If you’re going to Orchard Road over the weekend, do check out the Glass House outside Ngee Ann City. Blogger Cheyenne will attempt to quit smoking over 3 days, from this Friday to Sunday.
Cheyenne’s a fellow Arsenal fan. So that means I doubly support her!
Check out her blog for updates on her progress.
Update: It appears that familiar Gunner pals are going to visit Cheyenne!
Forbes.com has launched the Business and Finance Blog Network, comprising “a community of pre-screened, influential business and financial blogs”. I’m proud to be a member of this new community. Citing the press release:
The Blog Network’s content will focus on senior business decision makers and high-net-worth investors. Topics will be relevant to the banking, trading, hedge fund management, affluent investing, and senior business decision-making communities. Participation in the network is by invitation only, and all blogs are vetted by Forbes.com editors for appropriate content, and to ensure that they are in keeping with the Forbes editorial brand.
The network will allow advertisers to target a highly engaged, exclusive niche audience of senior business decision makers and affluent investors easily and effectively. Four hundred-plus blogs have already joined the network, with many more expected to sign on before the official launch in the next few weeks.
If you’re surprised, I don’t blame you. But in the next few months I’ll be able to reveal exactly why I’ve taken on business blogging in a big way.
Wilson Tan, who's been an advisor to the Dell blog since its launch, is coming home to Singapore. Dell gave him a glowing tribute on its blog.
Wilson has been really dedicated to his clients. While I was at SXSW with him and the Dell team, he was always there for them, looking for new opportunities and contacts that could further promote his client. Behind the scenes, he guided the team on replying to comments, many from irate customers like myself :)
Not surprisingly, his company has retained the contract with Dell. I'm looking forward to meeting up with Wilson when he's back in Singapore!
I attended the church wedding of Shawn and Jean in the morning, followed by dinner in the evening. Having known the couple for 10 years, I was very happy to see them finally tie the knot. They are really nice, decent people and truly deserve each other. I also met many seniors from the University of Bristol. It was good catching up with them after all these years.
What got me was how many of them mentioned, on separate occasions, that they visited my website/blog. I didn't expect them to know about it, because I didn't have a blog in the late 1990s when I was in University. I purchased 'vantan.org' and set up a simple website where I manually posted updates on my life.
I learnt that each senior found my website on their own, via web searches for restaurant reviews and other things. One senior found my blog via another friend's blog, which she was referred to by another friend. Another senior found my site also by accident, then read my profile to check if I was the Vanessa Tan from Bristol.
Interestingly, I sat next to the parents of one of my seniors, who's due to give birth to her first child soon. After telling her parents about the new media work I was doing, the mum shared that she also had a blog! However she stopped blogging early this year. I encouraged the mum to keep on blogging and suggested she could post photos of her forthcoming grandchild. I told her how I kept in touch with friends who were overseas, by looking at photos and videos of their kids.
I went home and immediately checked out my senior's mum's blog. It was well-written, with lots of photos that were nicely cropped. As she mentioned to me earlier, she had good rapport with her readers and I could see it from the number of comments posted. I too posted an encouraging comment, to remind her to keep blogging.
Who knows, Singapore may have a new 'grandma' blog soon!
I was told that Ong Sor Fern wrote an opinion piece in the Straits Times (our national newspaper) today on how she never reads blogs but 'only published formats: newspapers, magazines and books'. This statement has been met with amusement among those of us in the Social Media group.
I think Ivan and Siva have more or less addressed her issues. I particularly like Siva's point on how scientists themselves are wary of journalists as they don't always get their facts right themselves.
To a certain extent, I can see where she's coming from. Content is still king, but content isn't the exclusive domain of traditional media sources anymore.
And just like there are good journalists and bad journalists, there are also good bloggers and bad bloggers. For every book like the Cult of the Amateur (current Amazon rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars), there are dozens if not hundreds of books and other forms of less traditional media celebrating the new, open-source or Web 2.0 culture. Bubbles have burst before, but that's part of the experience of entrepreneurism.
And that's about all the time I'm going to spend writing about this.
To the day, it's been 8 months since the Youth Advolution for Health (YAH) blog was officially launched. I don't think I know most of the youths who contribute to the blog, since anyone who is interested in promoting health among youth is allowed to sign up and post something.
There were no restrictions on them. Everyone was simply asked to be respectful of others when writing for the blog. Youth can be trusted. We just have to give them more responsibility.
The blog has had a wider international reach than I expected. Without any prompting, we've had young people from other countries joining forces with us. Currently, our youth have no monetary incentives to sign up and blog, save for their interest in health advocacy, which is something that most youth wouldn't think twice about.
I don't believe in having too many contests and advertisements. They are a short-term solution. It's more important to gather a group of contributors who are genuinely interested in the cause. It may take more time to build up, and it may never be something that mainstream youth will react to fervently as news about their favourite celebrities or MMORPG games. But we'll do it anyway.
The beautiful thing is taking a back seat and watching the youths initiate and realise their own ideas. That is the spirit of youth advocacy. I hope to see more such projects take root in future.
Two kings of blogging meet; what more can I say?
Robert Scoble and Mr Brown:
Thanks to Jeremiah for the heads up!
[This embed code is really screwing up my standards compliance. No time to fix it, can't be bothered actually. Just won't embed stuff from this site again.]
I just upgraded to the latest version of MT4 on a test blog, and was amused to see this:
Not the kind of bible code we're looking for!
That's right - Too Much Information = No Time. A few of us Social Media folks were recently discussing how we're past the phase where we read lots of news feeds. With easy-aggregation tools like Google Reader, there's a tendency to oversubscribe to too many news websites and blogs. We end up skimming or not reading anything at all.
Now, I just take a leaf from another of Google's famous lines, "I'm feeling lucky", whip open my Google Reader and read whichever feeds appear on my screen first. I click randomly on other folders, read a few more articles, then close my window.
Of course, there are collective keyword feeds I subscribe to for work. Those I still read. It's my professional prerogative. But there is no regular blog that I read anymore. It's nothing personal. It's because reading a whole lot of feeds is not going to change my life. Timothy Ferriss, your wise words speak to me even as I continue reading your book. Maybe I too should only read feeds at a certain time of the day, and only selected ones.
Just as I was harbouring these thoughts, Ben wrote of the same thing too. I totally, totally agree with him on this. I can't remember much of what I read, and I can't piece things together. I can spend the whole day attending meetings and replying to emails without doing work that would really make an impact. It is so easy to fall into this trap. Likewise with feeds.
It's like starting out with a few good friends. As you grow more confident, you expand your social network and suddenly ending up with a gazillion MySpace strangers whose lives you now feel obliged to keep track of. There's even a feeling of guilt when you don't read them. The same feeling as a child when you had too much food on your plate, really didn't feel like eating it, but felt like taking a few more mouthfuls so as not to be wasteful. Like the children we once were, we've got too much feed.
I subscribe to over 650 feeds and it is really time to cull them.
Update: It appears that well-known bloggers are also dropping out of social networks because they can't keep up with them. I'm seeing a trend here.
Sparklette announced on Twitter that Movable Type 4 is out. That's the software I use for this blog. I've been using MT for most of my blogging life. Would you believe I started out with Blogger in its early days, actually found it too difficult to integrate on my own website, and went back to manual updates until I finally made the bold move to install MT? It was difficult as I had no background in programming, but I managed to figure things out. With each MT upgrade things got easier, especially with MT3.
I've also tried Wordpress. There was the temptation to switch to it, especially when MT's parent company Six Apart started charging for support rather than relying on donations (which I made, anyway). But I stayed on. The only time I did contact their Tech Support, the response was fairly quick and professional. So it gives me the assurance that things can get fixed if I need help.
However, I'm reluctant to learn Wordpress in detail, so apart from fine-tuning a bit of design elements and installing other people's themes, I haven't done much.
I found MT's interface more user-friendly. When I log in and see the landing page, I can do what I want in one click, whereas with Wordpress it takes an extra click or two. I'm used to the MT tags and like the fact that I don't have to update my .htaccess file when I change the way my blog entry pages should be named. MT also works in other platforms. For enterprise blogging-related projects, I've considered either MT or Expression Engine, which at least doesn't incur more cost when adding new user licences.
Having said that, MT has also learnt a lot from Wordpress. With MT3 there was dynamic publishing, calling from the database. More modules started appearing (though they still screw up my blog templates, which were adapted from MT2). Wordpress has made MT sit up and take notice, which is good. If I wanted my website to be mostly a blog with several other web pages, Wordpress would be ideal because it lets you manage pages that are kept within the same template as your blog.
In MT, more hard coding is required - but I'm fine with that. It's cleaner. With Wordpress, if you copy and paste your entry from Microsoft Word, the formatting is copied over as well. [Update: See Sparklette/Veron's clarification below.]
So, for now, I'm still sticking with MT. Anyway my schedule is jam packed, I'm no longer that interested in coding, and so this website is not going to be revamped this year. I hope you like yellow and white.
Disclaimer: I have not tried out MT4 but it has new features, such as a redesigned interface, WYSIWYG editor and standalone pages. The last two features I've singled out are again things that Wordpress had first. I totally encourage competition because it raises the bar for both sides.
I arrived at BlogOut 2007 late due to work and the fact that I thought that Market Street was a very short street, and happily parked at one end, not realising it was broken into two separate streets with the same name. Murphy's Law required that I park, of course, at the wrong end, and it was only with the kind directions of Melvin Yuan that I managed to find my way to the Geek Terminal.
The Geek Terminal was packed with entrepreneurial bloggers like Bernard Leong, Web 2.0 developers like Uzyn, Herry and Choon Keat, fellow Media Socialists Kevin Lim, Ben Koe, Preetam, Walter.
I also caught up with geek girls Priscilla and Divya (also a fellow WebSG author, along with Lucian who was busy taking photographs). I spoke briefly with James Seng and also caught up with Veron who is in very hot demand as a web designer.
After a general panel discussion moderated by Walter, with guest stars Joe Augustin (DJ) and Jennifer Lewis (Editor of Stomp) also taking to the mic, a variety of topics were addressed at various tables. I chose to sit in for the discussion on Corporate Blogging instead of Second Life.
The perspectives offered initially were from a startup's point of view based on members' experiences. I almost wanted to talk about corporate Government blogs, but realised it was not going to be a very cool topic, so I just listened instead. The main question we agreed on, is WHY do you want to start a blog? While you don't need to have many objectives, you should have at least one, and stay true to it.
We also agreed that people who start corporate blogs just for the sake of 'getting rich/more sales' may not get what they're looking for. In many cases, the benefits of corporate blogging are intangible. They may or may not lead to more sales. In one case, a corporate blog's frankness led to a top employee joining that company instead of a better-paying job in another company that didn't have such a blog.
We discussed having internal blogs as a 'safer' alternative, if unsure of the market's reaction. However, internal blogs have different purposes from public blogs. The focus for the former is more on knowledge sharing, whereas the latter is very much a public relations effort in addition to sharing information. Also, employees must be driven to blog, and be empowered. In many corporations, these are stumbling blocks.
Personalities behind blogs are important. Popular corporate bloggers may take their readership with them when they leave the company. Some said they'd feel different if their favourite blogger was no longer writing. CEOs were mentioned as being potential bloggers as they had the overall vision of the company in mind. However, a Microsoft rep shared that many of their staff in different departments were contributing to blogs (as any Scoble fan would know).
In the middle of the discussions, I caught up with Brennan. Together with him, Kevin, Preetam and Julian Wong, we had drinks after the party ended. I then had my own Second Life discussion with fellow Second Lifers Jacky Peng (former academic) and Aileen Sim (pioneer of the virtual credit card company). Jacky brought up the concept of interior design/architecture firms using Second Life, which I also thought of previously. We were both wondering why it hasn't been taken up in a big way.
It was nice to finally meet The Digital Movement folks (some a second time) such as Estee, Ming Yeow, Chern Jie, and Renzhi.
View the rest of my BlogOut 2007 photos while I recover from post-celebration stupor. Questions will be asked in the aftermath:
See other bloggers' coverage of the event: SGEntrepreneurs, Walter, Brennan
I've been invited to BlogOut, and it sounds like we geeks are going to have some fun. I hope the wireless connection will be less sluggish than at Nexus, cos we'll probably be Twittering away!
Read more about Blogout and check out their Wikispace.
See you there. If you read this blog, do come up and say 'hi'!
While cross-reading 'Naked Conversations' and 'The Corporate Blogging Book', I came across this post, The Pursuit of Busyness, by Associate Professor Andrew McAfee of the Harvard Business School, and can emphathise with it. He writes about how employees are often shy to embrace Enterprise 2.0 technologies (blogs, wikis etc) as well as the new mindset.
[I saved this post as a draft and never got round to publishing it until today. So here it is, 5 days old.]
On the home page of Techdirt today is a summary of the Malaysian Government's reaction to the blogosphere in the midst of its tourism promotion efforts.
Still in the news today is mention of the Thai Government's censorship of Youtube's videos containing offensive material of the King. I see two sides to this. The King is the most revered figure in the country. Having studied Thai history and had Thai friends, I know how much they respect him.
And remember that old HSBC ad on being the world's local bank? There was a scene where a white tourist put his feet up and some young Asian (presumably Thai?) jerked his head away, as he found it offensive.
Thus, combining two polar opposites within Thai culture was bound to bring about a reaction. You can't expect the Thai Government NOT to do anything about it. However it is not practical to regulate the Internet. With its rebellious nature, I am not surprised that more such spoofs will be uploaded to Youtube and other channels. Any organisation that thinks it can block the Internet, is underestimating the human spirit, and risks appearing out of touch with reality today.
Taking a step back, I see that both situations involve two issues: The question of what is offensive material (which can be very subjective), and the (im)practicalities of censoring or controlling some aspect of the Internet.
The International Herald Tribune reports that Tim O'Reilly (who coined the term Web 2.0) and Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia) are working together to create a set of guidelines for online discussion and debate. Preliminary recommendations are available.
Chief among the recommendations is that bloggers consider banning anonymous comments left by visitors to their pages and be able to delete threatening or libelous comments without facing cries of censorship.
They are considering different levels of comments, which bloggers can select. What's going to be interesting is that "The whole system would be voluntary, relying on the community to police itself." Some good may come out of this on certain sites, but not all. More often, I'd expect to see trolling and chaos rather than self-regulation and order.
While Robert Scoble was quoted as saying these guidelines made him feel like he was in Iran, O'Reilly clarified it thus:
... the guidelines were not about censorship. "That is one of the mistakes a lot of people make -- believing that uncensored speech is the most free, when in fact, managed civil dialogue is actually the freer speech," he said. "Free speech is enhanced by civility."
Truly, it is. If man were allowed to do anything he wished.
I was saddened to read about Kathy Sierra getting death threats. She was one of the more favourite speakers at SXSW this year and last year, as I noted earlier this month at SXSW.
Then, my review of her Opening Remarks ended with the sentence, "I won’t be surprised if she’s invited back to SXSW next year." How ironic it is now, as we may not be seeing her in public for a while. She's cancelled her engagement at eTech this week and says she's afraid to leave her own yard.
So far, over 600 comments and trackbacks have been posted on her blog. Most readers have shown support for her. At least one reader has criticised her for going into hiding, because that's exactly what this cyberbully wants her to do.
But getting death threats is not funny at all. It may be a prankster, or maybe it isn't. How would you know?
[Update: Kathy's situation has been reported on BBC News. Thanks to Kevin for the heads up.]
Some of you may recall my previous rants against Dell because of a wonky laptop.
They bothered to reply to my complaints, including this post where I reviewed their Second Life presence and suggested some areas for improvement.
In Austin, I met the Dell Blog team! When I first read the Dell blog I pictured the people writing it were some smirky-looking guys in suits. So it was a pleasant surprise to meet Lionel, the Digital Media Manager, who is an amazingly humble and sincere guy. I also met Neil, the Dell Customer Advocate who has been taking my verbal abuse. He looked at my badge to check my name, and said that he emailed me before! It was an awkward moment. However, after having a couple of meals with them, I learnt they were sincerely interested in communicating with their customers.
I also noticed that a recent Dell Blog post garnered a slew of positive responses from customers who had experienced problem with a computer system. By keeping their promise and communicating their plans to customers, they gained back a whole lot of goodwill. Which proves that Robert Scoble and Shel Israel were right - blogging can improve your relationship with clients if you're willing to be sincere, stick with it through thick and thin (mostly wafer thin) and put in effort to address all their concerns.
You can't expect a blog to instantly turn public opinion - it took several months for Dell to start doing this, and you can imagine the journey wasn't easy. Other organisations may want to do the same thing but are afraid of the short-term reaction from readers, so they feel it's better not to blog at all and open themselves up to criticism.
Of course, as long as you have an open communication platform, you're going to get good and bad comments. You have to address them all - don't delete or play down the bad ones and hype up the good ones. The Blogosphere is intelligent and will know when you're trying to fool them. Then the backlash will be greater. Need I mention Wal-Mart and Edelman?
Let's just say that no amount of advertising that "Dell [or insert any company name here] is good", will actually make today's customers believe so. Talk must be followed up with sincere actions, preferably within a limited time span, so that people know you are acting quickly to make things better for them, and not just saying you're 'listening'. The former is much harder to do.
The employees who run the blog must also be empowered to respond to customers' comments. They should not have to go through multiple clearance levels which would delay the response time. Instead, customers' feedback should be channeled from the blog to the relevant departments to act upon. There is no point starting a blog if the rest of the company does not want to listen to their customers and change their ways.
Technorati Tags: SXSW, SXSW Interactive, Dell
I thought January was a busy month for me. Well, February has been even busier and shorter! Today, I made a 'cameo appearance' at a course on how to power search the internet.
The course attendees (from other Gahmen agencies) were asked to take a look at my blog. They were also asked to think of questions to ask me, if they could meet me. Then, ta-daah! I appeared at the doorway. At least they didn't look at me strangely. Pretty nice people (pretty AND nice, haha!).
I mentioned a bit of theory, told some blog anecdotes and shared my personal experiences. I shared that my annoyance at Dell products was tempered by the fact that their PR team was actually responding to my blog posts. My overall statement was that if you want to blog, just be yourself. Don't start a fake fan site like Wal-Mart did - the backlash will be great.
Also, blogging can be much more than just griping about things. I've gotten in touch with people all over the world just through my blog, and struck up some friendships along the way. My darling readers have also given me advice on wireless systems, hard disk backup solutions, the best place to buy Mac components... What more can I ask for?
Anyway, I did promise the class I would blog about it, and they could respond to me here. So here's my blog post!
Update - Here's a pic of me with the class and Deborah Abraham, the instructor:
Admittedly I have never been a huge fan of the Beckhams, although I think they've achieved a lot in their lives. My impression of Victoria has gone up a notch because she's actually been blogging. Check out her recent posts at DVBstyle.com. (Link via Bloggers Blog)
She could add more personal anecdotes and allow comments on her blog, though for a celebrity couple I can imagine they would be flooded with well-wishes and detractors alike.
Technorati Tags: Victoria Beckham, Posh Spice
You can listen to my interview on Radio Singapore International (RSI) here. The transcript is also on that webpage. Cheers.
Think of a car.
When it was first invented, everybody wanted to sit in one (I assume. Just humour me).
People don't care so much where the car takes them
Or whether it gives them a quality ride.
It's just so novel.
In time, when cars become mainstream...
Quality becomes more important. And getting the right directions. Getting to the destination on time. Safety. Fuel efficiency.
When cars in themselves get taken for granted, other things become more valuable to people. The system re-adjusts itself.
Until the next new mode of transport comes along. Then it starts all over again.
The same goes with any other form of technology.
I've invented a new term. It's a bit like a car. Actually, it's a bandwagon.
The New Media Bandwagon Syndrome.
I'm the last person to be averse to the use of new media, and wouldn't dream of discouraging anyone from trying something new, if it's worthwhile.
But we must look at our target audience and think, "Are they likely to use it? Will life be easier / more convenient or accessible / more affordable etc for them if we use new media?"
Technology in itself is usually not the most difficult thing to implement. Especially in a place like Singapore. More often, it's our own mindset.
If you want to start a corporate blog, ask yourselves: "Are we prepared to allow readers to post comments which may not be complimentary to our company?"
If your answer (or more likely, your bosses' answer) is "No. NEVER!!! We must look good all the time and never show our vulnerable, human side!!!", then don't start the blog :)
Dell is learning the hard way but at least they're publishing lots of comments now and sounding more real.
In fact, having an open corporate blog is an opportunity to get constructive comments. And it's how you react to negativity that shows how capable your company is of serving your customers. It lets you gather feedback in real time, and build relationships with your customers. And it showcases your responses for the world to see, rather than just build up in some private email database.
People pay lots of money to get feedback and engage their customers in more formal ways. Think of consultants. Focus groups. Surveys, questionnaires and polls.
The same goes for trackbacks which are just a more sophisticated form of comments via other blogs.
Don't worry about the spam. It happens so often that any reader with a brain will know it has nothing to do with your organisation. (Of course, you should still delete the spam and not leave it there, because it may show you aren't good at housekeeping.)
If you want to start a podcast, think: "Can we produce enough content that people will actually want to listen to and download regularly? Is our target audience the type that will know how to subscribe to our podcasts, and have the means to do so?"
If the answer is no, you're better off spending your money and manpower on something else.
That's all I have to say for today. Overall, I am encouraged by responses around me and there is much to be done. Just that we need to make sure that the 'much' we need to do, will be done the right way.
Welcome, Straits Times readers. I'm honoured to be mentioned in the papers today. This is a spin-off from Prime Minister Lee's rally speech that we must embrace new media. Right on!
We are public servants - and we blog too Gahmenbloggers, unite!
- spinoff: UCLA reports the article!
Blogging: Govt agencies getting into the act One of our projects was mentioned here.
Subscription required.
For those of you who haven't checked out our museum blog Yesterday.sg, do pay a visit. It has snippets of nostalgia, reminders of our Singapore heritage, news and reviews. I am a contributing blogger, aka "Friend".
My first (and only) post so far on the blog: The day I sat on David Marshall's chair.
[ps. Sorry about the double paragraphing there - I can't edit it myself!]
I discovered this a little late, but it's happy news nontheless.
Things Magazine looks like it's been put together with a lot of thought - a lot like Arts & Letters Daily. An excerpt from the 'About' page:
things magazine was originally founded in 1994 by a group of writers and historians based at the Victoria & Albert Museum/Royal College of Art in the belief that objects can open up new ways of understanding the world.
Now an independent magazine, things has built a reputation as
a home for new writing – essays, reviews, short stories and poems –
about objects and their meanings. The website contains a weblog, photography galleries, special projects, searchable archives and the occasional on-line only article.
I'm subscribing to their news feed.
Technorati Tags: Things Magazine
If you've been wondering what I've been up to, I'm busy with my new test blog at Vox. It's the latest initiative of Six Apart, the company which brought you Movable Type, which powers this blog.
This is my home page: 
This is my book page:
Do pop by and drop me a note! [Update: Just found out you can only do this if you are already a Vox member. ]
I'd love to send invites, but have none to give. Maybe in time. Let me know if you want one.
Sixapart have released version 3.3 of Movable Type, the blog software that I use.
Looking at the new features, I'd say tagging is my favourite, followed by activity feeds. The widgets and templates need to be tried out. New blog styles would be handy to those not so familiar with CSS.
I wish I could see some official screen shots, though. I'm curious to see if they added more AJAX and WYSIWYG editing.
Corporate users of Oracle (you know who you are) will rejoice, knowing that the MT 3.3 Enterprise edition is compatible with your database. If that doesn't convince you, a 45% promotional discount may help.
However, there is a change in the licensing scheme.
It sounds good that personal (free) licence users can now have as many authors and blogs. However, paid personal users (like myself) are now limited to a year of support, after which I presume we must renew it.
MT support is becoming a bit like AppleCare. While I most likely won't need the support (just as most of the time my iPod doesn't act up so badly that I can't fix it myself), I wonder why couldn't they just give us the MT support throughout.
Maybe I'm just nit-picking. It'll be just a matter of time before my fingers get itchy and I upgrade to 3.3.
Update: I caved in, and upgraded.
Just to keep tabs, I signed up for the following:
I'm suffering from info overload at the moment, considering that prior to this surge of Web 2.0 apps, I was already using Kinja, then switched over to Bloglines.
Also stumbled upon Kinja's interpretation of my website. Fine, I get the hint. I'll post more often! Also, it's interesting to note that this site's been classified under 'apple, mac, macintosh, open source'.
I've never blogged so much in just one day. And it'll be like this every day unless my fingers drop off or my laptop explodes. Visit websg.org for the latest SXSW updates.
In between, Lucian and I had a nice light lunch at a Mexican cafe. Great service, good prices.
I read Kevin's post about the Weblog Awards 2005, and agree with that quality matters more than quantity.
This triggered off a thought - what are my personal guidelines for this blog? I've never written them down before as this is an ongoing thing, but these are probably the main points:
That being said, I'm still human and appreciate the kind words that some of you leave here. Of course I get a little excited when I'm interviewed by the press - but after a while you put things in perspective. We're living in a tiny dot on the world map, on a planet which is just a speck in this universe. Don't take ourselves too seriously. It makes the head swell.
Tomorrow is our first ever Gahmen Blogger's Meetup. I hope I've contacted everyone who signed up. If not, drop me a line. (Ever since my Contact form has been publicised, I've been inundated with spam from it, so I'm not going to link directly to it here.)
The make-up of the group sounds promising and I hope we have lots of fun. More updates later.
[Update: The GBM went fine. I was late, paiseh. We've decided to keep it unofficial, and to remain in touch with each other. We're just a group of bloggers who happen to work in the public/civil service. Hopefully we've all made some new friends in the process. ]
[ Update: 9 of us so far! I'll send everyone an email this week. In the meantime, read about what my co-organiser RamblingLibrarian has to say about the meetup. ]
A few of us were thinking of setting up blogs in our organisations. Then we thought, why not have an informal Gahmen Bloggers Meetup?
There are no hard and fast rules, apart from the fact that you should be a civil or public servant, listed in the SGDI. Also, if someone shares some info with the rest of us, but asks to keep it confidential, do respect that. No recording or surveillance devices will be used; no Minutes will be taken (yay!). However, in line with official policy, bar top dancing is permitted.
You don't have to be a blogger, but should be interested in exploring blogging as a new medium. Those who have already started blogs can share their experiences with the rest of us.
Those interested can email me via the usual form. Please include your Gahmen email address so I can add you to the 'Lotus Notes' mailing list. We might hold the first meeting in November. [Update: I have disabled this feature in the form.]
[ See also: Some tongue-in-cheek ideas from Blinkymummy about setting up proper Gahmen blogs. Don't worry, we're not that evil. ]
I'll be attending the first Asian Corporate Blogging conference today. Guest stars: The author of Buzz Marketing with Blogs for Dummies, and the President of the Professional Bloggers Association (no, it isn't Jason Kottke but Paul Chaney). Participants will get a free signed copy of the Dummies book, hurrah!
I'm glad my organisation is open-minded enough to send me to this conference. Of course we'll still have to assess whether blogging is applicable to our programmes or corporate profile. We won't blog for the sake of blogging, just as we shouldn't use technology just for the sake of using it. We think blogs will work better with certain target groups such as children, teenagers and young adults.
But I feel corporate blogs need to break away from being just a mouthpiece, reporting press releases and company 'propaganda'. It has to be real, personal, spontaneous and friendly. If posting a new entry requires prior approval by a committee, for instance, that would hamper the free nature of blogging. In this aspect, I feel there is some conflict between the words 'corporate' and 'blogging'. But it also depends on the personality of the organisation. Some software companies have blogs that are easy to follow, advertising their latest products in an appealing manner. Netnewswire's blog informs readers of related news and products. Sixapart, makers of my favourite weblogging software, MovableType, has Mena's Corner.
And speaking of 'genuine', I also think the NTUC Income chief's doing a good job on his blog. He speaks his mind on issues outside of his work, and this creates a more personal feel that is usually lacking when you think of other CEOs in big companies. Most of them seem distant, inaccessible, and so politically correct you don't really get to know who they really are and what they stand for. Not so much in this blog.
Anyway, I'll be at the conference for the first day. We'll see how it goes!
[Update: I just got back from the conference and it was great. Tell you more about it later ... ]
The local blogging community would have heard by now about the two Singaporean bloggers who were arrested under the Sedition Act. Read the news report.
The two blogs mentioned in this Tomorrow.sg post, are no more. I suppose you could scour the Google caches if you really wanted.
But if this was one of the racist posts I came across a few months back, I recall it was pretty offensive. Though I think many of us didn't expect anything to happen to these bloggers. Now we need to re-assess our boundaries.
I've received over 725 comment spams in the past couple of hours. It's plain annoying. Instead of flooding our websites and mailboxes with unwanted messages, why don't they try something a little more innovative - like actually making their products and services interesting enough to stand on their own merit?
Fortunately, MT-Blacklist caught them all.
All hail Jay Allen!
Blogging is the new buzzword in the office (finally). Today we were trading personal blog and photo gallery links. I've been working here for a year and all of us have only just opened up!
Now this guy deserves some mention (though he probably doesn't need it, seeing how he's linked on Zeldman AND is nominated for a Bloggie). Oh well. One out of two ain't that bad for me.
The first thing that hit me when I saw his website was, wow! I had a white site before. But not as pixel-pretty as this one. And wow, he writes anti-spam scripts! And produces music! I have a home studio but haven't even gotten off my arse to launch any MP3s yet! I'm worthless compared to this guy!
[Note: His website looks really good on my 20-inch iMac.]
[Note #2: One reason why I haven't launched any music yet is because the studio's under renovation and the grand piano and Korg keyboards and G5 PowerMac are all wrapped and sealed in plastic. Of course, the overriding reason is I'm lazy and haven't bothered to register my songs yet.]
After looking at Six Apart's new licensing scheme for Movable Type, I don't think we have much to complain about any more. No recurring licensing fees. Create as many blogs as you want. Direct support from Sixapart.
Naturally, those who have always wanted good things for free, can turn to alternative services and software. However, considering that blogging is a hobby to many of us, and that some hobbyists spend a lot more money on their toys than we do on our blogs, it isn't such a bad deal. I think I might take it up.
I can't wait to see what new features they're releasing in the next couple of months.
To those who are curious about upgrading to MT3.0, don't do it yet. That's what I think, at least.
Apart from optional comment registration through Typekey and a tweaked up, more accessible user interface, there really aren't any significant changes. Well actually the main thing that's changed is the platform, but to me (and other equally impatient and demanding users) there may be some way to go before we get all the features we want. Check out this informative post by a beta tester.
As for the hallowed MT-Blacklist, Jay Allen has promised a MT3.0 version for it. Until then, continue to post comments here but don't expect it to show until I 'approve' them. Sorry guys.
Also to those who are curious as to how they are able to install more authors or blogs than the licence allows: For the same reason you can also install the same software on multiple computers when you're only allowed to do it on one.
It's a system of trust, period. There is no spyware residing on your server that alerts Sixapart of unlicensed activities. I'm strictly keeping to my personal limit of three active blogs and one active author out of respect for the Trotts, until it is time to upgrade.
Actually, that's what we should be doing for anyone who produces great software, music, books or shows.
Okay folks, I've upgraded to MT3.0!
It would've gone faster had I not accidentally uploaded the FULL version instead of the UPGRADE - I was also going to install a brand new system onto my friend's server and got the two mixed up. (Blame it on the jet lag!)
I must say the interface looks prettier. Hmm let's see if I get hit by any bugs in the next few days.
*thwack*
[Those posting comments may not be able to view them straight away. Don't keep on re-submitting them. It seems I have to approve each comment now. However I won't be forcing you guys to register with Typekey unless my content spamming gets out of hand.]
Since I can't sleep, I've decided to try upgrading this blog to Movable Type 3.0 (the free version).
Lots of funny things may be happening, so please forgive me if you're unable to post any new comments or search the site. Or if it looks funny. Their new styles don't look very inspiring!
Good news: Movable Type 3.0 is out. Bad news: if you run more than three blogs with one account, or have more than one author per blog, you have to pay for the upgrade to continue what you're doing. View the new price list.
As others have already noted, upgrading to MT3.0 could ironically limit your options.
Nothing good is free - for long, I suppose. To their credit, the folks at SixApart have put in a lot of time, expertise and effort by creating this wonderful tool in the first place. But perhaps the revenue from Typepad isn't enough for them anymore.
They should remember that Movable Type's success, however, was based on the fact that it was free, customisable, and one of the most powerful blogging tools in its time. And in this day and age, price is a major factor - especially if there isn't much to distinguish one product from other free ones in the market.
I suppose most people running a personal website would probably be fine with the MT3.0 free licence which limits use of MT3.0 to one author and three blogs. One thing I don't understand though is the big jump from zero to US$69.95 (normal price US$99.95) for the next tier of personal use.
I'm wondering what community weblogs are going to do about it, too. I doubt most are going to upgrade - especially the nonprofit organisations.
I myself may tarry a little before I make the leap to MT3.0. If time permits I might set up a (free) test blog - for myself of course, seeing how only one author is allowed now, y'know :-P
With the recent re-launch of a new standards-compliant Blogger, and the growing popularity of other weblog software like Textpattern and Wordpress, I think the folks at SixApart have given themselves a run for their money.
[Clarification: Having donated previously to Movable Type, I don't mind paying for software that does everything I want. However, if I have to pay for a tweaked-up version of what I'm getting now, then it isn't worth the upgrade.]
I just discovered that Yahoo allows users to import their favourite RSS feeds (beta), which will be displayed on their personalised homepage alongside the usual news headlines. Cool.
In other news, Reuters have just announced they are publishing their headlines into RSS format as well. View the full list here. Not just that - they are also syndicating news videos via RSS.
Google meanwhile are holding on to their Atoms (more about Atom here). And here's the latest version of Blogger. Its new templates look rather prett. More info over at Stopdesign.
[Update: Feedburner has a service that translates Atom into RSS.]
[Update 2: Introducing the GoogleBlog.]
I signed up for Movable Type 3.0 beta testing. Haven't heard from the Trotts since, but I hope to get involved in subsequent stages.
I'll post a list of MT3.0 beta weblogs here. Feel free to contribute more links that you've come across.
Jay Allen's MT3.0 beta blog
Adam Gessaman's MT3.0 beta blog
Here's a list of alpha sites from Kristine's site.
An article on Kinja, Nick Denton's new weblog aggregating service, has taken up page 38 of The Straits Times today (well, actually it was taken from the New York Times; subscription required).
I signed up for the service after reading Kottke's post. You can find the link under my Menu. Some of my favourite blogs are listed there.
Adam Greenfield, posting on K10K, did good to recommend the services of WINKsite. This is an online blogging service which allows you to maintain up to three moblogs for free.
I had a few difficulties at first but it was due to the fact that I had to activate my GPRS account with my network provider and then configure my phone. Once that was done, I managed to log in via my Nokia 6600 handset and create a new post!
I was also impressed with the co-founder of WINKsite, Dave Harper, who read my first post (on not being able to view my page on my phone) and asked if he could help me out.
Anyway, if you have a mobile internet account, check out my moblog, called 'Transmission', at http://winksite.com/vantan/moblog. Those viewing from a computer browser will be taken to an emulator so you can still view the site. There's nothing much there at the moment, but I think that will change in time ;-) And yes, you get an RSS feed and all sorts of other goodies with the package.
Ben Trott has music for my ears. For the benefit of those who aren't on the Movable Type mailing list:
The next version of Movable Type will be version 3.0, a significant and free upgrade. Many oft-requested features will be integrated into this release, including:
- Comment registration. As a response to both comment spam and to the increased usage of Movable Type on large community sites, we'll be adding the option to restrict comments to registered users.
- Improved comment and TrackBack management features.
- New API hooks for plugin developers. Plugins will now be able to hook into many more pieces of Movable Type, including adding callbacks for saving and removing objects, building application methods with integration into the UI, and hooking into the publishing process. This opens up possibilities for plugins to add even more advanced functionality than they're able to do now.
- User interface rebuilt using CSS. We've seen with TypePad that a CSS-based interface gives users very fast application response times, and gives us a flexible interface for making application-wide changes, and we want to give this same speed and flexibility to Movable Type users.
- Support for the Atom API. We've already added Atom syndication feed support in version 2.65 of Movable Type, and we'll be adding publishing support for the API in 3.0.
In addition to the above, we'll be integrating some features into 3.0 that we're not yet ready to announce, but which we know will be very exciting to MT users. Additionally, for those interested in posting from mobile devices, we expect this to be a welcome release.
Movable Type 3.0 will be a free download and upgrade. We have full-time engineering resources devoted to this new version, and we plan to have a beta release in Q1 of 2004.
Soon after reading Ben's Oct 13 post on comment spamming and how to prevent it using Jay Allen's MT-Blacklist, I discovered that one of my old posts has been violated. Vandalised. Whatever. Looks like I'll have to do a little tinkering with my website once again.
Anyhow, spamming is not a credible way to sell health products (or anything else, for that matter). It makes me thing your medicine is dodgy and that you're too cheap to pay for proper advertisements. I think your product is so lousy that nobody wanted to recommend it. You probably didn't even make it to Sellavision. And prior to this, I never even heard of your product, or gave a stinkin' damn what your product did. But now, I am most certainly NOT buying your product. Dig?
[Update: A big thanks to Jay for working so hard on this magnificent tool. I took only 2 minutes to set up MT-Blacklist - including FTP time. His config page is a no-brainer, and I now have an updated list of offending domain names which you can view here. ]
[Update 2: Great. Now whenever I get email notification of new comments posted, I am also given the option to 'De-spam using MT-Blacklist' by simply clicking on a link. So it should be quite easy updating my 'Naughty' list.]
The MT Meetup at Olio Dome, Suntec City went well - yours truly found her way there 20 minutes early with a MT Meetup sign. Members present: Wuyuetian, Tribolum and Krisalis.
Only when I met up with fellow bloggers, did I realise what geeks we are. Since we weren't given an official agenda this time, we ended up talking happily about our favourite gadgets (or plans to acquire new ones), our domain names, the strangest keywords that search engines have associated with our blogs, and how various parts of our bodies have caught fire before (OK, that was just Kris and me).
We also discussed a few technical questions, and wondered when Movable Type Pro was coming out. Ahem.
Hope to see more of you at the next Meetup!
[Update: A heartwarming news report on how friendships, both virtual and real, have been forged through blogging. ]
Hurrah! At least five Singapore MT users (including myself) will be attending this coming Monday's meeting. Which means I will be seeing you at Olio Dome, Suntec City at 7pm.
View the members list to find out who's attending.
The agenda has yet to be confirmed. We don't have to talk about technical stuff (unless you have a burning question, which might be better discussed via email anyway).
First we had blogs. Then, blog directories. Then, blog popularity indexes. And then, a blog stock exchange. Now, we have blog sweepstakes. Blogstakes, to be precise.
Soon we'll be taking out blog insurance, and collecting blog miles. Somebody, stop me.
How can I win a Blogstakes?
If you have a blog (i.e., a Weblog or online journal), you just link to one of our Blogstakes contests. As people click the Blogstakes link on your site and enter the contest, your site is automatically tracked and entered as a referring site. You don't need to use a special tracking URL (unless you're linking to a Blogstakes contest in an email message). If somebody you send wins a Blogstakes prize, you win the same prize!
If you've read any of these blogs before (and I'm sure you have), you'll realise this parody is pretty funny. [First linked from Susan Mernit's blog.]
Staff members of the magazine, Fast Company, have started writing a weblog. Powered by Movable Type, of course. The weblog's coming along nicely. Content so far is bright and snappy. What I'd like to see, as the site develops, is more active reader commentary.
Update: Heath Row (from the magazine, not the airport) has his own weblog.
Anders has a great post for those who want to know what blogging is about, and how to start a weblog of your own.
Naturally, if you want something with the full works, Movable Type rocks. It's the best, really. If however you know nuts about web languages but have cash to spare, then Typepad may suit you better.
Of course, if you use MT and have a little cash to spare, you can donate to MT like many of us have. By doing so, you get a 'key' that will enable your blog to be listed on the MT website's 'Recently Updated' section. Freak incidents resulting from this could include getting indexed by Blogshares (the virtual stock market game for weblogs), causing the price of your tiny, worthless blog to soar phenomenally for days. Okay, so maybe that's just something that happened to me.
[ Note: oops. I'm still not used to posting with w.bloggar. I forgot to add a Title, and it took the first five words of my opening paragraph which made me sound like a raving fan of Andersja :-) I've since changed it to something more tame. ]
Erm, is it still going to happen next Monday? I mean, I don't mind going to Olio Dome and sit around with an MT Meetup sign on the table, but I'm sure Kristen and I won't mind some extra company ... Anyone out there? :-P
Hmm. Check out the price list, and tell me if you'd want to pay US$14.95 a month for the exclusive (i.e. not included in the Basic and Plus packages) ability to edit your templates. True, you do get 200MB a month and a decent 3GB bandwidth. Of course you could have multiple authors to split the costs with. But I think the Pro package is a little pricey.
I know Typepad is a beautiful, user-friendly product. And I know they're targetting the growing market of people who want to write but don't have a server, a domain name, and don't know how to set up MT by themselves. But on the other hand I know that people do install MT for their friends. I do. I've set MT up at least five times for people who know little or no HTML, and they're picking it up by themselves.
Apart from that, there are new, clever features to rave about. TypeLists for keeping track of your 'media consumption', add a personal touch. Another feature not available in Movable Type (as far as I know) is PGP signature support. Photo Albums, available to Plus and Premium users, are a good idea, although there are websites which offer similar services albeit with less space. Moblogging is a nice frill for those with suitably endowed mobile devices which I have yet to acquire (grumble).
Rest assured, we'll hear more about the product from the growing list of people who've signed up with the service. Already the discussion's started (see here for example) and it looks like it all depends on personal experience. Those who've had trouble with other blog hosts such as Blogger are naturally more inclined to sign up for Typepad.
What features would you like Movable Type Pro to have? My number one request is Subcategories. So I won't need to split up all my geek posts into separate groups, like what I'm doing now.
Next on my list: Automatic rebuilding of specific pages that have been affected by a modification. Most of the time, the changes I make seldom affect all pages. So for instance I would usually rebuild the Indexes first, then one of the archives sections. If MT Pro can handle all that (and it looks like it will), it would be ace.
What features would you like MT to have?
Other, slightly random finds:
Movable Type for Project Management?
Good news for sociable Movable Type users:
Meetup with other local fans of Movable Type to discuss changes and plug-ins, offer tips, and gush about this customizable publishing system.
I've logged in to the Singapore division, cast my vote for the venue and offered to be a host for this local event. The time of meeting? Monday, Aug 11 at 7:00PM (the second Monday of every month).
Now, I'm looking at the Top Cities for Movable Type Meetups list, and Singapore is ranked 36th out of 92, with one (1) member. I know there are many more people out there. Do spread the word and make the Singapore event happen. Thank you.
Update: Thanks to Jean, we now have two (2) members and have jumped to number 20 on the list. Hurrah. We need five to make the event worth attending.
Update #2: Thanks to Kristen and Mark, the newlyweds, for joining in!
We're now the third most happening group, right after San Francisco (Ben and Mena attending) and New York (Anil). Just one more person... come on, folks, I'm sure there are plenty of you out there!
Update #3: Well done, Singapore! There are now eight of us, which is enough to get the party started!
Exactly one year ago, I started blogging proper, using Movable Type. My weblog is practically a baby. But hey :) I've had fun, and I hope you have too. Happy first birthday to the Daily Weblog!
This website will soon be closed for renovation. No idea when I'll be done. Bear with it in the meantime.
I don't own a Lomo (yet). But lomoblogging is, like, the coolest thing ever. Here's something you can do with your Lomo camera if you have a weblog.
Network Solutions can be a real pain in the neck when it comes to domain registry transfer requests. Transfers away from them, that is (surprise, surprise).
Firstly, by today's standards they are expensive. Their annual registration rates have remained unchanged since the Stone Age, where they enjoyed monopoly rights. Which is why I see no point in staying on with them, especially since I've switched to a web host which uses a cheaper registrar.
So I requested for a transfer last month. I received an automated email asking me to click on a link to confirm my request within a couple of days. Which I did. I was directed to a page which stated that I had approved this transfer.
Several days later, however, I received another email from Network Solutions saying that since I didn't approve the transfer, the request had been denied.
I wrote in to Network Solutions and CC'd my web host. I told them that the link I received in the previous email still worked - in fact, it continued to display the confirmation page.
Today I received a reply from a Network Solutions employee, saying that in the light of recent communications with me it's obvious that the issue cannot be resolved by email. So they gave me a number to call.
Now, considering the standard of service I've been receiving so far, I am not prepared to make a long-distance phone call to the States at some obscure time at night, just to be put on hold. Even if that doesn't happen, I don't see why I have to go through so much trouble when I've already done everything on my part to facilitate the transfer.
And if they think it doesn't matter if they make one customer unhappy, as she was planning to leave anyway, well, they're wrong, because I'm telling this to everyone now.
And I'm not the only one who thinks Network Solutions sucks.
We bloggers live dangerous lives. Indeed.
People in America have been fired for blogging about their workplace, even if they don't mention names of people or the company they're working for.
A blogger in Iran has been prosecuted for keeping a weblog, under false charges.
But some do believe that Knowledge (b)logs can succeed at the workplace. In fact, many outstanding industry experts blog in their personal capacity, such as Jeremy Allaire(of the company that brought you Homesite, now part of Macromedia).
Here's a more extensive list of well-known bloggers.
This is a little morbid but touching all the same: Deceased bloggers living on through their websites. More from Wired.
The observant reader may notice that I've added a Blogshares logo to my website. This was to confirm that I am indeed the owner of vantan.org (not like anybody else would want to claim it, but, well...). I discovered, after reading Andrea's post, that I too have been included in the index as of March 2003.
I'm more amused with this new stock market than anything else - seeing how my valuation isn't exactly going to make me go IPO any time soon. Pundits, be warned!
From what I gather, Blogshares.com works by calculating the value of incoming links. There are a few bugs, though:
Only links from home pages are indexed.
Only sites that ping weblogs.com will be included in the indexing.
Well, whatever. I've been having fun playing Oanda's real-time