Rivalista

The U.S. Embassy is sponsoring "Pesta Blogger 2010" dubbed "Celebrating Diversity", an Indonesia`s premiere blogging event, for the third year in a row, the US embassy said on its official website.

Ambassador Designate Scot Marciel and Deputy Chief of Mission Ted Osius attended the press conference. Also in attendance were Pesta Blogger 2010`s Chairperson, the Director General for ASEAN - Indonesia, and more than sixty reporters and bloggers.

Pesta Blogger includes ten regional blogging workshops, or "blogshops" held in different cities across the country, and the main Pesta Blogger festival in Jakarta. In 2009, more than 1,400 participants attended the Pesta Blogger festival.

On August 21, U.S. Embassy representatives hosted the first blogshop of 2010 in Makassar. Almost forty participants attended the blogshop to learn about blogging and other social media tools, including Facebook and Twitter.

After the blogshop, approximately 100 Makassar bloggers, who blog about topics as varied as events in Makassar, open source software and their favorite personal computers and mobile devices, gathered to meet the blogshop participants and discuss issues facing Makassar`s blogging community.

In addition to Makassar, Pestat Blogger 2010 blogshops will take place in Padang, Manado, Yogyakarta, Pontianak, Banjarmasin, Surabaya, Madura, Aceh, and Medan.