The Swedish blogosphere is insulated by language, as most of its constituents blog in Swedish. That’s how it goes in most European countries, large and small, and the upshot is that for Europe’s blog-fueled social networks, the transmission of ideas between them takes more effort than in a monoglot US.
What to do? You compensate. You bring in Europe’s big-picture guys and get them to give you a dose of perspective, a sense of the larger front that Swedish bloggers are part of. You compare notes (How do French papers use blogs? Do Swedish CEOs blog?), and call out the similarities and differences. Each European linguistic zone’s blogosphere is a microclimate, and hence a de facto testbed for ideas. Having a continent full of mini-Darwinian social networking laboratories can be a source of strength, though it is then up to the likes of Ben, Jyri, Lo‘c (and Moz further afield with Asia) to crosspollinate. And I think there are some Swedish bloggers who’d be very adept at taking on a similar role.
That’s what I saw happen at Bloggforum 3. But something similar happened at a personal level. Swedish bloggers weren’t just getting to know the social technologists through their presentations — Jyri, Moz, Lo‘c and Ben in turn faced an audience of representative blogging Swedes, mingled with them during the breaks, and made their own impressions. Several volunteered that they were impressed with the quality of the debate that ended their talks. Crosspollination is a two-way process — Bloggforum 3, in its own small way, signals to the rest of Europe that in Sweden here be bloggers.
Thanks to everyone for attending, and to everyone who participated on panel discussions or made a presentation, and thanks also to Erik and Rebecca for being such seamless organizational partners. The whole thing was a blast, and worth every minute of preparation.
Now, what do you want for Bloggforum 4?
I thought there was not going to be a bloggforum 4, since blogging is dead, (long live blogging?) In case there is, I would love to debate what blogging does to public opinion and how politicians are influenced by that (or vice versa).
Thanks for a great event! A megablast I would say.
Regarding Bloggforum 4 and the death of blogging (long live blogging), I heard the rumour that if there will be a new event, that it may not be called bloggforum. Since this was a rumour, overheard through beer, and you are reading it on the net, take it with a salty pinch of future jam.
That anti spam question was tricky. I failed four times. 🙂
“With Scientology, Hubbard asserted that we are all spiritual beings (‘thetabeings’, and later ‘thetans’), who have lived for trillions of years, incarnating again and again. He claimed that through the use of his new techniques, anyone could achieve supernatural powers. In 40 years, no scientific evidence has been provided for these claims.”
“In April 1953, Hubbard wrote to one of his deputies asking what she thought of ‘the religion angle’. Later that year, he incorporated the Church of Scientology, which was licensed by his Church of American Science. The incorporation was kept secret, so that Hubbard could distance himself from it.”
– “The Total Freedom Trap”
A recently discovered Scientology teaching concerns blinkers. A blinker is an alien being that resembles a cat. Blinkers can either fly or teleport, and rarely touch the ground. These cats are the ancient enemies of the “loyal officers” of Scientology. Many Scientology facilities have special rooms designed to trap the blinker cats. Scientology claims that DNA from blinkers is found in “regular” cats. Scientology also claims that blinkers were used by the Egyptians to help them conquer other peoples, this explains the popularity of cats in Egyptian mythology.
Scientologists often attack and poison cats due to their fear of blinkers. Current Scientology leader David Miscavige is terrified of cats. Scientology has been investigated by animal control authorities in various places for abusing cats.