Ann-Kristin

I have a theory about blogs and bloggers. Sometimes people ask me “but what are you going to do with that?” and I always recognize in that question the same suspicious and annoying tone when, during my college years, someone asked me what would my studies lead me to. It was some sort of diplomatic variable for “I don’t understand why you’re wasting time with that shit. Unless I’m mistaken, that won’t take you anywhere”. Now, as before, I just shrug my shoulders and waive my head in a confirmation to my interlocutor of what he knows, or thinks he knows - that what I do is useless. These are the same people that look at me in shock when I tell them that I’m not particularly interested in having banners jumping on my Web site advertising this or that on the left side of this text. And that’s precisely why I don’t share that theory with them, just in case they consider it silly, improper or pretentious.

Ann-Kristin is Norwegian. If I remember well, she was visiting a Swedish friend in Milan that works on a TV station and that, this I remember very well, always had suggestions for interesting parties. I had met her the day before and, after running into her precisely in one of those parties, these two photographs represent the third time we met in less than 24 hours (you have to admit that it's impossible not think that we rule a place when things like this happen). As Ann-Kristin is part of the Elle team in Oslo, I thought that after sharing that theory with one or two friends I should do it with someone in the same business. And, like all in life, it’s always comforting to do it with someone we don’t expect to meet again than with those we meet on a daily basis. That theory, not that innovative anyway, encompasses two simple premisses. The first one is that the online editions are winning market share when compared to its printed counterparts. I don’t know how it will be in 5 or 10 years time but things will probably be in the same inconceivable level that they were 5 or 10 years ago. The second is that bloggers are some sort of John Does that, without any kind of support or structure, won the attention and respect of Internet users by themselves. I cannot imagine a more democratic way for a perfect stranger to publish his work online discussing issues that his academic history or career never allowed him to address, or simply talk about what he wants. And, little by little, for this or that reason (or simply because when we do what we like the most, we risk doing it well), the blog builds up a faithful and regular audience that, with time, provides respect and status.

Some time ago I met Ana Garcia Martins (next to the “pussies guy”, they seem the perfect Portuguese references to document this idea) and told her that I considered fascinating that a personal project like a blog could provide such satisfaction [I suppose there is no need to talk about Scott Schuman or Yvan Rodic]. Not that I think that Ana or others owe something to their blog. I just consider that the blog was the perfect vehicle for them to express a certain talent. Something that wouldn’t happen 10 years ago and that possibly won't make any sense in 10 years time. But until then this is just the way it goes. When someone asks me about the personal satisfaction that a blog can give us I always remember that basic theory. "If the press can't live without the online world, the online world can’t live without the blogs… (can the press live without bloggers?)" Ann-Kristin thinks it can’t