Classics

One of my favourite popular culture critics has always been Raymond Williams. Today I want to share a slice from his article "The Technology and the Society", reprinted in The New Media Reader:

It is especially a characteristic of the communications systems that all were foreseen - not in utopian but in technical ways - before the crucial components of the developed systems had been discovered and refined. In no way is this a history of communications systems creating a new society or new social conditions. The decisive and earlier transformation of industrial production, and its new social forms, which had grown out of a long history of capital accumulation and working technical improvements, created new needs but also new possibilities, and the communications systems, down to television, were their intrinsic outcome.

Nigerian scam

Obviously, the Nigerian scam isn't good publicity for the Nigerians. Here's a list of resources about the scam, compiled within a page of information on Nigeria.

Terrorism

Today is a sad, strange day, It is sunny, like three years ago. I am using my laptop in the livingroom, as I was then. But I am not desperately trying to get in touch with my NYC connection, to find out if he is safely out of the lower end of of Manhattan.

The 11th of September changed the news. It also shocked America out of the aloof isolationism, as it experienced a direct attack. The backlash is still sweeping over the world.

But terrorism is older than three years ago, and it happened and happens all over the world. Barcelona and Jakarta are only the most recent examples. Sometimes we tend to forget this, in the face of the massive tragedy of perhaps the most successful terrorist attack ever.

To mark the day I bring you the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, and their knowledge base on terrorism and international crime.

The view from this side

This is a picture of the other side of the fjord. They have the morning sun, we have the middle of the day and the afternoon.

One woman

And 98 men in Southern Methodist University's Guildhall school of video game making.

Survival skill

By now I have learned to focus in the weirdest places, and preparing a lecture on the plane between Oslo and Volda is only a problem because the flight is a little too short. Luckily I got to wait at Gardermoen for three hours first. One problem with that - learning how to work while travelling is runing my experience of total freedom while on my way somewhere. I wonder what I will have to figure out next.
Anyway: Datamaskinen og tanken, "the computer and the thought", part one out of three in a series of media science lectures. Bush, Engelbart, Nelson and Baudrillard. Fun stuff, and in 10 minutes!

Another life

Jill's post resonates with the dreams of what we could have been. I can definitely see Jill teach Alexander technique. I have a bit more problems seeing myself in the role I occasionally consider: becoming a hairdresser. Not that I think I would not enjoy it, but I know my back, after years of abuse, can't take it. What I haven't quite forgotten is the dream of being a goldsmith. One day perhaps I sell the house, take a year or two leave, and find a very different life for myself. I haven't forgotten Mary Ann Buckles.

With just a little help

from your friends, it's possible to make some sense in an over-crowded day. A question asked by Jill on email yesterday was still unresolved today, until she grabbed the phone and asked me what I really want to talk about in Bergen in November. (Please, pretend that you don't follow that link until Thursday, they are working on the lay-out.)

This is what we came up with:

Sosiale tekster hinsides blogging

Blogging har blitt kjent og etablert blant akademikere. Men er blogging det endelige svaret på personlig, sosiale publisering via nettet? Hva betyr blogging for endringen av menigmanns rolle som mediebruker? Går rollen fra å være mottaker til å være deltaker eller spiller på nettet?

"Sosial texts beyond blogging: Blogging is known and established in academia. But is blogging the final answer to personal, social publishing online? How does blogging influence the shift of the common man's role as a media user? Does the role change from receiver to participant of player online?"

And then I said yes to do a blog workshop for beginners. Fun stuff!

Controlling porn

China gets tough on Internet Porn, which is, I think, a good thing. However: imagine what else the filters and censorship systems built to control porn can be used for? China is not exactly known for not using tools for information control.

Science in Game Research

From BBC NEWS: Bodies and brains of gamers probed.

"Playing a game does not make you happy if you lose. A game does alert and activate you though," said Dr Thornton.
...
The stress hormone, cortisol, also shot up in the group of 16 men, doubling that of an average person. In a control group where they sat passively watching a video of a game, they fell.

Based on this, the researchers have hypothesised so far that the psycho-physiological impacts are similar to physical sports.

"It is much like playing football or rugby. If you lose, you feel rubbish but still elated."

Good. Science can now tell us that playing games feels like playing games.

Don't get me wrong, I am delighted that there is a wider range of research done on computer games, particularly studies how the player experiences and the players' relationship to the game. And while this is done with the intent to develop better games, it is done within the traditions and the culture of established academic research.

Dr Jeremy Thornton, Department of Computer Science, University of Hull, is one of the two working to develop a model for measuring player reactions to games, and he presented the results on the Game Developers Conference Europe. From their site:

Jeremy Thornton has an MB ChB. He is a Family Practitioner taking his PhD in Computer Science part time at the University of Hull. His main area of research is the psycho-physiological impact of video games and using the results to design and predict hit games of the future.

He is working with Jon Purdy:

Jon Purdy has a PhD in Applied Physics. He is now a lecturer at Hull University in the Department of Computer Science where he developed the curriculum for, and teaches on, the advanced MSc in Games Programming. Jon is an active researcher publishing papers in medical signal processing and visualization.

I would have loved a link to the content of presentation, which was held on Academic Day. Gonzalo was there though, perhaps he knows something?

Digital documentary

PixelPress is a project to support documentary makers taking advantage of the digital media:

At PixelPress our intent is to encourage documentary photographers, writers, filmmakers, artists, human rights workers and students to explore the world in ways that take advantage of the new possibilities provided by digital media. We seek a new paradigm of journalism, one that encourages an active dialogue between the author and reader and, also, the subject.

Our online magazine features projects that use a variety of linear and non-linear strategies, attempting to articulate visions of human possibility even while confirming human frailty. For us the digital revolution is a revolution in consciousness, not in commerce.

One of their projects is Digital Diary: Witnessing the war by Brian Palmer. The diary is a mixture of strong, expressive photography and thoughtful writing. This is an example of how blog technology and blog genres can be used.

Not so sinful

I spent the sunday putting the house back in some order. After a week or two of being lived in by an active family with more tasks than time, it looks like a neglected bus-station. Which it sometimes feels like. As a reward to the family for all doing their part of the job, I made this spelt and fructose chocolate cake.



The recipe:
100 gram fructose
4 eggs
1 dl virgin olive oil
5 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 deciliter milk
180 grams of fine spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Mix eggs and sugar until it's fluffy and stiff. This is easier and quicker with fructose than with sugar. Add oil, salt, milk, cocoa, baking powder and spelt flour. Beat carefully and as little as possible as you mix everything. Use a round form with a loose bottom, 24 cm diameter. Bake for 40 minutes, 180 degrees celsius.

When the cake cools down, mix the icing.

100 grams of butter
100 grams of cream cheese
75 grams of fructose
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 eggyolk

Mix butter and cream cheese. Put in the cocoa and the eggyolk and beat until the icing is smooth. Spread it over the cake and serve with whipped cream and/or fruit.

Using spelt flour and fructose causes the bloodsugar levels to rise slower and fall slower when you eat this cake than others. The calorie count isn't much lower than with normal flour and sugar, but the spelt flour makes you feel full much quicker, and the slow drop of the bloodsugar prevents the renewed craving for something sweet that cakes otherwise trigger in carb wrecks like me. No, this isn't diet food for losing weight, but it doesn't make me gain weight at the lightening speed most other chocolate cakes I make would if I didn't leave the eating to others.

The decoration? I was playing around with my 36 tips cake decoration set (yes, I have deviant interests), making this design which the boy claims was inspired by old wigs. Alternately, he expected an alien monster to break free of the cake in a shower of chocolate icing and wrap about his neck. I guess I should name this cake "alien nest" or "chocolate of outer space". Nobody refused to eat though. I guess I should have put some blue in the icing if I wanted it all for myself.

Game article cooperation

yes, it's true, after a couple of years of finishing and focusing on my own stuff, I am planning to cooperate with Hilde again. It's odd, I feel relieved, as if relaxing into something that I know will work and be fun, the opposite feeling of how academic writing and research has felt the last year.

No, not a big deal, but we plan to enjoy it!

Necessities

neccessities, originally uploaded by Rotill.

I imagine myself as somebody walking through life carrying little with me, as I feel that I only have the bare necessities. A quick look at what I have close on a normal afternoon preparing a lecture made me think twice. There is nothing in this picture I would consider throwing away - except from the newspaper. But I get a new one three times a week of that one.

Lisbeth and the Prince

For our gossip column: Today, Lisbeth Klastrup, reknown Danish blogger and games scholar, may or may not meet the prince. In this meeting, she is supposed to be ready for making conversation during the buffet after the speeches at the opening of the IT-University in Copenhagen. The blogging community of Scandinavia waits with bated breath as the Prince may be given audience with our own Lisbeth, Gracious Lady of Danish blogdom.

Stay tuned to Klastrup's Cataklysms for further updates.

Which Prince? Oh, right, Joachim, second in line to inherit Denmark, and a handsome prince indeed.

Flickr

I am currently testing flickr.com to see if that is a good place to put up a photo blog. Flickr offers something I have not played around with before - different layers of privacy. Since I am planning to use this to communicate with my sisters about the boathouse, there's not everything that needs to be fully public.

I am not sure how this will work. Some of my sisters are very net-savvy, some were for years of the persuasion that computers would ruin the creativity of children, some are happily curious and exploring their new imacs and some just want the accounting system to work, for svarte. So I guess we represent a pretty varied sample of humanity.

I am doing a couple of other explorations into different ways to play around online, none of them at the moment connected directly to games. One is at blink.dagbladet.no. Blink is a community site with blogging, moblogging, photoblogging, email between members, friend-lists and a lot of other different features that makes it one of the more interesting hybrids of social software and blogging software. I find this leans more towards social, as you have to log in in order to read blogs and view images - I think. I guess I will be corrected if I am wrong here. And I know, Livejournal was always more of a closed community - but I don't think that's anywhere close to Blink.

Offline, I am still playing Neverwinter Nights. I still love it. Almost through with the first part - I know, this is extremely slow - and there's little as relaxing and lazy as spending a sunday while it's raining right in front of the computer killing bandits, undead, rogue giants and trolls. One of these days I'll dare play it in company with others.

Knowing your own mind

There is a name that only needs to be spoken, to give me nightmares. Somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind is an endless potential for horrifying images connected to this name. It is as if the name is hyperlinked to every weakness in my armour, every shadow that ever crossed my mind.

If computers manage to become so personalised that they will store information like the human mind, is this what we will see? When we search a word, we will have it immediately linked to our curiosity, our delight or our nightmares? I hope not, the idea of being assisted by an artificial intelligence that knows my nightmares - or even worse, develops nightmares of its own - is not my vision of the bright cyber future.

Blogger in Jail

Not for blogging, but for passing by. Mike from Satan's Laundromat was arrested Friday night and kept behind bars for 30 hours. I suspect the experience didn't make him particularly fond of the republican mayor of New York. Considering the topic of Satan's Laundromat - Urban decay - the pictures from the Republican Convention are an interesting comment.

In the nude

And while researchers discover that the percentage of women playing games is increasing, others do their best to put women characters in the games in their proper place - like in Playboy. BloodRayne will appear nude, while several others will put on "seductive poses".

Lara Croft appeared in a bikini on a chocolate bar some years ago, with an ironic remark about how much money she made them pay for her to pose like that. I wonder if there will be irony in the playboy October issue, or if this is the emergence of Gibson's Idoru, the virtual reality girlfriend.

Girlfriend update by way of Netwoman

Games, players and use

A few articles have showed up lately, with data on things confirming trends we have known about, but not had definite data on.

By way of Lisbeth Klastrup and Dennis G. Jerz: 39% of the gamers are women. The data also shows that women past 40 play more than the men at the same age. ESA, Entertainment Software Association, reports the same trends, and includes some other encouraging facts:

Ninety-two percent of parents surveyed who have children under the age of 18 say they monitor the content of the interactive games their children play, and 55 percent of parents say they play interactive games with their kids at least once a month.

ESA also reports that American gamers take the time to play games not from reading, work or activities like sports, but from watching television.

Lisbeth and Dennis also point to the Women Gamer's cooperation with Guildhall, to create a scholarship for women game developers. Good news indeed, for gamers.

Blog-only news

For a week blogger Steve Rubel was supposed to only read news from blogs. This meant: read the blogposts only. What he wanted to see was, according to the article in Poynter Online, whether he could stay updated on important news through reading blogs.

His intent: See if at this stage in the evolution of blogging, weblogs are an adequate entry point to current events -- if they could replace more traditional forms for people who want to learn what's going on in the world.

He found that certain news spread swiftly, while other spread slowly or not at all. In general the information he got was superficial, and there was little in-depth analysis.

This does not surprise me at all. The reason why I am not surprised is in his methodology. He did not follow the links! Clicking the articles the blogs linked to was NOT part of his project! What kind of blog-reading is this?

The reason why blogs work so well, why they are interesting and why following a blog can give you indepth information about current affairs or particular topics is because they work as gates and portals, not sources. They open up to others and to other discussions. This is the opposite function of mainstream media. Mainstream media want to keep the reader, listener or viewer tuned to their channel, and not clicking on anything that lets you exit and go elsewhere to learn. Blogs give you the subjective view of the writer, some commentary and an opportunity to make up your own mind about reading on or going back.

Some blogs can act as news sources and contain journalistic coverage of a topic. But don't confuse the channel and the medium! A blog is a channel for many different genres, and not a newsmedium.

Thanks Erling, for the article.

Not a good idea

Just a piece of advice to my many friends out there with diverse problems with their backs (it's a lot of us, hours in front of the monitor and keyboard is a killer for our backs): If you have a fairly long, pain-free period and start thinking you're all better, finally managed to do all the right exercizes and all the right things and now you are as strong as everybody else - don't lift a boat.

OK, so I only lifted a fourth of it, and I used to do this all the time when I was younger, and it had to be done and doing it was, even with the pain, worth not having to worry - but still, not fun.

Sosial og Digital

Conference in Bergen, arranged by among others Jill Walker and Thomas Breivik as part of establishing ELINOR, an organisation concerned with electronic literature in the Nordic countries.

I'll be there, but look at the speakers in the program, there are better reasons for going to Bergen than me on that list!

Sincere apology

After I returned from my day-trip to the radio studio, I received an email which (in the nicest possible manner) let me know that I have been badly mistaken about something. I want to apologize for having given my readers (all 5 of you) the wrong impression of the radio program "Sånn er livet".

It is not targeted at the retired population of Norway. It is not made by retired journalists. It does not interview retired has-beens. It is a magazine that does serious research on interesting topics in a generous format that allows for whole sentences and fairly complex arguments.

Seriously, it's one of the really good programs on the radio, and I listen to it when I have a chance.

I am also NOT citing any research on who actually listens to NRK P2 at 10.03 Thursday mornings. That is because while NRK's research department admits such data exists, it hasn't been made public online yet. I am convinced the audience is a broad and diverse sample of the Norwegian population, and I will from this day forth insist on this until somebody forces other data on me.

It's life

Another chance for friends and foes to hear my slightly nasal, stressed Ålesund voice (yes, I hated the sound of myself the last time) on the radio. 10.03, NRK P2, Thursday 26th, Sånn er livet. It's supposed to be about blogs again.

I am driving to Ålesund and back for this. Good thing the college counts talking about my teaching and research on the radio as "FOU" - which is a Norwegian acronym for research and development - so they won't punish me for flexing time for this. But I guess a journalism education had better be available to journalists.

Anyway: about 20-30 minutes into the program I'll be there, and the retired population of Norway will learn even more about blogs.

Ph D grants in journalism

If you study journalism, Volda College offers a three year grant for a Ph. D. on new forms of production for radio, television and the internet. Eligible for applying are students with a Master's degree and who are accepted (or acceptable) at a University or College where they can get a Ph. D. The student will be expected to live in Volda and spend most of her/his working time at Volda College.

But you have to hurry up and write. The deadline is the first of september 2004.

The field of the position:

Prosjektet skal ta utgangspunkt i ein analyse av digitale produksjonsformer, med særleg vekt på nye journalistiske produksjons- og presentasjonsmåtar, og skal vere med på å utvikle ei teoretisk tilnærming til det journalistiske feltet. Kva skjer med tradisjonell journalistikk med endra individuelle, institusjonelle og, ikkje minst, teknologiske rammevilkår?

Prosjektet kan omfatte kartlegging og vurdering av konkrete arbeidsoppgåver, analysar av journalistanes roller og publikums mediebruk og til utvikling av teori og begrep knytt til digital journalistikk i eit offentlegheitsperspektiv.

And yes, all information about this is in Norwegian. That's a hint.

Update: If you think 6 days is not enough time, you can apply for a 4 year (25% teaching) grant in Oslo: Journalistrollen i en digital tidsalder, The role of the journalist in the digital age, at Oslo college. The deadline there is the seventh of September.

Tearing bells off sheep

A student at Volda College got so sick of the sound of the bells the sheep grazing next to the college was wearing, that she complained to the farmer about them. The farmer couldn't move the sheep at the time, but he taped the bells in order to make the sound less annoying. A couple of days later he found the sheep frightened and confused, unwilling to go anywhere near the college, and four of them lacking bells.

This is the kind of Volda news that makes the national papers. It is also big news here. And it reminds me - I have to call a man about a sheep. It was on the road, wrong side of the fence, when I left home this morning.

Maintaining the roles

Enjoying the good things in life are not always that much fun. So people who have money have found ways to cut corners. Rather than walking up to the mountain, you hire somebody to carry you. Rather than getting off the elephant and walking through the jungle searching for the tiger, you get a lot of poor people to risk their lives chasing it towards where you are posted. Instead of becoming a good soccer player, you buy your own team.

Now this article in Wired shows how this happens in games through outsourcing. No reason for surprise, really. Society doesn't change overnight just because the tasks to labour at have changed.

By way of Dennis Jerz.

Moblogs and red pens

Friday Morgenbladet had an article (in Norwegian) on moblogging from Iraq. The journalists had studied the social area yafro.com, where it is possible to make your own photo moblog.

In the article the journalists ask questions of some of the soldiers in Iraq who use this site as a place to post their pictures and to chat, for instance "stilliniraq" who today is called "backhome". The article roams all over the place in an attempt to say something about several different complicated issues: The changes in personal publishing due to new technology, the role of unrestricted and unedited information from warzones, press freedom in war, and for some odd reason; wether our western culture is one of purity or filth.

Each one of these questions would have made for exellent articles, instead it's packed together in one. My red pen itches when I read something like that.

A toast to us!

By way of Anders Fagerjord (who is back at the computer).

Communication knowledge

The Swedish word is kommunikationsvetenskap, I don't think I could use that, as vetenskap - vitenskap - means science, and the book I am working with right now is not really about communication science but about how to use communication science in order to translate the knowledge into skills. Larsåke Larsson, the writer of "Tillämpad kommunikationsvetenskap", has loaded the book with references and models, so I guess the topic is the science after all, only "tillempad" - adjusted...

What this means is that it's time for me to do what I am employed to do - teach students in public information/communication (PR is a better word, but in Norwegian PR basically means marketing and publicity, and we teach a lot more than that). I really love this topic, because it is right in the middle of the motivation for my work on popular culture, mundane communication, the "simple" forms used by the masses as opposed to the "high art" of the elite.

Public information is about telling people things that makes their lives better. Yes, it may be that art increases the quality of your life, but it doesn't really matter much if you don't know you are eligible for social welfare and assistance to get aplace to live, food and clothing. It is a very real challenge to explain to all immigrants how to reunite with your family in Norway.

These are the questions that led me into communication science once upon a time, and while it may look like games and blogs have very little in common with what my students do, the connection is there. To me this is all about how do humans communicate. How do we use different technologies, and can communication be done quicker, more precisely and better than it is today?

Once in a while I lecture on communication knowledge, what works, why do we know it works and why is it important that things work like this? It feels like touching base.

Backstage media fragments

Working in a journalism education with close connections to most of the newsrooms in Norway, occasionally you learn things you would rather not hear. Like the chances for young women to get a steady job as a journalist in Norway today. They are just about zero. Why? "The moment they get a job, they get pregnant." Newspapers and broadcasters claim it is too expensive to hire women, so they don't. This trend is not immediately noticeable, because there is an all over trend towards using freelancers and temporary employees, so the differentiated hiring policies are blurred by the seemingly very harsh and random policies.

The men I work with don't tend towards exaggerations when it comes to the situation for women in working life. They did, for instance, think it was a grand joke to point out that somebody had left soft-porn magazines in the staff room today in order to increase the number of women in the room. We are now four women working here, with 20 men. The other three women are in 50% positions, one is temporary. Nothing is being actively done to change this. So when these guys discuss hiring policies as a problem for young female journalists, it not a group of paranoid hysterical feminists whining.

It got to me. Infertility or a hysterectomi would look good on your CV, if you are a young female journalist today. Fertile females are useless.

Paper Dragon

One of the most restful things I do, is sit down with a piece of paper and fold it into different shapes. I love books of origami with intricate instructions. Like too much else of the things I like to do it has disappeared in the rush of busy-ness. Reading slashdot this morning reminded me of the wonder of creating with paper.

Ancient wyrm by Joseph Wu

Female, young, new-norwegian and good

Those were the criteria my husband set when he started searching for an author to introduce to his high-school pupils this year. And he found her! Olaug Nilssen, a young woman - young enough that I feel I can get away with calling her a girl - who wrote the book Vi har så korte armar - "we have such short arms". But what I wanted to show particularly the Norwegian readers is that Olaug Nilssen has a blog, Eit eige rom med utsikt, "a private room with a view" on a site called skoddeheimen.no. Skodde = fog, heimen = the home, so something like "the home of fog". Only it sounds much more poetic in Norwegian. So plenty of literary references, national and international.

Reading her blog makes me want to blog in Norwegian. I really should write more in Norwegian. Actually I do. But not here.

Which literary classic are you?

Clancy did it, and I got curious. And WOW, this result really flattered me! I think it could hardly have fit better with what I'd like to hear (except the catolic part - never thought I discussed catholic issues).


Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose. You are a
mystery novel dealing with theology, especially
with catholic vs liberal issues. You search
wisdom and knowledge endlessly, feeling that
learning is essential in life.


Which literature classic are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

The taste of fresh koriander

I love blank books. I love buying them, searching for a combination of colours, materials, prints and images that feel meaningful to me. I have journals covered in chinese silk, bound in dark, embossed leather, green velvet, smooth glossy hard covers with pictures from japanese paintings or interwoven stems of honeysuckle. I have journals in bright red, hungry orange and deep purple, hard flat cardboard bound with metal rings and soft brown leather wrapped around handmade and handbound thick soft paper.

Some are cheap and cost me 10-15 krone, like the black and red chinese journals from when I aquired the habit of taking notes in journals and not on stray pieces of paper. Some are sensible green business issues, with alphabtic lists for addresses in front and an endless amount of finely ruled sheets waiting for me to fill them with important messages, budgets, expenses, reminders of details which can save or lose money or opportunities, like the one I keep at my desk by the phone at work. And some are seductive, begging me to reach out and caress a sensual surface, books that have beconed to me in the store and asked me to hold them, cherish them, carry them with me as companions.

By now I have a large stack of used ones. Once in a while I pick one out of the shelves in order to look for something, a thought, an idea, a name, something I almost remember, lingering at the edge of my memory. My way of storing and recovering information is not straight forwards. It is a process of many twisting paths, and I walk it in my mind searching for hints. A book I read once can be a scent of cilantro - koriander - in a meal. The scent leads me to the black cover and the elegant image of a flower. The flower floats in my mind as I reach for the journals, and I find the one with the picture by Robert Mapplethorpe on the cover, and I am back in 1999, at a table in Portland, talking to one of the interviewees and players, taking notes on hypertext. Which book did I carry? What book did I read just before that? I leaf through the journal and I remember, then I remember the discussions on agency with Dr Susan Warschauer in Morgantown (at the time) and it is all reconstructed - a chain of thought almost lost, and Susan smiling at the picture of the cala lily, sharing a private joke which I didn't understand and she had to explain. But the memories don't stop and with Susan I am in FallingWater, and I remember a scarf I bought there but lost, and I remember the summer of 1999 and the woman I was then, one year almost into the PhD, travelling alone for two months in USA doing interviews.

And while I hold that journal I touch her again, the brave woman with the backpack and a grey felt hat, a heavy laptop in a bag, fit from carrying everything and walking everywhere. An anthropologist entering America for the first time, talking to the natives, living as one but somehow failing, exploring the food and the culture, reading papers and encountering the quirks of travel.

While I stand there in front of that shelf I touch another journal, a small, cheap one this time, just a notebook really. And it is filled with notes on students. Just numbers, the titles of their papers, some questions to their work, some notes to their performance on the oral assessment. From this book I find a strict, professional, controlling woman. In the next journal, a recent one, deep violet, I find a woman dancing until 4 am at the other side of the planet, the memory of tears, mine and those of a friend I fear to be lost to me.

I stop there, as I need only this one, the black one with the white cala lily, and a literature reference. But in the back of my mind is an inclination to write Susan and tell her I will most likely be in Washington in October. And a craving for fresh koriander.

From today's garbage mail

Hi Marion,

I haven't heard from you in awhile just wanted to catch up.
What are you doing now? How's work going? I've been really busy
lately, haven't really had much time to do anything. My job has
me working like 60 hours a week, travelling all over the world.
Well I gotta run, just hit me up when you get a chance.

Regards,
Amie Marion

BTW...I tried this product from India and it really works.
Believe me you gotta try it. You'll thank me and your wife will
love you for it.

What is our spammer doing here.
First, this is a "wrong address" mail. It pretends to be accidentally sent to you. This is a school of spam writing well known from "teen-age girls" sending out pictures of "themselves" with invitations to see more at their "private place." For some reason this type of errors are very common in dorms where there are webcams and a lot of lesbians.

Second, the sender appears to be male and casual. This is a man-to-man message, short, to the point and unsentimental. As we know men never chitchat or send each other useless hints, ideas or advice, anything we can learn from this mail will be useful. But we only learn casual, boring normal things from the main body of the email. Our spammer wants us to believe this is a genuine misdirected mail. This approach is a lot more believable than the teen-age-slut-dorm-webcam error. The writing is better and the logic is better.

Third: this email sends off "I am important" vibes. The fictional Amie Marion travels all over the world and works 60 hours a week. He is indispensable, active, has endless energy and manages to satisfy his wife. Every man should want to be him.

Fourth, the clever move: The point we are supposed to be interested in following up is tucked into a PS. This is reverse psychology. If it was on top, this mail would read like your average spam mail or billboard. A man does not write a man to tell him how to improve his stamina. Men give each other that kind of hints as an aside (according to the logic of this mail), a casual question attached to the end of the conversation (by the way and apropos of plumbing, how come your wife is so cheery these days?) This is done to further keep up the illusion of a casual letter sent to the wrong email box.

The approach is clever, but it all hinges on one thing: that people want to open the mail and read a letter to somebody else. It can, of course, have as the main audience everybody named Marion, but most important, it appeals to the human curiosity and gullibility through nosyness. I did not click though. But then much as I might like one, I don't have a wife.

Blogademia

The blog of a Ph D student from Edinburgh studying blogs and learning to be a blogger.

Hooked on games

Just leaving a link here, for the Norwegian readers: Hekta på dataspill at forskning.no. It is an old article (dec 2003) about media coverage of research on computer games. A Danish report said that games might be positive and help develop children's creativity, but the Norwegian media only cared about printing the opinions of a brain-researcher who claimed that playing games releases dopamin, a drub more addictive than heroin, making children addicted to playing. Some links, in Danish and Norwegian, at the bottom of the article.

Gamer Dad

In the article The Media War Gamer Dad, or Andrew S. Bub, writes about gaming seen from a parent's perspective. This is an interesting site, and the article offers varied views on the media violence issues, starting out with Socrates, Platon and Aristoteles.

By way of slashdot.

New Semester

It starts again today. The cycle repeats itself. Students come, ask questions, get confused, persevere, work and eventually graduate. For me, the main difference is that I have been asked to lead the opening ceremony. It is purely a gender thing. There are too many men doing the different speaches, so they want a woman to lead it. That excuse may be a little obsolete, because this year only the musicians and the headmaster are male, the mayor of Volda and the leaders of the student organisations are all female. I may have to do this in a masculine manner, to compensate. Only problem is - they asked me not to get too long-winded.

Goofy Google

Did you use Google lately? I can't help it, but their play with illuminating the name has always made me laugh. I love the current olympics illustrations. Go, google!

360 degrees

This is the view from the mountain that towers over our house. The mountain is called Rotsethornet, and you are not a real "volding" (person living in Volda) if you haven't been up there.

I have a strained relationship to the lump, I have been up there, once, but I have several times tried to sell the whole thing as is to Denmark. In Denmark it would be a remarkable structure, a wonderful site for trips, mountain climbers would swarm it and there would be a nice inn at the top. Here it is just ugly, and until we moved it left us in shadow 4 out of 12 months.

The great thing about the view from this house is that I have to work really hard to see the lump, as we live just at the feet of it. From the top of the mountain the view is even better, as you can look around in 360 degrees, and not see Rotsethornet anywhere.

Blogging in the radio

Friday I dropped everything and rushed out to Ålesund, to accomodate a journalist. I was interviewed on blogging, about journalism, blogs and media criticism. If you really want to hear my voice, stuttering and tense this time around, nrk.no, program 2, søndagsavisen, is where you want to go look. In Norwegian, as usual. That's what people speak, here in Norway. You'll find me half-way into the program.

(Oh, and I was going to Ålesund anyway. I pretended to be nice and eager, but I was really going that way to get to the boathouse, where I have just spent a very quiet week-end with the family and some friends I have known so long they could just as well be family.)

Weblogs and journalism

Some resources on weblogs and journalism:
Back to Iraq, Chris Allbritton's blog from Iraq
Dear Raed The blogger from Baghdad is on hiatus, but is still fondly remembered. Did you read the book?

Articles on weblogs and journalism
Blogs, journalism and the digerati, a page with some topics in the discussions around weblogs and journalism.
Press Think, Ghost of democracy in the media machine - Jay Rosen's blog
Blogging, the new journalism? - article from 2003 in journalism.co.uk
From CyberJournalist.net: Who's blogging the convention
Bloggers type it like it is from Washington post

Language debates

More countries than Norway argue over language. This was the news this morning, and when I checked out a Fistful of Euroes, they have a long article on the German language controversy.

AFOE had the same immediate response as me to the news: "Spiegel, and I imagine the rest of the refusenik press, is indulging in the single most common reason why spelling reforms are rejected: Old people don’t like them."

Now, for a German publisher, Spiegel is interesting, as the ownership is as far as I can establish independent of Axel Springer Verlag, which owns a hefty portion of the German media. But for some reason, in Germany the independent media are the conservative media!

Serious Games Summit

It should be mentioned here. October 18th - 19th 2004, Washington DC.

I am looking for a way to be able to be there. I have funding for the trip. The problem is registration fee - and something that will convince the department they should let me go to Washington rather than Trondheim that week. Any ideas?

Update: all I lack is a cheap place to stay! Fun :)

Mail Complications

If you ever plan to send something from abroad to Norway, and it is worth more than 1000 N Kr, consider your actions very carefully.

I bought a cymbal as a present for my son. I had to order it, and this took a while, so I couldn't bring it with me home from New York in April. My NYC connection picked it up and paid for it. This time around in NYC I ended up carrying a lot of heavy things, like a cymbal stand. To make the suitcase lighter I sent the cymbal by mail to my son. I had at the time no idea that the limit for packages taxfree to Norway was 1000 N Kr.

Because of the limit, we have to pay 24% taxes. That's OK, it is cheaper than returning it to NYC and then go back there and fetch it. So my son filled out the form and sent it in to let the Norwegian Mail take care of it. The form was returned, he was too young to pay the taxes, and an adult had to sign. My husband filled in the form, and sent it back. It was returned, they need the receit and a statement of the contents of the package.

Now, tell me this: This is a present, the packing slip clearly states the contents of the package and the fact that it is a gift. How is my son, the recipient of this gift, supposed to have the receipt? The sender of the whole thing isn't even any of us, it is my NYC connection (since it will be returned to him in case it is not picked up).

This whole thing is becoming absurd. I will be on the phone tomorrow, telling somebody quite clearly how absurd it is. For the rest of you, be warned, don't send anything worth more than 1000 N Kr to Norway, unless you send the receit in the mail to the recipient.

At least, don't be stupid naive idiots and let anybody know what you are sending.

Gender in the media

If you understand Norwegian, are in Oslo September 9th-10th (or can be there) and are interested in gender, power and the media, here is a conference for you:


Vi minner om konferansen ’Kjønn i media’ som går av stabelen på Høgskolen i
Oslo 9.-10. september.

Konferansens første dag tar for seg feministisk medieforskning og
iscenesettelser av kjønn i media. Andre dag tar for seg kjønn og makt i
redaksjonen. Enkelte innledninger vil ha en teoretisk innfallsvinkel, mens
andre vil presentere empiriske studier av kjønn i media og av
redaksjonskulturer.

Konferansen avsluttes med en paneldebatt om ”Kjønn og makt i redaksjonen”.
Her vil både forskere og representanter for media delta.

I forkant av konferansen, torsdag 9. september kl. 11.30, avholder IJ
Forlaget pressekonferanse på Høgskolen der de presenterer boka: ”Kjønn og
journalistikk i mediene”, en antologi redigert av Erika Jahr. Alle som
deltar på konferansen er velkomne hit.

Se programmet her: http://kilden.forskningsradet.no/nyhet/media04.htm.

Konferansen arrangeres av Foreningen for kvinne og kjønnsforskning i Norge
(FOKK), Nordisk institutt for kvinne og kjønnsforskning (NIKK) og KILDEN, i
samarbeid med Journalistutdanningen ved Høgskolen i Oslo.

Har du spørsmål: ta kontakt med KILDEN på tlf. 24 05 59 62 eller på e-post.

Med vennlig hilsen
Heidi Elisabeth Sandnes

Implementation

I received a snail-mail from Jill while I was away. It was a heavy envelope, waiting as I arrived at work. When I opened it, a stack of notes was revealed, a fragmented story. After reading Pattern Recognition on the plane home, Nick Montfort and Scott Rhettberg's implementation felt familiar. Still, I keep worrying about where to put the notes up.

Volda is not a place where you leave stickers randomly, in our orderly little town there are no stickers on walls, windows, light-poles, doors... I have to find ways to create layers, attach this to an already transient medium, like posters for other things, ads, boards outside stores or walls that are being turn down or removed soon. Perhaps I will grab the camera and take the car out, leaving traces along the road, for the passengers on the bus - a remote node for a network of messages. But I don't think I will find anything as interesting or challenging as bomb-proof trash cans, complete with security conscious officers. Perhaps I can find some other unusual and exotic places, like in the diary at the top of a mountain or something.

Yes, I know

Things have changed. I am feeling very daring. If the feeling stays with me, the changes may last longer than until tomorrow. Enjoy!

OK, I tried to change the template and let you all have rss and comments. it didn't fly. For some reason the template I had developed and modified for my test-blog did not work here :(

OK, with a little bit of help from Faster Finn, also known as Mads, I managed to fix the problem. And so, after a day of woe... Thinking with my fingers, now with comments!

Myth of the five balls
It moves through the blogs like a meme: Life gives you five balls, one rubber, four glass. The rubber one is work, if you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four are family, friends, health and integrity: these will shatter if you drop them.

I am sorry, but this metaphor does not work for me. It is all integrated. If I don't have a job to go to, I will not be able to interact in a civilised and meaningful manner with my family, my integrity will shatter and my health - particularly my mental health - will crack. If members of my family are not healthy or have problems, work will not bounce, I will miss deadlines and opportunities never regained. The few friends I have are patient, reliable, and definitely bouncy people who appreciate the demands of work and family. And my integrity? That's the most bouncy thing of all. I do what needs to be done, and the integrity had better stretch to fit.

I will however agree that all these things need to be considered, and you can't live only at work. Me, I can't live only within the closed circle of family either, though. I need all my balls in play.

Found by way of Helenes Hengekøye

Blame the game
Another murder-case is blamed on a computer game, this time Manhunt by Rockstar Games. The horrible killing of a 14 year old boy by his 17 year old friend made the parents of the victim blame the violent video game. Today Dagbladet reports that it was not the killer who played Manhunt, but the victim! The killer's motiv was the age-old motive of greed. The victim owed him money for drugs, and the killer wanted his money back.

I can however see why the parents would prefer to blame the game. It is a much more comfortable explanation to say that a killing was irrational and happened under the influence of a mind-controlling game, than to admit that your own child was using drugs, owed money to a pusher and this same pusher was somebody you knew, another child in the neighbourhood. Nobody really want to know that kind of truth.

Invasion of the Huns
Three very civilised descendants of the Huns arrived last night, this time adults from the choir Psalmus. So I am playing hostess again. Combined with a birthday I have to prepare for Saturday, that means I go on a serious baking binge today. Chocolate chip cookies, carrot cake, and when I am done with that I have to decide which chocolate cake to make for the guests, I can't fill the house with scents of baking and not share with those who live here. So, for the rest of the vacation, imagine me in the kitchen, flour to the elbows - or dishwater. Monday I go back to work. I am already looking forwards to a restful week in the office.

Farm Animals
From the weblog of Vidar Sandtrø, a movie on modern animal farms and slaughter-houses. I have to admit I didn't manage to see it through, just knowing what I would see was enough to make me sick.

Vidar hopes animals don't suffer like that in Norway. Well, I am afraid our chicken farms are not that much better, although Norwegian rules about medication in animal food are very strict and we won't be puffed full of growth hormone by eating chicken or beef here. But for pigs and cows - at least the farmers I know do not treat their animals like that. Which is why I like knowing that the meat I eat is Norwegian, and I am willing to pay more for it than for imported meat.

Domesticated
The last week before getting back to work is being spent doing "things that need to be done but I never have time to during the work-year". Today, that meant cleaning windows (I admit, I am very selectively domestic). Yesterday, I actually made new curtains!

For the measuring and cutting part, I had exellent help.


And we managed.


This afternoon it seems like all the urgent things are in the sunlight, on the porch, and include a comfortable chair, a sunhat and a glass of cool liquid.

Jill in the paper
Even while in France, the guru speaks to the people of Norway: Don't knit, blog! Article in Norwegian, in the paper Bergens Tidende.

Norsk medieforskning
For å være helt sikker på at jeg ikke glemmer dette, setter jeg denne linken her. andre som driver med bruks- og resepsjonsforskning kan kanskje også ha nytte av den. CFP til gruppe for bruks- og resepsjonsforskning, frist 15 august.

Eastcoast Westcoast
Two coasts, facing each other an ocean apart and several latitudes off.

A beach, not yet sunny but already warm, as I first saw it on the Long Island North Shore:


Same beach, and the blue blue blue of the water of the west side of the Atlantic:


Looking west and north from the livingroom in Volda, the first night home from vacation:


The mountain overlooking the hidden paradise where I spent the day, getting a new dose of sun, salt, wind, peace, light, beauty, and something not to be had in a motel just at the road - quiet:


The same ocean, two shores, and my cheeks burn with the same heat as two weeks ago from the same sun at a different latitude. I love summer!

Super heros
I have been used for a little quote in Dagbladet.no today, about Super heroes. A couple of journalists have read Gerard Jones' book Killing Monsters, which appeared in a Norwegian translation this year. They have taken the time to call several different researchers and people who work with children, and found both people who agree with Jones and people who make the picture more nyanced. A cute little piece.

(And Anne has an oddly appropriate post, wondering what her superpowers are. Anne, you obviously have an odd sensitivity to what questions are being asked by journalists in countries at the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.)

Blogging from Boston
A very good article from the Washington Post tech column Filter, Bloggers type it like it is in Boston. The article contains a long, long list of links, and has the qualities of a really good blogpost: researched, contextualised and with personal opinions.

Free registration needed. I have no idea how long until they archive it.

Games and health
Remember Dance Dance Revolution and weight loss? Seems like there is another game out there, Yourself|fitness. Is it just me, or does the personal trainer resemble Lara Croft?




Game found by way of an article in Dagbladet.no

Reading at risk
The Reading at Risk (pdf) report from the American organisation National Endowment for the Arts describes the decline of literary reading in the United states.

The report has already been exstensively blogged, but I want to point to two responses. Matthew G. Kirschenbaum drafts a response to the report on behalf of the Electronic literature organisation. This is a polite and levelheaded response, pointing out that reading on the screen is reading, too, and that literacy is not necessarily declining just because the reading shifts from the traditional paperbound novel and onto the screen.

A more knee-jerk response is Mia Consalvo's reading of the report, but this is a response I fully sympathise with: Reading is down, let's blame video games. Gaming is being blamed as a too simple solution to the problem of "entertainment".

I would like to know how many of the people who write reports like that
1) read electronic literature
2) play computer games
3) use the computer for keeping up with news
4) use the computer to chat and network

One little thing the report does mention, and this also comes up in their press release:

Contrary to the overall decline in literary reading, the number of people doing creative writing increased by 30 percent, from 11 million in 1982 to more than 14 million in 2002. However, the number of people who reported having taken a creative writing class or lesson decreased by 2.2 million during the same time period.

This indicates that the role of the reader is indeed changing. Perhaps Barthes was more of a visionary than he thought, when he envisioned the death of the author, and we are heading towards a society of participants, as I keep mentioning.

Norwegian Fetish Divas
A website named Fetish Divas, owned by women working in different areas of the erotic/pornographic industry, has commented on an article in the Norwegian women's magazine KK - Kvinner og Klær.

The article, in Norwegian, but scanned and linked to from here, basically makes the women behind FetishDivas and several established porn magazines stand out as stupid bimbos, according to the site. The female editors of pornographic magazines can hardly be stupid, it isn't like this is a job that only requires a pretty smile. And Anniken, photographer and fetish diva site owner, writes an angry mail to KK.

Years ago I noted that the computer gives women more power over the publication of their nude pictures. At one hand, of course, you have to remember that the net means a picture of you can be published over and over again in a million different contexts. At the same time I have met several women who have their own pornsites where they do all the work of publishing and photography as a group, and who share the costs and of course, the money. No pimp between them and their audience.

Now the net gives voice to the women in the established business. A place to talk back as persons, not just as stereotypes caught in the set structures.

Do I exist?
Occasionally I am told by online contacts that I am not real. I can't be, I have to be a male geek trying to fool the world. Occasionally it feels like they are right. Today is one of those unreal days. I am barely in touch with reality, tired and far from the things that anchor me to the solid rock I am used to seeing at all sides.

But my pants feel tighter than they should be. That wouldn't happen in unreality, would it?

Equal Share
Frustrated with the options of the US presidential election? Seems like you are not alone!

Woman Crossing
Satan's Laundromat has a great little collection of pictures from Manhattan, with stickers as art. This is my favourite.

Gaugin and Van Gogh
I was going to reply to Anne's question: Which person in a painting would you like to talk with, and I was looking for a picture I vaguely remembered to be by Gaugin. That's when I stumbled over this lovely little site from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, telling the story of Gaugin and Van Gogh. It is a little slow for me, and I towards the end I feel a little bored with moving through it the way they have planned it, but all in all this game-inspired ergodic pedagogic text of music and pictures is very pretty and definitely one of those windows you like to see on your monitor.

As for who I would like to talk to?

I think this woman, in the Blue Interiour by Harriet Backer.

Optimal experience
I keep reading work by Csikszentmihalyi, trying to figure out if I think his work is a cheesy modern explanation to why so many people are unhappy, or a really important contribution to understanding human experience. The research seems to be solid, even if I have not yet encountered any of the books where he introduces and discusses his methodology. This means that the reported experiences are likely to be correct.

The question is whether his conclusions are correct. Is the road to happiness to control your consciousness and impose more discipline on the human mind? This sounds like a very individualistic, 20th century solution, a reversal of religion or collectivity - do not seek happiness in the multitude or in spirituality, but find it for yourself, in your own actions and in your own achievement. It is a path to happiness that creates good little workers of us all, seeking to achieve as far as we can within the limitations allowed us by society?

I am slightly sunburned, lounging in bed at 7.08 am on the Long Island North Shore. I have been swimming, sunbathing, eating a lot of wonderful food and generally experiencing an intense and deep sense of relaxation and happiness. In many ways, it has been an optimal experience. But I did nothing for it, the pleasure was very different from the rush of research, the fervor of gaming, It was a sensual experience: skin, flesh, taste, scent, eye stimulated by the environments. Does this mean that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is wrong, and the optimal experience, the flow, does not come with discipline and achievement? Or does it simply mean that the experience is not optimal, just one of the more optimised ones?

Protection and communication
This time, protection from the heat. It is one of those things dragons are no good at, even frost dragons. so for that, I needed a Tilley hat. And it seems that with that hat, I also received a communication device:

"It's way beyond a hat; it's a communication device. With what else can you walk up to a stranger, begin a conversation, and be confident that the stranger is of like mind and similar taste. You can also be quite sure that this is not the first time that it's happened to that stranger."
Mark Schneider, Kenner, LA

I have to admit, I am curious to see if that is ever going to happen in Volda.

They are NOT fluffy stuffed animals
I don't even like fluffy stuffed animals. Sleek, meanlooking stuffed dragons, on the other hand, is a totally different story.

Blue Tatsuko


Green and gold Yu


They are going home with me. I need somebody to help control the weather and fight passing knights. And if you want them for yourself, you will just have to go to the website and search for your own.

What was lost is found
It is quite fitting that the pictures from Michal Rovner's exhibition in Stone at Pace Wildenstein gallery in Chelsea New York are the ones that went missing. The exhibition illustrates the two states of the old and the new writing: the permanence of that which is written in stone and the transcience of the modern media. But I will not show you the pictures just yet, as I am on a vacation in the vacation, only carrying the little PowerBook G4 that caused the whole frustration.

Still, the incident of the lost pictures resonates with the subject matter of In Stone. Little movies where images that are very human-like have been animated into motion walk across the surfaces of books and stones, projected onto the paper. In one book a drawing swirls and shifts, in another the careful chinese calligraphy moves, elusive and impossible to keep in focus as you watch. The same technique is used on rocks, and elusive, shifting rosetta stones stand next to heavy runestones and shiny rocks that seem to have fallen from outer space. In one room are two large stone tablets, perhaps with the ten commandments, only these commandments are constantly shifting. In another room of the gallery there is a well. When you look into the well you see red shapes, perhaps humans, perhaps scorpions, scuttling in a whirling, panicky motion across the white, white sands.

I walked through this exhibition with a sensation of amazement and awe, struck by the force of the contrast. The heavy stone, the elusive light, the reference of the everlasting and permanent battling with the fluid and fluctuating.

Yoko, lovely, entertaining and bright companion in NYC adventures, heard about this exhibition from an artist friend - whose work we visited later, in a different gallery. It was the last day of the exhibition, and I am still lost in the marvel of it. when I have a chance I will try to post a little movie that I made of the stone tablets, to give you a tiny little impression of the quality of this work.

Stupid stupid stupid stupid
When I am done kicking myself for not being used to apple computers, but seduced by the beauty and speed of my NYC connections brand new tiny tibook, I will let you see some of the pictures I managed not to ruin, from my trip around Chelsea Galleries Friday.  And I think I can dig up links to the artist who most impressed me with her wonderful works - the pictures of which I lost because I didn't want to wait for my no longer all that new and quick Dell to fire up, using the pretty shiny toy instead.
 
Stupid stupid stupid.  Apart from me being stupid, New York in summer is warm and exhausting, which is a new experience for me.  So I spend time eating salads in the shadow, enjoying the airconditioned cars in the subway, drinking iced coffee at Barnes and Noble and trying on two-piece bathing suits in Paragon Sports.

A lot of places to go
It is a little reassuring to know that there's still a lot of places I have never seen.



create your own visited country map

A little late to this bloggers' meme, but it's such a nice one.

Dark chocolate
This is a public service post for people eating dark chocolate in Norway.
Are you one of the many who have discovered that really dark chocolate is a great way to have your chocolate and eat it too / as in not gaining weight? I have used that trick for sating the chocolate craving for years, and it works! The chocolate has to be at least 70% cocoa, and no, you can't eat without control, but who can really eat that much really dark chocolate anyway?

I was oh-so-happy when Freia of Norway started to make a really dark chocolate. It was easier to find, and cheaper than the stuff I got in health/speciality stores. But hey, what was this? I gained weight from it! I would eat a few pieces of Valrhona, for instance, and not gain weight, and then a few pieces of Freia Premium the next week, and gain weight. This was odd. This required serious study.

I did that study by turning the chocolate bar over, and reading the fine print at the back of the box. On the front there is this large mark saying 70%. At the back you will see that it is 70% cocoa in the outer layers. The inner layer is 35% truffle something. If you break off a piece of Freia Dark Premium, you will see that the sides and the middle layers split apart.

So now I know. And I am back to the exspensive stuff. But somebody really should let Freia know they have been found out. I am just wondering: should I call one of the health/lifestyle journalists first, or Freia?

Vienna flashback
So how was Blogtalk 2.0?
First of all, I want to say that Thomas Burg has done a tremendous job putting it all together. He made it very easy being in the program comittee, as the members' job mainly consisted in agreeing with him, and occasionally expanding a little. I wish there had been an opportunity to thank him for his efforts publicly, without jumping up and making a spectacle of myself. Contrary to what some people believe, that does not come easily to me, sso it didn't happen. It should have though.

When that is said: even something good can be better. I want to address a few areas which could have enhanced the experience.

The program was too uniform and too tight. This is something I could have influenced if I had thought at the time, so this is self-criticism. I think there should have been greater differentiation between the keynotes and the panels. For the panels to have presentations 20-25 minutes long, while the keynotes were half an hour, created a long series of uniform lectures rather than quick presentations accompanying papers broken up by longer lectures. The panels were not real panels. They were collections of more or less randomly connected speakers, who then took questions not all of them could really answer. The questions directed at all of the panel became awkward, as the case was frequently that only a few of the panel could reply. This could have been avoided by making the keynotes independent of the presentations, letting all the presenters take independent questions, insisting on having full papers ready for the conference and posted on the net or distributed in print at the conference, and by making the option as participating in panels with particular topics rather than having everybody at one panel or another. This would have made the schedule more dynamic, and helped avoid conference overload from sitting through two days of pretty much the same thing.

Since this was a bloggers' conference, and we knew there would be a lot of computers in use with all its potential for an active backchannel, this could perhaps be used more effectively. Others have suggested a designated blogger. I think there should be more than one - a team of bloggers who blogged on a conference blog. And their job should be more than just bringing summaries of the talks, because that is not as interesting as the discussion, comments and disagreement that might arise. This might also bring the backchannel into play. One of the most important things with being at a conference is that you can get face-to-face response from the people present, you don't have to write them or ask somebody else what they meant. By having a designated backchannel blogger bring the discussions and the questions more into the light, it would be possible to create a better dynamic between the different mode. An alternative would be a designated backchannel speaker: Two or three people designated to present the questions of the backchannel or the opinions of the backchannel to the entire audience, and connect the two different discussions.

What I really missed was common meals. There is something about the mingling that happens over a meal, a snack or what ever that just was lost in Vienna. I am aware that this is a financial question. However: the benefit of not having to run in different directions for a meal and the opportunity of meeting and talking to people you would not invite to go to lunch with you is substantial.

Now it may look like I hated the conference. I didn't. I really liked the topic, the collection of people with wide and varying interests. I like the dynamic of a new field opening for academic research and commercial exploration both, and blogs are definitely in that area. I would love to see blogs used as research obbjects as well as tools in other conferences discussing and addressing media, new media and internet culture. The blogtalk conferences take blogs seriously, and gives a chance for crossfertilisation, something which is vital to a new field. I hope it can expand and become something other than a cult conference. There are different ways of achieving that. One is for the Vienna conference to aim at growth, and have really diversified topics from year to year. Another is to move the conference around to different administrators and different locations. And yet another is to have Blogtalk combined with some other conference from time to time, for instance an AOIR blogtalk. But what ever happens, I want to see user-driven publishing as a topic for serious discussion and research in the future.

Gadgets for a geeky girl
Some people seem to know just what a woman needs - while some know how to make that inner playful girl happy. And when the digital camera broke in an accident and it turns out it may not be repaired in time to bring it with me when I go home to Norway, my NYC connection whipped out his card, pulled it through the right slots and then handed me a new digital camera. I did the right amount of happy exclamations to satisfy the proud pusher of gadgets, and then I stopped pretending to care about anything but the camera. And yes, if you are looking for a 5,1 mega pixel camera and have been wondering about the sony cybershot, then I am happy to recommend the DSC-P100. It's quick, small and has had some of the flaws of the sony cameras picked out of it. But most important: it's tiny! It fits into my pocket! WEEEEE!!!!

Wireless in Brooklyn
Gone are the days of awkwardly searching for the æøå on a foreign keyboard, or crouching over an imac, trying to figure out how to convert files back and forth, or where is that function again. Through the cooperation of my New York connection, who just loves gadgets, the college IT staff who love to fix things so that I am not such a pain in their collective - umm - somethings, and a nice lady at the apple support, I am online from the newly activated hotspot right in this apartment. So here I am, eminently comfortable (note the beanbag chair, found abandoned and almost empty and now repaired), testing out the connection. Now, off and out into the sun!

Captain Annie Kristensen and her crew...
It was just an other morning at Ørsta-Volda airport. The sun was shining brightly, dawn hours behind us, despite the early hours. A mottled crowd is waiting for the plane, a lot more women than normal, and even some children. A taxi pulls in, and out comes three persons in uniform. It was one green of the Widerøe stewardesses, and two navy pilot uniforms. Only something was slightly off. Had the uniforms changes? Suddenly the day took on a different luster. The world had shifted, subtly. Nothing big, more like the faint sound of a battle heard at a long distance, hinting that in some areas of our society there are still battles to be fought, and prejudices to overcome.

The crew of Widerøe flight 144 from Hovden to Gardermoen July 9th 2004 was all female! I had to ask to make sure, and yes, it was. Both the captain and the first officer, as well as the steward. The steward went through the announcements, and it gave me a tiny little thrill each time she said "Captain Annie Kristensen and her crew..." At one point, in her english announcement, she slipped though, and said "Captain Annie Kristensen and his crew." But she was flustered, as she had announced our landing to the wrong airport as well. Still, it showed how ingrained the "his" is in that phrase, what a long way that all female crew had come, and how far we still have to go until the "her" slips as easily off the tongue. Pilots, particularly captains, are male.

Me, I just sat there and enjoyed. Annie Kristensen, Captain, and your crew: you made my day!

Tomorrow night, NYC time
I have another day of waiting in airports before me tomorrow. I am trying to figure out if Schiphol has a wireless connection or not, since I will be spending 4 hours there. Oslo has, at least. And I have a book. I bought it on my way to Vienna, and started to read, but it frustrated me. I wanted to click the links. While this is an interesting document, it also illustrates that peculiar distinction between a blog and a book: the book is not yet connected.

I think that day will come though. And I will pull this book out of my bookshelf and tell my grandchildren about how I read it when the war in Baghdad was really happening, online, and how they had to print it to reach the mass audience, and how yes, it was true, people didn't click links in books back then. Hopefully, they will understand the concept of "reading" and "book", and be able to bring that antiquated knowledge to my great-grandchildren.

Weather in Volda
The district veterinarian is taking a summer vacation, so voldaveiret (weather in Volda) will not be regularly updated with his magnificent pictures. He left us fans with a great bonus summer picture, enjoy.

And he quotes James Taylor to explain why the updates will be sporadic, so I guess we have to forgive him:

Summer's Here
(James Taylor)

Summer's here
I'm for that
Got my rubber sandals
Got my straw hat
Got my cold beer
I'm just glad that I'm here

Dennis and the blogsphere
Dennis G. Jerz is reading Into the Blogosphere, and gives his thoughts and opinions on each article he reads on his blog. Fascinating at two levels: One: I love being able to see what the bright and brilliant think about the articles I plan to plod through, two: I am fascinated, again, with this man's capacity for processing information.

That was my powercord!
I didn't realise at the time, but the cord they held up asking if somebody missed it must have been mine. This is typical for this conference, things were just too tight and too much going on. I'll be back later with some of the thoughts (brilliant, of course) that crystallized Tuesday night in one of the worn-down cheap Austrian bars Anja specialised on finding, but typical was too little time to talk and think, too much time and energy spent on organising things like food, long, tight schedules all around. The good thing is that this means a lot was going on. Anyway: no powercord, no luggage, and aching feet from searching for quality sleazy bars with Anja and Lisbeth. Eventful, it was.

Dialogue in slow motion - links
These are the links used in my keynote for Blogtalk 2.0 in Vienna 2004.

introduction

Why do I blog
Anders Jacobsen's "Why I blog" post from March 6th 2003.
Elmine Wijnia's "Why do I blog" post from March 31st 2004
Aldo de Moor and Lilia Efimova's working paper An Argumentation Analysis of Weblog Conversations
phaTTboi's "why I blog" post of June 16th 2004.
Simpleton's "Why I blog" answer May 26th 2004. Quote

The virtual and the factual other
Abraham Maslows's pyramid
of needs.

The original slime

Time, space and blogs
"Blog this", two comments and links to Henry Jenkins' article of 2002. The article is today only available to subscribers of Technology Review.
Spitting Llama, Dave Winer
Since 2003 Technology Review has a blog, where Henry Jenkins is one of the writers.

Astri Heen Wold, Quote 1, 2 and 3

The tyranny of here and now
Some (in)famous conversations
Dave Winer and the Winer Watcher
Jogin.com on the conflict between Dave Winer and Mark Pilgrim
Jonathon Delacour on "Doing a Dave"

Dave Winer took down 3000 blogs.
People were unhappy.
Dave Winer replied in an audio file.
People were not any happier.
Dave Winer presented a new plan for hosting.
Some people are still not happy.
Dave Winer thanks the professional sites for clearing up what the bloggers didn't understand.

Sidewalks and gaps
Anne Galloway: First Count

Wolfgang Iser: quote

Danah Boyd: The privilege to not fight
Pete: Again with the "Women and blogging meme"

Challenge, mastery and pleasure
Steven Johnson: Quote
Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi: Quote

Back to the beginning
Summary

Vienna
Anyway, I am in Vienna, as are Lisbeth, Anja and Mark. Well, and a whole lot of other bloggers, this is Blogtalk after all.

I arrived late yesterday evening, and woke early this morning. So I have wandered Vienna, and went to the Leopold Museum, where they have Goya's "Los Caprichos" exhibited at the moment! If you have a chance, go look! I was delighted, I wrote about Goya for my art history subject - umm, way too long ago - and loved his prints. Or - I guess I didn't as much love them as was became engaged in the black, bleak humour and the twisted shapes. Some of the pictures made lasting impact back then, and walking through the exhibition today it resonated with that string of sarcams and cynicism which I occasionally find in my line of thoughts.

One picture I wish I could have blogged for you all. It was of a mule having his picture painted. The text said: Now that he has his picture painted, all will know about him and know he is an important man, because he has had his picture painted so people know who he is.

I guess, in a way, that's what happens with blogs too. So here I am, having my picture painted...

Journalism, again
Kaye Trammell is frustrated with journalists who don't get it. A recent article about blogs causes her to complain, and the complaint sounds familiar. As a teacher of journalists, I have to say - I am not surprised.

It's not that they are stupid. At least in Norway, to get into a journalism study, you need top grades. It isn't that they don't know what to do. I think the problem is that they know it far too well.

Ketil Jarl Halse, associated professor at Volda College, wrote an article years ago called "Journalisten som strateg" - the journalist as a strategist. It explains some of the many pressures journalists are under as they are to create a new edition of the news. It is heavy peer pressure, intended to maintain the standards of the newspapers.

Journalism, at least in Norway, is one of the free professions. Anybody who can write are allowed to do so, if a newspaper prints what they write: great! This means that in order to maintain a certain standard and a certain level of trust, there are two harsh mechanisms in use. One is the social control, the peer pressure. This decides things like "what is news" "how do we write about that kind of news" "who do we interview". The other mechanisms is the editing that happens before the copy goes live. This is done by specially trained people who are taught to look for certain clues accepted at "good news," "good journalism" or "good stories". Both of these are good. They ensure high ethics, remove babble, exclude dubious sources.

But.

There is always a but, and this is where Trammell's frustration hits right on the head. " For the past two years (wow, can it be that long?!) media articles haven't told us anything new about blogs." For a topic to be accepted, it has to get over the "news" treshold. Blogs did that years ago. But once it is over this treshold, changing the story rather than repeating it demands creativity. A system that functions through heavy peer pressure and high-pressure editing does not invite creativity. Once you know what works you stick with it, pack it up differently to make it look good, but you don't really think a new thought about it.

And this, sadly, explains at least to me what happens to all those brilliant, adventurous students once they get out there and start writing for their bread and rent.

The blogosphere
Into the Blogosphere is online. It is really an impressive number of articles, no wonder it took a while to set it all up. Go, read, enjoy.

Sex and games
Terra Nova had a post a while ago about sex and games. I have to say: It's about time it was talked about!

Ren Reynolds talks about rape in online games and sex in online games.

All the MUDs I played for my research addressed this issue. The first, World's End, didn't permit sex beyond making out, babies appeared miraculously. But they did exist. The second and main one, Dragon Realms, addressed the sexuality by not rewarding it. Rape roleplay was not permitted. Torture play had to be consensual, by way of a note to the administrators. Sex, cross-species or what ever, was just ignored. There were warnings posted though: don't give out your address, you never know who you are playing with. Aarinfel had MUDsex rules, as T.L. Taylor pointed out, quite ambivalent. There was a long list of warnings, and then it ended saying "Mud sex is safe sex". The many rules (mainly about rape) and warnings were an indicator of exactly the opposite: it isn't safe.

But it can be. As long as people use protection... erh, don't give out email, addresses or names, it is as safe a mutual fantasy as you can get into. And it happens, all the time. We should aknowledge it.

Leaving the office today
For all those who might want to catch me at the office, I am leaving today, in about 10 minutes. I will be online from home and from airports here and there (if my poor abused laptop manages the strain). The route is Vienna, Volda, New York, Volda - and back at the office 9th of August. That's one week after most of my colleagues. But the last week has been very, very quiet here. A good time for writing and reading. Now all I need to do is read through the keynote, and time it. Should have been edited a little. I guess that will happen ink on paper.

Panic
My tabulator key just fell off, just as me and my laptop are about to go travelling for a month! It seems to work though. I'll just have to stop freaking out when the left little finger hits the little rubber tip where there should be a comfortable key...

Busy
When I try communicating with my brain, all I get is a busy signal. No dialogue between me and me at the moment... OK, lame joke, because I am stunned by trying to get all my thoughts on this down on paper before I get on the plane to Vienna. I leave Saturday, and will be travelling for 11 hours. I think that's longer than the time some of the Americans will spend on getting into town. OK, enough of this chatting thing. Back to work.