Weblogs started off as a personal outpouring, a kind of digital diary. If you work on the basis that a problem shared is a problem halved, you can share with millions and - who knows? Now blogs feature everything from cant on cars, opinions on opera, to rants from the politically righteous East and West. But not everyone is free to say what they think.
Blogging from East to West (BBC Click Online)
Just outside Seoul, lingerie shopkeeper Lee Eun Wha is preparing for a winter sale, but when there’s free time, she hits the keyboard and begins working as a budding “citizen reporter” for Internet media site “Ohmynews.” The Web site is paving the way for a new kind of journalism in South Korea, where every reader can be a reporter and the establishment is being forced to take notice.
Sherman and many others who publish the online journals known as Weblogs, or “blogs” for short, have discovered the addictive nature of blogging. What starts out as a hobby for some can end up permeating their lives and minds. Some of the diarists post repeatedly throughout the day, juggle several blogs and feel anxious if they don’t write. Most dedicated bloggers say the endeavor has enriched their lives, but some worry about finding balance and keeping their obsession in check.
Some bloggers worry about effect on life offline (Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel)
According to reports filed by Malaysia’s only independent online news provider, “Malaysiakini.com”, Mack Zulkifli, a blogger for a new weblog called brandmalaysia, was visited by a four-member team in his house in Subang Jaya on 14 March. Two police officers and two unidentified government officials asked the writer to help them “understand the latest development of weblogs”, Zulkifli said. The blogger then spent the next three hours answering questions about blogs and how its contents can be controlled. He said he was also asked about his motivations for maintaining his site when he appeared to derive no income from it.
A new Malaysian blogger targeted for policing (Southeast Asian Press Alliance)