My sister's blog

I sometimes "meet" my sister on MSN. The other night, I asked her if she would like to start a blog. She said she wanted something to upload her music (gospel songs that she sang and recorded as practice or something). Having tried out Vox, I suggested that to her. It seemed perfect for what she intends to do.

Tonight I "met" her again and asked if she's created the blog. She said yes but she couldn't remember her URL. We managed to figure that one out eventually. I learnt how it felt to be the Family Online Tech Support, heh heh. Anyway, it was useful for me to know her newbie point of view. What a "seasoned" blogger might take for granted, the newbies might find it confusing. Each new thing I learn helps for that next sharing session.

Minutes after we resolved that minor issue, she'd already uploaded several of her audio recordings. I like this one. No, she doesn't use Mac :)

Initially she didn't publish any post. I suggested she publish at least one "Hello World" post, which she did. And as I refresh the browser now, she's blogged a second post, this time with a picture of her and my brother.

I asked if she was comfortable with me telling the Whole Wide World about her blog. She said OK but hopes the world doesn't mind her blog posts are a little "childish".

"Well, if that's you and you're comfortable with it, then so be it," I replied.

I quickly shared two simple guidelines with my sister: (1) Don't post anything that you are not comfortable with the world reading; (2) Don't post things that you will regret. OK, maybe the guidelines aren't that simple. It's a matter of judgment.

ASIDE: Some points of discussion about privacy issues & blogging:

• In that two posts, my sister has already alluded to how we're related and that she has a twin brother. Revealing those facts aren't a problem by themselves. It's just that the paranoid me can't help but think that potentially someone might use that information to do a con job on, say, my parents or on them.
• But in the final analysis, I'm convinced I already have no control over a lot of personal and private information. Who's to say what people already know about me or my family, even without me blogging about it. How many times have our personal and private information changed hands through the course of our lives -- friends, school, transactions?
• I think the biggest mistake we can make is to think that we have absolute privacy over our lives. Hence, it might be better to work on the basis that some data is already known.
• Also, it might be better to let our family members know what we use our blog(s) for. It's OK if they discover pleasant things about you from others. I'm talking about avoiding unpleasant surprises, whatever they may be.

My sister's blog is at queenzogwog.vox.com and my brother's at keepwatch.wordpress.com.

Don't ask me what's a "Zog Wog". :)

My brother's blog hasn't been updated for a while due to work and personal commitments. I'm not sure if my sister's blog will be maintained. I certainly don't expect her to be as prolific as Kevin's sister. My brother and sister are probably not "bloggers" in the conventional sense. But come to think of it, who's to say who's a blogger and who isn't?

I'd say they have a personal website to call their own, and that's all there is to it. Up to them to use it as it meets their need at that particular point in time.