Many Indonesian bloggers are basically not trained in general writing skill, not to say in journalism. It’s understandable given the fact that a blog is, shall we say, citizen journalism. A blogger sometimes just writes whatever he/she wants to write, improperly written notwithstanding. Despite Seth Godin reminds us that ”if you can write what you talk you would be a prolific writer” I believe that writing skill somehow is still needed for a serious blogger to make a blogger’s thought more “shiny”, more easily understood and have a stronger expression.
There are many ways to learn to write more properly, one of them is by reading a lot of blogs written by trained writers. This is the method I use to enhance my blog-writing skill: by being a regular reader of many English-speaking blog written by many skillful individuals with various expertises such as Seth Godin, Juan Cole, Insta Pundit, Problogger, and many more. I learn from them both the writing styles and how to make a quality content as well as the English usage.
Among Indonesia blogs of which Indonesian bloggers can learn and benefit from is a blog written by Marisa Duma,
[she] is an Indonesian, born 9th October 1982 and presently living in Jakarta. She studies psychology, communications, journalism, and the media, graduated as a certified ad kid, and she has around 5 years of professional experience in various fields.
She writes relatively regularly with a good Englsih and clear expression. One thing, among others, that becomes her strong point is her willingness to write on many new bunch of information that may benefit her readers. For example her latest post on Fun Facts about Indonesia, or about Indonesia Local Citizen Portal. Obviously that kind of info needs a certain energy for her to browse the www (wild wild web) more than any other Indonesian bloggers, like me, who tends to be a “bloggerly lazy” blogger. Bloggerly lazy stands for a blogger who hardly refers or “not energetic-enough” to link to other similar blog posts.
What Marisa Duma has done and is doing , therefore, is an exemplary to other bloggers to emulate not only for the interest of its content quality but also for promoting oneself’s blog further.
But people appreciation to her blog is not only confined to her content, some also like her blog design. Like what Colson said
This site is really special! Overwhelming and ambitious. But beautiful and unlike any other I know of. A real work of art.
Athough I encourage Indonesian bloggers to emphasize more on quality content rather than design having both sides advantage is certainly a bonus.
Further reading: List of previous Blogger Indonesia of the Week and requirements to get reviewed
We totally agree. Once more.
She IS a writer. She IS good. She IS prolific. Her posts ARE relevant. Her posts ARE gems among blogosphere journalism.
[...] ada Blogger of the Week yang baru, Marisa Duma. This entry was written by Hans Doddema and posted on Februari 29, 2008 at 9:21 pm and filed [...]
Thank you for your words of encouragement, pak. I am quite baffled by this, and yet honoured at the same time. For every support, constructive criticism, and suggestion I’ve received so far, hopefully it can also motivate others of my generation to achieve more out of themselves.
At the moment, I am listed as an entry candidate in one particular news service. It has been a tense period for me lately, knowing I’m still much too far out of my league, therefore your support, and those coming from great bloggers like colson, have meant a lot for me right now. Thank you!
Hear! Hear! Well deserved focus on a blog Unspun enjoys very much. Keep it up Marisa.
She’s still that young?!! Wow, her blog is very informative indeed. Great blogger, she is.
Hmmm… can’t read. The site is down (2008-03-04, 11:017am)
A great descriptive post. Thank you for letting us knows about Marisa.
Your links were not quite right I guess… You linked Insta Pundit and Problogger to Seth’s blog…
@ Unspun
And when can we bloggers win ourselves a Maverick’s Click, pak Ong?
Thank you and have a great day at work.
@ Toshihiko
Me? Young? Dude, being 25 years old feels way much older than how it seems. lol
You’re young as well. As a matter of fact, I’ve found really really good blogs written by those under the age of 25. I’m making a list out of it right now, I’ll post it soon enough.
@ Charly Silaban
Thanks for the info.
It’s up and running for the last 72 hours, so feel free to check it again.
@ satrio
Link works fine.
i want to be like marissa, but my english mark is red…
@arifrf – easy; just keep on writing.
Say, you want a good laugh? Try searching for “sufehmi” on Google, and look for my old writings / posts in various mailing lists.
You WILL have a good laugh reading my UGLY english back then
So now I’ve managed to embarrassed myself in public, you’d better start writing those posts ! Stat !
Marisa – congratulations; you very well deserved it. Keep it up !