After the success of round one, we are inviting 81 bloggers from Europe, India, China, Brazil and the USA to TH!NK AGA!N, this time on climate change.

The blogging competition will run from September 23 to December 20, with a launch event in Copenhagen in September. During their free trip to Copenhagen, participants will meet, get training and equipment and debate the hottest topics in climate change.

If you’re chosen to come to Copenhagen in September you’ll receive a Flip Mino HD Camera. You’ll also have the chance to win many other prizes throughout the competition.

Interested? Go to www.thinkaboutit.eu, where you can read more about TH!NK2. Just fill out the application and attach your CV/résumé with motivation letter (250 words max).

The sky’s the limit… Good luck!

Go to thinkaboutit.eu to sign up for the competition.

Technorati tags: think09, thinkaboutit

These were my afterthoughts on the Th!nk About It competition. I responded to 2 questions: 1) what I thought about the EP election results in my home country and 2) what I had learned from the project.

So the EU-blogging adventure has ended for me. Gladly, I have to say. For me signing up for Th!nk About It back in November was accepting a challenge. I’m not into politics and certainly don’t like writing about it. The competition would be a perfect incentive for me to write more and discover more about the EU along the road. Now it’s about seven months later and I made it to the end of the competition. To be honest with you, I didn’t think I would make it. Even considered that writing once a month is not that much of an effort for participating, there were several moments I seriously doubted to keep contributing.

The competition didn’t grab me. I had a hard time tuning into the writing of other competitors. Many were young journalists and their writing style was accordingly. As a long-time blogger I missed heart in a lot of postings. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t read all the posts (appr. 600) that were written during the four months.

Even though I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to write more, I didn’t write as much. Instead I made an effort of creating visual material. Going back to basics with my movie explaining the power of the European Parliament pleased my family and friends. It made some of the basic decision making structures clear to them. During the party I got a lot of compliments on the other video I created, my visual letter to MEP’s.

I feel flattered so many people complimented me with my contribution. I guess I stood out of the crowd with my movies. People actually liking them is added bonus to the things I learned along the way creating them, skills that will be of use for future projects.

The EJC has plans for an extension of the Th!nk platform, they’re planning something around climate change. Even though it’s way more up my alley than the European Parliament, I don’t think I can be tempted to sign up for another competition. Not even when I know beforehand that I’ll win another gadget (I’ll keep you posted, though, in case you want to join).

(My pictures of the day)

Before going to London last month, I thought it would be a great idea to catch the people Ton and I would be visiting on tape about the European Union and the upcoming elections. You know, the Londoners perspective on things and my reflection on that (I needed inspiration for the Th!nk About It blogging competition).

I only interviewed Mark on the topic, but he’s Dutch and lives in Copenhagen. So that was the end of my series on the Londoners perspective on the EU.

During the interview, Mark came up with a question that I thought would be a good one to investigate. So instead of editing the interview with Mark and putting it online, I dived into the topic of the European Parliament and its influence. I took it as an incentive to practice my film-making skills and even created animations for the first time in my life (Apple’s Keynote rocks!).

I had to put a lot of effort in this one. Hope you like it! (BTW, I’ve published it on the Th!nk About It competition site as well. I’d really appreciate it if you go there and vote for my video!)

P.S.: Special thanks to Mark for featuring in this film (you rock!)

I am not sure how to summarise this event. The short version: It’s been interesting, especially the people that I’ve met. However:

I left the kick-off event of the European Blogging competition with mixed feelings. Let me explain. First of all a large part of day one was about blogging. The discussions were the same as those we had several years ago in the blogosphere. Hearing journalists, a researcher and ‘the experienced blogger’ discuss blogging, I felt I was warped back in time. I’ve moved on in the scene of social media. Blogging was just the beginning. That said, there was quite a number of people (e.g. aspiring journalists) not blogging and not heavily using other social media. The knowledge gap to bridge was rather large.

Day 2 was about the EP (also known as European Parliament). It was nice to be in the center of the European political scene, but I’m not sure what I’m taking home from this day. Some of the speakers were OK, others were rather bland. The good thing about it was the pointers to relevant sites, the bad thing was having to sit and listen to monotone conversations. It didn’t grip me, especially not on an empty stomache due to a delay on our lunch whilst being thirsty as hell (what is it that facilitators have such difficulty with supplying enough of the most basic human needs: water).

To be hounest, I was relieved to find out Pedro was there as well. It was so nice having a kindred spirit around. Somehow we never spoke to eachother at the four Reboots we both attended, but this event was a good way to catch up (we had so much fun together ).

So to conclude with some positive notes. What I especially liked was meeting many people that live in (or are from) the Eastern European countries. Not so many travel to the conferences that I attend, so good to hear some personal voices from that area. I think the idea of this competition could lead to something rather interesting. I’m curious to read the contributions from the other contributers (aka ‘thinkers’).

So now the competion is officially opened. Here I have to publish at least one blogpost a month. I’m not sure what I’ll be writing on (or video-ing), but I do know I will keep it personal. I’m not looking for the insider scoop, I’m looking for ‘the people’s’ stories. So if you would like to share anything related to the EU, the EP and the upcoming elections, please let me know.

P.S.: see the official trailer below.

About the competition:

The goal is to get Europeans to THINK ABOUT IT and to express their views on Europe through an online blogging competition. The invited bloggers will cover, report, critique and debate on campaign issues and candidates. EJC editors will give feedback on the journalistic standards of the blog posts.

25-27 January a kick-off takes place where I’ll be “briefed on the European blogsphere, European Parliament, elections and on understanding the EU from a journalist’s perspective.”

As a no-politics-please-blogger, I’m very curious how I will survive