News flashes

My work's in the news again. The format Probe, developed by MediaCity and Sveng.com Interactive, has been nominated in the category "Best Enhanced TV Program" of the international iTV Award (the winner is announced at the 2006 AFDESI Awards, held in Cannes on the 4th of April). The audience research we conducted on the interactive quiz is referred to here. Furthermore, an article on MediaCity's iDTV Lab was recently published here (in Finnish).

2 years anniversary

Today, two years have passed since my first, personal blog post. And a lot of confusion has been dispersed with those two years, I'd say. When I talked about blogs back then, and describing my academic interest in blogs, few knew what I was talking about. Many didn't see the point in up loading one's personal issues and inner thoughts for public scrutiny, as if a blog would only play the role of a diary. A general reception my "latest passion" (I'm known for rushing into things with great passion and enthusiasm, but not always nurturing them to survive) got was scepticism, al though mixed with a drop of curiosity. Now, the scenery is completely different. A couple of weeks ago, a guy came up to me in a bar saying "Hey, you're the one keeping the Paeonia blog. I occasionally read it." He recognized me from the photo in the sidebar to the right. Some ask for advice on how to post, some want to engage me in a intellectual debate on the publicity and responsibility involved in blogging that, unfortunately, some tend to forget and some feel blogging is a clear sign of the blogger's lack of more important, more meaningful things to do. The fact that blogging is a topic for discussion now and more and more are seeing the advantages of this way of distributing information and thoughts delights me.

Looking back at what I first felt like stating to the world, I realize it wasn't all that original at all. It was some words of wisdom of one of my favorite writers, Voltaire. I still have this quote (Il faut cultiver notre jardin) as a greeting in my pda. To honour this, I'll give you a few more devices à la Voltaire to chew on:

"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." (Epistle on the "Three Imposters").

"Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too." (Essay on Tolerance)

Rocking International Women's Day

Today, as you probably all know, we celebrate International Women's Day. What you may not know though is that you might be celebrating Alanis Morisette's Day today, as the city of Ottawa declares this day in her honor. However, Morissette refuses to accept this honor because the date is already "occupied" by the International Women's Day.

If you feel like indulging yourself in feminine matters today, I recommend a plunge into Ada Lovelace, regarded as the world's first programmer (but whose contributions remain disputed by some). Here's what she had to say on the Analytic Engine:

Again, it [the Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine . . . Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.

It sounds pretty much like a modern computer doesn't it?

Old news

A reader asked for the article on my work that was published in some Swedish newspapers, and that I forgot to blog (it was published one and a half months ago). There are some flaws in the text, for instance MediaCity is not a company but a detached unit of Åbo Akademi University. Well, here it is.

Vasaloppet race timing

Pretty cool, I'm tracking down how my friend is doing in the Vasaloppet ski race via the transponder attached to his leg. He's now covered a distance of 10,5 kilometres out of a total of 90 in almost two hours. Way to go! Here's more information on how they do it.

Oscar fans

Many film buffs are impatiently waiting for tonights big event, the Oscars, but I think few os us can match these two ladies (see Finlay's post of 4th March 0500 GMT), who've been following the event alongside the red carpet for 37 years straight. Wow!

fate uncovered

A friend stated yesterday that blogs, due to the grand explosion of the number of Finnish bloggers and the hype around them, have become an epidemic. I’m sure many feel that way in Finland now. My own interest in blogs though, both as a phenomenon and news/entertainment source, has been worn and torn for a while now. I rarely browse around hunting for new bloggers with fresh, piquant views on matters. I stick to the ones I’m used to and occasionally check out their blogrolls.

My ability for enthusiasm isn’t completely crushed though. I’ve joined the hype of mastering one’s fate. Many friends have recently undergone a test where the probable date for their death is calculated and with a fascinated air asked if I’ve done the same? As I’m currently dwelling on the couch with a sore throat on a perfectly beautiful as today, I figured I’d give in to my hesitation and uncover my fate. It turns out that, given that I don’t change my living and consumption habits, I’ll live until the year of 2065. By then, I’ll be a hardy lady of 86 years old. I’m not sure whether I’m happy and relieved about the fact that I due to healthy life style have a big bundle of years ahead of me, free to fill with things of my choice, or worried as this probably implies that I’m not taking risks in my life, and probably not being all that adventurous and spontaneous as I thought I am. Hmm…

The test is here, it’s in Finnish, provided by Helsingin Sanomat, the leading national daily in Finland.

hooray again!

I just got the word that another paper of ours has been accepted for a media conference! This conference is also in Athens, in May. I guess that city will see a lot of me this spring. The bad news is though that all the tickets for the finals in the Eurovision are sold out, apparently they went in 15 red, hot minutes. And we got none...

Mystery of dialects

Fredrik Lindström has been sorting out the mysteries of different dialects of Swedish this winter in his TV programme at SVT, the Swedish Public Service Broadcast Company. The last episode of it aired last night and the theme for the night was my own lingua, Swedish dialects in Ostrobothnia. The crew discussed semantics and phonetics with teenagers, whose mother tongue also is Swedish, in my previous home town of Åbo and in municipalities close to where I live and am from, such as Närpes and Korsnäs, where the ancient dialects of Swedish have been rather well preserved over the years.

Lindström concluded the programme by stating that the fact that many are keen on talking a strict, polished Swedish may indicate the fear of not fitting in, of not being adequate or suitable enough that he sees in the modern society. Conversely, if you speak a dialect you take the risk of standing out. Standing out, but in a positive and sometimes exotic manner, is sometimes what I do when I speak my dialect instead of the strict, clean Swedish that is intelligible for all, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I couldn’t change the way I talk without it reflecting my identity.

The entire programme on Swedish dialects in Finland is here.