I know there are plenty of private group blogs out there, those by a group of friends, school alumni, clubs, etc. But I'm looking for group blogs are well publicized and (but not necessarily) ping to PPS. These, of course, do not include meta-blogs like BlogsMalaysia or other sites like Planet Malaysia.
There are quite a few listed in the 'Community Blog' section of the PPS Directory, a quick check will show that most of them are either:
A few examples of existing Group Blogs that are quite active I can think of:
Malaysia Medical Resources
Hantu Bola
Property Malaysia
PPS Blog
Everyone is free to add, I'm sure there are many more actives one out there. Maybe its a good thing to study why group blogs do well or otherwise.
]]>Many would agree with me that white color is the most basic and yet pleasing of all. That goes to show how pleasantly looking this featured blog is.
Ladies and gents, introducing, Genuinely Bored.
We received this blog suggestion some days ago. This is among suggestions from many talented people, and Gabrielle Lim Mei Joo is certainly a talented graphic designer. Check it out!
]]>Update: From Sashi's post, looks like SpyMy was built using Pligg that is in turn a ripoff of Digg. Lots of copyright issues here, unfortunately, especially if Digg decides to push their case. Sheesh.
To answer a question in Sashi's post: Yes, PPS is planned to undergo a revamp (again) some time this year, and this time it isn't going to be just cosmetic. :P
]]>Update: Saw it again! :) "Latest Technology, Computers and Internet in Malaysian style"
]]>Recently, "Newsweek" Magazine featured several high-profile individuals in its year-end, Special Double Edition (Issue January 2, 2006). The one person who caught my attention was Professor Lisa Randall of Harvard University.]]>Professor Randall is a highly decorated Theoretical Physicist in the Academic World. Her research centers on elementary particles called "Strings" (the tiniest components of matter) and how they may travel beyond our 3-dimensional world.
This is no science fiction or magic. The idea of the existence of extra dimensions beyond our own is revolutionary and intriguing. What else is there besides length, width, height, and time? What do those extra dimensions look like? Can we travel to those extra dimensions? How come we cannot feel those extra dimensions?
I decided to write about Professor Randall and her research because those questions turn the world of Physics on its head and forces us to contemplate our own existence.
The article is divided into two parts and can be found at:
A quest to find the "Theory of Everything" - Part I
A quest to find the "Theory of Everything" - Part II
So it's that time of the year again, the Asia Blog of The Year award is now open for nominations which closes on 30th December 2005.
There is a little debate about whether Xiaxue would win this year. What do you think? They're also calling for the organisers to reveal themselves for the sake of transparency. haha!
]]>Its the list of the most popular search words on Google for a particular, and since Google is the biggest search engine there is, the keywords are pretty much the most popular ones. They have 3 listings there - top gainers, top searches in Google News, and top searches in Froogle (their shopping arm).
What is interesting are new top new entries for this year. No.1 is 'Myspace' the latest online community portal. I can't say that its wildly popular here with my friends, but apparently it is so in the US. Hmmm. Other interesting debutants are Ares (the P2P software), China upstart Baidu, and even wikipedia.
Even more surprising is that on the news search, Janet Jackson came out tops, higher than brother Michael. I know, it baffles me too. Even the wardrobe malfunction thing was in 2004, can't be that people are still interested. The rest are pretty predictable, like Katrina, Britney Spears and American Idol.
And on another note, iPod was mentioned in the top ten Froogle queries (not counting 'mp3 player').
You can chck out the listing here.
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Philotheist, a blog written by a PR firm Researcher, Jonathan Cohen, who intends to pursue a doctorate in science and technology studies. His obsession with trends and innovations have given birth to this newly acquired blog , which is powered by the Creative Weblogging network.
Among his latest updates are:
> Google Buying 5% Of AOL For US $1 Billion
> Methanol Fuel Cells Achieve 33% More Power Density
> Improve Apple's iPod, Win A $50 Amazon.com Gift Certificate From Philoneist
Jonathan's blog is made of an entire jungle of categories comprising of, Agritech, Applications (Productivity & Service), Automotive / Transportation, Biology, Broadband, Communications, Computing, Concept Contest, Concepts , Consumer Electronics, Content Delivery, Demographics, Digital Copyright, Digital Media (Audio), Digital Media (Print) , Digital Media (Video), E-Commerce, Editorial, Engineering, Ethics, Exploration, Finance (Personal), Government / Law, Green Tech, Home, Innovations, IT / Search, Links (Recommended), Medical Treatments, Mobile Phone, P2P , Philanthropy, Philoneist Announcements, Privacy / Security, Product Announcements , Products (New), Robotics , Social Networking, Sports, User Interface, Video Games, VOIP, Web 2.0.
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San Francisco, CA - iTalkNews.com, a website providing a place for everyday citizens to read, write, discuss and publish news stories, is launching on December 12, 2005.
Citizen, or “participatory journalism,” is a developing form of web-based content which encourages average people to collect and report news. iTalkNews stands out from other citizen journalism sites because of its focus on national and international stories. iTalkNews’ degree of accuracy as well as its wide range of topics also sets it apart from similar sites.
“While blogging has ushered in a new era where everyone can write news, somethings that worked in traditional journalism have gotten lost,” says Elizabeth Lee, Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of the six month-old web site. Lee has spent the past several months showcasing iTalkNews, which has gained press attention in the United States as well as Europe. According to Lee, “iTalkNews preserves the accountability and factual accuracy present in your grandparents’ journalism, and hybridizes it with what blogging offers: letting everyone tell their story.”
The site is launching with several new features, previously unavailable in beta mode, including:
- A new voting system for iTalkers
- Enhanced iTalker community interaction
- The ability for iTalkers to edit each others’ articles
Whether citizens should be allowed to edit each others articles has been a hotly debated issue. But sites like WikiNews show that it can work. After arming iTalkers with some writing and editing guidelines, iTalk is letting citizen democracy reign, with a few practical safeguards. For instance, articles are “locked” for three hours while a member is editing. Also, edits must be accepted by the original writer before posting, to prevent any possible abuse of the open system. This makes iTalkNews one of the few citizen journalism sites to give its members this much access – and responsibility.
iTalkNews has already attracted a variety of members, from people who have previously been involved in traditional journalism, to those who have never before been published. While they all come from diverse backgrounds, together they form the dynamic and interactive iTalker community. As iTalkNews member MJ Call notes, “Where else can a writer get instant feedback from their audience?”
]]>Now, what is his (Jeff Ooi) mission again? "I'm on a crusade to produce more bloggers," he says, because "lone voices don't get heard".
via Oon Yeoh.
That's what PPS wants to achieve too. We're proud to have Jeff as one of our founding bloggers.
]]>Its my sincerest wish that enterprising members of the Government do the same, if for no other reason than to provide a balanced report of what's going on. The people have a right to know the whole picture, and blogs have proven an excellent conduit for that intention.
]]>
Darfur is situated in the West of Sudan and covers an area the size of France (the size of Texas). For a number of years it was the scene of sporadic clashes between farming communities such as the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa, and nomadic groups, which led to many deaths and the destruction and looting of homes. The government blamed competition over scarce resources for the clashes.In February 2003 a new armed opposition group, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) took up arms against the government, because of what they perceived as the lack of government protection for their people and the marginalisation and underdevelopment of the region. The support base of this armed group came mainly from the agricultural groups in the region. Shortly afterwards another armed group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) emerged.
The government of Sudan responded by allowing free rein to Arab militias known as the Janjawid (guns on horseback) who began attacking villages, killing, raping and abducting people, destroying homes and other property, including water sources and looting livestock. At times government troops also attacked villages alongside the Janjawid, and government aircraft have been bombing villages sometimes just before Janjawid attacks, suggesting that these attacks were coordinated. The links between the Sudanese armed forces and the Janjawid are incontrovertible, the Janjawid are now wearing uniforms provided by the army.
"The Janjawid arrived and asked me to leave the place. They beat women and small children. They killed a little girl, Sara Bishara. She was two years old. She was knifed in her back."
Aisha Ali, from the village of Sasa, near Kornoy town in North Darfur.Hundreds of thousands of people have been forcibly displaced from their homes as a result of actions by the Janjawid and the government forces and large areas of Darfur have been depopulated. The UN estimates that there are now almost one million internally displaced people in Darfur who have fled from their burnt villages and taken refuge within Darfur, mostly in towns and camps, often in very poor conditions, while more than 120,000 have crossed the border into Chad.
Find out how you can help by visiting the website of Amnesty International.
]]>At last we've got an International Page. We’re published on the International Herald Tribune for the Clean Up Parliament campaign. Not one of the international publications that I contacted wanted to publish the list of names and in some cases they didn’t even want to discuss the matter.
via Beppe Grillo.
The real power is not in the hands of the blogger -- but its in the readers' and what many, many readers can do collectively. Beppe Grillo is a fine example of that theory in practice. Placing an ad in the IHT is no small potatoes, costing upwards of EURO$40k. But that cost is mitigated by the "thousands" of Beppe Grillo's readers who helped pay for it. 10,000 readers, $40 each, and there you have it -- an outcome that can potentially change the nation.
Power has always been about the ability to influence the action of others. With that definition, its easy to argue that blogs have real power now.
PPS has 5,000 daily readers, easily. Someday, if an issue worthy of our collective will presents itself, it would be interesting to put the test what WE are able to accomplish.
]]>The police has retaliated against the four women from China who lodged reports against the wrong-doings and corruption of police by conducting spot-checks on their private lives. Early this morning, about 7-8 uniformed policemen went to houses of the four Chinese nationals.According to Yu Xuzhen, the first of the four to lodged complaints to police HQ and ACA, police pressed the bell of her house at about 2am while she was asleep.
via Teresa Kok.
The police is there to protect us -- sending 7-8 of our men in blue to perform a spot check on 4 Chinese women in the dead of night is accomplishing nothing, furthering no cause of national safety whatsoever. So if you rule out that as a motive for their actions, then the alternatives are severely questionable.
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"I reckon that if people have in the past managed to raise funds via the internet to pay off their credit cards (see Save Karyn) or for boob jobs, my plea represents a more noble cause. I am asking you, kind reader, to help partially fund my Ph.D.If 1,000 of you would give me MYR100 each... that would solve quite a few problems!"
Hi! My name is Jikon Lai.]]>I am a Malaysian student pursuing a Ph.D. in the Department of International Relations of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS) at the Australian National University (ANU).
I started on the programme in February 2005. At that time, I was awarded a one-year scholarship by the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training from which I paid my tuition fees and funded my living expenses in Canberra. Unfortunately, the scholarship is not renewable. While I had initially hoped to secure funding from other sources, these have unfortunately not materialised.
After much soul-searching and careful thought, I came to the conclusion that the work I am doing here at the ANU is important enough to continue pursuing. I also felt deep down that the career of an academic was a calling to which I had to respond.
Thus, with very careful consideration, I asked my mother if she would help fund the cost of tuition for the remainder of Ph.D. programme here at the ANU. Tuition fees amount to about AUD20,000 a year for the next two years (2006 & 2007). This request was conveyed with a heavy heart. I recognise how much money this represents in Malaysia, where my mother is living. I also recognise how long it would take your average Malaysian employee to earn this amount of money (I reckon at least two years).
While my mother's contribution goes a long way to enable me to complete the Ph.D. it is not enough. I still need to raise additional funds for cost of living. I reckon that I will need anywhere from AUD17-20,000 a year. My supervisor at the ANU has offered to throw some research assistant work in my direction over the next two years, but that is insufficient. I will need a regular part-time job. While this might plug some of the funding requirements, it also raises other issues, notably time spent working for money, will be time not spent on my research. There is also the concern that part-time work may not raise the total amount of money that I will require for living expenses - this all depends on a combination of the level of hourly wage and the number of hours of work that I am able to find.