05 October 2006
Stay in touch, start a blog
As he updates his own blog from the Middle East, Rhodri Davies talks through the joys of blogging, and why we should all be getting involved.
Blogging might once have seemed like a poor man's internet site, but nowadays this is very far from the case. Blogging is a great way to produce and receive information more relevant to ourselves - it is the much touted 'citizen journalism' at its best.
Blogs can provide unadulterated information from the people on the street, who often have the best picture of events. After all, this is where journalists and researchers go for a great deal of their illumination. The London bombings is a prime example of a situation when bloggers provided consistent and virtually real-time information of the situation in the city.
Such sites act as a gateway for thousands to know the score. In turn, it is no surprise that virtually all national online newspapers use bloggers to gather reports and opinion from around the globe. Other outlets have got on the case as well: CNN was said to be using UK bloggers as information sources on 7/7; Stockbrokers even use blogs to discover opinions on new products whose manufacturers they may invest in.
Of course, as with any media source you have to be careful and verify what you read. But this heightens the need for you and I to write blogs that matter, and with integrity. You can use your blog as an information source on anything you think is important, as a means of getting your work out there, and to develop your writing and analytical skills. Oh, and it helps with spelling as well.
I set mine up on the free www.worldpress.com, which has all the helpful features you could want (check out other blogging sites on the Generation Why guide to blogging.
So far my writing has been spurred on by living in the Middle East recently, and the events and people that I have come into contact with. I mostly talk about politics, as well as using it as a place to post information from other sources I think might be interesting or important. So please have a look and, if it's not your cup of tea, why not write your own blog?
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I've just graduated from Bath University in economics and international development. I'm interested in sports and music and have previously worked in devlopment in the UK and in Bangladesh where I worked at ActionAid Bangladesh in its HIV/AIDS team, and with a local NGO, Aparajeyo Bangladesh, on its child sex worker project. I am now waiting to start a job working on a magazine in Cairo in the new year.
