essay

Student number: 606v0686

The process of doing this particular assignment has been quite frustrating. Firstly, the nature of the assignment is in itself ambiguous. It is not an essay in its' true form, as it is being posted on a blog, which essentially makes it a blog post. No strict academic regulations are enforced for example a plagiarism declaration, reference to academic sources and so forth. Its almost like blog pretending to be an essay. I have already read some of the essays posted on the blog at the time of writing which consciously or not, has already affected my approach to the assignment. What I've ended up with is a quasi essay style blog that is very personal in its response. An unwanted bastard essay if you will. Secondly, the full benefits of the internet are not fully realised in this country as bandwidth is expensive, slow (which been the bane of my life since I started surfing the internet), and limited. Something which is unheard of in other, more developed countries. The internet is a vast resource of knowledge (it also has to be stressed though that it also contains; for lack of a better word; a lot of bullshit) but is not enjoyd by all. This became very apparent when looking for African blog sites. Even the art related blog sites are few in comparison to their international cousins.

The task of comparing three different blog sites from different countries seemed dubious to me in the beginning. Blogs are personal entries and the idea that they will be intrinsically different in style due to geography seemed a bit suspect. In most blogs I frequented I could see no real difference their approach. The main difference consisted in the focus of subject matter etc. For example an African blog named Aachronym, http://aachronym.blogspot.com, shares all the same qualities as any other blog. It states that focuses “on art-equity and cultural patrimony issues, Nollywood and African new media”. The blog is written and maintained by S. Okwunodu Ogbechie who describes himself as a social entrepreneur and is an art historian. He is based in California, U.S.A, which does raise the question of whether it is a truly 'African' blog. What exactly constitutes an African , South African or international blog? Ogbechie writes from his home in California, using the infrastructure installed by Americans on technology most probably manufactured in Asia; about African culture. Globalisation has destabilised former notions of identity, but the focus of this essay is not to find answers for these questions. For all purposes; Ogbechie shares an African identity with African interests. This will suffice in labeling his blog as 'African' for the time being.

As I have mentioned, geography does influence the way an individual use the internet. Not just in terms of connectivity due to infrastructure and other logistical obstacles, but also in terms of focus and law. I read some worrying articles about an Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer who was charged with insulting the Egyptian president and an Islamic institution http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6385849.stm. He was subsequently sent to prison for four years. There are numerous cases similar to this one in different parts of the world. A blog is really a platform where people should be free to express themselves. But as history tells us, conforming to ideologies of freedom are ultimately just a form of self deception. As with any publication there are forms of censorship at work. Whether censoring ones' own blog or by being censored by someone else. But freedom to say what you normally would not say does increase through the use of blogs. A post on artheat.net titled “No Willies” got my attention. The post was written in response to Marijke van Velden's work “Pierneef goes Dulux”. A Work which won the Sasol New Signatures competition. The blogger, Robert Sloon, called for young people to “Show some balls” this inevitably attracted a lot of response and comments. Comments that either defend or slate van Velden. Needless to say a lot of the comments were made anonymously, a feature of blogs. One does not need to take responsibilty for what has been said, which makes it easy to say anything; good or bad. This differs from traditional and established art publications.

A lot of comments on blogs seem to steer completely off the topic. One would think that immediate commentary and debate would be able to provide a platform for serious and in depth debate, however a lot of it just seems to be making jokes and saying crude things. An article I read on Obama http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/07/31/exploding-obama-and-other-public-figures/ made quite interesting comments about the inherent violence which photographs contain when portraying certain celebrities and icons. The writer of the article compared something to Lord of the Rings and described Saurons' eye as a flaming vagina. The only comments were made in reference to this 'flaming vagina'. No thoughts were express in terms of Obama and the article, but the thoughts on Lord of the were enlightening though. This takes us back to our African blogger in California. Mr Ogbechie also wrote a few articles on president Obama. The tone of these articles were quite serious and it was obvious that Ogbechie was relishing in the fact that Obama was elected president. A few comparisons can be made on this subject. The international website offers more critical views and representations of the American president. Often accompanied with humour, while the African blog serves to inform rather. The most I could find on artheat.net however was a photo of a woman's bottom with Obama written on her underwear http://artheat.net/2008/11/obama.html. Which in itself says a lot about the spirit and anticipation of the time.

When comparing these different blogs one should be careful again of the conclusions that can be made. None of these blogs can offer a common national viewpoint. It cannot be said that an African perspective of Obama is serious and jubilant, or that an American or South African viewpoint is more tongue-in-cheek. These are individual people writing with different agendas. Blogs like artheat function on a different level to ones like Aachronym. Artheat for example is set up as the antithesis to the sterile South African art publication, while Aachronym seeks for exposure of African culture. It would be folly to generalise such notions over a broad spectrum of people. Which is often reached when comparing tiny aspects over a vast multitude of different viewpoints and experience. Mr Ogbechie will always write in context to his American experience and will situate his views on African culture within this particular frame.

Blogs are regulated through the comments and responses written on them. It is difficult to trust them if they aren't. Since no scrutiny is is given to arguments before they are posted, like academic journals and similar resources. It is thus clear that a lot of a blogs credibility depends on the nature of the criticism on the blog itself. The internet can be a great resource of knowledge. The evolution of the web into an interactive system which allows for file sharing, and fluent instant networking between people greatly enhances the potential for even more information. As they always say the possibilities are endless. It seems a pity then that my experience of social networking, mainly consists of seeing embarrassing photo's of myself and spending hours downloading obscure and useless information. The information does not present itself in a linear fashion, and its easy to get lost clicking on links and ending up completely somewhere different to where you intended. Often forgetting everything that you have read.