During the summer, I got in my hand the book for the 70 years of our Guild. Many things from the history of the Guild described in the book are very interesting. In the book, there are 6+2 pages about Kvantti that made me think about its role in the past and gave birth to a controversy (in my mind) about its possible future. For sure the times before the internet will not return, thus the role of Kvantti as the “main voice” of the Guild can’t be of the same type as in its early years, a kind of news bulletin for the Guild’s members. However, does the current form of it satisfy any “voicing” need of the Guild, really?
Nowadays all activities of the Guild are communicated electronically. Email lists and Telegram groups are overwhelmingly more effective in providing information about activities and bringing close the members of the Guild. Kvantti has nothing to offer as a newsletter in that sense, but that does not necessarily mean that it can’t still play the role of the “main voice” of the Guild. The question is does the Guild have something to say? The electronic channels of communication are so good for information distribution, yet a magazine (in paper and in electronic format) provides a much better space for communication that goes past the surface and the ephemeral. Yet that does not seem to be something actively aimed by the Guild.
What is the connection of the Guild to Kvantti? In large part, Kvantti is just a separate group of people from inside the Guild that wish to express themselves somehow, believing that a magazine would be fun to participate in. Still does that mean that Kvantti is the voice of the Guild? Is the Guild just the sum of its individual members or does the Guild create higher and more complex organic structures? Have we accepted so much in our culture the Thatcherian “there is no society, just individuals”? If not, why do we act as if we did, regarding the “main voice” of the Guild? Why is Kvantti not receiving articles regarding the important issues that concern the Guild and the different groups that are active in it? Why does it not express a voice regarding the issues that concern the university? Or the social issues to the solutions of which we are supposed to contribute “when we grow up”? Why is Kvantti not receiving collective articles (with the bright exception of the fiilis team – thank you!) that express the views of the Guild and its groups? Is it that there are no active groups that wish/need to produce their view in written or photographic format? Is it that this function of the Kvantti is not well understood by the members and the groups of the Guild? Is it a coincidence that there are plenty of people who don’t know that they can publish in Kvantti or that they don’t even know that Kvantti exists? Is it so widespread an understanding that the magazine is just a group of people and not the voice of the Guild? Is it that people nowadays do not read and thus they have no interest in writing either? Is it all together?
Personally, I have contributed two articles in the last two issues of Kvantti (this is a third one). My thinking at the time was to share my views on issues that are inspired from the courses I attend and especially focused on controversies on the content of the courses. My hope was to initiate a discussion. Boldly failed! In addition, with surprise and sadness I learn that during the last year it was taken the decision that Kvantti will not be distributed anymore, not to all the members of the Guild as I would expect from the “main voice” of the Guild, but not even to the few academic addresses it was distributed in the past. Making me wonder, what is the reason for writing for a magazine that does not communicate your message and can’t stimulate a discussion?
I would be very interested in hearing more on it from the friends with whom we took the journey of Kvantti this year and from all the members of the Guild. Should we destroy Kvantti or is there a reason to think of ways to recreate it?