Blogging 101: Why Do I Blog (Part 1)

I discovered blogging when a friend of mine told me about an article written about me posted by an unknown blogger. The article narrated about the author’s surprise upon reading in a newspaper that I was part of a military convoy that was ambushed somewhere in Negros Oriental. The author turned out to be an aunt of mine who has been a passionate writer all her life (read her thoughts at thefoureyedoptimist.blogspot.com).

The article was really interesting, not just because it talked about me but because I was amazed how descriptive a person can be when he or she is writing about something really close to his or her heart (in her case, me). She was just telling a story and yet I could feel the sincerity in her words and her genuine concern for me.  I have read and re-read her articles during the past years and I have never gotten enough of them. She writes about a lot of stuff- politics, showbiz, sports, family, food, travel, and photography- you name it, she’s written something about it. She is a prolific writer although recently, she has taken a backseat as a self- styled journalist.

But I did not immediately start blogging after that.  I am not much of an internet bug until recently when I had to do a lot of research about current events especially on current events in the international arena.  I have also come across different blogs with different themes or topics or genre or whatever you call it. Except for my aunt’s blog which I visit occasionally, I do not follow any specific blog. I read whatever catches my attention. On occasions that I need inputs on what I do, I randomly search for opinions and usually, blogs offer in- depth analysis and varied commentaries.

I used to just look for sites that have the latest news related to the AFP, especially those that involve smaller military units all over the Philippines. Retiredanalyst.blogspot.com collects on a daily basis these kinds of articles. Lately however, I have become more interested in topics related to defense system of management, acquisition, resource management, modern armed forces all over the world and other defense issues which I find really interesting although a little ‘heavy’. Before, my searches were just about soldiers’ individual equipment only but lately, I have been compiling materials about weapons systems, doctrines and modernization programs among others. I am particularly interested in the development of systems like Israel’s Iron Dome which figured prominently during the recent Israel- Palestine conflict. I used to just read things about military uniforms, traditions, operations and the like but now, my interest has shifted to the West Philippine Sea crisis, asymmetric warfare or UW, and more recently, the ongoing crisis involving the ISIS.

Although I read about a lot of stuff, my interest in blogging was only ignited recently when, for the first time, I visited the wake of a classmate who heroically died in combat somewhere in the Province of Basilan. I have never been to any of the wakes of the 13 classmates who passed before him. I was really saddened about his death but then I thought I should tell something about him and his heroism to our classmates who were not there. I was on board a RORO vessel heading to my destination when the thought persisted so there and then, I started typing on my phone and poured out my sentiments. I first thought of posting it on Facebook but I am not much of an FB user so I thought I could try something else. Fortunately, it was easy setting up my own page at blogger.com.  So there I was, tinkering with my mouse, exploring the so called bloggers’ world.

Meanwhile, I scanned my files for old works that I have saved. I found some of them and with a little proof-reading and editing, I hit the publish button and in an instant, I have my thoughts announced all over the world wide web.

I ‘texted’ a few classmates and asked them to read and share what I have written ‘For Mark Zember’ (I also asked them to offer prayers and masses for him and the 13 others). After just a few hours, my posts have been getting views. Feeling the need to also honor other Mandala Heroes, and encouraged by the sudden surge of readership, I proceeded to writing something about the others who also perished in the line of duty.

But it was really our beloved Mark Zember who sparked my sudden interest in blogging.

Blog Trivia

It’s funny how little knowledge I had about blogging before I actually started blogging. I published my first post on September 12 without even knowing what a blog’s definition is. It was just last night when I did a little research on the etymology of the word. Thanks to Wikipedia, I discovered the following:

1.    The word “blog” is actually a truncation of the expression “weblog”- Web Log!

2.    “Blog” is a discussion or informational site published on the world wide web and consisting of discrete entries called "posts" usually displayed in reverse chronological order, meaning, the most recent post appears first.

3.      It was a guy named Jorn Barger who invented the term "weblog" on 17 December 1997.

4.    Peter Merholz was behind the phrase “we blog” which he used in his own site peterme.com in 1999.

5.     The word “blog” was first used as a noun and a verb (“to blog”, “blogged”) by Evan Williams at Pyra Labs. It means "to edit one's weblog or to post on one's weblog". He also devised the term "blogger" in connection with Pyra Labs' Blogger product. These words became popular in no time.

6.    Blogs used to be just personal accounts. The modern blog evolved from the online diary, where people would keep a running account of their personal lives. A guy named Justin Hall is generally recognized as one of the earlier bloggers who began personal blogging in 1994 while a student at Swarthmore College.

7.     Blogger.com, my current platform, was launched in August 1999 by Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan of Pyra Labs. Google later purchased it in February 2003.

8.    It was only after 2009 that "multi-author blogs" (MABs) have developed, with posts written by large numbers of authors and professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, advocacy groups and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic.  Before that, blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject.

9.     On 16 February 2011, there were over 156 million public blogs in existence.

 There are essentially a thousand and one facts about blogs and blogging. You can easily read them on the web. However, one thing that really caught my attention was the so called Blogger's Code of Conduct. It was proposed by Tim O' Reilly aimed at enforcing civility on bloggers and their blogs “by being civil themselves and moderating comments on their blog”.

Admittedly, this so called code was one of the very first considerations I had to think of when I started hitting the ‘publish’ button. I had some questions like “how do I cite others’ works or quote other people’s words”. “Is it similar to writing a paper on something where you can be cited for plagiarism if you copy other people’s works without acknowledging it? “How do we moderate our blogs so that it would not offend other people or violate any law?” As O’ Reilly amply said on BBC News "I do think we need some code of conduct around what is acceptable behaviour, I would hope that it doesn't come through any kind of regulation it would come through self-regulation."

Below are the seven proposed ideas as listed in Wikipedia:

1. Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.

2.  Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.

3.  Consider eliminating anonymous comments.

4.  Ignore the trolls.

5. Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so.

6.  If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.

7.  Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say in person.

        It is true that the more we search for knowledge, the more we discover that we actually know so little or even nothing at all. Ten days after I started blogging, I have discovered how little I know about the world we live in, about other people, about ourselves, about life itself. Hence, lest I become a victim of my own ignorance, I pledge to continue searching for more. After all, according to Alexander Pope (An Essay on Criticism, 1709):

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring,
there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,

and drinking largely sobers us again.