Category: Life course

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Practice Web analytics

For all people, especially webmasters, it is useful to understand and deal with web analytic reports of webpages. From time to time I do my own little research to check what is going on and how changes I implemented can be evaluated. During the month of October 2026 I have changed from a 30 entry long scroll landing page on https://schoemann.org to only a 10 entries before a kind of stop or follow-up click is needed to pursue reading. How has this changed the visits on the webpage? Well, (1) the number of visitors in 2026-10 (56.000) and page views (84.000) remained remained relatively stable, but after an initial rise in time spent on the webpage (report on Frankfurt book fair 2026) a significant drop in average duration on the page has occurred. As the retention rate on the webpage remained stable, my conclusion based on this real-world experiment is that the scroll limit set on purpose to 10 images and blog entries before more active engagement is necessary has the expected effect. Scroll limits shorten time spent on the same page and, most likely would also work in the “not-so-social” social media realm.

www.schoemann.org
web analytics 2026-10 of www.schoemann.org
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Queue to learn

The protests of students in France has been biased by reports on the violence by people who looted shops. The broadly unmatched learning ambitions of students has entered little into the reporting. In the 2 weeks after the protest students flocked to public libraries to learn in decent conditions. Nowadays, this includes access to fast internet and other sources of inspiration depending on interests. Researchers who were the primary users of the BNF have been outnumbered by advanced pupils and students ready to queue for 1 hour to catch a place even sitting on floors. This brings back the time of the baby boomers who entered with large birth cohorts into high schools and universities later on. Such social trends are predictable and adequate policy responses not even extremely expensive. Until education institutions are expanded there will be queues to learn. 

BNF queues to learn 2026-10-26
BNF queues to learn 2026-10-26
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Systems of thinking

The translation of the title of the “chair” created for Michel Foucault at the “College de France” sounds rather all encompassing. He worked during the years 1970-1984 at the institute, which were particularly innovative in terms of new concepts to look at society. With the massive protests of students in the streets of Paris in 2026-10, the exhibition of Foucault’s life course, his major contributions, legacy and audio-visual material are presented in a small exhibition. Foucault was one of the social scientists who had a research interest in the student protests of 1968 already.
In the exhibition it is possible to inspect central pages of the hand-written originals of some of his lectures. In the late 60s and 70s tape recording became feasible and such recordings helped to spread his ideas quickly. As Foucault was a master of contextualisation of societal procedures, like for example imprisonment, the curators of the exhibition present a few samples of Foucault’s own library (image below) and examples of correspondence with his network of social scientists, like Roland Barthes or Raymond Aron. In 2026 the thoughts on “gouvernementalité” (own translation “governability”) still speak to current politics. That is a great half-life-value of social thought.

Examples of Foucault book collection at his home College de France 2026
Examples of Foucault book collection at his home College de France 2026
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Reading confidence

Competence and confidence in reading skills are closely related. The exact nature of the relationship remains a bit of a puzzle. Educational psychology stresses the importance of self-concept and self-efficacy for attitudes towards learning in general, but evidence on relationships related to the progress of reading competence over longer periods is scarce. The might be virtuous and vicious circles of competence and confidence at work. At the Frankfurt Book Fair 2026 many publishers presented established manuals on acquisition of reading skills. However, pre-school, primary school teachers as well as parents struggle to support early learners.
The “Lauter Verlag” presented a stimulating approach which tries to set children on a virtuous reading acquisition track. It start with very short 2, then 3, then 4 … letter words in German to reach the level to read whole sentences. Children build confidence with each step and they are encouraged to quickly reach a more challenging higher level. About time to test the interrelationship of competence and confidence in more detail to reach all learners of languages with innovative approaches. Even the much acclaimed French author Georges Perec kept lists of 3,4,5,6,7,8 letter words to build some of his famous poems.

Frankfurt Book Fair 2026 Lauter Verlag
Frankfurt Book Fair 2026 Lauter Verlag
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Oh happy days

The original English title of Samuel Beckett’s theatre play is “Happy Days”. In the French translation he changed this title himself to “Oh les beaux jours”, which sounds a bit more melancholic, which prepares better to the plot of the piece. There is no action in this piece, it is all words and not even real conversation between the 2 actors. The absurdity of our human existence despite ample references to famous literature across centuries is happily exposed. Let us continue to talk even if it doesn’t make sense anymore as we continue to repeat ourselves without any real changes in sight. How much of Winnie do we all have in ourselves? Indulging in souvenirs, rituals and abandoned trajectories of happiness is a danger of advanced age. Cathrine Frot and  Pierre Banderet are convincing in the roles to remind us to go beyond the absurdity of our ways to go about our lives. (Image: “Oh les beaux jours” at Theatre Les bouffes parisiens Paris 2026-10)

Theatre Les bouffes parisiens Paris 2026-10

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Game of letters

For most children reading and writing are too serious to be considered a game. And yet, learning is so much more fun if such competencies are acquired or at least accompanied through a game-like approach. School grades and PISA tests have taken out the fun part of learning of the most basic competencies. The fun in learning and experimenting is likely to increase the time spent learning, its efficiency and the return to learning. Georges Perec explored so many different ways to play around with words and letters to find his own most suitable style how letters assembled into words may serve his evolving purposes. The exhibition and accompanying material at the BNF on Georges Perec could spur a renewed interest in such games of letters and with letters for the young and old. (Image: BNF exhibition on Georges Perec, Words ending with letter d 2026-10).

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Alphabet as Mythos

The exhibition ”Georges Perec, Modes d’emploi“ at the BNF “site François Mitterrand” in Paris gives a fascinating insight into the complex life and work of the author of “La Disparition” (1968), “Les Revenantes” (1972), ”La Clôture”, “Alphabets” and “La vie mode d’emploi” (1978). In remembrance of his parents (eux) he wrote a whole book using only words without the first letter of “eux” which expressed how much he missed his parents. His mother was deported to and died in Auschwitz before he was 7 years old and his father had died in combat 3 years before. For the book “Les Revenentes“ (the returnees) he made use only of words containing the vowel “e” to somehow fill the previous gaps of words without the letter e. The preparatory work to collect those words (image below) filled pages as well. His poems explored combinations of letters, maybe even as a precursor of how AI is constructing words from small units (tokens) today. His quasi-experimental approach to literature goes deep into locations and emphasises the importance to remember at great length. So many lessons for us, which are simply built from the foundation of the alphabet to construct a mythical world of his own. (Image: Georges Perec, preparation for “Les Revenantes”, BNF Manuscript)

Georges-Perec-preparation-for-Les-Revenantes-BNF-Manuscript

Georges-Perec-preparation-for-Les-Revenantes-BNF-Manuscript
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Mitterrand literary

François Mitterrand is well remembered for his polititical leadership and of 14 years at the Presidency of France. He left behind a legacy of architectural highlights of which the 4 open books as the modern world idea about a cathedral size public library. The prolongation of the “Axe historique” to “La Défense” originated also in Mitterrand’s first term in office. However, only few would know about the literary ambitions and accomplishments of François Mitterrand. The Institut François Mitterrand organized a conference on the literary achievements of Mitterrand an his eloquent style and careful editing of speeches, his letters and journal writing (2026-10-16). The expert panel highlighted the literary sources of Mitterrand’s own reading and references to authors like Zola, Camus, Proust, Stendhal, Blum, Jaurès, Chateaubriand or also the letters of Simone de Beauvoir, to name but a few. The appreciation of the politician François Mitterrand by a German language author (Kimmel 2022) allows to get more familiar with an “external view” of a great politician, who ensured that also the enlarged Europe would still have a solid French foundation. Merci. Maybe Mitterrand has been the founder of a “literary leadership style”. Possibly in close resemblance to the antique or Roman vision to have philosophers as states(wo)man.

Institut François Mitterrand colloque 2026-10-16 Paris BNF
Institut François Mitterrand colloque 2026-10-16 Paris BNF
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Books for children

On the international level the book market of books for children is doing alright (Info Frankfurt book fair 2026). Whereas the turnover for school books is shrinking, children’s books have achieved increasing turnover in 2025 again. The market has diversified and merchandising related to books for children has substantially increased. Figures about this trend, however, are hard to come by. Based on TV-characters, books may also sell as a kind of merchandising product for the time offline. Talking about books is an educational opportunity which is still underexploited. Popular among children with their parents or as part of reading aloud, the real multiplier of reading interest is the talking about books among children themselves. Imagination is sparked and there is a great chance that reading will continue. 

Presentation at Frankfurt book fair Imagination stage 2026
Presentation at Frankfurt book fair Imagination stage 2026
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Death and rebirth of author

Over the long run there have always been times when the death of the author had been announced. With the arrival of the printing press and the ease to mass produce prints and books, previous authors’ books could flood the market. Obviously this could put new authors at the risk of finding no audience anymore as printers asked cash upfront before printing. The economic risks were solely on the author’s side. Ebooks became a risk to publishers as authors had an additional alternative way of publishing. Then the advent of the internet changed again the world of books and publishing. Global distribution became an option. Thousands of authors could have died because authors from around the globe became more accessible. None of these threats have materialized. Publishing on a global scale is fine, only European publishers are concerned about a shrinking market. AI facilitates entry in new markets and AI could kill already struggling authors. Instead, AI opens up lots of opportunities for authors as well. Editing and translation services become more accessible to low budget production. The next wave, some claim a tsunami, shall submerge the publishing industry. Quality, selection of innovative content and events associated with the content shall still make the difference. There is neither the death of the author nor of the publishing world due to AI. On a global scale many new voices can be discovered, probably assisted a great deal by AI who would never have dared to become an author and to enter into the world of publishing or self-publishing. (Image: Korea at Frankfurt book fair 2026-10)

Korea at Frankfurt book fair 2026-10