I was supposed to be in the U.S. next week but now that changed so Ulla and I just booked flights to Paris for Les Blogs 2. Yay!

The Wall Street Journal called him a “marketing guru”. He’s the co-author of the The Cluetrain Manifesto, the bestseller that cut through the hype and told business what the Web was really about. His latest book, Small Pieces Loosely Joined has been published to rave reviews hailing it as the first book to put the Internet in its deepest context.

So I’m totally stoked to announce that David Weinberger has agreed to give the next Aula talk on Thursday, December 1st at 6 pm. The place is the PWC-lecture theatre (G-112) in the Chydenia building at the Helsinki School of Economics (Runeberginkatu 22-24). Thanks to folks at The Center of Knowledge and Innovation Research at the Helsinki School of Economics for offering the space.

David will speak on “The New Shape of Knowledge.” The summary he provided is worth quoting at length:

As businesses and media have looked at blogs, they’ve seen reflections of themselves. This continues a misunderstanding of the Web so persistent that it probably should count as a form of denial. Blogs are not a new form of journalism or primarily consist of teenagers whining about their teachers. Blogs are not even primarily a form of individual expression. They are better understood as conversations. This makes them just one more part of the transformation the Web is working on our social fabric, including the relationship of customers to businesses, employees to managers and business to society.

Two very cool projects at this weekend’s Ultrasound festival: Kick-Ass Kung-Fu (by Animaatiokone) and Tiletoy (by Tuomo Tammenpää and Daniel Blackburn). I walked away a convert. Tangibility is so the future of electronic gaming.

Popped in the Google NYC office and Yahoo’s London office last week. Couldn’t help noting how similar they are: very central, very hip, several floors. Google scored points with its afternoon tea service, whereas the Soho restaurant scene works to Yahoo’s advantage.

Pretty stark contrast to the Nokia offices in both cities, which I’ll just summarize as the boonies.

Seems that life as an all-in-one Nokia intrapreneur, web startup guy, and PhD student will continue until christmas and so I’ll continue not blogging quite so intensely. If all this stuff emerges in good shape I could suddenly have quite a bit to say. In the meantime, here’s a quick update on what’s new.

– Last weekend was DesignEngaged in Berlin. It was a lot of fun – best bit being the Saturday scavenge around Berlin, organized by Mike Kuniavsky, which wasn’t really over until I woke up on the couch in Schulze’s and Webb’s crib somewhere in Friedrichshein. Many people including myself were sort of in between things, where the new stuff wasn’t quite yet ready. But there were many very refreshing notes too. In addition to all the good conversations, the higlights included Nurri Kim’s fabulous photoset on the usage of blue tarps in Japan, Adam Greenfield on the ruin of civilization that bases on high energy consumption, Chris Heathcote on fabrication, and Jack Schulze turning solid into liquid.

– Malcolm McCullough gave a nice Aula talk in Helsinki last night on his latest book, Digital Ground. Thanks to everyone for showing up. It was good to be reminded that Helsinki continues to be the scene of choice for sharp, subtle, focused people who are changing things.

– Next weekend I’ll speak at Bloggforum in Stockholm. This seems to be shaping up into quite a noteworthy event, and I really look forward to picking the brains of all the super-savvy Stockholm bloggers.

– The weekend of Nov. 26 I’ll be in Huddersfield, UK as Ulla talks craft and product codes at Ultrasound. Looking forward to touching base with the artists and hackers who’ll present there.