to. wa.- walking on the insight road (and not halfway there).

There are things in life you can’t quite predict. Me co-founding a software testing company is one of them.

Sometime last summer, I got a message from one of my colleagues at the ASEA Uninet summer university in Hanoi in 2008. We shared a room there for a month and got along brilliantly. He had gone to Texas for his high school year, he had moved from somewhere in the East of Germany to Vienna to study business. He had ran IT projects with higher budgets than I had ever got close to for the biggest student dorm/campus in Vienna, he was more of a geek than I was, which was always nice for a change at the business university. I just really liked him. And as things go, back in Vienna, things went into different directions again. Among other things, because I went off off to Vancouver.

(I pay you a drink if you can find me.)

However, after some back and forth, we managed to meet for drinks and stories about the old times when told me about how he’s thinking about founding an IT testing company with his colleague. How could I help a company that tests websites, apps and immensely complex software systems in the e.g. insurance industry? Yes, I know basics of computer science, but software testing? I played soundboard over a beer, told them what I thought about their idea, but mostly asked why they wanted to found it, what the purpose and motivation of that whole endeavor would be and so on and so on.

A few weeks later, they invited me for a workshop with them and I again promised to spend a few hours with them on their business for food and drinks. Or so I thought. Because they asked me that they’d want me to continue to help and advice them around strategy and marketing and that I could effectively chose the degree of my involvement. There was even an agenda point that listed me as one of the possible founding partners. In the end, they asked me if I could imagine joining them as some sort of an internal planner – no pay of course, but I’d own a part of the company. Actually, as much as I wanted. Of course, I was flattered. Who doesn’t want to be given the feeling of being listened to? At the same time, I was working full time as planner at LHBS. It’s not like you have that many hours to spare working in that type of industry. I still agreed to be a co-founder, with limited liability. Planning for equity. And I was terrible and could spend even less time on it than I had planned. Everything took longer than I expected – lot of cancelled early morning jour fixes and some weekend work followed.

Still, I am proud. We found out what sort of business we wanted to be. What we want to offer. Who we want to offer it to (I am, among other companies, looking at you, digital agencies that spend too much money letting their priced developers test stuff themselves). We figured out a name (TestPlus). Heck, we even have business cards. And a website, thanks to a great friend of mine who wants to be anonymous because he can’t quite bear the still imperfect state of it.

And we figured out why anybody should give a fuck.

Turns out, most software testing companies are old, slow and overly expensive. Most software testing companies are based on the way other consultancies work: proprietary processes, big and complicated websites, ties, suits and faith. At the same time, demand for testing is rising with increased digitalization (‘internet of things’, etc.). SMEs, entrepreneurs and digital agencies don’t need the bloat as they have to be fast (‘agile’, etc.) and work babble-free. My gut feeling told me that with rising demand for digital services and products, there’d be always rising demand for nimble and creative testing and testers. We arrived at some sort of mission of simplicity and convenience as the core of the offer (e.g. curating other automated testing services). We want to create a lean, mean nice, testing machine.

So what will my role in this end up being? I don’t know. Marcus and Christoph are terrific and whoever is lucky enough to have them work on their software systems is going to be very lucky. And a lot of work – development and, well, sales – are lying ahead. We worked on the foundation. We are about to start talks with possibly interested clients, we are still thankful for every lead – as you are, as a young service company (I avoid the term startup). Still, Stephanie and I decided to leave Austria (continue to get to know culture and get better at that planning thing), which means that my involvement in operative work will decline to zero relatively soon. Until then, we’ll continue to shape our offering and want to talk to as many people as possible. If you have any ideas, questions, recommendations or hints or are simply interested in what exactly it is we’re doing, drop me a line.

So as some might know I spent a long weekend in Stockholm for my first time on Scandinavian soil. The city, with its abundance of water, cleanliness and progressive vibe reminded me a lot of Vancouver, which, as some people might know, I liked a lot.

So here’s a list of impressions and observations, without any inherent order.

1) For someone who knows Ikea and H&M longer than Sweden or Stockholm, the whole city looks like an Ikea and H&M showroom where a lot of independent shops copy the big guys. Of course, it’s the other way round and Ikea and H&M took Swedish design, probably rounded some (symbolic) edges and therefore made it accessible for bigger flocks.

2) Everything seems to be a tad more in order and stricter in Stockholm than in Vienna.

3) Showing yellow to the king. A guide on a ship tour (yes, I did that) told us a story about a king, who a few centuries ago spent some time in Italy and France to get exposed to the world. The result: he thought Stockholm was ugly and forced people to paint their houses. Which people did, but – because it was expensive – apparently only on the sides facing the palace. Reminds me a lot of social media and brand management: CEO sees this thing out there that apparently everybody now has to have. Reaction: Ok, let’s put up some Facebook page and a boring corporate twitter account so it seems like there’s something going on. Check.

4) There are more hairdressers (‘Frisör’) in Stockholm than in every other city I’ve been to – they exist in all sizes and forms and all of them were well-visited while we were there.

5) Related to 1). Apparently people in Stockholm re-do their apartments every few weeks or so. How can all those furniture/interior design shops survive?

6) I was (pleasantly) surprised by the Swedish ‘Konditori‘ and ‘fika‘ culture. I was pretty ignorant before going there, not really reading a lot about it before, but this stuff is pretty amazing. Wondering if it has a substitute function for alcohol.

7) Which brings me to the next – slightly more serious point: I’m seriously wondering how and if alcoholics are living in Sweden. Even with higher wages, this has to be a bigger nightmare than in other countries.

“We’re waiting for the government to solve that problem” – same ship tour guide told us about the ridiculously high rents, flat prices and a supposedly 300.000 people long waiting list for (public?) apartments. He totally casually dropped that line, which tells you loads about the value system.

9) Södermalm is another example of the hipster gentrification that is also visible in other European cities. Chic student, arty, relatively inexpensive, alternative flair, but in all of that still a tiny bit posh, maybe slightly celebrating alternative chic for the sake of it.

10)  There are a lot of men with strollers in Stockholm. As in “more than 2/3 of all strollers” a lot. Not sure if the laws are different with men and paternity leave (i.e. if they ‘have’ to), if public aids are that much higher in Stockholm, or if it’s simply in the culture but there are loads of men happily playing and strolling with their kids. It’s a great thing to watch to be honest.

11) Apparently this was the toughest winter since they measure temperature in Stockholm, so it was no surprise that people came out in their sunglasses and enjoyed their ice-cream outside when the sun came out on Saturday and Sunday. The ship guide mentioned the pagan tradition of worshipping the sun and I was wondering if it is always a scarce thing that we worship …

12) Stadsmission Stockholm – Now I have no idea how well this actually works but I think the concept and execution of it is just lovely. Stockholmers donating stuff for other Stockholmers to buy with the proceeds going to Stockholmers in need is pretty simple, but the shops are really well-designed. Nothing looks like this is some shabby second-hand shop or an unloved charity. This is proper boutique style shopping. Compare this to a similar Austrian concept like Humana and you know what I mean.

13) Overall, there seem to be a lot more concept stores in Stockholm than in Vienna, with brands such as Indiska, taking a (symbolic) concept and stretching it to its commercial boundaries – or at least further than they would here. Other notable commercial encounters: the Urban Outfitters flagship store, Beyond Retro, Granit (kind of a Swedish Muji), the record shop/bar/club combination of Pet Sounds and Pet Sounds bar and a bunch of small shops.

14) Moderna Museet has a very interesting, albeit a little chaotic photo exhibition.

15) We might see a lot of those

around here next winter.

I did something today you might want to try on a train ride.
First, use your MacBook until the very last drop of your battery, while playing music on the loudest possible level. Wait until the MacBook turns into coma mode and close the MacBook during the song. It is essential that the music is still playing, when the MacBook falls asleep. Then, when you’re on the train, plug in the MacBook and wake it up from the coma mode. Then … wait.

A very interesting experience. Around 10 people around me try very hard not to ‘notice’ loud, loud music blaring out of my speakers. I get hectic, hit buttons, open and close the MacBook, look at it in distanced disbelief. I unplug it, hope the music would stop (it doesn’t, and it won’t if you try it). The MacBook very unsurprisingly doesn’t give a shit. All of this goes on for 2 minutes.

I shouldn’t have given a damn about this, it’s only (good) music after all.

Last week I finally managed to get the pictures from my travels over the last 2 years developed and this made me reflect a little on travelling and living abroad.

See, I was born in a small town called Braunau on the Austrian periphery, bordering southern Bavaria, so basically German periphery. (Paradoxically, this spot is referred to as the centre of Europe, geographically mind you).

View Larger Map

Now, this area isn’t exactly known for being open. It’s a rather rough and conservative area. Austria’s notorious freedom party was founded there and people still love to vote them.

I was always a rather curious kid and when I was 17 or 18, I was lucky enough to be sent to the London International Youth Science Forum for a couple of weeks by my high school, where I met students and pupils from pretty much all continents. Contrary to what the title of the event might suggest, this isn’t a pure nerd convention, but also a massive exchange of arguments about who brews/distills the best [insert alcoholic beverage here] in the world and other discussions like that. Anyway, the point is, it’s like a massive cultural fair, where you are shown 1:30 trailers of all kinds of countries, their culture, what is important to them and so on. So after that, I always wanted to travel. However, I didn’t only want to travel, but ideally also wanted live there at least a while to understand what’s going on and not only “look at” it.

So I’ve been to Nicaragua for a few weeks during my civil service.

I did a road trip in the US.

I spent a month Barcelona for a rather touristy attempt to learn Castilian.

I went to Hanoi for a few weeks for a summer university.

I did a brilliant exchange semester in Vancouver.

I worked for three months in Vienna’s lovely and at least as grumpy twin Budapest.

And I spent a bit of time in Tanzania, doing a lot of the above.

Of course, these were all great experiences, among the best of my life, really. They made me smarter and wiser and culturally more aware and I miss them. I want more of them. (And I miss the sea, goddamn it.)

But upon reflection, I realized that all of this wasn’t all that brave or cosmopolitan or whatever of me. From the beginning in London, to Nicaragua to Budapest, there were either friends or other Austrians that travelled with me, or as in the case of Budapest, an Austrian planner was already there. (Ok, not in Tanzania, but that was just 10 days.) And ultimately, I always had a safety net, because all those stays abroad had a termination date. I knew that after this month in Nicaragua, I could go home and start with my university degrees instead of having to struggle with life there. I knew I didn’t have to live in Hanoi forever, but would fly back to cosy Vienna after the summer university. I knew I couldn’t stay in Vancouver to work or do a PHD or stay Budapest, because I “had to finish my studies” at home.

It’s not like I ever packed my things and moved to really live somewhere else. So I’m curious how my urge to travel and live abroad will feel once I’ll have removed the university parachute.

So after Rob started one of those memes that I actually find kind of interesting, Petar aka Niko Herzeg tagged me in his 5 answers to 5 questions about 2010.

It’s actually harder than I thought to come up with one decent answer to these questions, but I’ll give it a shot.

1/ Best single thing [personal &/or professional] you did/achieved in 2010.

Whenever ‘professional’ comes up I have the nice and cosy ‘I’m still a student’ excuse that I can hide behind, so let’s focus on the personal part.

To answer the question with the best single thing and still get two things into this, let’s call it “leaving the comfort zone” (and I hate that phrase). The two things that fall into this category? The Great Football Giveaway in Tanzania (please donate a ball and spread the word if you think this is a good idea) was my first time in Africa, the first time I went somewhere without there being another Austrian/German speaking person there (in Vietnam, Nicaragua, Canada, Spain and Hungary, there always were colleagues or friends from there), and the first time without actually knowing anybody personally before meeting them at the airport at the destination. The project also included my first fundraising party and my first rent-a-location party in Vienna. It was one of the best things I ever did in my life.

The ‘other thing’? Writing myself into the same academic group as she was in, getting to know her, finding her truly amazing and actually demonstrating interest instead of finding a lame excuse for not being around her. Best decision in 2010, period.

2/ Most shameful thing [personal &/or professional] you did/achieved in 2010.

I’m bad with this kind of stuff. I think I didn’t do many shameful things this year (unfortunately?), but there’s one thing I’m not necessarily proud of and it has something to do with commenting cynically on a – in my eyes – propagandistic facebook status update from someone who once was a friend and now thinks censorship is alright if somebody dares to criticize Austria’s hypocritical social democrats. Austria got two 8 year old twins, who then were deported to the Kosovo, out of their bed at 6:30 or something, by policemen armed with machine guns. It was filmed by activists and then the social democrats, who are the strongest party, have the president and the chancellor as well as the mayor of Vienna, and who also voted for the tightening of our immigration laws had the nerve to blame their coalition partner – the conservatives – for what was happening. – I made a cynical comment on a facebook post and it apparently ended an already fading friendship. Still not sure if it was the right thing to do.

Appart from that it’s a shame that I haven’t met my personal deadline for my bachelor paper … and that I had to go to the washroom to puke during a brunch with friends and partners who drove 300 km to see me.

3/ Ad industry scandal or scoundrel of the year.

The Future of Advertising. Apart from that the planner story that everybody thinks of anyways … Oh, and seeing a lot of people that are very talented being wasted in or not hired by agencies.

4/ Your overall rating for 2010 out of 10. [1 = shit / 10 = showoff]

8.5 – brilliant year in almost every aspect. Would have been a 10 if I had managed to finish my bachelor thesis.

5/ What do you think will be the most overhyped advertising related subject of 2011?

There’s no way I could put this into better words so please do yourself a favor and read #5 from Andrew / Northerns list.

I nominate (leaving out those who have been nominated anyways …)

Bori

Hille

Michael (didn’t you want to start blogging again?)

Michaela

Steffen

Wie du vielleicht weißt – oder auch noch nicht – bin ich bei einer Gruppe von 9 Personen (aus London und New York) die für eine Organisation namens “The Great Football Giveaway” Spenden sammelt. Wir fliegen im November nach Tansania um dort Fußbälle an Kinder in den entlegensten und ärmsten Teilen des Landes zu verteilen.

Es ist ganz einfach: Wir glauben, dass keinem Kind auf dieser Welt die Freude verwehrt bleiben sollte, (Fuß)Ball zu spielen. Es ist eines der einfachsten und spontansten Vergnügen die man haben kann. Auch ganz ohne Stadion, Fans und Millionenverträge. Oder wie Paul Clarke, der Gründer von “The Great Football Giveaway” sagt: “No kid should be denied the chance to kick a ball about. It’s one of life’s most simple pleasures.”

The Great Football Giveaway, das ist eine kleine NGO aus England, die es sich zum Ziel gesetzt hat so viele Fußbälle wie möglich in die Hände oder besser an die Füße von Kindern in armen, vom Tourismus unberührte und zum Teil von Krieg verwüstete Landstriche Afrikas zu bringen. Gemeinsam mit NGOs vor Ort hat das Projekt bisher 15,000 Bälle direkt an Schulen, Waisenhäuser und Kinder in Malawi, Angola, Uganda, Zambia, Ruanda und den Kongo gebracht. Die Teams sind dabei immer selbst organisiert. Ich habe mich über Blogs und Twitter mit acht anderen aus New York und London zusammengefunden. Gemeinsam sind wir nun ein Team bilden das von 4. bis 14. November nach Tansania fliegt.

Jeder Fußball mit Pumpe den wir an die Kinder in Tansania geben, kostet £10, also 12€. Unser nicht ganz bescheidenes Ziel ist 1350 Bälle in der Region zu verteilen, also £13.500 zu sammeln. Knapp £5.300 sind schon geschafft, mit der Party will ich dazu beitragen die £13.500 zu erreichen (Flug, Unterkunft, etc. zahlen wir natürlich selbst).

Nun habe ich mir gedacht, es wäre am vernünftigsten eine Fundraising-Party für mehrere Communities zu machen. Es geht um Fußball. Es geht um Afrika. Und es geht um Freude – also Feiern. Darum sieht das Programm so aus:

Am Montag, den 25.10. im Ragnarhof, ab 20:00.

20:30 – 21:30: Doku “The Great Football Giveaway”. 15,000 Balls, 5 Countries, An Epic Journey. This is football stripped of its money, marketing and celebrity.

“An inspiring film about football, kids & Africa. Brilliant!” (Fußball-Legende Kenny Dalgish)

ca. 21:30 – 22:00: Kurzfilm “Girl Dreams” (Antje Grothe, D 2010)

Die Mädchen aus dem Mathare Slum in Nairobi/Kenia trainieren auf einem staubigen Bolzplatz. Sie träumen davon, entdeckt zu werden. Die Chance ist gering, dennoch ist es oftmals ihre einzige Möglichkeit ihre Lebenssituation und die ihrer Familien zu verbessern.

Danach – The Great DJ Giveaway: Feinster Hip Hop / Funk / Soul / Breaks / Beats dargebracht vom DJ-Kollektiv “Frisch Saftig Stylish“.

Da das Ganze zum Spendensammeln gut ist, gibt es einen Eintritt/Spende von 4 € (oder gerne auch mehr, denn: je mehr Geld wir sammeln, desto mehr Bälle gehen nach Tansania). Falls du das Projekt gut findest und nicht kommen kannst, freuen wir uns auch hier sehr über deine Spende.

Hier geht’s zum Event auf Facebook. Also hinkommen und Leute einladen!

This last few days have mostly been about heading west from Vienna to work on a brief with lovely guys and girls at an agency there. A couple of quite strange firsts for me. First night staying at a hotel for “business” reasons, which in my ears still sounds absolutely douchy (in relation to myself). First time “expensing” taxi rides from a train station to an agency. Haven’t done that before either, and feels equally strange. Could it be that at some point along these lines the day comes when people actually expect something from you because of all this?

I also learned how to get my telco to unlock tethering on my slowly fading phone (hat tip to Steff). I found out that I should read visa registration documents more carefully next time (hat tip to the guy who said njet). I learned that fundraising isn’t a very easy thing to do (which in turn teaches you a lot of things about advertising and “awareness” – ehem). And I learned that the 3G connection on trains here is quite horrible, which might be a good thing after all.

Update: Wer will, kann nun hier spenden.

Manche von euch, die auf Twitter mitlesen, haben Neil’s Blogeintrag über “The Great Football Giveaway” vielleicht schon gelesen. Bei diesem Projekt geht es darum Fußbälle direkt an Kinder in entlegenden und armen Gegenden in Tansania zu verteilen, die ansonsten nicht die Möglichkeit haben einen Ball in der Gegend herumzukicken.

The Great Football Giveaway from The Great Football Giveaway on Vimeo.

Als ich den Eintrag las war ich gleichzeitig schwer beeindruckt und “irgendwie” skeptisch. Der Skeptiker in mir dachte ziemlich schnell daran was dieses Projekt alles nicht zu lösen im Stande war. Die Welt würde das kaum retten, Tropfen auf den heißen Stein etc. Ich kam schnell zur Einsicht, dass es wichtigere Probleme gibt, größere Dinge die sich ändern müssten damit Tansania (und eine Menge anderer Länder) Wohlstand schaffen und die Armut bezwingen könnte. “Es gibt ja wohl wichtigere Dinge als Fußball, oder? Klar, gibt es.

Auf der anderen Seite war ich aber intuitiv von der Idee begeistert. Sie ist einfach und gut… Ich bewundere ja Menschen die “Dinge machen”, die etwas zustande bringen. “The Great Football Giveaway” und Neils Sprung in’s kalte Wasser ist genau so etwas.

Am Ende hat die Intuition gesiegt. Mir wurde klar, dass ich in die “Makro-Falle” getappt war. “Länder”, “Reichtum”, “Armut” – Dinge die ich auf der Skala – als Nicht-Gottspieler – unmittelbar wenig Einfluss habe, während die Kinder in Tansania jetzt Bälle zum Spielen brauchen. Beim “Great Football Giveaway” geht es nicht darum die Welt zu retten. Es geht darum Kindern eine Freude zu machen. Ein wenig von dem das wir haben zu teilen, um Kindern in einer entlegenen und armen Gegend Tansaias die Freude an dem Spiel das die Welt im Sommer auf ihrem Kontinent gefeiert hat zu ermöglichen. Es geht um eine machbare Idee, die Leute braucht die sie umsetzen.

Soweit zu meinem Hintergrund. Ich werde mich einer Gruppe von Leuten aus London und New York, die ich großteils nicht persönlich kenne, anschließen und von 4. bis 14. November nach Tansania fliegen. Der Flug nach Dar es Salaam ist gebucht, Impfungen sind in Vorbereitung und – am allerwichtigsten – wir beginnen bald mit dem Sammeln der Spenden für die Fußbälle. Und dann geht es darum, so viele Bälle wie möglich direkt in die Hände der Kinder, in Schulen und Weisenhäuser in Tansania zu bringen. (Wir bezahlen die Flüge und Unterkunft selbst und sind für das Sammeln der Spenden für die Fußbälle selbst verantwortlich.)

Falls ihr die Aktion gut findet, dann leitet sie weiter, erzählt Freunden davon und überlegt euch schon mal ob ihr einen Ball spenden möchtet wenn das Fundraising beginnt. Ich freu’ mich auf eure Unterstützung – falls ihr sonst etwas beitragen könnt oder möchtet, nehmt bitte einfach Kontakt auf. (wagner.thomas1 ät gmail punkt com)

Update: If you want, you can donate now.

Every now and then in life an opportunity comes along and you just know you have to do something about it. An opportunity to put words and good intention into action. An opportunity to do the right thing.

Some of you might have already read Neil’s blog post about the project in Tanzania he decided to join as a team leader: The Great Football Giveaway.

The Great Football Giveaway 2010 from The Great Football Giveaway on Vimeo.

When I read and saw this, I was at the same time amazed and sceptic. The trained critical thinker inside me thought, “Well, this isn’t quite going to save the world, is it!?” It pondered how there are bigger problems, bigger things that need to change for Tanzania (and a lot of countries) to accumulate wealth and get out of poverty. “Sure there are things more important than bloody football, right?” Right. There are.

On the other hand however, I immediately and intuitively fell in love with the pure simplicity and goodness of the idea. I admire people that do things, people that actually make things happen. “The Great Football Giveway” and Neil’s inspiring jump in at the deep end would most certainly be one of those actions for good.

In the end, intuition won. I realized that I fell into the “macro trap”: “countries”, “wealth”, “poverty” – I won’t be able to change anything at this scale – you know, the world hunger crisis etc. – anytime soon, while these kids would love to kick a ball about right now. The great Football Giveaway isn’t about saving the world. It is about giving kids joy and happiness. About sharing some of what we have to make a basic pleasure happen in a very rural and poor part of Tanzania. This was about action on a “do-able” scale. And it needs doing.

So I am joining a group of people based out of London and New York, who I mostly don’t know personally, but who I am sure are all awesome, in The Great Football Giveaway from November 4 to 14. The flight to Dar es Salaam is booked, jabs are to be arranged and most importantly fundraising is about to begin in earnest very soon. (We do pay for flights, accomodation, food etc. ourselves and are responsable for raising the funds for the balls.)

So much for my background in this, from now on, this place is going to be about what counts: getting as many balls directly into kids’ hands as possible. Once the fundraising starts, please do consider spreading the word, donating a ball or let me know if you contribute anything else to the project.

One of my resolutions for this year was to keep a little journal about what I’m doing and what I’m thinking. So far, I have been pretty miserable with my self-chosen media diet. My “journal” has been what I write on twitter and what I bookmark on delicious. Not exactly what I planned.

People who know me personally are aware of my somewhat nerdy obsession with academia, which means I love it and at the same time hate what is going on inside Austrian universities. That’s why I thought I could put together a little preview of what is waiting for me at the university this term – or what I expect. I’m in the last semester of my International Business bachelor and also do some courses of the Mass Media and Communication Science research master. So I am kind of all over the social sciences, business and arts curricula. Trying to sort things out and not halfway there. So, this is what I’m up to at university this semester:

Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Bachelor Thesis - I’m writing “thesis” at the institute of Advertising and Brand Management about “The Evolving Role of Creativity in Brand Management”. Yes, I know this topic could evolve into a buzzword-clad piece of writing but I’m trying to avoid that. More on the paper in an upcoming post.

Spanish Business Communication III - Just what it sounds like: a lecture with around 20 people and topics such as “la empresa”. Includes a presentation, a midterm and a final exam. Not much conversation and discussion going on though, so chances are I have to talk with Spaniards at that bodega about inflation and unemployment rates and not about more interesting things. Lame, but my fault.

Spanish Business Communication IV - The title doesn’t really fit this one as it’s more a culture and history class as an actual business course. It’s in lecture format, I’ll have to do an oral exam of about 20 minutes and read an academic Spanish book. I think I’ll chose “La familia en Espana”, a sociological perspective on just that. This is going to be hard, really hard.

Spanish Conversation - A training course dedicated to getting people at a level that doesn’t make the prof who does the oral exam cringes once you open your mouth. So we are talking about “La era de la información” and things like that. So far it is the most exciting course of the term. And I really don’t know if that’s a good thing.

Applied Microeconomics - Another group lecture. I first thought we’re going to review neoclassical economic theory, do a lot of formalizing just to hear in the end that the models we built are totally not valid in reality and need to be more refined to make sense. However, it seems we’re going to discuss “real” cases and analyze them from a microeconomic perspective. Game theory and things like that.

Companies from the perspective of social sciences - Can’t go to the lecture but I guess there’s a lot of stakeholder and system theory in that one. Have to read the book and write the exam.

Mass Media and Communication Science

Special Lecture I  - Television and Digital Media: The State of the Art of Media and Audience Research – I was expecting a lot from this lecture, especially as 1) it’s in English 2) the Prof. has been at different Universities including Berkley and 3) runs a movie consulting business. So far I am disappointed beyond belief. The lecture is split in two parts. The first 45 minutes, we are lectured about what can only with a lot of goodwill be described as “the state of the art of media and audience research” and the other 45 minutes students have some 3 minutes to present “something relevant” from either TV or the internet. There is no discussion afterwards and the grading depends on the 3 minutes talk and a 1 A4 description of some case. So far it is very, very uninspiring.

Special Lecture II – History and Theory of Propaganda – I was looking very much forward to this lecture, as the prof giving it has written a book I really liked a lot and is a historian, not a communication scientist. So far it’s a quite impressive display of cultural analysis and dissection. It’s the kind of lecture that makes you start thinking about topics differently. It inspired me for around 5 blog posts in the first 2 hours, so I guess I Just have to find the spirit to get them done.

Research Seminar I - Digital Natives and the Future of Information Usage – Same prof as Television and Digital Media: The State of the Art of Media and Audience Research, same high expectations, so far, same results. However, the topic itself is pretty interesting and there are a bunch of interested and interesting colleagues of mine in the class. I guess we’re going to do empirical research, analyzing the myth of the one digital native and his or her usage of information. I’d love to put the good old news factor theory to the test in the interwebs, but I guess that’s as always “beyond the scope of the class”.

Research Seminar II – Organizational Communication – Held by Peter Szyska, a quite renowned prof on the topic of PR and organizational comms. My group of three has to analyze the vast mass of trade and academic literature on internal communications to establish some sort of systematic body of work. Kind of “towards a great theory of internal communications” without the great. Could be fun. Could be not. We’ll see.

Management Lecture: New Media Management – Had to chose this one and I am not totally happy about it. The lecturer is managing the online part of Austria’s public broadcasting system and is damn proud of it. We’ll see how much reflexion and thorough analysis it’s going to be – or how much self-righteous posing.

That’s it for now. And it’s going to be a heck of a lot.