28th edition – Aid – Pike & Hurricane

Collective Ideas – A Path to Greater Decisions?

Leticia Santos — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 14:59:13 +0000

Given our complex modern society, one could question if the key for building a better world is wider collaborative behaviour among us. Imagine that larger groups are potentially more intelligent than the smartest person in a group of “ experts.” Human connection can expand itself through collaboration if we just investigate further very simple but relevant examples of such action.

James Surowiecki on his book The Wisdom of Crowds (2004) illustrates how collective intelligence can be efficient. Take for instance the TV show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?,” when a player requests help he can either choose the collective knowledge or individual knowledge. He can choose a phone call to a friend or a poll of the audience to find the right answer. The results illustrate very clear and, even surprisingly, that collective knowledge answers right every time. The random audience gave the correct answers 91 % of the time when compared to the expert called on the phone which answered correctly only 65 % of the time. This simplistic case can greatly open the doors to rethinking our ways in accomplishing better achievements.

Collective intelligence can transform how we connect on many different levels. Take for instance, businesses and civil societies that can make use of this “collective intelligence collaboration” for problem-solving or innovation. In the business arena, companies like Lego have launched online platforms where users contribute to designing products. Lego Ideas is an online service started in 2008, which enables users to give ideas for Lego products that could be turned into sets for the market after gaining 10,000 supporters online. The original designer receives 1% of the total sale of products. This also sheds light on the discussion of to what extent it is appropriate for big corporations to massively profit from very good ideas as these serve as a source of “cheaper” labour.

Another very curious example is the TipJar, a platform launched by Google that sought best answers on how to save money. The platform was interestly launched during the global financial crisis of 2009.

Surowiecki’s examples range from technology to social life. One could argue that collective knowledge is beneficial and could definitely achieve great outcomes. Not only for the purpose of upgrading or controlling the consumer’s choice in the market, collective wisdom also has been used to connect people wishing to solve challenging world issues. In 2000, the United Nations launched a global platform for volunteers and organizations (UNV), which seeks to connect different people from all corners of the world in order to address sustainable development challenges. This is certainly a vital tool for people with different backgrounds to expand their social network and create a diverse online volunteerism.

What makes an intelligent crowd?

An important part of this is that in order to become an intelligent crowd and give correct answers, the group must hold some characteristics. Diversity is the main characteristic for successful collective knowledge. For instance, Wikipedia has diverse authors adding freely to the encyclopedia and that has been a source of major criticism towards the reliability of the content. However in 2005, the journal, Nature, compared two main online encyclopaedias (Britannica and Wikipedia) in various sectors and found the same rate of errors and omissions. The diverse Wikipedia writers are not far from being as accurate as a group of paid experts and professionals.

This adds to our idea of human collaboration even further as all indicates that diverse minds do better, and therefore they do matter. Another study that exposes the importance of diversity is the study conducted by Scott Page (University of Michigan) and Lu Hong (Loyola University) in 2004. They concluded that a diverse group of problem-solvers accomplished a better collective guess than the guess given by the group of best-performing solvers. It can be seen that collective wisdom has entered many areas of our lives. It is used for decision-making, creating and sharing knowledge. All the examples discussed so far consist of a vast knowledge of people from different fields, which leads to collective intelligence.

Collaboration as the deepest form of human connection

It is obvious that humans are deeply intertwined in different ways. This interdependence strongly depends on high levels of collaboration between people, and that is an experience present in our lives constantly. Our collective intelligence should definitely be more explored in order to expand our human connection and solve issues facing our planet and society. If we could increasingly engage in mutually beneficial collaborative interactions, then we could more easily overcome major issues such as climate change and poverty.

Letícia Santos

Photo Credit: Jordi Payà, CC BY-SA 2.0, Badalona, March 25, 2012

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Big Issues Through Little Eyes

Taminka Hanscamp — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 14:46:47 +0000

In the leafy suburban outskirts of Oslo is a white house. It is almost as unassuming as the subject matter it contains, it is the International Museum of Children’s Art. Compared to the White House in Washington DC this one greets you with colourful giant snails, butterflies and a cow. This joyful expression of childhood and imagination does not however, preclude the Museum from being properly viewed as a centre of international and political concern. The Museum provides a unique opportunity to see and consider the perspective of children on international issues. It also gives a platform for children to be recognised in our society and works for the promotion of the rights of the child.

For too long we have dismissed the voices, wisdom and concerns of children, especially in politics, but this forgets that children are already involved in the ‘adult’ world. When we do remember, our responses are often paternalistic and disempowering. This is wrong as it is also their world and their future that is being dealt with. Children are key stakeholders in many serious international issues, for example concerning work, slavery and violence and when it comes to child labour and child soldiers we are quick to voice outrage and concern as these practices are seen as abhorrent abuses of the rights of the child and the sanctity of childhood. Children are also at the centre of issues such as education, health, climate change, immigration and population growth. Acknowledging that children are involved in international issues places the need and value of showcasing their views and contributions, through their art, squarely in the field of foreign affairs. Further, it seems absurd that the International Museum of Children’s Art in Oslo is the only one like it in the world. This is especially because children produce art on a prolific scale and the ability and time to do this epitomises the realisation of the ideal childhood that the world invests so much into protecting and developing.

Sharmin Chait, 10 years, Bangladesh, ‘Child Worker’

The Museum hosts exhibitions inviting contributions from children around the world on different themes. In this way it captures the perspectives, concerns and understandings of local and global issues in a unique way. The Museum is currently exhibiting the best works from the last three decades to celebrate its 30th birthday. This special exhibition and the Museum’s archives provide valuable insight into how time, technology, perspectives and cultures have both changed and collided across the globe. For example two exhibitions on fatherhood were done in the last 30 years allowing for a comparison of how family roles have changed in this time. Whilst the newspapers that previously featured were replaced with computers and phones, depictions of anger and fear were unfortunately common to both eras.

Left, Michiru Shioji, 3 Years, Japan, ‘My Father is Angry!’; Right, Jonas Lindborg, 10 Years, Sweden, ‘Papa’

What remained with me as I wandered through the galleries was the ability for children to distil very complex issues into a clear sentiment. Pieces from exhibitions on environment and disaster highlighted how the challenges of climate change are already felt very seriously in the lived experiences of those who will be affected the most. Some pictures showed the grave concern and hopelessness of the issues whilst others had a quixotic tone. The greed and waste that have so clearly contributed to climate change are outlined so simply that you can’t avoid this truth staring you in the face. The works and indeed the gallery shone a light on how adults are often indifferent to the concerns of children and the type of world they want us to leave them.

Left, Emma Lorena Cabaldoens, 13 years, Panama, ‘NATURE See, Smell, Feel and Admire It. Don’t Forget What It Was. Preserve It’; Right, Olga Crasik, 15 Years, Ukraine, ‘The Dream

In displaying contributions from around the world on single topics, the Museum provides a rich resource for understanding different cultures and nations. Children’s art reconnects us to the basic truths of our shared existence on the planet, and the gallery is a beautiful reminder of the importance and value of giving children the respect they deserve and a voice in matters of international concern.

Taminka Hanscamp

Photo Credit: Pictures 1-5 Permission from the International Museum of Children’s Art

Cover image: 5 years, India, ‘I am going to the Moon’ International Museum of Children’s Art Used with Normal One Time Permission

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A Volunteer’s View of the Rio Olympics

Céline Sonnenberg — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 13:58:14 +0000

The 2016 Olympics have had a bad reputation from the start. Seemingly “doomed to fail”, reports about the first ever Olympic Games held in South America included the obvious safety concerns in a city like Rio de Janeiro with high criminality, drug problems and the almost law free zones in some favelas, as well as the horrific water conditions in the lagoon, the influence on the public, continuous corruption problems and obviously Zika.

I myself, as someone who applied to be a volunteer in the Games in 2014, had my own concerns, but I also questioned if my decision to work for free in this event would be supporting the wrong message and groups with my workforce while knowing that the money spent on the Olympic Games as well as the World Championship in Football could have been used for much more important issues such as the health care and education system in Brazil. But I had fallen in love with Rio and its people during my first visit and I was too eager to return.

And now – a little more than two months later – I am so thankful that I did go and so happy that I got to connect with so many amazing people from all over the globe.

Even before I actually started working I could see just how many foreigners were pouring into Rio, excited to see their favourite sports and happy to get to know a new country. I was extremely lucky to be able to participate in a sport I actually majorly enjoyed: horse riding. It was so easy to share the fascination of horse-riding even with Brazilian colleagues, who did not speak English; the excitement rarely needed translation. And while connecting with other volunteers through a sport we all loved dearly was wonderful and amazing, I do cherish the conversations with Brazilians about their country the most.

Céline (far right) with fellow volunteers in Rio de Jeneiro, Brazil for the Olympics.

Having a special relationship with South America after spending three wonderful months there after high school and working in a human rights organisation for indigenous people during an internship for my studies, I had soon realised how little South American topics played a role in major news in Europe. Maybe it is simply too far away, or maybe their role is not significant enough in global markets, but news from South America usually only makes it to European media in times of natural catastrophes or major political unrest.

So while I had seen some of the coverage about the protests in Brazil and the wish for an impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff, I had never fully gotten just how fed up Brazilians were with the continuous problem of corruption in their country and how eager they were to talk about it.

While a large portion of my information comes from in-depth talks with Brazilians I actually got to sit down with in hostels or my Airbnb host Paolo, even when I got into an Uber and it was a simple ten minute ride, the huge problem of ‘corrupcão’ – corruption – came up. Having been to Brazil only three years prior, this huge change in attitude astonished me. While I had realistically not discussed politics at all during my first trip, now conversations about it started out of the blue.

First I believed this was only going to be the case in Rio, where people were directly impacted by the Olympic Games, but it ran like a red thread through my travels across Brazil and the huge gap between rich and poor, the feeling of helplessness against such a deeply rotten political system, but at the same time the strong wish to change something popped up everywhere.

I have rarely seen a people so passionately discussing politics on a daily basis.

Both the huge corruption scandal around the oil company Petrobras, in which even beloved former President Lula da Silva was supposedly involved, as well as a growing recession have shown the unfairness of the political system in which corruption has played and continues to play a huge role, which is especially hard on Brazil’s poor population and continuously widens the gap between rich and poor.

For my job in the Olympics I moved from Rio´s glamorous and touristy Zona Sul to one of its poorer suburbs: Coelho Neto, a much more realistic place to understand the reality of living in Brazil than the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. The huge apartment blocks and the growing favelas along the mega street Avenida Brazil are not what most tourists will see, simply because it is not the nicest looking and also because these suburbs can be really dangerous for foreigners. For the people living in these poorer areas, who are clearly the majority of the Brazilian population, life has gotten increasingly more difficult over the last years.

Rio from above.

As I buy some groceries, my Airbnb host Paulo raises his eyebrows, “This is really expensive.” My shopping is about 10 Euros, not something I would realistically consider ‘splurging.’ “Two years ago this would have been half the price,” he tells me. Prices have gone up majorly due to the recession and the poorer population is increasingly suffering from it.

Social initiatives proposed by the worker´s party, Partido dos Trabalhadores, over their presidencies, from 2011 until the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, have been able to close some of the gap between the rich and poor, but larger control of the state in the economy has slowed down Brazil’s formerly rapid economic growth leading to large scale unemployment and growing poverty. This dissatisfaction with the government and the perceived wrong spending of huge sums of money for the World Championship and Olympic Games have lead to large scale demonstrations all over the country.

However not all Brazilians think the impeachment of Dilma Roussef is the right call, in fact the words “Fora Temer” (Out with Temer) are visible in every city I visit during my travels in Brazil. Temer – the former vice president – took office without official elections after Dilma´s impeachment to serve until what would have been the end of Dilma’s time in office January 1st 2019. For some Brazilians despite the fact that it is in line with the constitution, this is a crime against democracy. Dilma was impeached over supposedly taking loans from state banks without congressional approval, however this has been quite common practice in Brazil and some voices wonder if this is not simply an excuse to end the workers party´s long time leading period. “I don’t love Dilma or her politics” Flora a film student I meet in a hostel in Florianopolis tells me “but I think the accusations are just an excuse to get her out of office, because her controlled economy kept the rich from making too much money”.

Brazil will probably need some time to recover from the unrest, the major political scandals and the Petrobras corruption scheme. It is certain that Brazil remains a deeply divided country for some time to come. And while volunteering for the Olympics might be still seen as supporting a majorly corrupt organisation, it has shown me not only the wonderful way in which sports and passion can connect people, but has given me a much broader and deeper understanding of the underreported political situation in Brazil as well as the struggles in this country that I could have never understood, had I not been there for the Olympics.

Céline Sonnenberg

Photo Credit: Céline Sonnenberg

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