Blogging in Burma

In Myanmar (Burma), some blogs started in 2005. The earlier blogs were written in English, as there was no unicode font at that time so they could not post in their mother language. After the Zawgyi font was released (created by Alpha Mandalay), Nyi Lynn Seck put the Zawgyi[1] font in his blog and started the Myanmar blog. After that, Mandalay blogger Mg Hla also shared this knowledge with other bloggers. Then, in late November 2006, the Myanmar blogs developed more and more. There are now over ten thousand Myanmar blogs. In 2007, some Myanmar bloggers established the MBS (Myanmar Bloggers Society),[2] and they celebrated with a seminar on September 1, 2007. Actually, it is very difficult to write blogs locally because the government banned blog service websites after the September 2007 Golden Revolution.[3] However, under the military government's control, they are writing about the freedom of Myanmar and still sharing their knowledge. MBS's slogan is "We blog, we unite."

Myanmar Blogger Society

History

Most of the Myanmar bloggers came from internet forums. Myanmar forum websites are a little different from others, and Myanmar online culture was not mature at that time: Not only general knowledge but also literature was discussed, and poems, essays, and articles were posted on the forums.

Type of Myanmar Blogs

There are many different types blogs in the Myanmar blogosphere, the bloggers unite and respect each other. Most of the Myanmar blogs are personal blogs or general blogs. After the September Golden Revolution, people shared local news on their blog and which became political blogs. However, most of the political blogs are outside Myanmar. Myanmar blogs run with their own styles. Some art blogs look like a book. They only post art (such as poems, novels, and fiction) on their blogs.

Personal blog (General blog)

This type of blog is the most popular in the Myanmar blogosphere.[4] These blogs look like diaries and where their creators post about their trip experiences, local news.They also share their own sights of views and thoughts, their life experiences.Nay Phone[5] latt is the one of the famous Personal blogger in Myanmar,he has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for posting a cartoon of the military leader Than Shwe.[6]

Art blogs

Some of the Myanmar bloggers write art-only blogs, with only novels, poems, and stories on them. There are many post-modern-poem-only blogs in the Myanmar blogosphere. One of the famous Myanmar Art bloggers is Nine Nine Sanay, and she translated some stories from Chinese short stories website and novel.

Food blogs

There are also Food blogs,[7] the food bloggers post about "how to cook the burmese food?" and food recipes.Which also very important part of the country, by posting Burmese food recipes we can always go that blog and check food recipes. Myanmar food cultures will never disappear.

NGO blogs

After Cyclone Nargis,[8] many relief groups updated their activities and local needs on their blogs. They described the real situation of victims from the delta. They invited the donators from the outside. There are many other NGO blogs in Myanmar, such as raven blood donation, Public Health, and Anti-plastic Bags Campaign.

Political blogs

During late September 2007 (during the events known as "Saffron Revolution"), people posted about the real crisis in Myanmar. Most of the foreign news networks referenced those Myanmar blogs. One of these was Burmese's well-known political and entertainment blog, the Freedom News Group.[9]

Technology blogs

The earliest Myanmar bloggers are IT technicians.[10] Myanmar bloggers cannot make blogs without collaborating with them. IT bloggers share the latest technology and their knowledge, and their blogs are very useful for the people who want make their own blog[11] and they can get help from Myanmar bloggers IT technicians.[12]

Entertainment blogs

There are many entertainment blogs in Myanmar, including www.myanmarsongs.net and mp3mmblogs.net. These bloggers share international albums. For example, like the other Asian countries,[13] Myanmar was overtaken by the Korean wave.

Myanmar Blog Day Seminar 2007 (Yangon)

Activities

They celebrated their first ever "blog day" at Yangon and Mandalay in 2007.
In 2008,Myanmar Blog press[14] Organized the Contest for Best Myanmar Blog Academy Awards 2008.[15] Myanmar Blog press(www.mmblogpress.com)

References

  1. ↑ http://www.zawgyi.net/
  2. ↑ MBS (Myanmar Bloggers Society)
  3. ↑ 2007 Burmese anti-government protests
  4. ↑ Blogosphere
  5. ↑ http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984685_1984949_1985235,00.html
  6. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7721271.stm
  7. ↑ Food blog#Flog
  8. ↑ Cyclone Nargis
  9. ↑ Freedom News Group
  10. ↑ IT Technician
  11. ↑ See about the example post of "starting a blog"
  12. ↑ IT Technician
  13. ↑ Asian countries
  14. ↑ Find out the post about Myanmar Blog press
  15. ↑ Find out Myanmar blog contest winner for 2008

External links