Kathlyn Clore

I really like the word demonym.

It’s fun to say: “Dem-ah-nym.” The “-nym” part is the most delicious part of the word, leaving the lips pressed together with its yummy “mmm” sound at the end.

This weekend I learned the most charming demonym: Lisboeta. Meaning: a resident of Lisbon.

I’m pretty charmed by this grittier version of Barcelona, with its tiny wooden doorways shyly interrupting the candy-colored and tiled facades of the building that laze here along winding and narrow streets. And I love the herky-jerky old-fashioned streetcars whirring through these intimidate lanes. The black mosaic patterns decorating the white marble sidewalks littered with leaves from the outstretched trees above make me feel like I’m in some walking through some Gabriel García Márquez novel.

And I love the wild city gardens with the purple and white flowers springing up ad-hoc all over the place. The little wraught-iron fences can’t seem to contain the random, wild-growing flowers throughout the city. I love that there is this un-manicured quality to it all.

And the custard pastries everywhere only add to the mysterious quality of Lisbon: How can a pastry with no chocolate be so good?!? And how can it cost only 90 cents?!?

I have never felt called to be a fiction storyteller before, but I think someone with writing skills could be creative in that way here in Lisbon. There just seem to be a lot of novels unfolding here. Ambling on the walkways of the Castle St. George today, I couldn’t help but imagine the complicated and interesting kinds of people who could be living behind the penthouse French doors in the amazingly bright 17th-century city villas standing over the sea here. I even a saw a beautiful Lisboeta sitting in the windowsill of one villa, one leg dangling out the window against a marigold facade and the other folded against her chest. Dark wavy hair streaming past her shoulders, she perched in a fourth-floor windowsill absently people watching while some Spanish guitar music lilted out of the door. She could have been a novel cover.

Finally, I love that people cross the streets whenever they want here in Lisbon. It’s like they’re still explorers here. I feel so confined in places like the Netherlands where nobody crosses - cars or no cars - unless the light says it is OK.

Happy to be loose among the Lisboetas!

Sipping a cocktail at Noobia Cafe on the Miradouro de Santa Catarina in Lisbon this evening with two women I met at my hostel, I had the chance to revisit an idea I first heard discussed by my current boss, and that is the idea that it would be of great benefit to engage designers and journalists in a dialogue.

By designers I mean architects and people who do design the products we use in our everyday lives. And by journalists I mean people who report and craft stories (on television, print or Internet).

Both of these professional groups are involved in communicating ideas to the public in a functional way. Both professional groups display their work for the public to enjoy, in public spaces or places of business.

And increasingly, these groups must do the work of cutting through ubiquitous corporate communications messages… which is to say, advertising and PR messages delivered on the part of big institutions private and public.

Maybe this is too academic, but I think these groups could have some good input for each other.

Somewhat along these lines, I saw that CNN International will be showing soon a longish interview with Dutch architect Rem Koolhas. I do not profess to know a lot about architecture, but I am learning more all the time and I know that so far I really like his style. So I am curious to see what he is talking about.

Yesterday I edited the above video together with Bernd, the video producer at the EJC. It’s a follow-up to this video:

Today my colleagues received some positive news about funding a second round of this Th!nk About It project, which features bloggers from each of the 27 Member States writing about one topic. The next topic will be climate change and lead up to the Copenhagen summit in December.

I think this is one of the most worthwhile projects my organization is doing, because it involves a hands-on new media platform on which people from so many countries are contributing and discussing ideas. Plus, the leaders of the EJC have been wise enough to spend some funds on off-line meetups, which really adds a whole new dimension to the community aspect of this blogging platform.

One thing: Bernd and I really struggled with how to end the latest video, the Portrait of a Blogger video. Any suggestions on how we could have done this better?

The other night, after I poured some red wine out of a bottle whose cork had been pounded in rather than out, I made an incoherent remark about feminism.

As the bottle was passed around and shared in tiny plastic cups at an intimate gathering of about 100 random Europeans and an amateur DJ, my friend Ruth followed up with a perhaps more coherent remark.

She suggested that that the ongoing Internet revolution (the Web 2.0/ “make your own way with your own network” idea) is perhaps ‘for feminism’.

After all, she said, so many tools and concepts - RSS, social networking, tagging, hyperlinks, viral content - enable you to break free of mainstream thought. You can really experience news and content in whatever way you’d like. Nothing is dictated.

And, advancing the discussion in another direction, it also seems like the “freelance culture” that’s popping up because of all the layoffs in the MSM, is particularly good for women content producers (er, journalists… Such a 1.0 word, eh!). We can work online from anywhere, which enables all kind of offline adventures, be they travel or reproduction related.

I agree that Web 2.0 can be for feminism. Point, Ruth.

But am I a feminist? Do I want to rock some Web 2.0 feminista action? I don’t know. And in a world where even Wikipedia makes feminism seem confusing, how can I know?

I dig sports, for example. I dig women’s sports. I will even pay to watch women play sports. I’m psyched that there are more women in a lot of universities than men. I also think women should have equal pay for equal work (and often don’t get this). I think it’s good to have women CEOs and managers. I think it’s possible that Sonia Sotomayor will bring something extra to her job because she’s a woman and a Latina. And I think that’s wicked awesome. I sometimes hate that a women’s looks are so much more important than a man’s. I hate the fake dichotomy between “working” and “career” women and the idea that I should be one or the other (but would be of course the highest form of women if I attempted and was successful at both). And I think people who do developing work in third-world countries can get further by teaching a women to read than a man (she’ll teach her children (read: daughters) what she knows, a man would not be as likely to do so).

Do these things make me a feminist?? Who knows. But I do find a lot about these topics online - and I find myself sharing articles about these ideas with female friends. And I’m more exposed to these ideas because of my friends.

Because, I also think this stuff is complicated. Should women change their last names when they get married? Seems like a question for feminists. I think no — it represents a massive loss of identity.

And findabilty! Try and find a married women in the phonebook, for example. You’ll quickly realize it’s a hellofa lot easier to find her husband, especially if she has a common family name.

Also - As a 20something female who is a heavy Facebook user, I find myself more and more often confronted with status updates from women whose names with which I’m unfamiliar. Those old friends from high school are now called something else, which totally confuses me when I’m quickly looking around my Facebook network. I actually sort of increasingly despise these acquaintances for changing their names, for some reason. It’s like they abandon their old selves, or something.

I also hate that most of these women will create more confusion for me as they inevitably fumble around and end up changing how they list their last name. It’s just all too contrived.

But on the other hand, what happens to the children of women who don’t change their last names upon getting married? Does the child of Jane Smith and Doug Jones become Jennifer Smith-Jones? Maybe - but now Jennifer Smith-Jones is in a real bind if she wants to keep her hyphenated last name and have children with her future husband. Because if Jennifer Smith-Jones makes babies with Kameel Johnson, it would be somewhat absurd for the child to be Susan Smith-Jones-Johnson.

See? Not so clear cut.

I wonder if I have to know if I’m a feminist to use Web 2.0 to explore feminism…

As my current boss would say “This would be a great Ph.D topic”.

IF YOU’VE MADE IT THIS FAR: Enjoy!

I just read an interview with Christian Engström, the deputy leader of the Swedish Pirate Party. He is a newly elected MEP who has recently arrived in Brussels.

I really liked his respectful critique of Europe’s communication strategy. The EU has for sure done a lot of “pushing” information online. It throws documents on to Europa.eu left and right without any organization. It’s a nightmare trying to find specific information there.

Worse, the EU seems to do a horrible job of “pulling” people into its information sphere. It is not very good at participating consistently in the conversation that is the Internet.

Hopefully the Pirate Party will be able to position itself to influence Europe’s communication strategies.

Enter the “Status-phere.”

More powerful than the political sphere, mediasphere and blogosphere combined!!

The Statusphere refers to Facebook and Twitter functionalities. Users can update their profile pages with short notes about what they’re thinking about or doing. Many users include links to journalistic content.

These links have tremendous weight. If you see a Facebook friend pointing to a story or video online, the likelihood that you’ll take a look is far greater than if you saw that link as one of many headlines on a newspaper website.

In old school speak, the statusphere is kind of like where you posts articles you once would have put on your refrigerator or bulletin board.

I think Statusphere is a tangible term whose meaning is quickly communicated. So it works. But yes, it is a bit cheesy and, you know, “made up.” And it does remind me of this snarky Gawker article: Trend-Seeking New York Times Was Adding ‘-ista’ To Words 130 Years Ago

Still.

Interview with Brian Storm - mediastorm.com from European Journalism Centre on Vimeo.

Does DailyPerfect know me better than my own grandma?

Nani, after all, the No. 1 regular reader of KathlynClore.com. She’s known me since I was born and has the photos and embarrassing stories to prove it. She took me on a shopping day for my 13th birthday, attended my college graduation and once bought me neon plaid pants (it was a phase). We share a deep-seeded love of shoes, Nordstroms, handsome men and watching 24-hour news channels. She even came to visit me in the Netherlands earlier this year - making her first trip to Europe at 70 plus (I’m so proud!)

But could she tailor-make a newspaper magazine for me? Mine Magazine already does; I couldn’t help but sign up for a free trial subscription. But it often includes stories I’ve already read online. Plus, it tries to sell me Lexus. Nani only bothers me with news about my cousin Alexis. Advantage: Nani.

Now DailyMotion says it can best Mine Magazine. It says that all I have to do is tell it my name and it makes an up-to-the-moment newspaper for me. It also promises to suggest some books I should read.

Now, don’t go writing Nani off too quickly. In case you don’t know… Nani did work in journalism for a few years before “having her babies.” And it was a daily-Sunday! And she had to layout her own pages by hand! With a society page! She knows her stuff.

She’s even down with new media. She has her own Facebook page and everything!! She Googles. She creates personalized content herself. She tells me things to do and read all the time!! She even has made a series of lectures specifically for me and my siblings and cousins! Truly: Lecture No. 1 is (as we all know) “Don’t shoot yourself in the foot”. Lecture No. 5 is: Donald Pliner makes the best heels.

But much as I love my Nani, though, I have to say… I think she’s a bit busy keeping libraries across the Chicago area in business (she sells property and casualty insurance. She helps Girl Scouts, too! Some of her family members think she only continues to work so she can “happen to pass by a sale on her way from work.” But I am sure she works because she loves libraries and Girl Scouts.) to keep me updated the way DailyPerfect can.

It works pretty simply: If your name is recognizable enough, it can troll the Internet to see other things you like. Then it suggests news content based on this record.

I’m not unimpressed with what it gives me. And I like how easy it is to vote for or against various themes.

But I agree with Martin over at the Neiman Journalism Labs - it’s a little creepy! I don’t know if I want the Internet to know me as well as my grandma.

Here’s the books it says I should read:

According to an AFP report on EuroBusiness, Bulgarian reporters are crafting bogus weather reports to skirt a law that bans them from releasing exit poll data from the European elections.

I love this!

In the United States, everyone always fears exit poll data from the East Coast will influence voters on the West Coast. The concern is that people in California feel defeated and less likely to vote if they see that voters around the country have overwhelmingly turned out for Candidate A instead of Candidate B.

So I’m sure EU politicians who banned the reporting of exit polling data until voting finished are worried about similar problems - especially since the elections are unfolding over June 4 - June 9.

Still, its my opinion that the media’s job is to inform the citizens. What the citizens do with that data is up to them (security issues aside).

This line from the AFP especially made me smile:

“Like the Audrey Hepburn character in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” who relays coded mafia messages to a jailed don, the BGNES news agency beat a close-of-voting 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) legal embargo with some curious temperatures.

As Bulgaria basked in temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), the agency reported that temperatures near the Sofia municipality were 25 degrees Celsius compared to 22 degrees near the Socialist Party headquarters.

In other words, the right-wing GERB party of Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov was winning a quarter of all votes, while the Socialist party of Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev was trailing.”

EUObserver has more.

Sweden’s Pirate Party has won two seats in the European Parliament!

From The Local, one of my fave expat websites:

“Among voters aged under 30, some 19 percent are believed to have cast a vote for the Pirate Party.

“They are the biggest party among young people, bigger than both the Social Democrats and the Moderates,” said politics professor Sören Holmberg.

Pirate Party voters said they considered the freedom to file share by far the most important issue when deciding their party allegiance.”

This video ran on Dutch TV.

I like the presenter’s chart. He does a good job showing first the results from this week’s vote in the Netherlands, then moves on to showing what the results mean in terms of seats in Parliament.

Short, sweet, informative.

Also, Reymond Frenken’s EUXTV is doing a great job covering the results. He has a playlist available below.