The point that Atul Chitnis made

If you become really successful, you begin to face the some of the same problems that celebrities face.

And he took a long time saying it!

Tags: BlogCamp, Atul Chitnis

Why blog?

From BlogCamp, live.

The Sulekha guy said that 97% of bloggers simply give it up because they can't get the audience they'd hope to get. Does that mean that the dice is loaded against a would-be blogger even before he gets started?

On the contrary, I think even low activity blogging is important. Why? Consider this: What would happen if I stood up and abused this guy?

I'd be shouted down and shown my place, if not actually roughed up. That is, all these passive listeners would get activated and set things in order.

That is how world events might be shaped tomorrow when bloggers take notice of it.

But it is more than that, of course. Neha made a very important point that deserves more thought and separate post.

Not so old yet!

Yes, these are all youngsters around me. But I don't feel so old or out of place anymore: my first post is already done, whereas there are still some shouts for help in getting connected to the network.

It actually helps to be older and in the government, which are, of course, two different things.

Being older means you have a good high-end machine (gift from my wife). And being in the government helps because your car drives right up to the main entrances and then parks nearby.

Tags: BlogCamp, government

At the BlogCamp today!

Like I promised myself, here I am at BlogCamp this Saturday morning to learn something and, perhaps, to make some new friends.

How the world has changed! I recall reading the Time magazine one evening that announced the launch of the IBM PC and have watched the amazing events that unfolded in the quarter of a century since then.

Yes, many of those I would hope to interact with today may have been in diapers then. Which means nothing because Roger Federer was not even a sperm when I tried to learn tennis.

How long would I stay here?

Don't know. But it is nice to be up and running on wifi in about 30 secs and to get productive right away.

I asked the driver to wait but it appears that was unnecessary. Might as well tell him to return in the evening.

How bloggers should take on the government?

Among other things to be discussed at BlogCamp:

Blogging and Governance - How blogs are being used to provide assistance during times of crisis, uncovering potential crimes, activities, taking on the government, etc.

Well, the best way to take on the adversary is to infiltrate it. We should have bloggers embedded within the government.

Now you may think that is smart or plain corny, depending upon your knowledge of blogging and/or government. You might even think, it’s late on a Friday evening and I have been drinking and reading General Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. But if you already have an opinion, you haven’t understood what I want to say. Let me finish.

One evening I got talking to a delightful old woman who had been running a successful NGO for a long time. However, she had lately begun to drift away from her work. Don’t remember the precise conversation, but I recognised the problems she described in her NGO as the same that you see within the government. Her NGO had become big and taken on aspects of a bureaucracy. I said as much to her and she seemed to agree. (I told you she was charming, didn’t I?)

Okay, now my point is: bloggers are smart, honest, hardworking, polite, and very dependable people. If they interchange places with lazy, self-serving, opinionated and corrupt colleagues of mine in the government, what would happen? You’d get the same quality of governance and slightly worse blogging. People matter, but most population of sufficient size are nearly same.

However, analysing issues, like bloggers; organising information, like wiki’s; and using the emergent power from co-operating entities—these are skills that can be employed in delivering governance, as much as in taking on the government.

For starters folks, I’d be over at the camp to learn something from you.