A semiotic polyocular framework for multidisciplinary research in relation to multifunctional farming and rural development

The concept of multifunctional farming rises out of a problematization of the role of agriculture in society and, in particular, in relation to rural development. Hitherto multifunctional farming has primarily been used as a notion on the relationship between agriculture and society concerning the range of commodity and non-commodity goods that farms provide for society. But the agro-economic achievements together with societal development have led to a point where praxis is questioned and discourse potentially reopened. In an indirect way, the notion of multifunctionality reflects, that aspects not captured by the distinction between commodity and non-commodity need to be reintroduced. This paper offers a new framework (theoretical and methodical) suggesting a poly-ocular multidisciplinary approach and constructivist semiotic understanding of multifunctionality, which supports dialogue and interactions between the approaches, involved. Each research perspective has its own construction of the object of ‘farming’ and the ‘environment’ of farming; and thereby also its own perception of the functions and problems of farming. It therefore comes as no surprise that problems of communication are experienced between different perspectives, or that confusion on shared notions can cause frustrations and difficulties for multidisciplinary studies of multifunctionality. The present framework introduces a notion of multifunctionality, which enables the explicit handling of different perspectives by way of a distinction between the ‘immediate object’, as it appears to the observer, and the ‘dynamical object’, which represents the potentiality of the object in itself. From such semiotic point of view, the notion of multifunctionality becomes genuinely multidisciplinary. Multifunctionality cannot be reduced and included in one perspective, but has to be observed as a second order observation that involves reflexive communication between different perspectives and disciplines

Social media and personal blogging: Textures, routes and patterns

Sociale medier og personlige blogs: teksturer, ruter og mønstre Weblogging (eller blogging) er et af de sociale medier, der er karakteristiske for den såkaldte web 2.0 generation. I denne artikel skal jeg præsentere et studie i den danske blogosfære, hvis fokus er den personlige blog. Inspireret af mediegeografien skal jeg forfølge den tese, at den personlige blog kan forstås som en kropsliggjort, samarbejdende og distribueret praksis, der tilvejebringer et digitalt rum, som kan bebos af de deltagende, dvs. såvel bloggere som brugere. Inden for mediegeografien beskriver begrebet ”tekstur”, taget fra Henri Lefevbre og hverdagssociologien, hvordan selvet, hverdagen og det ordinære (i betydningen fælles og almene) væves sammen, men på forskellige måder, der hver især afmærker forskellige ruter i og imellem rum og steder, det virkelige og det virtuelle og derved også skaber forskellige mønstre i og af dette fællesrum (Falkheimer & Jansson, 2006; Jansson, 2002 og 2008). Ved hjælp af begreberne teksturer, ruter og mønstre identificeres i artiklen fire forskellige genrer i personlig blogging, der illustreres gennem 4 eksempler fra det danske blogmiljø.Weblogging (or blogging) is one the social media, characteristic of the web 2.0 generation. In this article, I will present a research on the Danish blogosphere, the focus of which has been on individual and personal blogging. Inspired by media geography, I pursue the idea that personal blogging can be understood as an embodied, collaborative and distributed practice which constitutes a digital realm to be inhabited by its users. Within media geography, the concept of “textures”, taken form Henri Lefevbre and the sociology of everyday life, designates how the self, the everyday and the mundane are spun together and mark out different cultural-material routes in and between space and place, real and virtual and in so doing create different reticular patterns of the commonplace (Falkheimer & Jansson, 2006; Jansson, 2002, 2008). By means of the concepts of textures, routes and patterns, I identify four different genres in personal blogging to be illustrated by four examples from the Danish blog community

Social media and personal blogging: Textures, routes and patterns

Weblogging (or blogging) is one the social media, characteristic of the web 2.0 generation. In this article, I will present a research on the Danish blogosphere, the focus of which has been on individual and personal blogging. Inspired by media geography, I pursue the idea that personal blogging can be understood as an embodied, collaborative and distributed practice which constitutes a digital realm to be inhabited by its users. Within media geography, the concept of “textures”, taken form Henri Lefevbre and the sociology of everyday life, designates how the self, the everyday and the mundane are spun together and mark out different cultural-material routes in and between space and place, real and virtual and in so doing create different reticular patterns of the commonplace (Falkheimer & Jansson, 2006; Jansson, 2002, 2008). By means of the concepts of textures, routes and patterns, I identify four different genres in personal blogging to be illustrated by four examples from the Danish blog community.Sociale medier og personlige blogs: teksturer, ruter og mønstre Weblogging (eller blogging) er et af de sociale medier, der er karakteristiske for den såkaldte web 2.0 generation. I denne artikel skal jeg præsentere et studie i den danske blogosfære, hvis fokus er den personlige blog. Inspireret af mediegeografien skal jeg forfølge den tese, at den personlige blog kan forstås som en kropsliggjort, samarbejdende og distribueret praksis, der tilvejebringer et digitalt rum, som kan bebos af de deltagende, dvs. såvel bloggere som brugere. Inden for mediegeografien beskriver begrebet ”tekstur”, taget fra Henri Lefevbre og hverdagssociologien, hvordan selvet, hverdagen og det ordinære (i betydningen fælles og almene) væves sammen, men på forskellige måder, der hver især afmærker forskellige ruter i og imellem rum og steder, det virkelige og det virtuelle og derved også skaber forskellige mønstre i og af dette fællesrum (Falkheimer & Jansson, 2006; Jansson, 2002 og 2008). Ved hjælp af begreberne teksturer, ruter og mønstre identificeres i artiklen fire forskellige genrer i personlig blogging, der illustreres gennem 4 eksempler fra det danske blogmiljø