By: Siti Nur Farhanah
17 July 2009
Visits to 'DD Net', the cybercafe that is a short walk away from our hotel, Hotel Puspo Nugroho, has been a routine activity of all the travelers present on this trip. Of course, this was facilitated by the fact that each traveler had receive a certain amount of allowance fund our trips to the cybercafe. Ensuring that the blog was kept updated became the responsibility not only of the editorial team but involved the active participation of every traveler as well. Where one might expect lots of dramatic inquisitions as 19 different individuals, including our pathfinder, Dr Yeoh Seng Guan and chaperon, Melanie Chalil, set out in a foreign land, it is safe to say that quite the reverse happened. Quoting from the words of fellow editor, Rachel Lai, “You don't even have to bug people to get their work done”. The responsible and self-motivated nature of the team on this study trip has certainly made the lives of the editorial board members much easier.
Prior to the trip, a schedule of deadlines had been drawn up for fellow travelers and it is certainly a relief to see that minimal changes needed to be made to this schedule once we were at our destination to maintain the up keeping of the blog. Also, there were several travelers who contributed additional articles on top of the topics that they have been assigned to in the trip. It was just great to see so much enthusiasm and responsibility exercised by the fellow travelers. Travelers adhered to the editorial guidelines provided and obeyed the instructions and tasks meted out by the editorial team. To keep readers on par with the activities that the travelers were involved whilst in Yogyakarta, Kemi and Paulista ensured that the 'Twitter' section of our blog was constantly updated, informing readers about our current whereabouts.
According to another fellow editor, Shazwan, it was also interesting to read the various blog articles given the many different styles of writing adopted by the writers. It was a great experience to have read the views of each writer after attending a particular session and how the writers worked closely with the photographers, Dominique and Natasha, to get great shots of certain places, people or activities relevant to their individual topics.
Joanna Molloy, a member of the video team admitted that she has learnt a lot from being a part of this study trip. Despite the long hours of editing that the video team had to endure under the leadership of Jane Barraclough, it was time well-spent. She described their work process as being one that was “intense but fun”, putting together various clips for us to remember this trip by.
Where the process of maintaining the progress of the blog is not one devoid of errors as another fellow editor, Marina Tan mentioned, everyone managed to work together in order to ensure that any difficulties faced would be eliminated quickly. As the editor-in-chief, I would say that feedback from our pathfinder and fellow travelers have been tended to rather promptly. Our blog web mistresses, Kemi and Abeer were quick to attend to any changes that needed to be made to improve the quality of the blog when informed by the editorial team.
The constant communication between all members of the editorial team has helped to facilitate this learning experience in the city of Jogjakarta. The delegation of tasks has helped to ensure that almost every area of the blog is tended to with great effort and attention. We also appreciate the articles contributed by our student guides, Nana, Adi, Ambar, Ike and Arum. Working with a pool of creative and responsible individuals has been a BLAST and certainly a pleasure. I guess it is safe to say that the balance between work and play has been adequately maintained by the entire team of travelers here.
On behalf of all the travelers of this study trip to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, I thank all readers who have been following us on our journey in search of Yogyakarta through the articles. Also, I can't help but stress the integral role each traveler has played in order to ensure that deadlines are met and how much pride they have taken in their work. All in all, the experience of being the editor-in-chief has been filled with great pleasure, anxiety and urgency, putting together schedules and praying that everything gets done on time. It has been fabulous race course filled with memorable moments within and outside of our work stations within the world of our warnet (cybercafe) 'DD Net'.
Yours truly,
Editor-In-Chief
insearchofyogyakarta.blogspot.com
xoxoxo
Farhanah Bagharib
WRITER'S PROFILE: Farhanah Bagharib aka Nana is currently doing her Honours in Monash University Malaysia. She graduated the previous year with a degree in Bachelor of Communcations. Nana is a citizen of Singapore with immediate ancestry from Yemen in the state of Hadramawt. Being extremely interested in the workings of the feminist theory, Nana's Honours thesis revolves around the concept of feminism in Iranian cinema. Nana is SUPER picky with food but as long as there's fast food, she's all good.
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