No Copy

The end

UPDATE

The comments so far have been truly heart-wearming. I had never even expected anyone would miss posts on this blog. But then again: you are all such polite people, so I can see the reason behind your expressing what you have until now... ;-D

Still, it feels good as it is right now. And it would seem I'm not alone with this 'feeling'.  According to a recent future report by The Future Laboratory "a growing minority of overloaded consumers are phasing out their virtual selves and returning to face-to-face socialising," as you can read here for example. So yes, I'll be sticking around on the web but when I say something like "see ya", that would be IRL preferably!

Christmas holidays, the new year in sight. Time to relax a little. Spend time with family and friends. And... try and catch up on the many mails, requests, notificiations,... that I have been receiving lately. Via Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, Scarlet mail, work mail, Flickr, Facebook, Netlog, Twitter,... Not to mention the good old post cards that seem to be flooding our snail mail box (thanks to everybody who sent us one - we're working on sending one back to you).

Perhaps it's the melancholic feeling I always get at the end of the year. Perhaps it's the lack of sunlight during these short days and long nights. But frankly, I'm tired. The web is a great thing, but I get the impression mankind has not evolved to the extent that our brains can cope with it all. Or at least, I haven't...

So no wonder people are shutting down their blog, are pronouncing the bankruptcy of social networking (found via Netlash) or are setting up a Facebook group that illustrates the same feeling of being fed up with some of the web2.0 overkill... Personally, I'm also going to take some time off blogging. Perhaps I'll pick it back up again later, perhaps I won't. But I am going to take some time to think about how, where and when I'm going to shape my 'online identity', if any.

I am not unplugging the internet, mind you. But this blog is probably going offline soon. It was a great tool in helping me to get to understand the blogosphere phenomenon. And it has introduced me to a great many wonderful people. I am not going to sum them up. I'm afraid I might forget some... But I'm sure they know who they are.

So thanks to them, and thanks to anybody who has ever visited this blog or commented on it.  All the best for 2008 and see you soon. IRL or online...

This one's for the road (tacky? who me? ;-D ) :

Bruxelles (see you in...)

The EuroBlog 2007 conference is still fresh in my mind, if only because our college was an active participant in organising it (as part of our Leerstoel Jos Willems) and I had the opportunity to be sitting "in the front row" of the event.

Still: it's time to move on. So here's the call for papers for EuroBlog 2008. And you know what the good news is (at least from a Belgian's point of view)? The 2008 edition takes place in... Brussels! That's right: Brussels, Brussel, Bruxelles...

Paris, Texas

Earlier this year, a former colleague of mine moved to Paris. If you want to learn more about the stuff expats are confronted with (for example because you are dreaming of moving to Paris too), it might be good idea to read her blog, at least for a while (in Dutch).

The biggest problem seems to be the quality and the price of accommodation. It is, indeed, amazing how big the amounts are you have to pay for a place in the city of lights. This is one of the billboards we noticed while we were taking a short city trip to Paris last November (finally managed to update my Flickr account too, by the way):

Not exactly motivating is it? There are some real estate cowboys running the place, if you ask me. In that case, I think I prefer the real cowboys from Paris, Texas... Does it surprise you this reminds me of one of the better films AND soundtracks of the past few decades?

België (2)

I hate chauvinism, don't you? But then again: humani nihil a me alienum puto, like good old Terentius used to say...

So, if you were planning to vote at The BOBs (an international blog award show, organised by the German TV station Welle), you might as well vote for the two Belgian blogs that made the shortlist: Humeur Allochtone by Mehmet Koksal, nominated for a Reporters Without Frontiers award, and Appelogen, nominated in the category of Best Dutch blog (competition consists of 9 blogs from The Netherlands).  Votes can be cast until 15 November 2007. Do it now!

Don't stop now

"Don't stop now." It's a phrase I have been repeating to myself a number of times over the last weeks. Don't stop blogging, even though I have wanted to. The reason? Too much work. "Don't stop now." Don't stop reading, that is. Students' final papers, portfolios and a number of other assignments. That's why it's been awfully quiet on this blog for some time. And it will remain like that for some weeks to come.

[photo]

Anyway, luckily there is music to keep me going. Like the brand new Crowded House single. "Crowded House? I thought they split up ten years ago?" You're right. But a couple of months ago, they got back together again: Neil Finn on guitars and vocals, Nick Seymour on bass guitar, Mark Hart on piano and harmony, and new recruit Matt Sherrod on drums. There have already been some gigs, there was a webcast some weeks ago, and now there is a new single. What it's called? Right: Don't Stop Now.

[photo]

Produced by Steve Lillywhite , "Don't Stop Now" features the new Crowded House line-up plus a guest appearance on guitar by the legendary Johnny Marr. It has been announced as "a melodic tour de force, a hook-filled gem that gets better with every listen." You know what: I tend to agree... Just listen here, and tell me what you think.

On 2nd July, Crowded House will put out 'Time On Earth', their first release in over 10 years. The long-awaited new album contains 14 songs and, in old Crowded House tradition, the album cover features a Nick Seymour painting. Something to look forward to. If only because by then, the reading will have been finished...

 

Note: personally, I think Crowded House have always been underrated, especially by the so-called 'real' rock fans who think minor chords are for softies and who disregard any band that writes songs where melody is more important than riffs. Too bad: because as far as I am concerned, Neil Finn is one of the finest song writers of our times. But you have to be willing to listen with an open mind, of course...

Back to life

Finally life is beginning to get back to normal after a hectic couple of weeks. The Chair Jos Willems last week was a success, as well as the CONGA Award. I'll be devoting one or more posts to the Chair Jos Willems later - right now I'm still putting the presentations online. 

The missing link between the CONGA Award and the Chair Jos Willems, by the way, was the omnipresent Tom De Bruyne from i-merge. I-merge did not only win this year's CONGA Award, Tom also presented one of the keynotes of the Chair. So in honour of Tom, this photograph that he was so glad to see appear on Digimedia :-) :

Don't miss out on this!

Spread the word: registrations for the Chair Jos Willems / EuroBlog 2007 Conference can begin!

A year ago, EuroBlog 2006 showed that interactive social media technologies – weblogs, podcasts, wikis, real simple syndication, folksomonies, social tagging, personal networks and other species of social software and services - were beginning to impact on communications in many different ways. The 2007 symposium will present insights from EuroBlog 2007, the second pan-European quantitative survey on the usage of social media by communication professionals, draw new theoretical insights and respond to industry feedback by identifying and presenting examples of best practice.

A must for every communication professional

The EuroBlog conference, which will be held on 16 and 17 March of 2007, is to take place during a larger event, starting on the 15th of March already: the Chair Jos Willems, organised by the Communications Management and Journalism departments of Artevelde College in Ghent (Belgium) and named after the man who started the college over 40 years ago. Artevelde College and the European PR Education and Research Association (Euprera) are organising the EuroBlog 2007 Conference together.

If you're interested in social media and the impact they have on the field of communications (be it in pr, marketing communications as well as journalism), the Chair Jos Willems is a must, offering a Dutch programme with a wide range of topnotch speakers as Tom De Bruyne of i-merge, Clo Willaerts of Skynet, Luc Van Braekel and (pdw) as well as many others on Thursday the 15th. The (English spoken) EuroBlog 2007 Conference on 16 and 17 March is also not to be missed, especially considering the fact that the results of the EuroBlog 2007 survey will be made public, that more than twenty speakers from nine countries are expected to present their findings and insights and that the keynote on Friday is deliverd by Neville Hobson, whom you might/should know from crayon and For Immediate Release.

Register today!

The number of seats at the Chair Jos Willems is not unlimited. So register quickly and make sure you do not miss out on this unique opportunity to sharpen your knowledge on social media as well networking with a fine selection of people with whom you share professional interests. Visit the website www.leerstoeljoswillems.be today and, should you speak English only, go to the page 'Information in English'. On the site you will find more details regarding the programme, the location, the registration fees and so on.

See you soon, in Ghent!

A cancer for the cure

Could it be this simple: scientists have found a cure for cancer, but since there is no money to be made from it, they do not research it any further?

Well, that is basically what this guy is telling us, and what Piet apparently has picked up on. Let's hope they are right and that the pressure of free media can create a breakthrough. But what if these scientists are wrong? Or worse: what if this is just a big hoax?

Will the 'collective intelligence' of the web in its 2.0 state reveal the truth? Or will it be proved that the World Wide Web is just "a vessel of quasi-religious longing" like Nicholas Carr once stated? I am curious...

Weblog P.I.

Not so long ago, Jackie Danickies 'tube attack post'  led to an avalanche of comments and posts around the blogosphere. Many bloggers, including Philip Young, had questions about the ethics of this type of posts.

I guess that similar questions could be raised regarding the blog (in French) that Belgian Nadine Decker, widow of Jean-Marc Decker (who was stabbed to death in the night of 2 to 3 February 1993), has set up in order to rekindle the investigations into the killing of her husband (as reported by De Standaard).

[photo via]

After years of enquiry, the trial took place in October of last year, acquitting the accused. The victim's widow refused to leave it at that and hopes to find new elements for the investigation through the blog.

Although I cannot begin to imagine how it must feel like losing a partner because of a crime, and although I totally understand Mrs Decker's  frustration after the trial, I am not certain a blog asking the public for clues and tips is the way to move forward, especially after more than 13 years. The police were equally surprised to learn about the blog, saying that it is the first time they have seen an initiative of this nature and carefully adding that "it is not wrong to try and help the police to solve a crime, but one should treat such information with caution."

So far, some people have commented on the posts, but mostly to wish Nadine Decker 'bon courage' or to vent their own miscontent with society. Personally, I doubt the blog will lead to any great breakthroughs in the enquiry and Mrs Decker is probably clutching at straws.

But then again: who can blame her for doing so?

Five things you didn't know about me.

Yep: for a long time I thought I might be able to escape it, but the '5 things meme' has reached Koekelare. Thank you Neville - I'll remember... ;-)

I could tell you I can't really imagine going through life without music, but that would hardly be much of a surprise, would it? But - just for the fun of it - I tried to link the five things you (probably) didn't know about me to a song/clip I have always liked. Here goes:

1] As a child (and later on too, of course - at least until the network decided to stop the show in 1987) I always watched Toppop, a music show on Dutch television presented by Ad Visser. The only time I can actually remember looking away, feeling uncomfortable, was when Nina Hagen made her Toppop debut with Unbeschreiblich Weiblich in 1978. Don't laugh: I was, after all, only seven. And let's face it: until then, I had thought all women were warm, soft and gentle and certainly nothing like this...

By the way: as I got a bit older, I also got over my Nina Hagen phobia...

2] The first album I ever bought was Too Tough To Die by The Ramones. The opening track of the album is Mama's Boy. Confession number 2: during my first summer camp my parents had to come and get me. I was too homesick to stay (hey, I was six, okay :-) ).Yep, I guess I was a bit of a mama's boy too:

3] Confession number 3: I am afraid of heights. Not the heights you reach when you're standing on an average ladder, but serious heights. They make my knees go weak, make my hand palms sweat and make my head spin. I guess that's more or less the definition of acrophobia... Anyway, the first song that made me feel equally dizzy and realize there was other, more disturbing stuff out there than the average mainstream pop/rock/punk was Death Valley 69 by Sonic Youth (originally released on Bad Moon Rising from 1985). It gave me the creeps but boy, did I like it... I am not such a big Sonic Youth fan today (and yes, I have more or less shifted back towards the mainstream when it comes to music), but Death Valley 69 is forever engraved in my ears (could that be the cause of my tinnitus? - call that a free extra confession). Perhaps it will now be in yours too:

4] As the opening dance for our wedding, I had suggested I Want You by Elvis Costello to my wife... well fiancee at the time. A great song. But when she found out what the song was really about, her enthusiasm quickly diminished. We eventually chose the Carole King classic You've Got A Friend, but in a version by the fabulous Housemartins. Confession number 4: I would not choose it again; it is, let's face it, kind of tacky. But the things you do when you are young... Anyway: here's The Housemartins 'live' on Top of the Pops with Me and The Farmer (I didn't find their version of You've Got A Friend on YouTube) from their 1987 album The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death (watch out for Norman Fatboy Slim Cook on bass):

5] Call it a new year's resolution that is doomed to fail (moreover so since I do not believe in new year's resolutions, remember?), but as from today I no longer smoke. Am I going to miss it? You bet. But I have noticed a few times already I can do without a smoke for several days in a row. And since smoking bans are emerging in more places than ever, I guess I might as well pack it in. Besides: which parent doesn't want to set the right example for his kids? And then a final confession: I hate being drunk and I hate drunk people. I can't even really remember the time I was drunk for the last time (must be somewhere in my student days). Mind you: I do like a nice beer from time to time, and I enjoy a good glass of wine, or the odd single malt every now and then. But as soon as I feel I'm reaching my limits, I switch to something non-alcholic. I guess this really is the end of my rock 'n roll years. No more cigarettes and alcohol:

I suppose it's my turn now to tag five other people. But you know what: if you feel like picking up the meme, go for it. I am curious about a few secrets from so many people I have no idea who to choose first. I know: I'm a bit of a killjoy. Well, let's say that could have been the sixth thing you maybe didn't know about me. I just didn't find the right song to match it. :-)