KOLKATA, (C.M. Paul) – In the wake of Vatican calling for a bloggers afternoon session on 2 May 2011, and South Asia Salesians holding meeting with Councillor and Secretary for Social Communications, I guess it is the right time to promote blogging. Pls chk this video to get a hang of BLOG. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI
CBCI media secretary Fr George Plathottam SDB has strongly recommended blogging. Let bloggers blog, says Indian priest George Plathottam Bishops’ conference media secretary calls for Church media reform http://www.ucanews.com/2010/10/05/let-bloggers-blog-says-indian-priest/
Matthew Yglesias, one of the pioneers of political blogging, has some good tips for would-be bloggers here.
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/blogging-as-a-vocation-2/
The Union of Catholic Asian News has launched an experiment to give a human face to news coverage. http://ucanewsblogs.wordpress.com/
Blogging plays to some of our natural advantages in news business and communication and community building… As Christians we also have a mission we cannot ignore… let our light shine, speak up for the voiceless, for the oppressed and those in fear.
Happily, that mission gives us greater strength as bloggers because the greatest blogs are sincere… and, thought irritating as some aspects of it can be, the sincerity of the people involved in it cannot be doubted for a second.
Of course, some insincere blogs get lots of cheap hits and cause a stir for a while, but no insincere blog ever made it remotely near the top. It never developed affection or had people anticipating with pleasure a new post from it popping into their RSS reader.
If we target things that BOSCOM India (BIS) always has anyway, things that are worth giving a voice to – example the timely assistance by BoscoNet or DBTech India touching lives by bringing hope is an excellent example – here I see no clash between mission and medium.
On the contrary, I see it as an asset in the race for eyeballs, which is a crucial part of the BIS mission isn’t it?
This is how we could show how it works….
1. We get a BLOG (any existing one) folded into the www.donboscoindia.com site as fast as possible. The ideal is to get it working prior to the May 2011 meeting. It can easily be done in the next couple of days… Oh SORRY, it has to come up to the several layers of national meetings and approval sessions… STOP… it’s not possible.
2. Have a go at my blog www.cmpaul.wordpress.com, for once see it and join it and then participate… For this you don’t need any meeting, voting or any body’s approval…
If we find this experiment working, then, we could meet and agree upon a central blog, say – www.BOSCOMblog.com – where everyone contributes from across the BOSCOM network.
The aim would be to give a PERSONAL take of what’s happening where we are. Pictures and videos, of course! Links to things we have read or liked – all the usual blog basics. This can be divided into any sort of categories we want – by province or subject. In short “nothing OFFICIAL”.
Really popular subjects (hot topics) may become candidates for setting up a blog on a special interest of their own.
Suggetsion: could PT’s (Chennai) team have the core of this ready to run by the end of the South Asia meet, 5th May? If we are scared, set up BoscoNet or DBTech India BLOG (not site). The little stories, success or failure, the heartaches and day dreams… urgent needs of any body etc, or the bureaucratic hassles or how to over come them, tackling special situations, soliciting advice etc…
4. Specialist blogs like the blog by HM or PP or Philosophy or Theology students or Practical trainees or Salesian Family, whatever could be BLOGged.
NewsGrab 
Keeping in tune with the trend ,I think BLOGGING is to be very much encouraged.It can be more productive than being destructive.It might even encourage people to think more positively and contribute to the growth of society at large.It might take some time to reach certain amount of professionalism .There could be a danger of abuses,but then it could always be checked in a very civilized way.Nothing like giving a try. Best of regards to promoters of BLOGGING like C.M.Paul and co.
Thanks Fr CM for that piece on blogging and getting people to blog. I appreciate it. However, I would prefer a small change in the modality you suggest… out of experience. I have a personal blog (http://www.vcastilino.blogspot.com/) and was asked to also blog on the sdb.org. I agreed to it very enthusiastically and was quite regular too. However, given the addition of responsibilities and things, it became more and more difficult to sit at my desk. Slowly, I could only gather time (and state of mind) to reflect and post on my personal blog alone. That is something, I’ve been faithful to for nearly three years now.
Hence my suggestion… let personal blogs be pooled together using an e-reader rather than a new blog to which (also) we have to contribute. Why duplicate and re-invent the wheel when technology can do the ‘grouping’… only let someone do the pooling. President or Secretary of Don Bosco Communications??
For one thing is sure, I love to write… blog! I’m in!
Excellent idea… get on with anything to get our guys into blogging.