MIS systems allow for the collation of vast amounts of business data, but they also provide a valuable time saving benefit to the workforce. Where in the past business information had to be manually processed for filing and analysis it can now be entered quickly and easily onto a computer by a data processor, allowing for faster decision making and quicker reflexes for enterprise as a whole.

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