The Dreams of Europe. The Dreams of Democracy. The Dreams of Freedom

A successful resolution of a severe political crisis requires immediate response, negotiation and a compromise among the political leaders. Unfortunately, Ukraine doesn’t have it - authoritarianism has taken over. And we are the Ukrainians and cannot keep quite. This letter is a call to Europe for help, because Ukraine is in terror and tragedy. It should no longer be a collective television watching only, as the incidents of the current severe intimidation are repeating the country’s history of terror in the 1930’s.

By Olena Denysyuk and Anastasia Erichsen

Photo by Olga Starostina

You might be asking who is right and who is wrong in the recent Ukrainian protests that turned deadly last week.  On the one side of the “front”, there are angry, desperate people with different social backgrounds and political views from various regions of Ukraine including Kievans, who came out to fight for their basic human rights. On the other side, there are thousands of governmental agents – internal military forces, police officers and the riot police Berkut. Known as the government tool for political repressions, Berkut forces are trained to suppress the uprising and have demonstrated the most brutal behavior such as cruel beatings, torturing, shooting directly at journalists and killing at least two protesters after firing bullets at them. Being paid very well Berkut is there voluntarily, while the internal military troops are there due to their military obligation. Hence, they are obliged to execute orders by law and if they change sides, they will be at risk of being sent to jail turning into objects of political repressions.   

Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! First of all, thank you all – especially to those nice people, who read my posts and a thank you in advance to those wonderful people, who are going to read them! And a very warm thank you to those, who rewarded me with a compliment, a comment, or constructive criticism, or a simple “like” on Facebook. And thank you to those, who showed support and understanding.

And now, I shall sum up!

One time my husband told me, it's better to be a pathetic blogger, than just be pathetic.

He should be ashamed of calling me a pathetic blogger!

But rather than feeling angry I felt quite honored, as he now calls me a BLOGGER! It’s always a pleasure to get a new stamp on your forehead.

So I kept on being a pathetic blogger for a little longer, rather than to be pathetic :)  (Apparently I am pathetic, if I am not blogging.) 

Big Data Opportunities – Are We There Yet? (Part 2)

Decision making based on the data from the social media can be biased, because the data do not capture what the decision makers need to minimize their own biases. The Big Data is biased and noisy. This is a source of big mistakes, risks and uncertainties.

By Olena Denysyuk

(for part 1, see here)

There is a new and big buzz-word is bubbling in many diversities of blogosphere, academics, forums and journalism, social influencers. The big word is BIG DATA (not just data, but BIG data). And the thinking is that the big data can give us BIG OPPORTUNITIES, and even visions to revolutionize the way we “stare” into the future. To me, there is a slight risk that we are moving towards wishful thinking, once again. Why wishful thinking? Well, the risks and uncertainties around big data are being underestimated, once again. We always had and will have a need in socially- sharing -thinking about something positive:  a belief that there is something that will bring us new opportunities; a new era towards a better future. And now all stare at big data bright future.

I have already mentioned, that the big data makes us even blinder to something potential, different, and not recorded (forecasting and technical uncertainties), so no matter which angle I would like to focus on when writing about big data, something else data had/has/will always have on its challenging side: the uncertainty generated by the human factor and by….big data itself.

But first allow me to mention what are these big opportunities I would like to focus on.

Strategic Improvements

The Uncertainties of Big Data (Part 1)

We might be on the beginning on the big data “epoch”. There are certainly great opportunities not only for business decision makers, but also for those, who like to work with big analytics. But the forecasting uncertainties are NOT eliminated by big data. In fact, the big data makes us even blinder to something potential, different, and not recorded.  This is a source if big boundaries, limits and diminished opportunities.

By Olena Denysyuk

Isn’t fun to be able to predict the future and change the direction of a business? Not the way the clairvoyants do, but like economists/ data analysts do. There are no big differences in these 2 groups, some would say. Maybe, it’s right. Nobody can see the next 10 years.  A 10-year business forecast is a good structuring tool, but as seeing- into-the- future tool, there is not so much value in it. Sadly.

But there should be some underlying reasoning, which these two groups share, since they share the idea of prophecy.

The later one predict the future (form the opinions, make the decisions) basing any judgment on data, technical/statistical/accounting/graphical. The former one predicts the future…well… I guess they have their own access to data they need: social media, Google among others.  No matter what analytics you go after in the realm of predicting the future, data is the central component.

So the word” data” is not new…     

Not only democratic values should be promoted, they should be helped to get implemented!

The successful resolution of the severe political crisis requires simple and clear goals and rules that everyone understands. Unfortunately, Ukraine doesn’t have them - authoritarianism has taken over. And we are the Ukrainians and cannot keep quite. This letter is a call to Europe for help, because Ukraine is in tragedy. It should no longer be a collective television watching only!

By Olena Denysyuk and Anastasia Erichsen

Photo by Olga Starostina

The uprising of Ukrainians during the last three weeks has been a moment of celebration. It’s the celebration of individual rights and democracy, the celebration of hope and values, which Europe stands for. Hundreds of thousands of people have peacefully protested against the remnants of the totalitarian regime of the last century. The people’s dream and hope of being a truly European and democratic country for the upcoming 10th year anniversary of the Orange Revolution was about to become true.

How To Be More Creative?

Creativity is part of our mind, our meaning, and our personal dynamics. Creativity is what we need, if we are to flourish in our well- being, including physical, environmental, mental, emotional, spiritual and social health. It’s a way to find meaning in all what we do, how we live and where we go.         

By Olena Denysyuk

  I think it is a well-known statement that creativity combined with rationalization and reasoning, adds more value to everything. It is a way for a product to stand out in a crowded market. Be it design, a story, a play. Be it something that provokes feelings. Be it something unique and beautiful, but meaningful. And for creativity to give meaning, it should be enhanced by rationalization and reasoning. Does it give meaning? If not- it doesn’t matter- creativity doesn’t always make sense. But actually, how do you find logic in creativity?

For many years I crafted my logical and analytical abilities, the left side of the brain, but not the right one. But actually, as long as I progress these analytical (L-sided abilities), I am becoming better and better in my creative (R-sided) abilities as well. What are the reasons?

Can creativity be synthesized? Or explained logically, and can it be learned at all? Where do creative ideas come from? What I have noticed, is that my good ideas to my creative hobbies (design, photography) come when I am relaxed; when I am very much motivated; when I notice details and its “new connections”; when I push myself into creative thinking; and when I have a dream. But I am sure there is more to the story.

Den unikke Riga

Den unikke Riga

Rigas DNA gemmer en sammensætning af nordiske og russiske gener. Historisk set var Riga altid været under vestlig og russisk indflydelse, hvilket har resulteret i kulturelle sammenstød. Sammenstødet gør Riga til en meget unik en by på verdens plan. Den russiske dominans særligt under Sovjet har nødvendiggjort skabelsen af en særlig hjælpsomhedskultur.  Men i dag er Riga i høj grad under indflydelsen af vesten. Hvordan har det påvirket folkets vilje til at hjælpe hinanden, under de nye muligheder som murens fald har åbnet for?

Af Olena Denysyuk

Kultursammenstød kan føre mange ting af sig. Det kan føre til politiske og samfundsmæssige diskussioner om indvandring, tørklæder og religiøse hensyn. I værste fald kan det ende i krig. I bedste fald kan det skabe berigende oplevelser og åbne anderledes tilgange til livet.

 Mit sidste kultursammenstød var i Riga, sidst i august til et bryllup. Sammenstødet var af den positive slags. Fredeligt. Behageligt. Lykkestimulerende. 

 Et sammenstød mellem det ”fredelige og harmoniske” nordiske og den ”vilde og kaotiske” russiske kultur. Det gav mig følelsen at have et ben i hver banehalvdel.