Sweden and Denmark (IFIP/PrimeLife Summer School)
I'm currently winding down from a super fun week at the IFIP/PrimeLife Summer School, where I met a bunch of very interesting people, helped with a workshop, gave a paper, ate a lot, and saw Hamlet's castle, Elsinore!
Helsingborg Slot
Awesome carving on the steps up to the tower
Helsingborg is a city on the southern coast of Sweden, just over the water from Denmark (about 5km away). There's a "sister" city in Denmark called Helsingør, which became anglicised to "Elsinore" by Shakespeare. And yes, there is the castle that Hamlet is set in! Although apparently the traditional Hamlet story comes from Jutland, which is hicksville of Denmark and not nearly as exciting as Helsingør. The cities were the first point of contact for the Swedes and the Danish when they were fighting each other (much of the time). The Danes also severely taxed the narrow "throat" of water (Helsing comes from the word meaning "throat") because it provided a direct route through to Russia. Apparently at one point almost 70% of the funds into Denmark were taxes taken from that stretch of land. Anyway they are a lot more peaceful these days (though the Danes are still a bit grouchy about the fact that the Swedes looted a lot of things, however I'm sure the same can be said the other way around!).
Looking over toward Denmark from Helsingborg
At the summer school, there were lots of talks about privacy from theoretical and technical perspectives. I found the talks about youth attitudes to privacy, formalisation of privacy policies, and the keynotes from various high profile speakers such as representatives from the US White House (on their "NSTIC" project), Germany's Ministry of the Interior (on the new eID cards being rolled out to Germans), Google on their attitudes to privacy particularly interesting. There were also lots of discussions about what "privacy" actually was (since everyone was interested in protecting it), workshops on improving shopping cart user interfaces so that only a minimum amount of data is sent to each involved party, and the discussions within my own workshops on implementation of ethical values were really quite exciting. I also got to talk to people about my PhD thesis stuff, with some people involved in various projects expressing some interest in it. Hopefully I can help them out a bit with their approaches, and get some practical outcomes of my own research set in motion! :) Anyway top marks to the organisers for a full and fun-packed week that was really well organised!
We had a few social activities planned, including a conference dinner by the beach, where we were treated to this beautiful sunset:
And yesterday we went to Helsingør, where we visited Hamlet's castle! It was amazing. We went over on the ferry (one of which was named Hamlet!) which allowed for this lovely view:
Here's a photo of me in the main courtyard, where they have regular performances of Hamlet in many languages and interpretations:
Once we got there, we were treated to a fantastic guided tour by some of the more enthusiastic guides I've ever had. I was particularly intrigued by the huge collection of beautiful tapestries they had inside, especially knowing something of how they're made and the effort they take to make!
"Rhinoceros" tapestry
Of course there were ballrooms and impressive fireplaces and chandeliers and everything else you could imagine a castle to have. You can see lots of photos of these in my gallery of the trip.
Anyway, I've had a fantastic time here, both culturally and intellectually! Back home to Namur tomorrow, then it's only a couple of weeks until I leave for the UK!
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