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True, the project 'in search of: the heart and mind of Europe's twentysomethings' focusses on eleven European countries and Belarus isn't one of these eleven but that doesn't mean that the Belarusian Generation Y Logbook isn't interesting. This blog in English shows what interests the youth in Belarus and what is happening with young people there.
The Logbook project is part of the Generation.by initiative. The posted articles are written for and about active young people who were born or were growing up in Belarus after the collapse of the Soviet Union and by leaving their lives encountered all the difficulties of the complicated political situation in Belarus after 1990 and now represent the so-called "Belarusian Generation Y". Let's see if we can find more of these kind of websites in other European countries.
The Cafebabel website published a special on the future of job mobility: 'Job mobility in Europe is starting to take off,' assesses Jimmy Jamar, who is responsible for the mobility of workers at the European commission. 'The numbers are highest among young workers who seek their first jobs outside their countries of origin.' Therefore, in these last few years, young Lithuanians, Latvians and Poles have moved to western Europe in order to gain their first professional experiences. Destinations: the United Kingdom, Ireland or Sweden, the European countries that are the most welcoming and eager towards young recent graduates’.
But not only twentysomethings from the eastern part of Europe are very entrepreneurial. ‘Western’ twentysomethings are as entrepreneurial orientated as their ‘Eastern’ peers. They’re setting up their own businesses, civic social organisations or demand a job that facilitates their entrepreneurial aspirations. Coolpolitics Research was asked to share some insights on this entrepreneurial generation for a special mini documentary on the future of work. The video can be watched online. Minor detail; it’s in Dutch.
On this Blog the rise of 'New Idealism' amongst Europe's twentysomethings has already been discussed. Further proof will be collected once the search into the heart and mind of Europe's twentysomethings gets started. But Kairos Future (a commercial research institute) has also presented some info on 'New Idealism' as a driving force of this generation: "In Europe, the young Spanish and Italians are the most inclined to buy goods from companies that are environmentally friendly". Their report shows that in Scandinavia there's a weaker link between thought and action. An outcome that most people won't expect as the region is famous for its advanced environmental performance. But then again, the mentality of Europe's somethings is strange enough quite unknown to many organisations (companies and governments alike). Did you for instance know that " young Danes are more inclined to treat themselves with some everyday luxury than the EU average and are much less interested in saving their money instead of spending
it"? Well now you do!
What European toys say about European views, that was the topic last week of Charlemagne (a column published in The Economist).
Some bits of the column:
"LEADERS of the European project spend much time searching for icons of a single European identity. They name “Europeans of the Year” and give awards to books—and even to journalists. [ ....... ] In the hunt for a distinctive European identity, consider toy brands, such as Denmark's Lego or Germany's Playmobil.
These firms may be dwarfed in America by titans like Mattel, but in Europe they are cultural giants, vying for top spots in markets such as France and Germany. In their designs, business models and philosophies, they offer a striking snapshot of European aspirations, anxieties and foibles. [ ....... ]
This column offers as its European of the Year Playmobil man, a short, stiff-legged, eternally smiling, plastic figure first created three decades ago, and today churned out at a rate of 80m a year. Study these little people, and you learn much about European views of globalisation, violence, creativity, America, race, gender equality and what makes a good job. For example, says Playmobil's chief executive, Andrea Schauer, “the dream of every German mother” used to be to have an engineer for a son. Parents liked to see boys assembling elaborate structures in their bedrooms; Lego is the top toy brand in Germany. In contrast, the French shun construction toys, preferring the world of the imagination. Playmobil is their leading toy brand.
[ ...... ] What of Europe's cultural identity? Examination of Playmobil figures reveals interesting things. Europeans are squeamish about warfare and armies. American shelves groan under tanks and muscle-bound action heroes; European parents are less keen. Playmobil tanks and warplanes “could certainly make big money,” says Mrs Schauer, since children write in demanding such things. But Playmobil will not make them. Europe's history, especially Germany's, rules it out. The firm also avoids links with violent licensed brands, such as Spiderman, saying it prefers older stories that leave children's imagination free to roam."
Further reading is recommended as this column touches on what European identity is about. What do Europeans have in common and what are their differences? Well here you have it, Germany goes for Lego and France favours Playmobil :-)
ps
Illustration by Peter Schrank
"The first shot starts with a shot of club bed cheering very loudly. The camera moves left and right very quickly on a freehand camera. This is continuing the theme of the titles.The second shot is of the presenter, Ray Cokes, who is holding up a chair and being stupid and this shot also lasts for around 5 seconds with the sound of club bed (the audience) still Cheering very loud. The third shot is of club bed and is almost identical to the first shot and then back to the presenter. The very first few shots are very important for a programe like Most Wanted, who have to entertain a very difficult viewer from the start (see my target audience section). By making out the shot is very loud, stupid and entertaining, the first few shots get this across to the viewer. It’s also important to mention that Most Wanted kept within the structure of the channel, MTV. The presenter, Ray Cokes, then introduces the show with a few jokes referring to his on-screen relationship with his floor manager, Nina. The camera shots range from Medium close up to mid shots. They then introduce the viewer to everyone who is working on that nights show. This is achieved by the presenter talking to the crewmember and the shot being in the television. (So the presenter is in the middle of the screen, with two television to the left, where on one screen the crew member that is being spoken to and on the other the phone number.)"
People who are in their late twenties or early thirties have probably already some flash backs. In the first half of the nineties Ray Cokes drew with his MTV-show sixty million people from thirty eight countries. Next to the European Song Contest, Most Wanted has been the only TV program on an European TV channel that was truly PAN European. The teenagers and twentysomethings who called in were from Germany, Slovenia, Spain or Norway. But this was in the beginning of the Nineties. The wall just came down and European youngsters weren't that fluent in English yet. We're now in the beginning of the 21st century and even more European youngsters are speaking English and they're even more influenced by the same 'pop' culture(s). So where is that new PAN European show that could potentially draw maybe even an audience of hundred million European twentysomethings? The aim of the project that Coolpolitics Research is setting up (in search of: the heart and mind of Europe's twentysomethings) is to find the right ingredients for such a show. Let's see which TV channel dares to make use of these ingredients ........
ps
The quote come from www.raycokes.com
A trip around the world in just ten days. That's what the International Film Festival Rotterdam is about. And this trip around the world included quite some interesting movies on Europe's twentysomethings. Flanders was represented by 'With Friends Like These', a movie on five friends in their twenties who are confronted with reality when one of them returns to the provincial town of St. Niklaas. The Slovenian movie 'L… Like Love' could be seen as an illusion of fiction where real people play their roles without confronting the truth. It illustrated how young immigrants from former Yugoslavia come to Prague in the search of a new life and love. 'Magnus' centered around a sickly kid in a loveless and selfish family in Estonia. When Magnus fails to die as expected at an early age, a new challenge awaits him. With a hysterical mother and a father who pays for his drug addiction by recruiting prostitutes to be shipped to Germany, he is left entirely to his own devices. Only his sister seems to have any sense of reality. But if we extent the definition to Europe there were also some very interesting movies from Central Asia. Especially 'Absurd and Absurdity', a film that takes a light-hearted look at the adventures of three Kyrgyz young men who each wrestle with the problems of this bizarre society they live in gave a fascinating insight on the Kyrgyz society. If you have a chance to watch some of these movies at a local cinema or film festival ..... well they're highly recommended.
The current twentysomethings, born in Europe between 1977 and 1987, are the ‘Net Generation’. When they were (and some still are) in their formative period, which takes from puberty until adolescence, they made their homework using search engines like AltaVista, Northern Light and nowadays Google. They are the MTV generation as they have been watching music clips with their friends all their life, or worse, re-enacted them. And one may call them the ‘9/11 Generation’ as the attack on the World Trade Center will be in their minds as the turning point as was World War II or the assassination of JFK for earlier generations.
Quite clearly this generation has been hugely influenced by (new) media. They are digital natives and media prosumers (consumers and producers). An interesting question therefore is how does this generation deals with issues of privacy, a very visually orientated society and 'shocking' content. It's no surprise that the top electronic art festival Ars Electronica ((held in Linz, Austria) gave itself the title 'Goodbye Privacy' last year. And the International Film Festival Rotterdam organised 'The International Conference Media Education from the artistic perspective' today.
Anne van Someren (Creative Manager for the New Media Literaries project at MIT's Comparitive Media Studies) stated: "Young people are already practicing the skill of collective intelligence when they contribute to Wikipedia. They are already learning about the difficulties and potentials of appropriation when they write fan fiction or create a remix video. However, these competencies have yet to be recognised or introduced into formal education and or (media) companies.". The project (in search of: the heart and mind of Europe's twentysomethings) we're working on will give some clues on how these competencies can be recognised in different parts of society. Certain insights will be published on this blog during the year. But if you have examples yourself, share it with us by adding a comment!
True, the project 'in search of: the heart and mind of Europe's twentysomethings' focusses on eleven European countries and Belarus isn't one of these eleven but that doesn't mean that the Belarusian Generation Y Logbook isn't interesting. This blog in English shows what interests the youth in Belarus and what is happening with young people there.
