IBLOG 2: REBECCA MACKINNON
REBECCA MACKINNON: “trying to connect dots”
Tooth & Nail movie The Family Stone Dark Rising psp
Rebecca was first to admit that she’s not the first CNN journalist that blogged. She may not be the pioneer blogger in CNN but she soon realized that she’s really interested in the medium. She was influenced by the journalist bloggers she regularly monitored back then. Months later she decided not to go back to CNN and concentrate instead in blogging.
As she went deeper into the blogosphere, she discovered its vastness, its diversity and the medium’s potential.
She then asked herself the question: “How do we connect the dots?”
At that time, her basic aim was to help bloggers find each other.
Hence, Global Voices On Line was born. (The site recommends recommend 5-10 blog entries coming out from regions daily. She noted that they are still trying to figure out how to cover the Philippine blogging scene better.)
Some of the things she noticed in the blogosphere:
-blogs basically play like a café for the diaspora
-blogs are windows onto what is happening in a certain country ( like: screenshots)
-blogs can serve as bridges
-blogs come in every language. (a vibrant blogosphere.)
(but there’s also the language barrier problem. Like, how do we bring their plight to the English speaking world. She said that somebody has to take an effort. Although some are already “translating”, these blogs)
-blogging still remain for the elite (US and even in other countries: Venezuela and Philippines)
-every country has an A-List, the so-called the pioneers, the new and more diverse group find it hard to get traffic.
-legal control over blogosphere
(As she relayed: there is this great firewall of China. Also in Tunisia. Etc)
Too bad her session’s only for an hour. Bitin!
(personal note: I remember seeing Rebecca way way back, in one of those coverage in Malacanang that caught the international media’s attention. I just can’t remember what. Maybe, it was a state visit or something.)
