Ideas for Change - Because the right idea can change the world » Urbanisation

Just received a photo from Palestine

Daniel Daboczy - Editor in chief — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:30:29 +0000

On both sides of that wall, regular people like me and you are stuck.

I am so proud to tell you about this photo that I received from Palestine. This is what you can see there right now.

No one is alone in this world, not anymore. This project shows how a simple idea can move the world and hopefully bring everyone closer and open the eyes.

Please support our friends at www.sendamessage.nl

Project management on the edge of chaos

Invited Contributor — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:46:07 +0000

Project management on the edge of chaos

by Arne Vestergaard and Marianne Smedegaard

We have for a number of years taught project managers how to manage people and processes. We have heard stories from many different organisations describing numerous ways to understand and execute projects. It seems that there exists not a single correct way to manage projects, but many possible ways. One thing, though, seems to be characteristic of most of the cases. Top management expects the project manager to have complete control over the project and to have answers to any question anyone might want to ask. In many cases it is also a requirement that the project manager ensures that members of the project group have clear goals and that the development of the project is on schedule.

In this paper we want to explore to what extent the effort to control and direct a project is useful, and to what extent a project can be restricted by tight control. Perhaps there are other concepts for project management that better fit with the complexity and variability that characterise projects in today’s world. Perhaps it is preferable to see projects as a living system rather than strategically and bureaucratically.

A change in perspective of this kind would mean that the project organisation must relinquish the idea of having control over the project all the time and, if they do achieve control, see it as a temporary state of affairs. Some degree of chaos then becomes a necessary (but not exclusive) condition for innovation and for handling complexity and change. In other words, the project manager must place the project on the edge of chaos. In this paper we will try to understand what this means in practice.

“HOPE – the Obama Musical Story” World Premiere

HOPE-Musical — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:43:27 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

“HOPE - the Obama musical story” celebrates its world premiere on 17 January 2010!The venue Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt will experience a sound it has never heard before: formed to a huge percussion ensemble, the audience accompanies US president Barack Obama on his successful way into the White House. The event organizer MOVE GmbH promises a double world premiere: at the premiere of “HOPE – the Obama Musical Story” on Sunday, 17 January at 8:00 pm, the audience will rhythmically participate on specially developed percussion chairs – for the first time ever worldwide. “Hope is the first interactive musical of a new generation”, says musical producer Roberto Emmanuele, CEO and creative director of Move GmbH based in Bad Soden. “This is an enormous sound and a great musical experience for the audience.”

The musical stages two moving and exciting stories in parallel plots. The audience looks behind the scenes of the presidential election in 2008 and follows the career of the present US president Barack Obama. The main character is presented less on a political level, but rather as an emotional person who fights for a new, more forgiving and peaceful world and a better future. At the same time, the viewer experiences the societal events from the point of view of a multi-cultural apartment-sharing community in Chicago. Caused by the prevailing tight political and economic situation, societal and social frictions and emotions arise. The people are given new hope by the new spirit of the age.

Author and composer Randall Hutchins works with the best Afro-American singers and actors of the German musical scene. He produces inter alia for “The very Best of Black Gospel”, “Musical the Gift” and he participated in “Starlight Express” as a musician. In “HOPE”, he combines an affectionately arranged mix regarding taste and aesthetics of different music styles in the field of Pop, Soul, Gospel, HipHop and Rock. The diversified mixture of catchy melodies electrifies the audience right from the beginning. Undoubtedly, the songs have what it takes to become hits.

For “HOPE”, 30 world-class artists, singers, dancers and actors perform on stage. They participate in the production with great enthusiasm and dedication. “The spirit of the show is carried by the spirit of the entire team”, praises the producer Roberto Emmanuele. Della Miles and Jimmie Wilson, known as the dream duo of the Michael Jackson musical “Sisterella”, as well as Dynelle Rhodes, the original lead singer of the Weather Girls, join the cast as soloists. They are supported by well-known performers who are leads in “Cats”, “The Lion King” and “We will rock you”. The rehearsals took place inter alia at mediaArt FORUM in Bad Soden.

The production is realized in German and English, so that the story line can be followed by everyone.

On percussion: the audience sitting on specially developed musical chairsIn the course of the musical, the audience develops to co-musicians. For they sit on a musical instrument with an astoundingly high sound quality. Approximately 1200 of the 2000 available seats in the domed hall of the venue Jahrhunderthalle will be equipped with design chairs which house the smallest set of drums worldwide. The special construction of this musical furniture allows for a distinctive bass and snare sound. The people play while sitting, drumming with their hands on the percussion surface. Inspired by this characteristic sound, Roberto Emmanuele and his partner Patrick Strese call the innovation “BAFF musical furniture”. The other musical spectators do not sit quietly on their chairs either. They are handed out rattles, so that the sound of “HOPE” will fill the entire hall. The producers want all people to have access to music as a strong medium.

As early as in September, the musical company enthused about 45,000 viewers with a first musical foretaste during a successful performance at Commerzbank Arena next to stars like Bob Geldorf and Samy Deluxe. After only a short period of time, the entire stadium swung and clapped along to songs never heard before like “Rock the Vote”. Experts of the German music scene praised the high level of the American Pop music and certified the sound to have “Earth Wind and Fire quality”. The most important concert organizer worldwide, Fritz Rau, says: “Respect and two thumbs up for this musical”. According to the slogan “Yes we can”, the musical is to tour in Germany after having premiered in Frankfurt.

Tickets for the premiere can be purchased via the ticket seller EVENTIM within the price scope of 40 to 149 Euros in several seat categories. Following the premiere, a VIP premiere party will take place, at which special culinary refreshments will be served to the guests and the musical performers can be experienced up close in an “unplugged performance”. The VIP tickets can be bought for 99 Euros directly from the HOPE production.

Important note from the HOPE production team:
The “HOPE musical production” does not pursue any political interests with their production. Being artists, we merely stage a piece of attitude to life of the “historic year 2008″ with topics still prevailing today as well as good entertainment and music!

Today marks an important day

Daniel Daboczy - Editor in chief — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:27:29 +0000

20 years to the day, we left Romania for freedom. The mythical, western freedom.

At that point the world was, if not opening it’s arms, at least allowing us to come and stay. Today 20 years later, after so much time, with a new generation in charge we look back to a bigger Europe, to an utopia we couldn’t even dream of. As a kid I watched how people stood up and fought for their rights. I saw the start of the first riots, with people that later were punished, abducted or killed. As a kid we spoke in codes, as a kid I found microphones hidden in our apartment and as a kid I dreamt of freedom. A strange thing to dream about, but it was still there. Reachable. Because I knew that someday things would change. And they did. In a big way. But how do you change the mentality of people that are born and raised without daring to dream?

Later on, as an adult, while walking around in a successful suit and enjoying my free life, I froze and saw other Romanians that left after us, after the collapse of the wall, struggle as second and third class citizens. I saw Africans hunted and taunted by police and I saw that the fact that we left just in time gave me other possibilities then others ever had. I realized that luck is sometimes the only real factor. And do you think freedom tastes as good when others don’t have the same right? I can tell you it doesn’t.

Today, on this very same day, this day of reflection for me, I read the papers and they write about a Europe that more and more is closing up. That Africans rather seek refuge in South America and I see that we still have a long way to go.

And I can’t stand by and watch this happen. Not again. Please do whatever you can, whatever you want but please react and let us build something better then this.

/Daniel Daboczy

daniel@ideasforchange.tv

I left communism 20 years ago

Daniel Daboczy - Editor in chief — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:08:27 +0000

In november 1989 we left on a plane for Sweden. Afraid, suspicious and with huge expectations. We hardly talked, we didn´t even laugh because we thought that this might be just a test. Another mindgame. My father left Romanian in 1987 in search for a place that could give us political asylum. Two and a half years later my mom, sister and I joined him. And I can tell you that none of us knew what was happening arround the world. That the Berlin wall was falling, that the old ways were left behind in history. None of us could imagine what november 1989 would symbolize and become. And what makes me so fascinated is that people found ways to communicate, to interact, to engage. They mobilized, demonstrated and made a change. They whispered, left notes, talked in codes and used brains and brawns to make a change.

But guys. We live in the same world now. We still have walls to tear down. There are still injustices that we have to fix. Look right and look left, I bet you find something to fix. So let us put our inteligence, enthusiasm and technology to good use!

Engage in a cause today.