We see many things before us that are required to be done. And we have identified which one is the all important and which one are not substantial. Do the all important things and leave the unnecessary things behind. We cannot entertain and make everyone happy all the time. In the end of the day, we are alone who are going to face consuequences: for the better of the worse.

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 short time ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and his new administration officially came to life. One of the first changes is the White House’s new website, which will serve as a place for the President and his administration to connect with the rest of the nation and the world.

Millions of Americans have powered President Obama’s journey to the White House, many taking advantage of the internet to play a role in shaping our country’s future. WhiteHouse.gov is just the beginning of the new administration’s efforts to expand and deepen this online engagement.

Just like your new government, WhiteHouse.gov and the rest of the Administration’s online programs will put citizens first. Our initial new media efforts will center around three priorities: Communication – Transparency – Participation -

A blog owned by President Obama is certainly the first in US or may be by any head of state in the world. Indonesian President SBY has a website, but it’s a website. Not a blog.

In the footer of the blog we can see many links directed to some informations concerning Obama’s future plan including his agenda on Iraq, Civil Rights, Defense, etc.

The latest post dated January 21, was the transcript of President Obama inaugural address and the video.

Unfortunately, it seems Obama will never write the blog himself. All posts so far were written by his staff. Had he written his blog by himself every now and then, he would have been the real Blogging President. Since a blog is originally defined as a personal diary which implies that it’s written by a blogger himself.  Another flipside of Obama’s blog is the comment box is closed making its intention to open a dialog less credible. Although we see some blogs which closed the commenting facilities, it’d be better off if the comment box is open.

Related entries:

• Indonesian blogger Ministers
• Indonesia Housing Minister Blog
• Indonesia Defense Minister Blog

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.

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

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.