Bloggers log out of their private worlds

Set up group blogs which deal with issues of public interest, and not just with private neuroses

Devanshi Joshi. Ahmedabad/DNA

May 31,2008

Most blogs are little more than private diaries which the online public is invited to read and comment on. Of late, however, a new kind of blog has appeared in cyberspace and is fast gaining in popularity. These blogs are written and edited by groups whose members are known to each other, if only through the internet. They are similar to a wiki in that others can comment on the views expressed on group blogs. 'Group blogs' differ from each other in various ways. While some are records of chat sessions between friends with others chipping in with the occasional comment, others are repositories of reports and articles. Then there are those that serve as a platform for views on larger questions about life living. Nisarg Joshi and Robin Jani started one such blog with some friends at wordpress.com, and named it lifemantras (lifemantras.wordpress.com). The blog, which consists of posts about one-line statements - some would call them 'banal truisms' - about various aspects of life, has been remarkably successful as it hyas already attracted the attention of more than 1,000 persons. These unseen collaborators regularly post views and pictures to the 'group blog' centred on one-liners that deal with subjects as varied as philosophy, revolution, people, psychology, emotions, motivation and love, among others. Robin says that the lifemantra blog "is a platform for others, too, to share their views on life and love". "We wanted to reach out to people, especially youth like us, in the hope that they would respond interactively," Robin said. "We borrow the one-liners from statements of famous people, and sometimes we formulate them ourselves, but we also ask others to send in their lifemantras. Nisarg and I are the blog editors, or moderators, if you wish." Nisarg said the idea behind lifemantras was to come up with one-liners that gave visitors to the site a different take on life. "It is very satisfying to get email from so many people everyday," he said. Darshak Parmar has also started a 'group blog' . (qwertytalk.blogspot.com) with four friends. They actually publish chat histories on this blog. "Since all posts here are a record of chat conversations, they show several minds trying to come to grips with issues of common concern," Parmar said. Aman Vashishtha and his friends have created a site - they say it is a 'group blog' - with an entirely different purpose in mind. They upload reports and write-ups by their journalist friends, as well as interesting articles that have appeared in Indian and foreign newspapers, to their site (www.indiaved.com). "The purpose of the blog is to share interesting reports and articles. We are thrilled by the enthusiastic response indiaved has received within its very first month of existence," Vashishtha said.