‘Number of blogs rose by 70% in 18 months’

‘Unconference’ held at FAST.


Aroosa Shaukat January 03, 2012

LAHORE: Though participants at a bloggers’ moot on Tuesday welcomed the increase in the number of Pakistani blogs, they did not agree on the impact a vigorous blogospehere will have on the future. 

The Tri-city Unconference Camp was held at the Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Technology (FAST). An unconference is a gathering of professionals where people in the audience are also given the chance to share their insights and expertise.

Rabia Garib, the editor-in-chief of PC World Pakistan, said during one of the session that Pakistan had witnessed a 70 per cent increase in the number of blogs during the past one and a half year.  She said that similar unconference camps had been held in Karachi and Islamabad. The camps were held as part of the Pakistan Blog Awards 2011. The camp in Lahore was held after a slight rescheduling.

The camp kicked off with an discussion with a panel, which included experts from the IT industry, bloggers and journalists. The unconference camp included several simultaneous workshop sessions with bloggers and multi-media professionals.

Naseeb Networks CEO Monis Rehman said that blogs provided a platform for quick dissemination of information. Rehman runs the job site Rozee.pk, which was launched four years ago. Rehman said the significance of blogs was evident from the number of newspapers who now have a blog section on their websites.

Badr Khushnood, the country consultant for Google said that the importance of digital journalism could be guessed from a UN report, according to which, “[printed] newspapers will only be available in museums by 2040”. “Good luck to the print media because we (bloggers) are the future,” Khushnood said.

Adnan Rasool, who has a blog ‘Seedhi Baat’, said bloggers had an edge over traditional media outlets because they could explore things in more detail. “That’s what attracts readers to blogs,” he said.

However, Awais Aftab – a doctor who has a blog called ‘A myth in creation’ – said the impact of blogging was being “over-estimated”. Blogs, he said, have a limited audience. “Only educated people, most of whom are English speaking access blogs,” he noted.

Mehreen Kasana, a political science student at the FC College who has been blogging for three years, said she hoped to understand the dynamics of the Lahore blogoshpere and its impact as an agent for change through the camp.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4th, 2012.

COMMENTS (1)

Ahmad Hammad | 12 years ago | Reply

Very Well written Aroosa. I attended all the unconference's events at FAST. It was fabulous; especially the segment that discussed Urdu as a medium of Blogs.. Ahmad Hammad

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