Movement on the fringes of the self
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By Kaisa Alenius
Kanerva Eskola recalls how she thought about how her Internet diary would fit into the junction between the private and public, from the very beginning of writing Agrippa. "Publicity limits the subjects. There are matters, which I do not want to, may not, or cannot write on the Internet."
Agrippa does not tell about Kanerva Eskola directly, even though they have much in common. Important matters in the life of the real Eskola include, for instance, the publishing business, and people close to her, of whom she does not write much about on the Internet.
Eskola developed rules to make it easier to write her web diary. She never writes into Agrippa when she is angry. She tries to deal with the stories of other people as she would like others to handle her stories, and she thinks about Agrippa's influence on real life.
Nowadays, many people know Eskola through Agrippa. Does she see herself as building some kind of a cult of yourself?
Eskola gives off a cheerful laugh. "The question is, if a web diary is the reinforcement of one's own identity, or an investigation into it. For me it is an investigation, but some readers might experience it differently."
Eskola is not bothered that people whom she does not know have fairly extensive knowledge a bout her. "People know much about each other with the help of clothes, dialect, and other external matters. I think of Agrippa in the same way."
Kanerva Eskola knows that it is not possible to control the image that is created of one's self, or the interpretations that are made about entries into her diary. She quotes the basic tenets of media science when she speaks about how messages move, and ponders how it is possible just to try to deliver an understandable message. Interpretation is free, even in a diary.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 6.12.2004
More on this subject:
 Internet breaks locks of personal diaries
Square knots in cyberspace
FACTFILE: From a log book to a trusted friend
JUSSI AHLROTH / Helsingin Sanomat
jussi.ahlroth@hs.fi
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