Research on Malaysian Bloggers

Book Published =)

2008-07-27T23:20:00.003+08:00

So here's the book that was based on my thesis =D

Title: Blogging and Democratization in Malaysia - A New Civil Society in the Making
Authors: Jun-E Tan and Zawawi Ibrahim
Publisher: SIRD, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Back cover commentaries:

Before the 12th Malaysian General Election, bloggers were called numerous, often unflattering, names by Malaysian government officials and other unsavoury charaters. Virtually immediately after the election results, they were hailed by many, including the same unsavoury characters, as "key players" and "prime movers". Some have even gone so far as to blame the dismal election performance of the Barisan Nasional on bloggers and blogging.

Amidst all this, and the post-March 8 hype, this original, well-researched and very readable volume by upcoming Malaysian scholar, Jun-E Tan and renowned and committed social anthropologist, Zawawi Ibrahim, provides a necessary resource for those who wish to understand Malaysian blogging more comprehensively within a wider socio-political context. This volume is certainly necessary reading for Malaysians who wish to understand how the new media may or may not be able to contribute to the expansion of democratic space. And it really ought to be compulsory reading for the unsavoury characters who still refuse to understand where Malaysia is heading.

Zaharom Nain, Centre for Policy Research and International Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Jun-E Tan and Zawawi Ibrahim have written a most timely (and readable) book. The blogging phenomenon has been credited with playing an important part in the historic results of the 2008 General Election. It has also been lauded with the democratization of Malaysian public life in general. Here the authors have put together hard data coupled with interesting interviews with the main players to bring the discussion of blogs out of the realm of punditry and the anecdotal into a more studied empirical sociological sphere. For that, it is a significant work which hopefully would pave the way for similar efforts at studying the impact of new technologies on democracy in Malaysia.

Azmi Sharom, Faculty of Law, University of Malaya.

The book is priced at RM25. If you're interested to buy it, you can email me at june.tan@gmail.com and we'll work out something ;)

Recommendations for the National Alliance of Bloggers

2007-04-07T04:30:00.000+08:00

I may include this in the conclusion of my thesis, so please bear with the apparent dryness of the passage! I'd be super grateful if you would care to leave any comments of assent or dissent.

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Introduction
The National Alliance of Bloggers (NAB) was set up on April 5, 2007, towards the completion of this thesis. Some 50 bloggers gathered at the National Press Club to discuss the necessity of forming the Alliance, and proceeded to elect a pro-tem committee to register a formal association, with physical premises, office bearers and subscription for members.

Based on the findings of this thesis, the author would like to suggest some recommendations to the NAB, which is essentially the crystallization of the virtual community into a physical entity which has the potential of leading the Malaysian blogosphere towards higher ideals of blog ethics and constructive dialogue with the authorities. On the other hand, improper management or marketing may shape the Alliance into an antagonistic character constantly against the establishment or national unity, hence affecting blogs’ ability to generate useful discourse and their credibility at large.

Objectives of the NAB
It is of utmost importance that the NAB should base the aims of its existence at a higher level, towards promoting and protecting freedom of expression and information. It should be recognized that although the formation of the Alliance was catalyzed by the lawsuit against bloggers, it is not an entity built in defiance to the authorities, but rather an entity which embraces blogging as a platform to enable civil liberties. The vision of the Alliance has to reflect the bigger picture, i.e. to pave the direction towards a more democratic and progressive Malaysia.

It was mentioned in a blog post of Ahirudin Attan, president of the pro-tem committee of NAB, that the Alliance has two major objectives, i.e. to promote blogging and to protect bloggers. It is clarified that the Alliance will try to engage the authorities and to protect bloggers against lawsuits, and to promote all forms of blogging.

Promoting blogging
There are two distinct target groups that the NAB should focus upon to promote blogging, i.e. the authorities and the non-bloggers. It is necessary to engage the authorities (or more specifically, the government) because it is important for them to be aware that bloggers are not as depicted by certain politicians, and that the feedback available on the Internet can be very useful to public policymaking. As for non-bloggers, they should be educated about the positive aspects of blogging instead of seeing the blogosphere as a massive clout of anti-establishment voices.

Hence, significant image marketing, rebranding even, is pivotal to the successful promotion of blogging by the NAB. In this case, it is inconsequential whether the bloggers within the NAB are misunderstood patriotic martyrs or otherwise, because the negative perception itself will form a barrier against understanding blogging. After establishing a moderate and credible image, the NAB should act as a platform in bringing together the government, bloggers, mainstream media and other factions of civil society by organizing talks or dialogues in triggering effective change in the country’s policies.

Engaging the Malaysian blogosphere
The findings of this thesis paints the representation of the Malaysian bloggers to be fairly young (84.5% of bloggers are aged 28 and below), and are avid readers of blogs, printed newspapers and fiction. Although this thesis gives emphasis to the sociopolitical group of bloggers within the Malaysian blogosphere, they only form 6% out of the total 852 bloggers within the sample size. If the NAB is serious on promoting (responsible) blogging and forging a united front of Malaysian bloggers, it has to engage the other 94% of the blogosphere. The NAB will only be able to collect a critical mass of bloggers by bridging the fragmentation of the Malaysian blogosphere across language, age range, blog content and political inclinations.

The blogosphere must not be forced into a framework dictated by the NAB, instead the NAB should try to preserve the diversity of the blogosphere as it is, with only a general guideline of the do’s and don’ts provided. In other words, it should be recognized and encouraged that blogging is a personal activity for self-expression or any other motivation that the blogger sees fit. This is a crucial criterion for NAB to garner the acceptance of bloggers in general. Further marketing is naturally needed to persuade the bloggers to become members of the NAB.

Protecting bloggers
Protection of bloggers has to be proactive in the sense of equipping them with necessary knowledge of legal implications of what they write, and a general code of ethics to abide by. As the NAB will be championing for freedom of expression, self-regulation will have to balance on the thin line between allowing as much room of expression possible, and maintaining a certain standard of responsibility of blogging. In the event of a lawsuit against a blogger, the NAB will be able to provide support in terms of legal advice and a consolidated group of voices, but the NAB should also respect the right of seeking redress by the plaintiffs.

Conclusion
The NAB has the potential to link the entire social network of Malaysian blogs for efficient communication of vital information and constructive opinions for the country’s progress, from the grassroots level to policymakers. As mentioned in earlier sections of the thesis, the networks within the blogosphere can amplify important signals while suppressing noise through communication. The opportunity to get heard can infuse the youth of the country with a sense of empowerment that they are able to participate in steering the country towards a better direction.

Granted, the present framework of the government administration may need more time to adapt to the fast-changing landscape due to globalization, and its gradual inability of containing information of public interest. Thus, the NAB will have to shoulder the responsibility to educate the government about blogging, and concurrently prepare the blogosphere towards mature discourse and consciousness about its role in a democratic society.

80% of unemployed bloggers are women?

2007-03-10T15:23:00.000+08:00

In response to Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan's allegations of "out of 10,000 unemployed bloggers, 8,000 are women", below is my comment based on the data collection I did back in November - December 2006.

Out of my sample size of 852 Malaysian bloggers/bloggers in Malaysia, only 22 (2.58%) are unemployed. Out of these 22 people, 13 (59%) are females. Therefore, I would like to ask the Minister where he got his data of 10,000 unemployed bloggers from, and if I could get my hands on the research he had done.

It would be most helpful if he could also elaborate on the part of bloggers being liars and a threat to national unity.

Check the original news report (in Chinese) from Sin Chew Jit Poh here.

p/s. On research matters: I have given up putting up datelines 'coz I'll end up busting them anyway. Will update when I do finish.

Research Updates

2007-02-06T10:36:00.000+08:00

Sorry for keeping you waiting guys!

Literature review and quantitative analysis are completed, the rest are still in the progress of writing. Just received news that I have to restructure the layout, so that may take some extra time. I promised my supervisor that the first draft will be out before Chinese New Year.

I'll post some findings on this blog after I finish the thesis, so stay tuned!

Bloggers sued: A chronology of events

2007-01-18T13:02:00.000+08:00

*Update*
For up to date developments of the case, do check out the Bloggers United Official Page, or the Walk With Us blog.

11 Jan 2007: A thread was opened at MyKMU.net with the following post:

Blogger politikus terkenal Ahiruddin Attan @ Rocky Bru dan Jeff Ooi telah dihantar notis oleh Kalimullah Hassan, Brendan Perreira dan Hishamuddin Aun untuk menarik balik beberapa artikel artikel dalam blog mereka. Kegagalan akan menyebabkan mereka disaman.

Dalam masa yang sama juga, blogger "poster wayang" terkenal, Sheih @ kickdefella juga akan diambil tindakan tetapi belum diketahui lagi tindakan yang jenis bagaimana.

Translated: Socio-political bloggers Ahiruddin Attan @ Rocky Bru and Jeff Ooi have been sent warnings by Kalimullah Hassan, Brendan Perreira dan Hishamuddin Aun to retract a few articles from their blogs. The failure to do so will get them sued.

At the same time, "film poster" blogger Sheih @ kickdefella will also be taken action upon. It is not known what kind of actions will be taken.

12 January 2007: Merdekareview reported this:

【本刊林宏祥撰述】由于在部落格张贴批评《新海峡时报》（New Straits Times）与高层的贴文，著名Screenshots部落客黄泉安及Rocky's Bru部落客阿西鲁丁（Ahirudin bin Attan）接获信函，限令他们取下其部落格的相关文章，否则将被起诉；另外，以改编电影海报讽刺首相阿都拉巴达威闻名的KickDeFella部落客Sheih也接获类似信函，惟诉方并非来自新海峡时报集团。

此消息在巫统虚拟网站俱乐部（KMU）上已经引起热烈的讨论，在前首相马哈迪与阿都拉角力期间，部分舆论力指《新海峡时报》高层是阿都拉女婿凯里（Khairy Jamaluddin）的朋党，乃阿都拉智囊团大本营。因此，三名部落客的遭遇被视为惩戒“逆着阿都拉激流”（menentang arus AAB－Abdullah Ahmad Badawi）的行动。[...]

Translation: Because of blog posts criticisizing the NST and its higher level management, famous bloggers Jeff Ooi of Screenshots and Ahirudin bin Attan of RockyBru have received letters to retract articles in question or be sued in court. Blogger Sheih of KickDeFella, famous for his film posters poking fun at the PM has also got similar letters, but not from the NSTP.

This piece of news has been discussed heatedly in the Kumpulan Menyokong UMNO Forum (KMU). In the battle between former PM Mahathir and Abdullah Badawi, some sources have pointed that the higher level officials of NST are connected to the PM's son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin and they are part of the PM's camp. Therefore, this case is seen as the consequence of going against AAB. [...]

13 Jan 2007: Sheih from Kickdefella launches the "Bloggers United" campaign, urging bloggers to put the following image on their blogs, in support of free speech for bloggers.

14 Jan 2007: Veteran journalist, Nuraini A. Samad blogs about the affair.

18 Jan 2007: Rocky and Jeff confirm that they have been served papers, here and here.

From Rocky:

Unchartered waters. None of us have passed this way before, so I shall have to tread carefully. I'll need you to tread carefully, too, when you leave your comments.
I have been served the papers. They dropped them on Tuesday evening, around 9.30 pm, at the National Press Club. They are applying for an injunction against Rocky's Bru, this blog. They are suing me for libel.
[They have also served Jeff Ooi of Screenshots the papers].

In the case against me, "they" are:

1. The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad (No. Syarikat 4485-H)
2. Kalimullah Bin Masheerul Hassan
3. Hishamuddin Bin Aun
4. Syed Faisal Albar Bin Syed A.R. Albar
5. Brenden John a/l John Pereira

The plaintiffs have cited 48 postings (under Schedule 1, the List of Defamatory Articles complained of in the Statement of Claims filed in this action).
I am now looking for a lawyer to represent me.
The application for injunction comes up on Jan 25 at the High Court.
Thank you for the support. God bless.

And from Jeff:

The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad, Kalimullah bin Masheerul Hassan, Hishamuddin bin Aun and Brendan John a/l John Pereira have jointly taken an order, via an ex-parte injunction obtained in the High Court of Malaya Kuala Lumpur (Civil Suit No. S6-23-3-2007) on January 11, 2007, against this blogger.
The abovementioned parties' application for an injunction has been fixed for a hearing at the same court on January 30, 2007 at 9.00am.

My lawyers are now taking care of it.

Meanwhile, Screenshots was informed that journo-blogger Ahiruddin Attan (Rocky's Bru) has been served January 16 a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim by the New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad and four others, dated January 11.

The parties' application for an injunction against Rocky has been fixed for a hearing on January 25, 2007.

Malaysiakini picks up the story here. Besides all that were covered previously, Malaysiakini provides further context of what might be the source of defamation, i.e.:

In Nov 2006, Ahirudin and Jeff were embroiled in controversy with NSTP when they revealed that a column in the New Straits Times on Oct 30 under group editor Brendan Pereira’s by-line bore a strong resemblance in style and structure to a column by Mitch Albom in the Detroit Free Press of Sept 10, 2006.

The NSTP later announced that Pereira will end his term of service as group editor of NST on Dec 31 and rejected the allegations of plagiarism.

They have also alleged that Kallimullah and NST are Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s spin doctors.

Bloggers of English, Malay and Chinese languages have all lent their support to this case in the form of posting the "Bloggers United" image. See here for the compilation of a list by another blogger.

This case does not only affect the fore-runners of socio-political blogging in Malaysia - the result of the battle of David(s) against Goliath will clarify the actual power of freedom of speech online in Malaysia. If won, this may very well be the second major scalp against mainstream media. The case lost may, in Tony Pua's words, "scare the rest of the foot soldiers into submission and anonymity".

Read injunction and libel in Wikipedia for further information.

Radio Interview from Blogwatch, RSI

2007-01-09T01:56:00.000+08:00

About two weeks ago I was contacted by Joel Chua from Radio Singapore International who was interested about my research. The interview happened last week and was aired officially on 5th January 2006 (Friday).

Listen to the interview here: Blogwatch: Malaysian Government. It features me and Rocky.

The interview transcript can be found here.

Completion of Data Collection

2007-01-02T22:56:00.000+08:00

Data collection of the research has come to an end. I have 1540 respondents (English version - 1364; Malay - 176) for my online survey. There were 3 sets of faulty data which I deleted, so right now I have in my hands the end result of 1537 blog readers, of whom 852 are bloggers.

Qualitative data collection also came to an end about 2 weeks ago, with 11 people interviewed. 10 were bloggers, and I also managed to talk to Steven Gan of Malaysiakini.

Currently I am busy analyzing information from the survey database. I'm also working on the actual manuscript, but hardly at a breakneck speed considering my tight deadline. *grimace*

I will post a summary of the findings here after I submit the thesis. First draft will hopefully be ready by mid January.

The survey ends tomorrow

2006-12-29T12:06:00.000+08:00

The survey for Malaysian blog readers and bloggers ends tomorrow, at 23:59, 30 Dec 2006.

Do participate if you haven't yet!

Click for the English Version / Versi Bahasa Malaysia.

Patriotism through blogs

2006-12-24T12:20:00.000+08:00

2005 - Kempen belog dalam BM - initiated by Vincent Lau. 72 bloggers blogged in Malay in the spirit of National Day.

2006 - Project Happy Malaysia - initiated by Vincent Lau. The theme was "heart warming stories about Malaysia". 40 bloggers contributed their stories.

2007 - 50 Posts to Independence - initiated by Nizam Bashir. The idea is to tag one blogger who will tag the next, to post an entry on "anything that makes Malaysia special to that person". A total of 50 bloggers will be tagged in sequence. Each blogger has up to 7 days to make a post. To date, 13 bloggers have contributed, as kept track by Sharizal.

Bangkit.net - The blog for Malaysian Activists

2006-12-20T02:44:00.000+08:00

I have found a blog on Malaysian civil society movements. At Bangkit.net, Malaysian NGOs get to post their events on a common platform. Indeed, according to the About page, the site caters to the general public as audiences, and activist organizations as propagators.

For the general public, this site will hopefully offer an easy way for anyone interested to see what various civil society organizations are saying and working on in Malaysia. For activist organizations, bangkit.net was set up to be an additional platform and medium for getting their various messages across.

I have yet to find the list of organizations participating in this blog, but at first glance, the blog houses a number of prominent NGOs, such as:

Amnesty International Malaysia
Suaram
Sisters in Islam
Centre of Independent Journalism
Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas
Youth4Change
Gabungan Rakyat Menentang FTA America-Malaysia

Areas of interest are categorized by category, ranging from civil liberties to environment. They even have job postings from various NGOs.

Bangkit.net is a relatively new blog, commenced from October 2006. It is maintained by Nathaniel Tan. I believe that it is a great initiative, if this blog is well-publicized and establishes itself as the hub of NGOs and the blog to turn to when one wants to know the latest activities of Malaysian activist groups. It can also become the common platform for NGOs to combine their activities and supporter base to create a louder voice.

Malay version of the survey is out!

2006-12-11T09:01:00.000+08:00

You can access it here. I am planning to publicize it in the Malay blogosphere.

Rushing out for an interview with A. Kadir Jasin.

Survey dalam Bahasa Malaysia

2006-12-10T07:06:00.000+08:00

The Malay version is out! Managed to translate it with the help of two of my classmates, Nor Azmi and Noorun.

I haven't launched it into my3q yet, but here it is in Microsoft Word. Comments are appreciated!

Research Updates /All BN MPs have blogs?

2006-12-07T23:18:00.000+08:00

I was busy for the past two days attending the conference on "Shaping Public Opinion in a Changing Media Environment" at Crown Princess Hotel. It was a truly big event, as illustrated comprehensively in Jeff's latest post on "Why fight Internet as an outsider?" covering the profiles of those who came.

The event was a great networking opportunity, as I snapped up 3 interviews with A. Kadir Jasin, Teresa Kok and Steven Gan, Malaysiakini's editor. This neatly sums up my interviewee count to 10. Prof Wan Zawawi, my thesis supervisor, also strongly recommended an interview with Rustam A. Sani, a revered academician - so I will probably call him too.

Latest survey respondent count: 360. Tony Pua whom I met again in the conference suggested a Malay version of the survey to reach out to Malay bloggers and blog readers, so I will probably be working on that very soon.

Lastly, here's one bit of information for you to chew on - at the conference today, Session 5, Politicians Who (Are Not Shy To) Blog (speakers are MP of DAP, Teresa Kok, and MP of UMNO, Ir. Hj Hamim bin Hj Samuri), Hamim said that all BN MPs have their own blog, in the BNBBC website. Incidentally, Teresa who spoke before Hamim had quipped that, "Not all bloggers blog".

I would love to go through the BNBBC blogs but unfortunately the site is down. There is a note saying that the website would be up by 6th of December. Hamim provided statistics that the BNBBC site gets 500,000 hits per month (which works out to about 16,666 hits per day).

The conference was very interesting with many lively debates, as well as a list of recommendations to be submitted to the government. However, the conference ended on somewhat an anticlimax when Assoc. Prof Zaharom Nain from USM asked the conference organizer how the recommendations would be conveyed, by whom, to whom, and through what channels. The spokesperson was rather vague in his answer and said "we can't promise anything".

Malaysia to register bloggers as well?

2006-12-06T22:33:00.000+08:00

This is probably old news to some, but I'm going to put it here for archiving purposes anyway. One day after the previous post on China planning to register its bloggers, The Star (3 Dec 2006) reports:

"Cyber law mulled to block lies in blogs"
by Hah Foong Lian

SITIAWAN: Registering bloggers may be a “stricter” way to stop cyberspace writers from spreading disharmony and lies.
Acknowledging that the registration of bloggers was a difficult task, Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Kong Cho Ha said that it needed the cooperation of other countries.
Kong said: “We need to have stricter cyber laws to prevent these bloggers from disseminating disharmony, chaos, seditious material and lies.
“We are talking about creating cyber laws to control those who misuse the Internet,” he added.
Kong noted that the high number of bloggers in the country was a good development if they used the Internet constructively.
However, he said, some of them would put up sensational or controversial articles or images to attract readers to their blogs.
“We want our bloggers to be responsible, to keep within the rules and not put up seditious articles that can create disharmony and chaos,” he said.
Citing the example of the recent picture of Gombak MP Datuk Dr Rahman Ismail and Senator Datin Paduka Norhayati Onn, Kong said it reflected the irresponsible acts of some bloggers.
“Now we have cyber laws to check such misuse but the laws need to change to keep up with the times.
“This is because technology changes faster than our laws,” he said yesterday after opening the inaugural computer fair at Dewan Merdeka in Seri Manjung, near here.
The fair was organised by the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom).

I have already put up my simple arguments on why it is illogical for the government to register bloggers under the guise of protecting privacy and rights. MoSTI is taking a slightly different tune on stopping "the spread of disharmony and lies", but it is essentially operating on the same vein. The government feigns to be protective but what it is really trying to do is to expand its control upon the cyber space. It is interesting to look at bloggers posting on the issue.

Vincent Chow points out that it is a "mission impossible". It is impossible for the government to track every blog "unless all Malaysian bloggers are using the same and only blog platform, host and system".

Whatalulu foresaw the copy-cat situation and figured that bloggers would be found via their digital trails anyway, so there is no point dodging the registration. Lively discussion is going on within her comment box, on violation of privacy and how people will still be able to avoid digital trails if they want to.

Astrosurge was visibly angry over how the government's need for control.

Raja Petra of MalaysiaToday simply quoted the news and the discussion started rolling. Thus far there has been 33 comments.

Chanlilian remarked: "The only party that needs to keep up with the times are those who preach Vision 2020 but live in the tempurung and hoping others do too."

SKThew highlights the concern and an article from Reporters without Borders.

Tony Pua turns the tables and says instead, "If a blogger has committed a real crime, such as defamation through the spread of lies, take him to court and prove the case. If the blogger has committed no such crime when exposing unpleasant truths with regards to government or BN officials, Deputy Minister Kong should instead "be responsible", "have ethics and self-respect" by not insinuating serious allegations and spreading lies with regards to the integrity of the relevant blogger."

My take? Well, this is an obvious strategy of the government trying to work around its promise of non-censorship of the Internet, to try pressuring it into self-censorship. However, as highlighted by Vincent Chow, it will be no easy feat. The worst case scenario for the government is that not only will it put itself in a bad light, it may not succeed in its endeavour (which will be a double whammy). There is also a possibility that they are just saying that as a warning to outspoken bloggers out there, but do not actually intend to take any action.

China's Real Name System for Bloggers

2006-12-02T00:19:00.000+08:00

According to The Star (1 December 2006), Pg W53 - China is looking into adopting a real-name system, where people will be required to submit their real name and IC number when they register for services like "blogs or BBS account".

Netizens will be able to continue choosing their own online name, and as long as they do not violate laws their personal information will remain private and safe.

The first area for a real name application will be blogs, a popular form of Internet-based diary.

The reason?

Blogs have been used by some people to infringe upon other people's privacy and rights. For example, an infamous TV host had thousands of netizens visit her blog just because she wrote an article about a well-known TV anchor's marriage history, which included some allegedly false information.

As a blogger's real name is unknown, it is very difficult to safeguard privacy and rights.

A blog research panel, under the Ministry of Information Industry, will "provide solutions for the development of China's blog industry." Yang Junzuo, secretary-general of the ISC's self-discipline working commission, was quoted by Beijing-based China Times a month ago as saying the real name system is the solution.

As far as I can reason, the argument by the Chinese government does not hold water, as the example given does not look like a common occurrence. Under the assumption that such cases are relatively few, information forensics personnel can handle the cases without the need of implementing such a large scale operation of "registering" all the bloggers.

The guise of "protecting privacy and rights" is somewhat ironical, as the Chinese government is not known for its record for that, as evident from this open letter to appeal for the release of 54 Chinese citizens for "expressing and exchanging opinions over the Internet". Check also this article on Freedom of Expression, Speech and the Press in the context of China. These are just the top two articles when I google "freedom of speech in china". Feel free to browse through for more.

The real name system is going to have China's bloggers trussed up, worse than ever before. If the excuse is to protect privacy and rights, putting all the names into one database accessible to the government is the worst violation of privacy of all.

Blogging Asia: A Windows Live Report

2006-11-30T23:46:00.000+08:00

Seems that research on blogs are plentiful these few days. First we had Universal McCann doing the survey on netizens with marketing and branding, with focus on blogs in particular, and now we have an international online survey, Blogging Asia: A Windows Live Report by MSN Live Spaces, analyzed by Harris Interactive. Not that I'm complaining, of course ^^.

According to full report in The Star (30 November 2006) Page N33:

MOST BLOGGERS ARE WOMEN

If you are a Malaysian and you have your own blog, the odds are that you're a woman, aged 25 or under.

Sixty-four percent of local bloggers are female and 74% of them are in that age group.

This is a finding of an international online survey involving more than 25,000 Microsoft MSN web portal visitors in August and September.

The survey, Blogging Asia: A Windows Live Report, was conducted in Hong Kong, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

It is found that 41% of Malaysians who went online also blogged.

Malaysia's bloggers primarily do it for entertainment and to share their lives with family and friends.

"Blogging has moved into the mainstream in Asia and Malaysia, and has become a popular way to stay in touch with family and friends," said Grant Watts, Microsoft South-East Asia general manager for online services group.

The survey found that 56% of Malaysians blogged to express passionately held views, while 49% blogged to keep friends and family updated.

Some 34% just like having a little corner of cyberspace to call their own.

Only a small number, about 3%, said they were practising "citizen journalism".

As for blog-reading habits, 63% of respondents said that they read blogs for entertainment, while technology, travel and music were the most widely read blog topics across Asia and in Malaysia.

The majority of blog readers, 81%, are most interested in blogs written by friends or family.

Far behind in popularity are blogs by business leaders and politicians garner the least interest.

Blog readers said they looked for good writing and plenty of pictures.

Lowyat.net picked it up here, with a more holistic perspective, covering other countries participating in the survey as well. I am not sure whether it is first or second hand, since PRNewswire has the same report. Anyway, let's proceed:

Stat: Nearly half of those online in Asia have a blog, 74% find blogs by friends/family to be most interesting
Stat: Young people and women dominate (except India where it is overwhelmingly a male domain)
Stat: 50% believe blog content to be as trustworthy as traditional media
Stat: 41% spend more than three hours a week blogging
Stat: More than 40% have less than 10 visitors per week
Stat: 55% of bloggers in Asia were found to be female and 45% male.
Stat: 20% of Malaysians voted for Blogs focusing on politics, compared to 14% on average across Asia

It is interesting that the second report highlighted this whilst The Star did not:

Politicians fared poorly across the region with only 14% interested in reading their blogs except in Malaysia where they were quite popular with 20% listing this type of blog as being of interest.

Note of caution though: the sample involves only Microsoft MSN web portal visitors and may not be representative of the whole Malaysian blogosphere.

The Online Survey is Out!!

2006-11-30T12:30:00.000+08:00

This is the URL to the survey: http://www.my3q.com/go.php?url=junetan/malaysianblog

This is the preamble:

I am a Master's student studying in University of Malaya. This survey is part of my thesis, titled "Is blogging an effective tool to democratize Malaysia?"

The questionnaire is composed mostly of Multiple Choice Questions, and is divided into three parts:
Part I: General Demography (12 questions)
Part II: For Blog Readers (14 questions)
Part III: For Bloggers (11 questions)
(*Respondents without a blog can skip Part III)

Important: Please fill in this questionnaire only if you are a blog reader/blogger residing in Malaysia, or a blog reader/blogger of Malaysian nationality residing abroad.

My blog on research is at http://blogger-research.blogspot.com. =) You can also reach me at my email: june.tan@gmail.com. I will try to reply all mails as soon as possible.

Your participation means a lot to my research and the Malaysian blogosphere at large. Thanks for your time!

I would really appreciate it if you took some time to answer this survey. It will take you 15 minutes at most, because most of the questions are MCQs, and I took into account the comments from the pre-launch and cut some questions off, so this is the slimmed down version.

The major goals of this questionnaire are to gage the demography of blog readers and bloggers - and also to supply evidence to my thesis question: "Is blogging an effective tool for democratizing Malaysia?"

This survey is open for one month, i.e. until 30 December 2006. My thesis is due mid January, so those interested in the analysis can contact me at that time. You are also welcome to link this post (and I would be super grateful) and spread the word about this survey.

Universal McCann does a study on netizens and bloggers

2006-11-29T22:41:00.000+08:00

Excerpts from "Internet no longer niche media" (29 November 2006) B11, StarBiz Section of The Star:

With 10 million active users in Malaysia, the Internet can no longer be considered a niche media, said Universal McCann managing director Gaurav Bhasin.

"The scope and influence of the net now offers fresh opportunities for advertisers," he said in a statement. "There's an exciting dynamism in advertising, with bloggers, gamers, social networkers, and podcasters charting a new reality for brand building."

A recent research study conducted by Universal McCann, based on a sample size of 4670 respondents, revealed that 40% of Malaysian netizens (regular Internet users) spent more than three hours daily on the Net.

Specifically on blogs -

The survey also revealed that 35% of Malaysian netizens are active bloggers with about one-quarter responding of writing about brands and services experienced.

"These bloggers can actually influence the fate of brands, and the growing number of passive bloggers who visit and read blogs of people they personally know is not small enough that they can be ignored," he said.

The Universal McCann study showed that 14% of bloggers trusted brand reviews they read and were positively inclined to try a brand with a positive review.

Also, Vijandren Ramadass posted more elaborately on LowYat.net on 22 November 2006, with these graphs (click to enlarge) for your convenient perusal:

On what blogs are:

On blogs:

On time spent on blogs:

Another strong implication highlighted was "The rise of 'blogethics'"

In the Malaysia blogosphere, UM uncovered Blogethics – ethical standards that apply to bloggers and their audiences.
1. Blogging is about Freedom of Expression: It has been called many names Consumer Generated Content (CGC), User Generated Content (UGC), citizen journalism but at its core, blogging for Netizens is all about the freedom to express oneself. This is agreed upon by almost 97% of the Malaysian Netizens.
2. Bloggers share a responsibility to their readers: Bloggers are expected by their peers to be responsible for what they write about. This aspect of the new Blogethics is so important that close to 72% of the Netizens bloggers and audiences alike agreewith it.

I have not found the full report online. I should probably contact Universal McCann.

Online Survey for Malaysian Blogs (Version 2)

2006-11-29T21:30:00.000+08:00

I've updated the survey - took away some questions and amended the preamble. Please feel free to preview Version 2 of the survey here. The final survey will be launched tomorrow, and will be in the form of an online form. As always, comments are appreciated.

Previous version was here.

Pre-launch of the survey!

2006-11-29T12:35:00.000+08:00

I am going to launch the online survey for Malaysian blog readers and bloggers latest by tomorrow morning. For now, feel free to have a sneak preview of the survey in Microsoft Word format and any comments would be very much appreciated.

The final survey will be in the form of an online form. It will rely on word-of-mouth for dissemination.

Blogger Movements (Updated)

2006-11-24T10:10:00.000+08:00

I have been looking around for civil society movements - i.e. self-initiated movements from civilians, non-government and non-profit making, for certain causes.

(Please see the Updated section at the bottom of this article) From the information that I have collected, there seems to be only one big-scale activity which was held on August 6th, 2005. It is called "Bloggers are morons", which is a charity blogathon to raise funds for Hospice-at-Home Programme, Penang. Popular bloggers, such as Kenny Sia, Minishorts, Suanie, Peter Tan, Paul Tan and Shaolin Tiger blogged for a full 24 hours, passing the baton one after another. Apparently there was also 11 guest bloggers (buangmasa, Eyeris, Jaime Shun, Jean, JFE 8555, KY Speaks, Lucia Lai, Marita Paige, Sashi, Wingz, Wuan) too. No links for the guest bloggers because I got it a comment in ViewTru's blog and they were not hyperlinked.

The "Bloggers are morons" site was taken down after the event. According to Viewtru, only 1359.98 dollars (no indications to whether it is RM or USD) was collected at the time of his posting (9 August 2005). I will have to check with Suanie on the figures.

Other than the "Bloggers are morons" blogathon, I have not found any other movements of collective bloggers' effort, only the recent "Manuscripts don't burn" which is a group blog trying to raise awareness of banned books within Malaysia. A list of banned books were given. The blog was set up in early November 2006 and has not been updated for more than two weeks since.

Haze Haters in Malaysia was a unique use of Blogger to hold a picture petition against open burning in Indonesia, 2005. It even got a mention in The Star, if I remember correctly. But besides the fact that it is hosted by Blogger, it does not display any characteristics of a blog, but works more like a website instead. The attempt to resurrect it in the haze season, 2006 was not apparently successful.

Other efforts have been personal. Anti Lampe Berger is one, Anti Rempit is the other. Anti-Lampe Berger has had a much longer lifespan than "Manuscripts don't burn" and "Anti Rempit" (a campaign aimed at Mat Rempits). Individual bloggers also align themselves with activities that they feel strongly for, such as Suanie in TakeBackTheTech (for anti-violence against women) and Jeff Ooi and SKThew with Global Voices Online.

Will continue to scout around for more. The online survey will be launched sometime next week, after I get back from holidaying in Singapore. If you know of any other movements, please leave me a comment =) Thanks!

*Update on 29 Nov 2006*
I redid my research and found the perspective that I had missed (and would still have missed if it weren't for the heads-up by Cynical Idealist and Suanie at the comments section). Apparently, there is an annual world-wide blogathon movement initiated by Blogathon.org. And here's the most important rule:

Each participant must update every 30 minutes for the 24-hour period beginning on July 29, 2006, at 6:00 AM Pacific Time. Everyone blogs during the same 24-hour period. For example, if you are blogging from Paris, France, you would begin at 4:00 pm (1600). In Sydney, Australia, you would begin at 11:00 pm (2300). You need not update right on the half-hour, so don't panic about exactitude. Just be sure you're updating once about every 30 minutes.

Source: Rules of the Blogathon 2006

So, apparently, "Bloggers are Morons" was an initiative under the umbrella of Blogathon.org. As commented by Suanie and stated by this article - other "blogathoners" include Edrei, Yvonne Foong, Ee Yean and Serge, so it wasn't only "Bloggers Are Morons" after all. My bad! =P

Of Interviews

2006-11-14T09:45:00.000+08:00

I am having two interviews today, with James Wong at 1:30pm at Subang Parade, and Rockybru at 4pm at Bangsar Shopping Centre.

Last Saturday when I met SKThew, he very kindly hooked me up with Suanie, TVSmith and Fong Po Kuan. I am in the process of scheduling interviews with them.

Political culture and Bloggers

2006-11-13T10:37:00.000+08:00

Political culture:

a set of values and orientations which determine and influence the public's perception of politics.

In determining whether blogging is an effective tool for democratization, it is probably important to have some idea of the current political culture of bloggers and blog readers.

Are they politically aware? Do they vote in the General Elections? Do they plan to vote? Do they frequent blogs with strong socio-political content or blogs which are primarily entertaining? In what manner do they blog about political content? (Critical and constructive, neutral and mainly reporting, ranting and whining?)

Political culture in Malaysia is fragmented across ethnic lines, education level, social classes and more. Are we able to come up with categories that would provide an idea of the heterogeneity of political culture in bloggers as well?

Weblogs and Power Law Distribution

2006-11-09T16:02:00.000+08:00

Image from kottke.org, from a post on Weblogs and Power Laws

Some observers have noticed that the popularity of blogs follows the power law distribution, i.e. the graph that you see above. This graph was plotted from the Top 100 most linked to weblogs in Technorati on 24 Jan 2003. As you can see, there is a vast difference between the #1 popular (at 6000 links) and the #8 (1000 links), for example. However, #50 doesn't show a lot of difference from #100. This concept is similar to the 80/20 rule, i.e. 20% of the population holding 80% of the wealth.

Here are some interesting quotes from Clay Shirky's article of Power Laws, Weblogs and Inequality.

"Diversity plus freedom of choice creates inequality, and the greater the diversity, the more extreme the inequality."

"In systems where many people are free to choose between many options, a small subset of the whole will get a disproportionate amount of traffic (or attention, or income), even if no members of the system actively work towards such an outcome. This has nothing to do with moral weakness, selling out, or any other psychological explanation. The very act of choosing, spread widely enough and freely enough, creates a power law distribution."

"We know that power law distributions tend to arise in social systems where many people express their preferences among many options. We also know that as the number of options rise, the curve becomes more extreme. This is a counter-intuitive finding - most of us would expect a rising number of choices to flatten the curve, but in fact, increasing the size of the system increases the gap between the #1 spot and the median spot."

"Perhaps some writing is simply better than average (a preference for quality), perhaps people want the recommendations of others (a preference for marketing), perhaps there is value in reading the same blogs as your friends (a preference for "solidarity goods", things best enjoyed by a group). It could be all three, or some other effect entirely, and it could be different for different readers and different writers. What matters is that any tendency towards agreement in diverse and free systems, however small and for whatever reason, can create power law distributions."

"Once a power law distribution exists, it can take on a certain amount of homeostasis, the tendency of a system to retain its form even against external pressures. Is the weblog world such a system? Are there people who are as talented or deserving as the current stars, but who are not getting anything like the traffic? Doubtless. Will this problem get worse in the future? Yes."

Clay Shirky predicts that in the future, the "head" of the graph, i.e. the #1 will become mainstream media, (he means media that we have gotten used to - and the communication done in these A-list blogs will be one-way because the bloggers will not be free enough to reply to all the comments) and the "tail", i.e. the much less popular will become conversational.

"The relatively egalitarian distribution of readers in the early years had nothing to do with the nature of weblogs or webloggers. There just weren't enough blogs to have really unequal distributions. Now there are."

I found this concept a couple of days earlier from the Internet, while I was browsing Technorati's State of the Blogosphere, October 2006.

First post

2006-11-08T23:41:00.000+08:00

I've decided to keep a separate blog for documenting findings and development of the thesis. It will probably serve me better than the crummy notebook with unintelligible scrawls all over, or lacing scraps of information along happenings and rants in my personal blog.

Firstly, today was a good day for soliciting interviews. I sent out 4 emails this morning and got 3 positive replies, from Rockybru, SKThew and James Wong. That's like a 75% success rate! Pretty encouraging. Therefore, the interview respondent count right now is 6 (Including Jeff Ooi, Tony Pua and Sharizal Shaarani whom I have already interviewed). I will need another 4, and those 4 will hopefully contain races other than Malay and Chinese, and a couple of women.

I discussed the online survey issue with Wiun and YKent just now. I am starting to realize that it is probably necessary for me to conduct two online surveys, one for the bloggers and one for blog readers. To rely on the same survey for bloggers to get statistics for their blog-reading habits will probably give me a half-baked picture of the overall blog-reader population. I will discuss this issue with Prof W.

I just found a survey done by Syed Syahrul Zarizi as recent as September 2006, which he has named Malaysia Blog Survey. He is the guy who did the 70 weblog paling popular di Malaysia ranking, which I had known of sometime ago. But I didn't know that he had also did a blogger demography survey! I will contact him to get permission for using his data and also for further information.