ADVENT OF THE 'ALL-FILIPINO' BLOGGING SERVICE
By Annalyn S. Jusay (now blogging at www.annalyn.net)
We talk this week to Peter Juan and Michael Villar, project managers for Calliope, the proprietary blogging solution of DotPH Technologies whose servers are at the center of the Philippine internet domain name system. They best describe Calliope as "the blogging service by Filipinos, for Filipinos." It's a one-click publishing platform which does not need any HTML or hard coding, supports multiple languages and incorporates features commonly found in other blogs, like tagboards, galleries and RSS feeds. The big difference is that readers will know when a blogger is online or away since it is linked up to other applications like Yahoo Messenger, Skype. MSN and Chikka. More in the following interview:
Q. What are the unique characteristics of Calliope as a blogging system? What makes it different from, say, Blogger, Livejournal, Xanga or WordPress?
A. Its edit-on-the-fly capabilities, so the user can change the look and feel of the blog quickly and easily. There are hundreds of images and backgrounds to choose from if you don't want to use your own. Calliope also has a profile page that automatically integrates outside services like Friendster, YouTube, Flickr and many more. The user doesn't have to do any coding, just point and click and your stuff on those other services gets displayed on your profile.
Q. How did the idea for Calliope come to be?
A. We envisioned a blogging service by Filipinos, for Filipinos. We focused on the ease of use and simplicity in customization because we know that as a country we are yet to embrace the whole phenomenon of blogging. By keeping it uncomplicated, we hoped to influence people to try it out. Blogging is liberating and we hoped to not just provide Filipinos with another online service, but a voice that is distinctly their own. That is the spirit behind I.PH.
Q. What can you say about the Philippines' blogger demographics and how do you think is the landscape changing?
A. There is very little reliable information. Blog Herald, as good a source as any, estimates that there are approx. 75,000 blogs in the Philippines. A typical profile is even harder to pin down. Our users run the gamut from teens to young professionals, from every socio-economic bracket. What they do have in common is a desire to reach out and make themselves heard in some way. The great thing about blogs is that everyone can have a voice -- the rest just depends on whether people want to "hear" what a blogger has to say.
Q. What's your target market for Calliope?
A. Our focus has been to make blogging simpler, easier. That's precisely because we believe that anyone should be able to blog. We didn't want to deter newbies from being able to join in the "worldwide conversation". At the same time, we packed it with features and functionalities so that even veteran bloggers will find something that they will like about Calliope.Of course, because we're currently offering it under our I.PH service, it does have a natural appeal to fellow Filipinos.
Q. If I import my site to Calliope, how easy would it be?
A. This is one feature we are currently working on and unfortunately isn't available just yet. But pretty soon user's will be able to transfer their existing blogs to the Calliope format in just a few clicks. If they wish to transfer an existing site right now, they just have to contact us and we'll gladly assist them with the move.
Q. What made you decide to come up with Calliope's Version 2?
A. Feedback from users as to what they wanted to see, as well as the emergence of new technologies such as Ajax that make the user experience much richer. The edit-on-the-fly and drag-and-drop features was put in place because users wanted an easier way to edit the look of their blogs. Calliope is constantly being improved, and we want each version to be better than the last.
Q. What are some of the feedbacks you have received from your users?
A. Well with this version, early user feedback has been very good. They find that editing their blogs are much easier now and customization is a cinch. They also like the new features such as the improved photo gallery and the comprehensive profile page. Although the system needs some getting used to, users were able to adjust and adapt to it fairly quickly and we're pretty happy with that.
Q. Is Calliope free or not?
A. Calliope powers the I.PH Blogging Service. To get a Calliope blog, all they have to do is sign up for one at http://i.ph and yes, it's absolutely free.
Q. What are your plans for the service?
A. Lots actually but the one we're pretty excited about is the building of online communities, a network of blogs so to speak. It may be categorized by interest or in any number of ways. What we feel great about is that users can create and manage their own groups. We feel that this will promote better interaction between the users and enrich their overall blogging experience.
(For comments and inquiries, email annalyn.jusay@gmail.com)
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