Design by our friends in the EP StudioWeb.

I heard that in the modern virtual world they call people like my mother in law “digital immigrants”. This is the opposite of “digital natives” – for whom digital technologies already existed in the time they were born. In this sense I am maybe a sort of “digital non-citizen”, or better “digital asylum-seeker”. Let us take the social media. By the time our team started using them in the election campaign I was the last person among my colleagues without Facebook account and who thought that Twitter is a sort of Belgian beer.

And look at me now, two months later! I am administrating widgets on MySpace, publishing posts on Facebook and cannot imagine a day without Twittering. With the same enthusiasm my Danish colleague uploads videos on Youtube every day. It is a special flame! That flame you can also see in the eyes of my Portuguese colleague, when she is inviting friends on MySpace. But nothing can compare with the flame in the eyes of our coordinator announcing almost daily new records of visits on our web pages.

It is amazing how quick it happens – our diving in the social media, and at the same time the change in the European Parliament – from web scepticism to web enthusiasm. (Please, see also the post by Steve). Yes, our work became more, (does Steve see that also?), but I think we enjoy this very much. We’re on YouTube and thousands are our friends in Facebook and MySpace. Yes, we dared to start direct communication with the citizens of Europe and it makes us feel satisfied, it makes us feel real. (See also Tibo’s and Kristiina’s posts.)

And look at me now, two months later! I am administrating widgets on MySpace, publishing posts on Facebook and cannot imagine a day without Twittering.

The best thing is that we really got in touch with our readers. We see how many people react and comment on our articles and are interested in European issues. It is satisfactory to see hundred thousands have watched the viral videos online.

Therefore I tried to answer the question of my mother in law about the blog in a way that makes her like it. I wanted to translate it in her language. “To blog is to write in the Internet about things you have experienced, about things you are interested in. It is something like an online diary“, I said. “Oh really?” she replied. Didn’t I see that flame in her eyes?

“Here is your office and your desk, put a password on your computer and come to my office, we will drink a coffee together and speak about your future job” said the nice coordinator and smiled. We have never drunk this coffee. Because only setting up a password took me one hour!

My office

Why? Our unit writes the news about the European Parliament in 22 languages. Do you know what that means? On my language bar I have 21 options for the keyboard setting. I don’t know, which one of them was pre-selected on my computer, but it took me ages before I was able to retype my password again. This was my first big lesson about multilingualism.

When I finally was able to enter into my computer I had already 37 e-mails in my mailbox. I couldn’t decode two-thirds of them. My colleagues spoke about “synopsis”, “visuals”, “ads” and “short stories”. What should the message mean: “Please, send me the update for the focus on budget discharge!” For sure “I liked the tapas on the blue card” was not about Spanish food, but what was it about? And what is IMPRESS? Oh, help!

For sure “I liked the tapas on the blue card” was not about Spanish food, but what was it about? And what is IMPRESS? Oh, help!

The help appeared with the smiling coordinator at my door, who explained me that IMPRESS is our tool to publish articles on the web and suggested to introduce me to the colleagues. All extremely nice, young people, all smiling and suggesting help, one even sung a song in my native language. Maybe it is true – I landed in the nicest unit indeed.

But in this first day everything was difficult. To remember 22 new people at once is complicated enough, but if they are from 22 different countries this is even more confusing. Back in the office I was not sure – was the singer from Slovakia or Latvia? And how is the pronunciation of the name of the French editor?

In the meantime I had 24 new e-mails. Full with “synopses” and “ads” again. I had the heart to ask the Danish colleague. After kindly correcting the spelling of his name, he explained that the synopsis is the draft, the skeleton of our stories (see also “The day we invented the synopsis“). The tapas are also such texts, but shorter, visuals and ads are products to make our page more attractive – with photos, quotas and polls. OK this is enough, I said, enough for today.

I had to go home and have a rest – tomorrow was my second day in the office.