This is the small contribution to the current section Research in focus which deals with European blogging scene in the field of culture.
Here we talked with Deborah Hustić aka lomodeedee – Croatian blogger. She talks about her blogging experiences, Croatian trends in cultural blogging and some other aspects of blogging and social networking.
What motivated you to start writing blog?
Well, I simply needed to ‘spit out’ my thoughts about things that turns me on in art, culture and web related stuff. I see blogging as a literary emceeing… Like a literary DJ-ing, where I’m picking some cool records and trying to make some good blogging tunes… Good blogs are like good vibes…
As for facts, I started with blogging as a reaction to some misunderstandings after I visited Extravagant Bodies – an international art festival dealing with the politics of body normality. I was rather surprised with the critics - competing either in political correctness, either in criticizing how a festival on people with special needs should look like. But, they didn't discuss a lot about artwork. That was a trigger... Then I started in small steps with my own stuff... Now, it's a combination of my experience and knowledge jointed together with curiosity.
What did you think about blogosphere before you became one of the bloggers?
I had some suspicious thoughts at the beginning, but more in the context of media. Later, when realising the full potential in a sense of expressiveness and e-learning, I started to dig through freely. My previous experience of surfing for almost 13 years and building pages with Dreamweaver also helped me to comprehend the new media situation. Afterwards, I got to the point how to make it through the lenses of creativity, personal platform, exchanging ideas and different business models. This is how I became professional blogger.
What are the topics you take into focus in your blog? How do you choose them?
I blog about performative things in arts. It’s always somehow body related stuff. I see Personal Cyber Botanica as an amalgamation of different things that really inspire me, or simply had an effect as a sort of mental gymnastics. That would be: contemporary dance, cinematography, photography, new media art, textile art, design, contemporary art, fashion, interface cultures, interactive computing, sound, DIY scene, books, magazines, comics, human rights…
If I really have to define myself, then I’m a dance blogger, which is not bad at all, because atoms and molecules are dancing…
You do not write only about Croatian arts and cultural scene.
No, that would be very limiting for my mind. But, I’m particularly happy when I discover artists that are quietly and modestly working in South East European region at the same level as their fellow artists on the West.
How often do you write? How much time does it require?
I’m writing almost every day, mostly on afternoons or very, very early in the morning (before going to work)… sometimes, I need some time to cover particular theme in order to prepare myself (I like to ‘boil’ for some time interviews and bigger reviews). I hate routines in my life, so I will never let my blogging to become just a routine. When this happens, you can say ‘goodbye!’ to creativity… I tend to see my posts as short races and long race, just like in athletics…
How does it affect your creativity?
It affects me on daily basis, definitely! Because, I live in a small country that most people don't know where to place on the map. Everything what I've learned about social networking and designing blogs, I've learned thanx to the great Internet community that is sharing its knowledge for free... and I'm just trying to share my knowledge for free, too.
In more practical sense, I've improved my language skills, met some nice people via web... Recently, I've decided to start play with sewing and wearable technology... I'm learning something practically every day.
Why do you use English? Do you expect wider audience?
I simply wanted to prove myself with the best 'players', in the competition of best fellow bloggers; and that’s possible only in English. Although, I find French, Spanish, Brazilian and Asian blogosphere to be very, very moving.
Do you have any idea how many people follow your blog, and where are they from?
Sure, I think all bloggers are hooked up to their statistics, collecting data via different analytic services. Most of my readers come from USA, Europe, Canada, then SEE region, South America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. I’ve noticed lately that Africa is here, too… Oh, I had only few visitors from Greenland, but they are so precious to me… :)
How do you disseminate info about your blog? Something about visibility and community please…
Well, I started my blog from nothing, literary. Only from scratches… Because, you know, I don’t belong to any scene or establishment… I didn't have 'friends who have friends, who have friends' and so. Hence, that means that I’m using web based tools primarily (we used to call that Web 2.0, but now it sounds like a cliché, really…). Later, when people noticed my work, they started to invite me for small presentations or workshops. Most of my users come from online world and different social networks and services: Twitter, Last.fm, Dance Bloggers, Dance Tech, Facebook, Friendfeed, IndiePublic, Art Review, Open Vizor, Technorati, Delicious, etc.
What is the greatest success in your blogging life?
Every blog post is my greatest success. It’s hard to tell… When I wrote review on African contemporary dancer Kettly Noël, I realised that it’s the only full review about her work online, the same goes for many artists I've blogged about. So far, I’m the only blogger who had an opportunity to interview Jan Fabre… I had so many creative people on my blog as guests or inspiration for posts, and they all are my greatest success… my blog is only a channel for their inspiring work…
As a result of my blogging, I had opportunity to travel and teach people about creative online tools. I had a privilege to be co-moderator on some workshops in the SEE region with Vuk Cosic, and I’ve learned a lot from those experiences.
I have great guest blogger, Ivana, who's covering contemporary textile art... and some artists she blogged about were completely uncovered on the web, too...
Which platform do you use and why?
I LUV Wordpress… There are so many cool platforms and CMS to use; like Blogger, Movable Type, Typepad, Joomla, Drupal… but Wordpress really rocks in its simplicity and functionality. All, previously mentioned, platforms have great support, provided by open minded people and enthusiasts over the web. I'm using Blogger, as well, in order to learn myself programming and to see how the whole web development system functions. It's also the cheapest way, cause it's completely free.
What is the main characteristic of Croatian cultural blogosphere and do bloggers use English language (like you) to express their opinions, ideas...?
We can certainly talk about the blogosphere in the SEE region, not only Croatian. Domestic bloggers smartly realised that all countries in the region are simply too small to be considered seriously, so they joined with their fellows from the region.
People which are using English language as their main blogging language are from IT industry or programming fields (open source, CSS and web development), as far as I know 'cultural' bloggers are not using foreign languages. I have to clarify here that I'm talking about people who are publishing content at least several times per month, and something more concrete then three lines of text with big image in the middle of screen.
Are there any (culture related) Croatian blogs you would recommend? Which blogs do you follow and how often?
l'm not involved into local scene. Not because of my snobbism or something, but because I blog in the international context. In that sense, I'm following wide spectrum of art&culture related blogs and web projects on daily basis (check links section on my blog and google reader).
As for Croatia, there is magazine Plan B, whose editor is Borja – the first Croatian professional blogger. They are doing really great job to promote domestic blogosphere and web related content. People that are organizing SferaKon, convention for science fiction also blog regularly. Many people and journalists are blogging about literature and cinematography. I have great respect for all of them, but I would like to see more personalised content, more of their own opinion about certain phenomena. But, I don't know these people personally, I'm not a part of their scene, really...
Last year in the region of SEE you gave lectures and workshops for artists in order to show them how to use social network for promotion and work. Can you give some advises here?
I’m using ‘learning by doing' and learning 'through mistakes’ approaches and it works for me. Use as much as you can potentials of social networks, and use them to work for you. It takes some time, sure. At first, it 'eats' many of your precious free time, but it's networking. As artists you have a wide scale of free services to promote and sell your work, or simply network for some future projects.
If you want to start a blog in the fields of Art&Culture, be patient. Because bloggers in these fields might not be friendly at first, whereas these sectors are not considered as heavily profitable. Use online and offline activities in the same amount to promote your blog. DO NOT copy other's people style of writing or content (if it's not re-blogged), doesn't matter how much you respect that blogger. Find your own style, and don't panic when you have 'a blank screen' in front of you. It happens!
What is the future of the blogging? Many people argue that it's too complicated because it takes a lot of time, time which is not paid? Do you think that the time when blogging was very popular form is gone?
Well, year 2008 was proclaimed as the year when blogs will die, whatever it means. But, look what came out: micro-blogging. Eventually, people will learn how to use blogs for their needs exclusively. It’s a publishing platform; the same as SMS messaging, Skype or micro blogging are channels for spreading information and communication. Those are only different, wonderful and powerful tools.
I know that traditional media and journalists are terrified of bloggers, but that only means that ‘official’ media became predictable, so people switched to more reliable and open minded scene where you can be the master of your own channel. If somebody is offering you free space, free software, opportunity to earn money and the freedom of expression, I find the rest of criticism completely irrelevant...
I think publishing platforms are going to become more and more easy to work with and people will, in addition to that, learn to use web tools according to their real needs.
Tagged as:
blog, blogger, blogging, croatia, deborah hustic, lomodeedee, see europe
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