Intermittent blogging ahead...
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Thanks for dropping by
I am now in the process of writing up my PhD (andsoon to be a father am now a father
), and will only be able to do very intermittent updates of this blog for an indefinite period. Please explore the tags and archives (below right) for posts about my research on blogs in Malaysia, or you can get an idea of what I'm doing by reading Anthroblogology - Monetisation in the Malaysian Blogosphere.
On the tags above you can read more About Me, or Contact me if you like.
Thanks for dropping by

I am now in the process of writing up my PhD (and

On the tags above you can read more About Me, or Contact me if you like.
Comments
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clarisseteagen on :
Leone on :
Your work on the doctorate, and the work with doctors to bring a new life into the world both smack of a person who is not too far from finding the end of his rainbow.
I love hearing things like this. Gives me hope for the future of mankind.
Leone
jeff on :
Artis terkini
julian on :
Leone - Heh, flattery is a good tactic for spam comments - I'll leave this one
FM Radio Streaming on :
unknown on :
1. people will be less truthful.
2. people will blog to make profit
3. blog content will reflect more on the desire of the market, not the author.
being a participant observer in ur situation does not emulate the true nature of the context because u don't blog to generate the $$$ that u need.
to illustrate, whether u make $$ or not from ur blog matters little to u. on the contrary, some bloggers rely on monetization for their expenditure. like a student who blogs to make $ to pay for her new hp.
as such, ur methodology is similar to an anthropologist who participates in a nomadic tribe's hunting ritual for food.. but u doesn't need the food, u can juz call for help and a copter will supply u the food.
how would u understand the urgency of the hunt?
how would u taste the desperation of hunger, and its effect on how u hunt, when u can get food anyway?
lol hope u're not lost in the analogy.
this is crucial because motive inspires action, which could accumulate into culture etc. in effect, u may have analyzed the mechanism of monetization and what not, but u're not doing a phd in business r u? hehe
u should state that in the scope of ur thesis.
what else do u cover in ur dissertation?
julian on :
Of course an anthropologist is always going to be a stranger, but just by doing the same things, over a long period of time, s/he does get closer than a survey, or interviews, can manage.
For me, the fact that I needed to get invites to events, to be able to do my research, meant that I did feel something of the 'urgency of the hunt'.
Most bloggers don't need the money, but they get used to the extra advantages they can gain from their blog - I also got kind of used to getting free cinema tickets, occasional freebies, invites to events and so on.
No, I'm not doing a business PhD - though I would say that business practices and so on do affect culture too, which is kind of the point of my thesis really.
ayusfashion on :
Just found your blog. Its such a nice reading here. I wonder which events you are exciting more, being a father or finish your PhD?
Thank you
julian on :
unknown on :
lol. hunting to get food ie stay alive and hunting juz to be a part of the pack aint the same eh? the former is survival, the latter is a social status.
"Most bloggers don't need the money, but they get used to the extra advantages they can gain from their blog - I also got kind of used to getting free cinema tickets, occasional freebies, invites to events and so on."
whoa.. r u sure? what kinda social class / range did u choose for ur sample? i know a couple of people in the blog world who r actually pining over their income from here.
i mean, if u're interviewing a senior engineer working with BP, he'd definitely say that getting RM1K a month from blog monetization could barely cover his car's expenses.
from a glance i could see that most of the bloggers who monetize in malaysia are students. their only sources of income are either loan (gotta pay back) / scholarship (gotta score) or blog (spend as u want).
i dont include fama (allowance from father and mother) as part of the enumeration because it's juz sad lol.
i've even heard of people gettin' as much as 5K / month from blog monetization. dont tell me they dont need that kinda money.
such is true because expenditure is affected by expectation as well. someone who has tasted 5K/month from blog monetization may at first enjoy the extra money by buying himself expensive gadgets at the IT store. however, later on, he might think of using the money to buy a new apartment. from then on, he's hooked up to the revenue generated from the blog.
again, everything depends on the sample that u choose from the population. if you are focusing more on the working people who are bloggin then i guess it's reasonable.
julian on :
Anyway, it's true that one can never be completely 'one of them' when one is researching 'them', by definition the researcher is having to stand back, be reflexive, and so on.
The people I interviewed mostly had jobs already, so did not depend on their blogging income. But most also stated that they would not like to do without that income - it was helping to fund a more lavish lifestyle, pay off student debts, stash away as savings, and so on.
5K a month is possible, but that's a very small minority.
You're right that it would be interesting to focus on students/'smaller' bloggers. They are the majority after all.
unknown on :
lol what is interesting is that u admittedly neglected the majority of the population in ur sampling, and manage to stay completely nonchalant bout the entire episode. this is what experts call systematic bias. hehe hope u got this covered.
julian on :
However, my research is not based on quantitative methods, although I did try to complement my participant observation with a survey (snowball sampling - i.e. convenience). The survey respondents were mostly 'smaller' blogs, and it provides a helpful perspective.
I chose to focus my interviews on those who were the most successful in monetising their blogs, but as time went on I also realised that I should include some 'low traffic' bloggers, which I did.
gabe on :
Your PhD thesis seems interesting, looking at the title itself!
The comic is funny too!
julian on :
nas on :
Malaysia Freelancers on :
Charleston on :
Your baby must have been born by now, take good care cos I know it must be tough with all the late night crying.
From another father of 4 kids - "Happy Fathering"