David on Formosa

Today's Taipei Times featured an article by Ron Brownlow about Taiwan blogs. It includes quotes from Michael Turton and myself. The article also mentions larger Taiwan community or portal websites, Forumosa.com, Taiwan Ho, Taiwan Fun and Taiwan Nights.

The article notes some of Michael Turton's thoughts about the role of blogs in reporting news from Taiwan.

"I like to see myself as presenting sides of Taiwan that most people ordinarily wouldn't interact with, especially overseas," Turton said. His Web presence has earned him a small degree of fame and notoriety that, in his words, "reflects a tremendous hunger for knowledge about Taiwan that's going unfulfilled in the traditional media." 

I also think blogs have an important role to play. While I don't think they will necessarily replace the mass media they can fill in many gaps. Blogs are not subject to the same constraints of style, commercial interests or deadlines as the mass media. Although they may not reach as many people they can reach an audience that is seeking specific information. 

For people that cannot read Chinese it is often difficult to get good information about Taiwan. I hope I can make a small contribution to increasing the amount of information about Taiwan available in English. That way others can also enjoy some of the things in Taiwan that I have.