Recharging myself

Sometimes life is just a case of routine activities. Boring, dull, or whatever you might call it. Being involved in citizen journalism made me open my eyes wider than before. More interesting things were seen, yet time limitation is still the main handicap.

I don't have any helper to help me at home now, and it shows in the decreasing number of postings. During the year 2009 I wrote less than 100 posts. I came back to teach an elementary school and junior high school, and it was also time consuming, not to count the energy or emotional effect on my daily routine.

Now, the school vacation is coming...it's time to recharging myself. My twins passed their second grade, and my eldest son is waiting for the national exam's result. I will use my time to fill in new positive energy into me.

I was always asking myself about the differences of being a blogger and a citizen reporter. I think being a citizen reporter made me more responsible for what I wrote. I knew that other people are able to read this blog, so I can't write as I would do in my diary. I also need to check and rechecking fact before putting it online. Being a blogger would give me freedom to speak out my own opinion without the need to check or rechecking the truth of my own opinion. Later on I can reread it and laugh out loud to read my own stupid opinion. It would also be a better way to share my personal life story to friends. Yet, may be personal stories will only focusing my writing on me or my own family.

Lately I was not really active in citizen journalism. There are several reasons for that. The main reason is that the printed media and the online media (including the social media) are sharing so many news stories that I don't really have something that bothered me so much to force me to write it out.

Then, off course my personal condition came after that (or may be it should be counted as the first reason?). The emerging popularity of social media like facebook and twitter made people tended to comment in social media rather than in a private blog. Time to browse around is augmented, and it did affect the availability of time to write. Comments are something that energized me to write. I am seeking for communication. It was the reason why wikimu.com is more attractive for me than other citizen journalism sites. Over there, I don't find layer of status like in Kompasiana. Kompasiana divides its writers into journalists, guest writers, and community writers. OMNI also differentiates its writers, but only into two categories: featured writers and non featured writers. In OMNI we rarely have comments came in, but in Kompasiana comments are also becoming a way of enriching the writing.

Once I heard Yoris' opinion that citizen journalism websites will emerge just like the printed magazine were. Readers will pick their own reading and community. They will choose the sites where they feel at home. So, the future of citizen journalism websites will really be depending on its contributors and readers. Contributors wrote to serve readers, while readers commented to show their appreciation and to become the part of the online conversation of the topic.

Being a practical person who always adore the theory "form follows function", I sometimes asked myself: "Do I make any contribution to a better world by writing a blog?", or "Does it really functioning?" I don't need to write it out if it is only for me. I can write a conventional diary without exposing my personal life or my personal opinions. I can write short reminders without thinking about the facts, the grammar, or my way of writing it. And most important thing is that I can write my complains or my critics without the possibility of hurting others' feeling.

Yet, blogging made write more than I would write in my conventional diary. My meditation blog made me astonish as sometimes I didn't really know how did I came to write that postings. So I used my meditation blog as a way to reflect back, as a reminder of His helping hands that I received through friends or through the Bible.

One thing is quite clear for me, that is the feeling that God is helping me to struggle in citizen journalism. This is the first time I felt that there is an unseen hand helping me to cope with troubles. While my chances with architecture and museum sometimes were blocked, it seems that I was always been helped out in citizen journalism. It wasn't without problems but there were always friends who helped out, or another coincidence that helped me comforting my spirit to write for citizen journalism websites.

So, I'll take the profit of the school vacation to recharge my writing spirit, to recharge myself...