Beyond Creativity

On A-Studio TV in EMF topics + Petition/Initiatives

Oops! I accepted the invitation and was interviewed (among others) by a Finnish television crew for the A-Studio: Huolestuttaako kännykän säteily? (Program title: Are you worried about health risks of mobile phones?). The recording of this show is available till 1st of August 2008.

In overall, I am pleased with the show.  Not even my dull presence was enough to spoil the event (a joke ;-) Thanks to Petteri Sarvamaa, Antti Tuominen & Co in YLE Finnish television for making this historical event.

I highly value the other guests in that show:

- Professor Dariusz Leszczynki , the Finnish Radiation and Safety Authority (STUK). The world's best expert in proteomics. His latest paper about protein changes in human skin after microwave exposure is worth reading as well as his older paper about blood brain barrier related effects.

- Professor Osmo Hänninen, University of Kuopio. The expert behind the book "Matkapuhelinteknologia - Mitkä ovat terveysriskit?" - PDF (Translation: Mobile phone technology - What are the health risks".

- Professor Kari Jokela, the Finnish Radiation and Safety Authority (STUK)

A little wish for my Finnish readers: Please, sign the Pro_Lankaverkko (Pro Fiber)-initiative. Please, support the base station initiative of MP Heidi Hautala by contacting your closest MP (kansanedustaja). Internationally, the BioInitiative petition is not a bad choice  to sign, either.

I participated this TV show to advance discussion about risks. I feel that children deserve a safer environment to grow up with less radiation exposure.

Update 5th July 2008: I collected important mobile phones and base station related journal papers here.

Now I will take a break from EMF topics. To avoid one track mind and keep my blog postings more versatile ;-)

Darkest Hour - a historical trip to Normandy

An brilliant mod is out:

'Darkest Hour - Normandy 1944'.

http://www.darkesthourgame.com/

Actually, it is a mod for Red Orchestra (http://www.redorchestragame.com), which I earlier reviewed with hilarious paintball add-ons ;-)

Historically Darkest Hour is amazingly accurate. The mod team must have inspected thorougly the actual Overlord-plan and historical battles.  The maps of Darkest Hour are architecturally advanced and challenging. Similarly, real team play is needed to achieve goals in this game.

A funny detail: When I was at school, I received many history awards. Actually, I was planning to become a history teacher. But what happened ?!

Now I can at least be immersed in history, occasionally ;-)

When all this playful Darkest Hour activity takes place in a virtual battlefield, it is also quite peaceful and environmentally-friendly (at least I hope so).  Was that a weak or strong argument for gaming ?

How Ethical is Mobile Business? The Health of Our Children

Please, watch the following video. Australia's Interphone research group leader warns children (and adults) about mobile phones related brain tumours. Video starts when you click the picture.

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Background information.

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Another example comes from Russia:

Handsets pose danger for children

The Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (RNCNIRP) has expressed its opinion regarding the possible influence of handset electromagnetic field on children and teen-ages. The experiments, consultations and discussions held led to the resolution ‘Children and handsets: future generations’ health is under threat’. The given resolution comprises opinions of leading Russian scientists in hygiene and radiobiology of Non-Ionizing Radiation. The given resolution is based on mo… full text

Source: CNews

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Earlier children and mobile phone related warnings:

- France warns against excessive mobile phone use.

- Germany: Handys für Kinder sind nicht sinnvoll

- Update 28th May 2008:  India: Cellular towers near schools, colonies may be banned 

- Update 25th June 2008:  An appeal from 20 international experts assembled around Dr David Servan-Schreiber in relation to the use of mobile phones.

Additionally, Prenatal and postnatal exposure are becoming serious health risks.

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My questions:

How responsible are mobile phone manufacturers and carriers?

They have known these health risks for decades, but no single mobile phone box comes with any kind of warning or safe use instructions. Additionally, carriers (teleoperators) are digging up telephone cables in countries like Finland and even small children are forced to use a mobile phone in their communication.

How can ordinary people and governments allow this kind of development?

Two Quotations - Radiation Risks

“I have no doubt in my mind that at the present time, the greatest polluting element in the earth’s environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields. I consider that to be far greater on a global scale, than warming, and the increase in chemical elements in the environment.’’

- Dr Robert O. Becker – twice nominated for the Nobel Prize

"The notion that non-ionizing radiation is harmless – the assumption of innocence – is no longer tenable. Research findings suggest that radiofrequency exposures are potentially carcinogenic and have other health effects. Therefore, prudent avoidance of unneeded exposures is recommended as a precautionary measure."

- The Late John R. Goldsmith, M.D., M.P.H.

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I welcome you to take a look at following two German inititiatives:

Mobilfunk Ärzteappell Allgäu-Bodensee-Oberschwaben (2006)

Bamberger Ärzteappell (2004)

+ Check the radiation level versus symptoms table.

When will the doctors in Nordic countries wake up?

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Update 30th April 2008: My personal experience is closer than I ever would like to witness. I wrote an opinion piece "Radiation risks under control" for the University of Tampere Aikalainen magazine. This opinion "Säteilyriskit hallinnassa?" is written in Finnish , but the additional base station / cell tower related information might interest some of you?!

Riverdance - Creativity in Motion

As a long-time fan of Ireland, I managed to see the latest Riverdance show.

Wow, what a combination of great elements!

The video above provides only a glimpse of this phenomenon. Being in the actual show makes you feel The Sound Wall. Actually, these rhythms  make you move for days ;-)

Nowadays Riverdance includes Irish dances, Flamenco, Russian Folk dances  and American Step Dance.

Purists may not like it, but I and my wife did. Great dancers, musicians and singers. I happen to own a Bodhran but I never will learn to play it that well ;-)

Highly recommend !

Merry Christmas

  Dear Friends

Thank you for reading and commenting this blog.

This year has been "bumpy" with stories ranging from hilarious to terrifying.

Now I am going to relax and wait for snow. Please click the picture below to start the Flash animation.

I wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

          Mikko

P.S. When I was a child, my family had a Labradorian Retriever called Mona. Maybe therefore I picked up that Christmas Card ;-)

COfundOS - OSS Werk? Synergies with CrowdSpirit?

Open Source Sofware (OSS) and Open Innovation are becoming closer to each other.

This was the first thought when I saw CofundOS.

COfundOS seems to be the first intermediary working on OSS basis.

Bidding for software this way is new to me. I like the openness of this approach: "All ideas and contributions on Cofundos are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License. All project outcomes must be licensed under an OSI approved open-source license".

The developer of the COfundOS website and service is the Agile Knowledge Engineering and Semantic Web Research Group ( (AKSW) at the University of Leipzig, Germany. A great start and Good luck / Alles Gute with your efforts!

The COfundOS operation model  (not using word business model here...) is similar to CrowdSpirit.

An idea: Could CrowdSpirit use COfundOS to find OSS developers for the software development of those gadgets? Any open APIs or Web Services in these two services?

The Creative Cities - A visit to Limerick and Galway

On the week 42 I will be visiting LERO ( The Irish Software Engineering Research Center) and NUI Galway.

Previously I wrote about Dublin as a creative city - in terms of Richard Florida. I expect Limerick and Galway to be even more interesting places and represent the soul of Ireland. Ireland has had tremendous development and growth during the last 20 years. Definitely I will be blogging about (Irish) creative environments after my trip.   

Meetings with professors Brian Fitzgerald (open source software, information systems )  and Brian Donnellan (information systems, innovation, knowledge management) will be fun and interesting.  In the LERO I will have a public talk about intermediaries and innovation marketplaces as well.  Let's see what kind of comments and feedback I will receive ;-)

Creative Gaming - Human Tetris

In pervasive games  gaming activity continues from the video screen to physical surroundings. My colleagues doing games research have lately investigated also casual games and their future perspective. One of the first casual game in the world was ... Tetris !

I have often dreamed about playing my favourite games in real life settings.

Japanese are inventive people and their TV shows are really funny. I welcome you to watch the following video called 'Human Tetris'.

I am sure Alexey Pajitnov (Алексей Леонидович Пажитнов) would be proud of this :-) The Japanese TV variant is closer to Welltris than Tetris ;-)

P.S. Thanks Ari (Heinola) for this idea.

MindTrek - Open Innovation meets Open Source

MindTrek is a high-profile conference about:
- Open Innovation
- Open Source
- Social Media etc.

This conference will take place in Tampere, Finland between 3rd and 4th October 2007. Please, check the program, this year MindTrek is truly worth participating!

Selected topics:

- MindTrek starts with OpenMind, the top open source happening in northern Europe.   The atmosphere in MindTrek/OpenMind is ...amazingly open. Last year I wrote about openness, flow and coding.

- Jaiku micro-blogging service will be demonstrated on Wednesday 3rd October in the Social Media track by its founder, Jyri Engeström. I still can not fully understand that service, so I will definitely be listening ;-)

- My colleague Katri Lietsala will talk about StarWreck movie production community with Atte Joutsen. Motivation to participate in a movie community will be ... multi-faceted!

- I will be interviewing Ruben Robert and asking questions concerning FellowForce as an intermediary.

- In the evening, on Wednesday 3rd October, there will be an  Open Innovation Round Table as an invitation-only event. If you are interested to participate this, please, let me know.

- Update: On Tuesday we had a seminar on blogs and wikis, more at  Juha-Matti Arola's blog.

I expect that Open Innovation will mean different things for different people and creative friction is ready ;-)

Please, book your seat before the conference will be full! Join also the Facebook community of MindTrek.