What's in a blog?

How blogging became the darling of the Middle East's expressive intelligensia

Welcome to the world of the new media where anyone can publish their own thoughts for free, to be read by anyone around the globe with access to the internet. ‘Blog’ is yet another wonderful pan-linguistic term to slip into common usage from web-speak, short for weblog and is essentially a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption.

Blogs usually represent the personality of the author and take the form of online diaries, forums or discussion panels; topics covered are multifarious and range from the amusing, to the inane trivialities (www.stuffonmycat.com) to breaking news and opinion. Anyone with an idea, political agenda, experiences or images to share now has a handy electronic vehicle for their voice. If you have the internet-acumen to navigate your way to a search engine, setting up your own blog is a breeze; with your own online virtual diary in place anyone is free to vent into the virtual-void of the net on his or her topic of choice and sit back and wait for praise, comment or abuse. Admittedly a large proportion of the material you’ll encounter on your travels through cyberspace is just noisy invective from ranting individuals unleashing their ire, but persevere and you’ll chance across writings not only bizarre and newsworthy but thoughtful, touching and unremittingly human.

For the bulk of the millions of bloggers across the globe, monetary gain is not yet a consideration. Whilst traditional forms of media have agendas which may be informed by corporate interests and the like, bloggers, for the most part, are not in it for the money which makes the diverse range of news and opinion you’ll come across on the web edgier and more up-to-date than almost anything you’ll see in the conventional press. Blogging in Abu Dhabi may still be in its infancy with the relatively small number of blogs registered to the city taking the form of online journals rather than forums for debate, but there are a number of blogs which provide a unique insight not only into the life of the author but into the life of the city.

Further afield, the controversial Dubai based expat-authored blog Secret Dubai Diary (http://secretdubai.blogspot.com/) has ruffled feathers in the past years, and rose to further notoriety after surviving a short-lived block imposed upon the site by Etisalat who deemed its contents unsuitable for public consumption. Its author’s sharp and at times sardonic commentary on life in the city through the eyes of an expat covers everything from news stories to the demise of tea culture at the roadside subcontinental cafes around the city.

The cream of Abu Dhabi-based blogspots you’ll encounter when you search through www.globeofblogs.com or any of the multitude of blog specific search engines on the net are personal diaries rather than satirical commentaries. Don’t expect contentious political baiting of the government or UAE society but blogging delights such as the plaintive listing of ailments and wry comments on It’s Not Always Pink (www.fizzamehdi.com) or the musings and literary efforts of Waldo (http://waldoblogo.blogspot.com/) writer, student and self-confessed Friends fanatic.

While weblogs or online diaries have been around for over a decade, their status as an active method for disseminating information as well as opinion has come into its own throughout the world in the past two years. Blogging is slowly having a powerful effect on mainstream media throughout the world with politicians, corporates and other public figures regularly posting rebuttals to accusations made at them through online posts. Blogs are also being read, and in some cases, written, by journalists; some blogs are considered as informative, if not more so, as news published by legitimate media outlets due to the breath and contemporaneity of their content.

It looks as if blogging is here to stay and it is gaining recognition as a literary medium in its own right. Last month Baghdad Burning, the acclaimed Iraqi blog which has provided a frank and eloquent voice describing conditions in the country after the war, was short listed for the Samuel Johnson prize, the prestigious British non-fiction award. It is one of the first blogs ever to be nominated for a major book prize and indicates the commercial recognition that the best blogs can expect to receive in the future. Although the press in the UAE has yet to attribute as much importance to the medium as its counterparts in Britain or the States, online communities like Orb UAE have already seen fit to reward inspirational bloggers in the country with their own awards. Emerging from the excellent UAE community blog (http://uaecommunity.blogspot.com) other blog based initiatives like the writers forum (http://writersblockuae.blogspot.com/), dedicated to creative literary output for writers in the UAE are paving the way for virtual communities to form and thrive.


By Michelle Madsen, May 2006 (Time Out)