ok. Yes, I'm giving in. And Yes, I did say blogging was simply a waste of time...

So why did I start all this?

It all started with an email. On Sat, 11 Feb 2006, I found an email titled "[Flickr]XXX has invited you to join!" I was like, "WHAT?" I know this person but I was still hesitant coz it did look suspicious! The email looks like this:

well... I had heard about Flickr (see also my sidebar), and I knew this person is very much into photography...Maybe it isn't spam, I thought. So I clicked the link and finally signed up.

Flickr is really great! It isn't just a photo album. It is highly interactive - people comment on others' photos, network through the 'contacts', 'friends' and 'family' systems. The good thing is, we can write about our photos and even link them to our own blogs. I then found out the person who invited me also has his own blog. His blog is not like the personal blogs I had seen before - it is more of a photo blog. Through his links I found out loads of fascinating academic blogs too! Blogs are no longer reserved for kids or people who have nothing to do in life! I said to myself, 'why not give a try?' The other reason is, being a research student on digital literacies, I ought to keep myself updated and get to know more about what's going on out there...Besides, many of my informants already have their own blogs. So maybe if I have my own blog, I'll get to learn more about their practices!...I finally convinced myself to set up my personal blog...

First of all, blogging is VERY entertaining. Ever since I started my own blog, I have been playing around and thinking about ways of perfecting its layout! Things I've tried out so far: e.g. adding the cute clock and the Flickr badge on the sidebar on this page. Great sense of achievement indeed!! :-) My blog does not serve any particular purposes. I simply write about everything...

When I first started, I had a hard time identifying a suitbale blog hosting service. Obviously Blogger is currently the most popular. But the thing that annoys me is that it does not categorize blog posts as many other blog hosts do (e.g. iBlogs)

But in the end, I still decided to go for Blogger for its stability and user-friendliness. It also has great templates. So..here I am.

Category: Online literacy practices_