Local Varsity-College To Offer Course In Blog Writing

HAS Malaysian academicians gone bananas? I just found out that a prominent institution of higher learning is planning to hold a course in blog writing.

I have heard of all sorts of writing courses and this is the first time about a varsity-college wanting to hold a blog writing course.


VC Ibrahim

Quoting the vice-chancellor Dr Ibrahim Abu Shah:

UiTM Willing To Offer Course On Blog Writing, Says VC

SHAH ALAM, May 12 (Bernama) -- Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) is willing to offer a course in blog writing in an effort to produce more professional and ethical blog writers, its Vice Chancellor Datuk Seri Profesor Ibrahim Abu Shah said.

He said the move would also be in keeping with current developments, where a majority of the society were being drawn to the alternative media.

"Currently, we do have blogging studies in our curriculum and this will be enhanced further by introducing a course on blog writing.

"I feel that the Communication and Media Studies Faculty is ready to conduct the course and I fully support this move (to introduce blog writing course) as it is time for us to help produce bloggers who are not only professionals, but with ethics," he told a media conference after opening a seminar on Media and the 2008 General Election, here Monday. ...

And he adds:

although academic qualifications were not an asset for those wanting to become blog writers, there were certain ethics which they should adhere to in expressing their views to avoid them from writing on matters which were negative and seditious.

and

"Everybody can be a blogger but we cannot simply write as we like because there are certain rules to be observed, like whether the words used are ethical and the subject matter is true or otherwise" he added.

Come on, are you serious? Pardon my ignorance, has blog writing ever been held anywhere in a college or varsity? What are you going to teach these people? the mechanics of writing? The ethics of blogging? Or simply SEO techniques?

The part that says you cannot write anything and ethics is a really a tacit contract bloggers observe if they belong to a blogging commune, or use free bloghosts. Because if they don't, their blogs may be removed, the chances of removal highly dependent on the blog host's TOA.

I think the Prof's slip is showing when he mentioned about writing negative and seidious content. The internet is a free world, although unconditional freedom of speech is still frowned upon. However, if a blogger is bent on being unethical and raising issues bordering sedition or falsehood, how are you going to enforce your regulations or ethics on him/her? Do not for a moment forget that anonymity still reigns supreme where internet is concern and self-censorship is more likely the order of the day. trying to hope that varsity churned out bloggers would toe the ethical line is a big dream.

Having said all that, perhaps, what UiTM can probably teach, I feel, involved three areas:

a) Blog Writing - How to write in the best and more read language, and that's probably English.
b) Template Design - How to use basic coding to shape one's blog so that the elements will allow for easy reading.
c) Search Engine Optimisation - How to use tools to promote one's blog content.

- and with a heavy emphasis on SEO because that is where the wheat is separated from the chaff. SEO tuned blogsites are easily crawled than slam-bang-g'bye-maam firebrigade churned up sites. And I doubt if there was any UiTM academicians who can teach these, particularly the last item

ALternatively, institutes of higher learning like UiTM should stick to their core business - teaching the traditional academia. They should not be overly impressed by blogging just because everyone else thinks that it was responsible for the ruling coalition's defeat in the March 8 polls .

Blogging is merely a tool for informational exchange. The reason it has become popular is because blogwares have made it so much easier to write, present and manage content, and prompt interaction between the writer and his audience. Throw in audio and video as well as social bookmarking tools, you have yourself a successful business model.

For all we know, the blog's evolution could still be ongoing. The way I see it, writing blogs may even one day give way to video blogging when bandwidth becomes cheaper and broadband penetration reaches 100 per cent.

Who would want to read when they can sit back, switch on their computer, login and watch? Think about it!