Henriette Weber

This essay by Jonathan Harris entitled “our digital crisis” has moved me deeply. (I found it via Swiss Miss).

Especially these lines:

“Our online tools do a great job at breadth (hundreds of friends, thousands of tweets), but a bad job at depth. We live increasingly superficial lives, reducing our relationships to caricatures and our personalities to billboards, as we speed along at 1,000 miles an hour.

We trade self-reflection for busyness, gorging ourselves on it and drowning in it, without recognizing the violence of that busyness, which we perpetrate against ourselves and at our peril.”

Sometimes, I think that people forget that things that are putted on the internet are real. Facebook events really happen (even there’s about a 50 % no-show). Social needs to be more than tools and clichéed buzzwords that everybody is talking about. It needs to have substance and be able to be implemented.

It needs to be what’s behind the billboard, and not the billboard in itself. It needs to be the processes, the substance, the flow, the thoughts.

It needs to be you. You need to be respected and accepted because your real. Not superficial. Not just a billboard.

Today I am heading down to Roskilde Festival – a place I have visited at every opportunity I’ve had since 1997. Anyway this year there’s a lot of connectedness tools going on down there (foursquare camp, tweetups etc.) and I will attend as much as it as I can.  It’s awesome sitting here looking on twitter at the #rf10 tag and see what people are doing down there – I can’t wait to participate myself.

At Roskilde Festival 2007 I worked with a client of mine Jaiku.com – one of my favorite webapps of all time (and I may still add, in my opinion used to be superior to twitter as a microblogging tool), and one of my favorite clients of all time. We tried to set up to use Jaiku.com as a part of the “roskilde community” site (before it was integrated in the overall site=). I think we where around 30 people using jaiku at Roskilde 2007. It was good fun.  I remember @shevy and @aj42 and @wendelboe and I tried to plan a meetup – it was really hard though because the jaiku client drained our phones of batteries.

This year – three years down the line, things have changed and the apps are everywhere – the online/offline relations are booming and it’s a joy for me to see -  My only problem is that if I bring my iphone I will run out of batteries in a day or two. I am thinking about bringing a really old nokia instead – but then I will miss out on all the geolocated fun.

It seems like the collective education of the crowd when it comes to social apps has come so far, where as in my camp 3 years ago people where sitting and asking if I was a reporter or why I was fiddling with the phone all the time. When I said that I was updating the internet they looked puzzled to say the least. Today I don’t think anyone will ask that question. It’s a part of people’s behaviour nowadays. Even though some of it are slightly geeky, the 3 people who asked me questions about “updating the internet” will probably poke a person or two on facebook or send a tweet.

It’s amazing how fast the collective education of the crowd has gone. I wonder where we will be in 3 years =)

by the way – this blog is probably going to be quiet while I am down there – I will however upload pictures to my flickr, so you can have your daily share of me (if you miss me too much=)

Glastonbury 98 “it rained every day, all day, for three days and three nights. I’ve not been back since” picture by Mark Walker Brighton

A person in my network is going to the Glastonbury festival in a couple of weeks – I’ve always had a liking for british music festivals because the lineup is often the most sublime. I was there in 98, 18 years old in the most horrible weather of all times and having the time of my life. This year I will be at Roskilde festival, dreaming of glastonbury and the leeds/reading festivals in the fall. Now about the festival there’s one thing I remember more clearly than other things, normally at roskilde festival you make a joint toast all over the camping site once every 10 mins or so. At glastonbury that year people weren’t shouting “SKÅL” which means cheers – they shouted “BOLLOCKS” (which I am quite sure they still do)… In one of those toasts where everybody was going “BOOOOLLLOOOCKS” a guy suddenly shouted “PINEAPPLE”. A guy from another camp then shouted back “why the f*** are you shouting PINEAPPLE”?. He didn’t get any reply. A couple of hours later the joint toast went on again and suddenly there where 100 people shouting “PINEAPPLE” after the “BOLLOCKS” shout.

Next day it was all of the area that we where camped in.  Just because some guy started to shout “pineapple”.

All I am saying is that I am madly in love with people who shouts pineapple. They do it for about a day or so and then they shout something else that people can relate to. I can’t relate to a pineapple, but I love the story of being in the middle of a whole section of a festival that shouts pineapple.

I guess that’s just how we roll as people. That’s what I personally want: do things with a creative/unusual edge that people think is cool.  To make the crowd go “PINEAPPLE”.

This year, I can’t be with my own mother on mothers day – But I can be with my wonderful daughter that has praised her love for me all day. Mothers day is yet-another-one-of-my-favorite days – Im all about celebrations for different kinds and it makes you appreciate the people around you.

When I became a mother at the age of 24, it was the most frightening and life-changing experience ever – and it putted me into a creative boost of dimensions. Suddently I didn’t know what I had used all my life for and seriously I could not remember what I used to do all day without a gorgeous child attached to me at all times – which also made me realize that time was scarce and there where so many things that I wanted to do with my life. My company – Toothless Tiger came into existance right afterwards and the name derives from my daughter. Even though I used to create a lot when I was younger, it was first after my daughter was born that it really came into my notion how important it where for me. So after she was born I found a way to express myself through my writing and use these creations to help companies do new cool things with new tools. I think creation is very important, and one of the most underestimated parts of business. First I gave birth to my daugther, then to my company, then to client work and books and rebirth to boats and what else have you. It has really become a way of life for me and it’s the best way I know how to spend my time – creating and thinking new.  Creative motherhood is something I use everyday because it’s something really deeply grounded in me. Creativity and business is such a huge part of my passion – if not the primary part.

And for me mothers day (and fathers day) is a celebration of what is giving you life, and what you give life to. it’s an appreciation of the now and why you’re right here in this second, it’s a celebration of passion=)

I read this blogpost about women in tech on Techcrunch Europe yesterday. Basically Eileen Burbidge argues that the whole “should we or shouldn’t we focus on women in tech problem” is a supply side issue, and I tend to agree.

But there’s so many other things that counts in this discussion as well.

Fx. I have been a “women in tech” since my teens (running my own tech related company for the last 6 years..) I have really struggled to not be a labelled “the woman in tech” by the media here in Denmark – and believe me – they really want to portrait me like that. I think the whole “women in tech” or “female entrepreneur” (which they label you as well) is a petty. I don’t mind rolemodels at all, but i get furious when we as women are being differentiated because we are women, not because of our work.

A part of me feel alienated when women are portraited as something special just because their women – I mean we’re not THAT special – we are half of the earth species. A part of me don’t think we should even have this discussion – because we don’t have discussions called “more men as nurses” either.

Also people give conference organizers a lot of trouble if there isn’t any women speaking at a conference. I would rather not speak at a conference than know that I was the “woman” card pulled, that they needed to make a better line up. I want to be recognized by the work I do – and not the work I do + being a women in tech… Yes women are different and think different than men on a lot of issues, but it’s not what’s being highlighted, our different approach.

That being said – I really love my female networks, I have a bunch of them, and one of my favorites these days is 85broads which is highly recommendable – there’s just an energy there that you don’t find in networks with both men and women. I guess it’s the ladies way of drinking whiskey and smoking cigars in the business clubs of old.

For a long while, I haven’t been able to relate to shoppingmalls and racks upon racks of clothes. I don’t have that browsing mentality. Maybe it’s because that most stores don’t carry that many things I like, or maybe the stores are too crammed.

However for a while now I have been following what’s going on, on Thinglink.com which has a huge star in my book when it comes to things. And now I have found something that has a huge star in my book when it comes to fashion now and for once it has clothing racks that I can relate to: Fashiolista.com – it even let’s everybody see what stuff I love. Even better – it’s only stuff that other people think are cool that ends up on the site.

In this people-driven economy that we are facing, one of the most important things is to give products the ability to find people – instead of the other way around. We have seen it through blogs for a while now. But I really believe that sites such as Thinglink and Fashiolista is going to be gamechangers, because it let’s people relate to your products in public.

In some geeky way – you might say that instead of people browsing products online – we are heading more and more towards that it’s actually the products that are browsing people, and catching their interest if they are really something special. (I still need to transform that sentense into something that’s more easily digestable, but do you catch my drift ?)

Your biggest task as a company who sells stuff (and we all do) is to give your products an ecosystem so people will relate to them and take a stand. either offically or inside their mind.

So this is one of the blogposts I have been looking so much forward to writing – I have been knowing that ALD10 (Ada Lovelace Day 2010) has been coming for a while, And it’s a perfect opportunity to pay tribute to some of the women in technology – especially the ones that has enlightened my year since Ada Lovelace Day last year ( you can see my post from last year here)..

There is a lot of talk everywhere about that all these underground things that some of us has been geeking around with for years and years are turning mainstream – and therefore are less interesting. Au contraire I would say – I think ANYONE who puts creativity and online/offline together can help make the world a better place in some way or another – The internet is not elitary – and if it is – I don’t want to be a part of it (I know that some parts of it looks like the advertisement industry, where it becomes more about showing of digital machines but that’s not really the part of the internet Im in).

Women in Tech has been such a key issue for me, because I have felt it for so long on my own body. I have felt the “well if you’re into the internet and stuff then you must be an übergeek” and the “tell us how we are supposed to engage women perspective”. I have been on women panels and I have been compared to all kinds of witches and bitches because I was a woman. I don’t really need that any more. I think it’s important to set up a framework that allows you to be yourself and where you’re focusing on being the best yourself you can ever be – and not another incarnation of a diva/princess/pippi/goddess/witch/insertyourfavoritewomen here. I am Henriette Weber – for good or worse and take me as I am. I live in my own magic world and see things that no one else sees with my perspective. Let’s have a party around that ?

My Ada Lovelace this year is me. Because I deserve it. Because I have been working so hard to get here. Because I have never loved myself as much as I do these days. And because I think if you make your Ada Lovelace this year yourself – you would have come a long way. Give yourself the credit for being cool ! because you are. Take a couple of hours to make a radical self love bible (you can see mine here) and start putting things in that embraces you and makes you feel good. Stop whining, start moving, start looking yourself in the mirror and find your rolemodel instead of seeing everybody else as your rolemodel. It’s deadimportant.

Create your own reality girls – because it’s out there to be created – you just have to want it bad enough and start connecting the dots in your own way – because you can. Do it yourself! publish that book. Make your own TV show for all I care, save the world – because we can. Get those shoes and that bag!

We have all the tools in the world to make things happen. Still they are only tools and they need you to work them in order to actually be effective.

Im so grateful to be around a lot of smart and creative ladies everyday – and here’s my other Ada Lovelace’s (that has meant the world to me this last year, and who has given me so much and supported me in so many ways:

Paula Marttila

Annika Lidne

Heidi Harman

Brit Stakston

Elmine Wijnia

Natasha Friis Saxberg

Benja Stig Fagerland

Lydia Leavitt

Brynn Evans

Julia Lahme

Christiane Vejlø

Ida Tin

Stine Mathieu

Nanna Thorhauge

Lene Aarup Vinther

Stephanie Booth

and a special special call out to the one that got away – Laura Kiralfy. miss you more everyday girl. Im sure Helsinki is sooo much more with you (and I know that Copenhagen is so much less without you =( Rock that creativity – don’t be bored. You know what to do…)

thank you ladies – you rock =) Thank you for your friendship and your inspirational work – keep on going – we’re almost there=)

So, this morning I have been following the discussions about cop15 in every media I could. I feel slightly disappointed about the agreement, but I also think this is really early days and I think it’s a huge step to get the biggest economies to actually sign a deal, that, if not anything else, shows that they can work together on this. I thought it would be more ambitious, but a part of me thinks it’s a huge deal that we have the US as a part of a climate agreement at all, as well as china, brazil and india. I know it’s not enough – but in my opinion the commitment and the shift in mindchange is a huge deal, I am just hoping that this is what it’s needed to get the ball rolling.

I have a very good friend, John Grant, who is probably one of the most knowledgeable persons on this subject that I know, and he convinced me ages ago that the real change is not going to come from the politicians.

We need them as well, but the real change is going to come from the companies and from the people. We can change the market. We can become vegetarians or have 2-4 days of no meat at home. We can change supply because we are the demand. The thought has also crossed my mind that a weak agreement at cop15 is the best thing that can happen – because there’s a hope in me that’s certain that it might leave a part of the responsibly with the people, and people will feel more obliged to help out as well.

I saw a danish tv-documentary a while back where kids walked the streets of Copenhagen asking grown ups “why they had destroyed the planet”. Everybody felt super guilty and hurried on – and not one person looked into the camera. Nobody knew why. It’s just a part of the system. And I think it’s changing and escalating more and more – and it’s about time.

I often say in my talks and workshops that I firmly believe that within 2 -3 years it’s going to be really hard to be a company that is not “doing good”. I have a firm belief that the transparency in social media is going to enhance that as well. If you don’t do good, if you’re not responsible, if you don’t care about anything but the money, if you don’t connect, if you aren’t in the same room as your peers (in social media and IRL) you’re non-existant and your clients will find alternatives, or even better the alternatives will come to them via social media – the products will find them, and the “bad companies” won’t really be an option. I know it’s kind of idealistic, but I really think it’s where we are heading…

All in all, I am disappointed, but optimistic… I can see both pros and cons and I think it’s a huge deal that it’s finally, finally finally being taken seriously – also on a political plan. It’s not at all what I wanted, but I can see a good thing in spreading the responsibility and not just leaving it up to the politicians. And basically I am happy that we didn’t have to loose the maldives or the netherlands before it was taken totally  seriously, by the leaders of the world as well.

We have every reason to be disappointed – and we could have asked for more, but I am still confident that this is a huge step for mankind and I am happy and hopeful at the same time – the future looks brighter in my optic, and it’s about time…

Today it’s climate action, and even though that I – a couple of days ago gave my thoughts on the importance of everybody doing their share for the climate, I want to touch upon something similar yet different today. I want to talk about giving gifts that people give to other people  - which in my opinion is where the sky is the limit.

So this weekend I had to attend to a birthday party and a wedding, which was both awesome – But I am really one of those people who always orders her goods online, and then it’s very rarely that the stuff are actually coming in for the day I need them. So for this birthday party and this wedding I wanted to do something different. Spurred by the cry for help from Ethiopia (they have around 5 million people down there who is on the brinks of starvation) I decide to give both the happy couple and the happy birthday boy a giftcerficate to Kiva.org instead of some stupid book of some really unimportant stuff or some design stuff (which is all nice and dandy but I am pretty sure that both the couple and birthday boy has enough of that already). I mean we (I think I can say all of the western part of the world) has so much crap, stuff, things, memorabilia.

In these crisis times it’s really key that we build on this shared economy – and I really think that the majority of the gifts under my christmas tree this year is going to be gifts that people have to give to other people. It makes total sense to me that this is a cool way of everybody chipping in and making a difference…for themselves, for societies and for the world.

Oh and if you have any cool projects (preferably green) that you would like me to look at, and that can be turned into christmas gifts for my family – Im all ears.

ps. for my own “reallife startup” I will do christmas gift certificates for Coworkingboat Pan – perfect for the father who has everything

Today it’s blog action day, and this year, more important than ever, it’s about climate change.

It’s something I feel very passionate about, and someting that we know that we need to act upon now if the status quo of gaia needs to be maintained.

Also from my writings on Green Girls Global, I also figured out that you have to have a positive and creative outlook on this HUGE challenge otherwise it could really get you depressed.  With this attitude towards climate changes I was ready to go explore – and there’s so many awesome things out there happening in this area to make the world a better place for the future generations. On the other hand, I get increasingly upset when I see that some people don’t really care – and why should they – I mean we probably won’t live to see the worst of it, But our kids will, and their kids, and their kids.

So I can get really sad when I walk into a house where all the lightbulbs aren’t energy efficient, when people don’t believe in ecology, when they can’t see what all these hyped things are good for, and they put me and my kids in some sort of generational dictatorship, where we decide the outcome of the world for the kids, but we’re to caught up in social media, business, life or whatever to care.

Why should you chose to put solarpanels on your house ? because it’s important that we redesign our energy consumption. why should you eat ecological foods? because it’s healthier, it’s better for the animals, and the ecological farmers are doing so much to try and bind the CO2 in the ground. Why should you eat more vegetables ? because it makes you look like a rockstar and if you eat more vegetables you won’t eat as much meat – and our global meat production is the no 1. cause to the climate changes.

We all know by now that the best thing you can do to affect the climate changes in a positive direction is to become vegetarian. I think that in 3 -5 years you will be looked down upon if you don’t do your share to battle this. You won’t see computers or phones that are using more energy than they are giving – everything will be based on the natural unlimited resources we have – and it could be that I come across as such a hippie – but this is bloody important.

Why should you blog about climate changes, because others might support you and write their thoughts, They might comment and participate in the discussion somewhere, or cut back energy consumption in their house because they start monitoring their overall electricity level. You should do it because you have a voice, and that voice matters..

There’s so many reasons to be a part of this movement. There’s so many ways we can change this for the better. We have all the tools to make it happen. I believe in you. I believe in us. I really think we can pull this off.