Blogger Indonesia of the Week (81): Marisa Duma

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