It was the first time when we met with all project members of MediaRoboLit 65+ in person. We have nice and multidisciplinary group of people – education, social sciences, media, psychology and computing sciences. We all approach our exciting and important topic from different perspectives and we all share the same attitude for project work – let’s do this together! Immediately when starting the project virtually in September, we found many links and possibilities for true collaboration between the work packages, and there were much more found during this project week. Actually we already started making studies together, in local care houses. I find it very fascinating that our robotic activities will be reflected on from the perspectives of social sciences and education, which has been kind of been missing from most of our previous works. I believe now we will get into much more deeper and societal levels on our scientific thinking, and we will be pondering for example the effects on society much more than before.
In this project we will also learn about one topic that has been personally interesting for me already for long time. This is Sami culture. I have been reading news and materials about this culture but now when this project will have Sami area and people in focus, it will give us great opportunity to get to know more about it, hopefully also meet Sami people, and visit some of their living areas. We have Sami researchers in the project, which is really great, and I appreciate these opportunities. In Rovaniemi, I visited Arktikum science centre and museum, and the Sami exhibition is something that I can really recommend for all who want to learn more about Sami area, languages, living habits and nature.
As we met in Rovaniemi, for sure we went to visit Santa Claus on the Arctic Circle, and took even a group photo with him. That was fun! We also had a nice and cozy dinner in a place called Apukka Resort, which was about 30 minutes away from the center of Rovaniemi. Even though we didn’t see aurora, the full moon landscape with blue shadows and sky with so many stars gave beautiful memories about the arctic area. There was some free time in the evenings and on the last night we went for a walk on the top of Ounasvaara fell. It was about -25 degrees, sun set, and we were surrounded by all shades of pastel colors, trees covered by thick snow (tykkylumi) and full silence. I will come back with my skis. But should I take forest skis or cross-country skis, it’s gonna be a hard decision.
Thanks all project members, this was really an awesome week, and I will be happy to work with you on this project for the next 4 years!
Reflected on and written by Aino
