Youngsters are breathing new life into Cambodian cyber-culture
They sit quaintly in a Monivong coffee shop, plaid-patterned laptops open and plastered with quirky stickers that proclaim their affinity for technology and cyberspace, the gentle rat-tat-tat of keyboards clicking in the background.
One twenty-something, one of Cambodia's first bloggers, sips his iced coffee as he skims the day's chronicles of personal diaries, photographic memoirs, and reactions to current events. He dips his eyebrows in reflection-Ayn Rand has been of particular influence-then writes. His audience is large, and many are not even from Cambodia.
Today's reading is not The Phnom Penh Post, or the Cambodia Daily for that matter. Nor is he glued to sites about Cambodia's hugely popular singers Preap Sovath and Chhorn Sovanna Reach. Internet forums that showcase expatriate ramblings do not interest him either. His choice of prose is short, punchy and stylish; his literature is published daily, online and often anonymously.
He, like those sitting with him, comprises a clique of savvy young techno-enthusiasts who, since 2006, have been introducing blogging to Cambodia. They call themselves "cloggers," a catchy portmanteau of "Cambodian bloggers", and their walks of life vary: some work for non-government organizations, others are students, and a sizable chunk have jobs in information technology. And, despite embracing personal diaries as the theme and content of their blogs, their writings have far greater implications.
"Young people in Cambodia are learning how to network with each other through blogging," said Be Chantra, who authors the popular joke blog Trajoke in Khmer. "It's taking them to higher and higher levels in their work and with their friends."
The cloggers have worked together for two years. They first held Personal Information Technology Workshops (PTIWs) for university students in 2006, after the blogger Mean Lux coined the term "clogger". Their intent was, as the title implies, to teach students about information technology, particularly blogging. Students, said Chantra, were more receptive to technology and more intrigued with journaling about their daily experiences than older people. They could also utilise their newfound computer skills to land highly sought-after jobs. The team's workshops, he noted, were completely voluntarily and had no funding from outside sources.
As blogging gained popularity, the team travelled to more schools and offered more workshops. Soon, they were reaching a wider audience that included residents from other demographics, not just students. The group eventually collated their work into the hugely successful Cloggers Summit in August 2007, held at Pannasastra University of Cambodia. It was, among other things, a cornerstone event in uniting Cambodia's bloggers into a single community. Over 200 bloggers, technology enthusiasts, journalists and scholars attended from all over the world, including bloggers from Harvard University's Global Voices project.
"The summit was a great way to follow up on all our workshops," said Chantra. "Everyone got to come and contribute something to the work we had already done."
Now, clogger Bun Tharum is following up on the Summit with an even grander convention. BarCamp, an innovative worldwide tech gathering that has been termed "ad hoc" and an "unconference" by some will arrive in Phnom Penh on September 21, 2008. The program is a forum where open-source enthusiasts can propose topics, contribute discussion, or comment on new technologies. In this sense, the gathering itself is "open source", much like the software it espouses; all content is provided by participants.
While Phnom Penh has been prepping for its monumental BarCamp convention, the number of blogs in Cambodia has been exploding. Global Voices Online, a website that documents the blogospheres of developing countries, listed only 30 Cambodian blogs in 2006. Now, blogger John Weeks estimates the number to be in the hundreds.
"We've seen so many blogs pop up in Cambodia lately," Weeks said. "We just found one on Khmer boxing, and now, people are constantly starting new blogs with new topics."
Aside from Cambodia's blog explosion heralding the entry of diverse reading materials into the country-an area expensive books have failed to capture-young Cambodians are also experiencing unprecedented levels of freedom.
Some bloggers, who chose to remain anonymous, noted that blogs make discussing their social lives easier. Cloggers escape the watchful eyes of parents and Cambodia's older generation, who they claim are out of touch with technology. Blogging offers an outlet to express themselves, jot down their daily thoughts and talk about romance and love, In other words, it provides the opportunity to discuss subjects otherwise deemed taboo once away from their keyboard.
Cloggers also think that techno-culture is a defining facet of Cambodia's younger generation, many of whom were born during the post-Khmer Rouge baby boom in the 1980s. In a country mired by poverty and strife, blogs are breathing new life into Cambodia's youth culture.
"My parents don't even know I blog," said clogger Sreng Nearirath, a student at the Royal University of Law and Economics. "I've tried explaining it to them, but they don't understand. It's something that separates us from the older generation."
"If my parents could read English, I would show my blog to them," said clogger Hor Virak, an IT specialist. "But they just don't understand the idea of new technologies like blogging."
Bloggers are also experiencing new levels of convenience as they disseminate information on their daily lives to all their friends at once. When their colleagues ask them what they did last weekend, no longer must they go into diatribes that detail every café, class, museum, or family outing they attended. Now, it's simple.
"When my friends ask about my day, I just say, 'Visit my blog!'" said Nearirath. "It's like my diary. It has pictures and everything else they need to know."
One topic most cloggers avoid, however, is politics. Chak Sopheap, who authors the political blog ifocus, stands out as an exception with her daily musings on current events and social issues. Regular topics have included trafficking, violence against women and poverty.
Sopheap first started blogging in June 2007 while an employee at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, where she conducted the organization's outreach programs. As she voraciously read mainstream media every day, she was disappointed at the lack of coverage of social issues. Eventually, she began commenting online. Unlike other humanitarian blogs, her posts are not anonymous.
"As democracy to Cambodia is still young with media controls, I do feel that blogging is one of the most innovative uses of technology," said Sopheap. "It is especially important for implementing rights to expression and other fundamental rights."
In July 2008, she will pursue a Master's Degree in International Relations in Japan, where she plans to continue blogging about social issues in Cambodia.
"The multi-cultural atmosphere will be great for my blog," she said contemplating how she can post in new and more dynamic ways.
Blogs also have immense potential for connecting people with important causes, Sopheap said. She pointed to Burma, where blogs were a rallying point for activists last fall, when the country experienced unrest. Bloggers world-wide took part in International Bloggers' Day for Burma on Oct. 4, 2007, in which they dedicated one post to Burma's rallying monks. In Cambodia, cloggers used their blogs to coordinate demonstrations in front of the Burmese embassy.
Among the positive social effects of blogging, it is also alleviating widespread gender inequalities, Sopheap claimed. What was once a society biased towards men is now shifting to empower women with self-expression and confidence.
"Men have traditionally dominated information technology fields, but now we're seeing more and more women speaking their minds through blogs," she said. "Women are gaining more self-esteem and becoming better informed about the world."
Blogging is not without its debates and controversies, however. One long-standing question is whether Cambodian bloggers should write in English or Khmer, though most are embracing the former. English, they claim, is the language of the Internet; finding proficiency with the web means reading and writing in English. Some, on the other hand, disagree.
"[Khmer] Unicode exists to give cloggers the ability to blog in Khmer," said Chantra, referring to the Khmer system of typing known as Unicode. "It makes the Khmer language more available to Internet users."
Chantra, who blogs in Khmer and works for the Open Institute, which oversees the Unicode project, thinks that bloggers can reach a wider Cambodian audience with the Khmer language. Cambodia's English-speaking population consists of a tiny elite, he noted. Likewise, according to the Khmer Unicode website, Cambodia should not "have to change to a new language in order to use a computer."
Regardless, the majority of Cambodian bloggers continue to write in English. As cloggers become more connected with the outside world, the trend may continue. But even that is debatable.
"As Cambodians get better access to Khmer on their computers, more people will write in Khmer," said Chantra.
Links: Blogs of people in this article
Official cloggers website: grou.ps/cloggers
Trajoke (Be Chantra): trajoke.blogsome.com
ThaRum: Musings from Cambodia (Bun Tharum): tharum.info
ifocus (Chak Sopheap): sopheapfocus.blogspot.com
KhmerAK: A Phnom Penh Geek (Hor Virak): khmerak.com
Webbed Feet, Webbed Blog (John Weeks): jinja.apsara.org
My World vs. Real Scary World (Sreng Nearirath): blackandwhiter.blogspot.com
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Hi, Everyone!( February-21-2010 )
I didn't understand the concluding part of your article, could you please explain it more?
Greetings!( February-19-2010 )
I really like when people are expressing their opinion and thought. So I like the way you are writing