The Community

The community in Singapore is small. So small, that everyone is linked to each other through friends or acquaintances, or at the very most, three or four degrees away.

As Agagooga has noted in his entry on Thursday, April 28, 2005, the Singapore blogosphere is undergoing a similar transcending – the blogosphere is finding increasing semblance of organisation and union through the good works of everyone @ Tomorrow.sg and Huichieh of From a Singapore Angle, to name just 2. In effect, a very distinct Singapore Blogosphere Community is slowly taking shape.

Picking up on CowboyCaleb's post which is inspired but perhaps somewhat self-contradictory at some parts, as highlighted by comments on his post, Agagooga goes on to observe that the communion of the blogosphere has resulted in everyone talking about the same events, everyone linking each other, everyone knowing each other. In other words, everyone converging on the same old few topics. In defence, it has to be said that the recent events (CZ, Infantile Saga, and erm..'AlkalineBeaker') certainly affects everyone in the Singapore blogosphere, and thus convergence on these topics is simply natural cause and effect.

Agagooga however laments what he perceives as the singularisation of the blogosphere and observes this as a Singaporean trait, in which Singaporeans are indulgent in all things Singaporean and nothing else, which results in a generic nexus.

A growing segment of the Singaporean blogosphere - in absolute, even if not relative terms - now seems incestuously small, just like Singapore itself, and the Singaporean diaspora - at least the Singaporean student diaspora. Everyone links to everyone else, everyone trackbacks everyone else, everyone talks about everyone else and everyone reads everyone else, especially the same few heavyweights. Perhaps it's a fetishism by Singaporeans of all things Singaporean.

Which I can't really deny – in a sense, we already observe this in other aspects of Singapore life, such as food courts, of which there are many in Singapore but whose variety does not differ much from the next. Or for that matter, the radio stations on our airwaves, of which the content offered by each station differs inconsiderably from the next. I would think that one's traits would naturally be reflected upon one's writings and as such there is no surprise that the blogosphere has evolved as such.

It would thus seem indeed that singularisation is taking place, rather than divergence. As I have noted previously the dearth of niche blogs is stark, however, other than the specific disapproval shown by Agagooga, most bloggers would see the communion of the blogosphere as a positive thing.

I would be inclined to agree with Agagooga, except that such natural evolution was bound to take its predestined path sooner or later. The advent of blogs has impacted the way the internet is used and the number of people jumping on the bandwagon is only bound to increase.

As such, both Agagooga's pessimism and CowboyCaleb's optimism may not be warranted. On one hand, Agagooga laments the singularisation while on the other, CowboyCaleb remarks that the blogosphere has reached 'saturation point', thus heralding a semblance of community with sites such as Tomorrow.sg .

I tend to fail to correspond in certain aspects on both counts. Firstly, Agagooga neglects to highlight the importance of blogging as a social tool in addition to its informational prowess. As such, a communal blogosphere will only serve to enhance its capability as a tool for social networking. Perhaps too, the entrance of a good number of new bloggers may leave the older bloggers aggrieved that their space have been invaded, but I suggest in all likelihood the opposite is true. Unlike real-space, internet space is limitless. There is equal room for 1 blogger or 100 bloggers. In addition, with the growing awareness of blogging, older bloggers who have already established a foothold in the blogosphere will only continue to grow and thrive (in terms of readership). Indeed, Agagooga laments the difficulties of separating the wheat from the chaff when there are countless blogs sprouting the same content. However, I suggest this can only be a good thing, because this provides more competition between bloggers, so that only the more outstanding ones will catch the eyes and interest of readers, leaving the rest in obscurity. This is a better scenario than having only poorly drafted sites simply because there are no other alternatives.

And in response to CowboyCaleb's assertation that the blogosphere has reached 'saturation point', I suggest that this is only the dawn of the Singapore Blogosphere Era. I further suggest that if one were to use a chronological timescale for the evolution of the Blogosphere, this would be circa 0 AD. What happened prior would be prehistory, and what awaits us is the future, where the blogosphere, with its apparent present convergence, will finally mature and sprout its branches, with niche blogs arising from the outer reaches of its branch. Agagooga's grievance (and mine too) about its convergence and present regurgitative nature would then be alleviated!

It is good that both CowboyCaleb and Agagooga have strong, albeit polarised, opinions on the future of the Singapore blogosphere. For they serve as fodder of consideration to the future of blogosphere.

A collateral point I wish to raise is CowboyCaleb's original post,in which he embraces the collectivity of the blogosphere, similarly raising demand of accountability from fellow bloggers by raising the CZ affair, by arguing that we are seen as one collective union.

However, if you go ahead and write something insensitive that upsets everybody, you’re going to give the rest of us a bad name. The people who do not blog, see us as a gang.

This tenuous assertation may not go down well in every corner of the blogosphere, especially since it conflicts with his previous paragraph as observed by commenter Edan.

I blog for me and nobody else. I just know you understand what I’m saying here because a blog is a very personal thing.

In this instance I would tend to settle for a middle ground approach, in which I feel that one should blog with the requisite responsibility that one would be expected to offer, but that this should be primarily motivated by self-accountability as opposed to accountability to other bloggers.

In conclusion, I wish to highlight the very irony of this post is, by reflecting on Agagooga's post, I have perhaps committed the sin which Agagooga had raised-

When something happens on or with one blog, the rest will be quick to pick up on it, spread the word, and pen some commentary, as if something had just happened to someone in the neighbourhood. Gossip and comments flow, just like in a MeatSpace neighbourhood. Wash, rinse and repeat recursively.

But the question remains: Is this necessarily a good or bad thing?