Getting Interviewed

On February 28^th 2013, Deutsche Welle (DW) TV interviewed me. Although this TV station is German but it has Indonesian version, like a franchise. I never have been interviewed by a TV, so this is a new experience for me. Funnily, when I was doing my Masters study, the Greenpeace Germany magazine interviewed me. So it is like an improvement for me, going to higher level of interview.

The Deutsche Welle TV interviewed me.

The DW TV contacted me from December 2012 to do an interview, but the schedule kept changing until it finally reached on February. However, a night before the interview, I got a sore throat and had a fever (see: Getting Sick in Germany). I was in a very bad condition the whole day before finally I consumed paracetamol half an hour before the interview. So basically I was on drugs during the interview.

The DW TV has a program called “Inovator” in which it features news in science and technology. Within this program, there is a segment of a profile of a researcher. When the DW TV crews came to my institution, they interviewed researchers from South and Southeast Asia.

Me, from behind a camera.

Anyway, back to my interview, I was asked about my research, the challenges, the reasons of choosing Germany as a place of study, and what I like about Germany or Bremen in particular.  Since the interview is for a TV show, it needs some visuals. However, my daily activities are far from visually interesting. I only sit in front of my computer the whole day, reading and writing. To make my interview visually interesting, I had to shoot some “generic” scenes. I had to pretend that I am observing an aquarium (really, why would I do that?), to stand on some points along a corridor (I love this scene), and pretend that I am discussing about marine species in front of the marine species display (luckily my friend is willing to be a co-star).

After two months, my interview is broadcast. It is in form of web article (http://www.dw.de/asti-baitoningsih-kawasan-konservasi-perairan-di-indonesia/a-16756439) and feature video called Inovator episode 57 (http://www.dw.de/rubrik/inovator/s-31496). My interview appears in minute of 04.40 to 07.16. The feature is broadcast on some TV channels in Indonesia.

I also received some pictures from the interview. What makes me surprised is that I look so enthusiastic! That must have come from the drugs…

This is how I look under the influence of Paracetamol.