written by owen on 2005-Nov-27.

Many of the technocrats in Jamaica don't even know what a blog is or what it is about. When I started my blog in August of 2003, most of my colleagues didn't even read it and were still using Internet Explorer as their main web browser. They still don't read. Now every other day some idle technocrat coverts to the blogging scene and starts to hail Firefox/Opera as the best thing since slice bread. If I see another Blogspot blog I'm going to flipout. I could say that I told you so but nobody remembers me telling them that the end was near. Bandwagonists? maybe. I had to explain to a IT class that "Blog" / "Web-logging" is not a chat-room slash guest-book slash diary. Journal was the best explanation I could come up with.

The blog thing hasn't caught on in Jamaica because it is hard to differentiate between it and a regular static website. You have to know how a blog works in order to use it effectively. Quote "It look boring eeh? nuttin but text". Too much reading necessary I guess. So I bought an camera (broken now), added pictures and picture submitting features. I am always working on it, constantly restructuring owenSoft.net to appeal more to the local audience which don't/can't/won't comment on posts. I don't know why. You have really be "net aware" to pick up on the blogging in general and Jamaicans are still getting accustomed to the forum concept. techjamaica.com and wheelsjamaica.com are a couple of the main culprits. I am not perturbed by this because this website is mainly a showcase of my programming skills rather than my voice to the world. I have never been much of a writer.

First impressions last and locals like to see what they get the first time they visit. But a blog is more of a "over time" process. Which most Jamaican internet users don't really get. Appealing to such a fickle audience is something I am still trying to figure out. I need to get out to more parties. Play some dance-hall music in the background? The Hi5 network managed to do something I've always wanted to do but the social networking route is going to require a lot of time to implement.

A Jamaica still, a so we stay. Some things catch on fast, others get lock down like the movie theater in Portmore. :( People often ask me how I find content or stuff to "write". I update only on the weekends. Focusing on being "random" so as not to set a standard for myself to uphold or for readers to expect. Mostly I try to think of something funny yet ingenious at the same time. Appealing to as many people as possible without getting my self murdered. Fear of being murdered is the main deterrent to doing anything substantial. As the Afflictedyard states; "I don't want to blow my cover". Plus politics is boring. I do very few things well and I spend a lot of my time doing them. Keeps me safe. Being socially conscious isn't on my portfolio or list of things to do. I don't even watch the local news. The local news is slightly depressing and it makes you unreasonably or obsessively anxious, suspicious, or mistrustful aka paranoid. I much prefer to watch the BBC because it gives me perspective. I won't stop other people from watching it (the news) though because you need the paranoid people to let you in on the information you need to know.

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