Humans and their blogs

By Julliene Lia B. Batoon

WEBL0GS do not only chronicle events and give out news. They also tell the stories behind regular, everyday people. They serve as records of personal histories. The Internet may seem cold at times, with all the data it serves up, but weblogs give the Web’s stories a human side.

Rainier Contreras, technical support engineer of Sykes Asia Inc. is one of many Filipino bloggers who started his own personal weblog in 2001. He got into blogging because he wanted his own Web site without going through the pain of manual HTML coding, or having to learn site-making software. At the moment, Contreras has a Livejournal (www.livejournaI.com/~rainparade), which he updates as often as he could. “The main reason why I use this free service is that it doesn’t entail much customization. Although it has the irritating tendency to look like a lot of blogs, I use it because of the community-nature of the service and ease of maintenance, The coding part is just a bunch of HTML tags, and a token few U tags for each entry. No sweat, really.” Contreras used to have an account at Weblogger and has also tried Blogger, but found it a chore to learn special codes that can only be used with the service. He has a Movable Type account too, but since very few people visit it compared to his Livejournal, he now uses it for storage. If he had a good paying host, though, he says that he would stick with Movable Type.

Annabelle Ragay, a college student taking up Information Technology, started a blog because of the need to release her emotions. Being an Iistudent, she was getting tired of doing codes, Web sites and layouts for school, so she decided to do something that she personally enjoys. Ragay has a weblog in her site, GreenCapsule (vwvw.greencapsule.org). She uses Blogger, but she codes the blog layouts herself.

Most journals these days have a myriad of different topics. “For me, its personal ramblings, pleas of help for anything, technical achievements like setting up my Linux box all by myself, film reviews, film schedules and anything else I can think of,” Contreras states. Blogging, he says, keeps him sane in a way, knowing that someone bothers to read what he has to say, and even considers it interesting. It can also provide him with help he’s seeking. “The advantages of weblogs would mainly come in the form of being able to acquire readers, fans, and good friends of like minds through the medium, and the satisfaction that you have an online stomping ground,” he maintains.

Ragay’s journal is similar to Contreras’. “I often write about experiences, opinions, dreams, reactions, fears — almost everything under the sun. Most of the time, I share some incidents that happened to me, and what possible lessons I could extract from those, experiences. I have always wanted to deliver good blog entries — entries that are real, entries that can really show the adversity and bounties of life, entries that have meaning, entries that can make my readers think and help them understand life as it is.” She says having a blog has helped her realize her aspirations and dreams, and it sometimes helps her release tension, being able to put into words all the emotions stuck in her head. Writing her thoughts has helped her to voice out her views on different issues. “I am still a teenager, and as one, I have always wanted the youth to have a voice. This is one way of doing it,” she declares.

Since weblogs are mainly personal, one disadvantage of blogging is facing other people who have opposing views. Contreras admits that he has gotten some heat because of things he posted in his journal. “I lost a couple of LJ friends about a tactless opinion I had of one of them. I’ve also encountered some pressure in keeping a blog, that’s why my weblogger account is not active anymore, and I’ve deleted my LJ once,” he says. Livejournal helps in keeping things in line, though. Contreras explains that users can make public entries for all to see, but if they deem that an entry’s content is rather sensitive, it’s easy to set it to Friends-only, where only their U-friends can view it.

Ragay cites privacy another disadvantage. “Sometimes I am held back writing in a blog, particularly when I’m talking about personal matters. Of course I cannot remove the fact that anyone including my family can view my blog. lam not free to say everything in my journal.”

Weblogs are definitely here to stay, with all the blogging technology that keeps coming out, and the number of users who would like to share a part of themselves on the Web. Says Contreras, “Blogs will last as long as there are services out there that provide us with the tools, and FTP or any technology that will replace or improve it, and if they will still be accessible to anyone who can, and will.” Ragay muses, “Blogging is actually considered a trend, but it’s a trend that will further develop in years, becoming more efficient and useful to the public.”

*As published in the February 2003 edition (Vol. 14, No.12) of PC World Philippines, pp. 58-59.