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2003-07-04 - 5:10 p.m.
I am a big fan of Screenshots. Now, that's a blog I just couldn't miss. It's constantly updated to a point that it looks different every time I click into it. Jeff Ooi is the creator of Screenshots, one of the most visited blog in Malaysia.
For any of you who are not familiar with screenshots, chances are, you are probably not familiar with Malaysiakini.com, an online news portal where Screenshots is affiliated.
One of the reasons why I find Screenshots very fascinating is Jeff's stand on issues that he believes in. It can be rather idiosyncratic at times, but isn't that what blogging is all about?
It is indeed a pleasure for me to read Screenshots, for it saves my time rummaging through a myriad of news portal available out there. What Jeff does almost every day is to consolidate articles/news from all over the net and include a commentary and also not forgetting the links to the article/news original source. This, I believe is the right way to blog. I know there will be folks out there who'll disagree with me, but I still hold on to the believe that a good blog should include: 'commentary + links + extracts' (this is a blogging formula I took from Oon Yeoh's interview). I have to admit that my own blog, more often that not, lacks extracts and links. But, it's just the nature of my own writing… (And we all have our own way of writing, so keep on writing!).
Here's Jeff's e-mail interview. I hope that this interview will be a guide to all of you here who hopes to create a blog of your own:
NZ: Jeff, please introduce yourself to our readers. Like, you can start by telling us where you were born and you alma mater perhaps...
Jeff: I was born and raised in Kedah, then the family migrated to Butterworth after I finished my secondary school education. I have a BA Hons from USM, with major subject in comparative literature and minor in political science. My MBA is from RMIT University Melbourne, specializing in International Management.
I have worked as an advertising copywriter, Later, I moved on to the Client side, in sales and marketing for a US-American pharmaceutical group.
I began to dabble in IT-enabled businesses since 1995 and made a career switch to e-business solutions in 1997.
That was about the time I burnt my fingers in the share market. Pure greed was it.
NZ: In your opinion, what is a Weblog?
Jeff: From the "Form" standpoint, it's a medium for self-publishing on the web. Not much different from the Class-of-94 GeoCities personal websites. Just that the evolving technologies in nano-publishing has made it idiot-proof. Anybody can do a blog now. It has become more or less a DIY.
But if we take note of the fact that Internet has changed drastically in the last 10 years, then blog, as a new form of web publishing has to project its difference.
For example. In 2000, VeriSign was only handling about 600 million domain name enquiries per day. It now handles 9 billion enquiries per day. Three years ago, Google was handling about 100 million searches per day. It has since doubled.
So, the Internet eco-system has bloated, activities have increased manifolds.
The e-space is bigger now, so is the capacity to experiment with new things and experiences.
So, for a weblog to be meaningful and taken seriously, it has to project a difference in "Substance". This substance lies in the requisite that a blog must have embedded links, The bloated Internet eco-system had made embedded links so much easier with a bounty of URLs to link to. It joins the little, little blogs together for cross-referencing. Our knowledge is enriched.
So, in a nutshell, I agree fully with what Aizuddin, Najah and Oon Yeoh has repeatedly said: A blog should be an online content site managed by an individuals, or a group of individuals, that has a niche of focus, or multiple focuses, that target a specific audience. It has to be updated daily, and there must be interactive mechanisms like TrackBack, commentary/forum to bridge the transmitter and its recipients.
I admire Dan Gillmor for saying that a good blogger must have the capacity to put context to issues and events, and trigger some nuances if needs be.
I always consider life as a Rashomon (that Akutagawa short-story filmed by Akira Kurosawa) that depicts many layers of truth and untruth in life. By putting context and nuances to our blog topics is a means to jolt the readers' mind that, "Hey look! Watch my lips, don't just believe what you hear!"
That makes the difference in "Substance". I call that "pushing the envelope further" in the e-space.
In my case, I normally tend to give a signature attitude to my blog entries. Very idiosyncratic I must say.
NZ: What do you see the trend amongst Malaysian bloggers, if any?
Jeff: Aizuddin and the gang have taken the lead to aggregate the fragments of blogs in Malaysia onto a common interface that each can now see, and each can now learn from one another.
I think, we are experimenting with blogs right now, trying from various and different approaches in content creation. If this growth is organically sustained, we will create a critical mass of nano-publishers.
Soon, if we can move a step further by elevating ourselves in terms of "readability" by way of very engaging content, oh man… the envelope will be pushed even further.
NZ: Can you list a few notable Malaysian bloggers that you might find interesting? And please explain why you like their blogs so much.
Jeff: I like blogs that focus on media, public governance, IT and esoteric stuff that appeal to me smacked-on-my-face.
For media-centric blogs, I tend to look for bloggers who dare to make himself/herself visible. Stand out and be counted. This is an issue of ethics and credibility.
Talking about credibility for weblogs, the ideal position is for the blogger to make known his identity. AFAIK, there's only Salam Pax who is anonymous and yet readers trust him. Being a gay in a land called Iraq, he is a high-risk target if he didn't mask himself with the pseudonym. But that's more an exception than the norm. When we are open and identifiable, we bloggers will command respect and credibility for what we say.
If you were to give your two sen's worth on an issue or a particular topic, or take a strong position against a personality's opinion, you must be prepared to stand up there, ready to be challenged intellectually.
You can't just baling batu, sembunyi tangan. That lacks courage.
If you are out-argued, then own up and eat humble pie. Let the better argument win the day. Whether one is right or wrong in taking a stand is not important to me. But the quality of argument, the passion to articulate one's ideas and perspective must be allowed to thrive.
On that basis, I admire Oon Yeoh, my sparring partner on current issues, offline. He stood up for being Pro-US during the Iraqi Invasion. He argued very well facing the crowd in his chosen space, never behind masks and nicks so common in Internet.
I also admire Aisehman. People criticized him for hiding behind a pseudo-name, but I can bear with that, as I understand the kind of "circumstantial burden" and professional hazards he has to bear to give us good blogs like his.
I also admire Najah Nasseri for her passion and depth of thoughts in every of her blogs. She writes good English. She has a blogger personality that spells poise and finesse.
The same thing I must say about Nik Nadzmi Nik Ahmad who is London-based. He has a strong attitude that girdles all his postings. His worldview is quite different from ours. We need more people like Najah and Nik.
For esoteric, I like Odds and Ends' photoblog. It's so cleverly done, using pictures to convey one's observation about things. Along the same line, I also like sixthseal's blog for being against-the-grain. It seems to me that he tries to send out some kind of messages beneath his visual-texts, which are rather engaging.
NZ: Can you estimate how many Malaysian bloggers we have out there? Do you think we are a bunch of avid bloggers?
Jeff: I can't really figure out how many we have now. I think we will just let it grow organically. Some will come, some will fade away.
Aiz, your Petaling Street Project is critical to making this growth exponential.
NZ: Are there differences around the world in the way people Blog?
Jeff: Yes, it's blogs that focus on the dynamics of knowledge and information society that gain recognition and following. Things happen at a break-neck speed, they arouse swift responses across the world.
There are also other layers above blogs where communities become interlaced and interfaced. The US invasion of Iraq, for example, has allowed blogs to mutate into warblogs. The whole world is forced into a conflict of ethics and morality.
We in Malaysia tend to lepak a little with our purpose of life. Internet links people, and yet we are so detached in what we blog.
I talk like a Zen sifu, don't I? (PR sikit, nanti kena sembelih, susah…)
NZ: Do you think in general Bloggers are dying for lots of people to read their content, or are they just finding an outlet for themselves only?
Jeff: Yes, a good blogger must first have this passion of "syiok sendiri syndrome". That drives him/her to blog everyday. It's perfectly OK, if they intended their blogs as just personal diaries.
But, sooner or later, they need to start interacting and interfacing with an audience. Or else they will burn out.
I just wonder, is there a need and purpose to expose your personal diary if you don't intend to have an audience?
NZ: To you, what is the definition of a good blog?
Jeff: Oh, must I repeat? A blogger defines a good blog. Choose a focus, or multi-focuses, have an audience in mind, update daily, have embedded links, have interactive mechanism to engage your audience on what your blog, always give a context to the Rashomon in life, arouse nuances and conflicts if you need, lace your blog with your signature attitude.
But try to have an open mind. I know this is hard even for many of us, including myself. But ideas are like parachute. It only works when it's open.
NZ: Would you agree that Weblogs have increased the masses of content out there? But there are so many contents out there, so how does one differentiate between relevant contents and the ones that shouldn't be published in the first place?
Jeff: I think a blogger's chosen genre will determine this. You need to decide the purpose of blogging in the first place. It takes up your time; you have to reply to emails and argumentative overtures. It zaps your energy.
If there's no sense of purpose in blogging, you are averse to the bothersome question of what content to blog. Having relevant content simply doesn't arise if we don't have a purpose.
Generally, I think weblogs are still early days in Malaysia as far as leaving lingering impact on Malaysians' psyche is concerned.
NZ: In your opinion, what sorts of folks normally start up blog projects?
Jeff: Two extremes. One, those who want to be seen. Two, those who want to be heard.
NZ: What are the advantages of communicating by blog?
Jeff: It's addictive to the blogger, it's contagious to the readers. And the cycles go. Do this incessantly, and you will move mountains as far as influencing public opinion is concerned.
NZ: Can you tell us how you got started with your own blog project?
Jeff: I learned about weblog as a self-publishing tool in 2001 from Oon Yeoh's column in The Sun. He was toying with the idea of having blogs for his SunCities project. But the project was abandoned, overtaken by events.
I started two blogs in 2002. One was to co-blog with a family member who is studying in Melbourne, to keep in close touch as we miss her so much. The other is using Blogger.com to archive my research materials as URLs expire all too soon.
I decided to go public with another blog, Screenshots that focus on governance issues in the local media, international policies, IT and local politics. You know how fed up I have been with those idiots monkeying around in the press, in the government, in the so-called national pinnacles in IT policy development.
More importantly, I wish to see a tidal wave of bloggers to come out taking on these monkeys. We can't let them fool us around if K-generation were to mean anything at all. No point talking about it. Do it!
NZ: What is your blog's mission?
Jeff: To produce more bloggers. More Oon Yeohs. More Dinesh Nairs. More Aizuddins. More bloggers.
NZ: Your seem to be enjoying your writing your blog. Your blog, Screenshots, are filled with so much information sometimes I wonder where you find the time to scour all the information listed in your blog. It can't be money, because they are all written for free. So, what motivates you to work on your blog?
Jeff: I wish I could make money out of blogging.
No, it's more a crusade to produce more bloggers. Lone voices don't get heard. We need to aggregate our voice in a loud thunder. Rebecca Blood says, let the thousand flowers bloom.
Probably the always-on Broadband environment at home and at work does help. I read a lot in between meetings, travels, and meals. I am practically a news junkie. And I write fast.
And one more luxury is that there are many readers who emailed me pointers and blog ideas. They include senior editors, government officers and the nameless whose stories can be verified. They are great collaborators.
NZ: Have Screenshots developed in the way you expected? Did you allow yourselves any expectations?
Jeff: I do not know for sure. But through this blog, I managed to know many people who care to share their observations in private. Many of us are seriously concerned with the fact that Malaysia has every opportunity to be a great country.
But we just screwed it up in so many things. Again and again. That really sucks. It's frustrating.
NZ: What is the most challenging aspect of managing Screenshots?
Jeff: Time wasted on people who attack the Messenger, rather than tackling the issues presented in the blogs. At first, I tried to engage them with a rational approach. But I have become wiser. I let my attitude take charge. That I will be fair, but I will be firm in my stand on things I detest.
That, however, zaps away my free time EVERY DAY!
NZ: What was your most embarrassing blog moment?
Jeff: I loud-mouthed by making claims like "Thinking Allowed, Thinking Aloud". Then, I had to eat my words, close the Comment feature, reopened it, then moderate it.
I don't enjoy it at all. I just want to blog.
NZ: I have this feeling that you have thousands of visitors per day, especially when your blog is linked with Malaysiakini.com. So tell me, how many hits do you have so far... how many hits do you have per day? Can you give us some indication of the growth of user numbers over time?
Jeff: I rely on Sitemeter free service for the time being. On weekdays, I have a steady count of 850 visitors and about 1,300 page views. It dropped to 450 visitors and 750 page views on Saturdays and Sundays.
Major referral sites are from Malaysiakini and USJ.com.my, and Google. Traffic from Malaysia accounts for about 53%, while US, Australia and UK take up about 35% in total. The rest are "dan lain-lain".
I haven't have time to run my server log to Webtrend the data.
NZ: Honestly Jeff, had any negative experiences because of your blog?
Jeff: I received many hate mails and virus mailbombs.
NZ: Weblogs are considered as - 'Journalism's New Life Forms' by some. Do you think that Weblogs represent a new model of journalism that threatens to render many journalists obsolete?
Jeff: It will complement mainstream journalism, but I doubt it can ever replace it. Mainstream media runs news that are verified and authenticated. Bloggers can run away with murder by simply rant and rant.
This is where I try to experiment. I don't and have never worked in media. So, if I put media folks to critical examination, how much can I push the envelope to get a good Press?
But I don't think local media have the guts to start a blog in their official news pages like what MSNBC, BBC and Guardian did.
NZ: Should there be any comparison made to traditional media at all?
Jeff: Yes, blogs win hands down in speed and cross-linking. It's viral and contagious. There is serious latency in the dead-tree version.
NZ: Do you think that Weblogs are just fads... that it will fade and die out one day?
Jeff: Yes, blog will go away, to be replaced by a newer form of online content.
To me, weblog is not the final discovery in Internet.
Oleh Nizam Zakaria
