Censorship on Sina Weibo – 50% of messages deleted in Tibet, 12% in Beijing, 11% in Shanghai. is.gd/Tinura

— Kim Rathcke Jensen (@kinablog) 3月 10, 2012

For those who doesn’t know; Sina Weibo is often called the Chinese twitter with more than 250 million users.

One of those who conducted the study, David Bamman, says that he is surprised that some terms appear at all with such massive censorship:

The fact that we see these terms in messages would seem to imply that the censorship is not an automatic process,” he told the BBC. This exposed, he said, the tension between government demands for active policing and reluctance on the part of companies to inhibit what their customers do.

Is it good signs? I wonder how big the patience of the Chinese netizens are. I wouldn’t endure such a wide amount of censorship, afraid to develope biased opinions. I hope more Chineze netizens will climb the wall and in the end, the government of China understand that the solution is not to put efforts to keep the Chinese citizens stupid, but to change strategy and work for more transparency.

It has been going on for a while, I heard it a few month ago for the first time, and when it comes up in the “National Peoples Congress” the usual Chinese rhetoric is there. This is quoted from an article in the Shanghai Daily:

The draft revisions to China’s Criminal Procedure Law say that detainees’ families must be told within 24 hours, except when it is impossible or when the detainees are “involved in crimes concerning state security, terrorism or especially serious corruption and notification of where they are residing could obstruct investigations.”

Chinese rhetoric:
Wang, vice chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, said that although the current law fully embodied the principle of human rights protection, it was necessary to write the article into the law (…) to strengthen punishment of crimes and protect the people, to strengthen and make innovations in social administration and maintain social harmony and stability

My own thoughts:

1. Crimes concerning state security is with my own experience often a good thing to the Chinese people.
2. What the law embodies and the actual law enforcement is two veery different issues. Its often very arbitrary.
3. I’m in many cases “allergic” to the use of “necessary”.
4. The actual consequence is more probable that authorities can continue to commit remanding crimes, but now with “legal” support.

One interesting thing, good or bad, I don’t know, is that a smaller part of Swedish citizens pension, is put into funds, and if I don’t choose myself, default is two funds called AP7 Räntefond (“fixed income fund”?) and AP7 Aktiefond (equity fund), see below, or actually, its just in the equity fund until I’m 55, because shares might give better return. This is called premium pension, and is, in my case, 6082 SEK at the moment.

And here is the development of the funds last years.

Eventually quite sucky.

So, after I read the book “Så här kan alla svenskar bli miljonärer” (How all Swedes can become millionaires) by Per H. Börjesson, I decided to take a look at this and decide my funds myeslf. Börjessons theory is quite simple, don’t pay the financial industry any unnecessary costs. Since about 9 of 10 fund managers don’t beat index, there is probably just a loss to pay them management fees.

I simply sorted the funds by management fees and chose the one entirely free (Avanza zero), and then the funds that seems to have been best compared to index the last years and divided all parts equally.

Their development the last years look like this:

As you can see has all of them beaten index, maybe except for Avanza zero, that probably is nothing but a index fund, meant to follow the index. Anyway, the fees are very low. This tiny part will probably don’t make me a rich pensioner, but it is slightly more exciting to have made this choice myself.

The plot:
Orgon adores a guy called Tartuffe, who actually is a quite sneaky guy. He fools Orgon to marry off his daughter, and succeeds to make Orgon sign a contract that makes all his stuff belong to Tartuffe. But his wife see through it and remembers that shrine. In the shrine there is some kind of proof that the stuff still belongs to Orgon and the story ends.

As you can see (which you probably can whether you understand Swedish or not), our roleplay is quite amateurish, as it should be. When we were about to present it, I was a bit nervous, I was still not sure our plot was correct. Our teacher could have ask us what we had gotten the story from and told us that it was not Tartuffe as she knew it, but she didn’t. We got a good mark.

I wanted to save our productions we made during high school, so after the graduation, I went back to school and spent a few days to arrange them and copy the into DVD. Just a few days ago I found that DVD again and was pretty happy when I realized that the format was youtube compatible!

So, definately no Academy Awards, but here it is. Tartuffe.

The last centuries there have been a development into a more democratic world that I guess is kind of unique in history, the last year is not an exception. You’ll probably find people fighting for democracy almost wherever you come, the desire for equality and opportunity to affect the system and people that you entrust with authority. For me, humans are humans, no matter where they come from or how they look like and everybody have a kind of non-measurable value. Strictly, I think people should have the total freedom to decide their own life, but practically I also think that a system where all people have to participate in all public decisions would be to inefficient and time-consuming. So we simply entrust a smaller group of people with trust to exert authority, take decisions that in fact violates our freedom. We have to pay taxes, we are not allowed to walk wherever we want, not allowed to drive too fast etc.

A democratic system is a sign of the equal value of humans. But the fight cannot stop there. A democratic system is not fair until a some certain amount of openness and transparency is achieved, and actually – I’m not sure any country has achieved it this far. The task of the state should not just be to maintain it and “protect” it from development, the task should further be to secure free knowledge and search for the best decisions.

The best decisions can only be made when you have all necessary information. But it will probably be impossible to know what “necessary” is, and for me it’s quite obvious that it’s hard to base my opinion on something when I lack knowledge, and sometimes, there are probably cases when I lack knowledge in such amount that I don’t even know that I should take a decision. I think we need every single person that want to engage in search for information. The more we know, the more information we posses – the better possibility to take better decisions we have, and I simply think that is necessary to solve our problems. We need people and media to investigate, to search for the truth and speak it out. To restrict them will will make us more stupid, to accept restriction is to accept yourself to be manipulated, and you will have harder to base your opinions and decision on fair information.

Some people think it’s more important to keep such information away from people, I guess they find it better to control others, than let them know the truth. I don’t say that I know the truth, but I do think we should put effort to search for it. People that are detained for their words or opinions should be released, people that are trying to find the truth and tell the world are doing a very important job and without them, we would lack more knowledge than we do.

We need to remind us, our memory is probably not that good as we believe. In many countries there are people that are longing for the freedom in Europe or US, at the same time as some of the European countries and US are about to restrict this fundamental freedom. I will not be very surprised if there during my lifetime will be a change, and for example China, with the consequences of restricted freedom fresh in the mind will turn more free than Europe and US, that in some kind of arrogant way forgot why they once set up the rules of freedom, of speech, of opinions, of information gathering etc.

I were trying out the limits in China, and it’s possible I shall be “lucky” that still today is a free blogger. I hope all people with the intention to inform and educate humanity also shall be.

Application – Anders Walls scholarship

Dear Swedish Chamber of Commerce and the Anders Wall foundation, it is with a mix of happiness, future look and fear I write this application. My first contact with the Anders Wall foundation was a few years ago in Uppsala. The annual Anders Wall lecture was a great source of inspiration. Once went there, I could see examples of what people can reach with their ideas if they are ready to engage and made me think that change and fame is more often than many of us consider, is a decision we can take ourself. And I think that have effected me a lot last years, and have made me put up quite high goals for my life. I want to make a difference.

I was born on Gotland in the Baltic Sea, soon 25 years ago. I passed through school with quite good results. I was early told to study natural Science and when it came to high school I did not spend a lot of time to reflect my choice. Three years later, when I were about to apply for a university, my choice was not that easy. My new big interests was language, but I didn’t have the time to engage in it. One day I heard about an engineering programme with international focus, I was immediately determined – Chemistry and China. After some more considerations, I did not chose that programme, but I decided to make it my own way, and sometime before graduation go to China and study the language. Before that I engaged in the student society of Uppsala. Through boards and committees I experienced to be in positions where I could make a change. I really enjoyed it, the atmosphere of future look, the engagement, but there were things I still thought could be better. I was nominated as the president for the at that time largest student association with volountary membership.

My interest in language and my interest in development of myself and the society led me to the understanding of the importance of communication and I found my self in love with the new way to communicate – the social media. The closeness and availability really changed the the conditions of our way to share information and keep in contact with each other and this is probably something that I will try to use the benefit of if I am chosen as scholar.

I considered what I wanted – an open society, a society where you can find the appropriate information for necessary decisions. From the student- and university life in Uppsala, my interest where turned to a more global perspective and especially China – that I consider as the probably most influential power during a big part of my lifetime. So I went there last year. To learn the language and get a better understanding of the cultur, system and the people. I realized that the trademark Sweden is very strong in China and several times I heard people talk about Sweden as some kind of paradise. This is something that even more encourage me to write this application, to work for something that I in some way can feel proud of. I think it’s very important for Swedes, as well as anyone else, to get a better understanding of China, and at the same time I think China can find a lot of inspiration from the Swedish companies and society.

In Sweden we often have the perspective of respecting individuals, something that I believe is something very attractive in China, and I think that Swedish companies that are aware of that and really try to keep or implement it when doing business in China will not just have the direct benefits, but in a long term also achieve a positive and strong reputation. One example is is the Sandvik concern, their core values are “Team spirit”, “Open mindness” and “Fair play”, things that in some way is a lack in some parts of the Chinese system, and probably therefore so much more attractive. When I read that Sandvik was awarded for being one of the best employers in China, I did not see it as a coincidence, but as a natural consequence.

I really think that the companies plays some kind of fundamental role in the society and that is another reason that the Anders Wall scholarship attracts me. To have opportunity to live in China and work for the connection between Sweden and China would be very motivating. I lived in Shanghai for one year 2010/2011 and sometimes participated in the events by the Swedish chamber of commerce, and it was through their newsletter I one day read about the Scholarship. My Chinese is far from perfect, but usually I can express what I want. But trying to make change in China is bit risky activity. Thats why I had to leave China two weeks earlier than I had planned in July this year, and at the moment I’m not really sure they will let me go back, but I am anyway planning to appeal their decision, since it violates the laws of China. But I think that should not affect your choice. I reached a lot of my purpose during my year in China, and to work one year at the Swedish Chamber of commerce would definitely help me to achieve my goal, but probably in a very different way than last time. It would also be an important experience for me, as I’m later in life considering to apply for the 2 years commission as manager at the Nordic center in Shanghai.

I’m really looking forward to read your answer, and I hope you will call me for an interview. For further information about me, please see the links below or Google my name in Swedish or Chinese (应斯文).

CV at LinkedIn
Main website, where you also can find my Chinese blogs.

Other
Presidency nomination for the Uppsala Student Union for Engineering and Science students (2010)

“Valberedningen anser att det under det kommande året krävs en ordförande som är väl påläst och insatt i utns verksamhet och de stora förändringa som orgnisationen står inför. Ordförande ska på ett representativt och förtroendeingivande sätt kunna föra utns talan och fungera som ett ansikte utåt. Valberedningen anser att personen som vi har valt att nominera uppfyller tidigare nända kriterier i stor utstäckning samt har betydande kontakter inom universitet och stor insikt i utbildningsfrågor. Valberedningen är övertygade om att kandidaten kommer att fungera som ett stöd för både kommande års styrelse och engagerade inom utn, då han har tidigare erfarenheter från både styrelsen och studierådsverksamthet. Personen har angett starka referenser som har styrkt valberednignens uppfattning. Utöver detta har valberedningen även mottagit en mycket stark rekomendation. Valberedningen har därför valt att nominerna Sven Englund till Ordförande för Utn ht10-vt11.”

Motivation for the Uppsala Universitys Chemical sections “Nobel prize” 2010.

Kemisektionens styrelse har valt att tilldela Sven Englund Nobelpriset 2009.
Sven tilldelas priset för sitt brinnande engagemang för sin medstudenters studiesituation, inte bara inom kemiteknikprogrammet utan också inom Uppsala teknolog och naturvetarkår. Svens arbete som studeranderepresentant har bidragit till att vi alla får en bättre utbildning anpassad till studenterna såväl som till arbetslivet och universitetet. Han har gjort ett viktigt jobb för studenter på teknisk naturvetenskapliga fakulteten i allmänhet och för studenterna på Kemiteknikprogrammet i synnerhet.
Sven är en person som gör allt för sina medmänniskor och som ser till att alla får sin röst hörd. Han tar sina uppdrag på stort allvar och han ställer alltid upp, även när han har fullt upp med annat. En rad förtroendeuppdrag både inom sektionen samt Uppsala teknolog och naturvetarkår har inneburit en hög arbetsbelastning, men det har han klarat galant. Nästa steg är måhända det ”riktiga” nobelpriset.

“As usual” the reason of strange human behaviour can be derived to “emotions”. And another funny coincidence (?) is that his conclusion fit quite well with my picture from the Bund, when I took photo for my “illegal” blogpost (yep, I felt a bit awkward standing there, usually I don’t even dress off when playing beach volley…).

But, the message seems to be right! =)

First I want to say thank you to all kind of response this far. I haven’t counted all comments I have got, they have been numerous and wide-ranged, some of them hailing me as a hero, other saying that I am nothing but stupid. Many of comments were probably deleted by Chinese censors before I had a chance to see them, but all of you should know, that I am in some way thankful to every comment.

Receive criticism is not always very easy, if you have worked hard for something, you feel proud, you feel that you are doing the right thing, you have got support and somebody suddenly say that you are wrong or even stupid. It’s not easy, you probably want to defend yourself, and keep being on the comfortable track of self-confidence. Sometimes it’s very strong feelings, just like someone want to hurt you. But our feelings are not always that rational, sometimes we are wrong, but have hard, or don’t want to consider it. And how can we know what is right or wrong? Is there any right or wrong?

A few years ago, I think I came to a point in life when I in some way understood how hard it is to know what is true. I considered the different religions, different cultures, different politics, most of them really convinced that they are believing in truth. But it’s simply impossible – if two persons says that I am right and you are wrong, at least one of them are wrong, both of them can be wrong, but both of them can’t be right. Still people put far more effort to make other people to change their belief, politics or whatever, even if the only thing we easily can control and change is – ourselves.

But here I think our emotions in some way is our biggest enemy, the chemical reactions in our body, the mechanisms that automatically starts. I started to consider my own feelings, and in specific situations, I could predict them and feel them almost like I watched another person. My feelings could strongly make me hate, when I knew I should be thankful. I think this understanding of my own irrational emotional reactions gave me a much better self-awareness, and I could be prepared and set up principles how to handle it.

For examples, I decided to always read through criticizing comments or when arguing, always let people talk until they are finished before I answer. I also noticed that it could take time to let the emotional reaction calm down, but after that it was easier to understand the situation clearly, so many times I don’t answer criticism immediately.

I read a lot about this, understood that it’s in fact is a very complicated thing, how we become selective, we might think that we are on the right path and experience that “everything” confirms our belief, but actually we just hear what we want. You can find the problem in many places, the confirmation bias. In some way, a strong believe that you believe in truth, might just be a sign that you lack perspective. For me it seems like people actually don’t really want to believe in truth, but we want to believe that we believe in truth.

We can take one example (among any authoritarian organisations), the Catholic Church, in the medieval Europe a very strong instance and I guess that they really regarded them self to believe in truth. I think that people who are convinced in believing in truth should have a will to make all facts open, to let all people critically review anything, because if it is the truth, then they should come to the same conclusion in the end. Right? But the Catholic church did not act like that, there were for example one man called Galileo Galilei who not just stated that the Earth is not the center of the Universe, he also stated that if we can proof something in reality, then contradictory theories are false (or something like that). It was a big threat to the Catholic church, why they took him to the court, and put him in house arrest for the rest of his life. Later, his theories became the basis of science, and he is sometimes called “the Father of Science”. 1992 the Catholic Church apologized for their actions. And I guess any authoritarian organisation or state will face the same destiny, the probability that they are right in all cases when they controle peoples life, is simply not that big.

So we can see, the search for truth is not an easy thing, not even for those who claim they love truth and want to believe in it. But if we are really honest with it, we should let people find the truth themselves, give them all information, be open and try to be critical to ourselves at firsthand. But I think it’s often a question of where we put our proudness, and I think I have find my own strategy – to put my proudness in being honest. I can tell you, sometimes I feel humiliated and embarrassed, but later the redress seems to come (though it’s hard next time again) and I can feel that proudness or harmony anyway (I’m sorry China, to force all people believe in lies will simply not give you harmony). But sometimes I will be punished, because my mistakes or actions simply make people disappointed or upset, but then I at least can feel some kind of proudness that I have taken a decision to to what I think is right when I have realized my mistake. And I think it’s important to understand that as well, just like for myself, the feelings are not easy to handle. But I really try to behave myself when others are honest, encourage the honestness and openness, otherwise I will be a person that prefer to be manipulated and have a wrong perspective than have a more true perspective in accordance with reality.

After all, I simply don’t know what is true or not, but I think that to have any chance to reach it, “all facts” must be available, all people must be allowed to share their angle, but I’m not really sure if that is enough, I think we should put effort to make facts available in easy ways, and we should encourage people to express their ideas, their opinions and if that is something we don’t like, we should consider if the biggest problem is ourselves.

So I am thankful for all people taking time to express their opinions about me, because it gives me opportunity to reflect, and I also want you to know, that even if I disagree with me, I am thankful. It’s not unusual that I am more thankful to an honest person that disagree with we and make me understand that I have been wrong, then a person that agree with me in same case.

I think that in some way summarize what I want to say, I have probably missed several important things. But basically I want to say that I am thankful when people have the courage to express their opinions even if I agree or not, if they criticize me or not. In a next step I am even more thankful when people try to question themselves first, consider which facts they posses and what have affected them and so on. But in a first step, feel free and encouraged to criticize me! at same time, I hope you all can understand that I still want be your friend even if I don’t agree with you.

Ok? 行吗？

At that time, just 1,5 months earlier (late april 2010) I think an important direction of my life was set. In spring 2010 I candidated and was nominated as president for the Uppsala Union of Engineering and Science Students by their election committee, but at the election, one of my competitors was elected. Same night, I send an email to the International office at Uppsala University and told them, “I will go to Shanghai next year”. I had that alternative, I was already chosen for the exchange to Fudan University in Shanghai, even though I told them that I planned to candidate in the president election in the Student union.

During a few years while studying in Uppsala, I had a lot of interesting experiences. One of them was the attack of Lars Vilks at an open lecture at Uppsala University. I were there, twittering. It became an international news flash. Just a few minutes after I got a call from acquaintance Emanuel Karlsten, that I know from Gotland, were we both grew up, both of us christian at that time. Now he was regarded as expert in social media, at that time just in some kind of breakthrough, after had taken the christian newspaper “Dagen”s webpage to become one of the most innovative in Sweden, and after that got employed by Expressen, one of the major tabloid newspapers in Sweden. Anyway, he asked if I had photos, movie clips or anything from the lecture. After that we kept in touch on twitter for a few days and I grabbed the chance to ask Emanuel for an interview, to have something for my first blogpost.

So, we met in our old hometown, during the Almedalen week 2010, an annual weeklong event when “all” politicians, “all” journalists and many other important persons go to Visby to meet, discuss etc in the summer. I had bought a new camera, planned to sit inside the conference hall building, that I thought was open. It was not. I met Emanuel and we decided to sit down outside instead. The interview were finished in about 10 min, but when I came home I got an bitter experience – the wind gave such an annoying disturbing noise. I decided to subtitle the clip. I spend a few evenings and had just a few minutes left to subtitle, when the subtitle programme I used broke down. I let it be, at that time I had to prepare the lasts things before I left to China. I started the Shanghai blog instead, and kept to write about things about my ordinary life in China and some China related stuff in Swedish, except for the last blogpost, when I “suddenly” had a majority of non-Swedish-speaking readers.

I chose to interview Emanuel because of many reasons, one because we were acquaintance and kind of know each other. That have made me aware of his career, I would say that he is a pioneer in many ways. It started quite early in the history of “social media, we both grew up on Gotland, an island east of the Swedish mainland. There we had a kind of community for all people working in the Gotland municipality and students, pupils etc. For many people at that time probably one of the first experiences of an internet community or social media, but it was long before “social media” had become an common used term. Most people logged in and explored what they could find, and many of them participated in discussions, forums etc. Emanuel did not got satisfied with just participate with the given conditions, he created new conditions. Very simple indeed, probably just send an email to one of the administrators, saying he wanted to create a new folder and be the administrator. Done, and then he invited all christians to use it, it was very popular during a few years. Emanuel has continued in the same spirit, never really satisfied and also practicing something I self think is important many times, don’t settle. Actually when writing this, he has already left Expressen, and now runs his own company and is one of the founders of ajour.se.

I haven’t been very driving myself, but I have tried to follow it and participated, the movement of social media in Sweden. Once, a few years ago I read his blog and became kind of euphoric. It was in a very special time of my own life, and it grabbed me, or it was like a coincidence with my own beliefs, that information must be available for us to make the best decisions. I start writing an email, that I afterwards thought were too long and silly, and did not care to rewrite it, so it was never sent, anyway, it can be read here (in Swedish).

So, here is my “first” blogpost. After another try to subtitle the interview I just gave up. I sat one night last week, determined that now is the night to finish it. After I had tried 4 different subtitling programmes I almost got mad, I don’t know if it’s a Mac thing, but I simply couldn’t understand how to do it, and at that time I was so annoyed, so I decided to let it be. I post the interview clip at vimeo, and the translation here.

And actually, that is one of Emanuel’s advices, “if you’re not finished, then publish anyway”. And I’m trying to feel proud that I can show and talk about my incompetence and shortcomings in public, which even though it might sound silly, is something very important.

It’s in Swedish, so for my non-Swedish-speaking readers, there is a translation below. I can just add that Emanuels words should be considered to be a Swedish perspective, were you don’t have fear for your life when writing a blogpost, living in a society with authorities that are trying to following the law and you can assume that they respect your legal rights.

Sven – Hi all blog readers, I’m sitting here in Almedalen. This is my very first blogpost and that’s a bit special. When you are a rookie, then maybe you are a bit afraid to make a fool of yourself. So then I thought I could ask for help by someone that already has gone through that phase, someone that already has made a fool of himself. Or? Noo, but someone that have some experiences within this area. So that’s why I’m sitting here with a guy, who are you?

Emanuel – My name is Emanuel Karlsten, I’m working at Expressen [Swedish newspaper] with social medias.

Sven - And you have been blogging for a while?

Emanuel - Yes I have, I have been doing it since 2005, and then people seems to regard me as “old in the game” (very experienced).

Sven - Yeah, you have already had 4-5 blogs, right?

Emanuel – That’s right, it turned out like that when I started at Dagen, I started one there and then I wanted one private blog.

Sven - But how came that you started to blog? Now everybody seems to have begun, but why did you start?

Emanuel - Well, I started because I have always though that is very fun to write, very fun to discuss, have opinions and things like that. I have always been active in forums and so on. And then I have always wanted to be a journalist, but I kind of dropped that thought because it was just about to report what others had written, I could never say something myself. And then the blog came up and it was about 2005 and I tried and found a way that fitted me very well.

Sven - And you have continued, what makes you continue?

Emanuel – Its because it’s a very easy way to get things out, one doesn’t have to think that everything have to correct and finished. The nice thing with the blog is that it could just be some kind of beginning of a conversation, it does not necessary have to be an end of it, but it can continue in commentator threads, in the next blogpost or whenever. It’s not like an article for example, because it has to be very precise, everyone all sides shall have opportunity to speak etc.

Sven – But if you consider, is’nt it very easy to make a fool of yourself? That you write things that you regret later?

Emanuel - Yes it is.

Sven – And what to do then?

Emanuel - It’s just like a usual conversation, if you are talking to someone and makes a fool of yourself or says things that you regret, then you can be open with that, and that’s a nice thing with the blog, that it’s not just me who tells other how things are, but it is a conversation where everyone can participate, and if one finds another conclusion, well, then you write it. That I have reconsidered and it should be like this.

Sven - So you have never deleted a blogpost?

Emanuel – I have…

Sven - Oh, so then it’s ok?

Emanuel – Nooo, maybe not really ok, I need to remind myself if I really have done it.. I should have done it, but I cannot remind me of an example. Yeah, no, at least it has not happend very often, very, very seldom.

Sven - Ok, but how long time should one spend on a blogpost?

Emanuel – Now I know! It was when I was working at Dagen, but then it was not me that decided, because we had a legally responsible, I was not responsible myself.

Sven - It was not entirely your own blog?

Emanuel - Yeah, kind of.

Sven – Ok, but how much should one consider before one publish a blogpost? Maybe it depends..

Emanuel - What to consider before… But don’t consider that much! Then it just turns out to be anxiety, you just makes it to a big deal. Use it to write down your half-finished, dont feel that you have to have a start and an end, just write what you are thinking of, it doesn’t matter if it is bad. The nice thing with the blog is that you might think it is boring with just a few readers, but it’s not about amount of readers, it’s about that you have readers. Then maybe there is someone that want to read what you am writing, that you might regard as crap sometimes, that there always is someone that is interested, maybe someone have googled and finds something that you have written that they are interested in. Then it comes up as a hit because you have thought same thing or something like that.

Sven - I have been thinking that it will be some kind of performance anxiety. I mean, this will be my all-time-high, how to proceed, or is that just unnecessary? To want to keep up a certain level?

Emanuel - No, it’s good to have some kind of ambition, it becomes unnecessary when you try to force your willingness, if you don’t think it’s fun to write, then don’t. But if you think it’s fun then if will fall out naturally. It’s good if you decide that you don’t have to have same all components in all blog posts, you don’t have to have a picture in every blog post, just sit down and write and when you are finished, then you are finished. And if you are not finished, then push publish anyway.

Emanuel - And then I wan to say one good thing, the fun thing more than anything when you get some kind of interaction. It can be quite disappointing if you ask for interaction or search for it. As when I wrote my first blog, I thought I almost never got any comments, but when I got one it was such a boost. People have been thinking, used their time, clicked into my blog and given a comment. I almost regard that as the nicest kind of feedback.

Sven - I agree. But integrity and such, if you want to write very private things, if you want to write about the girlfriend, not because I have one, but anyway. Do you have any tip, how to handle it, what do you think about it?

Emanuel - It’s very individual, it’s most about what you are comfortable with, I can be very open with some things, but it’s also a question of the size of your blog, and what you are doing maybe. When I had my first blog, I had very easy to be very open, but when I start working at Dagen and blogged at dagen.se I was definitely more careful. It could happen that people contacted me when I had written about girlfriends or relatives and made unpleasant things.

Sven - So, you have found some kind of level..?

Emanuel – Yes..

Sven - Is there something you used to wrote about that you don’t do now? Relations and such..?

Emanuel - Yes, I never write about relations, I don’t even write it on facebook, not at all. People will know anyway if they meet me and wonder.

Sven – Personal criticism then? If you want criticize someone, do you do that?

Emanuel – Yes, or not someone, or well, someone sometimes too.

Sven – But then, which persons can you criticize? Which persons are ok to criticize?

Emanuel – Well, you don’t “kick downwards”, thats a good principle.

Sven – But then it’s also depends on what you think, criticize doesn’t has to be negative, but I understand that you mean to diss someone.

Emanuel – Yes, there are some things that make one upset, but you could write good things as well.

Sven – I think we can start to round off, but I had one thing here. One thing that I have been wondering almost my whole life, or not the whole life… Once upon a time, we had something called ”Tjelvar”, you remember?

Emanuel – Yes, actually I looked at it today.

Sven – It’s like a community, there are different folders where you can discuss, send emails, chat and then you also have a presentation, and if you look at Emanuels presentation and in the bottom of it, you can read – ”Tjelvars trendsetter and Rookie of the year: Sven Englund – with capacity to rule Tjelvar.”

Emanuel – Yeah, thats right..

Sven – I have never got any real motivation, now it’s probably the 7^th year in a row that I’m rookie of the year.

Emanuel – Yeah, it haven’t been updated for a while, but that was fun, so you simply wonder about the motivation, it has been a while, but I looked at it today as I said, just to remember, and this is very fun, but I think it was, that I logged in sometime and there were, or still is, Pärleporten, and that was in some way a baby I had when were in high school, a place where I thought everybody should gather and write good things and such. And I think it is about that I logged in some year after and saw that you were active in a good way. Or you were active in some other forums, something like that. Anyway, I were impressed by your activity there.

Sven - Myself was quite surprised.

Emanuel - I surprised.

Sven - Yeah, but in someway you were God, and then the value rises, so it’s good it’s still there.

Emanuel – I won’t remove it. It’s a memorial from the Tjelvar era. Fantastic.

Sven – So Rookie of the year ends this blogpost. Thanks a lot!

Emanuel – Thank you!

Sven – Rookie of the year…