Late meme

I’m a bit late with this meme, which I first saw on Walt Crawford’s blog, and which I gather was part of this year’s Blog Day celebrations on Global Voices Online, but I don’t care.

Why did you start blogging?
For work. I needed to report on how we could use blogging, and I wasn’t convinced that this whole blogging thing was worth getting involved in, but so many people seemed to be doing it, and getting a lot out of it, and if I was going to keep bagging it, I needed to say I’d tried it. Of course I quickly found that I couldn’t bag it…

What do you blog about mainly?
Whatever interests me, I guess. Looking over the past year or so I guess you could say there are recurring themes, like books, games, where I live, family, blogging, various obsessions…

Do you blog in your first language or in another language, and why?
Would it be too pedantic of me to say I don’t blog in my first language? This is because I consider my first language to be Malaysian English. What do I blog in currently? My own idiolect, an amalgam of Australian and British English, with the odd Americanism thrown in from time to time. I often compose posts in Malay and Mandarin but these don’t tend to get published because 1) they don’t normally make it from my head to the computer, and 2) when they do I’m too lazy to provide translations. It’s never occurred to me to blog in Malaysian English, because I don’t tend to speak it these days, even with family. I do very occasionally comment in Malaysian English, though 😉

What motivates you to keep blogging even if (like most bloggers) you’re not paid much for it?
Paid? Who gets paid to blog?? I suppose I do blog for work, but this blog is maintained because I enjoy it.

Is your audience mainly inside your own country or around the world?
I have no idea. I haven’t looked at any stats for ages, and Blogger Beta wasn’t letting me stick the stats counter on so I have no way of knowing.

What do your family and friends think about the fact that you are a blogger?
I think M is amused by it. Some of my family blog too (hi jl and tfp!), but there seems to be a very distinct divide between those friends who don’t even know what a blog is (and don’t know that I blog), and all those bloggers who have become friends!

Does your boss know you have a blog?
Yes, but I don’t think he realises the huge place blogging now has in my life.

What is the relationship between blogs in your country or region and the mainstream media?
I don’t think the media here sees blogs as a threat. They have tried to co-opt the medium, though, so the SMH and the Age both have ‘blogs’, for instance.

When you blog, how would you describe what you write? Is it part of a conversation? Is it ranting? Is it a daily diary? Is it journalism? Is it some or all of these things at different times? Does the definition matter?
I’m trying to add to the conversation; I try not to rant (I usually regret it later); I have a paper diary; not journalism; I try not to define it too rigidly.

Have blogs started to have an impact on politics in your country? Have they started to influence what stories get covered in your country’s media? We’d love to know some examples.
Not yet, I don’t think. (Am I wrong?)