Intro
On the 1st of February this year (2008), I had a huge and a nice 'technologically' wrapped package delivered to my office by DHL. It was my first time to have stuff of that mega capacity delivered to me. I was used to picking up my mails and parcels from porter's office at the medical complex building on campus. I could hardly contain the euphoric feeling creeping over me as I signed on the 'Parcel Received' catalog. When I tore open the huge parcel in the company of my friends it was a new black and silver color DELL Inspiron 1520 laptop with Windows Vista OS. Alongside was a customized and tech-looking black DELL laptop bag with intricately designed compartments. It was dream come true. And all this was courtesy of my Big Sister and the ministry and firm which she belongs. As I stared admirably at the all-in-one electronic gadget, tool, and device that had just gotten into my hands, I knew that my life would never be the same again. And I have my big sister and her firm to thank for this monumental act of generosity. To them I shall remain eternally grateful.
In my 'neighborhood' owning a laptop automatically enrolls you into a new league of friends and cliques of at least well paid middle class income earners in Nigeria. So my status quickly jumped up a few notches. In my final year clinical class I became one of the premiere kids to exclusively own a new 'lappie' as it coined in my neighborhood. In the medical school where I am training laptop owners are mainly consultants, residents and few house officers. I began talking tech stuff, tweaking computer applications, exploring available software markets and, of course, surfing the web to update my OS, antivirus, and other installed applications. The pace of my one-year Community Health project (Pattern of Home Management of Malaria among Pregnant women who come to University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City) also got revved up. With SPSS installed in my system entering and analyzing data was more of a pleasure ride. For me the old, strenuous, and error-prone manual method of making spreadsheet became history. Microsoft Office Excel also came in handy here. My learning experience accelerated as my access to information kept increasing- I had most of my clinical texts, material and learning kits installed as soft copies on my computer. As a minister, preparing and presenting my teachings, preaching and motivational messages improved tremendously. And with this came big time entertainment and gaming. Right now, my life can be chronologically be categorized into 'pre-laptop' and 'post-laptop' era.
Engaging my talent and gadget
For more 200 days after I got my laptop all I did was store information into it and retrieve on demand, make presentations with it, and entertain myself. Deep down I knew I was simply under utilizing my machine and this sadden and made me less fulfilled. So I began searching, exploring and learning 'anything' computer, software or internet. I have always loved computer and all the tech stuff about it. In fact, in my fourth year in high school I remember nursing a dream to study computer science in the University. I soon gave it for a medical career after I sat back to x-ray the then prevailing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) terrain- it was largely under developed and uninviting. And the sorry state of the economy at that time may the choice even less desirable. Parents in their own 'wisdom' counseled their wards to go for courses like Medicine, Engineering, Law, Accounting, Pharmacy and the like. They believed that with qualifications in these disciplines their wards were sure of a good job and a good start in life. But today with great revolution in ICT these parents have eaten their words. The testimonies of great techies like Bill Gate (Microsoft), Paul Allen, Maher Quabain (Starcomms, Nigeria), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google), David Filo and Jerry Yang (Yahoo!), IBM, Mackintosh, and the likes have pointed the world in whole new direction and made human existence leap into a new dimension. I believe human existence on earth was warming up for an unprecedented era as the American physicist John Atanasoff was in his workshop experimenting on the first ever rudimentary electronic computer in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Today, humanity can hardly do anything without computer or its application. Governments, Businesses, Organizations, Hospitals, Military, School systems hinge their existence and operations essentially on computer systems and networks. I have had time to reconsider my career and I have successfully re-charted my roadmap and I feel fulfilled by the thought of it because it engages my talents, aspirations and gadget. I could no longer sit back or remain a mere computer or ICT end user. Not after reading and listening to thought provoking and mind blowing stories about how kids like me first started out by turning their daddy's garage into a computer workshop and today own the best office complexes and estates in the world and still had the world eating out of their hands. I have resolved to begin by transforming the practice of Medicine in Africa by deploying the right technology into it (more from http://medipreneurs.blogspot.com).
Blogging vs. Spamming
My dissatisfaction and curiosity drove me into the internet. I wanted something worthwhile and meaningful out of my talent and interest in ICT. I remember leaving a ICT oriented motivational seminar organized by Johnson Abbaly's Achievers' Consortium charged up and ready to take on the world. It was during one of my frequent exploratory trips into the internet I discovered the blogging business and all the intrigues and benefits that came with it. Lots and lots of people, business groups and even political campaigns now thrive on blogging. One thing that quickly came to my mind after a bite of this valuable information was why was the 'boys' in my 'neighborhood' still involved themselves in internet fraud when they can make a fortune from blogging passionately about concepts, ideas, people, things or events. All that was required was a little hard work and quality time spent browsing the internet for freely and readily available information, tutorials and training on how to blog successfully. I am very sure Yaro Starak (http://blogtrafficschool.com) and Darren Rowse (http://problogger.com) will gladly serve them the baby bloggers' tips and tutorials. I recall enquiring from one of them if he knew anything about blogging and I was really sorry to hear how ignorant he was. I could hardly imagine why they ignore an engagement as worthwhile and rewarding as blogging and still prefer to totter at the brinks of been picked up by EFCC (A Law enforcement agent in Nigeria that handles the criminal cases such Internet frauds) and risks of doing a gruesome time ill-equipped jail cells.
This may just be the one of the foremost reasons why I began blogging- to prove to these ill-informed young people that there are legal and profitable engagements on the internet apart from forex. From my experiences in ministry, human resources, and personnel development and, of course, medical training I know that one of the successful ways of curbing a bad habit or tendency is to replace it with good or harmless one. Nature abhors vacuum and so if I am going to be successful in changing and transforming and if I may add, 'rehabilitating' their already convoluted minds I have to employ this model of 'Better-alternative' replacement technique. And I know this will definitely work because nobody argues with true success.
Again, blogging will in the long run enable me reach the millions of internet users in various continents with my message, knowledge, wisdom, and talent. I would love to die happily knowing that I left the world better than I met it even if it is just my immediate 'cosmos' that I was able to influence and affect positively. I once had a publication on campus- a medium I used in publicly sharing my best poetry collections and related inspirational and motivational articles. Every fortnightly I would pick a suitable poem or write-up from my growing collection, make it into nice graphically print-outs and have them pasted strategically on campus. The feedbacks, response and the publicity it gave me really spurred me on. Now with blogging I can publish globally and hopefully grow my readership to a global scale! The thought of this keeps on the internet looking for ways and method I could employ to grow and truly better my loyal audience and readers.
The more I visit I blog sites, blog networks and blog hosting sites (http://blogger.com, http://wordpress.com, http://typepad.com, http://movabletype.com ) I could hardly contain my excitement as I glean up the opportunities and potentials available to bloggers (for more visit http://blogherald.com, http://payperpost.com, http://eatonweb.com). You can actually make good income from blogging part time not to mention full time.
People blog for various reasons: to share their messages and experience with the public, to build public awareness and pull traffic to their sites, make money or just for the fun of gossiping about people, things or events they fancy, hate or are indifferent about. Whatever the intentions are, I am sure there is a place for anyone. So far I have learnt that studying the blogging terrain, profiling successful bloggers (http://boingboing.com, http://technorati.com, http://techcrunch.com, and aptly picking up areas of interest and passion for example Electronics, Automobiles, Business, Political issues, Media, Fashion, Relationship, Celebrities, and so on one can really be a successful blogger.
Outro
There are lots of stuff I have churning in my mind and my fingers are itching to command my keyboard but I think it is okay if I cool off here and let you digest what you've read so far. Please do check back soon for the conclusion of this posting. If you are not in so much haste do leave a meaning comment. I would really love to hear from you. Till then keep winning! Y'all the stuff!
- Akpenyi Dennis (the Oracle of Denzyjones)
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