Previous month: January 2004
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Blog software comparison

I was asked about which one is better, Nucleus or Movable Type. I thought I'd share my answer with you all:

It depends. If you want several blogs on your system, Movable Type is better choice. You really can't have multiple blogs with their own authors in Nucleus, because to edit the skins and templates you need system administrator rights.

If you want to have just one blog, both are fine. Movable Type has perhaps a bit better user interface, while Nucleus has some other advantages. If you want to do your plugins, Nucleus uses PHP and MT Perl, that might make a difference.

You get wider support with Movable Type, but because it's more popular, people know it's weaknesses and exploit them. I haven't received comment spam on my Nucleus blog.


I think I prefer Movable Type slightly. I prefer the concept of building static pages from data stored in the database. Since the pages don't change that often, it saves you database traffic. Of course, if you want to do something dynamic, Nucleus makes it easier.

13.02.2004 klo 07:19 | Comments 2 comment(s) | TrackBack (0)

National computer security day

Today is the national computer security day in Finland. I didn't know about it until I found a small leaflet hidden between my morning newspaper. The leaflet teaches the very basics of computer security: firewalls, viruses, spam, updating Windows and so on. It's very short and quite shallow, but it covers the most important parts and looks friendly. It's accompanied by a web site, which gives more detail.

I think this was a very good idea. The project has wide support, from government offices to businesses. Of course it's good advertising for F-Secure and other companies behind all this (well - Microsoft is involved and the material certainly underlines the need to update their buggy software), but I'm not complaining. As broadband Internet connections are becoming more common and used by non-geeks who might not understand the need for adequate protection, campaigns like this are increasingly necessary.

11.02.2004 klo 16:14 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Media education

As I advertised to be a librarian(-to-be), I thought I'd better put up some library-related content on the English side of this blog too.

Few months ago I decided to be more librarianish and ordered the Finnish Kirjasto (Library) magazine and joined the Finnish library association. It was a good decision, because the magazine has been generally quite interesting.

The latest issue is about media education. Its best article is about video games. The person interviewed is professor Frans Mäyrä from Tampere University hypermedia laboratory. He's one of the leading experts on academic game studies in Finland and often quoted on matters like these.

The article ("Are computer games harmful?") is recommended reading for everyone who's worried about what games do to our kids. Mäyrä says games are fine. He actually believes that books can be more dangerous than games, because books can affect one's mind and thinking more profoundly than games.

He also comments that violence in games is less harmful than violence in tv or movies. When you are playing a game, you must control yourself, if you want to succeed. You must keep certain distance from the action. When you're watching a movie, you can "lose control" easier. Research also indicates that young gamers see even violent games as a game amongs others, not as violence. Players can see the difference between fiction and reality.

Also, games can give a child a feeling of might and power, which the child might not get in his or her everyday life. that can be healthy for the child's development. Playing games is also a way to fight fears. Games also require self control and patience - if you can't control your nerves, you will make mistakes and can't proceed in the game.

Despite all the good aspects he sees in games, Mäyrä says that parents should pay more attention to the games their children play. Playing games can be very intensive so the parents must control it. Parents should know the games better, because most of the trouble is caused by the gap between game-literate children and parents who don't know the games. Parents who play are often more critical regarding the games, choose the games for their children more strictly and discuss them with their kids.

Mäyrä sees games as a challenge for libraries. Games are a part of digital culture and something libraries could deal with. Mäyrä thinks the most important game classics, web games played with a browser and some console games could work well in library environment. Libraries would thus develop and record this part of the digital culture.

Why not, though there are lots of problems regarding games in libraries. There's technical issues and copyright issues. Also, I'm not sure how librarians would greet this. Certainly games could draw new patrons in to the library! However, as games are currently banned in most libraries it would take a large shift in attitudes towards games before games are welcomed into libraries.

Meanwhile, learning something about games is highly recommended to everyone (and especially to the parents of children who play games). Games are proper culture (at least when it comes to money, there's absolutely no question about it) and not just a children's pastime. I think many people still consider games as something that belongs to kids and kids only. However, as with movies, there are games for kids, there are games for the whole family and there are games for adults. That is a rather important issue to figure out.

4.02.2004 klo 11:09 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)