"The Wild East" is the winner of the Best Taiwan Blog Awards for 2008 in the "Best General Taiwan Blog" category. Blogger Phillip Charlier took some time off his busy schedule to give us an interview about the blog, blogging, the Taiwan blogosphere and Taiwan in general.
Background details :
Blogger - Phillip Charlier
Blog - The Wild East
Blog slogan - East meets West and Vica Versa: It’s a jungle out there
Years blogging - 3
Blogging platform - Self-hosted Wordpress
Country of origin- Australia
Years in Taiwan - over 5 years
And on to the interview...
Q : What was your main motivating force for beginning your own blog?
When I came to Taiwan I found myself hanging out with other writers and writers always want to publish. Blogging is the best way to publish and manage content. Notebooks get lost under the detritus and decay. Scrolls get long and unruly over time. Internet protocols and non-human languages might not be your cup of tea. Sometimes important stuff doesn't get into the newspapers.
Q : What is your blog mainly about? Please tell us a little bit about the general topics you usually discuss in your blog
It's mostly Taiwan-related news and views, usually covering topics not making the front pages. Because it's written by expats who live in Taiwan, the focus is Taiwan in the world. I'd like to cover some China and Asia-Pacific issues as well. There's also content about the local arts scene, including music, exhibitions, film and documentaries. There are travel articles as well.
Q : What does blogging mean to you? What importance or contribution does your blog have, if any, to yourself or the community?
Blogging is a way to affect the world in a positive way. It starts in our community and goes from there. We want it to promote all the positive things we see, rather than criticizing, and therefore perpetuating, the negative aspects. It's a way of practicing writing, editorial and tech skills as well. Knowing people are seeing your work makes you extend yourself and to learn more and write well. Blogs are empowering for individuals and the community. The blog and other web technologies wrest control of information out of the hands of the corporate conglomerates who set the agendas and frame the issues in the mass media.
Q : How did your blogging help promote you personally? (either professionally, by reputation, additional direct/indirect income or similar)
Both of the main contributing writers on The Wild East blog were publishing online before blogs were invented. Through web publishing, I've been invited to sit on government and community consultancy committees, been invited for radio interviews and eventually even got my own radio show before I came to Taiwan. Without the web I would have been invisible and none of that would have happened. Blogging can be a bridge between the personal, educational, professional, and public domains of social life. For example, whenever someone applies for a job, most savvy employers today would Google them.
Q : How much freedom do you feel you have to discuss what you care about in your blog? Are some topics more sensitive than others? Do you include personal details and stories in your blog? Why?:
I have the freedom to write what I want but with great freedom comes great responsibility. First is to myself and other contributors when you consider the previous question and the professional repercussions of blog posts. Then there's the political aspect: Blogging on China and Taiwan is walking an interesting geo-strategic fault line. I don't want to start any trouble. But if my blog was banned in China, I would proudly fly a banner saying so. I don't write personal stories in The Wild East blog, but I'm thinking of starting a separate one for that.
Q : How would you generally describe the Taiwanese blogosphere? Do you personally know any other Taiwan bloggers? In your opinion, what contribution or role does the Taiwan blogosphere have?
A lot of expats in Taiwan are writers, artists, musicians, working as English teachers, tech writers, etc., so you have a good base for a quality blogosphere. You can also add those who came over after the Dot Com crash of the new millennium and those attracted to the high tech industries, so you have the savvy as well. The English language media in Taiwan is fairly limited compared to Hong Kong and Singapore. What exists is often poorly written and edited as well, so the blogosphere has a lot of gaps it can fill. One of the things I like to do is scan the tech and industry news sources and turn dry facts into interesting stories. I think Taiwan bloggers can help Taiwan's domestic industries connect with the world. Taiwan is great at making things but weak when it comes to creativity and communications.
Q : Do you have any favorite blogs about Taiwan you would like to recommend?
The View from Taiwan must have been one of the first blogs and is still one of the best. Likewise, Scott Summers Taiwan Weblog, whose title gives a hint of it's Paleolithic origins, and like the aforementioned, has accumulated a lot of respectable information over the years. David on Formosa also gets about with bicycle, camera and notebook to get interesting observations on life in Taiwan. The Daily Bubble Tea is world-class photography focused on Taiwan. I also like The Newhamphire Bushman for photography and good design.
Q: How did you first make the decision to arrive in Taiwan?:
It was a networking thing. A friend asked me to help recruit teachers for a company in Taiwan so I did some research and nominated myself. I had an itch to see the world and was just waiting for an opportunity. I thought I'd spend a year here and move on, but got addicted to betel nut and convenience stores.
Q : What do you think about life in Taiwan, the Taiwanese people and Taiwanese culture? How would you generally describe your experience in Taiwan?
I lived in some pretty remote and rural places before I came to Taiwan so I was wide-eyed and wonder-struck when I first arrived in Taipei. Now it just seems like a bigger country town. Taiwanese people are hardworking and fun loving people who like to eat and sing. They are more innocent than apathetic, more cautious than cunning, and less imaginative but more diligent than the cultures I grew up with in the wild wild west.
Q: What advice would you give new bloggers?
Take your time. It's easy to start a blog. Many are started but none are ever completed. Take your time to think about what you want to write about and take your time to write it. Think about the long term. Blogs are here to stay.
Q: What advice would you give someone considering coming to work, study or live in Taiwan?
Bring your sense of adventure and maximize your tolerance of differences. Make contacts and arrangements before you arrive. Get ready to adapt. Go with the flow and don't try to swim against the current. Read Lao Tzu for personal survival and well being, and Sun Tzu for surviving in the workplace and business. Start learning the language immediately.
Thank you, Phillip. Keep on the excellent work!
