KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 (Bernama) -- While bloggers in the country have been
writing on numerous contemporary issues, one blogger derives satisfaction by
blogging to impart knowledge.
Khirulnizam Abd Rahman, who has been blogging under Kerul.net, is convinced
that blogs are an important medium to disseminate knowledge and expertise.
The e-commerce lecturer at Kolej Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Selangor''s
Science and Information Technology faculty has been blogging since 2005, first
using the Yahoo 360 domain before moving to the Blogspot domain (Kerul.Blogspot)
in 2008.
Khirulnizam, 36, said he started writing blogs as he had a calling for
writing and disseminating knowledge on the internet.
"I believe that my role as a lecturer is not limited to disseminating
knowledge within the lecture room but also to the wider audience, the society.
"I also observed that the information available on the internet is all in
English, and deep inside my heart I had a desire to relay knowledge in Malay,"
he told this writer when met at the university college in Bangi recently.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Khirulnizam, who has a master’s degree in information technology from
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, observed that most knowledge-sharing blogs were
in English.
"If you look at my blog (Kerul.Net), there are many articles in English, but
I have also created a space for articles in the Malay language, such as the
guide to create websites using the open Content Management Source (CMS) Joomla.
"After the Malay articles appeared on the internet, there was overwhelmingly
positive feedback for them," he said.
Khirulnizam, who started lecturing with the same institution in year 2000,
is thankful for his employers, who encourage their academic staff to share their
knowledge not only with undergraduates but also with society, through mediums
like blogs.
"My observation is that those in our society with knowledge are unwilling to
share what they know, and to me this is something not right because knowledge is
not exclusive to anyone but something to be shared by all," he said.
PRESENT DAY BLOGGERS
Another interesting observation made by Khirulnizam is that most present-day
bloggers are leisure writers who share personal journals such as diary blogs, or
who share software, songs and videos. The rest are political bloggers.
In Malaysia, there is a dearth of knowledge-sharing blogs and this can be
attributed to many factors, including the society''s tendency to shun sharing
knowledge with others.
"Today, we see that there are some who have turned blogs into additional
sources of income by renting out advertisement space in their blogs, and the
rates depend on the blog''s popularity," he said.
He pointed out that popular blogs with 10,000 daily followers can earn up to
RM500 for a small advertisement space.
SELF PROMOTION OPPORTUNITY
Khirulnizam said, however, that advertisements in the blogs would not decide
on the blogger''s success instead the content and presentation were the ones that
would be the deciding factor.
"Several companies have invited me to deliver talks on what I share in the
blogs, and this is a good indicator that my blogs are well received," he said.
One of his commitments after establishing his blog was to continue
publishing articles of quality to ensure his followers keep reading his blogs.
"Once a week, I will write something on my blog. What I gather within the
week, I will publish on the blog," he said.
CHALLENGES AWAITING BLOGGERS
The lecturer pointed out that a blogger has a responsibility for creating a
knowledgeable society.
As an ethical blogger, Khirulnizam only writes about what he knows, and he
believes that it is improper for anyone to write about something he/she does not
know or has never experienced.
"How is one to share a body of knowledge if the person has never learned or
experienced the knowledge? One needs experience in the field before writing
something about it, and one has to study and observe closely before sharing the
knowledge. The knowledge cannot be created as one likes," he said.
He also hit out at bloggers who literally copy information from other sites
and paste it on their blogs and claim it as their work.
"This is unethical. What will happen when one is asked to talk on the
subject? How will one respond to the readers'' comments? All this has to be taken
into account before plagiarising the work of others. It is morally wrong."
It is highly challenging to be a blogger and calls for good understanding of
the subject matter and not just shallow writing, he said.
Bloggers have to write based on conventional wisdom to avoid articles that
readers find difficult to comprehend, and they have to make sure their articles
satisfy readers and answer all their queries.
BLOGS AS NEW MEDIA
Blogs have been mushrooming in numbers and this is part of the new media
phenomenon, said Khirulnizam.
"These blogs are created to relay information directly and not through a
third party -- as, for example, a politician''s blog is meant to prevent
misinterpretation of statements and as a medium to relay what is in the mind in
a more direct way.
"However, these bloggers are increasingly voicing their minds without any
restraint, and this is dangerous. There are bloggers who touch on religious
sensitivities although they are not knowledgeable in the subject. This is wrong
from the legal and ethical point of view," he said.
The country has numerous laws, such as the Communication and Multimedia Act
1998 and the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, that can be used to
ensure bloggers tow the line, although it is never easy to trace their
whereabouts, he said.
"I view bloggers who make defamatory remarks as parasites. Despite being
eliminated numerous times, they keep returning. There are bloggers who are
fanatic followers of someone, thus they resort to whatever means to degrade
anyone who they see as a threat to their mentor," he said.
Khirulnizam believes blogs will continue in moulding the culture of
Malaysian society, and he is part of the process.
-- BERNAMA
MAF PR CR INE CR
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