An interview with me was broadcasted today (27th July 2006) at CNN at 7.40AM EST. The interview focused on my site for citizens in Lebanon and Israel to share and tell their stories via cell phones, but also on my work here at Stanford to developed for the user simple posting techniques for cell phones to any CMS-system.

I also wrote a longer blog entry on the future of the new improved media, or as some like to put it citizen media. I prefer the new improved media.

Cell phones today transmit audio, video, graphics, photographs and text. When combined with the proper web application, cell phones enable any citizen in any country of any background to publish information and share it with the world. The importance of social networking cannot be over exaggerated. The answer is pretty simple. The philosophy behind the UN and the European Union is to build friendships and relations between countries to prevent them from getting into arguments/disputes that end up in wars. It is a known fact that you don’t, hopefully, attack your friend. What is so cool today is that modern technology enables borderless and “blind” communication between all individuals, especially when you enable wireless posting via cell phones such as SMS and MMS. You can speak to anyone, anywhere at anytime. Why not use it? The New York Times columnist Thomas L Friedman writes about it in his book “The World is Flat” even though I think that the conclusion is even broader than he concludes in his book.

You will find the full blog entry here:
http://inthefieldonline.net/blog/2006/07/27/the-future-of-the-new-improved-media/

Mark Glaser at MediaShift PBS met me some time ago and we spoke on the subject of citizen media and the future of it. I truly believe cell phones are the right way to go here if combined with the proper business model.

Key quote from article:
“The key here is that the media organizations need to realize they are losing control. They can’t really control [the news] now because people are posting this stuff to other blogs. I think it would be better to merge traditional reporting with citizen media rather than have a [totally] new media.

To take the best of the old fashioned news organizations and bring in the power of the bloggers, because you have so many people investigating. Mix them and you have an extremely good organization and you’ll have content that’s really important in finding out the truth.” — Erik Sundelof, Reuters Digital Vision Fellow at Stanford University

The interview is found here.

It has been a long time since I have written anything here. It has been an intense period and a lot of things has happened. I have met incredible people, and learnt so much about myself. The time and environment here is amazing. I have had some friends over from Sweden and it was great to show them around and give them a taste of the daily life here.

Next week I will speak at a conference NetSquared on the use of cellphones in developing countries and emerging markets. I will present my work here at Stanford and discuss the design of the new generation of cellphone applications. By that I mean the architecture and not a discussion on the network generation. I have written a blog entry on this here.

June 3rd I will be at Teddy’s great place up in the mountains and party with the fellows. It will probably be as great as last time, when it ended up as an all-nighter. It can’t go wrong. Great people, great diversity of food and a great place…

It is now decided that I will stay in the Bay area for some time so I will most probably miss the Swedish summer, but hopefully I will be able to fly home during early autumn for a short while. I will try to be more frequent in my blogging here, not to mention the photo upload.

It has been awhile since I updated the blog and there are reasons for it. Since I got back from Sweden things have speeded up and moved in a direction I very much did not plan for, at least so soon. The reasons will remain in the famous Silicon Valley stealth mode until I can tell some more about it. I can however say that some will be revealed very soon…

I have also since I came had the pleasure of visiting a concert with the Wayne Shorter’s quartet, which was great. It was a quite welcomed break from work, and I will owe Teddy a big dinner for it. Thanks Teddy!

The weather is really now getting back to as warm and wonderful it was when I first arrived here. I have had several coffees outside and just enjoying the sun.

I will promise to write more soon.

Right now I am sitting right over Canada on 33 000 feet above the ocean. I am flying back to Sweden to celebrate Christmas and New Years with my friends and family. It feels rather strange sitting at this altitude and blogging. I chatted with a Swedish friend today on MSN about just this strange fact and she said wow. I totally agree. Nevertheless before I will go to sleep (at least think of it) and try to shift the day rhythm someway back to Swedish standard time, I would like to write some few words on my feelings right this moment. I follow the tradition of many great bloggers, such as Mark Ahtisaari (even though he does not blog that often). His “Blogging over Las Vegas” is a great piece even though I like his reflections on slow art even better.

The United States of America is the best and worse country. They have it al - their problems, the diverse population people, but also the possibilities. Just as you think you understand it it will bite you in the ass. I just love it. I have talked to the CEO:s of world leading IT companies, seen the eyes of the homeless outside restlessly walking up and down University Avenue and seen the eyes of the black mother asking me for directions to the Child Emergency Recovery with his shot teenager son in the front seat. It surely is a strange country. It is a great country, and a bad country. Nevertheless I cannot stop loving it.

This blog should not turn into a political debate on the situation in the States or the nature of the States. However I could not stop myself as I think about the time in the States so far. Right now my thoughts are wondering on to the ten days I will spend in Sweden, but also to the spring and the events during the spring. Will I be jetlagged over my wildest imagination? How can it be that Christmas is already here? Most of all I however just feel a great exaltation about meeting everyone at home.
The suitcase is filled with presents, the head is filled with impressions, thoughts and experiences. I miss my mom and dad, I miss my siblings, I miss the family dog and my friends. It feels strange, but I will love coming home. Some days I have missed them like crazy. Today was really the first time I tried to connect to the feeling of going/coming home. The time here in the States have spun that fast that I have not had the chance to reflect on time. I guess the climate helped as it is 17 degrees Celsius in Palo Alto, California. Monday night I talked to my brothers wife and like I said then every day has been an adventure. I am living in a dream. I am like Alice in Wonderland and do not regret “taking the blue pill”.

I just cannot wait until I get home and can sit back in the family sofa. See the family… the feeling creates butterflies in my stomache.

Right now I am sitting on San Francisco International Airport waiting for a flight to Seattle. As airports are like teleports between different worlds, it is a place for reflection and consideration. You are leaving some place and going to another. A situation that often creates a mixed feeling.

It is now a bit more than three and a half month since I left Sweden. A lot has happened and I have met a lot of amazing people. The power of the Silicon Valley – the valley of miracles - is very much present. Some reflections on what has happened is in order I guess.

Today my friend Sam picked me up and drove me to the airport. It was a beautiful morning and I was filled with peace during the drive to the airport. Looking back to the late night September 3 when I arrived here in the “valley of miracles”, I can honestly say I had no idea about what the semester was going to turn into. My chats with my fellows have given me insight to a whole other world out there. When I left Sweden in September I was living in a “bubble” as Hernando de Soto is talking about in his book “The Mystery of Capital”. I first set foot on the Stanford Campus at noon September 4 and did not realise the power of the transition I was about to go through and still going through.

The first hectic weeks before the opening reception were an interesting and experience building time. The weekend after the program went to Asilomar to really start the program. The night walks, the looks at the sky filled with stars, but also the interesting conversations during the nights there was like a starting point to it all. Especially on a personal level things cleared and I remember one moment standing down at the beach listening to the ways coming in. A moment that liberated me beyond anything. After Asilomar began a great learning curve spiced up with meetings with a diversity of people to be finished off by an amazing last month.

Some people have influenced me more than others, yet I can honestly say most conversations during this time have given me insight to a variety of problems and aspects completely new to me, yet ever as appealing and interesting. More over I have gained perspective on things and realised the importance of different things in life. The world is far from black and white even though it is more convenient to think so. A truth ever as simple, yet very complex to fully grasp…

I sent an email to someone yesterday on this semester and my personal experiences of it. As I said in that email the extremes make people grow. I have gained experiences in many levels, and the feeling of flying away from the Bay Area is two-facetted. One is just feeling great about going home to friends and family; another is leaving persons that really have made an impression on me and grown fond of. I chatted the other day with a friend now in India and he shared the same feeling. I already miss the people here, especially some… It feels strange, yet nice.

I left Sweden with various thoughts and questions in my mind. Thoughts and questions that have cleared. I am happy, filled with peace and feel really good. It feels good to go home from Christmas and meet my friends and family. It also feels good to know that I am flying back to the “valley of miracles” and “the farm” in the beginning of January.

Before I left and during my time here I have been told to “stay Erik”. My perception of the world has changed, but I still am Erik from Sweden. I have grown, but the inner Erik remains.

It is so popular with lists these days so I thought I make one of the music highlights for myself too. This is the selection of today with some reflections.

1. Fix You, Coldplay
Summer of 2005
Writing thesis and solutions to a PhD course in Salabacke, Uppsala, the offsite trip to Asilomar, and the nightly walks during the same offsite. Sitting outside the reception taking pictures of a foot and looking at the stars…

2. Living Room, David Gray
Late December 2004 - January 2005
Staffan, love you, man. The beer nights at Katalin, Uppsala, with lots of Kilkenny, laughs and our “strange” discussions.

3. 20,000 Seconds, K’Choice
September 2001, Montpellier, France
Sitting on a plan with a "sad" mind from France back to Sweden thinking of the smell of Dolce & Gabbana perfume, crazy French drivers and the extremely loud bells of the Cathedral outside.

4. Dansa på min grav (Dance on my grave), Bo Kaspers orkester
Autumn of 2004
Squashing pear outside my parents house, crazy spinning sessions at Nautilus and the color of Swedish autumn.

5. You Oughta Know, Alanis Morissette
Spring 1996 (during my military service)
Sitting as fire watch during the nights in the field somewhere in Sweden with one earplug, the other constantly listening to “surprise attacks”. Eating my homemade buns.

Recently I have been thinking of the human nature. The stories told here in the Valley by the fellows from all corners around the world, really makes you think of who you are and how you are behaving. Personally I have not in a very long time felt as peaceful and calm as I do now, but the question on how people are behaving is emphasized by reading news, looking in my environment and listening to the stories by the fellows.

Looking at the news gives a constant flux of misery and bad things happening in the world yet talking to my friends here in the program gives another more promising and happy picture of what is happening in and to the world. We have a lot of problems yet there are numerous projects throughout the world giving at least me a hope. Yesterday talking to a friend a thought emerged: “Why not give the good news instead of the bad to build the case against especially violence? Show the people that we as humanity have the power to really change our future history.” I know this is a somewhat naive (and certainly not new) thought, but isn’t it worth trying instead of just talking about it. We should start to contribute in whatever way we can. If that is just helping an old lady over the street, bring some flowers to your mother, build a social enterprise or just give that social call to your friend just to ask him how he is. Go for it! … but stop to just talk about it.

What puzzles me is that I think the problem as so often is really us. We are still busy seeking solutions everywhere else than right within us - the constant quest of answers from everyone and everywhere else than us. I think a true peaceful soul comes from within you. We are running in this world, we are running to get that recognition we all so desperately want. A monologue from the movie “Good Will Hunting” stands as an example of this run and somewhat explain it. I guess there are better examples of it in literature, but we as humans are not that complex in some ways.

Isn’t it time for us to stop running? I will for sure try…

I had a chat yesterday about an entry I wrote some weeks ago about a nightly walk down by the beach. She told me that the lyrics of the song (Fix You by Coldplay), made a big impression of one of her friends. That got me thinking of the text some more.

I am currently taking part in a fellowship program - Reuters Digital Vision Program- which brings together a group of experienced social entrepreneurs from the world corners. But what is a social entrepreneur really? I remember an explanation made by a student in the beginning of the program: A social entrepreneur is a person that both values a positive balance in the checking account and social impact of his/her work. Of course there is a discussion whether the social impact is the more important part, and today an article is illustrating that discussion, where there is an interview of the founder of Ebay and the Omidyar foundation, Pierre Omidyar, where he discuss the nature of social entrepreneurship. This is an ongoing discussion that probably will continue for sometime now.

Personally, I believe that social entrepreneurship is about trying… trying to make difference… trying to help somebody without asking for something in return. The movie "Pass It Forward" defines it so well. We should help people that needs that extra hand, and give pieces of ourselves.

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
And I will try to fix you

… because I will definately try.

I read a blog by Nichoals Carr on the amorality of the Web 2.0. What is a bit scary these days is the unconditional trust people put on system like the Wikipedia and Delicious. Putting the full power in the hands of the users is not complex free, as we really have to trust all the users. Do not get me wrong, I truly believe in the power of the users and applaud the new movement on the web to really make it a read-and-write again as it was the true intentions by Tim Berners-Lee from the beginning.

Basically, technology is a tool, nothing else. If we want to save or at least change the world, we have to do it ourselves, but probably by the help of technology. Technology in itself actually does very little. This is one component of the complexity. Another component is that technicians always have to reflect on the awareness and readiness to exposure of new technology of the users that we develop these new technologies for. The problem is as much in us as well as it is in the new technologies.

Personally, I am a true believer of technology and think there might be a way to go to really make a difference, but as Nicholas Carr is saying in his blog: "The Internet had transformed many things, but it had not transformed us. We were the same as ever." This is an essential statement that tends to get lost when people are discussing new technologies. We have to be ready for it and able to handle them. The sad part is that the absolute majority has to or else we (might) end up loosing.

I will use the wiki and especially the flagship Wikipedia as a base for the discussion. Some say we should not compare the Wikipedia to Encyclopaedia Britannica clearly haven’t understood the true intentions of them. Wikipedia should be compared to Encyclopaedia Britannica by all means, as it is the true competitor both as to content and the number of entries.

The number of entries is never an argument as information never should be about quantity but about quality. Of course the entries in Wikipedia is much more alive and can be updated all the time, but can we trust the information in it? What happens to the information if somebody enters incorrect or even false information? The common answer is that it will be corrected rapidly, but is that really the case… always. What happens during the period in between?

Let us take a look a a specific case. Let’s say a student seeks information about something and founds the entry at the Wikipedia. The essay is due tomorrow and therefore he or she cannot check all the trackbacks of the changes, and therefore relies on the information to be correct. Whos problem is this? I say this is ours, as we surely can trust Encyclopaedia Britannica more. Simply by the entries are written by experts, and reviewed by experts. Are they right or wrong? Who knows, but the trust lies in this fact. All the entries inside are also created by the same methodology and therefore the whole encyclopaedia is more likely to be trusted.

Especially wikis all rely on the trust to them, and personally I love wikis as they are excellent for working in groups and correcting each other’s mistakes. (Actually this site is built on the combination of a wiki and a blog) Yet wikis really depend on the good in people. If anybody can change it, anybody can destroy or mess with it. Sad, but true. Again, I am a strong believer in the power of and the good in the people. However I still believe there are dangers with the complete and ultimate freedom, by which I have not at all said we should not have the freedom that Web 2.0 represent. We however should not put to much trust into it as part of the problem lies within ourselves.

Before we can assure that we are ready to handle the new technology and we have adjusted the technology so that it reflects how we work, the ultimate vision will not be fulfilled. We are getting there, but the Web 2.0 is still far from free of complexity.

I want this to happen, but will Web 2.0 change this. Time will tell, but I think we cannot be blind to the fact that it is much easier to destroy than to create. Of course we should start, but as the telling goes: “Rome was not built in a day…” Nevertheless, I am truly excited to see what happens…

I love rocky rides, so count me in!