Jordan Planet
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Jordan Planet is a web portal linking a variety of Jordanian bloggers who share a common passion for blogging. Promoting and encouraging Jordanian blogging has always been its key mission. Since its creation Jordan Planet has rapidly emerged as a small community which hosts a growing number of quality bloggers who embody the diverse nature of their society.
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[edit] History
Jordan Planet began with only five members on August 18th 2004 by an initiative of a blogger Isam Bayazidi. The first post to ever be displayed was written by Ammar Ibrahim on August 21 2004 and it was suitably titled “The Birth of Jordan Planet”. Soon after its launch, its creator, Isam Bayazidi, began receiving numerous emails directing him to a very limited number of Jordanian bloggers.
Four months later in December, the number of bloggers had doubled, the first official meet up took place and Jordan Planet was transformed from a site which served as an aggregator of posts into a non-profit community for Jordanian bloggers and the heart of the Jordanian blogosphere.
[edit] Features
By moving from feed aggregator to community, Jordan Planet has developed several key features. This includes Weekly Highlights, which as its name implies, attempts to pick out the most interesting or important posts by Jordan Planet citizens every week. ‘Amman This Month’[1] features notable events taking place around the capital of Jordan every month, mostly of a cultural nature such as concerts and film screenings. In addition Jordan Planet also features a weekly poll which poses urgent and relevant questions concerning Jordanian society, politics and/or the latest events.
Jordan Planet also hosts several foreign expatriates living in Jordan who maintain blogs detailing their interesting experiences in Jordan from a foreigner’s point of view.
[edit] Staff
At first Jordan Planet was more or less a one man team, however as the community began to grow Isam Bayazidi invited veteran Jordanian blogger Natasha Twal to assist in the decision making process of approving the membership of bloggers who requested to join. By October 2005 Isam had formed a staff of volunteers to manage the different features of Jordan Planet. In addition to Isam and Natasha, the staff now includes Roba, Iyas, Mariam and Lina. Each is responsible for a range of specific tasks such as site design, weekly highlights, polls and the “Amman this Month” section.
Giving the staff an equal say in the managing of Jordan Planet has created an environment where the community helps run itself instead of relying on the work of just one person.
[edit] The citizens
Jordan Planet aims to host quality Jordanian blogs and today its members represent an assortment of Jordanians who blog about everything from local and international politics to their daily lives and their experiences in Jordan.
While many bloggers live in Jordan, others are also living abroad. All Jordan Planet bloggers currently blog primarily in English as opposed to their native tongue: Arabic.
[edit] Issues
Some of the most important issues discussed by Jordan Planet bloggers concern anonymous blogging in relation to Internet monitoring in Jordan. While Jordan is not known for censoring the Internet or jailing bloggers, it does have a notorious reputation for monitoring persons and groups who discuss political issues and has been known to jail political activists and outspoken citizens including politicians and journalists. Therefore there continues to be an underlying fear in Jordanian society of speaking out against the government. This fear has been reflected in several posts by Jordan Planet blogger and has been a dominant feature at monthly meet ups.
Another key issue has been Political blogging or lack thereof. Complaints have been raised several times by Jordan Planet bloggers about the lack of blogs in the community which discuss local politics. Suffice to say only a handful have sought to discuss political issues, partly out of their own interest and/or qualification. However the aforementioned fear of monitoring in Jordan may also serve as hesitation when it comes to discussing politics.
[edit] Meet-ups
In December 20th 2004, the first Jordan Planet meet up took place. The first bloggers to meet included Roba, Zaid, Ammar, Isam, Natasha and Nader who spent the night discussing a wide range of issues such as politics, blogging frustrations, freedom of speech, and ambitions for the future of Jordan Planet. Ironically many of these issues have now dominated the almost monthly meet ups of Jordan Planet bloggers.
These first 6 bloggers gathered around a small table at a popular Amman café though since then Jordan Planet meet ups have had to move to larger venues to accommodate the growing number of bloggers attending which now averages out at 30.
[edit] Amman bombings
On November 9th 2005, suicide bombers attacked three hotels in Amman leaving 63 dead and over 100 wounded. Jordan Planet bloggers reacted and became an overnight essential news source for Internet users and international media alike.
Pictures of the bombings taken on the very night were posted by Sabri Hakim and soon after found themselves on CNN America at a time when foreign press photographers and journalists were being pushed back for safety measures. Sabri himself was almost arrested for not being a reporter but would continue to post images of the aftermath including the candle light vigils in the days to follow.
A comprehensive nineteen hour coverage of the event was hosted on Global Voices and contained updates nearly every hour by Jordan Planet's Roba Assi, Haitham Sabbah, Isam Bayazidi, and Natasha Twal. Many of these updates were based on reports from bloggers who were on the scene or who lived near by. Jordan Planet’s bloggers vented their frustrations and opinions on their respective blogs, some of which were picked up by international media
Jordan Planet’s page views jumped from an average of 3,000 a day to around 8,000 in the days of November 9th through the 12th following the bombings.
This event has till now been a momentous cornerstone of Jordan Planet’s popularity and exposure to the world.
[edit] Expansion and growth
While the community may have began with only 5 bloggers it soon reached 17 in its first 6 months. By its first anniversary it was home to some 50 Jordanian bloggers. Starting with only 50 page views a day it soon reached around 3000 a day.
Many factors have contributed to the growth, such as the expansion of Jordanian Internet communities like Jeeran.com and Maktoob.com which began offering their own free blogging services.
The Amman bombings of November 9, 2005, also gave way to a greater number of emerging bloggers who sought an outlet to voice their concerns, opinions and frustrations.
Articles and features done on Jordan Planet have also lead to a greater exposure and have encouraged more Jordanians to blog. Jordan Planet has been featured in an article written by Natasha Twal in The Jordan Times, as well as a feature by Naseem Tarawnah in JO Magazine and Eddie Taylor for the on-flight magazine of Royal Jordanian "Royal Wings", the latter of which ran for two issues and contributed to expat bloggers joining the Jordan Planet community.
[edit] Future endeavours
With the rapid expansion Jordan Planet, the community has many exciting plans on the horizon to increase its exposure and encourage blogging.
The next move is to begin introducing Arabic-based Jordanian blogs to the community, along with an Arabic interface to go along with it. This will accommodate the growing number of Jordanian bloggers who use Arabic as their preferred language for blogging.
Jordan Planet also seeks to engage in greater media interaction to promote Jordanian blogging. This is especially vital in a nation where the power of blogging is somewhat unknown and is essentially an untapped resource by traditional media outlets. One example is “Eye on the Media”: a planned weekly radio program segment that will serve as a round up of weekly highlights from Jordan Planet.
[edit] In the media
- For the Love of Blogging by Natasha Twal – The Jordan Times
- The Arabic blogging revolution: made in Jordan? by Ahmad Humeid - The Jordan Times
Unfortunatley, Jordan Planet had to shut down temporarily in December 2006 for reasons which were declared. It is supposed to re-open between March and June of 2007.
