Approximately 1,500 bloggers and social media users were in attendance at Pesta Blogger+ 2010 "Celebrating Diversity," which was held at Epicentrum Walk in Jakarta, according to the U.S. Embassy here in its website on Monday. For the third consecutive year, U.S. Embassy Jakarta was one of the main sponsors for Pesta Blogger, which includes an annual festival and ten blogging workshops held in different cities around the country.
This year`s blogging workshops took place from August through October, where a total of approximately 350 Indonesian participants learned how to set up and author a blog, discussed blogging ethics, and learned how to use other social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook.During this year`s Pesta Blogger festival, Indonesian Minister of Education Muhammad Nuh, Pesta Blogger Chairwoman Irayani Queencyputri, and U.S. Embassy Counselor for Public Affairs Don Q. Washington addressed the crowd about the importance of freedom of expression and tolerance.
Internet freedom is an important goal for the U.S. Government. As U.S. Secretary of State Clinton has stated, "We have seen the possibilities of what can happen when ordinary citizens are empowered by Twitter and Facebook to organize political movements, or simply exchange ideas and information."
Through sponsorship of Pesta Blogger, U.S. Embassy Jakarta aims to support further development of Indonesia`s democracy by promoting the freedom of expression and access to information for all Indonesians by taking advantage of these new technologies.
Many Indonesians already are taking advantage of these freedoms and the country`s thriving online landscape.
Indonesia has the second largest Facebook community and the third largest Twitter community in the world. Furthermore, there are more than 2.7 million blogs in Indonesia, and Bahasa Indonesia is the most widely used language on international blogging website WordPress.com.
(sumber: www.antaranews.com/en/news/1288625689/pesta- blogger+2010-promotes-freedom-of-expression-tolerance)
