Munich my South

It has been four months now that I am back in my beloved south. 
"South". 
Munich is the southest I can go if I want to remain in Germany, and the northest I would go if I wanted to live "up in the north, in Germany". Full stop. 

It took me years to understand it. It took me to grow old to learn my geographical limits. 
What place, what climate, what ray of light makes me happy? And that it matters in the first place.
Now that I know, I will hold on to it dearly. Why force myself to live somewhere that is against my nature? Why make my body have that kind of fight everyday? 

In fact, my limits of south do remain underchallenged with Munich, but it'll do for now. 
For Munich has one unique offer to me: my history.  It has my friends from the university, it has the streets, the cafés, the bookshops, the trees in the parks, the beers in the beer gardens that had been a part of my life. It has my memories that are scattered on its corners. It took me years to understand that it matters. It took me to leave it to understand that I would miss it. My southern Munich is not south enough, but it'll do. It holds my history, and I am holding on to it dearly. It makes me feel I live and I have a past.

The first snow of the year has already fallen. Soon the streets will be all white, the air will be ice cold and it will make me shiver to my bones. So much for my south. 
Then, I will rush into a cafe to meet my good old friend, and we will talk about the past days. It will be warm again; inside of me. 







Taming of the Shrew

I am trying to escape from myself.
But myself always comes with me...
       I told her so many times
to stay put where she is.
       She wouldn't listen.
Very stubborn myself.
Just like me.

I learned to let go off things.
        Even things that are dear to me...
But myself wouldn't let go off me.

Ziehende Landschaft...Hilde Domin

ZIEHENDE LANDSCHAFT

Man muß weggehen können
und doch sein wie ein Baum:
als bliebe die Wurzel im Boden,
als zöge die Landschaft und wir ständen fest.
Man muss den Atem anhalten,
bis der Wind nachläßt
und die fremde Luft um uns zu kreisen beginnt,
bis das Spiel von Licht und Schatten,
von Grün und Blau,
die alten Muster zeigt
wo es auch sei,
und niedersitzen können und uns anlehnen,
als sei es an das Grab
unserer Mutter.
 
Hilde Domin


I left.
I leave.
And Ieave again.



BAU MIR EIN HAUS
.........
Laß uns landeinwärts gehen,
wo die kleinen Kräuter die Erde verankern.
Ich will einen festen Boden,
grün, aus Wurzeln geknotet
wie eine Matte.
Zersäge den Baum,
nimm Steine
und bau mir ein Haus.
..............

Hilde Domin



Without having noticed that all I wanted was to stay.
To be able to stay.



 

Life is No Laughing Matter...by Nazim Hikmet

Nazim Hikmet is one my most favorite Turkish poets (the other is Orhan Veli).
I can write so much about him. But I don't want to.
I want his poem to fill in all the space. So few lines with so much content...
 
LIVING IS NO LAUGHING MATTER

Living is no laughing matter:
       you must live with great seriousness
       like a squirrel, for example-
I mean without looking for something beyond and above living,
       I mean living must be your whole occupation.

In Turkish:

Yasamak sakaya gelmez,
     buyuk bir ciddiyetle yasayacaksin
bir sincap gibi mesela,
    yani, yasamanin disinda ve otesinde hicbir sey beklemeden,
yani butun isin gucun yasamak olacak.
Nazim Hikmet
 

I try to be that squirrel.
Moments are my occupation.
I hope, and try to fill them with beauty; and meaning. 
And if it works, I then try to hold on to those moments, even when they are passed.
And smile.

Seriously.

Trømso

Have you ever been to Trømso?
Me not.
Not until recently.
I didn't even know it existed. 
My ignorance.

It is so far up north.
So so far up north.
Too north for a girl from the south. 

Too dark, too cold, too far, too much too...
I was almost afraid to go.

Trømso is a little island town in the Norwegian fiords.
I flew there for 8 hours, changing the plane 2 times.
Munich - Copenhagen - Oslo- Trømso.
I could go straight to bed when I arrived.
I went there for work.

I went there work, and what a peace I found.
Water water everywhere.
What a daylight..
Hills, the sky and only a handful of people.
Just the peace of the nature and me.
Go there, it will be you.

There is a great espresso shop in in Trømso.
The only one. 
Run by an Italian guy from Treviso.
He will celebrate your coffee in the proper espresso machine and serve it to you in  his fluent Norwegian with an Italian accent. 
My piece of south in the far far north. 

I went there for work.
What a piece of peace I found in Trømso.
Go there it will be yours.





Tango is a Difficult Thing

This thing called tango is a difficult thing...
I don't mean the technicality. That is not easy either, but on that bit you can always improve. With patience, decisiveness and sufficient practice anyone can become a fairly good tango dancer. I claim. What is difficult is the rest.
The world of tango gives you a lot but demands equally lot.

It gives you a wonderful music, emotions, an additional language to express yourself. 
It brings some wonderful people into your life, whom you would have otherwise probably never met.

But then, just because of this, this tango can be very hurtful...
You may have had a bad day behind you...you go out, want to dance, want to be among friends, forget, be happy go home and sleep with a light heart. Feel you belong to somewhere and people care for you.
Maybe.
Or maybe you sit there the whole night, longing for some tender tandas but your 'tangueri friends' are only too busy with themselves. Looks go past by you, your all time dancers have eyes for others this evening. They may even be reluctant to say 'Hello', because God beware, that may oblige them to dance with you...
This tango is a difficult thing.

It may make you endlessly happy. If you have found your embrace, if you see the joy and shine in your partner's eyes, who says thank you to you without using the words. You may surprisingly have a wonderful chat with someone, and feel like you have known each other forever. But then the very same person may not recognize you next time he or she sees you. Too busy with chasing embraces.

You can make someone as happy as a little child, by saying just a simple 'yes' to his invite. In the end he will kiss your hand and bring you back to your place greatefully, responsibly, respectfully. One night the tanguero, whom you thought he doesn't even know you exist, may invite you to a beautiful tanda...what a mix of joy, excitement, fear...will I do, or will I be a disappointment?

And then all tango these travels...
You go long ways, you fly, you drive hours and hours. You have expectations...
You worked hard the whole week and you hope to find a little warm home in that dancing hall, with the lovely music and  'friends'. 
Will that happen?
You never know.

But it is difficult, this thing called tango. That much I know.
You may leave that dancing hall, thanking God almighty that life is a miraculous, wonderful thing. Or you may leave that dancing hall completely confused, with a self confidence equal to zero. All these years' of dancing wasn't worth a penny.

You take in all this. These are the rules of the game. 
This is tango. Either you play it or you leave it.

So, next week you go dancing again.
What happened? 
You are the prince or princess of the evening. 
Your feet hurt, your back doesn't carry you anymore.
But your heart is shining like the summer sun.

Ralph Waldo Emerson on Success


I stumbled over this poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson today. He is a 19th cc. US American thinker, literate and poet. He belongs to the school of transcendentalists as I read. So, he belonged to a generation of people, whose attempt was to define spirituality and religion that reflect  the new understandings of their era. He was involved in social reforms such as  anti-slavery and women's rights.
 
What he wrote about success made me think. I read these lines over and over to pick my most favorite one, even though I can identify myself with the entire poem. For me this is the purest, yet most contentful and actually the most beautiful definition of success. Here is what he says: 
 
SUCCESS
To laugh often and much
to win the respect of intelligent people
and affection of children; to earn the
appreciation of honest critics and
endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty, to find the best
in others; to leave the world a bit
better, whether by a healthy child
a garden patch or redeemed
social condition; to know even
one life has breathed easier because
you have lived. This is to have
succeeded.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Now I know my most favorite line: "..to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived." . I thought hard to decide whether this holds for me...I don't know, I really don't. I hope so...It matters to me. 

This line crosses my mind everyday now. It makes me happy, makes me feel better.
Because each new day gives me the chance to make it happen.



Goodbye Cologne

Cologne has been my tough love.

How can I explain?
I came to Cologne three years ago.
Whenever I go to a new city, I get an instant feeling; it is very strong, and it sits in my stomach. It tells me "this city is you..."  or not.  I know how it feels when a city is me. We breath together. All its faces, nice and ugly, are also mine. All its moods, high or low, are also mine. When my guests see my city they see me.

Cologne wasn't me. 
I gave us a try, three years long. It didn't work. It's a pity because it is a nice city. It is full of friendly, open minded and welcoming people. Besides, it is almost at the border of both Holland and Belgium and  this has an effect. There is so much interaction in between these cities due to the vicinity that people almost live together. It is like a shared flat, where each roommate brings in his unique character and cultural background. And this makes life the more interesting, at times challenging, and the more beautiful in this city.

In Cologne you will find many Belgian boutiques, cafes and  restaurants. In the grocery stores you will find much more Dutch food than in other cities. If you go out for tango dancing, your partners will be from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Maastricht even from Lille and Paris. 
Multicultural heaven.

In Cologne there is also a large Turkish community, which also has an effect. At least on me. All this time on all my public transport travels within the city I had to listen to many Turkish stories, about the breaking marriages, about the betraying couples, about the businesses going bankrupt. Very loudly told, very emotionally lived, all in Turkish. 
I know them all.
I didn't have a choice; it happens that I understand Turkish. 

It is a pity that it didn't work with Cologne and me. It is almost like, when you meet someone and admire and respect his or her personality but instantly you also know that there is no affection; and things will not pick up. This is our relationship with Cologne. 

In less than a week I am leaving; going to the south. 
Me and the south. Now, that is a passionate love affair. 

So here am I again, saying goodbye to a city. I do not even know the number of times I have been in this picture; silently saying goodbye to the streets, to the shops and cafes, to the familiar faces behind the counters. Next week the bakery across the street will sell my morning croissant to someone else. I also wonder if and when the man in that little shop where I have been buying water will realize I have stopped coming by. I will miss Museum Ludwig. I loved to go there after the work to see the paintings yet another time. It freed my mind and filled my soul. 

Cologne wasn't me, but I admire its personality. 
I am saying goodbye, while not believing in goodbyes.
I know I will come back; I still have tandas to dance, flammkuchen to eat, friends to see; and many more Turkish stories to listen to on the trams.

On my roots

My friend has a hobby: he is a genealogist. So, his passion is finding out about his family roots. He is German and he has been able trace back his roots that took him to today's Czech Republic. It is not where it stops.  And he will find it out.

I have always admired his passion, yet to me it remained as his passion.  Could not become mine. Did not think much about it either. I liked to listen to him.

Three weeks ago I met some far members of my family, whom I have not known until this age.  My 'new' uncle told me where my family stems from on my father's side.  He is also interested in genealogy, and it has been important for him to find out who we are and where we come from.  

My gran-grandfather came to Turkey from central Asia, more precisely from Uzbekistan. My grandfather and father were born in Istanbul.  Grandma and granddad found each other in Istanbul.

The form of the eyes of my 'new' uncle is like those of a central Asian.  I recalled that occasionally few people have been telling me that my eyes are a little bit like Asian eyes, especially when I was still a child. 

My grandma on my father's side, whom I never met, is a 'sarayli' my new uncle said; which literally means 'from the palace'. So, in general she belongs to a family that lived in the Ottoman palace. She and her family are Ottomans. 

My grandparents on my mother's side come from former Yugoslavia, today's Bosnia-Herzegovina. Grandma and granddad found each other in Adapazari, a small town one hour away from Istanbul.  

It sounds like I am a genealogical mixture: a little bit central Asian, a little bit Ottoman/Turkish, a little bit Balkan.

All of a sudden I have all this information about who I am, where I belong to, where my roots trace back to.  What I feel is relief, and comfort.  I don’t know why. Maybe because I have never felt that I had roots. I have always been on the move; I have lived in different countries, cities, continents, cultures.  It was my choice, and it made me happy. I have cherished the freedom, I still do, and being able to move and not to have to be stuck somewhere. The feeling that the entire world is my home. 

I feel relief and comfort, now that know a bit better about my roots.  That I am not a 'stray bullet' like my grandma would have said... I am the product of central Asian, and European souls, who were seeking new homes in yesterday's Ottoman today's Turkish soil, whose ways and hearts crossed in and around Istanbul.

I have a friend.  He is a passionate genealogist. I understand him much better now. I understand his passion.

My father's Turkey

My father always used to tell me how Turkey and Istanbul once was. His Turkey, his Istanbul.
I loved to listen to his memories as if they were tales.

My father used to tell me Istanbul was a place full of public beaches. Families and singles would hop on a tram, go to the next public beach and spend a nice summer day there.

He used to tell me people would always dress nicely when they went out to the streets, out of respect to the others. They would greet strangers on the streets if their ways crossed. He used to tell people would discuss poetry, politics and arts at long dinners while drinking raki to the fish they ate.

My father used to tell they were proud of their young democracy, they respected those who went to mosques to pray, just as well as those who didn't go nor prayed. Women with head covers were respected as so were those without. Nobody questioned, nobody judged. Nobody asked why their hair were so apparently visible, or why not...Things were just the way they were. 

My father was a kind gentleman, who never said a bad word to anyone, even if the price he paid for it was to be looked down upon or be considered a weak person. He increasingly grew sad to see his Turkey and his Istanbul descent...

He saw Istanbul's streets getting more crowded, and then more crowded and even more crowded, so that it became impossible to greet neither the strangers nor the acquainted faces. He saw people becoming more and more disrespectful to each other because the life got more stressful as the competition for resources got higher and tougher.

My father's Turkey was a place, where everyone were sisters and brothers, no matter what religion, what ethnicity. Everyone was proud to have had established an enlightened republic after the Ottoman Empire and the years of war. Everyone was hungry for knowledge and the word 'human' was written in capital letters. 

My father didn't live long enough to see what I saw.

A week ago I saw the Taksim Square turning upside down...I saw the demolished cars and busses, I saw the young people running away from the police as these were chasing them with pepper gas sprays.

I used to go to operas and to the concerts of the Istanbul Symphony Orchestra with my father at Taksim Square. Now a battle field... I used to get on the bus that crosses the bridge to go to 'our side' with my father at Taksim Square. Now a battle field...I used to go the the Borsa Et Lokantasi to eat the famous 'doner' and the baked milk rice pudding with my father at Taksim Square. Now a battle field...

Then again, I saw the hopeful, determined, proud, open minded young Turks, who sat in front of the beautiful green trees of the Taksim Square to protect them from being torn down...I saw them uniting their hands, minds, dances, songs and hearts to protect the democracy in Turkey. I saw the ray of light at Taksim Square.

My father didn't live long enough to see what I saw.

You plan for one thing, something else happens instead...on being wrong by Kathryn Schulz


I watched this talk of Kathryn Schulz more than once.
It moves me as much each time.
 
She says we are all so obsessed by being right and getting things right because doing so makes us feel good, valuable and safe. Yet, being wrong is a most natural state of being human.
Moreover, we keep thinking we are right, even if we have been wrong all along. 
We don't realize we are wrong, because we are so busy with being right.

Being wrong is ok, being wrong is good, being wrong is human. Being wrong is how the life is. 
It just happens that you are wrong.
You plan for one thing, and something else happens instead. 

Things just don't turn out that way.
She tells the audience to think back on their high-school times. You were all going to marry your high-school sweetheart, buy a house at your home place and raise your children together. 

Something else happened instead.

How was it with you?
I was wrong.
Something else happened instead.

Kathryn Schulz on TED: on being wrong 

On being myself

This last week has been one of those when I needed to think about my identity or identities a little more intensively, again. I read things, had conversations or met new people, who made me think or react in certain ways that I had to reflect upon.

I read an essay from an expat girl from the US, who moved to Australia because of her relationship. She was describing her experiences and feelings in her new home country, and about how she was torn in between the old and the new homes. She felt she no longer belonged to none. Home was neither US nor Australia, while home was both of those places at the same time. She felt she was the 'other' one in both places.

I recalled that I had similar thoughts and feelings once. Am I now Turkish or German? Is my home Germany or Turkey? On top, people kept asking me: where do you feel more at home? Here or there? I basically had to choose between this or that. What a pressure. And honestly I was a bit confused, why do I have to choose? Can I just not be both this AND that?

During the course of the years I also lived in other places: USA, Italy and Sweden. So things  were getting a little complicated. Now, do I have to decide on one from all these five? Which one is my home?  This is when I gave up on it. I decided to belong to all those places and to none. The easiest is just to be myself. In all those places I feel equally at home and not at home. In all those places there are things that I embrace and those That I simply do not understand or can simply live without. And I know that this will be the case wherever I go. Put me to Timbuktu, certain things I will love, certain ones I will learn to love and some will never make it there. This is just the way the world is and the way we are.

Last week I also met someone, a German lady, who returned 'home' after 14 years abroad. She told  me she sometimes feels like an UFO. To begin with, she is no longer that fluent in her mother tounge. I couldn't identify myself with her more....Turkey is home when I smell its smell, when I eat the bread, when I see my family and friends, when I watch the Bosphorus. Turkey is no longer home when I have to think much longer than I used to, to express myself correctly in certain occasions. Or when I have to back up my sentences with English or German words (and they sound sadly pretentious). It stops being home when people behave more rudely than I have experienced in other places. Yet, the same feelings I have for Italy, Sweden and USA also for that matter. I will always be the 'other' at some times and 'one of us' at some other times. In fact, the easiest is just be 'myself' at all times.

Weekend @ El Corte

I came back from a city called Nijmegen in Holland this evening.
I never knew it existed before I moved to Cologne. 
My ignorance.

Now I know  that this little Dutch city is famous for two things: its university and the tango.
There is a tango salon called El Corte there. 
I never knew it existed before I moved to Cologne.
My ignorance.

Tango dancers from as far as New Zealand, South Korea, Urugay.. all knew about this place.
They come there to dance. 

I had been lucky to go there with some friends for the very first time, as otherwise I have had never found the place.
It is just a door, on some backstreet, close to the main train station.
I would have never thought it is a place where you would go to dance.
With tango I  always expect some 'salon' as they call it.
Some elegant place with wooden floor, chandeliers, bistro tables...
Nothing like that.

You open the door, walk in, and all what you see is big a table, some sofa, a kitchen - bar on the left hand side, and somewhere back there is the dance floor. It is just a room. Could have been your living room.
When I first saw it, I thought, hmm so this is the salon that is what they say is world famous... 
After 3 years, I know why it is so famous, and it so much deserves it.

It is about the the place and it is about the people.
All these people, from all over the world come there for their passion. Yes, they are passionate about tango.
And it is so international and this 'salon'...the way it is makes you feel so much like you are at home.
Yes, as if you were at home, you had invited your friends from the rest of the world for coffee, you speak all sorts of different languages, and a common one: tango.
No entrance fees, just caring hosts who make sure you feel well. They serve you coffee, food, they clean and tidy up all the time, they play wonderful music and they smile. If you went there a few times, they know you by name..They want to know where you come from, they pay attention to the detail. 
I remember the first Friday evening I had gone there, after a long work day. I arrived there finally and asked about the entrance fee. They told me: "there is no entrance fee, you came a long way, it is late and you are tired. now just come in and relax..."

Once there, it is amazing how the time passes..I realize how late it is only when I get hungry :) That is usually around 8 pm. So from 1 pm to 8 pm I have been dancing to the wonderful music, or at least listening to it if my feet could no longer carry me dancing, I have been chatting with old and new tango friends from wherever in whatever language.

This time I had wonderful dances with tangueros from France, Latvia, Britain, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Turkey, Scotland, Slovenia, ...I am back home but I still have the music in my ears, and and the things we told each other without having used the words. 

'A Better You' on TED

I recently discovered a series of talks on TED (Ideas Worth Spreading) named 'A Better You.' The talks are about you and your life, it is about the things that may or should matter to you. They make you reflect upon yourself.

They are of varying length, from 3 minutes to half an hour, so that you can perfectly watch one while you are waiting for the bus, or on the train, or just before you go to sleep.

So, how does this 'Better You' look like.

In one talk called "Success is a continuous journey" Richard St. John tells, very briefly, what success did to his life. Success made his life an unhappy one. 

He heartily explains that all the things that mattered to him about his work, like passion, focus, creativity, dedication...brought him the success, success being money. And precisely that made him fail, because he no longer could dedicate himself to the things that mattered to him: to his passion, to his real work, to his creativity. Because the money needed to be managed. He couldn't care for his people, because he had no time to do that. 

So he decided to compensate what he lost through material acquisitions; fast cars, expensive holidays...He bought everything, but one: happiness.

He started to fail, because he was unhappy...The more he failed, the less money he had. And guess what? The more freedom! 
His freedom and his state of having hit the bottom transformed him back to the person he was in the beginning: passionate, creative, dedicated,  hard working, and happy...

It is a heartfelt story of about only 4 minutes. Watch it while you are waiting for your hard-boiled egg to cook.

on TED: Richard St. John "Success is a continuous journey"

Decisive by Heath Brothers

Read it if you want to understand why you decided the way you did, of better yet, if you are still unsure. One of the best non-fiction books, I have read.

There are concrete life stories, which can happen or could have happened to you...
Well written, so easy to read. And makes you think...

What stuck:
  • Widen your options, you don't have to decide between this or that. Find out about what else.
  • Ask yourself what you would have done, if you were stuck with what you have now.
  • And what you would have done 10 years from now.
  • Be preparedf to fail: Háve a plan B in case the things don't turn out the way you expected.

Reflections from eyeforpharma

I survived my fist marketing conference.

I am a researcher, and I am passionate about it.
So to this date I have attended to a few conferences. Academic ones.
I was recommended at work to attend to this conference, a non-academic one, and so did I.
It was an experience for me. In all aspects. And I am happy about it.

Honestly, it has been a long time, if ever, since I have seen 2000 extremely well-dressed (with very expensive looking shoes in particular) people in one place.
In eyeforpharma this was the case.

It has been long time, if ever, I felt like a 'celebrity' and I could totally understand how stressful  it can feel like...Actually, it feels a bit like being a tourist in a south mediterenean country, take Turkey, when everyone wants to sell something to you. If you work for a global pharma company, and go to a pharma marketing conference, it is pretty much the case.

At the same time, this was a good conference.
I attended to many tracks and listened to many lectures.
Because I was curious, and I wanted to learn.
I learned indeed.

I like it when things are tangible, when there are 'use cases'. Meaning that, when I can clearly see someone in the end will benefit from what is being developed or implemented.
With that said, again in my essence, I am a researcher. I am experimental, I take risks, I create, I like exploring the unknown. But then I like to see that my conduct will have an impact. Someone will feel happy, or grateful or helped out, directly or indirectly, as a consequence. This is where my industrial part leans in. I am practical.

In this respect, this conference was a good one, as the 'customer' is in the focus (maybe a little too much), it is all about him.

Here is what I took home with me:


"Closed Loop Marketing (CLM) is Dead":

To me it was only born on the first day of the conference.
On the second day it was dead.

CLM is about digitally tracking customers' (doctors, GPs etc.) behaviors and preferences. The loop is closed when the behavior changes as a result of the marketing strategy. CLM was claimed to be dead because it currently lacks Big Data/Predictive Analytics.



"Is People":

- Listen more and talk less
- Dare to innovate
- Trust your data, not only the gut feeling


"Collaborate with Academia" (which makes ME feel at home again...)

If you want to get your statistical models right to do proper predictive analytics, you have to collaborate with research and academia.  They do the real maths!


"All Trends Have Big Noise"

We did an interesting experiment in one lecture, where the presenter told us that he was going to count to 3 and to introduce ourselves (say the name + where we come from), all at the same time.

1-2-3 and and everyone buzzed. Then he said, now we all know (app.40 people in the room), where each one of us came from and what our names are.
Of course, we didn't. 40 people talking at once?
Big Data has noise... 


"GLOCAL" =  Think Globally, but Execute Locally

Radhika Kaizada of Pfizer shared her experiences for reaching out the users/customers and the key factors for a successful product development strategy:

- think glocal 
- capture moments and experiences and share
- standardize so that you can compare one thing to another
- engage people. develop champions
- make it fun
- engage
- take time to celebrate your success, enjoy


"Patient is Dead Long Live the Person"

Patients are not a list of clinical problems.

They are viewed as a collection of  'bills, prescriptions, treatments, diseases, symptoms, complaints, visits' etc. No-one sees there a Person behind.

It is not about the 'things that need to be done' to the patient, but it is about the Person.

That Person has also other lives and other roles:
- Mother/father
- A professional
- A son/daughter
- and since his/her diagnosis the Patient.

So it is about Me and You, it is about the Personalized Medicine.

Patient value can be increased by adherence to treatment. Pharma loses yearly 350 billion US$ due to poor adherence to treatment. A new research field emerged 'Adherence Research' to mitigate this problem.


"Prevent, Not Cure"

The trend is on keeping the people out of the hospital. Making sure that they remain healthy  and they live healthier lives.  Hence, pharma and healthcare collaborate to explore new ways to increase awareness about the importance of leading a healthy life, e.g. by following a healthy diet.


"Open Data"

All data published.
Contribute to Big Data.
A change in the mindset of the governments and the pharma in Europe.
Transparency and sharing are welcome and are fostered.

UK seems to be pioneer in this trend.  The logic or the assumption behind it is whatever belongs to the public has to be accessible to the public. 
Fair enough.
Open Data is Big Data, as you open your data, share it and it becomes bigger. 

The best quality Pan-European Open Data is provided by OECD and WHO (and can be acquired from their websites), while the most 'open' European countries are:
- UK
- France
- Germany
- Spain
- Italy

Final Sentences that Stuck:

  • Medicine is social
  • Truth well told
  • Let the patients speak
  • Prevention not cure
  • All data published
  • Reconciliation
  • The patient is dead, long live the person

On Big Data and human interactions

Just now I read a very interesting and insightful article about Big Data and what insights it provides to human behavior and the social interactions.

MIT professor Sandy Petland is a (Big) Data scientist, a social observer and also a regular invited speaker at the Davos World Economy Forum.

Some sentences that stuck to my mind:

"I believe that the power of Big Data is that it is information about people's behavior instead of information about their beliefs."
"This sort of Big Data comes from things like location data off of your cell phone or credit card, it's the little data breadcrumbs that you leave behind you as you move around in the world."
"What those breadcrumbs tell is the story of your life. It tells what you've chosen to do. That's very different than what you put on Facebook. What you put on Facebook is what you would like to tell people, ..."

How very true. What I put on Facebook and what I talk there is about I want the others to perceive me. But who I actually am is only revealed about my behavior. What I eat, what I wear, what I buy, where do I go for holidays and whom I engage with. There are many 'words of wisdom' relating to this: tell me who is your friend I will tell you who you are, don't judge people according to their words but their actions, etc...

Here is the whole interview with Prof. Petland and the video:
http://www.edge.org/conversation/reinventing-society-in-the-wake-of-big-data