We're a Year Old, Hurray!

It's been one year since I wrote my first post on this blog. It's amazing how quickly time flies. The adventure has been exciting so far and I want to take this opportunity to say "thank you, medasi, merci, gracias and akpe" for coming this way and being part of my world. Here's a short review of what's gone on over the past year.

State of the blog

Today's post is the 21st on this blog. The Gamelian World curently has 16 followers and has had more than a thousand visits. At the last check, this blog was ranked by afrigator as 17th in Ghana and 938th in Africa. The best rank I've seen on Afrigator is 14th. The blog has featured one guest blogger.

The good side of things

Blogging has contributed positively to my life in a few ways. The quality of my writing has improved over the past year. Since the blog is open to the global audience, it's been crucial to keep the highest standards possible. Another great benefit I have derived from blogging is to be part of the online conversation that is going on, not only in Ghana, but in Africa and the world. The process of getting people to talk about important and not so important things have been very rewarding for me. A third, and probably the greatest, success has been the good fortune of meeting great people on the blogosphere as well as in real life. The exceptionally wonderful people of the Ghanablogging group immediately come to mind.

The blog has also enjoyed a few mentions on other websites and blogs. My post on barcampghana'08 was cited here while that of US president Obama's visit to Ghana, was also cited here and here. Although this cannot be claimed as a complete validation of the blog's quality, it's an indication that eyeballs are indeed watching what's going on in this space.

The not so good side of things and ways to improve

There have been fewer posts on the blog than expected. To address this, I am coming out with a strategy that would help me post content more regularly. Also, commenting has been on the low side. Moving forward, my aspiration is to make posts concise and engaging, so as to ignite debates around the subject matter. Hopefully, that would get you to comment more here. Finally, membership of our community is still small. If you have not joined yet, why don't you join now by clicking here, and invite others to do the same?

The way forward

The key thing that I've been thinking about is defining the postion of the blog. This has been a difficult exercise because this blog has always been more about the writing and perspectives than about core areas. As of now, I am proposing a three prong approach: technology, development and lifestyle. And this is naturally in an African context.

Your critical feedback please!

This blog would be nothing without you-it's readers. Please feel free to let me know what you think about what we've been trying to do over the past year. What is being done right? What can be improved upon? What focus do you think best fits this blog? Over to you!