As summer approached over the past few weeks, I took a break from regular keyboard pounding to bang storos at KSB. This was to test the new “Reader request pulse” and I can report that the outpouring of proposals has been astounding. The accommodation of this new development has created a situation where KSB’s readers have literally been running the blog with my job having been reduced to evaluating and posting the requests.
In tandem with this new experiment has been the emergence of new commentators who have been busy pumping articles, videos and links in a bid to expose KSB readers to news items which they feel could be of significance.
While the “Reader requests” have sometimes been relevant, postings on the Commentary section has, at times, been off the mark, almost bordering on spamming as irrelevant posts and links are connected to subject lines which have no connection to the “comments” being posted.
Somehow, these new developments have almost denied KSB its “Kenya-Stockholm” theme although there have been no worries at headquarters because it has been an experiment. Just As a general rule, all new ideas have to be mooted, tested, evaluated and possibly adopted if they are productive or if they add value to the main subject matter. At the moment, there is no risk that KSB will be taken over by the new contributors but it has become abundantly clear that this league of determined actors need some space so that they can “ventilate”.
One reason why KSB agents never fetch storos from other websites is because the assumption is that KSB readers are survey enough to access the stories by themselves if they so wish by surfing to those sites. It could be upsetting to come to KSB only to find a storo you have already consumed from “The Nation” or “The Standard” web sites. However, this view does not rule out the fact that it is impossible to access all stories of interest at any particular time. Bringing stories to KSB through the “Reader request” program or through the commentary section is allowed within the blogsphere.
The down side is that if 90 percent of entries at say KSB were to be dependent on “out sourcing”, KSB runs the risk of losing its special niche as a corner where Kenyans in Stockholm or those interested in “Kenya-Stockholm” storos can retreat to chew: a local news item, hot gossip, a developing scandal or a juicy rumour doing the rounds in different Kenya-Stockholm networks. Of late, KSB management has had to put a lid on everything “Kenya-Stockholm”, not as a matter of policy change but in the spirit of taking a break. We will soon be back!
I take this opportunity to wish all our esteemed readers a happy summer holidays. It is ridiculous that in Europe (especially in Sweden located high in the North-pole) when the sun begins to shine, the event is regarded as spectacular. This is funny because in Kenya, a hot sunny day (a daily event from January to December) can be so boring that people retreat under sheds of trees to cool down. In fact, people are known to complain in Kenya that the sun “is too hot” but here, the hotter it gets the more this kind of development is likely to grab the headlines!
A Swede will never understand what you are doing in the house when the sun is shining but after many years experiencing cold winter under sub-zero temperatures in cold Sweden, I can understand them. If you are one of those Kenyans who still cannot strip down to your under wear with your kids on tow down the sandy beaches of Stockholm to prostrate yourself enjoying the sun as you lick that ice cream or munch other goodies, tuko pamoja and keep the faith. Either, it could be that the “Kenyan” in me has never left my consciousness or I have just failed to acclimatize to the realities in the North-pole. Too bad! Have a fantastic summer holidays.
Okoth Osewe
About the Author
Several confidants of Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka are reportedly sending out feelers to people close to Prime Minister Raila Odinga in the hope that the two can reach some arrangement for 2012. The VP’s confidants are reportedly not very comfortable with the Uhuru Kenyatta-William Ruto axis as far as their man’s presidential candidacy is concerned and are exploring the possibility of Kalonzo working with Raila.
Osewe, although KSB readers are running the comments section, there is a growing negative trend that is changing the usual flow of posting comments. Many of such comments are irrelevant under the topics they are posted in. For example, the comment here by Gog Magog has no relation with your article. Another example is that of a comment under “Jessica’s pre-wedding party” posted on May 27th, which is about Father Kizito, yet has nothing to do with the wedding invitation. It is annoying to read such irrelevant comments!