This is the research diary of researcher Lisbeth
Klastrup, since february 2001 sharing her thoughts on life, universe, persistent online
worlds, games, interactive stories and internet oddities with you on the www.
I am currently on leave from the IT University
of Copenhagen, and from aug. 2006 - aug. 2007 working as Associate Research Professor at the Center for Design Research Copenhagen, an independant center situated at the School of Architecture. During this year, I will be working on a book about the development of aesthetics, design and interaction on the WWW, together with colleague Ida Engholm.
My blog often reflects how busy I am in general, so posting may be pretty irregular, as well as my potential response to comments. But I read them!
My list of publications.
My official homepage at ITU.
Contact:
lisbethATklastrupDOTdk
February 2001 March 2001 April 2001 May 2001 June 2001 July 2001 August 2001 September 2001 October 2001 November 2001 December 2001 January 2002 February 2002 March 2002 April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007
Fellow research bloggers
-Denmark
Jesper Juul
Gonzalo Frasca
Martin Sønderlev Christensen
Jonas Heide Smith
Miguel Sicart
Mads Bødker
ITU blogs
-Norway
Jill Walker
Torill Mortensen
Hilde Corneliussen
Anders Fagerjord
-The World
Terra Nova (misc, joint)
GrandTextAuto (US, joint)
Mirjam Paalosari-Eladhari (SE)
Jane McGonigal (US)
Patrik Svensson (SE)
Elin Sjursen (NO)
Adrian Miles' Vog blog (AUSTR.)
Other Related Blogs
Mediehack
Hovedet på Bloggen
Bookish
Tempus Tommy
Flickwerk
Jacob Bøtter
Corporate Blogging
Fellow Researchers, non-blog
-Denmark
Susana Tosca
T.L. Taylor
Espen Aarseth
Soeren Pold
Ida Engholm
Troels Degn Johansson
-Norway
Ragnhild Tronstad
-Sweden
Anna Gunder
Jenny Sunden
Mikael Jacobsson
-Finland
Aki Jarvinen
Markku Eskelinen
Raine Koskimaa
©Lisbeth Klastrup 2001-2007
How to cite weblogs
An interesting discussion on German weblog randgänge on how to cite blogs and whether to use the real name of the blogauthor if you know it (I would intuitively say no). The last suggestion for reference practice in the comments sounds good to me.
An interesting discussion on German weblog randgänge on how to cite blogs and whether to use the real name of the blogauthor if you know it (I would intuitively say no). The last suggestion for reference practice in the comments sounds good to me.
VIVA on computergames as "cultural export". VIVA which is probably one of the best tv programs about the Danish culture scene, had a feature on computer games tonight, focusing on the succes of Danish IO Interactive's recently released Freedom Fighters. Head of EA Denmark said the production of games should not be given any kind of state support; because if Danish computergames are good enough in themselves they will in fact attract the attention and money of the producers. Gunnar Wille of the film school said that developers do perhaps need some kind of funding to help produce something with a "Danish spirit" (more Danish than Freedom Fighters at least...).
As is, none of the Dogme movies could have been produced and screened without some financial support from the Danish state. The question remains, whether there will ever be something like a Dogme game? And how much will that cost to produce? And will anyone by it?
I'm still rather curious as to how a game production support scheme would influence the future development of Danish computergames. However, chances are minimal that the current government would be switching to support mode, but nevertheless just debating in public whether computer game production support should be possible at all, who should get the support and what genres should get supported, will probably bring out quite a few interesting assumptions about the value and nature of computergames in the eyes of Politicians, Producers and the People. That VIVA opens the discussion is testimony to the fact that culture shows, even on the tv, can be challenging and hopefully help start discussions on our cultural values and priorities. Go, VIVA!
As is, none of the Dogme movies could have been produced and screened without some financial support from the Danish state. The question remains, whether there will ever be something like a Dogme game? And how much will that cost to produce? And will anyone by it?
I'm still rather curious as to how a game production support scheme would influence the future development of Danish computergames. However, chances are minimal that the current government would be switching to support mode, but nevertheless just debating in public whether computer game production support should be possible at all, who should get the support and what genres should get supported, will probably bring out quite a few interesting assumptions about the value and nature of computergames in the eyes of Politicians, Producers and the People. That VIVA opens the discussion is testimony to the fact that culture shows, even on the tv, can be challenging and hopefully help start discussions on our cultural values and priorities. Go, VIVA!
The Programme for the Second International Conference on Virtual Storytelling is now online. The conference takes place in Toulouse, France, November 20 & 21nd.
How to remove Windows Messaging on Windows XP - this programme has been spamming me, bugging me and annoying me with stupid update messages which overrides anything else lately. Even if I in the programme itself have unchecked the automatic startup option, nevertheless I get alert boxes and messages from friends even when the programme is supposed to be turned off. No thanks, baby.
More telestatistics
Overview of telesubscriptions for the first half of 2003 reveals that Denmark has most broadband access subscribers in the EU, more exactly 10.4 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.
Overview of telesubscriptions for the first half of 2003 reveals that Denmark has most broadband access subscribers in the EU, more exactly 10.4 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.
They are finally getting married. This means that the future queen of Denmark will be a person who used to work for Microsoft. Well, with the world-wide dominance of this compagny, this combination was bound to happen sooner or later, I guess.
Via Ludology.org, a videogame on...videogame historyGame on!.
The menu is in Finnsih (Peli means game) but the game itself is in English. I suspect it has been taken from The Barbican's original version of the exhibition on videgames and their history.
The menu is in Finnsih (Peli means game) but the game itself is in English. I suspect it has been taken from The Barbican's original version of the exhibition on videgames and their history.
Nightmare of a Teacher
I was standing on a streetcorner when I suddenly realised (or someone told me) that I actually had to start teaching a class on "Time" at the University of Copenhagen and that this class started the same day. I hadn't seen the course description so I didn't know what exactly the class was about, apart from the fact that it was mainly about time in relation to cinema, and since I had forgotten about it or not been informed about it before now I had not prepared anything, but I hastily jotted down some notes on time (dichotomy subjective/objective time), before going to the university, quite worried about what to say to the students because I hadn't made a course plan or anything.
Then I was in class and the first thing that happened was that some arrogant guy put up his hand and said that if I wasn't going to discuss time from the perspective of this particular German Philosophical thinking/concept (I can't remember the name of the concept, but it was something with en-) then he wasnt interested in this class, and since I couldnt recognise his concept, he then got up and left with a few others. I started to say something, but then another, obviously half-mad student, got up and stood next to me, facing the other students with me and everytime I tried to say something, he just commented on it in a very rude and far-out way until I finally had to shout at him, that either he sat down or left the room. Then he left the room too....
I was getting more and more afraid of not keeping the remaining students in class, and was getting ready to write up my clever dichotomies on the blackboard and whip out the names of Bergson and Deleuze to at least impress them a little, when suddenly one of the local administrators burst through the door and moved across the classroom to open a door in the other end of the room which lead to a terrace. She went through it and retrieved a pram which she then dragged back through the classroom and out of the entry door, apologising for the interruption but they really had to bring the pram back to its owner now...
At this point I woke up, so I will never know if I made it through class. Luckily, in real life, I always do. And course planning for next term is soon over and this time (contrary to the class I'm teaching now) I get to write the course-description myself...
If you want to read about some real clever nightmares, check out Bertrand Russell's brilliant Nightmares of Eminent Persons & Other Stories.
I was standing on a streetcorner when I suddenly realised (or someone told me) that I actually had to start teaching a class on "Time" at the University of Copenhagen and that this class started the same day. I hadn't seen the course description so I didn't know what exactly the class was about, apart from the fact that it was mainly about time in relation to cinema, and since I had forgotten about it or not been informed about it before now I had not prepared anything, but I hastily jotted down some notes on time (dichotomy subjective/objective time), before going to the university, quite worried about what to say to the students because I hadn't made a course plan or anything.
Then I was in class and the first thing that happened was that some arrogant guy put up his hand and said that if I wasn't going to discuss time from the perspective of this particular German Philosophical thinking/concept (I can't remember the name of the concept, but it was something with en-) then he wasnt interested in this class, and since I couldnt recognise his concept, he then got up and left with a few others. I started to say something, but then another, obviously half-mad student, got up and stood next to me, facing the other students with me and everytime I tried to say something, he just commented on it in a very rude and far-out way until I finally had to shout at him, that either he sat down or left the room. Then he left the room too....
I was getting more and more afraid of not keeping the remaining students in class, and was getting ready to write up my clever dichotomies on the blackboard and whip out the names of Bergson and Deleuze to at least impress them a little, when suddenly one of the local administrators burst through the door and moved across the classroom to open a door in the other end of the room which lead to a terrace. She went through it and retrieved a pram which she then dragged back through the classroom and out of the entry door, apologising for the interruption but they really had to bring the pram back to its owner now...
At this point I woke up, so I will never know if I made it through class. Luckily, in real life, I always do. And course planning for next term is soon over and this time (contrary to the class I'm teaching now) I get to write the course-description myself...
If you want to read about some real clever nightmares, check out Bertrand Russell's brilliant Nightmares of Eminent Persons & Other Stories.
More Lovely Facts & Figures
These days, I'm starting to wonder why it is that I suddenly find facts and figures so attractive? Perhaps it is just a long-term effect of being in the Humanities without ever having to seriously consider empirical facts in my research and now I actually think it is fun to look at them. Or perhaps it is because I have discovered that numbers persuade much easier than abstract arguments: students and journalists alike much more easily grasp onto a theoretical proposition if it is supported by figures. Perhaps it is also because that in general I feel that I can make more convincing arguments when supported by facts and surveys now when I have turned to studying the habits of human subjects, and not just the lives of fictional characters.
So without further ado, I'm happy to present another collection of facts and figures: the newest report from Denmark's Statistics & The Ministry of Science and Technology.
Informationssamfundet Danmark - it-status 2003
(fact and figures on the penetration of IT in the Danish Society).
Interesting facts from this report I: 98% of Danish population owns a tv, 88% owns a mobile phone and 83% owns a personal computer.
These days, I'm starting to wonder why it is that I suddenly find facts and figures so attractive? Perhaps it is just a long-term effect of being in the Humanities without ever having to seriously consider empirical facts in my research and now I actually think it is fun to look at them. Or perhaps it is because I have discovered that numbers persuade much easier than abstract arguments: students and journalists alike much more easily grasp onto a theoretical proposition if it is supported by figures. Perhaps it is also because that in general I feel that I can make more convincing arguments when supported by facts and surveys now when I have turned to studying the habits of human subjects, and not just the lives of fictional characters.
So without further ado, I'm happy to present another collection of facts and figures: the newest report from Denmark's Statistics & The Ministry of Science and Technology.
Informationssamfundet Danmark - it-status 2003
(fact and figures on the penetration of IT in the Danish Society).
Interesting facts from this report I: 98% of Danish population owns a tv, 88% owns a mobile phone and 83% owns a personal computer.
Video Game Used For Study Of Human Navigation - I'm sure researchers could learn even more by studying how people learn to navigate in online game worlds which are much larger than the cities of the games mentioned and thus more like the real world in which we navigate.
ITU Blogs
Via former officemate Lasse's blog, a link to ITU student Thomas Angerman who is tracking all blogs at ITU. Neat initiative!
Lasse is studying abroad in Atlanta, by the way, and has started to blog about his experiences there. He does research in Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), and it will be interesting to see what he thinks of the blog phenomenon.
Via former officemate Lasse's blog, a link to ITU student Thomas Angerman who is tracking all blogs at ITU. Neat initiative!
Lasse is studying abroad in Atlanta, by the way, and has started to blog about his experiences there. He does research in Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), and it will be interesting to see what he thinks of the blog phenomenon.
Writing for the Internet US Course
Dennis G. Jerz at Seton University is also teaching a course on Writing for the Internet (Susana's and my course are here - Danish only). Here is his Writing for the Internet -- Syllabus - interesting to see what other people do with this kind of course. I want to introduce blogs later in the course, but am considering using them much more next term where it seems likely I will be teaching the course again.
Provided I have managed to change to Moveable Type in the meanwhile, don't trust Blogger for this kind of thing anymore.
Dennis G. Jerz at Seton University is also teaching a course on Writing for the Internet (Susana's and my course are here - Danish only). Here is his Writing for the Internet -- Syllabus - interesting to see what other people do with this kind of course. I want to introduce blogs later in the course, but am considering using them much more next term where it seems likely I will be teaching the course again.
Provided I have managed to change to Moveable Type in the meanwhile, don't trust Blogger for this kind of thing anymore.
Article on virtual rape
in Information today. I'm quoted briefly towards the last part of it. The journalist, Rikke Berg, has done some interesting research for this piece and the question of "rape" is a relevant subject to tackle, though perhaps one needs to distinguish more firmly between chatrooms and online worlds. She consistently calls LambdaMOO a game, which it is not really. I suggested she at least referred to it as a gameworld, but probably the differentiation doesn't mean that much to the uninitiated ;). You do become somewhat of a nerd as a long-term academic, I guess.
Hmmh. Perhaps I should think more closely about writing some articles about my research for the wider public.
But first: sleep.
in Information today. I'm quoted briefly towards the last part of it. The journalist, Rikke Berg, has done some interesting research for this piece and the question of "rape" is a relevant subject to tackle, though perhaps one needs to distinguish more firmly between chatrooms and online worlds. She consistently calls LambdaMOO a game, which it is not really. I suggested she at least referred to it as a gameworld, but probably the differentiation doesn't mean that much to the uninitiated ;). You do become somewhat of a nerd as a long-term academic, I guess.
Hmmh. Perhaps I should think more closely about writing some articles about my research for the wider public.
But first: sleep.
New joint blog on virtual worlds!
How cool is this?!! Castranova, Dibbell, Hunter and Lastowka has started a joint blog on virtual worlds, MMORPGS, "collective realities". In the mail announcing the blog, they write that
Our focus is not on the worlds themselves but on the
economic and legal implications of the behavior they generate
So go read Terra Nova!
(thanks to TL for forwarding the link)
How cool is this?!! Castranova, Dibbell, Hunter and Lastowka has started a joint blog on virtual worlds, MMORPGS, "collective realities". In the mail announcing the blog, they write that
Our focus is not on the worlds themselves but on the
economic and legal implications of the behavior they generate
So go read Terra Nova!
(thanks to TL for forwarding the link)
Hmmh. I have just been interviewed on the phone by a journalist from newspaper Information who wanted to know something about sanctions against virtual rape. This time, I have been PROMISED that I get to see what the journalist cites me for, before the article is published.
ELSPA is the UK version of ESA and you can find some interesting reports on their site too. This includes a white paper from july 2003 on The Cultural Life of Computer and Video Games. Amongst other things, the report includes a chart showing how succesful films based on games have been!
Game Association with lots of game industry facts
A goldmine of demographic information at the ESA - Digital Press Room. Look for instance at the "Essential facts about the computer and video game industry report". ESA was earlier IDSA, the Interactive Digital Software Association, but have now (July 2003) changed their name to Entertainment Software Association. ESA is "the U.S. association exclusively dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish video and computer games for video game consoles, personal computers, and the Internet."
This is one of their interesting facts (applies to the US market only, though):
The vast majority of people who play games do so with friends and family. (Almost sixty percent of frequent game players play with friends, thirty-three percent play with siblings, and about one-quarter play with their spouse and/or parents).
A goldmine of demographic information at the ESA - Digital Press Room. Look for instance at the "Essential facts about the computer and video game industry report". ESA was earlier IDSA, the Interactive Digital Software Association, but have now (July 2003) changed their name to Entertainment Software Association. ESA is "the U.S. association exclusively dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish video and computer games for video game consoles, personal computers, and the Internet."
This is one of their interesting facts (applies to the US market only, though):
The vast majority of people who play games do so with friends and family. (Almost sixty percent of frequent game players play with friends, thirty-three percent play with siblings, and about one-quarter play with their spouse and/or parents).
Virtual Environments for Children -some reflections on cooperation - interesting looking research report on project in Active Worlds, byt Bertil Rolandsson, Sweden.
In the midst of a long sunday's journey toward the completion of a research paper, a little oasis of bliss: today, Danish TV2 launches a new season of Buffy and Angel episodes. *Grin*.
Via the Digra List: The Movies - is actually a new game coming up - of the sim/strategy kind, it seems. I remember seing a very primitive version of this in one of my niece's Barbie games several years ago (make and "direct" a movie with Barbie). The grown-up version sounds more fun, though :)
GO Torill!
Torill is a Doctor now! after a brilliant defense earlier this afternoon. She ruled, as expected, judging from the sms' sent to Jill from our online correspondent.
CONGRATULATIONS, Torill - you so deserve the most opulent celebration of you tonight - I'm sad I couldn't be there.
Torill is a Doctor now! after a brilliant defense earlier this afternoon. She ruled, as expected, judging from the sms' sent to Jill from our online correspondent.
CONGRATULATIONS, Torill - you so deserve the most opulent celebration of you tonight - I'm sad I couldn't be there.
Nordic Writers on their books
The Royal Library hosts a Nordisk Bogfest 2003 (Nordic Bookfair 2003). The fair takes place in The Black Diamond, the main seat of the library, facing the Copenhagen Waterfront, in itself worth a visit if you haven't been there before.
It is the kind of event where you get to sit quietly on chairs, listening to someone else interviewing some of the most well-known Danish, Norwegian and Swedish authors about their books. If a good interviewer, it can be really interesting and you can learn a lot, but if it is the kind of interviewer going for the housewify, bland questions like "Do you like to write?" "Do you identify with your main character?", this kind of event can be a rather nervewrecking and tedious experience.
This bookfair does however present the chance to listen to both Jan Kjærstad and Per Olov Enquist in interview; they are sharp, reflected and brilliant writers both of them, and even a mundane interview with them would likely be worthwhile to attend. If you want to pay the d.kr 80 it costs to get a seat, that is. Famous authors come at a price these days, you know.
The Royal Library hosts a Nordisk Bogfest 2003 (Nordic Bookfair 2003). The fair takes place in The Black Diamond, the main seat of the library, facing the Copenhagen Waterfront, in itself worth a visit if you haven't been there before.
It is the kind of event where you get to sit quietly on chairs, listening to someone else interviewing some of the most well-known Danish, Norwegian and Swedish authors about their books. If a good interviewer, it can be really interesting and you can learn a lot, but if it is the kind of interviewer going for the housewify, bland questions like "Do you like to write?" "Do you identify with your main character?", this kind of event can be a rather nervewrecking and tedious experience.
This bookfair does however present the chance to listen to both Jan Kjærstad and Per Olov Enquist in interview; they are sharp, reflected and brilliant writers both of them, and even a mundane interview with them would likely be worthwhile to attend. If you want to pay the d.kr 80 it costs to get a seat, that is. Famous authors come at a price these days, you know.
Me, an Historian
You could call me an "oldie" and as such a "resource person" at ITU as I started working here October 1999 and the university itself opened just a month before, September 1999. One of the more intriguing and/or annoying sides to being an in-house historian, is that I get invited to all sorts of qualitative interviews about my experiences here. This week I have two: the first on "how ITU receives non-native employees" and the other on my "experience with the ITU Ph.D. study programme".
I did the first interview earlier today and feel quite exhausted now. We were two people being grilled for 90 min by two not very experienced research analysis people, whom it was very difficult to explain the importance of publications in giving an expression of a person's professional merits. "How can you know what your new colleague actually knows and what their field of expertise is when you meet them?", they kept asking. "Publications", we kept answering, "in our business, flaunting and publicising what you know is an intrinsic part of the trade."
Which reminds me I haven't updated my publication list for a while. Just updated it a bit, but it needs a major overhaul. Well.
You could call me an "oldie" and as such a "resource person" at ITU as I started working here October 1999 and the university itself opened just a month before, September 1999. One of the more intriguing and/or annoying sides to being an in-house historian, is that I get invited to all sorts of qualitative interviews about my experiences here. This week I have two: the first on "how ITU receives non-native employees" and the other on my "experience with the ITU Ph.D. study programme".
I did the first interview earlier today and feel quite exhausted now. We were two people being grilled for 90 min by two not very experienced research analysis people, whom it was very difficult to explain the importance of publications in giving an expression of a person's professional merits. "How can you know what your new colleague actually knows and what their field of expertise is when you meet them?", they kept asking. "Publications", we kept answering, "in our business, flaunting and publicising what you know is an intrinsic part of the trade."
Which reminds me I haven't updated my publication list for a while. Just updated it a bit, but it needs a major overhaul. Well.
Blogger sucks!
I had a lot of stuff I wanted to post a few days ago, but that day Blogger refused to recognise my username and login... I do indeed feel more and more inclined to move to another system, just need the time to do it!
I had a lot of stuff I wanted to post a few days ago, but that day Blogger refused to recognise my username and login... I do indeed feel more and more inclined to move to another system, just need the time to do it!
Update to last post: LIfeSucks informs me that Armarium's list (last updated February 2003) lists 238 blogs, Lifesucks own current list is up to 246. Give or take, it is probably realistic that we have maximum 300 active blogs in Denmark. This means that approx. 0.005 % of the Danish population blogs.
A & B List Bloggers?
In the Information article, I was quoted for saying there is an A list and B list of bloggers. Argh! I never meant it that way (sadly, it has been taken quite literally by some of the Danish Bloggers) - I was mainly referring to the A-List blogger discussion circulating in the blogworld some 1-2? years ago. If at all, there might still be an A-list of bloggers (still mainly US-based, I guess) but there never was such a thing as a B-list (except as a rhetoric move).
The A-list bloggers were/are people who have several thousands hits a day (I surmise) and have been influencing the blog discussions heavily such as Evhead (founder of Blogger) and Dave Winer (one of the first bloggers) - see end of post for a suggestion of current (US?) A-list bloggers.
Personally, I think the distinction between A-list bloggers and all the other lists of bloggers becomes more and more difficult to maintain, as more and more people blog, and more and more blogclusters arise with their own local "celebrities" - there are hardly any blog celebrities left whom ALL bloggers know. And even so, an US A-list may have no pertinence in the Danish community of bloggers. However, if you view blogs as informal and loose social and professional networks, just as in every other community, you have people who are in this community more influential or whose voice are more often heard (i.e. more often linked) - and I do think we would be kidding ourselves if we don't own up to that. This doesn't mean that all those not linked or read as often are "worse" bloggers; it is just as much a question of coincidence and zeitgeist - or maybe even blog-post frequency, who gets to be an "muchlinked" or much quoted person for a period (though writing skills _do_ count in the end, too ;))
Here is some links to bring you into the original A-List discussion:
- See the section A-List in this article Deconstructing "You've Got Blog" - the latter is probably the article that probably started the entire A-list discussion (??)
A-List Bloggers Parody (indirectly tells you who is thought of as A-list bloggers - written in relation to the above articles)
A recent attempt of an A-list, found in a blog comment (I for sure don't know all of them, and they are naturally all English writers...)
P.S. I talked to Lars of Armarium yesterday (he's a student in my course, small world) - he has been listing Danish blogs for a few years now, and estimates something like 300-400 Denmark-based blogs are now online; and more and more are now being written in Danish which I think is a very positive development.
In the Information article, I was quoted for saying there is an A list and B list of bloggers. Argh! I never meant it that way (sadly, it has been taken quite literally by some of the Danish Bloggers) - I was mainly referring to the A-List blogger discussion circulating in the blogworld some 1-2? years ago. If at all, there might still be an A-list of bloggers (still mainly US-based, I guess) but there never was such a thing as a B-list (except as a rhetoric move).
The A-list bloggers were/are people who have several thousands hits a day (I surmise) and have been influencing the blog discussions heavily such as Evhead (founder of Blogger) and Dave Winer (one of the first bloggers) - see end of post for a suggestion of current (US?) A-list bloggers.
Personally, I think the distinction between A-list bloggers and all the other lists of bloggers becomes more and more difficult to maintain, as more and more people blog, and more and more blogclusters arise with their own local "celebrities" - there are hardly any blog celebrities left whom ALL bloggers know. And even so, an US A-list may have no pertinence in the Danish community of bloggers. However, if you view blogs as informal and loose social and professional networks, just as in every other community, you have people who are in this community more influential or whose voice are more often heard (i.e. more often linked) - and I do think we would be kidding ourselves if we don't own up to that. This doesn't mean that all those not linked or read as often are "worse" bloggers; it is just as much a question of coincidence and zeitgeist - or maybe even blog-post frequency, who gets to be an "muchlinked" or much quoted person for a period (though writing skills _do_ count in the end, too ;))
Here is some links to bring you into the original A-List discussion:
- See the section A-List in this article Deconstructing "You've Got Blog" - the latter is probably the article that probably started the entire A-list discussion (??)
A-List Bloggers Parody (indirectly tells you who is thought of as A-list bloggers - written in relation to the above articles)
A recent attempt of an A-list, found in a blog comment (I for sure don't know all of them, and they are naturally all English writers...)
P.S. I talked to Lars of Armarium yesterday (he's a student in my course, small world) - he has been listing Danish blogs for a few years now, and estimates something like 300-400 Denmark-based blogs are now online; and more and more are now being written in Danish which I think is a very positive development.
Star Wars Galaxies goes the story way too
I just got a news letter from Star Wars Galaxies. Two interesting items: first, they claim they are, after a month, the second largest massively multiplayer game in the US (after EverQuest). And they introduce a Monthly Story which, at least this month, seem to consist of treasure hunt kinda quest. It could be highly interesting to study how engaged players are and will be in this monthly "story".
I just got a news letter from Star Wars Galaxies. Two interesting items: first, they claim they are, after a month, the second largest massively multiplayer game in the US (after EverQuest). And they introduce a Monthly Story which, at least this month, seem to consist of treasure hunt kinda quest. It could be highly interesting to study how engaged players are and will be in this monthly "story".
Some interesting figures on revenues of games, music and film in the UK, in the BBC article:Games suffer from 'geek stereotype'
News flash
I appeared with a short quote in a full page article Et Vindue til Verden (Window to the World) in Danish newspaper Information yesterday on weblogs. Of course the journalist had taken me up on my most controversiel statement and quotes me for saying that people blog because they try to get their 15 minutes of fame that way. This was just one of the many explanations for the popularity of weblogs, I tried to come up with, in a stressed phonecall between two meetings - I really do think they are being used for a variety of reasons, such as networking and thought sharing (like my own blog), "democratising" political debate, renewing journalistic writing, as a "writer's tool" and much more. Luckily the journalist had also interviewed Ulla Jensen of U post who is writing a Danish Master thesis on the subject, and she has a lot of reflected comments on the subjects, so the article is actually quite nuanced all in all and presents a number of interesting thoughts from Danish bloggers whom the journalist has been interviewing either via mail or though the comment-sections in the blogs!
I appeared with a short quote in a full page article Et Vindue til Verden (Window to the World) in Danish newspaper Information yesterday on weblogs. Of course the journalist had taken me up on my most controversiel statement and quotes me for saying that people blog because they try to get their 15 minutes of fame that way. This was just one of the many explanations for the popularity of weblogs, I tried to come up with, in a stressed phonecall between two meetings - I really do think they are being used for a variety of reasons, such as networking and thought sharing (like my own blog), "democratising" political debate, renewing journalistic writing, as a "writer's tool" and much more. Luckily the journalist had also interviewed Ulla Jensen of U post who is writing a Danish Master thesis on the subject, and she has a lot of reflected comments on the subjects, so the article is actually quite nuanced all in all and presents a number of interesting thoughts from Danish bloggers whom the journalist has been interviewing either via mail or though the comment-sections in the blogs!
Death Stories project
Walgblog (DK)
DK forskerblogs (DK)
klast at del.icio.us
Site feed Link (Atom)
Klastrup family?
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Buy our book
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Conferences
ACE 2007
Mobile Media 2007
MobileCHI 07
Perth DAC 2007
DIGRA 2007
AOIR 8.0/2007
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My Ph.D. thesis website:
Towards a Poetics of Virtual Worlds
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Misc
I also used to host & work in a world called StoryMOO.