The Ripple Effect: Pesta Blogger 2007 Winners and Reviews

The buzz is on. And Indonesia is rabbit-hopping, ass-shaking, toe-wiggling its way to the global blogosphere. Not much of active internet users in Indonesia and even bloggers themselves fully realised the effect they’ve made in the present day society. Yes, people! Now we can all say that the Indonesian cyber la-la-land isn’t only made up of free porn, brutal debates, perverted chats, and “Pertamax!”. No offense to those who do, I’m just talking ratios here.

So who’s who on the blogosphere? Find them in this year’s Pesta Blogger’s Most Favourite Blogs list of winners. And just in case anyone asks, this website didn’t win, sob sob tears, I didn’t even submit it to the nominee list.

Here are the winners and unofficial reviews and what blogs that should’ve made the cut. How do you think of them?
Winner for Online Marketing and Sales category:

Media Ide Bajing Loncat

Media Ide Bajing Loncat Media Ide gives latest information, listings, and reviews on advergames, comics, design, viral, videos, and website publishing in general. Love the overall red-orange design for this blog. Authored by Pitra Satvika, this blog serves mainly on advertising and marketing subjects combined with IT and the present Web 2.0 technicality, which is rarely covered by other advertising execs as a niche.

Winner for Women’s Issues category:

Fashionese Daily

Fashionese Daily Indonesia’s one-stop mainstream fashion blog and community, this must be the pioneering site for its niche. The resources are well placed and fashionista-friendly, it has the freshest fashion reports for the local scene, event reviews, fashion commentaries, directory for online local boutiques, and a community forum. I’ve favourited this site before Pesta Blogger 2007, and looking forward to showcase my bag in there.

Winner for Technology category:

IlmuKomputer.com

Ilmu Komputer This site offers bulks of free e-books and free tutorials on science and information technology. It’s perfect for educators and students, techy professionals and amateurs, and some basics for web entrepeneurs and their new start-ups. Authored by Romi Satria Wahono, IlmuKomputer.com is one of the online publications that introduces e-Learning or distant learning in Indonesia.

Winner for Personal category:

Istri Bawel

Istri Bawel Let’s head off homewards. First of all, I love the title tagged for this site: “sometimes i wonder why we never had proper conversations like normal couple did.”, it just strikes people right there and makes them wonder for more. It offers (no, not just another PMS-afflicted female rantings) day-to-day home living from the wive’s perspective. Secondly, it’s the clean blog design. Third, it’s how “IstriBawel” (rambling wive) refers her husband as “SuamiGila” (crazy husband); what more can a woman want than such passionate romance? Authored by Ninit Adithya who is also a writer for several best-selling novel books, such as Heart and Mendadak Dangdut. Check also her husband’s blog SuamiGila.com.

Winner for Celebrity category:

Jennie S. Bev for Indonesia

Jennie S. Bev’s one of the very few female blogger-slash-journalist-slash-college lecturer we could find around. She publishes well-written columns (in this case I read them via ABN), her topics are mostly on business, management, and productivity, but I mostly favour her scientific social commentaries since the whole Success Mindset thingie is a bit too MLM-ish for me. She’s an Indonesian living in the States thus she could be a “connecting bridge” between two cultures, eventhough it would be great if her subjects’ studycases are drawn closer at home. We’re not sure why this blog is under the Celebrity category, even Jennie S. Bev’s herself isn’t quite sure why. But kudos still. She could inspire many.

Winner for Current Issues category:

Perspektif.net

Perspektif.net is the official website of Perspektif published by Wimar Witoelar and his son, Satya Witoelar. It offers hand-selected news and forum of opinion on social and political issues in Indonesia. As the owners expected, this is the site where ordinary people share different political viewpoints. I guess Perspektif.net is the most well-known site of the political blogging niche, therefore can breed more and more young political bloggers. People –that includes me—look up to Wimar Witoelar as a person, therefore his witty commentaries would always be sought after.

Winner for Bridge Blogging category:

Enda Nasution

Goblog Media GoblogMedia.com is owned by Pesta Blogger 2007’s chairman of committee, Enda Nasution. Although already acclaimed by the press as Bapak Blogger Indonesia or the founding father of Indonesian blogging, his blog is quite modest and subtle. His site contents offer latest news, information, or commentaries on blogging, also national and international conferences regarding his professionality. We could say that he’s the local John Chow of online marketing, or Matt Mullenweg travelling for his WordPress camps. Lead the way then!

Winner for Best Newcomer blog:

Lidya Wangsa

Mind of Mine is the personal blog of Lidya Wangsa. Since it’s a personal type of blog, I cannot do a review on its niche. I can only reckon that this is one sweet and friendly lady to chat over coffee with.

Those mentioned above are terrific blogs, of course. They supply niche quality contents that are made for each own audience, in an extent of consistency and evergoing productivity. Unfortunately, the sites I’ve placed my bets on didn’t make the cut, maybe next year then…Read more here.
What’s next? Where will this lead then? These are the upcoming targets concluded on the event:

To reach around 1.000.000 Indonesian bloggers next year, we’re not sure if this refers to the number of blogs or bloggers, and which type of content quality they’re referring. One thing for sure, they want some massive numbers. Tricky, but achievable.
To make the best out of the annual 27^th October. What happens on that date? On the event, the minister of Communication and Information Department commemorated the official national date, 27^th October as Indonesia’s National Bloggers Day. Great idea, since it’s just one day away from our Sumpah Pemuda Day. I presume Indonesia is the first country that has any National Bloggers Day but I must continue my research later on. Of course, we can assume that Malaysia is making up their own National Bloggers Day any time now, but that’s another case.
The minister also requested for a national anthem song for bloggers’ and since the President is quite musically productive person himself, some more sing-alongs down the Assembly hall is highly expected. At least a YouTube video.
The would-be establishment of Indonesia Blogging Centre as a one-stop information centre on Indonesian bloggers, to-and-fro.

There are certainly some snarky critics regarding the event, but that’s natural; we’re still very much shocked, one day we’re still ranting on the post-Lebaran traffic jams, the next day we have the government saluting us. I didn’t attend the event due to a certain life-and-death deadline *sigh*, but some people did ask me questions. Like, are we preparing for 2009’s General Election already? Because it sounds like it “could be” something that is politically potential. Even the present United States of America’s GE candidates are grabbing onto MySpace for their campaigns, media releases, and the broadcast of its Presidential Dialogue. There are also rumours that the country is considering the use of Single ID system and the local blogosphere is possibly invested for its future projects. Nevertheless, let the chips fall where they may. From the above list, we are blessed to see our citizen’s great thrive for education-for-all, for journalism and technology, and love for this country. This, and by far, will become a great motivation for others.

Hopefully blogging as a celebration of character will not be stained by several weeks of media frenzy, 15 minutes of fame, or the political benefits attached somewhere on the envelope. It’s hard to trust Indonesians sitting in golden chairs, because there’s a slight worry that this will turn into another conformed system, another hierarchical bireucracy, where one must follow the “safer” pattern. Whereas in that case, we’re all missing the point. The blogosphere isn’t for the big hot-shots to sign autographs, it’s for the great young minds to spawn. Can we say that this event belongs to Indonesia? Yes, this belongs to a certain demographic of Indonesia, but there are still some spaces left blank and some potential communities PB 2007 haven’t yet reached.

One thing for sure, the horn is blown, the stone has been cast, and the process will begin now. Bloggers, journalists, writers, techies, and Indonesians in whole have come to realise that a nationwide ripple effect can be produced by just a simple single post, then gathered and passed on, and for a brief moment there, our world might’ve changed.

Blogging is indeed will never be the same again. Kudos for Pesta Blogger and everyone!

Shmucks, think I’m going to cry again. Where’s the tissue?

PS: Now, if you like this article, or if you think I might endanger the nation’s stability in future time, I’m still open for writing inquiries with a decent paycheck.

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Hello. You are now reading an article written by Marisa Duma, published on 31Oct07 along with other notes on Blogosphere, Commentaries, Indonesia, Listings, People.
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vavai 02.11.07 / 2am

I found this article from Ong-Hock-Chuan (Unspun) blog. Well, good reviews. Thanks.

Did we met at that’s party ?

Marisa Duma 02.11.07 / 10am

Thanks to you too, vavai.

Nope, didn’t make it .. Next time then

Jennie 02.11.07 / 9pm

I like your writings too, Marisa. Keep writing and smiling.

Marisa Duma 04.11.07 / 1am

Thanks ma’am, that really means a lot to me. I’m smiliiiing. Yay.

walski69 04.11.07 / 2am

Found your blog via Unspun… thanks to Pak Ong, eh?

Well, once again, Indonesia has outdone Malaysia in coming to grips with the positive role of blogs and blogging… unfortunately here in Malaysia, the powers that be are pretty hung up when it comes to no-holds-barred criticism that you find in the Malaysian bloggerhood - but as they say, there’s no smoke without fire…

Great to see that although blogging has been given due recognition.

Nice blog, incidentally… time permitting, I’ll definitely be back for more reads… PEACE!

Hedi 07.11.07 / 2am

I just found your trackback this morning…thx but I don’t have enough any paycheck

Marisa Duma 07.11.07 / 5am

@ walski69

It hasn’t outdone Malaysia. It wasn’t supposed to outdone anything either. Maybe it’s because you perceived it from a Malaysian viewpoint.
Indonesia has gone through years of catalystic phase before we come to this point –not that I’m saying we’re ecstatically satisfied about it either, but at least it’s less rough on the edge now. Riots, demonstrations, corruption, presidential impeachment, bombings, natural disasters, and thousands of deaths, and yes, plus some people trade-marking our cultural heritage and grabbing away our islands which did just nicely to the country’s dignity. You cannot just compare that to your country.
It’s quite ridiculous if a country has gone through such phase, and it’s still making a fuss of the blogosphere.

I’ve read some of blogs authored by Malaysians, and they’re really great. People in Malaysia is more racially diversed, English language is more acceptable and well-learned, the economy is quite stable, you have a splendid all-out-there tourism campaign, I also heard that technology is the country’s numero uno budget priority. And yes, you also have your first astronot just last month.
You shouldn’t complain so much about your country. Maybe you should joke about it, that’s basically what we Indonesians do regarding ‘criticism’.

I’m gonna visit your blog as well. Peace, love, and puppies!

@ Hedi

Oh damn. Thanks, and come again.

On Bridge Blogging: The Nation’s Labours of Love - Journal by Marisa Duma 08.11.07 / 11pm

[...] term Bridge Blogging may sound unfamiliar to you. So did I, until the terminology was introduced by Pesta Blogger 2007 committee as one of the breakout discussion groups, a category in blogging simply put. The group is [...]

The Ripple Effect II: Blogs For Next Year? - Journal by Marisa Duma 11.11.07 / 4pm

[...] entry is an addition to The Ripple Effect: Pesta Blogger 2007 Winners and Reviews [...]

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