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Category Archives: playfulness
WordPress as Content Directory: Getting Somewhere
{I tend to ramble a bit. If you just want a step-by-step tutorial, you can skip to here.}
I feel like I've reached a milestone in a project I've had in mind, ever since I learnt about Custom Post Types in WordPress 3.0: Using WordPress as a content directory.
The concept may not be so obvious to anyone else, but it's very clear to me. And probably much clearer for anyone who has any level of WordPress skills (I'm still a kind of WP newbie).
Basically, I'd like to set something up through WordPress to make it easy to create, review, and publish entries in content databases. WordPress is now a Content Management System and the type of "content management" I'd like to enable has to do with something of a directory system.
Why WordPress? Almost glad you asked.
These days, several of the projects on which I work revolve around WordPress. By pure coincidence. Or because WordPress is "teh awsum." No idea how representative my sample is. But I got to work on WordPress for (among other things): an academic association, an adult learners' week, an institute for citizenship and social change, and some of my own learning-related projects.
There are people out there arguing about the relative value of WordPress and other Content Management Systems. Sometimes, WordPress may fall short of people's expectations. Sometimes, the pro-WordPress rhetoric is strong enough to sound like fanboism. But the matter goes beyond marketshare, opinions, and preferences.
In my case, WordPress just happens to be a rather central part of my life, these days. To me, it's both a question of WordPress being "the right tool for the job" and the work I end up doing being appropriate for WordPress treatment. More than a simple causality ("I use WordPress because of the projects I do" or "I do these projects because I use WordPress"), it's a complex interaction which involves diverse tools, my skillset, my social networks, and my interests.
Of course, WordPress isn't perfect nor is it ideal for every situation. There are cases in which it might make much more sense to use another tool (Twitter, TikiWiki, Facebook, Moodle, Tumblr, Drupal..). And there are several things I wish WordPress did more elegantly (such as integrating all dimensions in a single tool). But I frequently end up with WordPress.
Here are some things I like about WordPress:
Free Software ethos.
Neat ".org vs .com" model for Open Source blogging software and freemium blogging service.
Broad user and support communities around both the software and the service.
WordCamps are a useful way to deepen knowledge of the software (and, to an extent, the service).
The software is remarkably flexible.
The service has some neat features, both free and paid.
The software is easy to install on just about any webhost.
The service is free in cost and headaches.
Both software and service offer nice learning curves.
This last one is where the choice of WordPress for content directories starts making the most sense. Not only is it easy for me to use and build on WordPress but the learning curves are such that it's easy for me to teach WordPress to others.
A nice example is the post editing interface (same in the software and service). It's powerful, flexible, and robust, but it's also very easy to use. It takes a few minutes to learn and is quite sufficient to do a lot of work.
This is exactly where I'm getting to the core idea for my content directories.
I emailed the following description to the digital content editor for the academic organization for which I want to create such content directories:
You know the post editing interface? What if instead of editing posts, someone could edit other types of contents, like syllabi, calls for papers, and teaching resources? What if fields were pretty much like the form I had created for [a committee]? What if submissions could be made by people with a specific role? What if submissions could then be reviewed by other people, with another role? What if display of these items were standardised?
Not exactly sure how clear my vision was in her head, but it's very clear for me. And it came from different things I've seen about custom post types in WordPress 3.0.
For instance, the following post has been quite inspiring:
Extending Custom Post Types in WordPress 3.0.
I almost had a drift-off moment.
But I wasn't able to wrap my head around all the necessary elements. I perused and read a number of things about custom post types, I tried a few things. But I always got stuck at some point.
Recently, a valuable piece of the puzzle was provided by Kyle Jones (whose blog I follow because of his work on WordPress/BuddyPress in learning, a focus I share).
Setting up a Staff Directory using WordPress Custom Post Types and Plugins | The Corkboard.
As I discussed in the comments to this post, it contained almost everything I needed to make this work. But the two problems Jones mentioned were major hurdles, for me.
After reading that post, though, I decided to investigate further. I eventually got some material which helped me a bit, but it still wasn't sufficient. Until tonight, I kept running into obstacles which made the process quite difficult.
Then, while trying to solve a problem I was having with Jones's code, I stumbled upon the following:
Rock-Solid WordPress 3.0 Themes using Custom Post Types | Blancer.com Tutorials and projects.
This post was useful enough that I created a shortlink for it, so I could have it on my iPad and follow along: http://bit.ly/RockSolidCustomWP
By itself, it might not have been sufficient for me to really understand the whole process. And, following that tutorial, I replaced the first bits of code with use of the neat plugins mentioned by Jones in his own tutorial: More Types, More Taxonomies, and More Fields.
I played with this a few times but I can now provide an actual tutorial. I'm now doing the whole thing "from scratch" and will write down all steps.
This is with the WordPress 3.0 blogging software installed on a Bluehost account. (The WordPress.com blogging service doesn't support custom post types.) I use the default Twenty Ten theme as a parent theme.
Since I use WordPress Multisite, I'm creating a new test blog (in Super Admin->Sites, "Add New"). Of course, this wasn't required, but it helps me make sure the process is reproducible.
Since I already installed the three "More Plugins" (but they're not "network activated") I go in the Plugins menu to activate each of them.
I can now create the new "Product" type, based on that Blancer tutorial. To do so, I go to the "More Types" Settings menu, I click on "Add New Post Type," and I fill in the following information: post type names (singular and plural) and the thumbnail feature. Other options are set by default.
I also set the "Permalink base" in Advanced settings. Not sure it's required but it seems to make sense.
I click on the "Save" button at the bottom of the page (forgot to do this, the last time).
I then go to the "More Fields" settings menu to create a custom box for the post editing interface.
I add the box title and change the "Use with post types" options (no use in having this in posts).
(Didn't forget to click "save," this time!)
I can now add the "Price" field. To do so, I need to click on the "Edit" link next to the "Product Options" box I just created and add click "Add New Field."
I add the "Field title" and "Custom field key":
I set the "Field type" to Number.
I also set the slug for this field.
I then go to the "More Taxonomies" settings menu to add a new product classification.
I click "Add New Taxonomy," and fill in taxonomy names, allow permalinks, add slug, and show tag cloud.
I also specify that this taxonomy is only used for the "Product" type.
(Save!)
Now, the rest is more directly taken from the Blancer tutorial. But instead of copy-paste, I added the files directly to a Twenty Ten child theme. The files are available in this archive.
Here's the style.css code:
Theme Name: Product Directory
Theme URI: http://enkerli.com/
Description: A product directory child theme based on Kyle Jones, Blancer, and Twenty Ten
Author: Alexandre Enkerli
Template: twentyten
@import url("../twentyten/style.css");
The code for functions.php:
 "<input type="\"checkbox\"" />",
"title" => "Product Title",
"description" => "Description",
"price" => "Price",
"catalog" => "Catalog",
return $columns;
function prod_custom_columns($column){
switch ($column)
case "description":
the_excerpt();
case "price":
$custom = get_post_custom();
echo $custom["price"][0];
case "catalog":
echo get_the_term_list($post->ID, 'catalog', '', ', ','');
And the code in single-product.php:

ID);
$price = "$". $custom["price"][0];
<div id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>
">>

 -

Well, almost..
One thing is that I have to activate my new child theme.
So, I go to the "Themes" Super Admin menu and enable the Product Directory theme (this step isn't needed with single-site WordPress).
I then activate the theme in Appearance->Themes (in my case, on the second page).
One thing I've learnt the hard way is that the permalink structure may not work if I don't go and "nudge it." So I go to the "Permalinks" Settings menu:
And I click on "Save Changes" without changing anything. (I know, it's counterintuitive. And it's even possible that it could work without this step. But I spent enough time scratching my head about this one that I find it important.)
Now, I'm done. I can create new product posts by clicking on the "Add New" Products menu.
I can then fill in the product details, using the main WYSIWYG box as a description, the "price" field as a price, the "featured image" as the product image, and a taxonomy as a classification (by clicking "Add new" for any tag I want to add, and choosing a parent for some of them).
Now, in the product management interface (available in Products->Products), I can see the proper columns.
Here's what the product page looks like:
And I've accomplished my mission.
The whole process can be achieved rather quickly, once you know what you're doing. As I've been told (by the ever-so-helpful Justin Tadlock of Theme Hybrid fame, among other things), it's important to get the data down first. While I agree with the statement and its implications, I needed to understand how to build these things from start to finish.
In fact, getting the data right is made relatively easy by my background as an ethnographer with a strong interest in cognitive anthropology, ethnosemantics, folk taxonomies (aka "folksonomies"), ethnography of communication, and ethnoscience. In other words, "getting the data" is part of my expertise.
The more technical aspects, however, were a bit difficult. I understood most of the principles and I could trace several puzzle pieces, but there's a fair deal I didn't know or hadn't done myself. Putting together bits and pieces from diverse tutorials and posts didn't work so well because it wasn't always clear what went where or what had to remain unchanged in the code. I struggled with many details such as the fact that Kyle Jones's code for custom columns wasn't working first because it was incorrectly copied, then because I was using it on a post type which was "officially" based on pages (instead of posts). Having forgotten the part about "touching" the Permalinks settings, I was unable to get a satisfying output using Jones's explanations (the fact that he doesn't use titles didn't really help me, in this specific case). So it was much harder for me to figure out how to do this than it now is for me to build content directories.
I still have some technical issues to face. Some which are near essential, such as a way to create archive templates for custom post types. Other issues have to do with features I'd like my content directories to have, such as clearly defined roles (the "More Plugins" support roles, but I still need to find out how to define them in WordPress). Yet other issues are likely to come up as I start building content directories, install them in specific contexts, teach people how to use them, observe how they're being used and, most importantly, get feedback about their use.
But I'm past a certain point in my self-learning journey. I've built my confidence (an important but often dismissed component of gaining expertise and experience). I found proper resources. I understood what components were minimally necessary or required. I succeeded in implementing the system and testing it. And I've written enough about the whole process that things are even clearer for me.
And, who knows, I may get feedback, questions, or advice..
4 Comments	| tags: Blancer, Child Theme, cognitive anthropology, complexity, content database, content directory, Content Management Systems, Custom Columns, Custom Fields, Custom Post Types, Custom Taxonomies, Drupal, eliciting categories, ethnography of communication, ethnoscience, ethnosemantics, Facebook, free software ethos, freelance work, geek culture, Golden Hammer, Justin Tadlock, Konstantin Kovshenin, Kyle Jones, Metaboxes, Moodle, More Fields, More Taxonomies, More Types, More-Plugins, Super Admin, Swiss smiles, SyntaxHighlighter, Theme Hybrid, TikiWiki, Tumblr, tutorial, Twenty Ten, Twitter, WordPress Multisite, WordPress.org	| posted in Anthropology, applied anthropology, comment-fishing, development, enthusiasm, experience, experimentation, expertise, geekness, informal learning, learn by doing, linguistic anthropology, linkfest, Open Source Movement, participatory culture, playfulness, productivity, qualitative research, ramblings, shameless plug, specialization, technology, training, wishful thinking, wishlists, WordPress, WordPress.com
Actively Reading: Organic Ideas for Startups
Been using Diigo as a way to annotate online texts. In this case, I was as interested in the tone as in the text itself. At the same time, I kept thinking about things which seem to be missing from Diigo.
Organic Startup Ideas
http://www.paulgraham.com/organic.html
One thing I like about this text is its tone. There's an honesty, an ingenuity that I find rare in this type of writing.
startup ideas
The background is important, in terms of the type of ideas about which we're constructing something.
what do you wish someone would make for you?
My own itch has to do with Diigo, actually. There's a lot I wish Diigo would make for me. I may be perceived as an annoyance, but I think my wishlist may lead to something bigger and possibly quite successful.
The difference between this question and the "scratch your own itch" principle seems significant, and this distinction may have some implications in terms of success: we're already talking about others, not just running ideas in our own head.
It's somewhat different from the well-known "scratch your own itch" principle. In this difference might be located something significant. In a way, part of the potential for this version to lead to success comes from the fact that it's already connected with others, instead of being about running ideas in your own mind.
grow organically
The core topic of the piece, put in a comparative context. The comparison isn't the one people tend to make and one may argue about the examples used. But the concept of organic ideas is fascinating and inspiring.
you decide, from afar,
What we call, in anthropology, the "armchair" approach. Also known as "backbenching." For this to work, you need to have a deep knowledge of the situation, which is part of the point in this piece. Nice that it's not demonizing this position but putting it in context.
was the first type
One might argue that it was a hybrid case. Although, it does sound like the very beginnings of Apple weren't about "thinking from afar."
class of users other than you
Since developers are part of a very specific "class" of people, this isn't insignificant a way to phrase this.
They still rely on this principle today, incidentally.
The iPhone is the phone Steve Jobs wants.
Apple tends to be perceived in a different light. According to many people, it's the "textbook example" of a company where decisions are made without concerns for what people need. "Steve Jobs uses a top-down approach," "They don't even use focus groups," "They don't let me use their tools the way I want to use them." But we're not talking about the same distinction between top-down and bottom-up. Though "organic ideas" seem to imply that it's a grassroots/bottom-up phenomenon, the core distinction isn't about the origin of the ideas (from the "top," in both cases) but on the reasoning behind these ideas.
We didn't need this software ourselves.
Sounds partly like a disclaimer but this approach is quite common and "there's nothing wrong with it."
comparatively old
Age and life experience make for an interesting angle. It's not that this strategy needs people of a specific age to work. It's that there's a connection between one's experience and the way things may pan out.
There is no sharp line between the two types of ideas,
Those in the "engineering worldview" might go nuts, at this point. I can hear the claims of "hand waving." But we're talking about something complex, here, not a merely complicated problem.
Apple type
One thing to note in the three examples here: they're all made by pairs of guys. Jobs and Woz, Gates and Allen, Page and Brin. In many cases, the formula might be that one guy (or gal, one wishes) comes up with ideas knowing that the other can implement them. Again, it's about getting somebody else to build it for you, not about scratching your own itch.
Bill Gates was writing something he would use
Again, Gates may not be the most obvious example, since he's mostly known for another approach. It's not inaccurate to say he was solving his own problem, at the time, but it may not be that convincing as an example.
Larry and Sergey when they wrote the first versions of Google.
Although, the inception of the original ideas was academic in context. They weren't solving a search problem or thinking about monetization. They were discovering the power of CitationRank.
generally preferable
Nicely relativistic.
It takes experience
to predict what other people will want.
And possibly a lot more. Interesting that he doesn't mention empirical data.
young founders
They sound like a fascinating group to observe. They do wonders when they open up to others, but they seem to have a tendency to impose their worldviews.
I'd encourage you to focus initially on organic ideas
Now, this advice sounds more like the "scratch your own itch" advocation. But there's a key difference in that it's stated as part of a broader process. It's more of a "walk before you run" or "do your homework" piece of advice, not a "you can't come up with good ideas if you just think about how people will use your tool."
missing or broken
It can cover a lot, but it's couched in terms of the typical "problem-solving" approach at the centre of the engineering worldview. Since we're talking about developing tools, it makes sense. But there could be a broader version, admitting for dreams, inspiration, aspiration. Not necessarily of the "what would make you happy?" kind, although there's a lot to be said about happiness and imagination. You're brainstorming, here.
immediate answers
Which might imply that there's a second step. If you keep asking yourself the same question, you may be able to get a very large number of ideas. The second step could be to prioritize them but I prefer "outlining" as a process: you shuffle things together and you group some ideas to get one which covers several. What's common between your need for a simpler way to code on the Altair and your values? Why do you care so much about algorithms instead of human encoding?
You may need to stand outside yourself a bit to see brokenness
Ah, yes! "Taking a step back," "distancing yourself," "seeing the forest for the trees"… A core dimension of the ethnographic approach and the need for a back-and-forth between "inside" and "outside." There's a reflexive component in this "being an outsider to yourself." It's not only psychological, it's a way to get into the social, which can lead to broader success if it's indeed not just about scratching your own itch.
get used to it and take it for granted
That's enculturation, to you. When you do things a certain way simply because "we've always done them that way," you may not create these organic ideas. But it's a fine way to do your work. Asking yourself important questions about what's wrong with your situation works well in terms of getting new ideas. But, sometimes, you need to get some work done.
a Facebook
Yet another recontextualized example. Zuckerberg wasn't trying to solve that specific brokenness, as far as we know. But Facebook became part of what it is when Zuck began scratching that itch.
organic startup ideas usually don't
seem like startup ideas at first
Which gets us to the pivotal importance of working with others. Per this article, VCs and "angel investors," probably. But, in the case of some of cases cited, those we tend to forget, like Paul Allen, Narendra, and the Winklevosses.
end up making
something of value to a lot of people
Trial and error, it's an iterative process. So you must recognize errors quickly and not invest too much effort in a specific brokenness. Part of this requires maturity.
other people dismiss as a toy
The passage on which Gruber focused and an interesting tidbit. Not that central, come to think of it. But it's important to note that people's dismissive attitude may be misled, that "toys" may hide tools, that it's probably a good idea not to take all feedback to heart…
At this point, when someone comes to us with
something that users like but that we could envision forum trolls
dismissing as a toy, it makes us especially likely to invest.
the best source of organic ones
Especially to investors. Potentially self-serving… in a useful way.
they're at the forefront of technology
That part I would dispute, actually. Unless we talk about a specific subgroup of young founders and a specific set of tools. Young founders tend to be oblivious to a large field in technology, including social tools.
they're in a position to discover
valuable types of fixable brokenness first
The focus on fixable brokenness makes sense if we're thinking exclusively through the engineering worldview, but it's at the centre of some failures like the Google Buzz launch.
you still have to work hard
Of the "inspiration shouldn't make use forget perspiration" kind. Makes for a more thoughtful approach than the frequent "all you need to do…" claims.
I'd encourage anyone
starting a startup to become one of its users, however unnatural it
seems.
Not merely an argument for dogfooding. It's deeper than that. Googloids probably use Google tools but they didn't actually become users. They're beta testers with a strong background in troubleshooting. Not the best way to figure out what users really want or how the tool will ultimately fail.
It's hard to compete directly with open source software
Open Source as competition isn't new as a concept, but it takes time to seep in.
there has to be some part
you can charge for
The breach through which old-school "business models" enter with little attention paid to everything else. To the extent that much of the whole piece might crumble from pressure built up by the "beancounter" worldview. Good thing he acknowledges it.
Leave a comment	| tags: active reading, age, armchair anthropology, backbenching, backseat driving, Bill Gates, bottom-up, brainstorming, business models, citationrank, ConnectU, Diigo, dismissive attitudes, dismissiveness, dogfooding, engineering worldview, financier worldview, fixable brokenness, focus groups, Google, Google Buzz, intellectual honesty, John Gruber, Larry Page, Microsoft, Narendra, organic growth, Outlining, Paul Allen, Paul Graham, scratch your own itch, Sergey Brin, startups, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, top-down, trial and error, VCs, venture capital, Winklevosses, worldviews, young founders	| posted in Actively Reading, advice, Anthropology, Apple, arrogance, blog comments, cluefulness, Clueing, comment-fishing, development strategies, Ethnography, experience, experimentation, expertise, gadgets, geek crowd, geek culture, grassroots, groupthink, hype, innovation, Open Source Movement, open-source, openness, optimism, participatory culture, Placeholders, play, playfulness, predictions, product and process, quickies, responsiveness, shameless plug, social software, sociocentrism, software, sophistication, specialization, Tech, techno enthusiasts, technological determinism, trends, wishful thinking, wishlists
Lissajous curve
Something which happens to me on a rather regular basis (and about which I blogged before) is that I'll hear about something right after thinking about it. For instance, if I think about the fact that a given tool should exist, it may be announced right at that moment.
Hey, I was just thinking about this!
The effect is a bit strange but it's quite easy to explain. It feels like a "premonition," but it probably has more to do with "being in phase." In some cases, it may also be that I heard about that something but hadn't registered the information. I know it happens a lot and it might not be too hard to trace back. But I prefer thinking about phase.
And, yes, I am thinking about phase difference in waves. Not in a very precise sense, but the image still works, for me. Especially with the Lissajous representation, as above.
See, I don't particularly want to be "ahead of the curve" and I don't particularly mind being "behind the curve." But when I'm right "in the curve," something interesting happens. I'm "in the now."
I originally thought about being "in tune" and it could also be about "in sync" or even "matching impedances." But I still like the waves analogy. Especially since, when two waves are in phase, they reinforce one another. As analogies go, it's not only a beautiful one, but a powerful one. And, yes, I do think about my sweetheart.
One reason I like the concept of phase difference is that I think through sound. My first exposure to the concept comes from courses in musical acoustics, almost twenty years ago. It wasn't the main thing I'd remember from the course and it's not something I investigated at any point since. Like I keep telling students, some things hit you long after you've heard about it in a course. Lifelong learning and "landminds" are based on such elements, even tiny unimportant ones. Phase difference is one such thing.
And it's no big deal, of course. It's not like I spent days thinking about these concepts. But I've been feeling like writing, lately, and this is as good an opportunity as any.
The trigger for this particular thing is rather silly and is probably explained more accurately, come to think of it, by "unconsciously registering" something before consciously registering it.
Was having breakfast and started thinking about the importance of being environmentally responsible, the paradox of "consumption as freedom," the consequences of some lifestyle choices including carfree living, etc. This stream of thought led me, not unexpectedly, to the perspectives on climate change, people's perception of scientific evidence, and the so-called ClimateGate. I care a lot about critical thinking, regardless of whether or not I agree with a certain idea, so I think the email controversy shows the importance of transparency. So far, nothing unexpected. Within a couple of minutes, I had covered a few of the subjects du jour. And that's what struck me, because right then, I (over)heard a radio host introduce a guest whose talk is titled:
What is the role of climate scientists in the climate change debate?
Obviously, Tremblay addressed ClimateGate quite directly. So my thoughts were "in phase" with Tremblay's.
A few minutes prior to (over)hearing this introduction, I (over)heard a comment about topics of social conversations at different points in recent history. According to screenwriter Fabienne Larouche, issues covered in the first seasons of her "flagship" tv series are still at the forefront in Quebec society today, fourteen years later. So I was probably even more "in tune" with the notion of being "in phase." Especially with my society.
I said "(over)heard" because I wasn't really listening to that radio show. It was just playing in the background and I wasn't paying much attention. I don't tend to listen to live radio but I do listen to some radio recordings as podcasts. One reason I like doing so is that I can pay much closer attention to what I hear. Another is that I can listen to what I want when I feel like listen to it, which means that I can prepare myself for a heady topic or choose some tech-fluff to wind down after a course. There's also the serendipity of listening to very disparate programmes in the same listening session, as if I were "turning the dial" after each show on a worldwide radio (I often switch between French and English and/or between European and North American sources). For a while now, I've been listening to podcasts at double-speed, which helps me focus on what's most significant.
(In Jazz, we talk about "top notes," meaning the ones which are more prominent. It's easier to focus on them at double-speed than at normal speed so "double-times" have an interesting cognitive effect.)
So, I felt "in phase." As mentioned, it probably has much more to do with having passively heard things without paying attention yet letting it "seep into my brain" to create connections between a few subjects which get me to the same point as what comes later. A large part of this is well-known in psychology, especially in terms of cognition. We start noticing things when they enter into a schema we have in our mind. These things we start noticing were there all along so the "discovery" is only in our mind (in the sense that it wouldn't be a discovery for others). When we learn a new word, for instance, we start hearing it everywhere.
But there are also words which start being used by everyone because they have been diffused largely at a given point in time. An actual neologism can travel quickly and a word in our passive vocabulary can also come to prominence, especially in mainstream media. Clearly, this is an issue of interest to psychologists, folklorists, and media analysts alike. I'm enough of a folklorist and media observer to think about the social processes behind the diffusion of terms regardless of what psychologists think.
A few months back, I got the impression that the word "nimble" had suddenly increased in currency after it was used in a speech by the current PotUS. Since I'm a non-native speaker of English, I'm likely to be accused of noticing the word because it's part my own passive vocabulary. I have examples in French, though some are with words which were new to me, at the time («peoplisation», «battante»…). I probably won't be able to defend myself from those who say that it's just a matter of my own exposure to those terms. Though there are ways to analyze the currency of a given term, I'm not sure I trust this type of analysis a lot more than my gut feeling, at least in terms of realtime trends.
Which makes me think of "memetics." Not in the strict sense that Dawkins would like us to use. But in the way popular culture cares about the propagation of "units of thought." I recently read a fascinating blogpost (in French) about memetics from this perspective, playing Dawkins against himself. As coincidences keep happening (or, more accurately, as I'm accutely tuned to find coincidences everywhere), I've been having a discussion about Mahir's personal homepage (aka "I kiss you"), who became an "Internet celebrity" through this process which is now called memetic. The reason his page was noticed isn't that it was so unique. But it had this je ne sais quoi which captured the imagination, at the time (the latter part of the "Dot-Com Bubble"). As some literary critics and many other humanists teach us, it's not the item itself which counts, it's how we receive it (yes, I tend to be on the "reception" and "eye of the beholder" side of things). Mahir was striking because he was, indeed, "out of phase" with the times.
As I think about phase, I keep hearing the other acoustic analogy: the tuning of sine waves. When a sine wave is very slightly "out of tune" with another, we hear a very slow oscillation (interference beats) until they produce resonance. There's a direct relationship between beat tones and phase, but I think "in tune" and "in phase" remain separate analogies.
One reason I like to think about waves for these analogies is that I tend to perceive temporal change through these concepts. If we think of historical change through cycles, being "in phase" is a matter of matching two change processes until they're aligned but the cycles may be in harmonic relationships. One can move twice as fast as society and still be "in phase" with it.
Sure, I'm overextending the analogies, and there's something far-fetched about this. But that's pretty much what I like about analogical thinking. As I'm under the weather, this kind of rambling is almost therapeutic.
Leave a comment	| tags: acoustics, art, attention, écriture automatique, belaboured analogies, Bruno Tremblay, Christiane Charette, ClimateGate, cognition, crazy, crazy analogies, creative non-fiction, creative writing, diffusion, draft æsthetics, drafts, esthesic, folkloristics, Humanities, in phase, in tune, literary critics, Mahir Çağrı, memetics, meta, Musical acoustics, noticing, overhearing, passive vocabulary, premoniitons, propagation, psychology, Québec, radio, reception theory, schemas, stream of consciousness, stream of thought, word frequency, word usage	| posted in audio, Blogging, cluefulness, comment-fishing, creativity, experience, fun, grassroots, groupthink, hedonism, hegemony, humanism, innovation, journalism, language, linkfest, localization, media, mediascape, memes, memory, metaphors, mindshare, musings, naïve, naïveté, personal, play, playfulness, pleasure, podcasting, ramblings, shameless plug, social change, social dynamics, sound, trends, writing, writing style
Landing On His Feet: Nicolas Chourot
Listening to Nicolas Chourot's début album: First Landing (available on iTunes). Now, here's someone who found his voice.
A few years ago, Nicolas Chourot played with us as part of Madou Diarra & Dakan, a group playing music created for Mali's hunters' associations.
Before Chourot joined us, I had been a member of Dakan for several years and my perspective on the group's music was rather specific. As an ethnomusicologist working on the original context for hunters' music, I frequently tried to maintain the connection with what makes Malian hunters so interesting, including a certain sense of continuity through widespread changes.
When Nicolas came up with his rather impressive equipment, I began to wonder how it would all fit. A very open-minded, respectful, and personable musician, Nicolas was able to both transform Dakan's music from within and adapt his playing to a rather distant performance style. Not an easy task for any musician and Nicolas sure was to be commended for such a success.
After a while, Chourot and Dakan's Madou Diarra parted ways. Still, Nicolas remained a member of the same informal music network as several people who had been in Dakan, including several of my good friends. And though I haven't seen Nicolas in quite a while, he remains in my mind as someone whose playing and attitude toward music I enjoy.
Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the launch of Nicolas's launch/show, on August 29. What's strange is that it took me until today to finally buy Nicolas's album. Not exactly sure why. Guess my mind was elsewhere. For months.
Ah, well… Désolé Nicolas!
But I did finally get the album. And I'm really glad I did!
When I first heard Nicolas's playing, I couldn't help but think about Michel Cusson. I guess it was partly because both have been fusing Jazz and "World" versions of the electric guitar. But there was something else in Nicolas's playing that I readily associated with Cusson. Never analyzed it. Nor am I planning to analyze it at any point. Despite my music school background and ethnomusicological training, I've rarely been one for formal analysis. But there's something intriguing, there, as a connection. It's not "imitation as sincerest form of flattery": Chourot wasn't copying Cusson. But it seemed like both were "drinking from the same spring," so to speak.
In First Landing, this interpretation comes back to my mind.
See, not only does Chourot's playing still have some Cussonisms, but I hear other voices connected to Cusson's. Including that of Cusson's former bandmate Alain Caron And even Uzeb itself, the almost mythical band which brought Caron and Cusson together.
For a while, in the 1980s, Uzeb dominated a large part of Quebec's local Jazz market. At the time, other Jazz players were struggling to get some recognition. As they do now. To an extent, Uzeb was a unique phenomenon in Quebec's musical history since, despite their diversity and the quality of their work, Quebec's Jazz musicians haven't become mainstream again. Which might be a good thing but bears some reflection. What was so special about Uzeb? Why did it disappear? Can't other Jazz acts fill the space left by Uzeb, after all these years?
I don't think it's what Nicolas is trying to do. But if he were, First Landing would be the way to go at it. It doesn't "have all the ingredients." That wouldn't work. But, at the risk of sounding like an old cub scout, it has "the Uzeb spirit."
Which brings me to other things I hear. Other bands with distinct, if indirect, Uzebian connections.
One is Jazzorange, which was a significant part of Lausanne's Jazz scene when I was living there.My good friend Vincent Jaton introduced to Jazzorange in 1994 and Uzeb's alumni Caron and Cusson were definitely on my mind at the time.
Vincent, musician and producer extraordinaire, introduced me to a number of musicians and I owe him a huge debt for helping me along a path to musical (self-)discovery. Vincent's own playing also shares a few things with what I hear in First Landing, but the connection with Jazzorange is more obvious, to me.
Another band I hear in connection to Chourot's playing is Sixun. That French band, now 25 years old, is probably among the longest-lasting acts in this category of Jazz. Some Jazz ensembles are older (including one of my favourites, Oregon). But Sixun is a key example of what some people call "Jazz Fusion."
Which is a term I avoided, as I mentioned diverse musicians. Not because I personally dislike the term. It's as imprecise as any other term describing a "musical genre" (and as misleading as some of my pet peeves). But I'm not against its use, especially since there is a significant degree of agreement about several of the musicians I mention being classified (at least originally) as "Fusion." Problem is, the term has also been associated with an attitude toward music which isn't that conducive to thoughtful discussion. In some ways, "Fusion" is used for dismissal more than as a way to discuss musical similarities.
Still, there are musical features that I appreciate in a number of Jazz Fusion performances, some of which are found in some combination through the playing of several of the musicians I'm mentioning here.
Some things like the interactions between the bass and other instruments, some lyrical basslines, the fact that melodic lines may be doubled by the bass… Basically, much of it has to do with the bass. And, in Jazz, the bass is often key. As Darcey Leigh said to Dale Turner (Lonette McKee and Dexter Gordon's characters in 'Round Midnight):
You're the one who taught me to listen to the bass instead of the drums
Actually, there might be a key point about the way yours truly listens to bass players. Even though I'm something of a "frustrated bassist" (but happy saxophonist), I probably have a limited understanding of bass playing. To me, there's a large variety of styles of bass playing, of course, but several players seem to sound a bit like one another. It's not really a full classification that I have in my mind but I can't help but hear similarities between bass performers. Like clusters.
Sometimes, these links may go outside of the music domain, strictly speaking. For instance, three of my favourite bassists are from Cameroon: Guy Langue, Richard Bona, and Étienne Mbappe. Not that I heard these musicians together: I noticed Mbappe as a member of ONJ in 1989, I first heard Bona as part of the Zawinul syndicate in 1997, and I've been playing with Langue for a number of years (mostly with Madou Diarra & Dakan). Further, as I'm discovering British/Nigerian bass player Michael Olatuja, I get to extend what I hear as the Cameroonian connection to parts of West African music that I know a bit more about. Of course, I might be imagining things. But my imagination goes in certain directions.
Something similar happens to me with "Fusion" players. Alain Caron is known for his fretless bass sound and virtuosic playing, but it's not really about that, I don't think. It's something about the way the bass is embedded in the rest of the band, with something of a Jazz/Rock element but also more connected to lyricism, complex melodic lines, and relatively "clean" playing. The last one may relate, somehow, to the Fusion stereotype of coldness and machine-like precision. But my broad impression of what I might call "Fusion bass" actually involves quite a bit of warmth. And humanness.
Going back to Chourot and other "Jazz Fusion" acts I've been thinking about, it's quite possible that Gilles Deslauriers (who plays bass on Chourot's First Landing) is the one who reminds me of other Fusion acts. No idea if Bob Laredo (Jazzorange), Michel Alibo (Sixun), Alain Caron (Uzeb), and Gilles Deslauriers really all have something in common. But my own subjective assessment of bass playing connects them in a special way.
The most important point, to me, is that even if this connection is idiosyncratic, it still helps me enjoy First Landing.
Nicolas Chourot and his friends from that album (including Gilles Deslauriers) are playing at O Patro Výš, next Saturday (January 23, 2010).
2 Comments	| tags: "World Music", 'Round Midnight, Alain Caron, Étienne Mbappe, bass players, Bob Laredo, Cameroonian bassists, Dale Turner, Darcey Leigh, Dexter Gordon, First Landing, frustrated bassist, fusion, genre labels, Gilles Deslauriers, Guy Langué, idiosyncrasies, Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Jazzorange, Lausanne, Lonette McKee, Madou Diarra, Madou Diarra & Dakan, Mali, Michael Olatuja, Michel Alibo, Michel Cusson, musical networks, musical scenes, Nicolas Chourot, Nigeria, O Patro Výš, ONJ, Quebec Jazz, Richard Bona, Sixun, Somi, Uzeb, Vincent Jaton, West Africa, Zawinul Syndicate	| posted in aesthetics, Africa, confessions, ethnocentrism, ethnomusicology, Francophonie, friends, friendship, local, Montreal, music, music scenes, musings, naïve, naïveté, networking, nostalgia, People, performance, personal, Places, play, playfulness, pleasure, professionals, ramblings, respect, reviews, sampling, satisfaction, saxophone, shameless plug, social networks, specialists, stereotypes, Switzerland, taste, tributes, voice
War of the Bugs: Playing with Life in the Brewery
Kept brewing and thinking about brewing, after that last post. Been meaning to discuss my approach to "brewing bugs": the yeast and bacteria strains which are involved in some of my beers. So, it's a kind of follow-up.
Perhaps more than a reason for me to brew, getting to have fun with these living organisms is something of an achievement. It took a while before it started paying off, but it now does.
Now, I'm no biochemist. In fact, I'm fairly far to "wet sciences" in general. What I do with these organisms is based on a very limited understanding of what goes on during fermentation. But as long as I'm having fun, that should be ok.
This blogpost is about yeast in brewing. My focus is on homebrewing but many things also apply to craft brewing or even to macrobreweries.
There's supposed to be a saying that "brewers make wort, yeast makes beer." Whether or not it's an actual saying, it's quite accurate.
"Wort" is unfermented beer. It's a liquid containing fermentable sugars and all sorts of other compounds which will make their way into the final beer after the yeast has had its fun in it. It's a sweet liquid which tastes pretty much like Malta (e.g. Vitamalt).
Yeast is a single-cell organism which can do a number of neat things including the fine act of converting simple sugars into alcohol and CO2. Yeast cells also do a number of other neat (and not so neat) things with the wort, including the creation of a large array of flavour compounds which can radically change the character of the beer. Among the four main ingredients in beer (water, grain, hops, and yeast), I'd say that yeast often makes the largest contribution to the finished beer's flavour and aroma profile.
The importance of yeast in brewing has been acknowledged to different degrees in history. The well-known Reinheitsgebot "purity law" of 1516, which specifies permissible ingredients in beer, made no mention of yeast. As the story goes, it took Pasteur (and probably others) to discover the role of yeast in brewing. After this "discovery," Pasteur and others have been active at isolating diverse yeast strains to be used in brewing. Before that time, it seems that yeast was just occurring naturally in the brewing process.
As may be apparent in my tone, I'm somewhat skeptical of the "discovery" narrative. Yeast may not have been understood very clearly before Pasteur came on the scene, but there's some evidence showing that yeast's contribution to brewing had been known in different places at previous points in history. It also seems likely that multiple people had the same basic insight as LP did but may not have had the evidence to support this insight. This narrative is part of the (home)brewing "shared knowledge."
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
There's a lot to be said about yeast biochemistry. In fact, the most casual of brewers who spends any significant amount of time with online brewing resources has some understanding, albeit fragmentary, of diverse dimensions of biochemistry through the action of yeast. But this blogpost isn't about yeast biochemistry.
I'm no expert and biochemistry is a field for experts. What tends to interest me more than the hard science on yeast is the kind of "folk science" brewers create around yeast. Even the most scientific of brewers occasionally talks about yeast in a way which sounds more like folk beliefs than like hard science. In ethnographic disciplines, there's a field of "ethnoscience" which deals with this kind of "folk knowledge." My characterization of "folk yeast science" will probably sound overly simplistic and I'm not saying that it accurately represents a common approach to yeast among brewers. It's more in line with the tone of Horace Miner's classic text about the Nacirema than with anything else. A caricature, maybe, but one which can provide some insight.
In this case, because it's a post on my personal blog, it probably provides more insight about yours truly than about anybody else. So be it.
I'm probably more naïve than most. Or, at least, I try to maintain a sense of wonder, as I play with yeast. I've done just enough reading about biochemistry to be dangerous. Again, "the brewery is an adult's chemistry set."
A broad distinction in the brewer's approach to yeast is between "pure" and "wild" yeast. Pure yeast usually comes to the brewer from a manufacturer but it originated in a well-known brewery. Wild yeast comes from the environment and should be avoided at all costs. Wild yeast infects and spoils the wort. Pure yeast is a brewer's best friend as it's the one which transforms sweet wort into tasty, alcoholic beer. Brewers do everything to "keep the yeast happy." Though yeast happiness sounds like exaggeration on my part, this kind of anthropomorphic concept is clearly visible in discussions among brewers. (Certainly, "yeast health" is a common concept. It's not anthropomorphic by itself, but it takes part in the brewer's approach to yeast as life.) Wild yeast is the reason brewers use sanitizing agents. Pure yeast is carefully handled, preserved, "cultured." In this context, "wild yeast" is unwanted yeast. "Pure yeast" is the desirable portion of microflora.
It wouldn't be too much of an exaggeration to say that many brewers are obsessed with the careful handling of pure yeast and the complete avoidance of wild yeast. The homebrewer's motto, following Charlie Papazian, may be "Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew," when brewers do worry, they often worry about keeping their yeast as pure as possible or keeping their wort as devoid of wild yeast as possible.
In the context of brewers' folk taxonomy, wild yeast is functionally a "pest," its impact is largely seen as negative. Pure yeast is beneficial. Terms like "bugs" or "beasties" are applied to both but, with wild yeast, their connotations and associations are negative ("nasty bugs") while the terms are applied to pure yeast in a more playful, almost endeared tone. "Yeasties" is almost a pet name for pure yeast.
I've mentioned "folk taxonomy." Here, I'm mostly thinking about cognitive anthropology. Taxonomies have been the hallmark of cognitive anthropology, as they reveal a lot about the ways people conceive of diverse parts of reality and are relatively easy to study. Eliciting categories in a folk taxonomy is a relatively simple exercise which can even lead to other interesting things in terms of ethnographic research (including, for instance, establishing rapport with local experts or providing a useful basis to understanding subtleties in the local language). I use terms like "folk" and "local" in a rather vague way. The distinction is often with "Western" or even "scientific." Given the fact that brewing in North America has some strong underpinnings in science, it's quite fun to think about North American homebrewers through a model which involves an opposition to "Western/scientific." Brewers, including a large proportion of homebrewers, tend to be almost stereotypically Western and to work through (and sometimes labour under) an almost-reductionist scientific mindframe. In other words, my talking about "folk taxonomy" is almost a way to tease brewers. But it also relates to my academic interest in cultural diversity, language, worldviews, and humanism.
"Folk taxonomies" can be somewhat fluid but the concept applies mostly to classification systems which are tree-like, with "branches" coming of broader categories. The term "folksonomy" has some currency, these days, to refer to a classification structure which has some relation to folk taxonomy but which doesn't tend to work through a very clear arborescence. In many contexts, "folksonomy" simply means "tagging," with the notion that it's a free-form classification, not amenable to treatment in the usual "hierarchical database" format. Examples of folksonomies often have to do with the way people classify books or other sources of information. A folksonomy is then the opposite of the classification system used in libraries or in Web directories such as the original Yahoo! site. Tags assigned to this blogpost ("Tagged: Belgian artist…") are part of my own folksonomy for blogposts. Categories on WordPress blogs such as this ones are supposed to create more of a (folk) taxonomy. For several reasons (including the fact that tags weren't originally available to me for this blog), I tend to use categories as more of a folksonomy, but with a bit more structure. Categories are more stable than tags. For a while, now, I've refrained from adding new categories (to my already overly-long list). But I do add lots of new tags.
Going back to brewers' folk taxonomy of yeast strains…
Technically, if I'm not mistaken, the term "pure" should probably refer to the yeast culture, not to the yeast itself. But the overall concept does seem to apply to types of yeast, even if other terms are used. The terms "wild" and "pure" aren't inappropriate. "Wild" yeast is undomesticated. "Pure" yeast strains were those strains which were selected from wild yeast strains and were isolated in laboratories.
Typically, pure yeast strains come from one of two species of the genus Saccharomyces. One species includes the "top-fermenting" yeast strains used in ales while the other species includes the "bottom-fermenting" yeast strains used in lagers. The distinction between ale and lager is relatively recent, in terms of brewing history, but it's one which is well-known among brewers. The "ale" species is called cerevisiae (with all sorts of common misspellings) and the "lager" species has been called different names through history, to the extent that the most appropriate name (pastorianus) seems to be the object of specialized, not of common knowledge.
"Wild yeast" can be any yeast strain. In fact, the two species of pure yeast used in brewing exist as wild yeast and brewers' "folk classification" of microorganisms often lumps bacteria in the "wild yeast" category. The distinction between bacteria and yeast appears relatively unimportant in relation to brewing.
As can be expected from my emphasis on "typically," above, not all pure yeast strains belong to the "ale" and "lager" species. And as is often the case in research, the exceptions are where things get interesting.
One category of yeast which is indeed pure but which doesn't belong to one of the two species is wine yeast. While brewers do occasionally use strains of wild yeast when making other beverages besides beer, wine yeast strains mostly don't appear on the beer brewer's radar as being important or interesting. Unlike wild yeast, it shouldn't be avoided at all costs. Unlike pure yeast, it shouldn't be cherished. In this sense, it could almost serve as «degré zéro» or "null" in the brewer's yeast taxonomy.
Then, there are yeast strains which are usually considered in a negative way but which are treated as pure strains. I'm mostly thinking about two of the main species in the Brettanomyces genus, commonly referred to as "Brett." These are winemakers' pests, especially in the case of oak aging. Oak casks are expensive and they can be ruined by Brett infections. In beer, while Brett strains are usually classified as wild yeast, some breweries have been using Brett in fermentation to effects which are considered by some people to be rather positive while others find these flavours and aromas quite displeasing. It's part of the brewing discourse to use "barnyard" and "horse blanket" as descriptors for some of the aroma and flavour characteristics given by Brett.
Brewers who consciously involve Brett in the fermentation process are rather uncommon. There are a few breweries in Belgium which make use of Brett, mostly in lambic beers which are fermented "spontaneously" (without the use of controlled innoculation). And there's a (slightly) growing trend among North American home- and craft brewers toward using Brett and other bugs in brewing.
Because of these North American brewers, Brett strains are now available commercially, as "pure" strains.
Which makes for something quite interesting. Brett is now part of the "pure yeast" category, at least for some brewers. They then use Brett as they would other pure strains, taking precautions to make sure it's not contaminated. At the same time, Brett is often used in conjunction with other yeast strains and, contrary to the large majority of beer fermentation methods, what brewers use is a complex yeast culture which includes both Saccharomyces and Brett. It may not seem that significant but it brings fermentation out of the strict "mono-yeast" model. Talking about "miscegenation" in social terms would be abusive. But it's interesting to notice which brewers use Brett in this way. In some sense, it's an attitude which has dimensions from both the "Belgian Artist" and "German Engineer" poles in my brewing attitude continuum.
Other brewers use Brett in a more carefree way. Since Brett-brewing is based on a complex culture, one can go all the way and mix other bugs. Because Brett has been mostly associated with lambic brewing, since the onset of "pure yeast" brewing, the complex cultures used in lambic breweries serve as the main model. In those breweries, little control can be applied to the balance between yeast strains and the concept of "pure yeast" seems quite foreign. I've never visited a lambic brewery (worse yet, I've yet to set foot in Belgium), but I get to hear and read a lot about lambic brewing. My perception might be inaccurate, but it also reflects "common knowledge" among North American brewers.
As you might guess, by now, I take part in the trend to brew carefreely. Even carelessly. Which makes me more of a MadMan than the majority of brewers.
Among both winemakers and beer brewers, Brett has the reputation to be "resilient." Once Brett takes hold of your winery or brewery, it's hard to get rid of it. Common knowledge about Brett includes different things about its behaviour in the fermentation process (it eats some sugars that Saccharomyces doesn't, it takes a while to do its work…). But Brett also has a kind of "character," in an almost-psychological sense.
Which reminds me of a comment by a pro brewer about a well-known strain of lager yeast being "wimpy," especially in comparison with some well-known British ale yeast strains such as Ringwood. To do their work properly, lager strains tend to require more care than ale strains, for several reasons. Ringwood and some other strains are fast fermenters and tend to "take over," leaving little room for other bugs.
Come to think of it, I should try brewing with a blend of Ringwood and Brett. It'd be interesting to see "who wins."
Which brings me to "war."
Now, I'm as much of a pacifist as one can be. Not only do I not tend to be bellicose and do I cherish peace, I frequently try to avoid conflict and I even believe that there's a peaceful resolution to most situations.
Yet, one thing I enjoy about brewing is to play with conflicting yeast strains. Pitting one strain against another is my way to "wage wars." And it's not very violent.
I also tend to enjoy some games which involve a bit of conflict, including Diplomacy and Civilization. But I tend to play these games as peacefully as possible. Even Spymaster, which rapidly became focused on aggressions, I've been playing as a peace-loving, happy-go-lucky character.
But, in the brewery, I kinda like the fact that yeast cells from different strains are "fighting" one another. I don't picture yeast cells like warriors (with tiny helmets), but I do have fun imagining the "Battle of the Yeast."
Of course, this has more to do with competition than with conflict. But both are related, in my mind. I'm also not that much into competition and I don't like to pit people against one another, even in friendly competition. But this is darwinian competition. True "survival of the fittest," with everything which is implied in terms of being contextually appropriate.
So I'm playing with life, in my brewery. I'm not acting as a Creator over the yeast population, but there's something about letting yeast cells "having at it" while exercising some level of control that could be compared to some spiritual figures.
Thinking about this also makes me think about the Life game. There are some similarities between what goes on in my wort and what Conway's game implies. But there are also several differences, including the type of control which can be applied in either case and the fact that the interaction between yeast cells is difficult to visualize. Not to mention that yeast cells are actual, living organisms while the cellular automaton is pure simulation.
The fun I have playing with yeast cells is part of the reason I like to use Brett in my beers. The main reason, though, is that I like the taste of Brett in beer. In fact, I even like it in wine, by transfer from my taste for Brett in beer.
And then, there's carefree brewing.
As I described above, brewers are very careful to avoid wild yeast and other unwanted bugs in their beers. Sanitizing agents are an important part of the brewer's arsenal. Which goes well with the "German engineer" dimension of brewing. There's an extreme position in brewing, even in homebrewing. The "full-sanitization brewery." Apart from pure yeast, nothing should live in the wort. Actually, nothing else should live in the brewery. If it weren't for the need to use yeast in the fermentation process, brewing could be done in a completely sterile environment. The reference for this type of brewery is the "wet science" lab. As much as possible, wort shouldn't come in contact with air (oxidization is another reason behind this; the obsession with bugs and the distaste for oxidization often go together). It's all about control.
There's an obvious reason behind this. Wort is exactly the kind of thing wild yeast and other bugs really like. Apparently, slants used to culture microorganisms in labs may contain a malt-based gelatin which is fairly similar to wort. I don't think it contains hops, but hops are an agent of preservation and could have a positive effect in such a slant.
I keep talking about "wild yeast and other bugs" and I mentioned that, in the brewer's folk taxonomy, bacteria are equivalent to wild yeast. The distinction between yeast and bacteria matters much less in the brewery than in relation to life sciences. In the conceptual system behind brewing, bacteria is functionally equivalent to wild yeast.
Fear of bacteria and microbes is widespread, in North America. Obviously, there are many excellent medical reasons to fear a number of microorganisms. Bacteria can in fact be deadly, in the right context. Not that the mere presence of bacteria is directly linked with human death. But there's a clear association, in a number of North American minds, between bacteria and disease.
As a North American, despite my European background, I tended to perceive bacteria in a very negative way. Even today, I react "viscerally" at the mention of bacteria. Though I know that bacteria may in fact be beneficial to human health and that the human body contains a large number of bacterial cells, I have this kind of ingrained fear of bacteria. I love cheese and yogurt, including those which are made with very complex bacterial culture. But even the mere mention of bacteria in this context requires that I think about the distinction between beneficial and dangerous bacteria. In other words, I can admit that I have an irrational fear of bacteria. I can go beyond it, but my conception of microflora is skewed.
For two years in Indiana, I was living with a doctoral student in biochemistry. Though we haven't spent that much time talking about microorganisms, I was probably influenced by his attitude toward sanitization. What's funny, though, is that our house wasn't among the cleanest in which I've lived. In terms of "sanitary conditions," I've had much better and a bit worse. (I've lived in a house where we received an eviction notice from the county based on safety hazards in that place. Lots of problems with flooding, mould, etc.)
Like most other North American brewers, I used to obsess about sanitization, at every step in the process. I was doing an average job at sanitization and didn't seem to get any obvious infection. I did get "gushers" (beers which gush out of the bottle when I open it) and a few "bottle bombs" (beer bottles which actually explode). But there were other explanations behind those occurrences than contamination.
The practise of sanitizing everything in the brewery had some significance in other parts of my life. For instance, I tend to think about dishes and dishwashing in a way which has more to do with caution over potential contamination than with dishes appearing clean and/or shiny. I also think about what should be put in the refrigerator and what can be left out, based on my limited understanding of biochemistry. And I think about food safety in a specific way.
In the brewery, however, I moved more and more toward another approach to microflora. Again, a more carefree approach to brewing. And I'm getting results that I enjoy while having a lot of fun. This approach is also based on my pseudo-biochemistry.
One thing is that, in brewing, we usually boil the wort for an hour or more before inoculation with pure yeast. As boiling kills most bugs, there's something to be said about sanitization being mostly need for equipment which touches the wort after the boil. Part of the equipment is sanitized during the boiling process and what bugs other pieces of equipment may transfer to the wort before boiling are unlikely to have negative effects on the finished beer. With this idea in mind, I became increasingly careless with some pieces of my brewing equipment. Starting with the immersion chiller and kettle, going all the way to the mashtun.
Then, there's the fact that I use wild yeast in some fermentations. In both brewing and baking, actually. Though my results with completely "wild" fermentations have been mixed to unsatisfactory, some of my results with "partially-wild" fermentations have been quite good.
Common knowledge among brewers is that "no known pathogen can survive in beer." From a food safety standpoint, beer is "safe" for four main reasons: boiling, alcohol, low pH, and hops. At least, that's what is shared among brewers, with narratives about diverse historical figures who saved whole populations through beer, making water sanitary. Depending on people's attitudes toward alcohol, these stories about beer may have different connotations. But it does seem historically accurate to say that beer played an important part in making water drinkable.
So, even wild fermentation is considered safe. People may still get anxious but, apart from off-flavours, the notion is that contaminated beer can do no more harm than other beers.
The most harmful products of fermentation about which brewers may talk are fusel alcohols. These, brewers say, may cause headaches if you get too much of them. Fusels can cause some unwanted consequences, but they're not living organisms and won't spread as a disease. In brewer common knowledge, "fusels" mostly have to do with beers with high degrees of alcohol which have been fermented at a high temperature. My personal sense is that fusels aren't more likely to occur in wild fermentation than with pure fermentation, especially given the fact that most wild fermentation happens with beer with a low degree of alcohol.
Most of the "risks" associated with wild fermentation have to do with flavours and aromas which may be displeasing. Many of these have to do with souring, as some bugs transform different compounds (alcohol especially, if I'm not mistaken) into different types of acids. While Brett and other strains of wild yeast can cause some souring, the acids in questions mostly have to do with bacteria. For instance, lactobacillus creates lactic acid, acetobacter creates acetic acid, etc.
Not only do I like that flavour and aroma characteristics associated with some wild yeast strains (Brett, especially), I also like sour beers. It may sound strange given the fact that I suffer from GERD. But I don't overindulge in sour beers. I rarely drink large quantities of beer and sour beers would be the last thing I'd drink large quantities of. Besides, there's a lot to be said about balance in pH. I may be off but I get the impression that there are times in which sour things are either beneficial to me or at least harmless. Part of brewer common knowledge in fact has a whole thing about alkalinity and pH. I'm not exactly clear on how it affects my body based on ingestion of diverse substances, but I'm probably affected by my background as a homebrewer.
Despite my taste for sour beers, I don't necessarily have the same reaction to all souring agents. For instance, I have a fairly clear threshold in terms of acetic acid in beer. I enjoy it when a sour beer has some acetic character. But I prefer to limit the "aceticness" of my beers. Two batches I've fermented with wild bugs were way too acetic for me and I'm now concerned that other beers may develop the same character. In fact, if there's a way to prevent acetobacter from getting in my wort while still getting the other bugs working, I could be even more carefree as a brewer than I currently am.
Which is a fair deal. These days, I really am brewing carefreely. Partly because of my "discovery" of lactobacillus.
As brewer common knowledge has it, lactobacillus is just about everywhere. It's certainly found on grain and it's present in human saliva. It's involved in some dairy fermentation and it's probably the main source of bacterial fear among dairy farmers.
Apart from lambic beers (which all come from a specific region in Belgium), the main sour beer that is part of brewer knowledge is Berliner Weisse. Though I have little data on how Berliner Weisse is fermented, I've known for a while that some people create a beer akin to Berliner Weisse through what brewers call a "sour mash" (and which may or may not be related to sour mash in American whiskey production). After thinking about it for years, I've done my first sour mash last year. I wasn't very careful in doing it but I got satisfying results. One advantage of the sour mash is that it happens before boiling, which means that the production of acid can be controlled, to a certain degree. While I did boil my wort coming from sour mash, it's clear that I still had some lactobacillus in my fermenters. It's possible that my boil (which was much shorter than the usual) wasn't enough to kill all the bugs. But, come to think of it, I may have been a bit careless with sanitization of some pieces of equipment which had touched the sour wort before boiling. Whatever the cause, I ended up with some souring bugs in my fermentation. And these worked really well for what I wanted. So much so that I've consciously reused that culture in some of my most recent brewing experiments.
So, in my case, lactobacillus is in the "desirable" category of yeast taxonomy. With Brett and diverse Saccharomyces strains, lactobacillus is part of my fermentation apparatus.
As a mad brewer, I can use what I want to use. I may not create life, but I create beer out of this increasingly complex microflora which has been taking over my brewery.
And I'm a happy brewer.
Leave a comment	| tags: bacteria, bacterial culture, Belgian Artist, Berliner Weisse, Brettanomyces, carefree brewing, categories, cognitive anthropology, cultural diversity, darwinism, ethnoscience, folk knowledge, folk taxonomy, folksonomies, folksonomy, German Engineer, lactobacillus, lambic brewing, pure yeast, pure yeast culture, sanitization, scientific mindframe, scientificity, stereotypes, tags, White Labs, wild yeast, Wyeast, yeast, yeast culture	| posted in A, adaptation, Alcohol, amateurs, Beer, beer diversity, beer history, brewing, comment-fishing, confessions, craft beer, craft beer culture, creation, creativity, cultural diversity, cultural identity, culture, diversity, enthusiasm, Ethnography, experience, experimentation, expertise, folkloristics, food and culture, food philosophy, freedom, geek culture, hedonism, homebrewing, humanism, humour, identity, informal learning, informality, innovation, interdisciplinarity, knowledge, knowledge management, knowledge people, language sciences, learn by doing, librarians, linguistic anthropology, musings, naïve, naïveté, personal, personal life, play, playfulness, pleasure, product and process, ramblings, responsible drinking, science, sciences, shameless plug, soapbox, specialists, standardization, stereotypes, tagging, tags, taste, tasting, trends, WordPress, WordPress.com


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Katja Bašič, slovenska kriminalistka, * 5. maj 1946, Ljubljana.

Je ustanoviteljica Združenja proti spolnemu zlorabljanju, prve slovenske nevladne organizacije za pravice zlorabljenih otrok,

Življenje in delo
Leta 1971 je diplomirala na Višji upravni šoli v Ljubljani. Študirala je izredno, saj je bila takrat že zaposlena v kriminalistični policiji na Ministrstvu za notranje zadeve, kjer je že takrat delala na področju mladoletniškega prestopništva, nasilja v družini in otrok žrtev spolnih zlorab in drugih oblik zlorab.

V času dela v policiji je prehodila pot od kriminalistke, vodje skupine za mladoletniško prestopništvo na Policijski upravi v Ljubljani, pa vse do kriminalistične inšpektorice in vodje referata v kriminalistični policiji na Ministrstvu za notranje zadeve RS. Upokojila se je leta 2000.

Začetki njenega izobraževanja in pridobivanja novih znanj za področje dela z žrtvami, segajo že v leto 1981, ko ji je bilo odobreno, da v organizaciji Inštituta za kriminologijo obišče in se seznani z delom nemške policije na področju nasilja v družini in zlorab otrok.

Leta 1981 je v Tacnu že organizirala, predavala in vodila prvo izobraževanje uniformirane policije in kriminalistične službe o problemih mladoletniške kriminalitete in trpinčenih in spolno zlorabljenih otrok. Seminar je predstavljal tudi prvo tovrstno sodelovanje policije navzven, saj so na seminarju predavali in kot udeleženci sodelovali tudi strokovnjaki drugih strok.

V letu 1988 je sodelovala pri pripravi in izobraževanjih za odprtje prvega SOS telefona Za ženske in otroke žrtve nasilja v Sloveniji, ter kasneje 1 leto kot prostovoljka delovala na SOS telefonu.

Zaradi prepoznavanja potreb po telefonu za pomoč širokega spektra, je ustanovila v marcu leta 1990 Združenje za pomoč ljudem v stiski, telefon ZATE, katerega je vodila do leta 1994 in deluje še danes.

Poleg številnih strokovnih aktivnosti na področju nasilja v družini in zlorab otrok je leta 1994 ustanovila nevladno organizacijo Združenje proti spolnemu zlorabljanju, saj se je tudi nevladni sektor izogibal delu na področju spolnih zlorab otrok. Nujno je bilo začeti še bolj detabuizirati določene družbene probleme. Ustanovitev nevladne organizacije, z zelo jasnim imenom Združenje proti spolnemu zlorabljanju, je bila namenjena ravno temu, da se v javnosti odprto spregovori o izredno občutljivih temah glede zlorab otrok in družine. V teh letih je obiskovala tudi izobraževanja angleških, ameriških, švedskih, nemških in francoskih strokovnjakov, ter izpopolnjevala svoja znanja za delo na področju zlorab otrok.

Po letu 2000, ko se je upokojila, v popolnosti deluje v Združenju proti spolnemu zlorabljanju. Najprej samo s strokovnim vodenjem kot predsednica Združenja, od leta 2006 pa po podjemniški pogodbi. Velik uspeh Združenja v tem obdobju predstavlja povišanje sankcij za kazniva dejanja spolnih napadov na otroke, ter zagotovitev neizbrisanja izrečenih kazenskih sankcij za osumljene kaznivih dejanj spolnih napadov na otroke. Ponosna je lahko tudi na to, da nam je mnogim zainteresiranim podala številne izkušnje za delovanje na področju zlorab, predvsem spolnih, na otroke /ne samo mentorstvo pri diplomah/.

Vodenje Združenja je odgovorno delo, ki zahteva veliko strokovnih znanj, katera usmerja tudi v prostovoljce in svoje sodelavce. Največ svojega časa in dela nameni uporabnikom Združenja v podprojektih svetovanja in zagovorništva. Veliko ga nameni tudi izobraževanju in nenehnemu izpopolnjevanju. Vsako leto vodi in aktivno sodeluje najmanj na treh izobraževanjih, ki jih organizira v okviru Združenja na temo spolnih napadov na otroke.

Glede prepoznavanja zlorab in zaščite otrok vseskozi aktivno sodeluje s svojimi pisnimi strokovnimi prispevki in predavanji na organiziranih mednarodnih konferencah ter posvetih na posamezno tematiko v okviru Slovenije, predvsem kot povabljena predavateljica, kot npr; mednarodna konferenca o pravicah otrok 2010 s prispevkom /Otrokove pravice/, konferenca o zagovorništvu otrok v Sloveniji v organizaciji Urada varuha, članek /Zagovorništvo otrok - glas otroka/, sodelovanje in članek na posvetu Otrok na sodišču s predavanjem in prispevkom Otrok na sodišču 2008, mednarodna konferenca v zvezi z zlorabo otrok za pornografijo in trgovino z otroki, prispevek Zlorabe otrok, 2008 itd.

Skozi vsakodnevne primere iz prakse, sodeluje na timskih sestankih, ki jih kot Združenje predlaga, pogosto sodeluje na »internih posvetovanjih« strokovnjakov o posameznih primerih, ki niso primeri Združenja, dela seveda tudi na telefonu za prvo psihosocialno podporo in pomoč v okviru Združenja, itd.

Sama pravi: »Svojega dela ne znam dobro 'prodati', zagotovo pa so, glede na njihova sporočila zadovoljni uporabniki. Še vedno sem pri delu z vsemi svojimi čustvi in vem, da je tako prav. Prav tako, ne samo da spoštujem, temveč se tudi zavzemam za spoštovanje otrokovih pravic in pravic njihovih staršev in naših uporabnikov.«

V svojih stališčih je zelo kritična tako do institucij, kot tudi do nevladnih organizacij in posameznikov, ki ne naredijo vsega za uporabnika, ki na uporabnike ne gledajo kot na ljudi, ki so odprli svoje srce, svoje najtežje stiske in poiskali po njihovem zadnjo možnost za podporo pri razreševanju teh stisk.

Reference

	35 let (bonifikacija ni upoštevna) delala v kriminalistični policiji na področju mladoletniškega prestopništva, nasilja v družini in otrok žrtev spolnih in drugih oblik zlorab,
	do upokojitve leta 2001, v reviji Varnost in Kriminologiji objavi več strokovnih člankov na temo mladoletniške kriminalitete, spolnih zlorab otrok, nasilja v družini itd. /knjižnica MNZ RS/,
	v času dela v policiji je prehodila pot od kriminalistke, vodje skupine za mladoletniško prestopništvo na UNZ Ljubljana, do kriminalistične inšpektorice in vodje referata v Upravi kriminalistične policije za že navedeno področje dela v Ministrstvu za notranje zadeve RS,
	začetki njenega drugačnega pristopa na področju trpinčenih in zlorabljenih otrok segajo v leto 1981, ko v organizaciji Inštituta za kriminologijo obišče in se seznani z delom nemške policije,
	v letu 1981 organizira, predava in vodi v Tacnu prvo izobraževanje uniformirane policije in kriminalistične službe o problemih mladoletniške kriminalitete, trpinčenih in spolno zlorabljenih otrok; na seminarju so prvič sodelovali in predavali tudi strokovnjaki izven policije - o seminarju izdano gradivo /knjižnica MNZ RS/, kot zbornik dostavljeno tudi vsem centrom za socialno delo v Sloveniji,
	leta 1988 sodeluje pri pripravi in izobraževanjih za odprtje prvega SOS telefona za ženske in otroke žrtve nasilja v Sloveniji,
	1 leto je delovala kot prostovoljka na SOS telefonu,
	zaradi prepoznavanja potreb po telefonu za pomoč širokega spektra, ustanovi v marcu leta 1990 Združenje za pomoč ljudem v stiski, telefon ZATE, katerega je vodila do leta 1994 in deluje še danes,
	v novembru 1990 organizira in vodi v okviru kriminalistične policije prvo tridnevno izobraževanje usmerjeno v prepoznavanje problema žrtev in delo z žrtvami kriminala v okviru kriminalistične preiskave. Na seminarju sodelujejo s svojimi prispevki in kot udeleženci tožilci, sodniki, psihologi in drugi strokovnjaki. O seminarju izdano gradivo /knjižnica MNZ RS/,
	1991 izda v Sloveniji prvi informativni brošuri o spolnih zlorabah z naslovi Ni opravičila in Spolni napad na otroka,
	1991 ob izdaji brošur organizira v petih slovenskih regijah okrogle mize na temo spolnih zlorab otrok, na katerih svoje poglede na ta problem prvič predstavijo strokovnjaki različnih profilov,
	1992 dodatno pridobivanje znanj in izkušenj za delo na področju spolno zlorabljenih otrok v sodelovanju z Avstralsko policijo (certifikat). V policijo začne vpeljevati nove pristope pri razkrivanju spolnih zlorab otrok,
	Ustanoviteljica zaupnega telefona ZATE, v okviru katerega je delovala do ustanovitve Združenja, zaradi prepoznanja potrebe po specializiranosti dela na področju spolnega nasilja, saj ji je praksa na telefonu ZATE, to potrdila,
	1992 nabavi prve anatomske lutke, kot pripomoček pri razkrivanju zlorab oz. pri pogovoru z otroki,
	1993 nadaljnja izdaja preventivnih informacijskih zloženk o nasilju nad otroki, o nasilju nad otroci v družini, o spolnem nasilju nad otroci in o pravicah otrok na osnovi Konvencije o otrokovih pravicah,
	1994 začne sodelovati v ustanovljeni delovni skupini za medinstitucionalno obravnavanje trpinčenih, zlorabljenih in zanemarjenih otrok pri Inštitutu za kriminologijo, saj je bila pobudnica medinstitucionalnega timskega dela za zaščito otrok.
	1994 ustanovi nevladno organizacijo Združenje proti spolnemu zlorabljanju,
	1995 prva v Sloveniji posname preiskovalni intervju s tri in pol letno deklico, žrtvijo spolne zlorabe in videoposnetek intervjuja je sprejet na sodišču kot dokazni material. Storilec je obsojen na tri leta in pol zaporne kazni,
	1995 pripravi po svoji zamisli in v sodelovanju s Svetlano Makarovič vsebino lutkovne igrice MALI JOJOJ in začne preventivni projekt Policija za otroke, /prevencija v zvezi z nasiljem in spolno zlorabo za najmlajše/. V začetku leta 1998 je bila na njeno pobudo igrica tudi posneta na kaseto in s tem dostopnejša vsem otrokom. Dne 22.03.2010 je bila v Kulturnem domu Španski borci v Ljubljani izvedena 800. predstava.
	1995 marec, organizira in vodi ter seveda tudi predava na temo Otrok žrtev, na seminarju o mladoletniškem prestopništvu, v organizaciji policije in tožilstva, na katerem strokovnjaki (policisti, soc. delavci, tožilci, sodniki) govorijo o dokaznem postopku pri spolnih zlorabah,
	1995 november, predavateljica in ena od avtoric seminarja Trpinčen otrok pod strokovnim vodstvom prof. dr. P. Kornhauserja (Zbornik Trpinčen otrok - izšel 1997),
	Nadaljuje z lastnim izobraževanjem v Angliji, na Švedskem,  v Nemčiji in Budimpešti (certifikati),
	1996 junij, zagotovi in sodeluje pri prevodih nekaterih tujih gradiv /Spolno nasilje nad otroki, Mentalno zdravje otrok in zloraba otrok, Enote za nasilje v družini, Zaščita otrok s strani policije, Priročnik za pripravo videoposnetkov/ s čimer hoče doprinesti k uvajanju snemanja pogovorov z otroki in izobraževanju policije in socialnih delavcev, katerim so bila gradiva dostavljena (Centrom za soc. delo, tožilstvom, sodiščem) na tem področju,
	1996 november, v Gotenici organizira 3 dnevno izobraževanje kriminalistov in socialnih delavcev ter drugih strokovnih profilov o timskem delu, spolnih zlorabah in družinskem nasilju. Na seminarju izobražujeta angleški policijski strokovnjakinji in socialna delavka Elaine Burtenshaw in Lesley Cross (certifikat),
	1996 (04. 12.1996) dopis Ministrstvu za delo, družino in socialne zadeve, ter drugim kompetentnim ministrstvom / šolstvo, zdravstvo / in vsem Upravam za notranje zadeve v R Sloveniji utemeljeno in strokovno ter na osnovi zakonodaje razdelano pobudo za »začetek sistematičnega medinstitucionalnega sodelovanja v korist zaščite otrok oziroma žrtev najtežjih zločinov« oziroma za »aktiviranje timov«,
	1997 junij, organizacija prvega »Treninga za trenerje« za intervju z otrokom žrtvijo zlorabe. Treninga se udeleži 8 kriminalistov in 8 socialnih delavcev, trening izvajajo angleški strokovnjaki (certifikat),
	1997 podala predlog za spremembo členov v kazenski zakonodaji, sprejeta dva predloga; da se členu Nasilništvo doda beseda »v družini« in da se meja kaznivega dejanja Spolnega napada na osebo mlajšo od 14 let, dvigne na 15 let.
	1997	predlog za spremembo zakonskega člena o Spolni zlorabi otrok - zvišanje starosti žrtve do 15 leta starosti in njene zaščitenosti po posebnem členu,
	V letih 1997 in 1998 nadaljuje z lastnim izobraževanjem na seminarjih v Pragi (zloraba in mediji – certifikat), Dubrovniku (delo policije na zlorabah - ameriški strokovnjaki – certifikat) in na študijskem obisku na Švedskem (družinsko nasilje, zavetišča za ženske, spolne zlorabe – certifikat),
	1998	januar, idejna zasnova in predlog projekta ter projekt Nasilje v družini, za izobraževanje uniformirane policije o naravi družinskega nasilja,
	1998 junij, v organizaciji Združenja proti spolnemu zlorabljanj] organizirala v Gotenici štiridnevno izobraževanje za kriminaliste, kjer predavajo švedski strokovnjaki o družinskem nasilju, seminar je bil odprt tudi za vse druge profile strokovnjakov,
	1998 oktober, Združenje proti spolnemu zlorabljanju, organizacija in udeležba na prvem Treningu za preventivo na področju nasilja nad otroki in zlorab otrok, CAP program - trening sta izvedli ameriški strokovnjakinji (certifikat).
	1998 november, izvajalka izobraževanja v Makedoniji, na povabilo policije in za policijo, socialo in tožilstvo, dva dni (70 udeležencev)
	1999 priprava in udeležba na izobraževanju za timsko delo, v organizaciji Združenja proti spolnemu zlorabljanju, predavateljica Elaine Burtenshaw, Anglija, udeleženci socialni delavci, tožilci, sodniki, pedagogi, strokovnjaki policijske šole (certifikat),
	1999	skupaj z drugimi strokovnjaki izvajalka izobraževalnih seminarjev o zlorabah otrok, razpisanimi v katalogu izobraževanj Ministrstva za šolstvo in šport,
	2000 - izobraževanja nevladnih organizacij, kot predavateljica sodeluje na različnih seminarjih ter na povabilo fakultet predava študentom o problematiki spolnih zlorab in družinskega nasilja,
	2000 - izvajalka izobraževanj za pedagoge za poučevanje predmeta Državljanska vzgoja in etika, pri pripravi katerega je sodelovala s svojimi znanji na področjih, ki govorijo o nasilju v družini, vrstniškem nasilju, trpinčenju in spolnem zlorabljanju otrok,
	2001 julij, 3 dni, izobražuje v Makedoniji socialne delavce, tožilce, sodnike in predstavnike nevladnih organizacij, v organizaciji OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe).
	2001 - opravila izobraževanje Visoke šole za socialno delo - Svetovalno in timsko delo na področju družinskega nasilja in spolnih zlorab,
	2001 - izvedba in izobraževanje v okviru enotedenskega treninga za trenerje za delo na problemih nasilja v družini, izvajalca treninga C.Komduur in B.Hoeven Politie Regio Utrecht (certifikat),
	2002 - izvajanje prvega projekta za preprečevanje vrstniškega nasilja in nasilja na šolah pod naslovom Varna šola, v katerega so bile vključene 3 osnovne šole. Projekt potekal v okviru Mestne občine Ljubljana.
	2002 - izvajanje izobraževanja v Makedoniji na povabilo Unicefa - Detski fond za Obedinetite Nacii (07-09.12.2002),
	Od leta 2000 se sistematično ukvarja tudi z organizacijo in izvedbo izobraževanj na temo Zaščita otrok. Gre za tridnevna izobraževanja, na katerih predava o spolnih zlorabah otrok, značilnostih storilcev, nasilju v družini, oblikah drugih trpinčenj otrok in o timskem delu. Vsako leto se izvedejo najmanj tri tridnevna izobraževanja, torej do sedaj preko 30 tovrstnih izobraževanj (za tožilce, sodnike, pedagoge, vzgojitelje, policijo). Vsako izobraževanje se evalvira, dosedanja skupna ocena tega dela na osnovi ankete med udeleženci je 4,7 (od 5 možnih točk). Zadnje izobraževanje je potekalo v januarju in februarju 2013 /različni strokovni profili, evalvirana ocena 4,9/.
	Od same ustanovitve, predsednica Združenja proti spolnemu zlorabljanju. Od leta 2004 dela v Združenju in se tako vsakodnevno sooča z uporabniki po telefonu za pomoč, skozi osebna svetovanja in skozi zagovorništvo, vse s ciljem zaščite otrok, žrtev spolnih zlorab in drugih oblik nasilja. Pri tem je v stalnem stiku in sodeluje tudi z vladnimi organizacijami /Centri za socialno delo, policija, tožilstvo, vzgojno izobraževalne institucije itd./
	Še naprej aktivno sodeluje s predstavitvami in strokovnimi pisnimi prispevki na Dnevih varstvoslovja, v okviru Derčevih dnevov, v okviru rednih Spominskih srečanj akademika Janeza Milčinskega, ter drugih strokovnih konferencah.
	Še posebej se zmeraj znova angažira za pravice otrok in za to, da se sliši glas otroka, pa seveda tudi to, da se ljudje ozaveščajo, da zlorabe otrok potekajo vsakodnevno in v različnih oblikah in da na to ni imuna nobena družba oz. država. Članki: Razumevanje in cilji zagovorništva otrok /Zbornik, Urad varuha 2007/, Pogled na problem spolnega izkoriščanja otrok in otroške pornografije v Sloveniji/ Konferenca Child Pornography Focus Croup 19-21.sept. 2006, Ljubljana/, Izginuli in spolno zlorabljeni otroci /Konferenca Pogrešani otroci, Ljubljana, Seecren, 2006/, Pravica otrok, da jih vidimo, slišimo in jim verjamemo /Mednarodna konferenca o pravicah otrok 6.,7.okt. 2009, Ljubljana/, Glas otroka /Strokovni posvet otrok pred sodiščem 2008/ itd.
	2009 - sodelovala pri izvajanju projekta usposabljanja pedagogov in vzgojiteljev na tematiko zlorabe otrok (njene tematika: nasilje, nasilje v družini). Evropski projekt je bil izvajan v sodelovanju Pedagoška fakulteta in Ministrstvo za šolstvo in šport. Projekt se nadaljuje, izvajalka pa je navkljub povabilu odklonila sodelovanje v letu 2010, zaradi svojih pogledov in prepričanj v zvezi z izvajanji tovrstnih projektov.
	2010 februar, tridnevno izobraževanje v sodelovanju z angleško strokovnjakinjo Caroline Meffan o timskem delu oz. skupnem delu institucij na zaščiti otroka,
	2010 junij, izvedba celodnevnega izobraževanje »Intervju z otrokom«, v organizaciji družbe FIRIS, za socialne delavce,
	2011 - ponovno povabilo angleške strokovnjakinje Caroline Meffan - prof. socialnega dela na Univerzi Herdfordshire v Angliji in izvedba izobraževanja z namenom izobraževanja vseh strokovnih profilov, ki se soočajo s prepoznavanjem spolne zlorabe otrok,
	 V letu 2010 in 2011 tudi organizatorica in izvajalka 6 eno ali dvodnevnih izobraževanj izobraževanj na teme Spolnih zlorab otrok, Prepoznavanje spolnih zlorab in Nasilje v družini,
	2012 - organizacija povabila in izvedbe izobraževanja norveškega kliničnega psihologa Haldor Ovreeid-a »Vpogled v izkušnje na področju dela na zaščiti otrok - žrtev spolne zlorabe«,
	2013 (07.01. - 18.02.) ciklus 7 brezplačnih izobraževanj na temo »Delovanje na prepoznavanju in ukrepanju pri spolnih zlorabah otrok in nasilju v družini«

Zunanje povezave
 Združenje proti spolnemu zlorabljanju - domača stran

Živeči ljudje
Slovenski kriminalisti

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Muslims In A Near Riot, As Jews Pray For Their Soldiers.
Posted on December 30, 2008 by Miss Beth
Cross posted by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle
I am not amazed at the reaction of the Muslim and Moonbat Dhimmi communities over the reaction to Operation Cast Lead. The protests have already started with the cries of: Holocaust, Genocide, Death to Israel (a favorite in Muslim nations especially Iran), and Innocent Civilians. They are especially loud in those Dhimmified nations of Great Britain, France and Canada.
Forty pro-Israel demonstrators opposite the Israel Consulate in Toronto yelled back at more than 700 pro-Arabs protesting Israel's military operations in Gaza Sunday afternoon .
Khaled Mouammar, president of the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF), stated, "The massacre taking place in Gaza must stop. People are suffering and dying. There is an actual genocide taking place."
The CAF president has previosly gone on record demanding that Canada boycott "the Apartheid State" and that his government should not criticize Hizbullah terrorists.
Police were busy keeping the groups from attacking each other. Other than minor scuffles, there were no incidents of violence between the groups. Additional pro-Arab demonstrations took place throughout Canada.
The Toronto pro-Arab organizers called on the Canadian government to condemn Israel's actions. While Canada's Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon has expressed concern about the escalating violence, he has nevertheless stated that Israel has the right to defend itself.
The Canadian Arab Federation is very similiar to CAIR. In their news release they write:
This is a war crime on an industrial scale.
We call on the federal opposition parties to ask the Harper Government to condemn the Israeli massacre of the
Palestinian people in Gaza .
There will be a demonstration outside the Israeli Consulate in Toronto
No where do they mention the daily barrage of rockets their brethern in Gaza send into Israel. Only the retaliation that Israel is finally imposing on Gaza. Of course our friends at CAIR put out this statement:
"American Muslims join our fellow citizens who respect international law and the sanctity of human life in repudiating this massacre carried out using U.S. taxpayer-funded weapons.
"It must be clear by now that the only future offered to the Palestinian people by the outgoing administration was one of perpetual subjugation and humiliation at the hands of the Israeli occupiers. Unfortunately, our nation's timid response to this tragic episode will only serve to fuel anti-American sentiments in the Muslim world.
"We therefore call on President-elect Obama to demonstrate his commitment to change our nation's current one-sided Mideast policy by speaking out now in favor of peace and justice for all parties to this decades-long conflict."
I see. It is ok for PalArabs to attack Israel, but let the Israelis fight back and then its cry foul! And the rest of the Muslim world is no exception.
Tens of thousands rally through Arab capitals calling for end to Israeli strikes in Gaza and in support of Hamas. In Beirut Hizbullah leader Nasrallah echoes calls for third intifada, while in Amman masses urge renewal of suicide bombings.
Tens of thousands of Lebanese Shiite protesters, chanting "Death to America, Death to Israel", massed in Beirut on Monday, calling for an end to Israeli strikes on Gaza that have killed 320 Palestinians.
Protesters in Lebanon.
In the Jordanian capital, Amman, about 20,000 people staged a demonstration organized by the mainstream Muslim Brotherhood, while in Cairo about 1,000 people rallied to show solidarity with Gaza Palestinians.
A call to begin Suicide bombings, a call for more violence. But I don't see Jordan, Lebanon or Egypt sending their armies to fight Israel. As a matter of fact it seems that Arab unity is a myth.
In a press conference held on Monday afternoon in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit responded to criticism by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday, saying that "They have practically declared war on Egypt via several satellite stations. The Egyptian people reject and opposes this declaration."
"They want for there to be chaos in Egypt as there is in their country," Gheit said of Hizbullah.
"I tell this man [Nasrallah]: No, no! Our armed forces can defend our homeland from people like you. Your interest in creating chaos is not in the best interest of the area," he added.
The Egyptian foreign minister added that his country had tried to prevent the escalation in violence by asking Israel not to carry out an operation in the Gaza Strip.
The only Muslim nation that is activily recruiting fighters (I will not give them the honorific of soldiers) is you guessed it: Iran.
Group of hardline clerics signs up volunteers to fight in Gaza Strip in response to IDF airstrikes that have killed at least 300 Palestinians. Tens of thousands take part in anti-Israel protest in Tehran.
The usual Iranian protest.
"From Monday the Combatant Clergy Society has activated its website for a week to register volunteers to fight against the Zionist regime (Israel) in either the military, financial or propaganda fields," the semi-official Fars news agency said.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious decree to Muslims around the world on Sunday, ordering them to defend Palestinians in Gaza against Israeli attacks "in any way possible".
A religious decree is an official statement by a high-ranking religious leader that commands Muslims to carry out its message. While there is no religious and legal force behind it, Khamenei is respected by many Iranian and non-Iranian Shiites.
For those who do not speak Jihad, the words "defend Palestinians in Gaza against Israeli attack in any way possible" is a call to kill all the Jews in the world.
And what is the Jewish community doing? They pray. No riotous protests, no shouting Death to Hamas, none of the hatred that is being unleashed by Islam. They are praying.
Several hundred people arrived at the Western Wall on Sunday to attend a lighting of the eighth Hanukkah candle and say a prayer for the wellbeing of IDF soldiers and the residents of Israel's southern communities.
Israel launched a military operation in Gaza Saturday in response to the ongoing rocket attacks from the Strip.
Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Jerusalem District Police chief Maj.-Gen. Ilan Franco were also present at the event.
"On these days every Jew in Israel and across the world is obligated to say a prayer for the soldiers and residents who are facing such difficult times," Rabbi Amar told Ynet.
Praying at the Western Wall
Worshipers at the Wall said they also prayed for a successful outcome to the military operation in Gaza. "May the soldiers have a Hanukkah miracle," one participant stated.
Prayers not for peace, for that time has passed, but for victory. For an end to Hamas. For an end to the rockets.
May God hear the prayers of Israel in this time of war. May Israel's victory be swift and sweet!
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