Yesterday's local government election felt strange. I voted in advance and at that time, I was registred in the municipality where I was brought up. I knew some of the candidates and I was somewhat excited about it. But when the results came in, I was most interested in seeing who got elected in the city I've lived and worked in the last six, seven years. But none of these will decide on my future, but yet another crowd of delegates in the town I live and am registered in nowadays. And I don't have a clue who they are! Mobility is difficult sometimes...
About the outcome: voting percentage in the whole nation was 58.6, compared with 55,9 % four years ago. And yes, my candidate got elected! Image, a young, dedicated women amongst the old buffers in the local government council room. Great!
(Updates on the election here, only in Swedish and Finnish though)
Monday, October 25, 2004
Contribute a verse
A few days ago, I promoted the movie “Dead Poets Society” from a long runner in the book shelf to Friday night entertainer. A feel good movie, where one line in particular caught my attention. The English teacher, played by Robin Williams, reveals a secret about the role and importance of poetry to his students. He quotes Whitman: “O me! O life! Of the questions of these recurring, of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here, that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse."
Sounds like blogging to me.
Sounds like blogging to me.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Blogs as a response to the media
I was interviewed by e-mail by a journalist in San Francisco the other day, the topic was PhD-students blogging their thesis. As I have a background as a journalist, and as I've been in the interviewees role only twice in my entire life now, I'm looking forward to see the article and how the journalist cites me out of my e-mail responses. For example, how much emotions can you detect in an e-mail? Can you detect that I wish to emphasize this or that, or that I strongly oppose to this and that, if I don't write it out in plain text?
More on this topic in this week's Glaser online, where Mark Glaser talks to billionaire technology entrepreneur and owner of NBA's Dallas Mavericks basketball team, Mark Cuban. Cuban was interviewed via e-mail by a sports columnist at Dallas Morning News. Cuban felt however that the columnist got the facts all wrong so he decided to post the e-mail of the journalist and what he'd answered in his blog. That way, his readers could see for themselves what he'd really said and compare it with the column in the news paper.
More on this topic in this week's Glaser online, where Mark Glaser talks to billionaire technology entrepreneur and owner of NBA's Dallas Mavericks basketball team, Mark Cuban. Cuban was interviewed via e-mail by a sports columnist at Dallas Morning News. Cuban felt however that the columnist got the facts all wrong so he decided to post the e-mail of the journalist and what he'd answered in his blog. That way, his readers could see for themselves what he'd really said and compare it with the column in the news paper.
Friday, October 01, 2004
Books
I looked through the book “New Media Reader”, edited by Wardrip-Fruin and Montfort, today and found an article from 1992 on the end of books. The author, Robert Coover, describes the world as it was in 1992; “world of video transmissions, cellular phones, fax machines, computer networks…”. In 1992, I was 14 years old and I sure didn’t have my own cellular phone and I wasn’t acquainted with computer networks. I spent large parts of my days playing Boulderdash on my Commodore 64.
Anyways, after sketching out the year of cyberpunks and hyperspace freaks (still 1992), Coover states that at this time, one often heard claims that the print medium is a doomed and outdated technology. Of course, this was the case for the novel as well. Luckily, this didn’t turn out to be true. The annual book fair in Åbo began today and loads of people, especially young folks, were there looking for narrative pleasure and listening to authors speaking on the podiums.
Speaking of books, this one suits me in particular. (It’s a typical girl’s book about Susan getting her dream job. I’ve gotten it as a nine-year-old, if one’s to believe my flourished handwriting.) Like my namesake in the book, I’ve gotten a new job, at MediaCity's development unit iDTV Lab at my university. This means I have to move though, to a town close to my home regions. But what the heck, I’ve lived in Åbo for 6 years now so a change is perhaps just what I need.
Anyways, after sketching out the year of cyberpunks and hyperspace freaks (still 1992), Coover states that at this time, one often heard claims that the print medium is a doomed and outdated technology. Of course, this was the case for the novel as well. Luckily, this didn’t turn out to be true. The annual book fair in Åbo began today and loads of people, especially young folks, were there looking for narrative pleasure and listening to authors speaking on the podiums.
Speaking of books, this one suits me in particular. (It’s a typical girl’s book about Susan getting her dream job. I’ve gotten it as a nine-year-old, if one’s to believe my flourished handwriting.) Like my namesake in the book, I’ve gotten a new job, at MediaCity's development unit iDTV Lab at my university. This means I have to move though, to a town close to my home regions. But what the heck, I’ve lived in Åbo for 6 years now so a change is perhaps just what I need.
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