With internet (and blog) everyone can publish, and everyone will. And what an amazing willingness it is when opportunity comes. Have a look at the following statistic:
One thing that we have learned in our industry is that people have a lot to say. They are using the Internet to publish things at an astonishing pace. 120K blogs are created daily — most of them with an audience of one. Over half of them are created by people under the age of nineteen. In the US, nearly 40 percent of Internet users upload videos, and globally over fifteen hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. The web is very social too: about one of every six minutes that people spend online is spent in a social network of some type.

Publishing used to be constrained by physical limitations. You had to have a printing press and a distribution network, or a transmitter, to publish to any sort of critical mass, so broadcasting was the norm. No more. Today, most publishing is done by users for users, one-to-one or one-to-many (think of Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia, and YouTube). Free speech is no longer just a right granted by law, but one imbued by technology.

A day Obama is anaugurated on January 20, the first post of his blog were born. Visit his blog at http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/. The first post was written by apparently his Director of New Media (or should I call Director of Blogging?) named Macon Phillips. He writes

Mahathir Mohamad Prime Minister of Malaysia 1981 – 2003 is now blogging using MT (Movable Type) blogging platform (why not wordpress?) at www.chedet.com.

He seems actively blogging. His last post was December 19 titled IJN Privatisation while the previous one titled Melayu Mudah Lupa The No Bridge Decision written on December 17 meaning he writes two postings within two days! It also attracts much attention. The last post alone got 319 comments already.

He writes bilingual in English and Malay.

Happy Blogging Dr Mahathir! I wish our former Presidents Megawati Sukarnoputri, Abdurrahman Wahid, and Habibie are blogging too in the near future.

Photo: Cover book of Tristania Anggina blog
Some commenters on my previous posting on Blooker Awards help me in knowing Indonesian blogs which turns into book (blook). A. Umar Said’s “blog”, an Indonesian expats in France, has also published his book last couple of year (2004). And the latest in line is Tristania Anggina.

All are in Bahasa Indonesia, unfortunately. So, non-Indonesian readers/blogger couldn’t take a peek to their blogs. The only Indonesian blog in English which turns into book is A Jar of Pickles (poems onthology) written by three Indonesian poets in which Tjipoetat Quill has contributed to it.

Nevertheless, I’d like to congratulate Tristania Anggina and Tjipoetat Quill. May the publication of your blog into book could motivate other bloggers to continue blogging and writing whatever topic they enjoy writing, in English or Bahasa Indonesia

I’m glad to tell my honorable readers of this fifty-cent worth page, that http://blog-indonesia.com, the newly founded and hassle free blog Indonesia directory and I feel that we have something in common to share and therefore decided to support each other to promote Indonesian bloggers in Indonesia and abroad.

For that purpose, Blog Indonesia has given me a special column specifically dedicated for weekly blog review “Blogger Indonesia of the Week” (BOW).

Blog-indonesia.com is an aggregation, so I dont need to come to the site to fill up the column, rather whenever I make a blog review, the piece will automatically fills the particular space in Blog Indonesia for one week. It’ll only change when I make another review. That will make the blog under review more chance of limelight and therefore more exposure.

I hope this kind of cooperation in the end will benefit none other than the blogger Indonesia themselves.

For all Blogger Indonesia who’re just visiting this blog, I need to reiterate again some important points regarding blog that meet the criteria to be reviewed.

First, the blog should be written in English or at least bilingual.

Second, the blog should have a good content with Indonesian nuance (sci-tech, political, cultural, social, faith, art)

Third, original i.e. written by yourself; not the kind of news blog taken from third party.

Fourth, any kind of field reporting on certain socio-cultural events blended with a good commentary will be prioritized.

Fifth, blog which talk about socio-political and cultural commentary should have a sort of balance & unbiased opinion.

Sixth, no pornographic content.

Seventh, blog with anonymous blogger and unclear profile/identy will be the last resort to be reviewed. In another word, if your blog want to be reviewed, your identity should be as clear as crystal.

Any Indonesian blog (In English or bilingual) which I consider to be reviewed has been listed in this blog. If your blog has yet to be listed here and want to be reviewed please let me know by emailing me at fatihsyuhud-at-gmail-dot-com

In the meantime, for those who haven’t submitted their blogs to Blog Indonesia, you’re welcome and even encouraged to do so. The sooner the better. It’s the first Blog directory in Indonesia which doesn’t require registration or other requirements in order to submit your blog. Everybody invited! The only condition is you are an Indonesian or blogging something about Indonesia. What you need to do is just come to the site, click the Submit Your Blog menu. Done. That’s it.

Having said that, to show your gratitude, you are encouraged to link it back in your blog (it’s not obligatory, though), besides it’s another way to tell your readers about the new blog directory and hence, spreading the messages.

Blogs which have been submitted to Blog Indonesia and yet to be listed here, also will be under the consideration to be reviewed.

Lastly, the reason why I confine the review to English Blog only because I have the vision that blogging technology could be an affective medium for Indonesian, any single Indonesian, to contribute in his/her own way in promoting and introducing Indonesia–as a nation and country–to the world. The purpose of which is hard to achieve if you are blogging in a language other than English.

Happy blogging and happy weekend.

Update July 2008

It’s highly recommended that any blogger who want to get reviewed to give a comment (along with one’s blog URL) in the comment box here to make my task easier. Don’t forget to read some additional information there.