In an understandably vague entry, blogger Jeremy Shoemoney of Shoemoney.com, wrote:

…it appears that I am going to be deposition [sic] and logs from my blog will be subpoena [sic] for use in a case where 1 person [allegedly] slandered* another on my blog.

In the past I have had discussions with at least one blogger regarding my views on comment moderation and deletion. I make no secret of the fact that I will happily delete a comment if I do not like it and first time commenters have to be approved before their comment can appear on my blog.

My main reason for doing so is simple. As the owner of this site I believe that it is perfectly within my rights to ensure that the contents of the site (including comments) are to my liking and within what I consider to be acceptable standards. Certainly my definition of acceptable standards is subjective however everything about this blog is subjective. In as much as I can try to be objective the fact remains that all that is written in this blog is from my perspective and I would not attempt to alter to that because it would go against the notion that this is a personal blog; more specifically my personal blog.

Shoemoney’s predicament reinforces my stance on comment moderation and deletion. Given that most blog authors can elect to disable the comment facility, I consider it a privilege to be able to comment on a person’s blog, a favour granted to me by the blog owner. With this in mind I can’t even begin to imagine how frustrating this whole episode must be for Shoemoney. It is one thing to be taken to court for your actions it is a whole other issue to find that you are being asked to give evidence because somebody else chose to abuse this privilege. Knowing that one can not even document the details of the case or anything related to it in their own blog must only add to the frustration.

What would undoubtedly anger me had I been in Shoemoney’s situation, is the knowledge that the alleged defamotary remarks could have been made without involving Shoemoney. Assuming the defendant is/was a blogger, they should have elected to post the remarks on their blog. In the event that that the defendant is/was not a blogger, setting up a blog is an incredibly easy and free process. Certainly if a person is capable of navigating the comment section of a blog then that person is more than capable of creating their own blog and using their newly set up blogs to record whatever they chose to. While this may not have prevented the action being brought against them it would not have involved Shoemoney.

Shoemoney refers to this case as a ‘landmark case’, this may be true or it may not. Irrespective of the outcome one thing remains, a blogger gave people space to engage and interact in the hope that people would treat this space with respect. Sadly this did not happen and as a direct result this same blogger has been inconvenienced. This alone has led me to approach my comment section with more vigilance. I do not need nor do I want that kind of drama.

*Jeremy Shoemoney refers to this as a ‘slander’ case yet it was my understanding that ‘libel’ is the appropriate term for defamatory remarks made via a fixed medium…oh well…

Jay is Games Casual Gameplay
Often refered to as JIG Casual Gameplay this is “simply the best selection of (mostly) free casual games you will find on the Web today.” In the year or so that I have been reading JIG I have watched it grow from a one person blog to a group project that has recently completed and announced the winners of the first ever JIG game design competition. There is a real sense of community over at JIG, with reader’s submitting games for review, guest blogging spots and a comment section that provides help for those of us who get stuck on the simplest of games.

Black Gay Blogger
On January 25 2005, after deciding that New Year’s resolutions are “tres gauche,” Karsh (author of bgb.com) came up with a list of 101 things to do before 25th September 2007 i.e. 1001 days after the list was completed. This list covers e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. Karsh really wants to do it all and judging by the number of items he has crossed off he might just get to achieve 101 in 1001. Oh and I can’t mention this blog without mentioning the design – it is beautiful!

tiffany b brown
Tiffany b Brown is the eponymous blogger behind this fantastic web design blog. She describes it as her “personal playground [a] place where [she] experiment[s] with web markup and programming languages….” To me it is a very useful learning tool for all things Internet/Blog/Site design related. (her other blog Black Feminism is equally fantastic)

Lynne D Johnson’s Diary
I don’t consider it an overstatement to refer to Lynne D Johnson as the best Hip Hop blogger in the blogosphere. Prior to listening to the SXSW Blogging While Black Revisted session (of which both Lynne and Tiffany were panelists) and hearing Lynne speak of the abuse she has been subjected to because she was a female Hip-Hop blogger I had no idea how prevalent sexism was within the Hip-Hop blogosphere. Her account of how she handled this abuse was truly inspirational especially after going through her archives later on and actually reading the extent of the attack.

Avalon Star
Possibly the best blog design I have ever seen. It is almost hard to believe that this blog is based on K2. Everything about this site is amazing, even the categories, which according to Bryan Veloso (the man behind the blog) “aren’t like your mother’s category archives!” he does not tell a lie, each category is like a whole new blog. Though it was the site design that won me over, I also enjoy reading this blog because Bryan has a very friendly, conversational style. I particularly liked this post which touches on an issue that am sure affects many bloggers: how to explain to non-blogger friends what we bloggers do.

And that concludes my Blog Day 2006, so till next year – Happy Blog Day.

As much as I loved the previous colourful and slim Mama JunkYard design I couldn’t help but envy the versatility and practicality of those wide width blogs with lots of white space such as Mshairi, KikuyuMoja and White African. In fact it was White African’s elegant customisation of Michael Heilemann’s Kubrick that led me to K2.

K2 is:

an advanced template for the blogging engine WordPress developed by Michael Heilemann, Chris J Davis, Zeo, Steve Lam and Ben Sherratt.

After staring at the design of White African I decided I was going to re-install Kubrick and perform only the basic customisation thereby retaining the best feature of the theme; its simplicity. With Kubrick being the default WordPress theme and having used WordPress for the past two years, I consider myself fairly competent at tweaking it. So when I learnt that K2 was being developed as the successor to Kubrick I assumed that I would find it equally straight forward to customise.

In fairness K2 is built for customisation and is quite easy to modify – if you approach it with the right attitude. I approached K2 as if it was a bog standard WordPress theme and from that point forward I was destined to fail. K2 may have the outward appearance of a theme but in reality it is so much more that that (most K2 aficionados refer to it as ‘mod’)

I experienced my first bit of K2 ‘drama’ whilst tinkering with K2r167 beta. I was fully aware of the problems associated with beta versions in general and I was quite happy to spend time just to getting to understand how K2 worked. After two days of a non-stop K2 crash course I discovered that K2 0.9 had been released replacing the beta version that I had been working on. So it was back to square back one. This experience certainly brought home the one aspect of K2 that I had chosen to ignore; K2 is under constant development. There are people working on a daily basis to put together a more stable version of K2. While this may mean the occasional re-install, in the long run it can only be a good thing because with every version released the developers are getting closer to K2 1.0. (As I type this I notice that K2 0.9.1 has just been released)

Another advantage that stems from the ongoing development of K2 is the extent to which the development team rely on user feedback. There is a Bug Tracker set up for users to report any bugs and there is also a Support Forum to discuss K2 issues. For someone like me who doesn’t know my PHP from my TCP the forums have been a Godsend. Nearly every question I thought of had been asked and answered.

As mentioned earlier, K2 is built specifically for user customisation. Everything that can be classed as ‘front end’ (in relation to K2) is fairly straightforward and a basic knowledge of CSS should be enough to get you your own unique look. The ‘back end’ is what distinguishes it from the average WordPress theme. For instance, K2 comes with it’s own Sidebar Module which is described as being “like WordPress widgets, on drugs… the good kind” So that is one less plugin to install, though installing plugins with K2 is fairly straightforward thanks to its ability to recognise a range of WordPress plugins – such as Extended Live Archives which can be seen in action here. A full list features can be found at the K2 Blog.

Whilst I enjoy all the bells and whistles that K2 comes with, from a customisation perspective I found it a bit intimidating because I had no idea what bit did what and I was too scared to change anything in case it broke. It is possible to redesign K2 without ever delving into its ‘internal elements’ however I find this approach has its limitations. I like to know how my blog works or failing that have a clear understanding of what I should or should not mess around with. Usually I mess with my site ‘just for fun’ and so I don’t mind taking weeks to learn something or even to try out different themes. On this occasion I am working on two separate websites and an unrelated fast approaching deadline. Time is not on my side. This leads on to the number one reason I fell in love with the K2 theme and the community who develop and use K2.

Since K2 is pitched as an advanced template there are many K2 bloggers who are working to ensure that any WordPress blogger can install and use it. They do this not just through the forums but also by compiling comprehensive tutorials on how to customise K2. Paul Stamatiou is just one example. His five part guide ranges from basic CSS to tips on how to improve load time. His along with JTP’s are two tutorials that I would recommend to anyone working with K2.

I know the site is far from complete but I can honestly it has been fun working with K2 and my only regret is not getting into it sooner. I still have a lot to learn about K2 but I am certainly a lot closer than I was two weeks ago thanks to all the people who have provided online support.

Beginsathome (and all her sub-sites) has gone through a number of changes; some of them are still ‘works in progress’ but here is a short summary of what has changed or may change.

Site Wide:
The entire site is now powered by WordPress v2.0.3 – this includes all the static pages. I am aware that there is a more recent version of WP available but that information has not reached my hosting service’s Cpanel and I am reluctant to do a manual upgrade/install.

Every part of this site is running a version of K2: Static Pages and mamajunkyard’s are both relying on modified versions of K2 beta 2 revision 145 where as A Thousand Words is using a Wiphey’s Photoblogging Theme v1.1 which is a customised version K2 beta r167.

mamajunkyard’s
No more light on dark. mamajunkyard’s has been tangoed! Orange is the new strawberry, wider width is the way to go and lowercase is how I like it. Add a few plugins like Gravatar and ELA and the geek in me comes out to play.

A Thousand words
That so-called photoblog was fooling no-one. It wasn’t a photoblog – it was just a blog, with pictures and little text. This new version sounds the same (blog, pictures, some text) but thanks to Wiphey’ K2 blog theme it looks a damn sight better than before (see for yourself). Apart from the comments section which needs some work and as the usual Internet Exploder hissy fit it is good to go. Most important though the entire photoblog is now stored in a new directory. The former pseudo-photo blog is still alive and from this day forth it shall be known as ATW(v1.5).

There are still minor things that need to be worked on. If anyone notices anything broken, wonky, dodgy or out of place please let me know.

Shortly (like sometime soon or maybe sometime later but not now) I shall do a post or two citing all the resources I used/ am to get this site complete….in the meantime…enjoy Begins At Home v4.0.

Today the Kenyan Blogs Webring is two years old!

Happy Birthday KBW.

We, the admin team, are grateful for your continued support, for your dedication, for your inspiration, for your ideas and for your community spirit. The Kenyan Blogs Webring is a positive force for our nation, our continent and our people, long may it prosper! If you are not yet a member, join us. If you have any questions, contact us.

Here are a few quick interesting facts on KBW:

Membership numbers

We currently have 240 active members*
In our first year we signed up 69 active members*
In our second year we signed up 171 active members*

* “Active members” refers to bloggers who joined KBW and are still members today. It does not include those who have left the webring.

Gender balance

100 female bloggers
123 male bloggers
12 group blogs

(Please note some bloggers author more than one blog).

Rate of growth

The rate of growth continues to rise rapidly. Our two busiest months for signing new members have been April 2006 and May 2006.

In April 2006 we signed up 34 new members
In May 2006 we signed up 33 new members

More than one blogger per day

KenyaUnlimited

The permanent home for the Kenyan Blogs Webring is KenyaUnlimited.

The KBW aggregator displays the latest posts from our members’ blogs. The aggregator gets just under 3000 unique visitors per day. This means that each KBW member has at least 3000 people reading their posts each day they blog.

The community

Although we are called the Kenyan Blogs Webring we currently have members from Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States (this excludes our Kenyan members living abroad).

Our members blog in at least 8 different languages.

Join us

Membership is open to Kenyans, residents of Kenya and friends of Kenya aged 14 years and older who maintain a weblog, photolog, online journal or online diary. We are inclusive rather than exclusive. If you would like to join KBW you most probably can! Sign up here.

While working on the first part of my Kenyan Bloggers’ Day contribution I came across Doodle 4 Google: my Britain.

[This is] a nationwide design competition open to the UK’s 10 million school children. Young people are being invited to design a Google doodle explaining what it means to be British today. The winning doodle, which will be displayed on the Google UK homepage for 24 hours, will be seen by around 18 million people.

[read more the full article]

Doodle for Google began in 2005 and the winner of last year’s competition was 11 year old London student, Lisa Wainaina (pictured below with Dennis Hwang and her wining doodle)

She designed a doodle titled ‘Day of the child’. Lisa’s creative theme and clever incorporation of childhood images into the Google logo contributed to her being named the winner of the London competition. Lisa’s doodle was hosted on the Google homepage for 24 hours for millions of people to see, including her very proud parents and schoolmates.

[Read more here]

As I read the 2005 Winner’s name, I felt in me an emotion similar to (but stronger than) the feeling I get when I first notice a stranger wearing a Kenyan T-shirt or carrying a kiondo. It matters not that I do not know the person, or they may not be Kenyan. All I see is a person carrying an aspect of my identity and often they do so with such pride that it makes me want to stop them and say,

“Because you chose to wear/carry X, every person you meet will be exposed to a part of my culture and identity. They will admire the beautiful X you wear/carry. They may even want to find out more. In short you are representing and for that I am grateful’

I have never had the courage to say all the above to a total stranger. Sometimes I wish I did have that courage. Especially since these happy thoughts are often eroded cynicism.

I begin to question the carrier’s/wearer’s identity,
‘hmmm….I bet he/she is not even Kenyan’.

I speculate on their motives,
‘hmm…I bet they wore X, carried X because the “Ethnic” look is in.’

I conclude that the stranger pronounces Kenya as Kee.ni.a, they have only visited Kenya once on a 10 day package holiday/safari. Based on this I convince myself that the stranger has no to right to lay claim to my heritage. It may be days later before I remember how upset I get when others attempt to redefine my identity and the ways I choose to display it.

Nobody has the right to decide the cultural signifiers that others may use to define their identity and I certainly do not have the right to define another persons’ cultural/national identity.

With this in mind I approach the issue of Ms Wainaina and her outstanding achievement with a certain degree of caution.

I do not know Ms Wainaina and the articles that document her win make no reference to her national identity. I do know however that Wainaina is a Kenyan name.

Actually, that is all I need to know.

Through her name, Ms Wainaina carries an aspect of my cultural/national identity. Through her success she has exposed an aspect of my identity to millions of people. People all around the world will admire her work and will congratulate her on her win. They may even ask about her name. In short she is representing. And for this I am grateful.

As I think of Lisa Wainaina and her online achievements I am reminded of something the Acrobat said in his Kenyan Bloggers’ Day post.

Kenya was not a house we moved into, it was a house which they started building, which we will complete and which our children will furnish. In that sense we mould it in our character. It is a reflection of us. The good and the bad. But it is us.

While his remarks are in reference to the building of a nation, I feel it can also be applied to the building of a nation’s online identity.

A short while back, it was almost impossible to find news, opinions, gossip, facts and stories on Kenya written by Kenyans/friends of Kenya. In the recent months, through the proliferation of Kenyan/Kenyan friendly blogs we have started to shape Kenya’s presence on the net.

The Kenyan Blogsphere was not a house we moved into, it is a house which we are still building, the Lisa Wainana’s are already working on the interior design and by the time her children move in they will be adding loft conversions for our ever growing family.

In this sense, through our blogs, we are moulding the Kenyan Blogsphere and in turn Kenya’s identity on the internet. It is a reflection of us. The good and the bad, but it is us.

And damn! Am I proud of us!

Happy Madaraka Day

——————–
Lisa Wainana image from Doodle 4 Google’s publicity page.

On June 1st 2006 Kenyans everywhere will be celebrating Madaraka Day. Madaraka Day commemorates the day that Kenya attained internal self-rule following an important milestone on the road to independence. To mark this event I have joined my fellow Kenyan Blog Webring (KBW) members as we blog in unison under the banner ‘Kenyan Bloggers’ Day’.
—————————————-

I have always admired the work of Dennis Hwang. He is the man behind the Google Holiday Doodles. I had so much faith in their holiday logos to the extent that I did not consider a day a holiday unless Google had doodled it.

Today, the day Kenya attained internal self-rule, I expected Google Kenya to be all doodled out in black, green and red. But alas, there was no Madaraka Day Doodle!

So in the true Madaraka spirit, I decided to use the freedom that comes with having access to the Internet to create and share my own Google Doodle!

Happy Madaraka Day.

————–
Credit:

• Dr Mich – who refuses to get a blog but seems to enjoy helping me on mine – worked with me on this Mockoogle Logo.

Introduction

On June 1st 2006 Kenyans everywhere will be celebrating Madaraka Day. Madaraka Day commemorates the day that Kenya attained internal self-rule following an important milestone on the road to independence. To mark this event the Kenyan Blogs Webring (KBW) Admin Team would like to invite KBW bloggers to blog in unison under the banner ‘Kenyan Bloggers’ Day’.

Why?

We have been inspired by Keguro’s and Black Looks’ and Mshairi’s call to action in respect of the East African Standard raid and International Women’s day respectively. Additionally, the level of support and interaction shown by our members in response was outstanding and we therefore, recognise the value of collective blogging.

With this in mind we wish to use collective blogging as means of celebrating the nation that unites us as bloggers.

How to Get Involved

On or before June 1st 2006, we are proposing that we all create a post on any or all of the following suggested topics:

• Kenya
• Being Kenyan
• Being a Kenyan blogger
• Being a member of KBW

The post can be a piece of prose – 2 lines, an essay, a poem, a podcast, a photograph, your favourite quote. It is entirely up to you how you chose to celebrate this day.

You don’t have to be Kenyan, just a member of KBW.

Blogs Taking Part
(Last updated 25/05/06 -12:00)

Below is a list of bloggers (in alphabetical order) who are taking part and we shall continue to update this list. To keep track of who is taking part please leave a comment in the comment section of the original post over at KBW Admin Team Blog or email us at admin [@] kenyaunlimited.com with a link to your blog.

Gukira
Mama JunkYard’s
Mentalacrobatics
Mshairi
Uaridi

The Kenyan Blogs Webring (KBW) has grown steadily over the past two years and rate of growth increases month on month. We have come to recognise that many of our new members and some of our older members are not aware of the admin team and the role it plays in the running of KBW. This post aims to answer some of those questions and provide an opportunity for you to ask more.

The admin team is made of six bloggers including myself. My colleagues on this team are:

• Afromusing
• Daudi
• Maitha
• Mshairi
• Nick

We are spread over three continents and 9 time zones reflecting the wide geographical base of the KBW members. In addition, we have a 50/50 gender split on our admin team which again reflects the nature of KBW. This team has been together for almost a year now.

What do we do?
So what do we do? First and foremost, we are the support mechanism for KBW. Either directly though our interaction with bloggers or indirectly through the services we provide on our website KenyaUnlimited. This support ranges from html issues to general blogging advice.

The admin team is also a decision making body. All decisions regarding matters to do with the webring are debated honestly and vigorously amongst us until we come to a decision. An example of some the recent decisions we have taken are the composition, timing, and running of the Kaybees, the Kenyan Blogs Awards.

Apart from these two roles we do general administrative work for the webring, for example,

• building the information database and actively keeping our site bilingual;
• actively seek out positive PR for the webring and its members;
• investigating the role we can play as a socially responsible organisation;

All of these centred around building a community of and for Kenyan and Kenyan friendly bloggers and raising the level of blogging debate amongst that community.

Admin blog
We have also set up a blog – The Admin Blog where important and appropriate decisions and actions taken by admin regarding KBW will be posted as and when necessary.

Contact us
Each member of the admin team now has a personal email address at KenyaUnlimited. Please feel free to contact me on any KBW matter at my email address which is kui[@] kenyaunlimited.com. I have sole access to this email address, although I may raise any issues that relate to KBW with my fellow admin members. Our main email address admin [@] kenyaunlimited.com remains the main point of contact for the admin team. Please note that this email address is accessed by all six admin members.

Finally
We want to emphasis that we are here as a support mechanism and not as a controlling body. Our focus is to build on the stable foundations we have laid together with you to turn the Kenyan Blogs Webring into a positive force wherever we and you are. Your suggestions, comments and interaction is not only welcome but highly appreciated.

Of Course When They Ask
for Poems About the ‘Realities’
of Egypt….

What they really want
at times
is a specimen
of an Egyptian king encased in a British museum

Egyptian hieroglyphics
etched on Egyptian pyramids
guarded by Egyptian Sphinxes
they want an Egyptian body
swaddled in white robes and mummified
and validation
for the stereotype
already in their heads

Or else they want
celluloid myths
of a white Cleopatra

I can say I can write
no poem big enough
to hold the essence

of Egypt
or an Egyptian woman
or an Egyptian man

Maybe this poem is to say,
that I like to see
all Egyptians
free and unafraid to blog

Typing away
with each stroke of the keyboard
the twisted self-negating
history
they’ve inherited

Typing away
with each stroke of the keyboard

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