Feature

Blogs: An emerging media in Bangladesh

ON July 26th 2008, a mild earthquake hit Dhaka. Before any news channels, news papers or even news sites could pick up the story, it appeared in “somewhere in… blog” - a popular Bangladeshi blog community. While people were still running out of their buildings in fear, bloggers of www.somewhereinblog.net started writing small posts in bangla like: “I think I felt a jolt, are we having an earthquake?”. Then came waves of posts from different people about their experiences of the earthquake and it all happened in minutes.

Ironically, just like the recent earthquake, blogging has become a phenomenon that is jolting the traditional communication media, simply because news travel much faster to you through a popular blog site than the traditional media. Not only is it a faster medium of communication that has no bureaucracy barriers, it is also vast and diverse; anyone with a computer and internet connection can be a participant in the world that is known as the blogosphere.

Interestingly enough, even though blogging is a highly popular term all over the developed world, in Bangladesh a vast portion of the internet using population are not even familiar with the term blog. In case you are one of those who are filled with questions, here is a brief introduction about what blogging is:

The word blog is coined from the term web log, a chronological display of “log” entries submitted to your blog site on the web. It is a many-to-many web communication platform where anyone can jot down personal thoughts, news, views and opinions to share with others. In addition, viewers can rate or comment on quality of writing as well as participate in a discussion about the writing and thus an interactive conversation starts to take place. Modern blogs also support inclusion of images and multimedia content on top of text. Many artists and writers find blogging the most fruitful media to take their profession to perfection through constructive criticism.

One of the reasons why blogging as well as internet lacks popularity in our country compared to the Western World, is the language barrier. The pioneer in introducing an innovative way to type Bangla on the web is the blog community site: “somewhere in…blog”

(www.somewhereinblog.net. Since using a Bangla keyboard requires a good deal of learning and often is avoided by many, somewhere in… blog introduced a phonetic keyboard which automatically inserts Bangla text corresponding to its pronunciation typed in English.

Over the last 30 months this site has turned out to be a great success with popularity gained only through word of mouth. Bangla speaking internet users are flocking into this site with their thoughts and opinions as in average they find one new post every six minutes and one new comment every 20 seconds! These numbers are amazing considering the small number of Bangla speaking internet users. This blog platform, claims its creator somewhere in…, is first of the company's several in-development ventures to provide technology solutions tailored to the needs and matched with the user level of the larger Bangladeshi community.

Several other Bangla blog sites have also emerged during the last 6-18 months, all which have a growing popularity. Sites like Shachalayatan, Pechali and Amarblog are, as somewhere in… blog, accessed not only in Bangladesh but also by Bangla speaking communities nearly all over the world.

Blogs are indeed a powerful emerging media and a dynamic supplement to the traditional media. Where newspapers have a limit of 20 pages a day, or a TV show has to stay within 30 minutes, blogs have no boundaries in terms of volume or time. Blogs are great tools for voicing opinions and practicing democracy, as well as harvesting the collective intelligence of a vast group of people joining into debates and bringing important issues forward. Since anyone can freely register their own blog page and start writing, the reader will always get an idea of what people are concerned about by visiting the blog communities. But naturally this great power has to be channeled in the right direction. Freedom of speech doesn't make everyone a great or trustworthy speaker. To maintain a good quality and attractive read, moderation is normally applied to pick out content that may upset the community.

In the western world where censorship is not such a common practice and where society is not too sensitive to radical points of view, blogging is gradually becoming more powerful than the mass media itself. Politicians, celebrities and businesses have learned that they cannot succeed for long without having a blog and being on the same frequency as the bloggers. They no longer have information monopoly and any of their actions may eventually be judged by bloggers, which is one of the wonders of the blogosphere. It brings transparency and power to the people in the real democratic sense. People tend to search sites like You tube and Blogger for actual photos and videos of news events that they feel that mass news media tend to overlook because of their political affiliation.

Bangla blogging has a great potential and may be one of the most powerful tools to secure that the Bangla language can sustain the transfer to the digital world. It can help to unite and internationalize our people, our culture, and our democracy and not to mention our language to an extent not perceivable before. The young Bangla blog sphere has already made significant social contribution from fund raising for an ailing artist to a successful push for progress in a sensational murder case, from supporting the founder of CRP to organizing interactive help for cyclone victims. Bangla blogs are here to be and they have succeeded in giving people causes to engage themselves in, places to belong and digital bridges connecting bangla speakers globally. May they be understood as a useful tool and parameter for democracy and development as they represent a vast group of resourceful and highly networked people contributing with their highest values: their hearts and minds.