IBB 13: An interview with Sangye Dema of the blog 'My Page'

Some Bhutanese bloggers who used to be active bloggers before are dormant these days. When you know one of such bloggers, you might be wondering what must have happened to them. Mrs. Sangye Dema who blogs at 'My Page' can be a good example. She used to be one of the active bloggers in Bhutanese bloggers' circle. 

  

I have requested her for this interview to share her views and more importantly to call her back into blogging. It doesn't seem fair to let once-active blogger to remain silent and dormant without any updates. Hope she'll resume her earlier blogging pattern soon. 

1. Thank you for your time and welcome to this interview. First of all, can you tell us little bit about yourself and your blog?
Thank you. I am a teacher and had been teaching for the last 20 years. Most of my teaching career was spent in the rural communities. My blog titled 'My Page' came into existence in 2009 where I blog both fiction and real events occasionally.

2. How you got introduced into blogging? Who helped you the most in your initial blogging journey?
I used to read quite a lot during my school days but my interest in writing developed when I was pursuing a diploma in 2006. During that time, my younger brother introduced me to the world of blogging and I started writing bits and pieces on nopkin.com under a pseudonym and later created my own blog. My husband is my greatest critic.

3. Some people say that blogging is a modern way of maintaining a diary. But for some it’s another source of income. What is blogging for you?
Blogging has served as my diary and my stress releasing mantra during the time of personal crises. I have never earned a single penny from it.

4. If some of your students are interested in becoming bloggers, what would be few things that you will suggest not to do in the start-up phase of their blogs?
I would give them a big green signal and ask them to start simple. “Think big but Start small…one step at a time.”

5. Guest blogging isn’t popular among Bhutanese bloggers. What do you think should be done to encourage this culture?
Blogging though is not very popular in the rural communities in Bhutan, I think it is picking up in the urban where people have more access to internet. Bloggers in the vicinity should come together more often and create awareness about blogging.

6. Do you know that bloggers can make some money online by displaying ads of various monetizing programs?
I have no such idea.

7. Can you suggest some changes in the current prevalent Bhutanese bloggers’ ways of blogging to make blogging in Bhutan better?
Every bloggers have their unique technique of blogging. I enjoy going through the Bhutanese blogs because I can relate to them. Bloggers need consistency in updating their blogs.  Bhutanese bloggers do not lack ideas but consistency. 

8. What do you do when you don’t blog? How they help you in improving your blogging skills?
When I don’t blog I spend my time with my little daughter (she is one and half year old). I also volunteer with RENEW at our community level. And most of the time I am preparing my lesson or planning related to my work. 

9. There is a Community of Bhutanese Bloggers (CBB) founded sometimes in 2015 by a group of Bhutanese bloggers. But you are neither a member of it nor participated in any of its events till date. What holds you back?
I know about it and also follow them on Facebook. It is a great initiative. But I have not been able to participate in any of its events owing to other obligations. And moreover the events are held in West where it is quite impossible for me to travel due to the nature of my work and the distance from my work place. But I am hopeful that I will be able to join their events in future.

10. You are a teacher by profession and blogger by passion. How related is blogging with the teaching profession?
Blogging is like spices in my teaching career. I often refer to blogs while teaching. I am still learning from both blogging and teaching.

My Words

If you go back to the date/year in which she has started blogging, you'll feel that she would be one of the bloggers who will having good experiences in blogging. She also has quite a good number of posts in her. And to read her wonderful posts, you can subscribe her blog and follow her in Facebook. 

How to install Alexa Page Rank widget in Blogger for free?

We, as bloggers, have useful Google's Google Page Rank and Alexa's Alexa Page Rank tools. They help us to study the popularity of our blogs/websites in internet world at an international level as well as at national level.
      

It's often the yardstick used by advertisers before actually agreeing to place ads in our websites or blogs. It's very much unlucky that a blog having low Alexa page rank will get lesser number of advertisers willing to advertise their products or services via that blog as low Alexa rank is a mathematical proof of being less popular.
         
Read: 10 effective methods to increase pageviews of a blog

     

But having said that, if we don't install Alexa Page rank widget in our blogs, how those advertisers or readers for that matter will know whether our blogs are doing good or not. They need a proof. And in such case, Alexa Page Rank comes handy.
      
Read: How to change default Robots.txt of a blog to improve page rank? 

               

We cannot usually add this tool in our website unless we subscribe to their subscription plans. This means we have to pay to have an Alexa Page Rank gadget in our blogs. 

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Do you like spending for that? No really, I guess. This means, this post will help you in installing the Alexa Page Rank gadget in your blog without entailing any payment. 

Step-1

Login to your blogger account
           

Step-2

Select the blog (if have many) in which you want this gadget

             

Step-3

Click on drop down menu>Layout

             

Step-4

Click on Add a Gadget
           

Step-5

Select HTML/JavaScript and paste the given HTML code in its content:

<a href="http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/stcbmtl.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" ><script type="text/javascript" src="http://xslt.alexa.com/site_stats/js/s/a?url=stcbmtl/blogspot.com"></script></a>

Step-6
Replace red font in above with your blog's URL.

Step-7
Click on Save and you are done.

 

How to break an image and upload as a stylish Grid in Instagram?

Instagram is a great tool for visual editing enthusiasts. It has varied options of predetermined editing formats and one can just choose one of them to make an image more appealing and professional. We can then either share with friends in various social media or keep it to be printed in a hard copy. 

Instagram also provides various tools to prepare a photo gallery to be presented/shared in other CMS-blogging platforms. We have shared following tutorials for preparation of a photo gallery using Instagram:

1. How to link Blogger and Instagram via Instagram Badges? 
2. How to share Instagram photos as a badge in Blogger?
3. How to share Instagram photos in a WordPress Blog?
4. How to share Instagram photos in Blogger Widget?
5. How to share Instagram photos in a Blogger Page?

If you read above tutorials, you'll get convinced that Instagram indeed is a great useful tool for bloggers providing various methods of integrating photos with blogs. 

But in today's tutorial, we are going to show you a different method of uploading a photo in Instagram. It's a different method in a sense that you can break one image into different bits and upload them one-by-one. When all those bits get upload and view, they will form like collage and appear just like one image altogether. This sounds wonderful. Isn't it?

Let us get started. 

Do you have a photo ready to be uploaded in Instagram? If not, get one and keep it ready. But for this tutorial, I have chosen a wonderful photo of Her Majesty Queen Jetsen Pema Wangchuk. 

I can upload it as one image in my Instagram account. But for this tutorial specifically, I will break into pieces and upload piece-by-piece to appear like a wonderful collage. 

We know that the pattern of photo display of Instagram is 3 x N i.e 3 rows and n number of columns. But if you want to display the image in one display, we have to assume it as 3 x 4. This means one photo has to get divided into 12 squarely-pieces. 

I have divided into 12 square pieces. You can do this in MS-paint or any other photo editing software. But don't forget to use rulers. Otherwise, the original photo may get distorted. I have used Ms-paint. It's simple. 

Break the image into 3x4 in accordance with above pattern. If original image is square, you can do in 3x3. I have done in 3x4 as original image itself is rectangular. The only thing is, number of rows shouldn't be lower and higher than 3. 

Once above procedure is done, it's an uploading time. But as I already said, you must be careful at the time of uploading. We aren't uploading just one photo. We are instead uploading many photos to appear like one when viewed/displayed together. We have to upload piece-by-piece chronologically starting from the piece that is on the bottom right-hand side of the main photo. To help you, I have numbered something like below. You must follow my numbering pattern at the time of uploading those pieces.

     

You have to upload the piece '1' first and then piece '12' last. When all the pieces are completely upload and then view your Instagram profile, those upload pieces will form yet another collage of wonderful photo in your profile wall. 

Your collage should appear something in above if you have uploaded every piece in correct sequence. If you have either missed one piece or upload one twice or more or in wrong order, you'll not get the above collage. You can click my Instagram Account to view this in actual.

Your Turn

You can try this with another such wonderful photo. I can assure that it will be an absolute fun for you. Your Instagram profile will get beautified by manifolds. And if you also know any other tips to play with Instagram, please share with us in comment. We would love to learn your tips too. Thanks!