Category: essay

Propaganda and subtle bias

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

No one is immune to propaganda, and all artistic expression is inherently political. These are two statements to keep in mind, as we approach this year’s eurovision song contest, and examine what choices were made, and which were not. There is much we can learn, simply from the roster of this year’s competition, as well as what arguments have been used where.

Each message has a meaning, and a purpose, even if that purpose is to have no meaning. This is particularly true in the measured and planned messages that are art, public speaking and entertainment. Deliberate choices have led to this year’s European Song Contest looking the way it does. Many are aesthetic, or economical, or even made due to crass necessity, but all of them were  made in a direct or indirect political context.

Russia has been excluded from the ESC due to their invasion of Ukraine, and been condemned for their war crimes against the people of Ukraine. The exclusion is an act that is hard to see as anything but political. Israel, another state that has invaded its neighbor, and committed well documented war crimes against its civilian population has been allowed to participate on the basis that The Eurovision contest.  This decision  has loudly been defended on the base that the ESC has is, and has always been an apolitical contest.

But, keep in mind what I mentioned before, with this statement in mind about messages and art. Is it possible to have an apolitical musical competition, especially one that has as many politically charged entries as the ESC. I want to argue in this text that there is a distinct difference between apoliticality and politics so agreed upon it becomes invisible. Expected truths, the statue que, and ofcourse, successful propaganda are often seen as apolitical, but are in fact, simply invisible.

In Sweden the ESC is exclusively played on SVT, Sweden’s state television, as is the national competition leading up to the ESC. The competition is touted and lauded as the people’s contest, by everyone and for everyone. Is it then possible to understand the directions that are made in the name of the ESC as anything other than political? To be of the people, and indirectly, of the nation, is to be explicitly political.

I would argue that it is easy to see things that we agree with as apolitical, especially if these things happen to fall within the purview of the statue que. Media becomes political in the mind of many viewers once it expresses opinions or emotions that goes against this status quo, or for that matter when the nature of the subject as political becomes unavoidable, or impossible to ignore.

Representation of minorities, such as POCs and queer individuals is a good example of this phenomenon. Their absence is part of the status quo and as a result, not political, and their inclusion, as a result is. This would be a great example of subtle biases, of expectations and what breaks with these expectations. For a long time have the explicit or implicit exclusion of the queer community been almost a given, at least until the monetary value of these groups became apparent. The same exclusion has been, until fairly recently, set on Russia and many of the former eastern bloc countries, on the not so subtle grounds on political affiliations with the former USSR.

The Russian revolution was clearly done on explicitly political grounds. More precisely as a punishment and statement of Russia’s invasion of their neighbor Ukraine. This is an invention that has recently been subtly reframed to be an Unlawful invasion, in contrast to Israel’s Lawful retaliations against Gaza. 

This  distinction makes Israel’s war seem, part of the common narrative in the west, as a simple fight against evil insurgents.  The decision to include them seems to be  apolitical as a result, while Russia’s actions so infidelity aberrant, and their exclusion as apolitical, or at least, understandably political.

Apoliticallity is always a choice, and it is a choice that very few of us have the privilege to make. Keep in mind that if a subject seems apolitical to you, it is more than often that you are blessed to not experience the negative part of said topic. Propaganda and bias is a lot easier to miss, if you have the option to be blind to the problem to begin with.

The library of odd things: A home for obsolete media, and rare finds: part five: Who decides what a library should be

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

Introduction

The question of who gets to decide what a library should and should not be is deeply ingrained to what I aim to discuss in this series. There are several forces that need to be taken into account for this discussion, specifically librarians, patrons and policy makers. Each group has their own biases, needs and wants as well as underlying information when it comes to their news on the libraries collection. This chapter will break down how each group’s interests collide as well as contradict the creation of the library of odd things.

The patrons

The users and visitors of libraries are known as patrons when speaking in library terms. Patrons are individuals that use one or all of the services that are available in public libraries. Patrons have many needs and uses related to the library. Many patrons wish to borrow some form of media or read them at the library. Some patrons also come to the library to use printers, scanners and computers that are available at the library, as well as access to free internet access.

Many patrons already know what they want well before they enter the library, when they do not they often refer to the librarian on duty, regarding tips on fiction or nonfiction media. The answers they are given  are once again limited to the librarian’s skill and interest in that specific area. Sadly, it has been my experience that the Swedish librarians do not get enough time or resources to be as good of a source for this sort of help that I and many patrons would have liked. 

When the knowledge exists it is mostly the thanks of the specific librarian putting down their own time and energy to learn these things. This lack of knowledge infrastructure is one of many problems that needs to be solved if the Library of Odd things is to work as proposed.

With this said, many patrons already know what they want, and simply wish to be pointed in the right direction of where it is located. It is naturally in most patrons’ interest that the things that they are after are as close at hand as possible, something that might lead to less used or known texts getting pushed to the background.

This need for what they know they want is balanced by the patrons’ needs and wishes for novelty and new experiences, as well as the fact that the patron may not always know best what they need or want.

The patron also expects that the text that they want is also available to them as soon as possible. And here we find the first conflict of interest, both with other patrons and with the library staff. Due to the fact that the library has both limited budgets and space, is it impossible to make everyone happy, and often texts that are more often requested or are well known get preferential treatment to the texts that do not.

While it would be easy to fill a library with nothing but the latest top sellers, does this work against the library’s goals of education, democracy and the need for everyone to be able to find what they need in the library’s collection. This is a problem I have gone deeper into in earlier chapters.

The librarians

The role of the library is at the core of what this series of essays wish to explore, likewise are the role of the librarian at the core of what I wish to discuss. What should a librarian be, guides, guardians, curators?

The guide

In the role of the guide we are meant to lead the patrons to new experiences, new texts and new forms of knowledge. This role would fit particularly well in the library of odd things, as it would mean that the patrons would be able to get the most out of the library’s eclectic collections.

This approach would need a much larger amount of time and resource to be allocated to the education and training of these librarians, as well as the possible need to hire more librarians in order to be able to amicably cover all areas of the library to a satisfactory level.

The biggest downside of this approach, or way of looking at library work is that it takes up a lot of time for the institution as well as being costly to maintain. Furthermore can this hands on approach seem off putting to a fair few patrons who just want to get their books and leave.

The guardian

The primary role of the guardian is to safeguard the library and its collection, this has been a role that has been emphasized for much of the library’s existence, especially before the notion of a public library became widely implemented.

There will, as long as we live in a capitalist system of scarcity, always need to be some form of enforcers, guards and collectors of materials and protectors against damage. As the general social climate gets more and more brutal, and more and more social expectations and work is put on less and less resources, will the libraries find themselves exponentially more under stress by various aggressive and dangerous forces.

It would be an easy solution to lock down the libraries as much as possible, to add guards and remove as much freedom as possible from the patrons. This would undoubtedly go against all that the public library as well as the library of odd things wishes to accomplish.

While it is vital that the librarians and patrons feel safe at the library, and that the collection and building is kept in good shape, it is not in my opinion the primary responsibility for librarians to make sure that this happens.

The curator

Another large and important part of the library profession is the work of the curator. Curating collections are vital when they are limited by space and budgetary constraints. Decisions must be made about what should be kept, and what needs to be thrown away, as well as what new materials will proquired.

As I have mentioned before, more or less all space being used in most Swedish public libraries, and as a result is the only way that a new text will enter circulation, is if another one takes its place. These decisions, while made with oversight of rules, regulations and guidelines are ultimately at the hands of the librarians, it is up to them to make the final dissection of keeping or discarding a text. The direction making is made partly by their own knowledge and intuition as well as with the help of policy documents created by library leadership and management.

Furthermore does the ability to fulfill this part of the job come from the same skill set and interest that makes a librarian a good guide. The librarian needs interest and knowledge to be able to properly curate and take care of a collection, they also need time and resources to carry out this work properly. This will be extra important in my proposed Library of odd things, as these collections will inevitably contain both rare and often technologically obsolete texts that require extra time and attention to look after.

While I have chosen to split up the roles of a librarian into disparate parts, and to some degree pitted them against each other, it is the truth that every librarian is all of these roles, and more, often at the same time. How much time, energy and resources that a librarian can spend on each role is very much linked to the libraries organization and guidelines, as well as the policymakers that write them.

Policymakers

The ultimate power of the future and shape of the public libraries lay in the elected officials and governing bodies that control and oversee the libraries. In Sweden are libraries ruled by counties, and as a result are given widely different structures, budgets and assigned goals. There is for example no set rule for what department should take care of the county’s libraries. These can range from education and culture, to tourism and sports and recreation. The department that the library lands under often strongly dictates what form of starting position the library has when it comes to arguing for their budget.

Just as with the problem of adding new books to a collection, is there often a problem with adding new programs or increasing budgets for programs on a county level, often is the entire budget spoken for, and it is a question of taking from one department and adding to another. These arrangements are of course not set in stone, and can change as the local political landscapes shift and transform.

As a result it is often that there exists a somewhat antagonistic relationship between those that need the money, and those that make the budgets. As there is always a limited amount of resources to go around, does it mean that someone will have to work with less than they hoped.

The allotted budget for a library is the most clear and direct way that policymakers can be seen to make a difference for a public library. The budget directly dictates how much space the library has to its disposal, how many librarians can be employed and how many new texts can be bought in.

As mentioned before, can policy makers also make decisions on what can and should be in public libraries, though this is a much more controversial point of their power. Ideally are the actions of the policymakers, that are directly or indirectly elected by the general public through elections, following the wishes of said public. This public also involves the patrons of the library, this group might indeed take the library in account when voting for a local election.

Conclusions

To finish up this chapter I will quickly break down how the decision process of what will turn up in a library looks like. The patrons may choose to ask for a text to be added to the collection, as well as ask for a book to be removed in some rare cases. Patrons can also indirectly steer the role of the library by voting on officials that share their views on the library question.

Elected officials then decide the budget, policies and guidelines of the library, and in doing so create the framework that the library works within. The librarian and chief librarian then take both of these facets into account when making decisions regarding, staffing, curation, programming and other decisions within the library itself. This is ofcourse a simplification of a very complex system but one that I hope helps contextualize what I aim to discuss with this series as a whole. 

This leads me on to the topic of the next chapter, why any of this matters, and why I chose to start this series in the first place.

If you like what you read, please consider supporting me via kofi or pateron, doing so will really help me to be able to create more of the content you like! As a bonus you also get access to an ever growing library of essays and short stories, only available to my supporters! 

https://patreon.com/SamRandom13?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

https://ko-fi.com/samrandom

New years eve, a liminal study in gray

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

New years is a time of liminality, of barriers and of new beginnings. In the western hemisphere it is also a time of transition between the darkness of winter, and the light of spring, between snow and flowers. Greyness is in and off itself a form of liminality, between black and white, and often seen as an allegory for moral and ethical ambiguity.

I find something beautiful in the gray, and the collection of pictures I took represents some different aspects of grayness, and once I found one aspect of gray beauty, I kept finding more and more.

These images were taken as me and my friend were traveling and exploring an industrial complex close to where I live, much of which is still under construction. Both qualities were further added to the liminality of the shots I took the day’s images. The factories were mostly empty this close to the holidays, though many of the lights in the offices and the company glowing labels were still fully lit.

The unfinished nature of many of the buildings, as well as the fenced off areas further cemented the feeling that this is a place in transition, as well as a place that only a few are welcome.

As we walked further and further, more and more construction became apparent. As well as the grays of the construction sites, slowly making way for the darker greens and grays of the surrounding forests. Mist rising from the endless horizons of wooded hills in the distance.

The gray grewever more apparent and dominating in the sky as the day passed on towards night. The mists rising from the forest, indicating that the temperature was slowly but surely rising, as the dew rose into mist, joining the clouds above.

As we walked, the sun started to set, and the mists started to rise ticker and ticker, blurring colors and making the horizon blend more and more with the sky.  The lights started to glow brighter and more and more street lights started to glow, giving the scenes an even more eerie feeling.

The wilder nature and the city share many liminal spaces, where the farmed forests of energy trees meet the suburbs in unplanned clusters of trees and bushes and greenery. These spaces are everywhere, and very easy to miss, but they are often defined by their lack of human involvement, as well as their wide variety of plants and, if you are lucky, animals.

Final thoughts of the year

As I was taking these photos, and writing this text, I was in the process of moving from my home of several years and going back to my hometown, to hopefully be able to follow my dreams. So in many ways, these pictures also resemble a liminality for myself, and my life, as I am waiting to leave my old life, and move towards my new, and hopefully better life.

I hope to be able to share more essays, photo collections and a lot more in the coming years, I hope to see you all there!

The library of odd things: A home for obsolete media, and rare finds: part four: Inspire or provide

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

Introduction

To build on my last chapter, I would like to ask this question; if it is up to the library to provide new experiences, or to provide for existing wants. This problem lies at the center of this essay. The question of what kind of collections a library should have, and how it should be formed. So far I have discussed the need for expertise, as well as a willingness and interest from the part of the patrons to interact and use the collections at the library. Either must be present in order for the motivation for a certain text to be brought into the collection, as well as for a collection to be created in the first place. 

Providing for patrons

By presenting the patron with a wide selection of the texts that the librarians know that the patrons would want to consume (Feel good novels, detective novels, movies and cook books etc) will the librarians make sure that the patron almost always leaves the library with something to consume. As a result the patron will always leave the library somewhat happy. This form of preemptive and predictive form of acquisition is the most common form used in Swedish and other public libraries.

This approach has been discussed a bit in the earlier chapter, when I discussed how many, if not most patrons already at least somewhat know what they are after when entering the library. To make sure that these patrons leave happy it is vital that they are able to reach their texts as easily and quickly as possible. This can be done in a number of ways, firstly making sure that the search computers as well as the spaces where the reserved books are easy to reach. The second way is to make sure that the layout of the library is easy to navigate for those that know what they are after.

To minimize traffic and optimize throughput does it make the most sense from a patron point of view to add the most popular items front and center, at least if the goal is convenience. New titles are often presented in prominent positions of the library. 

The library often crests specialty collections of the most well read topics and trends amounts that library patrons. Detective novels, feel good novels and historical dramas are common examples of specialty collections that are created. Now these are of course not static, and must adapt and change as the tastes of the patrons evolve as well. For, say, fifteen year olds, the feel good novel was not nearly as popular in the libraries I worked at.

This setup is great if we wish to be as effective as possible, when it comes to giving patrons the texts they want, as fast as possible. This system also allows the patrons to easily find similar texts to the ones that they are already looking for, something that is vital in non fiction collections, but non the less rather useful in fiction collections as well. 

While this is a very effective way to make sure that the patrons get the books they are looking for, as well as making sure they don’t need to spend more time in the library than absolutely necessary, it also risks making sure the patrons miss much of what the library has to offer. It is less likely that a patron will pick up a gothic horror novel or a graphic novel if they already have all they feel they need in the feel good section for example.

Inspire new experiences

There is another way of creating a collection, that instead aims to inspire and present the patrons with new forms of media, rather than to simply provide a convenient way of getting the media that the patrons already know that they want. There are some examples in which the Swedish libraries are already doing this, but I believe that we can go a lot further in presenting patrons with new experiences and forms of media.

As books in Sweden and the west become cheaper and more easily to acquire, I would argue that at least some of the public libraries should move towards media forms that are harder to acquire or consume. This could be VHS classics and cheap VHS players, or laser disks and ways to watch them, as well as ways to play old video games or VR technology that is currently out of most patrons’ abilities, either due to price, or scarcity. As technology moves forward more and more of these media forms will be left behind. 

I argue that it is time that libraries as centers for art and knowledge embrace these forms of media as well. Much media is already lost simply due to the fact that the ways of experiencing them are lost, or default to acquire. A library that is built and curated this way, must by its nature be a lot more strict when it comes to the curation of its collections. 

Due to the added work and infrastructure that is needed for each specialty collection would these collections be a lot smaller, and as a result need to be a lot more heavily and strictly curated. In other words a series of deep collections, rather than a few wide collections. This leads me to the last of my arguments before my conclusions, who gets to decide what kind of media to collect and what will be in it.

Inspire and provide

Much of the logic that I have presented in this text can be found echoed, and indeed being co-opted from the logic of store layouts. Should the goal be to get the customers to find the items they are looking for as fast as possible, or is it rather to make sure that the customer leaves with as many items as possible?

 Now, both approaches are more or less useful depending on what store that you are running. In a supermarket it would make more sense to have stable items front and center, and then have the tempting offers on the way towards the register, while in a specialty store like a jewelry or electronics store, it might be more profitable to have the most commonly bought items in the back, to force the customers to walk past all the other options available to them, and as a result enticing more purchase.

While the library does not share a store’s profit goal, at least in theory, is it not a perfect allegory. But it is nonetheless an interesting framework upon which we can better understand what a library should and should not be. Just like a store, a library is there to provide a service, to aid in some goal that the patron or customer wishes to achieve, the biggest difference is that the library is free.

In this text I have presented two approaches to answering the question of what a library should be and how it should function. Just as with a store will the needs and uses of a library vary somewhat between institutions, user demographic and collection. 

A university library for example would most likely keep the most relevant course materials for their specific schools easy to reach, while the less borrowed and used collections might be pushed more towards the back. This is assuming that the library is not strictly following an already established model.

The question of what a public library should be is less cut and dry, and while my personal preferences should have been made very apparent by now, can I see the value in both approaches.  And it comes back to the core problem of what a library should do. Should the public library  challenge its users’ habits and experiences, or cater to them? While the library of Odd Things by its very nature caters to the idea of expanding the users experiences and preferences, it must also cater to already existing preferences, partly due to the importance of nostalgia and interconnectedness rooted in the project.

The question of what a library should or not focus on leads me to the topic of my next chapter. Who gets to decide what a library should or should not be? Librarians, patrons or policy makers.

If you like what you read, please consider supporting me via kofi or pateron, doing so will really help me to be able to create more of the content you like! As a bonus you also get access to an ever growing library of essays and short stories, only available to my supporters! 

https://patreon.com/SamRandom13?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
My patreon

https://ko-fi.com/samrandom

The cost and importance of internet security

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

If you have been online for any time in the last decade, you have undoubtedly realized just how much information is being gathered about you. Everything from your full name, to phone numbers and home addresses seems to be something that more and more websites get from you. And this is just mentioning the things that we give away knowingly. Are you aware of just how much data is being gathered via the use of cookies and other trackers?

All this data can, and is, used to sell you things, to try and impersonate you, or to scam you or your loved ones. It seems the prevalence of scammers contacting people with personal information, data breaches and a large number of other horrifying things seems to be getting more and more common online, and, as a result, in real life.

If you, like me, enjoy watching Youtube, you are most likely already familiar with the company names of NordVPN and Mypseudo. Many youtubers are doing ad reads for these, and many similar products. These products, and those like them, are providing a number of services to keep you safe online, be that from hackers, to keep your data safe, or to protect you from identity theft. 

I do not wish to question the validity or usefulness of these products in this essay, nor will I condemn them as useless. What I wish to discuss in this text is instead, the concept of safety and security, and what these things mean in a more and more digital society.

What does it mean to be safe online? The answer most will probably give, is the freedom from having to worry about viruses and trojans and other malicious programs. Another common answer is to make sure that you are safe from scammers and identity theft. In other words, to protect one’s hardware and software, as well as to protect one’s identity, and as a result one’s finances from harm. 

The two primary ways of keeping safe online I am going to discuss in this essay are, information and tools. Tools are firewalls, virus protection and the numerous other tools and services that I mentioned earlier. You pay a company, to keep safe, to buy peace of mind and security. The other way of keeping safe is information. 

This ranges from technical knowhow, to information searching competency, the ability to recognise scams, as well as the ability to keep up with current news. While often, but not always free, the acquisition and application of knowledge is fully up to you as the end user. Note that both approaches are sadly vital to keep safe online today, and both of these approaches do interlock often.

Tools

It is only natural that as more threats are invented and arrive online, so do the tools to combat them. As lockpicks became better, so did locks. As robbers became better at circumventing alarms, the alarm systems became more sophisticated, this is true, at least in theory for online technology as well. As viruses get smarter, so must antivirus companies advance, as online scammers become more competent, and finding new loopholes, new tools must be adapted and created to stop it.

Just as with physical alarms or locks, are these solutions not free, and as more kinds of threats become apparent, a more extensive and complex systems of alarms, blockers and recovery measures seems to be needed. As identity theft becomes more common, a way to safekeep your security is needed. As more malicious ads appear, ways to shut off these scams and prevent accidental clicks are needed. When viruses and trojans advance, so must your antivirus software.

There are today solutions that claim to do all, or at least most of what you need to keep safe online. How do you as a consumer make sure that you get the protection that you truly need? What kind of services are reliable, and what do they do? What level of security do you personally need?

These questions, combined with a more and more advanced network of real life and digital connections are making it more and more vital to be digitally literate. It is also vital to keep this information and knowledge up to date. This leads me on to my next point, the importance of information to stay safe online.

Information

The digital divide is sadly still widening in much of the world, and it is not, as many assume, across age gaps. I have personally experienced patrons coming to the library that are considerably younger than me, that lack all of the most rudimental technological and digital knowledge. Things like how to log in to their internet bank, their email or how to download pdf files were unknown to a disturbingly large number of my patrons, independent of age.

When even this rudimentary knowledge is missing, how can these individuals be expected to be able to parse the difference between VPN providers, and what sort of encryption set and level of firewall protection is needed for them? How are these individuals even supposed to know that things like man in the middle attacks and keyloggers and DDos attacks exist, even less how to combat them.

A simple answer would be to rely on the tech professionals, to pay for the security that sounds best, be that Norton or NordVPN or any of the tens of other well known brands of digital protection. Just as with physical alarms and locks, it would be easy to hand everything over to a security firm that specialties in the forms of protection you would need. An apartment would after all have completely different needs then a large freestanding townhouse in the countryside. This would be in essence the same as buying a service or a tool mentioned above, where you buy peace of mind

But where would you start? Do you have a home PC, what do you do on it, what kind of security would it need, what about your smartphone, or your printer, or your smart fridge? Any machine in your home that is capable of connecting to the internet is a possible access point for malicious attacks after all. How would you know that you get all the protection you need, or for that matter pay for more protection than is needed for you?

While base protection is always good to have, just as a lock on your front door, as well as a home insurance, I would like to argue that learning about the dangers and pitfalls of internet use is sadly the most efficient and profitable way to stay safe online. This has to be a collective effort and one that everyone has to take part in. The saying “Don’t press an unknown link” needs to be as common as “Never talk to strangers”. The more common these rules are, the safer everyone will be.

At the end of the day, there are many dangers online that tools can not protect you from. These can be websites masquerading as legitimate companies, emails sent from people you know with compromised email addresses. Scams and misleading content is sadly everywhere online today, and the only true way to keep safe is to arm yourself with a good antivirus, and a solid understanding of what to look out for, as well as how to be able to recover if something goes wrong.

Information sharing and support

We are already in a world of haves and have nots when it comes to safe access to the internet. Be that by hardware or information. There are many that can not afford the prices to keep safe using the technological solutions, or are able to afford to spend the time to learn how to acquire these tools in the first place.

Likewise is the acquisition of information on how to stay safe online poorly distributed outside of specialist or enthusiast circles, and much does never reach the general public. And even when it does, it is often too little too late, and may in some cases already be outdated. The dangers of online activities come in a number of forms, and many of them can not be solved with a simple antivirus program. A VPN can not protect you against the lies of scammers, false websites or fraudulent links, but they can give you an edge.

I would like to take up the need for heightened pressure on public providers of the internet to make sure that their patrons are safe. Using a public network today is a bit of a coin flip if it will be safe or not. This is true for your local cafe as well as the nearby public library, though the safest thing to do is to assume that all public networks are unsecured and unprotected.

It is in places like this, that the inequality in internet security truly becomes apparent. Many low income households and individuals use places like this to get access to reliable internet, and it is often these groups that do not have access to things like VPNs and other forms of encryption and online protection tools. Knowledge of things like two step authentication, suspicious links and virus filled downloaded files are especially vital when using these public internet connections.

Final thoughts

The way to heighten security online I would argue primarily comes in two ways, the technical infrastructure of the internet safely must be expanded, things like VPNs must be made available to more people and easier. Public internet providers need to take greater care to ensure that the internet connections that they provide are as safe as they can be.

The second way is to increase public awareness of internet dangers and frauds, there is no longer a reason why these topics should be limited to tech experts and security professionals. Here schools and libraries and other public institutions can be of great help, especially when it comes to educating younger generations of threats that they would not have come into contact with personally yet. But more than that, the topic of internet safety must become a topic of general discussion, just as health and personal safety is. We need to start sharing what we know and what we have learned about our internet safety victories and losses. Only together can we help keep everyone safe.

This essay is a way to start such a discussion, and I will link a list of resources that has helped me expand my knowledge around internet safety, I will expand this list as I find more:

Kitboga, a youtuber that specializes in counter scamming telecom and internet scammers:

https://www.youtube.com/@KitbogaShow

Jim Borwning, another youtuber that focus on internet security, trough scam counteraction: 

https://www.youtube.com/@JimBrowning

National Cyber security center, a British governmental organization dedicated to internet security, below is a list of good tips everyone should know.

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/top-tips-for-staying-secure-online

The library of odd things: A home for obsolete media, and rare finds: part three: Known and unknown needs

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

Introduction

This text is the third installment in a series of essays discussing a hypothetical new form of public library, the Library of odd things. This form of library focuses on providing new, old and novel experiences to their patrons, unbound by the need to show usefulness or to cater to statistics and loan numbers. This library is primarily meant to work as a thought experiment and present the readers with new ways to look at media curation and preservation.

In this chapter I will discuss two driving forces when it comes to acquiring new materials for a library, I will label them as wants and needs. What we balance and look at these terms, and how they are applied to collections will shape how our hypothetical library of odd things will take form. This text will discuss what a patron knows they want and need, as well as what they are unaware of that they want and or need.

What the patron knows they want

A modern public library must always keep in mind what it is that their patrons are most likely to want to borrow, as well as what they might need in their everyday life, work and studies. This way the library will be sure that the library has the texts that the patrons are most likely to ask for. This assurance can partly be made through the following trends, news and interviews within the book world. Patron tips and suggestions are also a great way to expand this part of the library’s collection.

It is in my opinion more common than not that the patron already knows beforehand what they are after when entering the library, often looking for a specific title, or a specific topic of research. The patrons more often than not have a specific title in mind. The optimal solution for these patrons would of course be that we have these texts at hand for them when they come to the library. If a text is popular or new, as it often is, they are presented in prominent parts of the library, easily accessible to the patrons that want them. Likewise are collections of texts such as detective novels or cook books often given more space than less well read topics, yet again for ease of use.

In our library of odd things, popular texts might still need to take up a large part of its collection, but not necessarily in the shape and form as in current public libraries, less used media such as vhs tapes would be presented next to books and dvds. As the patrons get more used to the Libraries of odd things, it is my hope that the patrons will learn how to navigate the library’s new form of collection. Hopefully, just with tool libraries the patrons will come to look for specific texts and machines used to experience them.

What they are unaware of

A seemingly conflicting goal of the library is to introduce their patrons to new texts and information that they had no idea that they needed. While sometimes aware of this unspecified need, the patrons are more often not made aware of it when they are faced with a solution to said need. This means that the more varied our collection, the more topics and perspectives it covers, the bigger the chance that the patron will find the answer to a problem or a need that they did not know they had, or that a library could help with. This can range from a reference work that helps them see a problem at another angle, or present an unsuspected solution to a conundrum, to a story that gives them the insight, comfort or inspiration they need.  

If a patron is unable to see the more specialized parts of our collections, it will be nearly impossible for them to become aware of it. By presenting the most popular texts and genres in the front, will the layout discourage hunting for new experiences and browsing around as the patron looks for their intended texts.

The easiest way to provide this need is with non fiction texts and other forms of reference materials. The realization that “I did not know that there is a book for that”, is an apt way of describing this unknown need. Perhaps a book on biology or botany may help a patron to get a handle on their garden slug problem. Maybe an obscure travel book is just what the patron needs to jog their memories. The examples are endless, and I have seen many examples of them first hand.

Fictional materials can likewise be used to solve problems that the patrons were not aware of, or to fill a need they did not know that they had. Once again is it a question of not knowing that they wrote texts about that, or more often than not, not being aware that there were books for them. As the adage goes, each book has its reader, and each reader its book.

This form of discovery will be the primary goal of the Library of odd things. As mentioned before, the library will have a large collection of popular texts, but the focus will always be on exposing the patrons to new and old forms of media that they would not be able to use otherwise. It is well noted here that the limits between known and unknown needs are not solid, and one unknown need is another patrons known need.

The problem of cataloging and finding texts

When it comes to known as well as unknown needs, we will run into the same problem of the patron needing to find the text, regardless if they are actively looking for it or not. First of all, must the library have the text in question at hand, bringing us back to the problem of curation and all that it entails. 

The second problem is the fact that the patron must be able to find the text in question. This leads us to a problem that we have not hit on yet, the problem of organization and categorisation. The problem of categorisation rejects simple answers and simple solutions, as there is no universal and true way of cataloging anything to the most optimal and objective standard.

This is especially true when it comes to texts, both fiction and nonfiction. While there are of course general guidelines to follow, like keeping the authors in alphabetical order, and organizing non fiction under topic and fiction under general theme, there will never be an absolutely perfect system.

Many texts can be categorized in several topics at once, for example the history of medicinal plants, does it belong in history, medicine or botany, and how granular should a collection be with cataloging. The problem becomes even more complicated and granular when we are talking about fiction. What genre will we pick out, what genres will be placed in general fiction, should be pick out things like lgbtqiia+ characters for example. There are no simple and straightforward answers to these questions, but it will fundamentally shape how the patrons are interacting with our collections.

Just as mentioned with the comparison between large and general collections, and smaller more specialist collections will each specialty category lead to more work, and more space in the library. Each fiction genre we split will need its own space in one form or another, and each non fiction topic that we break down will mean more work, and cataloging for the library. These might not seem as great concerns, but over an entire library collection it will make huge differences. 

Conclusions

How we present our collections are vital to how patrons can interact with the texts within its limits. The reason I split known and unknown needs between each other is that their goals are often at odds with each other when it comes to designing library spaces and other collections.

As mentioned before, will the patron that knows their need either go directly to the part of the collection that they want, or ask the librarian to send them to the right part of the collection. Because these patrons often are looking for similar things, would it make sense for these kinds of patrons to present the most borrowed texts in the front of the library, both physically and digitally.

This comes in conflict with the library trying to present the patron with texts that they are not aware of, or discovering texts that the patrons are not nearly as aware of. A patron looking for a specific popular detective novel for example might be annoyed that they need to traverse the entirety of the poetry collection to get there. On the other hand may moving forward the poetry section lead to patrons discovering a love for poetry the would never have found otherwise.

There are no right and wrong answers to these conflicting goals, but they will be very important for my project for the Library of odd things. This conflict leads us to our next set of questions, what should the library be for, and who gets to decide that purpose.

The library of odd things: A home for obsolete media, and rare finds: Part two, quailty and quantity

~ SamRandom ~ 3 Comments

This is the second part in an essay that I wrote about media curation and the role of public libraries in Sweden, as well as how it can be handled differently. I discuss the concepts of quality and quantity in this chapter, as well as the implications these definitions have on media curation, both in current public libraries, as well as in my imagined Library of things.

Quality and quantity

I will begin my arguments with the most straightforward, but possibly one of the more controversial aspects of the Library of things. The idea that media can have quality, and that someone by default, needs to decide what that quality is. The concept of quality is by its very nature a subjective form of measurement, and one that does change over time and space, culture and public.

The term quality will in this chapter primarily be used in the differentiation between nice and mainstream media. With nice media I am here referring to things that stand out from the rest in its category, be it from awards, professional and academic acclaim or by the uniqueness of its presentation and content. This definition is not to be confused with the term good, but rather as a way to single out certain texts from a broader context. 

This definition is in contrast to mainstream media, that is made to be broad, approachable and in many cases, disposable. Here would find the masses of feel good novels and thrills written to be read and then forgotten. Likewise here is where you will find cookbooks, tv dramas, action and horror films of all kinds. Note that I do not use the term quality here as a direct notation of what is good and what is bad, as that is frankly a topic that is too wide, and too complex for this text to cover in any meaningful way. I am also fully aware that these definitions are strenuous at best, and often blend into each other in complex and fascinating ways.

For the interest of this text will this definition be used to define between texts that the library can count on being borrowed, and texts that, while not being as popular, are more likely to leave a larger impression on the patron that do borrow it.

Besides quality, must the question of quantity be taken into account. The quantity of texts, or the number of items that a library can have at a single moment is ofcourse limited by its physical space. There is only so much room that one library can fill with texts before something needs to be removed in order to make room for something new. It is an unfortunate result that every piece of media that is bought in a modern library does need to take the place of another piece of media, each purchase and removal of a text much as a result be argued for.

The physical space of bookshelves and other storage devices must also be taken into account when planning for what form a library’s collection will take. A current public library tends towards having a small variety of media available, books, audiobooks and movies for example. This approach allows them to maximize the space available for these collections, as well as minimizing the curation time needed, as they all follow the same general workflow. This allows the library to take a quantitative approach to media collection, leading to a  large chance of the patron finding the item they are looking for, as long as it is not too obscure or old.

In this form of library, can the librarian be a bit more lenient with how much the library buys, especially if they are under no obligation to keep the media in question for posterity or future research. This means that texts of both mainstream and more nice material can quite often easily find their place side by side. There are still limitations however, especially considering the libraries limited, and sadly often restrictive budgets. This budget still makes sure hard choices must be made about what to buy and not to. I discuss the librarian’s role in curating a collection in more detail in a future chapter.

In the form of the library that I am describing, will this question become even more important, as the nature of the collections means that different areas will need to be set aside for each collection, and more complex and varied storage forms will need to be put in place. This would sadly mean that the librarians would need to be even more discriminatory in the forms of media that they choose to take in. This, I would argue, will be one of the biggest limiting factors, but also one of the biggest assurances of quality for the library’s services.

When creating a collection it is always important to keep in mind why this collection is created, what form of problems they are meant to solve and for who. The current driving forces behind many purchases that I have been purview to have been based on the concept that we should buy them, because people want to borrow them from our collection. In my experience will these collections gravitate more towards mainstream media, unless there are librarians present with a special interest or dedication to a certain media form or genre.

By Evan-Amos – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12814264

In comparison would the Library of odd things need to be even more discriminatory with what they buy in, and as a result does the question of nieces versus mainstream become even more important.

In this scenario will the work of curating become even more important, as the space and time is even more limited. This means that the questions of what and why certain media is included or excluded becomes even more important. When for example, a library decides to include a series of Nintendo 64 cartridge games from the popular and groundbreaking gaming console with the same name, what should be included?

Do we include titles that we know were popular, like Super Mario 64, do we only include those titles that were critically acclaimed at the time, like Goldeneye 64. Do we aim to search out more obscure titles that later became cult classics, or that may be remembered fondly by our patrons?

I do not claim to have any easy answers to these questions, as they are complex and deeply rooted in each library’s situation and capabilities. I would argue that a balance is to be strived for, between high and low culture, nice and mainstream, obscure and well known, in this way will the library of odd things best serve its purpose of exposing their patrons to the largest amount of new and novel experiences, as well as old and potentially nostalgic ones.

With the implementation of more Libraries of odd things can this problem be alleviated somewhat by allowing cross library loans, much in the same way that Swedish public libraries are today able to borrow books from other public libraries as well as some university libraries.

While this is not a perfect solution, is it one that can be readily applied with already existing infrastructure. 

This chapter is meant as a beginning to the discussion rather than the be all and end all solution to a series of very complex and somewhat controversial problems within the contemporary library world. Next chapter will discuss the needs and wants of the library patron, as well as how these concepts can be defined and used in everyday library work, especially when it comes to the question of curation.

The library of odd things: A home for obsolete media, and rare finds: Part one, introductions

~ SamRandom ~ 4 Comments

What you are about to read is the first part of a longer essay that I have decided to split into smaller chapters for ease of reading in a blog setting. In this essay I will discuss several concepts regarding how the Swedish library system works, and the role of the Swedish public library. Later in the text I will introduce an alternative to this model, that I have dubbed the library of odd things. This chapter will contain the introduction to this model, as well as my primary arguments.

Introduction

I have for a long time noticed a trend in public library work I can only liken to a form of gentrification of the materials at the public libraries that I work at. The first and most obvious way that the libraries are limited are the kinds of books and movies that are available at the libraries that I have worked at. I have noticed that collections of short stories, comics and poetry have become fewer. While this is a vital discussion as well, is it not the topic that I wish to discuss in this essay. Today I wish to discuss the usefulness and novelty of discounted and obscure media formats. As I start to work, MP3 audiobooks and other older audio formats have already disappeared, along with the fate of VHS and CDs.

It can easily be argued that these forms of media have long served its purpose, and given the limited space of the libraries, it would make sense to remove the older, and seemingly useless forms of media.  In this text I will argue that this does not always have to be the case. We do not always have to buy every åpopulauir feel good novel or detective series to every library. These series do take up lage part of many libraries’ budgets, as well as library space. As publishing of books only seems to increase as they are catching up with lowering costs of books, and companies like Amazon selling books on a loss, is this something that libraries need to look into sooner rather than later.

I would argue that it is impossible to keep up with this form of publishing and release pressure, and it will lead to more and more rare and old collections needing to be moved to give place for these new, and cheap books. Not to mention that the shelf life of these books will inevitably become shorter and shorter as well, as they too will be replaced with new best sellers of the month. With a shifting media landscape and the ability to get your hands on mainstream books becoming cheaper and easier, and in the face of dwindling library numbers, would I argue that it is time for the library to return to its roots, and provide the media that no others can, and most importantly, do it for free.

In light of this development I would like to argue another form of libraries, a somewhat controversial topic in modern librarianship. In this, an older form of the library would once again be put in the center, rather than the services that the library currently struggles to produce. In this kind of library the focus will be on discovery and the exploration of media old and new. Here old VHS and vinyl records would share shelf space with high end vr games and digital multimedia. A library like this would be able to, in theory, encompass all of human expression, and let it be available to the general public, free of charge.

This essay will be separated into several chapters, each which takes up its own aspect of the core question behind the essay, at the end I will present and discuss some of the more common counter arguments to this thesis, and finishing of with some concluding thoughts about how one can continue to work on this project if it seems interesting. The next chapter will discuss the controversial topic of quality and quantity when it relates to handeling media in public libraries.

All images taken, and used with promition from: https://pixabay.com

Essay: the mushroom and the soil

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

Today’s essay partly comes around thanks to a wonderful series of video essays, exhibitions and talks hosted on the Serpentine museums official youtube site. Many of the speakers helped me to open my eyes to what soil can be and what it means to us as humans and living creatures.

In this text I would like to share with my readers my love for all forms of fungal life. More specifically will I try to sell you on the wonder of soil dwelling fungi! These forms of life, for those that are not aware of it, do not fall within the animal or plant kingdom. But rather form their third kingdom, that of the micilia, here we find mushrooms, molds, lichens and until recently, slime molds. 

The kingdom of micilia is a deeply fascinating one, and one that still holds many mysteries, we so far only know of, and have been able to to catalog a very small percentage of the worlds fungi, lichen and molds. These species are highly adapted and adaptable to the areas in which they inhabit. From the symbiosis between fungi and algae found in the lichen to the rapidly growing single cell organisms of the microfungi, is it truly a varied and complex world of wonder and mystery!

These various kinds of life forms are, while looking a lot like plants, indeed a lot more closely related to the animal kingdom. For one is the micilia not made out of plant fibers, but rather microscopic chitin, the same materials that crustaceans and many insects form their outer shells from. Furthermore, these lifeforms do not perform any form of photosynthesis, instead extracting nutrition from the surrounding areas by sending out acids much in the same way that our stomachs do to ingest nutrition. In this way many fungi and other mycelia have an incredibly important role to play in the decomposition and reuptake of dead organic material, be that animal or plant life.

This essay in particular will focus on the many kinds of micilia, that is the large networks of string-like structures found underground, as well as microfungi, and their impact on soil health. I will begin by defining what I mean with soil, and how it is different from dirt. Dirt in the most simple terms is the combination of clay, organic matter, stones and sand. What makes soil different from dirt, scientifically, is that soil is teeming with life. Soil teems with fungi, insects and thousands of different forms of microbial life, all which does its part to turn dead organic material into nutrition for the plants that grow upon it.

As mentioned before, fungi work to decompose and pick up nutrition from many of the dead organic material found in and on the grounds, from animals to dead flowers and fallen branches. They do this by the spreading of their micilian networks. This not only keeps the ground clear, but also makes sure the minerals and other nutrients found within can be reused by the rest of the ecosystem. Recent science has taught us that these micilian networks are capable of seeking out nearby dead biomatter to feast upon, and will to a much greater extent move in that direction.

Even more so, it is not uncommon for fungi of our forests to create symbiotic relationships with trees, flowers and other plants. In return for sharing some of the nutrition of the decomposition in return for sugar from the plants photosynthesis. Furthermore, it has been shown that the mycelial networks of many fungi have managed to connect several species of trees and other vegetation together, and created a form of communication network between them, sharing nutrition as well as electrical signals, this wondrous discovery will be the topic of a future essay!

While you might rarely see a mushroom body as you wander the woods, know that the soil living fungi is always there, just underneath the surface, and their presence is vital to ours, and every other living organisms existence. Sadly these complex organisms and their relationships to other lives are being disturbed by deforestation, acidification and most of all monoculture farming. Thankfully things are changing, and many interesting projects of so-called permaculture are starting to flourish across the globe, something I would love to return to another day. For now, know that the fungi is everywhere, even if you can’t see it.

Further reading:

https://www.youtube.com/@SerpentineGalleriesUK

Stamets (2019) Fantastic Fungi, ISBN 9781647221720

Essey: Alcohol and the self: A study in drug use and self perception

~ SamRandom ~ 1 Comment

Trigger warnings: 

Alcoholism, mentions of abuse and implied assault.

Disclaimer:

I want to begin with a series of disclaimers. First and foremost, I must make it clear that I myself do not drink alcohol and have not been truly drunk even once in my life. However, I, like most people, have had experiences with seeing both the positive and negative effects of the use of alcohol. Furthermore, I want to also clarify from the start that I will denote alcohol as a drug in this text as this decision to do so is vital for the point of this essay. The purpose of this text is to discuss and elaborate upon the discussion and culture of perceived alcohol use within a Swedish context.

Introduction

I am not a drinker. I have been drunk once or twice but I just never got into drinking myself. As someone who does not use alcohol, I have had countless discussions of why I chose not to partake in this socially acceptable and expected drug. This text is meant to be an exploration of these discussions, and why they so often turned sour or hostile.

It has dawned on me more and more that these discussions were never about me and my abstinence, but rather what that abstinence does with the narratives around alcohol and drinking. Alcohol use is common in Sweden- about three out of four adults consume alcohol (The Public Health Agency of Sweden, 2022). Although the dangerous consumption of alcohol is decreasing, between 16 and 30 percent of Swedish adults, depending on which study you refer to, still claimed that they had consumed unhealthy amounts of alcohol. Despite these concerning numbers, the topic of alcohol abuse is not something that is often discussed, and when it is indeed raised, it is often framed in a negative light, decrying those that have fallen to this so-called vice. Documentaries, tv series and commercials often depict those who are afflicted by alcoholism as being failures of sorts; that it is due to their personal failings and choices that they find themselves where they are.

Shame and normalcy

I will begin with unpacking two concepts that will be integral to my discussion. The first of which being the notion of shame. I will use shame here in the context of doing something that you have an ethical, emotional or social aversion towards doing something. This shame can be internally motivated (i.e. the action can go against something that you believe or feel). It can also be externally motivated from actual or perceived expectations of wider society the subject exists within.

Alcohol seems to be uniquely positioned in Swedish and western society as a bridge between what is and what is not considered shameful behavior in my experience. The trope of the drunk ex sending embarrassing texts, unwise plans made while inebriated, drunken fights and unfortunate drunken hookups are commonplace in media, especially in romantic comedies. Doing dumb things under the influence of alcohol is almost expected, and in some ways, welcomed. With that said, these actions are simultaneously tied with the shame that comes with the confrontations that will inevitably occur once the effects of alcohol have worn off. 

This leads us to the next term- normality, or normalization. As mentioned in the introduction, alcohol is an almost universal part of most Swedish citizens’ lives. Over eighty percent of adult Swedish citizens have used alcohol at least once within a year, according to the Swedish health department’s latest report. This trend seems to be changing, partly due to influences of other cultures, but it’s also due to a change in the outlook of alcohol by younger generations. The same study shows that comparatively, older Swedes take up a larger percentage of alcohol consumers, and the notion that ‘alcohol is dangerous’ is much more prevalent amongst younger individuals. (The Public Health Agency of Sweden, 2022)

The ambiguity of the use of alcohol makes it hard to look at in the same light as tobacco or cannabis use for example. Alcohol is, and has been for most of its history, a part of Swedes’ daily lives. As mentioned before, the shame and difficult situations that arise from the use of these drugs are not only seen as normal, but often quite comical. This can sometimes make the shameful and painful parts of alcohol use difficult to express earnestly in day to day conversations.

Pain and addiction

Much of the discussions around alcohol that I have been a part of, inevitably comes back to two topics- addiction and pain. The first topic, addiction is something that many that I have spoken with about alcohol have had, or at the very least, have had second hand experiences with. Alcohol is after all, an addictive substance, and is the only truly psychoactive drug that is both socially accepted and juridically legal. (The Public Health Agency of Sweden, 2022)

Alcoholism is also often hidden in plain sight in Sweden. We can all see the cues to the alcohol store when it opens, hear about tales of binge drinkers and on and off alcoholics, but like so much else, it is easily ignored because, once again it is both normal and shameful. The prevalence of individuals who suffer from alcohol makes it unfortunately easier for others to ignore it, as well as to see their suffering as normal or expected. Very much like as it is with homelessness, does an alcoholic also represent what would happen if an individual would fail to meet social expectations. To become addicted to alcohol -to fall from grace so to speak- is often depicted as a personal failure. This shame of becoming the other, of becoming someone that has failed, also makes it harder for most people to empathize or even acknowledge those who suffer from alcoholism. To do so would be to acknowledge the risks in their own behaviors and choices.

The effects of alcohol can sometimes lead to dangerous behaviors and poor decision making skills. Accidents due to loss of motor skills, lack of self awareness and a heightened sense of invulnerability are all well attested effects of the drug. These injuries or other pain caused under the influences can often be easily laughed off by the surrounding population, and is once again, somewhat normalized and accepted. This normalization makes it harder to verbalize and discuss openly what happened during said painful events. This may lead to more internalized regret and shame over the individual’s actions. This, tied with the addictive nature of the drug, can easily lead to a spiral of dependency and disgust of the substance. (Pietrangelo, 2023)

Alcohol affects different people differently, while some gets solemn and quiet, others gets loud and boisterous, and others get angry and violent. Many have each of these reactions at different times. When violence and anger shows up, it is not uncommon for those closest to the intoxicated to be the one that suffers the most. This, like many other negative effects of alcohol use, is something that everyone at least has a third hand account of. Many I have spoken to have tales of someone who has suffered at the hands of someone with alcohol dependency, or simply with especially aggressive or violent reactions to alcohol. The shame is present here as well, both in the shame of the perpetrator and their victims. I want to be very careful with my claims here, as I have not been personally affected by this form of tragedy, nor do I have expert knowledge in the subject. I, like many others, have second or third hand experiences, as well as experiences of ingesting several media presentations of alcohol and violence. (Pietrangelo, 2023) I will end my discussion of this particular topic here as a result, as it is such a big subject that there is no way I can even begin to do it justice in this short essay on my personal experiences.

Alcohol and the self

I would argue that very few people initially see themselves as an addict, and often need help from others to see this. The argument often goes like this, “alcoholism, abuse and other destructive behaviors are something that happens to others, not me”. Among the people I have spoken to regarding their alcohol use, all of them are clear that they are more or less in control of their alcohol consumption. This is not to say that the people I talked to were wrong or lying. It is simply a trend I have noticed. 

I will once again tread very carefully here, for I have very little experience in talking to individuals that have been, or currently are clinically addicted to alcohol. What has become apparent, if the rest of my conclusions are to be believed, is that to be an addict, is to become an other, in the eyes of those around you.

The self and other as non drinker

There are several tropes I have encountered regarding the non-drinker in Sweden. Non-drinkers are often seen as prudes, being boring, not fitting in or wanting to just make a point. Many of these negative tropes I would argue, can be linked to shame and normalcy that we have discussed earlier. Seeing how normalized the use of alcohol is, it is not surprising that one would be seen as somewhat of an outsider for not drinking. Seeing someone not drinking would also confront someone who drinks with several of the concepts discussed earlier. The self image of the non drinker, is in all intent and purpose unimportant to the text.

Conclusions

This text has not meant to present a complete image on how alcohol culture looks in Sweden, or how this pertains to Swedish society in general. I aim to share some of my personal experiences with alcohol as alcohol discourse as someone that doesn’t personally drink. I likewise would like to air some of my grievances I have had with said discourse, and try and formulate them in text.

In this text I have tried to argue that by normalizing the use of alcohol, it makes it hard to criticize the use of the drug without criticizing the users of the drug. This may lead to individuals finding it hard to express their feelings on things that have happened regarding their use, or others use of alcohol. I do not wish to demonize alcohol or alcohol use as completely evil, but simply to try and open up and change how we discuss alcohol, both its good and bad sides.

Note that I have not discussed the more positive aspects of alcohol, both as a drug, and as a social construct, this is simply due to the fact that I believe such a topic deserves its own chapter, as it is way too complex and nuanced to fit in here.

The Public Health Agency of Sweden. (2022.). https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/the-public-health-agency-of-sweden/living-conditions-and-lifestyle/andtg/alcohol/

Pietrangelo, A. (2023). What Are the Effects of Alcohol on the Body? Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/alcohol/effects-on-body#physical