Monday, April 16, 2007

Taiwan WHO blog: UGH

A friend of mine in the Taiwan government sent me this link to a new blog set up by Taiwan Thinktank to promote the island's entry into the World Health Organization (WHO). I heartily agree that our fair island should be a member, but ....well.... see for yourself. It's a blogspot blog. Taiwan is not in the name. The header and sidebar pics have nothing to do with Taiwan (a fat white baby??). The owner is anonymous. No tagging system is used. No sitemeter or other metering service is apparent. Outgoing links appear to be limited. The owner of the blog appears to be unaware that blogging is about building community..... just a minor but illustrative example of the ongoing problem the Green side has in handling communications with the outside world.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

...ongoing problem the Green side has in handling communications with the outside world.

How true. Just take a look at the www.ddp.org.tw website for example. It looks like it was designed by 3rd graders. On the English site, there is nothing except a goofy flash lotus pond animation.

In addition, if you send an email to their contact link, it will more than likely get kicked backed with error messages such as "mailbox full...unable to deliver, etc.".

It's amazing that in this day and age, they don't capitalize on the resources and talent they have here in Taiwan to help them further their cause to the outside world.

At the very least, the DPP should privately sponsor your TaiwanMatters website.

Your thoughts (especially here on VFT) and those of the other writers on TaiwanMatters are invaluable to explaining the real political, economical, educational and social situation in Taiwan, but I bet they do not even know these sites exists. It is such a great tool for them, but they are clueless.

Its too bad the wannabe progressives here always seem to fall back into the typical Taiwanese defense mechanism: which is never try out or even discuss new ideas, else you will be the one take on the responsibility.

A second thought is always do the least amount of work possible to avoid taking on added responsibilities. (including never answer emails, especially from foreigners). The key factor is avoid responsibility at all costs.

Anonymous said...

Let's help them. They sure could use your help for example. I'm going to leave a comment.

Michael Turton said...

How true. Just take a look at the www.ddp.org.tw website for example. It looks like it was designed by 3rd graders. On the English site, there is nothing except a goofy flash lotus pond animation.

Also see the DPP blog, which is down below on my sidebar. A total loss.

Your thoughts (especially here on VFT) and those of the other writers on TaiwanMatters are invaluable to explaining the real political, economical, educational and social situation in Taiwan, but I bet they do not even know these sites exists. It is such a great tool for them, but they are clueless.

Thanks. I really appreciate that. But I wouldn't take DPP money; I am happy to be unattached to them and thus in a position to critique and criticize.

Michael

Anonymous said...

I found a positive example I think:
http://www.biotecheast.com/index.php

Not political, and outsourced to consultants, but decent right?