Group 3 - on a boat
One week ago on Thursday Carl-Oscar and Andreas visited Sweden’s geological research boat (called an ocean surveyor). Our initial task is to find out what they are doing on this very high end boat (very science fiction aqua man type), and how we can link it to the culture and media industry.
As we started walking toward our destination, we had a discussion about what our first impressions were of the mission. There was a lot of discussions regarding “what the hell it really was that one of these boats do”, thou what really interested the crew was the person we were to interview. One of the four had the impression that the person(the one that was contacted about the interview) had a very sexy voice, and as the whole crew was made up by men, it was a rather interesting topic. We started discussing about if a person is as sexy as his/her voice, most of us thought the latter and related it to some random story we had experienced before. We were approaching the boat from the back and I particularly found the big poles at the back interesting, as they reminded me of an old RPG dungeon game where you threw giant poles at each other, the goal was of course to kill each other.
I was rather reluctant to get on, but as I approached the very tiny plank - the gang plank a person came into view, and well lets just say that the theory about sexy voices being the “opposite”, was rather wrong indeed. We got on and introduced ourselves, rather forgetting about the small gang plank. Her name is Anna, and she welcomed us warmly to the boat.
She led us to the mess hall and she bade us to be seated - without further do we started to ask questions. This boats mission ladies and gentlemen is to survey the bottom of Östersjön e.g. the different geological segments found on the bottom and thereby say if Östersjön is going to explode into our faces, or not. Luckily she assured us that we would die before the earth would cave down on our faces, but we should work towards saving the planet, which everyone of us nodded in unison. Other than that their mission is also to make maps of the sea and in retrospect put them out onto the Internet - into a very large database. By accessing this database you could relatively see anything that you shouldn’t run into when your out fishing, or where you shouldn’t bade. Digitally you can say that the media industry could use this to provide accurate details about what happens in the Östersjön, but also by Scandinavian countries partying together to preserve Östersjön, “they” share the data via different media channels.
After a very enlightening session, she started to give us a tour of the boat. The tour started outside, where I concluded that the giant poles weren’t there to throw at each other, but rather to facilitate them in their research of the soil. What they do is to throw them down, maybe impaling a fish or two, to then pull it up with different samples that tells you everything from how old it is, to what has happen’t years past. She also said that they had found old wreckages with the different tools and reported them onwards. I mean in general if you think about a wreckage you think “treasure”, right? Well that’s at least what I thought, alas thou I was wrong. Apparently the wood is something that we find interesting, and can analyze, but sometimes it can be other remains. Talk about impaling my dreams, but looking at it from a cultural perspective she said that they report the wreckages to the museum union, and they then see if it’s worth getting up. So that means ladies and gentlemen that it might just be one of the wreckages that they found, that is in just that museum that your in. There are of course also the substance that comes with it, wether it’s a piece of lumber, or something more enlightening - it can be used and seen on some cultural event.
At the end of the tour we were shown the very heart of the ship - the research center. We were introduced us to the crew; the captain and the head researcher were the only ones present. They seemed like hard men, but I guess most sailors are. We were shown the different hardware used; anything from computers to servers, to how they bolt their chairs to the boats floor. I was rather interested in the idea, as it would be a way to ensure no one takes my seat at Hyper Island, thou, maybe not advisable. She also showed us how their equipment has evolved and the different functions. For example we had a tour around their oldest device, that looked like a nuclear warhead, that was made with duck tape. It was rather old, so old that it could only run on Windows 3.1 - I was rather shocked (mostly because I was imagining the ramification of nuclear warheads running on that old system), but also shocked that one of these warheads could cost millions of Swedish crowns - I guess that’s why she called it a warhead, as it comes with the same price tag.
We were reaching the end of this tour - we thanked her sincerely for her help and insight. I got of the boat, and started discussing it with the guys, and well I at least think that I learned a lot. Thank you Anna for a nice adventure!
I feel that everyone should remember that Östersjön, even though very muddy (and you can’t see anything), is a place where millions of things live - take that into consideration when you traverse it’s vast expanses.
Over and out,
Carl-Oscar and Andreas
