Lazy yet creative Paris

Je passe mes vacances en France, à Paris. Il fait très chaud, même la nuit, mais pourtant, c'est merveilleux!
So I'm in Paris again, staying in my much beloved Montmartre. The ambiance got me a bit artistic, hence the photos.

Happiness in schools

Also belonging to the present summer’s pile of books to plough through is a book called Börja tala, Start talking. It’s on the art of rhetoric, on the stage fright many suffer from and on why Nordic speakers are know for being dull and non-engaging speakers. Such an essential book! Last weekend, me and some friends pondered why happiness isn’t part on the school schedule. I mean, Aristotle stated some 2300 years ago that what most individuals seek in their lives is happiness. Most actions strive to increase a feeling of being happy. Today, this is no less the case, on the contrary. So as all seem to agree that being happy is good, and worthy some effort, then why don’t we teach our kids how to try to find out what happiness means to them and how to obtain it? And why isn’t happiness part of any state program? I’d say the same about rhetoric, teach kids the art of storytelling, of capturing an audience in any purpose, may it then concern selling a product, to entertain or convey academic results. I wish I had had loads more training in this area when I went to school!

Summer reading

The first stack of books that I intended to read this summer is read and contemplated (see image to the right under the section Books getting my attention right now). These are the insights I gained:

• Lovage and ruta graveolens keep the flies out. Could be a priceless trick, I have to try it out!
  
• The 50’s must have been a dream for every interior designer, I love Eero Saarinen’s furniture and Verner Panton’s heart shaped chair.
• I still haven’t read the autobiography of the man stating: “I would love to play the part of Jesus! I fit it perfectly because I am a comedian" (Charlie Chaplin). It’s tough to try to get to know someone, perhaps that’s why people go year in, year out to shrinks: they just don’t seem to really get to know the person staring back to them in the mirror? I guess I’m a bit afraid of the amount of attention needed to reading an autobiography. It feels as if the words gotta weigh double the usual weight as the image conveyed in the autobiography is exactly the one the writer wants the reader to have, it's no second-hand information and rumours and therefore it’s harder to just skim through the book, to dismiss thoughts or paragraphs with a shrug.
• I now have a much deeper understanding of the background to the current situation in Sudan, thanks to Scroggins’ biography on Emma McCune. It’s been a while since a book surprised me in this fashion. Judging from the cover, I expected to read about Ms Emma McCune’s life, her voluntary work and marriage with a guerilla leader. But the book was much more, among other things a history lesson and a story of the author’s, who’s also a journalist reporting from the country, own, professional relationship with Sudan. But what got me going the most was something not specifically written but something I noticed along the way; how one’s significant others influence you through life. How the way of life your parents lead affect you, how relative’s actions influence yours years and years after they occurred and sometimes also subconsciously.
  
• The comic paper I bought, combined with the manga series Ragnarök, awoke my latent desire to take up drawing. I’ve been practicing calligraphy for many years and I love photography but the drawing interest failed due to lack of realism. Man, portraits are tough! Thus, I’m hoping that learning the basics in drawing Valkyries and comic series dogs will be easier.
  

Kvarken added to world heritage list

Together with 8 other sites, among which a Mexican landscape of blue agave that gives the world the tequila spirit, Kvarken was added to UNESCO's world heritage list yesterday. The archipelago is added as an extension to an already existing site, namely the High Coast of Sweden. The following is a statement of the World Heritage Committee:

It [Kvarken Archipelago] features unusual ridged washboard moraines, “De Greer moraines”, formed by the melting of the continental ice sheet, 10,000 to 24,000 years ago. The Archipelago is continuously rising from the sea in a process of rapid glacio-isostatic uplift, whereby the land, previously weighed down under the weight of a glacier, lifts at rates that are among the highest in the world. As a consequence of the advancing shoreline, islands appear and unite, peninsulas expand, lakes evolve from bays and develop into marshes and peat fens. This property is essentially a “type area” for research on isostacy; the phenomenon having been first recognized and studied here.

Garden documentation

Yep, today's been one great day to conduct the annual photo documentation of the garden, and (surprise, surprise) especially of the peonies.

Cross-stiches for the ipod

Yes! To and handicraft/techy freak like me, this is pure beautiful. I made a similar one to my pda and it was of great use. Although, a few weeks ago I forced the pda to retire, which means the cover is now to be found way back in the closet.

Mission impossible: paper cutting

I'm struggling with what I'd like to call an impossible task. I need to cut a paper I wrote and presented from 7619 words to a neat sum of 5000, cuz it's getting published. I really loathe the process as, although I'm great at mass producing floods of text sometimes containing drivel, it's mostly content that I feel is necessary and that plays a role in the context. My method is to shorten paragraphs and say what I want to say in shorter, more substantial sentences. But I can't help but feeling that the rythm is lost this way. The hand guiding the reader through the paper, which I feel is crucial in a read worthy text, is somehow getting lost when the not-so-facty phrases are removed. Perhaps I should write the different parts on a dice, throw it and simply erase the fateful part on the side turning up ;)

Bonus of the day: 3 days til my first full-length, fully paid 4 week vacation!

florae blues

I'm conducting usability tests for clients at work now and the thought of doing a test on this blog has been spinning in my mind for a good while. About a week ago, I realized that doing an eye tracking study, which I regularly do at work, on this Paeonia blog would be interesting as, apparently, I'm not expressing the corner pillars or the identity if you will of the blog clearly enough. This insight hit me when I was sent a review of my blog, made by a student. It turnes out that the reason of the name Paeonia is not clear enough, the link between the name and my passion for flowers and then in particular peonies is not evident enough.

And consequently, like some people start devoting lots of attention to their beloved when the date of Valentine's Day or the Wedding anniversary is approaching as a way of making up the downturns since last anniversary of Valentine's, I think to myself that I'll relieve my conscience by posting an all-flowery post. And this guzzling in florae photos is not just a making up-gesture but also an hommage to the stunningly beautiful nature outside my window. It's mid June and the nuances of green is about as saturated as you can possibly want them to be. Enough babbling, I activated my Flickr account again and here's a selection of photos to ilghten up the academic twist on this site. (Hmm, I also noticed I haven't blogged my handicraft craze either in a while, therefore the photo at the top. It's illustrating 5 pillows I sewed earlier this week for potential hangovery guests this weekend).

White light fights piracy

A group of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a prototype device that can block digital-camera function in a given area, a method that could fight the movie piracy. More here.

More on happiness

As I'm studying positive experiences in my own PhD, and since I'm fascinated by the notion of happiness, I bought Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Here are two thought-evoking quotes (my translation):

How can it be that, although we've created miraculous successtories that no-one could even dream of, we are more helpless than our less privileged ancestors were when life is concerned? The answer is clear-cut, while humanity has collectively increased its material wealth by the thousand, it hasn't advanced at all concerning improving the content of the experiences. (Page 34)

As an opposite to what many believe, the best times in life are not passive, receiving and relaxed moments. The best moments occur in general when a human is stretching her body to the maximum in a conscious exertion in order to achieve something difficult and effort worthy. (Page 20)

The last quote makes me think of the two running competitions I've participated in this last month. The 10 K run went beautifully well, no difficulties whatsoever. The 5 K run on the other hand was hard and the agreeable, nice feeling was lacking. We even had to start swearing to get through the race with a good mood. And now when I think of the races afterwards, I enjoy the harder run more than the longer, easier one. Strange but true.

Finnish ICT use

Statistics Finland has new figures on ICT use. Interestingly, more women than men in the age group 30-49 use the internet. However, of pension-age people men are more often on the internet than women. I also was surprised to learn that internet banking isn't as common elsewhere as here. It's been a completely natural part of my every day life now for quite some time. 3 out of 4 Finnish internet users manage their finances on the net, apparently.

About three out of four, or 73 per cent, of 15 to 74-year-olds used the Internet in spring 2005 in Finland and according to Pew Internet & American Life Project, the same goes for Americans (these figures stem from 2006 though. The percentage for Americans using the internet the same period in 2005 was 66 %).

NordForsk doctoral course

I'm in a conference mode still, I recently found an interesting PhD-seminar that's held in Denmark in early November. It's called Publics, audiences and users: Theoretical and methodological challenges in a multidisciplinary field of research.

new media conferences

The Centre for Usability Research at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven has a much needed site where all the deadlines for conferences and journals in HCI, iTV, user research etc are listed.

Are cameras literate?

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about my latest purchase, a new shining ixus camera for travelling. But by mistake I accidently deleted the blog post, where I praised this little handy gadget, almost instantly. I never bothered to rewrite it though as the content of the post wasn't exactly earth shaking and revolutionary news. Well, as I got out of the airport in Athens last week I spotted an amazing long line of yellow cabs, as far as you could see. And when I grabbed my ixus, it was stone dead, refusing to co-operate in any way. Not one ray of hope. For a photo geek like myself, it's tough being on the move without a camera! I figure it might be a revenge for removing the blog post. So I took it back to the store tonight and off it is now for service. Meanwhile, I'm glad there's a site such as flickr. David Geerts at the Centre for Usability Research in Leuven uploaded his photos of Athens, I'll enjoy them instead.

Btw, since Lordi's number one spot in Eurovision, the interest in Finnish metal and heavy seems bigger than ever. I promised to compile a list on bands I like. Some glam rock and the like is included as well but still. This is not exactly bubblegum pop:

Children of Bodom
Mokoma
Hanoi Rocks
Stam1na
Viikate
Sonata Arctica
Apulanta
Nightwish
1G3B
Uniklubi

69 eyes is a must see live, especially the drummer!

Mona Lisa was 83 % happy

Further on the happiness subject, Dutch researchers scanned a reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece and subjected it to an "emotion recognition" software. Their finding is that she was 83 percent happy, 9 percent disgusted, 6 percent fearful and 2 percent angry. She was less than 1 percent neutral and not at all surprised. At first, I thought this technology ought to be tried out after first dates, as it would perhaps save many from the famous "will he call me or will he not?" but then again, the excitement of not really knowing is great too. And apparently, subtle emotions are not trackable with this device. Full article here.

Post running

I'm back home from an unmercifully hot Athens, after a week of conferen- cing, networking and eating enormous quantities of food, more than I'm likely to experience ever again. A greek colleague tells me that not finishing everything on the plate is a major insult to the chef, the restaurant staff and to greek hospitality in general. Since I'm quite a petite mangeuse, I must have offended many souls this past week, sorry for that!

Interestingly, I sometimes got a couple of raised eye brows as an answer when mentioning my nationality to other conference goers and locals in Athens. And when the guys and girls at restaurants try to lure me into their particular restaurant by addressing me in - what they think - my mother tongue, they never get it right. I counted seven different options as to where my home base is (one being China), and no one got it right. But my action scheme immediately after closing my apartment door with all the luggage and tax free bags in my arms uncovers my nationality quite well though. I did the following in a chronological order. 1) I fired up the sauna 2) I fired up my computer and internet connection 3) I put some heavy metal on 4) I enjoyed some dark bread with shrimp mixture on top.

I'm quite eager to start studying the proceedings of the 2 conferences closer as there were many really interesting past and on going studies presented but that's out of the question today as I definitely need the rest. I ran 10 K at a running event this afternoon and after adding that to walking one week around Athens in quite new shoes, my legs are punishing me with aching, soar knees. So nope, this day is devoted to lying comfortably in the couch watching television and playing games.

Papers available

Cheers all entertainment lovers, there are now goodies available on our website. The papers I wrote for the conferences I'll attend in Athens next week just got up-loaded so check them out to see what conclusions were drawn in the audience research on enjoyment and interactivity we conducted last year. Also, there's a article on audience research on movies and... on my job really... that was recently published in Nordicom.

Btw, if any of you readers happen to have a much craved spare ticket to the Eurovision finals in Athens, then do contact me! I feel this could be an occasion to use some of my savings :)

Happiness formula

Do you have no friends but still aspire for happiness? Then you'd better have £50,000 on your account. According to the economist, Professor Oswald at Warwick University, this amount of money is what it takes to make up for not having friends and still be happy. Although, luckily enough for all of us with small purses, according to research on happiness, deep and meaningful relationships with friends and family has a much bigger effect on average on happiness than a typical person's income. BBC News writes more on why the sense of happiness doesn't increase along with the standard of living, and on what does boost happiness, here.
[via 3quarksdaily]

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)