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Ramadan, fasting month for muslim, is an interesting month for bloggers in Indonesia. While during other months bloggers organized meetups especially in weekend or dinner time, breaking fasting in maghrib prayer time is now preferred. It is time to begin with sweet drinks and appetite, do prayer for muslims, and is ended with main dinner. Guess it is very effective to talk many things, unregulated, free style, and community-based.

Most of Indonesian call these meetups as “kopdar” (abbrevation from “kopi darat”). Your things to bring: your URL (yap, it is now 2.0 era) to identify yourself, pocket digital camera (it is okay too for DSLR as long as you help yourself to handle), and cash for billing (payment cards are also welcome).

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Topic: Culture, Event

Yuniman Farid from Deutsche Welle, Indonesische Redaktion, Germany’s international broadcaster, had sent me an email about The BOBs, International Best of Blogs Award. Deutsche Welle had begun organizing The BOBs since 2004 in seven language and now, among 11 languages, Bahasa Indonesia is included. This is great news for Indonesian bloggers to participate in international event using our own language.

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Topic: Event

Back to 2003 when I started blogging, I found various bloggers’ club based on location in Indonesia — specifically city-oriented. Bandung, Jakarta, and Yogyakarta are some of them. Usually every member has his/her own blog, set club’s blog and a feed from its members displayed, and a commitee was elected to maintain club’s blog. Furthermore, a regular meeting or gathering was scheduled to let members meet one to others vis-a-vis. The solidarity and also pre-requested to join was merely based on one’s hometown.

The second period — about one to two years after — was filled by “bloggers having specific interests.” Various experts wrote any topics they are capable or have basic knowledge. More often readers were easily distinguish among blog’s themes, let’s say: current technology, motivational essay, or gadget etalage. Under the umbrella of bloggers’ preference, several aggregators were set up to collect “similiar theme” or “ideologically accepted.”

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Topic: Blognote, Social

A colleague in my office commented this morning, “Dian Sastro’s blog is getting high traffic. Her website was reported down, hit by so many requests.” Seemingly, Wicaksono’s blog column on Koran Tempo today about Dian is a trigger for him to talk about celebrity’s blog.

Public figure’s blog — again!

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Topic: Blognote, Social

Yusron Ihza Mahendra, one of Indonesia People Representative Council Commision I member and also a young brother of famous Yusril Ihza Mahendra, marks this January as his first month for blogging. Starting with a clean plaintxtBlog WordPress’ theme, he writes various opinions mostly related to capabilities on his fields. His first posting on 16 January clearly expressed his intention — longer but still important for us to know his mission.

I appreciate Yusron’s movement to go blogging not only for his next step way to stay closer to public using his ideas, but also I see he writes in good, step-by-step, Bahasa Indonesia. My hope that he will be able to keep this style persistent.

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Topic: Figure

In term of geographical size, Indonesia is really a big country. It is common for us “to downsize” something which occured in the name of Indonesia to local one. While a group — for example — namely “Indonesian Bloggers” perhaps sounds nice to a national identity, people from various locations get extra efforts to join with. Meetings, specific identities, representatives, and so on, are among “difficulties” to deal with, regarding to expenses to be spent.

Let many local clubs appear and bloom. One of them is bloggers from Malang, a second greatest city of Jawa Timur (East Java). They launch Globber’s Community — Komunitas Blogger Ngalam, a group of bloggers of Malang residents. One of unique idiom of Malang is shown on their name, Ngalam, which is a reverse spelling of Malang.

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Topic: Event, News

SCTV’s Liputan 6, an Indonesian television station joined the blogosphere by launching a blog at http://blog.liputan6.com/. I heard about this blog few weeks ago when I watched Liputan 6 news programme. What makes this new blog interesting is that all contents are written by people behind Liputan 6. You can find the news anchors writing about many topics from business, music, even film. This is interesting.

I read that all contibutors not only discussing topics in a plain language, but they also write about their opinions. This is interesting. Blogging is about opinion, it can be very personal… and it’s about conversation.

Anyway, Liputan 6 blog is powered using WordPress. Liputan 6… welcome to blogosphere!

Topic: Blognote, Culture, News

After some controversials regarding identity of Yusril Ihza Mahendra, an Indonesian politician having several minister position and formerly the chairman of Crescent Star Party (PBB), he had invited some bloggers for informal meeting in Billiton Bistro, Plasa Senayan, Jakarta. Masim “Vavai” Sugianto reported on his blog and Priyadi Iman Nurcahyo noted that Vavai will kindly provide more representative blog site for Yusril.

One source told me yesterday that he is now making a web design for Yusril’s, confirmed a step ahead of Vavai’s offerings.

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Topic: Blognote, Figure

I had received invitation to attend Pesta Blogger 2007. This event will be held next week in Blitz Megaplex Jakarta, moved from previous plan in Hard Rock Cafe. Having had confirmed by email, I received invitation, a passcode (no dresscode, so I think it will be informal way), and my name is displayed on audience list. To many visitors, I am well-known as blogger in #direktif, but I want to be myself as blogger in common term, represent various sites I maintain.

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Topic: Event

Sonny Hidayat generously corrected my humble assumption about PT Telkom bloggers on my previous entry, What Blogging Means to Company in Indonesia?. To reply Sonny’s question whether I took a serious survey about blogging in Telkom, briefly I say no.

While Sonny suggested the idealistic side for people to blogging, i.e. the spirit — which is, of course, a root of all good activities, I kept my opinion simply in a practical way. Also important: in a positive thinking. I mean: it does not point that by having enough time is a result from no other things to do and stuck into blogging, instead it is a practical way to realize what so-called spirit into an action. We can also call that as a “good opportunities.”

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Topic: Blognote