In one month I visited or participated in the work of all DG Communication Units – the Web Communication Unit, the Press Service, the Audiovisual Unit, the Media Services and Monitoring Unit and the Europarl TV Unit. What are my main conclusions? The European Parliament’s communication policy is certainly following the new challenges of information era. During the last year it has become more active than ever to respond to all the new requirements by using such new communication tools as Web-TV, Facebook and Twitter. The European Parliament provides all kind of information (written, oral, audiovisual and web) on the EU matters in all official EU languages. So no doubts – wonderful work is done here.

They say here they want to reach their "Latvian Grandmother" - well here the Speaker of the Latvian Parliament (and my boss), Gundars Daudze, shows how it's done! - from Saeimas Flickr page

Also in Latvia we’ve learned the lesson of information revolution and widely opened the door of the Latvian Parliament to the new media. We started to use Twitter in August 2009 and for the moment we have more than 1200 followers (it is remarkable achievement for Latvia). We have put a lot of effort to develop Youtube and Flickr account. But the question probably remains the same as for the European Parliament – how to sell this all these good products that we produce to the general public?

There is no simple answer to this question. But in my view one thing should be done for sure. There is a need to explore internal communication between the different units of the European Parliament. We cannot expect people to know and use all these wonderful products if even our colleagues from the third and fourth floor have only a remote idea about our work. In my opinion this is the general problem in all public institutions, in Latvia as well. We could ask a question in the Latvian Parliament – how many of you know that for almost a year the Parliament is in Twitter? And presumably not even a one sixth of all staff would be informed.

I understand that for such a huge institutional body as European Parliament to make it happen is even more complex task but still it’s worth trying. Only by working as one united body one can expect better results.

I want to thank all the people who were involved in my education process here in Brussels. I was positively impressed about the things you’ve done in a couple last years. And hopefully I will be able to take this good experience to Latvia.

Lāsma Lapinska

This is more or less mirrored by my use of the internet, thriving with billions of pieces of information, all linked together, sometimes without any logical scheme, and it’s easy to get lost. On time I was looking at the Napoleone Bonaparte page on Wikipedia and ended up reading about projects for the fourth generation nuclear power plants.

Let’s be honest: with all its mind-bogglingly possibilities, internet is anyway just another place to muck about. It’s always the same old story: the telephone allows you to communicate with people and hear their voices from all over the world, but then you will probably just call your buddy who lives two miles away and comment on the latest football match.

Today, Facebook is the most accessed website in the world, more than the Holy Google itself: it looks like people just can’t go on with their lives without knowing what pudding your cousin’s best friend’s brother in law ate this morning or what incredible, uberfun party your ex attended (and of course you weren’t invited to).

It’s really about our own nature: since the stone age and before those nice hairy ancestors of ours loved to live in small groups, communities, and now that we shave and our frenetic lives have cut out most of the leisure time, it’s just normal for technology to come in our aid providing us with new means to interact with people. I mean, of course nothing can compare to hanging out with your buddies for a beer, or dating your girlfriend, but in our fast paced life is good to be able to stay in touch with friends everywhere without too much of a hassle.

This however generated an unsettling issue: internet addiction. We have actual rehabilitation centres bristling with poor souls who are desperate for their internet fix. Twitter, Facebook, mySpace, Second Life: these are the new drugs of the third millennium. These addicts lose their jobs, their friends and give up on their real life in favour of a fake one where they can be someone else, erasing all the problems and not worrying about any consequence.

The question is: what’s the boundary between healthy and distorted? How can someone find out if he has a problem? How is it possible to help?
As always, education is probably the best way of dealing with these problems. In the globally connected world of today, kids (and adults as well) should be addressed with these issues, explaining how serious can be the consequences of an obsessed relation with the web. Family and friends can also provide invaluable aid to help those who already find themselves stuck in this vicious circle.

So, in the end, do I believe in those e-things?
No, I don’t believe in them and I don’t think they are as life-enhancing as they pretend to be, but I still take advantage of using them because they can be useful, and because with such small time to muck about, being a geek can just be hard at times.

“Anthropologists have argued that, contrary to popular perception, early hunter-gatherer societies enjoyed more leisure time than is permitted by complex modern societies. For instance, one camp of! Kung Bushmen was estimated to work two-and-a-half days per week, at around 6 hours a day,” claims one of the largest online encyclopaedias.
Maybe this is the time to slow down a little bit and to start to make working meetings more efficient so we can work only 8 hours a day and dedicate our other 8 hours to active or passive rest time.

Webinars
Tired of travelling, moving and staying away from friends or family? Instead of having face to face meetings you could use modern technology to speed up your conference procedures. “Face-to-face meetings used to be the only way to get things done. Now the best way to save money, time and travel is to collaborate over the Web,” says one of the modern technology web pages. By pushing few buttons you can host or attend live meetings, demos, webinars or even give presentations, share web pages, whiteboards, voice, video – even record your events. This sounds easy and really handy, but resembles Star Trek a little bit.

Lunch time with allies
By accelerating the seminars you can have more time for our daily animalistic survival routine – food. It does not need to be seen this way if you go with your fellows. :) So how much? 30 minutes or for the lucky ones even an hour? Better than nothing. If you need to meet a VITK friend (very important to know), lunch is the time for that. 15 minutes to get there, 30 minutes to eat lovely menu for 5 Euros, 15 minutes back and your lunch-socializing or even business is easily done.

Evening food session with your Cherie organized via new technology
Now you can work hard for another four hours while checking your online social networks to see whether there is anybody organizing dinner. For those who are less lucky and cannot use anything else except the company’s webpage there is a new technology. You are not from the same city, or distance between you two is long, you are both crazily busy and finding new and different places for the two to meet may prove trying, as it would be for many in a similar situation.

There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.
Christopher Morley

But thanks to new software which provides meeting points of interest between two points, it can be easier. These two points are Points A and B. In either one, you can choose to use your current location or put the address in to your phone. After settling on the locations of both Points A and B, tapping the “places to meet” button provides a list of places to meet by category and subcategory, for which vendor ratings and reviews are provided. It also provides the distance from a vendor to both Points A and B, so you’ll know who’s really driving or walking more. And you can even meet “by coincidence” at the bus stop or other “random” places.

Sporcializing
“Join a club with people who have common interests. You don’t necessarily have to have a lot of common interests with people in order to make friends with them. In fact, some of the most rewarding friendships are between two people who don’t have much in common at all, but if you have something in common with people, it can make it a lot easier to start a conversation and plan activities together,” suggests the online encyclopaedia. But on the other hand practicing a sport together such as tennis or golf provides a very neutral and healthy environment for a little gossip as well as business conversations. Simply it is crucial to multitask. (It has been proven that man can do it as well :) )

Cheers, Ho ta la, Na zdravie
These are the magic words that make deeper talks, eventually trustworthy friendships and good business deals. To get to this stage, you just need to check your online social networks or phone book to write few messages or to make some calls. All in all it shouldn’t be more than few minutes while your are having your 5 minute break.
A very clever and funny friend of mine told me that you do not do business at work but during lunch, golf or evening drink. These five tricks can make you efficient or even successful, but at least it gives you some idea how to catch up with your friends, loved ones or partners.

************************************************

Synopsis for Today

Meeting this week MEPs from TRAIN committee debated the European Commission proposals to modernize selection procedure of trainees in the European Parliament. They agreed with reporters Indre Liepuoniute (Social Singers Group, Lithuania) and Lelde Krasnā (Liberal Dancers Group, Latvia) that “we have to develop cooperation in the European level” to solve all the problems. We asked reporters to share their thoughts.

5 months in Montoyer building: starter‘s kit

Networking

• Networking. This is the key word we learned here. How? This is your creativity thing, guys…And we don‘t talk about the social networking on web (not yet), but the REAL contacts you make here…
• One office next to yours in the first floor, there are stagiaires of the Copy/paste Unit. Be happy you were not selected for copy/pasting.
• You are in the ground floor where you have neither supervisors, neither other colleagues, try to learn how to manage this freedom. What happens in the ground floor, stays here!
• Go clubbing with other EP stagiaires just if you want.  Choose officials’ parties. Stagiaires are all about fun, officials are about your future here.
• Thursday the Parliament goes to take A beer on place LUX.  No matter that there is no possibility to move, to talk or to breath, you go to PULLMAN. You can just say „Let‘s meet on plux this evening?“
• In Parliament there is one place you can really relax. This is the Library. We will let you find it yourselves. No networking there.

Lelde, Lady and Indre

Working

• This is not what it looks like: Copenhagen and Lisbon are not just the great ideas for travelling. Just the same about Tapas. Ask them.
• Stagiaires are not allowed to ask anything during committee meetings. But you can always try.
• “We must”, “we should”, “we have to”, “to combat”, “to develop” “to increase”, “to cooperate”   – magic phrases you will know by heart after following some debates. Use these as much as possible when communicating, it will always work.
• Another magic word „Strasbourg“(actually this is the city in Eastern part of France). Trip to Strasbourg means more than networking. It means trying to feel „plenary`s atmosphere“. Go to have some coffee in “flowers bar”, try choucroute and don‘t pay for your dinner (in this Unit „trainees never pay for their dinner in STR“).
• Don‘t use the phrase „we are JUST the trainees“, when something bad happens to you… it leads nowhere.
• There are million reasons to remember one’s name. Nice e-mail with your name and surname could be right in time. And sign your mails with your name not “trainee”.

We learned also other formula: 100 CV sent = 1 invitation for an interview.

Lunchbreak

• You are in Montoyer building, but that doesn‘t mean you are „outside“. You just do all the hardest communication work, no matter that you go for a lunch in the central Parliament building and you look like a visitor with your coat.
• In the Parliament canteen you have a reduction. If you want some advice how to manage five dishes for 2.5 Euros, do not hesitate to contact us. If you don’t want to pay at all, free food and drinks can be had at various receptions around Parliament. Check the schedule.
• After lunch you have to go to take a coffee not just because in your building there is no place to drink a real coffee, but more also to feel the atmosphere. Go to Mickey Mouse (it‘s a bar in the Parliament, don‘t ask why they call it like that).
• You don‘t have a kitchen in your floor, but you are always welcomed in the kitchen upstairs. Right, there are still 6 floors which have kitchen. Try first and second. In the first sometimes you have some sweets to „enjoy“. Enjoy!

Future

• Being a trainee doesn‘t automatically guarantee you a MEPs assistant place (think how it is stressful for these assistants to receive all these mails with your CV). But you can always try by sending your CV. We learned also other formula: 100 CV sent = 1 invitation for an interview.

The most important: things we learned about this Unit

• Say „tu“ for Thibault instead of „vous“. He insists.
• You are involved in very large scale of activities here.
• Work starts at 9 (at least) and finishes at 18 (at least).
• They say „write an article as you would write for your grandmother“.
• Face…what? Do not have a Facebook account? Create one, you can delete it after your traineeship.
• If the colleagues editors come to your room, don‘t panic and don‘t switch off your Facebook page. Surfing on Facebook means „working“here!
• At the beginning you could not know smth., but there is google translator..
• If you are really lucky, they could ask you to tweet. This is a sign they trust you. Not everybody can tweet!
• If you are asked to cover debates, this means they trust you even more!
• If your name appears in the editorial schedule, it is getting serious.
• You can always find how to be more creative, even if your task is to find friends in MySpace or to check if MEPs are on Facebook.
• Always take some sheet of paper and pen to the meetings to look professional.
• In the editorial meetings try to look as you understand everything even if some things pass near your ears (update the focus, embed the video….).
• BTW we also developed some specific language code downstairs…if you have any interest in shooting theory, we can help (only for guys).
• You missed the Christmas party at the Head of Unit’s house. Ha!
• People are really nice here. Be nice with them too.

Fact box:

• 5 month of traineeship
• 2 Euros for a beer on Happy hours in Place Lux
• 5 % of sunny days in Brussels
• 11 o’clock Editorial meeting on Fridays

Links:

Welcome to my country (Latvia)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RuNWWdhHSo

Welcome to Lithuania

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQUi2k4ek3E

Traineeship at the European Parliament.

2009 - by Fred

Fred is our talented designer and a welcome Guest blogger. Before leaving the office, he sent us his own personal view of 2009. We couldn’t resist publishing it.

So: this what 2009 looked like in the eyes of our beloved designer.

This art opens to a technological progress

Opera online is a recent phenomenon. For boost a popularity of this lyrical art nowadays it is possible to watch it on the internet…so, almost everywhere! While staying in bed bed, in train, in coffee places. Just take your laptop…For example, last year Puccini’s “Traviata” was streamed in TV and internet directly from Zurich railway station  by Swiss televisions in cooperation with Arte TV. The aim was to attract more audience, especially young people, to listen classical music. You can also go to New York Metropolitan opera’s web site and look some operas online. This art opens to a technological progress. Does it mean that the high, elitist culture is going to be democratized? Increase an access to this ‘serious music’ and by doing so enlarge the public this could lead to a cultural revolution?

“Increase an access to this “serious music” and by doing so enlarge the public this could lead to a cultural revolution?”

But is it really very new? Let’s take a look to its historical roots. In XIX century opera was visited almost each day, according to a guide of opera Monnaie which is in Brussels. You could even have your dinner and discuss during the performance. At that time it was a part of everyday lives. Back to XIX century?

The 2-3 last Fridays have been really great because almost everyone has attended the meeting. People are everywhere, some are sitting on the floor; some others on small tables, some other on the sofas and others are standing; remember this is a stand-up meeting. Most of the people are in jeans and informal on this special occasion.

The meeting usually starts with a welcome word from Thibault; our editorial coordinator. Thibault presents the next week’s schedule on what is going to be publishing on la une; when he is done comes our head of unit, Steve. Steve usually completes what Thibault has said, but sometimes he also gives some other information on the blog, -the team photo, etc.

Editorial meeting, a family gathering.

Talking about our supervisors.

Guess what? Thibault is a Frenchman, so you can imagine the prestige of a Frenchman speaking English. And as a cool French guy he sometimes uses French while speaking English. For instance: “Ze photo service” he may say. It is funny because he always uses some French words and that makes me sometimes try to realise if it is French or English that he is speaking. This is Friday and Thibault looks cool with his polo-capuchon with too different colours on. In my opinion, the best thing about Mr Thibault is that he always tries to take the best out of everyone and that is great.

Steve; the head of unit, on the other hand is always in suit and knows how to be the boss; He is gentle but for some reason you just respect him a lot. The impressive thing about Steve is his British accent. He is actually British. It is hard to say if I personally listen to what Steve is saying or if I just listen to the song given by that beautiful accent. Can you realise the position, not just he is the boss, but also he is English- by the way we use English as the communicative language at the unit. He is sometimes accompanied by David also a British singer (the accent sound as a song to me)

Everyone has a piece of paper and a pen to look professional, but they almost never quite note a thing. It is like a family gathering, everybody is happy

I do not know what really happened at the unit lately, however most of the people are there and it is cool. As I said before, people are everywhere. Evita – Steve’s assistant, usually sits on the floor with the bowler full of water that she drinks. Raffaella- the Italian editor, also sits on the floor, hands on the table while she is taking notes. Helle the Swedish editor always has her beautiful smile on and we, the trainees, usually find a place by the window or in the corner of the room to be hidden there so that no one can really see us.

Everyone has a piece of paper and a pen to look professional, but they almost never quite note a thing. It is like a family gathering, everybody is happy. It is a happy place to be and really pleasant and down-to-earth. The editorial meeting sometimes reminds me of stories I was used to hear as a little girl. These stories are about village-gatherings in the heart of the bushes in Africa where the oldest (Tibo and Steve) talk to the other family members about what will be the next move for the village. This meeting is not just for the oldest to tell the others what to do, but everyone is involved and thy have had several meetings before. This is the last one when the final decisions are made. However, thank God that the meeting is in Brussels at the EP and this is not in a village in Africa. There is no fire that we have to sit around and thanks also because even though it is cold and autumn in Brussels, we do not need to be there half naked and we do not need to dance around the fire in this beautiful and modern family gathering.

Elderly people on computer

If I look to my family – I find we are all on the web, but doing different things there. We are all there for daily news, seeking for the most interesting title. OK, not all of us – the youngest one (7 years old) is not interested in news yet and the oldest one – 84 years old grandma -prefers one special TV news programme, because “the moderator is the son of my sister’s friend’s friend.” My nephew is on the web to socialize. He is one of the so called “mobile generation” and is my guide into WAP. My mother uses the web for research and goes to Youtube for classic music. She is the one who is ready to pay for good content. And she does. On the contrary, my father is on the web for everything he can get for free. He always says that this is the best thing about internet. That is the reason he tries tirelessly but unsuccessfully to teach his old mother to read her regional press printed out from the web. A pity she has a problem with her eyesight, otherwise he would try to convince my granny to sit and read these stories online. Although my dad has made some progress. My granny has been on skype for me for a few weeks already…

New media has changed my habits of media consuming. But that’s not surprising.

Myself, I am still not so advanced as to be on Twitter or to use all multimedia features possible, but I’m happy to watch Youtube documentaries, mostly those made by the BBC. Whenever I want and whenever I have some burning question. The last one I was pleased to find and watch was “Michael Jackson Story 1958-2009″, also powered by the BBC.

Youtube is always there for you – with both lots of amateurism and most important, lots of valuable information. So, no regrets that I do not have my real paper magazine in my mailbox anymore.

She chose traditional media

The different supports – press, radio, TV, internet have different uses and meanings according to different temporal and spatial contexts. Is it the same effect when we read an article in a newspaper, when we hear a radio programme about it, when we watch a television programme or we read a blog in the internet? We can consider that there are some differences. Not only in different uses of it (your hearing is more activated in one case, your vision – in another; you need to make a gesture when you turn the newspaper’s pages and it is enough to click when you read in internet). It also depends on differences between the associations that these media have.  

From my personal point of view, these associations are constructed socially but also depend on personal experience. For me, the ‘traditional’ media could not be replaced by www. Why? I remember my grandparents’ summer house where at an exact hour my grand father turned on the radio (national Lithuanian radio) and started listening to the news. It was like a sacred hour, something ritualized that had, and still has, a meaning for my grandparents. My parents watch the news on national television in 8.30 pm every day and I could not imagine that they could replace it by the articles on the internet. As you can see, even the medium can have a special meaning for people.

I also have some special feelings according to different media. For example, pleasures of reading a ‘real’ newspaper (and smelling this new paper) that I don’t feel when I am using the internet. Maybe it is because while reading newspapers or magazines, I concentrate on it more, but I have also a feeling of being in a ‘real’ world. For example, I have my coffee on a ‘terasse’ on a sunny day with a newspaper. Or I take the new Elle magazine with me to the beach; I read magazines on trains or books in a bed. I am in this world.

Even if we stay open-minded, we need some benchmarks and sometimes it is difficult to reach them in a virtual space.

Am I in the same world when I go online? Of course I am. But the problem lies in the associationsof this huge informational machine.  I feel as if I am in a different space with lots of information that you need to…manage somehow. My anxiety is about the ability to concentrate when you read something in the internet. Sometimes I have a feeling that I read all the day different things on the internet but I can’t remember any essential thing. It’s a paradox but when you read an article in a bus or on the beach, you hear people talking, laughing, but as a result you are more focused than when you read on the internet. Maybe it is because this kind of information from ‘traditional’ media is a finished product? Something framed that gives you a certain feeling of security? I would like to use a “house” metaphor. We need to frame our space of living; I think it is the same for thinking. Even if we stay open-minded, we need some benchmarks and sometimes it is difficult to reach them in a virtual space.

Whereas sometimes I have a feeling that I lose control in the internet, that the information controls me and it is difficult to reach  stability there. It is true that what you find in the internet, you could not find in any ‘real’ newspaper. What is new is that you can quickly compare information you read: this article says this, another interprets the same facts differently; in this magazine you can feel more this ideology… While reading one ‘real’ newspaper or listening to one radio could be dangerous because you have only one image of life. But…how to choose your own manner to consume this huge (‘new’ or ‘old’) world of media?