...but not about Economics:)....
I have noticed that I have quite a but of expat readers, and I sometimes get quite interesting emails from them on their experiences in Turkey. Some of them are travails of living in a country with a very different corporate culture. Others are observations that your friendly neighborhood economist, despite having lived in the U.S. for more than a decade, just takes for given because of the pure Turkish blood flowing in his veins.
In addition, I have quite a bit of expat friends, who also share with me sometimes tragic, sometimes comic stories (many times both). They also tell me about their problems, from serious issues like property ownership (or rather lack of), residence difficulties, outright corruption and swindling to not being able to get a turkey in Turkey:)...
However, they often times do not want make their comments publicly available, sometimes for fear of repercussions, other times just out of privacy concerns. But these are very valuable insights, and I hate to see them told to only a select few. So I came up with this idea: Why don't I start a blog in Blogger or Wordpress and give access to the expats. who want to contribute. If they wanted to, they could keep their IDs hidden, giving them the needed anonymity.
I am aware there are forums that serve this purpose, but the idea here is not discussion, just recounting tales. And I am hoping the contributions will be more than a few sentences.... In fact, I just received a long email from a friend about her (her is my default BTW, for PC purposes) horrid experiences at her workplace, which gave me the idea. She definitely does not want her writings to be publicized, but she could have easily posted them anonymously to the blog after XXXing the name of her company and other identifiable "marks"....
Anyway, my first New Year's resolution is to talk to my expat. friends and see how they feel about this. If I get enough encouragement (and promise they will contribute), we may see this becoming a reality in the first days of 2011.... And if the material is good enough, which I am sure it will, I may as well edit it into a travel book, with the proceeds going to a charity of the authors' choice...
Posts
6 comments:
Great idea but anyone taking part in this should use a gmail or hotmail adress etc, and NOT an email given them by their employers. But thanks. Something like this is needed.
Fearful
Outer Istanbul
Yep, that's the idea... Anyway, if I do it in Blogger (rather than Wordpress), you might need a gmail account anyway, but in any case, both blogging systems give you the right to post anonymously even if you use a corporate email. In other words, no one would see your email or name....
BTW, three people already said they wanted to contribute in the first 24 hours after I posted this, so I'll just go ahead and give it a try, I think...
What a bright idea for those who have plenty of time to play little games, but not enough strong economics background to produce economic analyses of high caliber.
BTW, I am profoundly impressed to learn that you have spent 10+ years in the US. WOW!.. I myself have spent some 17 years doing an MA, a Ph.D.and working as a finance professional in several European countries. But not once-- until I read your latest rambling-- did it occur to me to use it as PR material on a public website. A free and friendly advice to you: BEING MODEST IS ALWAYS BEST!
@2ndAnonymous: See here:http://emredeliveli.blogspot.com/2011/01/spammer-strikes-back.html
I think that it is certainly an interesting idea and should thus should not just remain as one, but be swiftly put into motion. From a personal point of view I think that ''Expats'' can find shared info to be rather valuable. Their experiences, judgements, and recollections can provide rich and entertaining reading for locals as well as expats, and provide an alternative window from which we can all view our respective environs.
@ emi: Thnx, if I only could come up with a proper name for the blog...
Post a Comment