Monday, October 8

 

 

As I leave the house and walk round to get my bike I notice that some of the bushes between our house and the next house have turned startling shades of orange and red. The early morning sun lights them up in a way that looks, shall we say, unrealistic. White frost covers the ground and as I get to my bike I notice that the seat has a thin layer of ice.

When I get to Puotila I will meet Nathalie and spend the journey chatting with her. My working day will begin with a long thesis tutorial with a student who has a very interesting project and also seems to have the whole process under control. We will arrange to meet once she has the react.js project completed.

I will then send an email to all those who have replied to my message last week about the Nobanet Zoom meeting. Fortunately only eight or nine replied so I will not have to practise creating break-out rooms.

At 11:30 I will go to S-Market to buy some bananas for me and some multivitamin tablets for Irma. At 12:00 I will eat a banana.

While doing this I will read through a response by The Movement for Cultural Democracy to the Arts Council of England’s recent pamphlet claiming ownership of the idea of cultural democracy. This will set me reading a short series of entries in which various people (hello, Lorraine Leeson!) give their answers to the question “What does cultural democracy mean to me?”

The one that will resonate with me most comes from Julie Ward, MEP, who says that “Culture IS a common good and we need to reclaim the means to cultural production at a grassroots level”. This gets closer to the heart of the issues than many of the other things I have read. The core issue does not revolve around finance (especially if we mean by finance “grant aid”). It revolves around treating culture as a common good and ensuring common access to the means of cultural production and distribution.

At 13:15 I will make a short presentation to the team meeting about the Social Tools events in which I will avoid having this discussion because it would certainly exceed the allotted time. Instead I will focus on the elements that examined working in groups and making democratic but effective decisions.

At 15:30 I will leave for home to do some writing and chat with Scott about the theoretical end of all these interwoven projects. I will realise I might have a unique perspective on all the various projects I have started or got involved in because I do consider them interwoven.

I will briefly consider the possibility that I have made a mistake and that the weaving exists only in my head and not in the world. I will let the cat in and dismiss this as a distraction. If it does only exist in my head then I should add getting it out into the world as another project.

Maybe I could do a podcast about it…