Update: Our license to broadcast the stream has now expired, and therefore the above link doesn’t work anymore. Questions? Contact the blogging team.

Before we left, Anton had warned us that it would be impossible to get wireless access throughout the whole market area. Still, it was a bit frustrating to not always be as mobile as we would have liked to have been. Also, all the multi-media content needed to be uploaded through the lap-top. Even though lap-tops are portable, they are not easily carried around in -20 and typed on simultaneously? Instead we had to walk back to a hotspot (preferably indoors) to upload things to the blog, and as a result many of the posts became less immediate. For a future project of this kind it would be useful to be able to create different types of multi-media content (audio, video, still images and text) with one and the same device (preferably a small, easily portable one ? is there such a thing?), and to be able to upload it from there immediately. Also, making better use of GPRS technology might be a solution to the mobility issue, as long as the telephone network doesn?t crash.

As far as the coverage of the market activities is concerned we didn?t really plan in detail what each person should cover. Had we done that we might have been able to get a better exposure of the whole market and all the different activities. At the same time, I would say that we almost had too much planned at times ? instead of taking the time to write entries and reflect on what we had just been doing, we ran off to the next activity. One important thing which should differentiate this type of reporting from traditional media coverage is the way in which the writers themselves participate in the different activities and report on experiences. The pressure to be immediate and to send updates continuously may lead to less personal/reflective and more journal style reporting. Also, had we planned things more in advance many of the spontaneous reports from activities that were suggested to us by other visitors would have been lost.

If we were to carry out a similar project in the future it would be important to keep in mind that experiencing things and delivering those experiences is more important than taking part in each and every activity. It would also be valuable to have more bloggers on the team (locals, other visitors) to be able to cover larger parts of the market and to get a wider perspective on things. Also, I think it is important to consider the audience of the blog when planning for potential future projects. If we want international readers, in order to spread information about the market outside the borders of Sweden (which I think is a good intention), we need to find a way to attract that audience. If a majority of the audience is going to be Swedish (as was the case this year) I think we should reconsider the choice of writing all posts in English.

In order to prepare for the rest of the blogging team I set off from Ume? on Wednesday with the 6:00 am bus. With me I brought wireless access points, cables, a pocket PC and a tablet PC. I arrived in Jokkmokk seven hours later at 1:00 pm. I there met with the people from Jokkmokks IT-department.

With the access points that were provided (3 Cisco AP:s, 2 Intel and 4 D-link) it is not possible to cover the entire market area. A few areas with a lot of activity had instead been picked out to become so-called hotspots where files could be uploaded and downloaded. Jokkmokks IT department provided us with several network connection points. After investigating the area along with Andreas from the IT-department we started building the net.

The first net was located in and around the tourist office. This was thought to be a got point since it?s in the heart of the market area with market streets on all sides. The tourist office is also a very natural place to visit now and then to warm up in cold weather. The building is made of wood which is easier to penetrate with radio than for example concrete. Two points were placed on each side of the building.

The second network located at the museum became the most difficult to set up. The point where we could get access to the network was placed in a nearby building meaning that a link had to be established across an inner yard. I started by using a directional antenna for this purpose. The building seamed to have some serious damping effect on the signal so I was instantly forced to reinforce the link with several repeaters. But even then the link could only be maintained during short periods. After having tried every possible configuration and placement of access points and antennas I had to give it up for the day. The bad experiences continued the next day and I soon started to suspect some source of interference.

In a previous experience with setting up a wireless LAN I observed a similar problem. That time the range of the access points was seriously reduced. The cause proved to be an RF video link causing interference. That time problem could easily be solved by changing the radio channel in use. This time however changing the channel did not seem to have any affect which I think indicated a spread spectrum source of interference. After a great deal of work the link through the inner yard was made up of mostly cable with only a few short jumps of wireless radio. The good news was that once I got into the museum main building the interference seamed to disappear. Still the network could sometimes be unreachable due to changing interference on the link in the yard.

Network number three was put up in our market office. This installation took no more that ten minutes, once we had solved the problem of finding the right key for the premises. A forth network was available at the school were the concert on Saturday night was to be held. Since the school already had a wireless network the only work here involved strengthening the network just before the concert. We needed a really good network in this case so that the streaming client not accidentally would disconnect from the streaming server in Ume?.

Numerous conclusions could be made from the Jokkmokk experience with regard to wireless lan. One that we immediately made was that the hot spots we put up would only give us good coverage during day time. In the evenings the market activities moved away from the, during day time, most densely populated areas.

As far as the equipment goes my opinion is that far too much time went into configuring the devices. I would guess that there in the future will be wireless equipment available that specialises on the kind of temporary networks we were building here. Such equipment would perhaps have simple buttons on then to configure them as client, repeater or access points. They could perhaps also have features such as battery packs for power supply on places where no regular power could be found.

Of the different brands of access points that were available I would rate the Dlink as the number one for building temporary wireless network. The Dlink:s got the same flexibility at for example the Cisco AP?s but when it comes to fast configuring they are superior. The Intel AP?s are easy to configure as well but lack the abilities to configure the device as repeater or client. Intel AP?s also makes a lot of noise which made them unfit for placing in for example the museum library. If you also consider the price of the equipment the Dlink equipment gains even more points. You could get ten Dlink AP?s for the price of one Cisco AP. That means that I could have gotten as many as thirty Dlink AP?s, instead of the three Cisco AP?s I brought. In temporary wireless networks there is often a greater risk of theft since you have less time hide the equipment in temporary installations. With cheaper equipment the risk of theft as well as the loss from theft will be less.

The problem, occurring outside out control, was cause by a malfunctioning router in Telia?s network in Lule? (thank you Telia). Telia made attempts to repair the router during the night but the new circuits inserted were unfortunately faulty as well. The network in and around Jokkmokk was as a result down until Monday morning.

For this reason we were unable to post any updates other than audio blogs until we arrived in Ume?. On our way back we also experienced some problems with gas pumps that didn?t accept our credit cards possible also in relation to the network problem (listen to Jim audio blog about that).

by Anton

The performance started with the didgeridoo, played by our very own Jim. It gave a sacred aura to the beginning, and foreshadowed the music to come.

This concert included music from all over the world, but the music that Seth plays is the type I grew up listening to. Coming from the South, I have heard a lot of bluegrass and I feel somewhat qualified to say that he is wonderful. There are not too many singers that can really make you feel the blues. He has a great ability to express the heart of the song, or more importantly, the soul of music. Seth is indeed one of those few. Tonight, he played the fiddle, the banjo, and when he sang, he made you feel the music!

The level of professionalism was apparent as the musicians changed with the songs. They mixed and played off each other in a variety of genres and tempos, all with grace and seeming ease. I have to say it again, it was a wonderful concert! The blogging group and I have dubbed Nigel Shaw and Carolyn Hillyer?s song, Legend of the Solar Tambourine, our Jokkmokk theme song, as it was the song that we ended up singing the rest of our stay. It is off their Ancestors CD and proceeds of this CD go to Survival International, a group that supports the rights of indigenous tribal people in the Siberian Arctic.

by Stephanie

The first video clip I took in a local arts and crafts store. The woman in the clip had lived in Jokkmokk since a small child and tells of how the market has changed throughout her lifetime. (This is in Swedish)?For those of you who do not speak Swedish, the women in the clip mentions that long ago the market contained mainly handcrafted goods, later it changed to very generic (dare I say it?) traditional junk. She said that the one thing that she has noticed in these last years is the return to the importance of handcrafted goods at the market.

Arts/crafts

The next clip is from an arts and crafts booth at V?stra Skolan. This clip is of Nina Sparr, an artist who makes things from human hair?everything from underwear to wedding crowns. In her video clip, she says that customers leave the hair with her (no shower drain searching), and she makes what they order. She also mentions that the age of the hair is not a factor. She sat and weaved the hair as we spoke, not missing a stroke in her circular pattern. The result from the hair weaving is a thick, strong rope with which she bends into different shapes.

by Stephanie

1. Dance house
2. Stephanie at the reindeer race
3. The Livja concert
4. Jim?s ability to stay calm in stressful situations
5. Breakfast and nice talks with our hosts the Sandstr?ms
6. Dancing in the red barn in the woods
7. Friendly salesmen
8. Nice art work
9. Mamma Dalton?s burgers
10. Story telling

Bottom 5

1. Network down
2. Stress!
3. General technology problems
4. Lost without gas in -20
5. Extreme cold

I’ll return with some more thorough reflections once I’ve had time to reflect some more…

by Therese

Download a video taped sample here (5,9MB) (thanks to Anton and Jon for helping me with the clip!).

by Therese

by Therese