Schmisi Becomes Collaborative - Who Would Have Guessed That?

Wondered why nothing is happening on this blog? Answer: no time for writing! Why did I start a blog in the first place? Wanted to write. Solution? Here we go...

This is how Wiki defines the term "group work":

"Group work a form of cooperative learning. It aims to cater for individual differences, develop students' knowledge, generic skills (e.g. communication skills, collaborative skills, critical thinking skills) and attitudes.
Specifically in psychotherapy, "group work" refers to group therapy, offered by a practitioner trained in psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, counseling or other relevant discipline."

I kind of like the second the part concerning psychotherapy, made me think in metaphors, legacy of a literary scholar. That is not the point, however. The problem is that I do not like group work as such. Anti-social? Yes - at least in this respect. Writing to me means individualism. Writing means letting it flow - whatever the "it" means in the end. No matter how crappy the "it" turns out. So, why then consider group work for solving my blog-writing-laziness-syndrome? Here is another definition that gets us closer to the point:

"A collaborative blog is a type of weblog in which posts are written and published by more than one author. The majority of high profile collaborative blogs are based around a single uniting theme, such as politics or technology." (Wiki)

Now what? Schmisi is turning social after all? Right and wrong. Am I really in favor of a blog that turns out like a quilt in the end with bits and pieces by different bloggers who are neither "high profile" nor have a "uniting theme"? Answer: no - I am not in favor of this, people who know me know that schmisi likes to have it all "perfect" in one way or the other. Is schmisi sure of that anymore? Answer is no. Do I know that the blog turns out like a mess because different people mess with it? Anwer is no. Am I the one to judge what crappy means? Answer is no - even though it took me a long time to realize this in life. Is there still room for a "yes" answer in this post? I think there is. Do I want to experiment with "collaboration?" YES - period.

What is going to happen now? I do not know. I know I have a lot to say about current events, though. Sounds silly, right, cause I did not say a lot in the course of these past months. Still, I want current events to be the "uniting theme" of this blog. "Ah, collaboration without collaborative liberty" - you might think now. YES and NO again. I think that "current events" appearing on tv news, in the paper, on the internet, in daily gossip... - are shaping our lives. What happens in some forgotten village at the other end of the world has a lot to do with our life here in good old privileged Europe. Why is that? Because we are all human beings who care about very similar things in life - no matter if we are black, white, straight, gay, speak Chinese, English or Arabic, work in academia or in a bakery around the corner.

True, you have to accept this logic if you want to blog on this blog. Does this mean that I am forcing you to write on something in particular? No. Will I give another Wiki-definition of current events? No. It is up to you how you define "current events." The process of "defining" already reveals a lot about your thinking. If that scares you - o.k. Should it scare you? I do not think so. Keep your eyes open and digest with the willingness to share the process - not only the product.

Now what? Want to blog on this blog? Great! What do you have to do? I do not know. I am not posting a formal "call for bloggers." I am encouraging you to think about writing before you might decide you want to write on this blog. There is someone I especially want to encourage with this first post on collaboration. BH just taught me very unexpectedly that group work might work in the end. This lesson was not about elementary school poetics (= result), this lesson was about sharing the great experience of being creative together (= process). So, BH, if you want to be creative - go ahead. I am hereby inviting you. Am I keeping all other candidates out? No - YOU are welcome to join. Just let me know. How? Be creative and find a way...

Life and Death of a Blogger

Actually, I was not going to blog today but when I finally got to take a look at the news today, this headline struck me: "Libyan Rebel Blogger Killed by Snyper." Mohamed Nabous got killed by Gaddafi's forces because he was a REBEL and a BLOGGER. Now, to me, there is not really a difference between a rebel and a blogger because sharing one's honest thoughts about politics/life in public does attract all sorts of enemies. However, the term rebel in the current context of the "Middle Eastern Revolution" of course has a more serious connotation.

Even though, this is not the first time that a blogger literally gets "silenced" by the subjects of his blogging (just look at Cuba, if you want to learn more about blogging in a dictatorship: Generation Y), this tragic incident especially touches me because I have been reading so much about new media communication, political activism, online communities etc. these days. Blogging in the virtual world of bits and bytes of course has REAL-LIFE consequences. The brains behind the machines are still HUMAN; meaning - they can die - or get KILLED. Unfortunately, the more the public (i.e. "the media" putting new media blogging on the old media agenda) acknowledges the impact of blogging on politics and real-life activism, the more dangerous the situation will become for the bloggers.

This thought is not new either - the more effective... the more dangerous... The problem is that blogging and other social media have been granted enormous attention in the course of the events in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere. Bloggers and "normal" citizens get to report from places where journalistic reporters have been banned. As we can see now, the privilege turns into a massive danger. No wonder, people like Salam Pax and Riverbend (to name only a few) were very careful in maintaining their anonymity. We can only hope that today's REBELS are careful enough to follow this model without, however, giving up their REBEL voice.

I am closing this post with bitter thoughts: for people like me, blogging is an experiment - at times political, at times personal. For other bloggers around the world - blogging is a matter of life and death. If the democratic function of blogging prevails - then life will triumph in the end.

KNUT

My second day as a new-born blogger and it was crappy. First - took a run in the rain. Then - spent the day working on my course prep. Now - have a headache. Headache got worse when I watched the news: Gaddafi does not care about cease fire and keeps bombing "his" people - food in Japan already contaminated - AND, here comes what really ruined my day: Knut is dead! For the people who do not know Knut, here is a link to the tragedy: "Celebrity Polar Bear" (Spiegel Online). Knut was more than a bear - he was THE bear - the bear that contributed to the German reunification of hearts at least as much as "Cindy aus Marzahn." Now, Knut is history. He followed his human foster father T. Dörflein who passed away in 2008. Maybe this is what explains the whole matter. Knut died of grief. "More than two years after the loss?" ignorant people will ask. Yes, wise people will answer - mourning does not know any prescribed recovery period. Knut suffered the consequences of this finding. Maybe, however, this is all overinterpretation (= occupational disease of a prospective literary scholar). There must be a logical, i.e. medical explanation. They will find something, I am sure. There cannot be an unexplained case of death in the zoo - at least not in Germany - at least not in the case of Knut. We will have to watch the news tomorrow to figure it out - even if it ruins our day once more....

REST IN PEACE, KNUT.

P.S.: (Is there such a thing as a P.S. in a blog? Have to check tomorrow, too tired now). What I still want to say: THANK YOU for your encouraging words concerning my blog. Makes me feel like I made the right choice in starting this blogging business. But it also makes me feel nervous: people actually READ THIS! So, I will have to keep blogging. Feels like more homework... good night)

"Beginning"

"So this is the beginning for me, I guess, I never thought I'd start my own blog . . . All I could think, every time I wanted to start one was 'but who will read it?' I guess I've got nothing to lose . . . but I'm warning you . . ."

A little bit about myself: I'm female, citizen of the world, and 27.

It is probably wrong to start a blog with the words of someone else. I am doing it anyway. I read "the beginning" post in riverbend's now famous Baghdad blog. Well, actually I did not read the blog as blog but in the form of a book I am reading for a class I will be teaching this summer. It finally DID make me start my own blog after thinking about it for years. Thinking is fine, most of the times. Doing something is a very different matter, though.

Maybe it is even more wrong to start a blog with the words used in a post-war blog. But why not? We are all post or pre war all the time. Right now, the world is facing a nuclear war. Well, it is not THE nuke war IR people have been worried about all the time. It is a nuclear catastrophe in Japan which is now fueling the war of words between pro and anti nuclear power parties around the world. Especially in supposedly "pacifist" post-war Germany, people LIKE this kind of war. Anti nuclear energy demonstrations started right after the news of the power trouble in Fukushima reached Europe. "Great," the adherents of the Green Party and others thought - "finally we have THE DISASTER proving that we should stop using nuclear power." This was when the victims of the earthquake in Japan were still struggling to survive under the ruins of destroyed buildings. "We should not instrumentalize such a human catastrophe for domestics politics" was the reaction of the Germany's foreign secetary. Others agreed - later - too late. The problem is that people acted before thinking about finding a nice excuse for their inexcusable behavior. Well, this is what happens when action antecedes thinking. No reason to be surprised. It happens a lot these days - especially in the field of politics.

Global politics are slowly returning to the Middle East again. Japan is still on the top of the media agenda but Libya is slowly reappearing. Unfortunately, this also means that Ghaddafi is back again. He could take a breath while the world was watching the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. But the world does not forget so quickly. After a few days of human disaster, grief and total destruction, people get bored of the familiar footage. They want to see something more exciting. Shootings in the Arab World, for example. I will not write more about Ghaddafi now. I just hope, he will be gone soon and I do not want him to occupy more space than necessary in my blog. The news are saying that air strikes are expected within hours. This is something that the Germans welcome, at least that is what Angela Merkel announced today. The problem was that this was not a statement but an excuse. She had to find an excuse for Germany's abstention in the U.N. vote today. Germany will not participate in a combat mission in Libya. This is how history affects today's politics...

The news occupying my mind the most today came from Yemen. Yemen, the country where I spent a very moving time in 2008. Now I see people getting killed in the streets of "Arabia Felix." The struggles are getting more and more violent each day, so it seems. I hope the world will pay attention to what is happening there. This will only work if the journalists decide to pay attention. And this will depend on what happens in Japan and in Libya. Well, this is how small the global world is. One BIG EVENT here and the big event THERE shrinks - no chance to get more publicity today - maybe tomorrow. Just wait and see if a couple of hundred more dead people end up in the streets of Sanaa. This might make Yemen climb the ladder of attention on the media agenda. Sad, very sad for the country. However, there is also hope - hope that the casualties are not in vain, that peace and human living conditions are the result.

Hurriiyah for the people in Yemen - this would be a great new beginning for the country. For the moment, however, this was only the beginning of my blog. Thank you, riverbend.