Tron Øgrim
Encyclopedia
Tron Øgrim (27 June 1947 – 23 May 2007) was a Norwegian
journalist, author and politician. He was active in Socialist Youth Union
(later Red Youth
) from 1965 to 1973, and a central figure in the Workers' Communist Party
from 1973 to 1984. In addition to being a politician, Øgrim was an author of political works and several science fiction
novels. He was notable for communicating in a non-standard eastern Oslo
dialect, even where he might have been expected to use standardized Bokmål
.
, Norway
, Øgrim was one of the most influential people in Norway's Marxist-Leninist
movement in the sixties and seventies. He was one of the founders of the Workers' Communist Party
, a party that strongly advocated the Chinese branch of communism. Tron was also central in founding the newspaper Klassekampen
and in the publishing house Oktober.
Becoming a journalist after leaving politics in the eighties, Øgrim had a technology column in the Norwegian edition of PC World
. He was known for his distinct writing style, where he rejected standard written Norwegian and, instead, wrote as he spoke, in a working class
dialect. He also wrote science fiction
novels under the pseudonym Eirik Austey.
Tron Øgrim was an early proponent of the Internet in Norway, frequently traveling around the country giving lectures. In 1995, he argued for the Norwegian parliament to establish an Internet presence, claiming: "Without politicians online, there is no such thing as a democratic IT policy." Øgrim was also a supporter of the open-source movement. In his book Kvikksølv, he described Linux
as "applied communism". He was a mainstay contributor of the Internet newsgroup Leftist Trainspotters where he made thousands of posts, many relating to the political developments in Nepal.
(Norsk Esperanto-Forbund), he never, however, accepted any formal position in the organization. Tron Øgrim was well known in the Esperanto movement for his radio series Drømmen om den fullkomne språk (The dream of a perfect language). Beginning in 1989, the programs dealt with linguistic philosophy
and planned or constructed language
s such as Esperanto
and Volapük
. He steadily turned up at international Esperanto meetings and was widely regarded as affable and scholarly, with a healthy portion of self-deprecation.
At his memorial service Leikny Øgrim told of growing up with a big brother who would read the dictionary from beginning to end and who from reading even the telephone book could learn something to relate to acquaintances. Douglas Draper, secretary of the Norwegian Esperanto League, also delivered a short talk on behalf of the NEL, by turns bantering and earnest. He said there were three kinds of Esperantist
s. There were active members engaged in management and organizational duties. There were passive members satisfied with paying their dues. Then there was Tron Øgrim. It might happen that for long periods the NEL would hear nothing from him; then he would telephone to ask: "Skylder jeg noe gryn?" ("Do I owe any groats?" -- i.e., membership dues.) He might show up at the NEL office in Oslo and purchase not one or two books, but a whole load. While most Esperantists would plan their trips to major Esperanto congresses more than six months in advance, Tron might call up three days before the start of the event and ask what he could do to help out.
Tron Øgrim became a Wikipedian in December 2005, when libelous statements about a colleague appeared in a Norwegian (bokmål) Wikipedia
article. Øgrim continued as a Wikipedia editor after the issue was resolved, writing about constructed languages through most of 2006. In the fall of 2006, his focus changed to Nepal
generally and the history of communism in Nepal specifically. Øgrim was known in the Norwegian wikicommunity for writing very long articles about somewhat obscure topics. He also cared much about smaller wikis and their progress. He was routinely posting messages about milestones at the Norwegian Village Pump, as well as participating on the Wikimedia News announcements page.
Norwegian computer science
lecturer Gisle Hannemyr
remembers Øgrim as one of the most active Norwegian Wikipedians who chose Wikipedia
as a platform for disseminating knowledge. Besides his articles on Nepal
, he wrote on constructed language
s like Esperanto
and on many other topics. Hannemyr said: "I also believe that he was Norway's first blogger, with his site Under en stein i skogen ('Under a stone in the forest')." His website archives 107 of his posted articles, written in his East-Oslo idiolect
. "He was absolutely a person who understood technology and how technology changes society," added Hannemyr.
Tron Øgrim was extremely important for the Norwegian wiki movement, and he was often interviewed by the press about Wikipedia. He gave a lecture about Wikipedia when Wikipedia's co-founder Jimmy Wales
visited Norway in May 2006. When journalists challenged him about the sometimes erroneous information that the encyclopedia presents, Øgrim responded that by itself that was not a problem – on the contrary it may be viewed as an advantage: "Wikipedia asks everybody to do a checkup of their own information and not accept anything on face value. If you ask me, it is a democratic problem that so little awareness of source criticism
exists today in the Norwegian school system
."
The Norwegian community, in recognition of Øgrim's work, decided to commemorate Tron by displaying the flag at half mast with the WP logo for a day. This was reported on by several Norwegian newspapers.
.
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
journalist, author and politician. He was active in Socialist Youth Union
Red Youth (Norway)
Red Youth is a Norwegian revolutionary youth league. It is the youth organization of the party Red and former Red Electoral Alliance and the Workers' Communist Party. The current leader of Red Youth is Iver Aastebøl.-Politics:...
(later Red Youth
Red Youth (Norway)
Red Youth is a Norwegian revolutionary youth league. It is the youth organization of the party Red and former Red Electoral Alliance and the Workers' Communist Party. The current leader of Red Youth is Iver Aastebøl.-Politics:...
) from 1965 to 1973, and a central figure in the Workers' Communist Party
Workers' Communist Party (Norway)
The Workers' Communist Party was a Norwegian communist party . AKP was a maoist party and one of two communist parties in Norway; the other was the older Communist Party of Norway which has remained pro-Soviet. The relationship between the two parties was characterized by strong hostility.AKP was...
from 1973 to 1984. In addition to being a politician, Øgrim was an author of political works and several science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novels. He was notable for communicating in a non-standard eastern Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
dialect, even where he might have been expected to use standardized Bokmål
Bokmål
Bokmål is one of two official Norwegian written standard languages, the other being Nynorsk. Bokmål is used by 85–90% of the population in Norway, and is the standard most commonly taught to foreign students of the Norwegian language....
.
Politics and journalism
Born in OsloOslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Øgrim was one of the most influential people in Norway's Marxist-Leninist
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
movement in the sixties and seventies. He was one of the founders of the Workers' Communist Party
Workers' Communist Party (Norway)
The Workers' Communist Party was a Norwegian communist party . AKP was a maoist party and one of two communist parties in Norway; the other was the older Communist Party of Norway which has remained pro-Soviet. The relationship between the two parties was characterized by strong hostility.AKP was...
, a party that strongly advocated the Chinese branch of communism. Tron was also central in founding the newspaper Klassekampen
Klassekampen
Klassekampen is a Norwegian daily newspaper, which styles itself as "the daily left-wing newspaper".Klassekampen was founded in 1969 with a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist platform. Until recently, it was owned by The Workers' Communist Party...
and in the publishing house Oktober.
Becoming a journalist after leaving politics in the eighties, Øgrim had a technology column in the Norwegian edition of PC World
PC World (magazine)
PC World is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal-technology products and services...
. He was known for his distinct writing style, where he rejected standard written Norwegian and, instead, wrote as he spoke, in a working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
dialect. He also wrote science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novels under the pseudonym Eirik Austey.
Tron Øgrim was an early proponent of the Internet in Norway, frequently traveling around the country giving lectures. In 1995, he argued for the Norwegian parliament to establish an Internet presence, claiming: "Without politicians online, there is no such thing as a democratic IT policy." Øgrim was also a supporter of the open-source movement. In his book Kvikksølv, he described Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
as "applied communism". He was a mainstay contributor of the Internet newsgroup Leftist Trainspotters where he made thousands of posts, many relating to the political developments in Nepal.
Esperanto movement
A longstanding member of the Norwegian Esperanto LeagueNorvega Esperantista Ligo
Norvega Esperantista Ligo was founded in 1911. As the Norwegian arm of the Esperanto movement, its aim is to spread knowledge and use of the international language Esperanto. The league has a modest size of a couple of hundred members, and work done within NEL is mostly voluntary...
(Norsk Esperanto-Forbund), he never, however, accepted any formal position in the organization. Tron Øgrim was well known in the Esperanto movement for his radio series Drømmen om den fullkomne språk (The dream of a perfect language). Beginning in 1989, the programs dealt with linguistic philosophy
Linguistic philosophy
Linguistic philosophy describes the view that philosophical problems are problems which may be solved either by reforming language, or by understanding more about the language we presently use. The former position is that of ideal language philosophy, the latter the position of ordinary language...
and planned or constructed language
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
s such as Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
and Volapük
Volapük
Volapük is a constructed language, created in 1879–1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a Roman Catholic priest in Baden, Germany. Schleyer felt that God had told him in a dream to create an international language. Volapük conventions took place in 1884 , 1887 and 1889 . The first two conventions used...
. He steadily turned up at international Esperanto meetings and was widely regarded as affable and scholarly, with a healthy portion of self-deprecation.
At his memorial service Leikny Øgrim told of growing up with a big brother who would read the dictionary from beginning to end and who from reading even the telephone book could learn something to relate to acquaintances. Douglas Draper, secretary of the Norwegian Esperanto League, also delivered a short talk on behalf of the NEL, by turns bantering and earnest. He said there were three kinds of Esperantist
Esperantist
An Esperantist is a person who speaks or uses Esperanto. Etymologically, an Esperantist is someone who hopes...
s. There were active members engaged in management and organizational duties. There were passive members satisfied with paying their dues. Then there was Tron Øgrim. It might happen that for long periods the NEL would hear nothing from him; then he would telephone to ask: "Skylder jeg noe gryn?" ("Do I owe any groats?" -- i.e., membership dues.) He might show up at the NEL office in Oslo and purchase not one or two books, but a whole load. While most Esperantists would plan their trips to major Esperanto congresses more than six months in advance, Tron might call up three days before the start of the event and ask what he could do to help out.
Norwegian Wikipedia work
Norwegian Wikipedia
There are two Norwegian language editions of Wikipedia: one for articles written in Bokmål or Riksmål, and one for articles written in Nynorsk. The first site, the original Norwegian Wikipedia, launched on November 26, 2001, and originally allowed articles to be written in any written Norwegian...
article. Øgrim continued as a Wikipedia editor after the issue was resolved, writing about constructed languages through most of 2006. In the fall of 2006, his focus changed to Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
generally and the history of communism in Nepal specifically. Øgrim was known in the Norwegian wikicommunity for writing very long articles about somewhat obscure topics. He also cared much about smaller wikis and their progress. He was routinely posting messages about milestones at the Norwegian Village Pump, as well as participating on the Wikimedia News announcements page.
Norwegian computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
lecturer Gisle Hannemyr
Gisle Hannemyr
Gisle Hannemyr is a researcher and lecturer at the Institute for Informatics, University of Oslo.In 1991, he was co-founder of the first commercial internet service provider in Norway, Oslonett, which later, being acquired by Schibsted, became Schibsted Nett , and Scandinavia Online...
remembers Øgrim as one of the most active Norwegian Wikipedians who chose Wikipedia
Norwegian Wikipedia
There are two Norwegian language editions of Wikipedia: one for articles written in Bokmål or Riksmål, and one for articles written in Nynorsk. The first site, the original Norwegian Wikipedia, launched on November 26, 2001, and originally allowed articles to be written in any written Norwegian...
as a platform for disseminating knowledge. Besides his articles on Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, he wrote on constructed language
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
s like Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
and on many other topics. Hannemyr said: "I also believe that he was Norway's first blogger, with his site Under en stein i skogen ('Under a stone in the forest')." His website archives 107 of his posted articles, written in his East-Oslo idiolect
Idiolect
In linguistics, an idiolect is a variety of a language unique to an individual. It is manifested by patterns of vocabulary or idiom selection , grammar, or pronunciations that are unique to the individual. Every individual's language production is in some sense unique...
. "He was absolutely a person who understood technology and how technology changes society," added Hannemyr.
Tron Øgrim was extremely important for the Norwegian wiki movement, and he was often interviewed by the press about Wikipedia. He gave a lecture about Wikipedia when Wikipedia's co-founder Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company....
visited Norway in May 2006. When journalists challenged him about the sometimes erroneous information that the encyclopedia presents, Øgrim responded that by itself that was not a problem – on the contrary it may be viewed as an advantage: "Wikipedia asks everybody to do a checkup of their own information and not accept anything on face value. If you ask me, it is a democratic problem that so little awareness of source criticism
Source criticism
A source criticism is a published source evaluation . An information source may be a document, a person, a speech, a fingerprint, a photo, an observation or anything used in order to obtain knowledge. In relation to a given purpose, a given information source may be more or less valid, reliable or...
exists today in the Norwegian school system
Education in Norway
Education in Norway is mandatory for all children aged 6–16. The school year in Norway runs from mid August to late June the following year. The Christmas holiday from mid December to early January historically divides the Norwegian school year into two terms...
."
The Norwegian community, in recognition of Øgrim's work, decided to commemorate Tron by displaying the flag at half mast with the WP logo for a day. This was reported on by several Norwegian newspapers.
Death
Øgrim was found dead by one of his three daughters on 23 May 2007 in Oslo. The probable cause of death was a strokeStroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
.