CharlieO

COP 15

I worked for a couple of years as a digital media consultant, advising companies on what search engines and ’social media’ might be and mean to them. After a half year break from working life in the UK I moved to Copenhagen and landed a job at the British Embassy. The internet and technology still fascinate me, and having had some distance from MyDigitalLife in the UK (and several months off in the Himalaya to reflect) the potential of open information networks excites me more than ever.

Imagine my surprise then to find that British Ambassador to Denmark, Nick Archer blogs both in Danish via popular newspaper Berlingske here and in English for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office here.

What’s he been saying? Well, the RSS feed of the Berlingske blog will give Danish speakers an idea:

And for the non-Danish speaking here’s the same content translated via Google Translate:

I won’t analyse this in any great depth, but it’s interesting that Afghanistan is mentioned significantly more than Copenhagen, despite the upcoming COP15 climate summit. That may be no surprise, as the two recent posts that have attracted the most comments by far are on this topic:

• ‘Should we send more troops to Afghanistan‘ - 172 comments to date
• ‘Afghanistan: Who said the exit strategy?‘ - 130 comments to date

I’m quite impressed by the British government’s use of the internet and an increasingly open attitude towards non-personal information, they’re in dialogue with some formidable thinkers such as Tim Berners-Lee, and have hosted some interesting events in London recently.

From a Foreign Office perspective the global reach of Digital Diplomacy is an exciting prospect that should help increase the effectiveness of overseas civil servants (a full list of FCO bloggers can be found here). Domestically making public information more accessible in Britain could go some way to restoring public confidence in government after a summer of expense scandals and bank bailouts.

Muuto E27 light

I liked these Danish/Finnish Muuto lamps so much that I bought three of them: green, yellow and red. I think I’ll hang them over the stairs in the new flat.

I cycle over the busy bridge that appears towards the end of the video almost every day (’Dronning Luise’s Bro’). Little seems to have changed in 70-odd years to be honest, though people were perhaps better dressed in the thirties, albeit selecting from a rather monotone wardrobe!

Many of the positive aspects of living in Copenhagen remain true to this day; some 35% of all inhabitants commute to school/work by bicycle irrespective of class or occupation, much of the architecture of the time remains beautifully preserved and the local government still use policy to promote a healthy and active lifestyle. No citizen should live further than 15-minutes walking distance from a park decided those in charge, as a result some 14 ‘pocket parks’ around the city are either being built or planned.

Even the vulgar reference to the ‘white race’ near the beginning of this clip sadly hints at the mild racism still a part of Danish society in 2009, and one of the very few things of which the notably wealthy and near classless Danes should be ashamed.

Via Jen and Paul

Japanese gameshow action, cruel but funny: