Jacobo Elosua

Extraordinary awards for Civio

During its initial 10-year trajectory, the Civio Foundation has received a remarkable number of awards. Arguably few or none more prestigious than the Premio Rey de España awarded yearly to the best medium in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world across two continents.

In 2022, our non-for-profit foundation’s work was selected by the jury among the 240 candidate submissions from 17 countries. The award highlighted Civio’s contribution to the search for transparency, fact-based truthfulness, and political accountability. An amazing endorsement.

If you are interested in learning more about the foundation’s work, here you have the best entry point.

 

1491 as a paradigm

In his highly acclaimed 1491 book, American journalist specialized in scientific topics Charles Mann provided a poignant account of new revelations affecting pre-Columbine America. Mann echoed new research directions –divergent ones–, born at the confluence of fields like archeology and anthropology, to argue three things: (a) that the continent was vastly more populated than previously assumed –on Indian demography–; (b) that fifteenth century native Americans enjoyed a longstanding heritage far exceeding what had traditionally been portrayed in history books –on Indian origins–; and, (c) that those tribes and peoples had created some of the largest, richest and most sophisticated artificial environments on the planet –on Indian ecology–.   

Among its many merits, 1491 also explained clearly what Mann framed as Holmberg’s Mistake. He alluded to Allan Holmberg, the young American anthropologist who studied South American indigenous peoples in the 1940’s. In Nomads of the Long Bow: The Siriono of Eastern Bolivia –published in 1950–, Holmberg, who had been plagued by serious illness during most of his travels, and would later pass away before turning fifty-six, wrote scathing observations about this indigenous tribe. His bottom-line? That the Siriono were among the most culturally backward peoples of the world.

Mann’s criticism was that Holmberg had ignored the extraordinary circumstances shaping the lives of the Siriono in the run-up to his visit. Using a simile, it was as if an anthropologist had extracted conclusions about certain peoples and their degree of development just from studying the individuals found in Nazi concentration camps at the end of World War II. But the damage to our collective understanding of what civilizations looked like before the European colonization had already been done. From his highly prestigious professorship at Cornell University, Holmberg would go on to stand at the pinnacle of his profession. In fact, his fellow anthropologists elected Holmberg president of the American Ethnological Society in 1958.

The lesson when we think about the long-term propagation of knowledge? That mistakes like the one described by Mann have far-reaching consequences, with their effects spanning decades. When the fundamental understanding of something is compromised, new risks arise to threaten both present and future.   

When I turn my mind to Spanish politics, sometimes I think that we have made some serious collective ‘Holmberg Mistakes’. With our two-party system now staging a solid recovery, in the hope –no doubt– of claiming its historical strength back in full soon, its critics –and I among them–must ask ourselves the following questions: What pillars of our understanding were fundamentally wrong? How did those errors affect observed outcomes? Which building blocks, if thought through differently, more accurately, would provide a more solid foundation to future attempts at building alternative political spaces in the country?

Rather than follow certain intuitions already bustling in my brain, and rush into answers, I want to chew more on this before posting a more elaborate response.

 

Endurance and resilience

American novelist and short story writer John Cheever –a personal favourite since a friend introduced me to his writing back in 2006– once apparently said that wisdom is the knowledge of good and evil, not the strength to choose between the two.

I thought of this in the context of the conflicting messages we are so often bombarded with on the subject of endurance and resilience. How strongly should we fight setbacks? What is the difference between obstinance and ‘true grit’? When is it acceptable –or even advisable­– to quit?

One school of thought, rather traditional, suggests that we should never ever abandon in the face of difficulty. In the opposite corner, the ‘fail fast’ philosophy states a preference for cutting losses quickly when tests reveal that something is not working as planned.

Buried deep inside most –if not all– of us, something seems to suggest a sort of natural balance between progress and frustration, wins and losses, good and bad news. Some people will even go as far as saying that to reach maturity is little more than that — a realisation about the bittersweet taste of reality. But is that guide helpful when it comes to making concrete choices?

Not in my view. With Cheever, I think the biggest challenge is not to mix discerning the right option from mustering the energy to carry through with such personal read. Two distinct challenges of a very different kind. A cognitive one, error prone, and one affecting our will, constantly threatened by the tempting path of least resistance.

We would do well never to confuse the two!

 

Un enfoque práctico para la educación

Criticar la metodología tradicional de la educación en España resulta prácticamente un lugar común. ¿Quién no ha estado en conversaciones, con familiares, amigos, o padres de compañeros de colegio de sus hijos, y ha derivado sin remedio en una ristra de quejas sobre lo decepcionante que resulta el escasísimo grado de innovación aplicado? 

En esas conversaciones casi siempre existe un consenso respecto a la bondad de entrelazar el aprendizaje de conceptos con experiencias diarias de los alumnos, y en especial con aquellas que les motivan de forma natural. No suelen faltar las menciones a ejemplos de sistemas extranjeros y algunas de las prácticas aplicadas allí, tan dadas a generarnos indisimulada envidia. 

Y, sin embargo, cuando surgen oportunidades concretas de aplicar ese enfoque práctico alternativo, las mismas personas que participan de buena gana en los 'quejíos' descartan dar el paso. Es paradójico. Y muy revelador de la insondable distancia que existe a veces entre enarbolar un discurso y hacer lo necesario para alinearse de verdad con él.  

¿Un ejemplo? Aprovechar las competiciones deportivas de los chavales para introducirles al concepto del scouting y, dado el creciente volumen de datos disponibles en distintas aplicaciones informáticas orientadas hacia el deporte escolar, presentarles los conceptos matemáticos y estadísticos de selección de variables, o de cálculos de medias, esperanzas y desviaciones. Un una frase: enseñarles a pensar cómo comprender mejor las claves del funcionamiento de los equipos y jugadores a los que se van enfrentando. ¡Y a realizar el análisis ellos mismos!

No se me ocurre mejor forma de aplicación concreta de unos conceptos a veces poco intuitivos, y siempre en riesgo de sonarles demasiado abstractos como para tener una relación directa con su día a día.

 

 

The first ten years

Civio is a singular, amazing project born just over ten years ago.

Last month, coinciding with this special anniversary –and with the Russian invasion of Ukraine too–, the organisation received one of the biggest honours it could aspire to. Powered by a superb, small team of ten full time employees –and a rich ecosystem of backers and donors–, Civio was granted the annual King Juan Carlos award to the best media in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world. An award previously granted to journalistic icons such as newspaper El País, as well as to some of the more innovative and remarkable newsrooms on both sides of the Atlantic. Here you can read more about it (in Spanish).

As we tried to convey in this anniversary commemoration timeline, the journey has been a hard but magnificent one. As always, everyone is welcome to join us –in the capacity of their choice– to make Civio's exciting, challenge-filled future even brighter.

 

 

 

Ukraine as more than a symbol

Volodymyr –Vova– was our first employee at Iris.ai. A complete superstar. Like Iryna, who is nearing full term with her first pregnancy. Or Denis,  who fathered a baby, his first born, only a few months ago. Yevhenii has just joined us, but I am sure that, with time, he will prove to be not less talented and a wonderful team member too. 

Vova is in his town in Western Ukraine, close to his family, working through his front end code as diligently as ever. Maybe, who knows, as a welcome distraction from the present horror faced in his country. In addition to that, he is also finding the time to help with the coordination of local emergency shelter and relief efforts. 

Iryna, after some initial hesitation, has managed to find her way to Bucharest, in Romania. To a place were she can find security amongst family friends, at least for a temporary period of time. And where, hopefully, she will very soon be joined by her spouse, currently working on board a vessel in the middle of the Atlantic. 

Denis is in a small village outside Odessa, taking care of his wife, baby, and elderly and sick father-in-law. Amidst all that, he also manages to find time to collaborate with his tech-savvy countrymen in the –David-against-Goliath– cyber defence and counterattack of Ukraine and its people facing the savage Russian invasion.  

Still based in downtown Odessa, Yevhenii attempts to remain calm and take it a day at a time.

We try to support them from the company's side, working to put in place an option for accommodation in Sofia, transportation arrangements, and Bulgarian visas, for those of our employees and their immediate families wanting and able to leave the country.

A lot is at stake in Ukraine. But most important of all, many lives like those of our beloved colleagues. Lives full of individual colour, brightness, dreams and aspirations. We must stand united with them –all of us– in this their time of great need!!! 

 

 

 

Translation errors and friends

Antonio Pau is Spain’s biggest expert in the figure of Hölderlin, the eighteenth-century German poet who reached lyrical greatness in a life full of duress. In a January 2022 conference, Pau quoted Rainer Maria Rilke –I think– as saying that no poetry can be properly translated, not even the bad ones. Things were different with prose, he thought, allowing for lower quality stuff to travel unscathed between languages.  

With this in mind –and I am yet to check it–, the other day I think I found a material translation error. In Michael Ignatieff’s Fire and Ashes political memoirs.

I had mistakenly bought a Spanish language version, translated by Francisco Beltrán. In chapter two –Ambition– Ignatieff expresses great admiration for former Liberal Party leader and Canadian ex-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. And for his message combining a forceful rejection of placating regional nationalist sentiment with a passionate commitment to placing the Québécois people at the center of national life.

What I go out on a limb saying is that the original, English-language book uses the work placating –i.e. making someone less angry or hostile especially by concessions, as in appeasing–.  For this makes sense contextually. Trudeau was not for buying peace, and paid the political consequences of his stance, sometimes in the form of enduring aggression in his native French-speaking territory.

The Spanish word orthographically most similar to placate is aplacar. And, indeed, this is the word that I found as I read the translation. However, I believe it was a wrong choice. In Spanish the meaning does not imply concessions. It is closer to denoting confrontation instead.

So, using the work aplacar in the context of its rejection, actually means something very different from not wanting to buy peace by giving Quebecois nationalists part of what they wanted. In fact, it portrays Trudeau’s position as the diametrical opposite: as if he did not want to confront them, letting them be kings in their castle. If I am right, apaciguar would have been a better choice.

All this long intro to write a few lines about a recently deceased friend, Mike Fichardt. Mike, a South African, was a truly exceptional person I met at Singularity University in 2015. Incredibly kind, always willing to help everyone in whatever he could. He was very brave too, unafraid of following his gut in a constant search for fulfilment and meaning. We last met in Cape Town, during the 2019 Christmas holiday, before the Covid-19 pandemic upended the world.

With Mike there were no translation errors. He was so pristine, so good-natured, his humor so wholesome, that nothing about him could ever be interpreted duplicitously or in a bad light. A curious mind with a huge heart, he leaves so many of us filled with grief, but also with contentment for having had the privilege of being some part of his life, albeit a small one. I will miss you dearly, Mike!

 

Vital testimony

Pinchas Gutter is a Canada-based Holocaust survivor, educator, and frequent guest lecturer. His ordeal during World War Two is hard to put into words, but it included seeing his parents and sister being killed by the Nazis at an extermination camp.

In recent years Gutter has received additional public attention as one of the pioneers in the Dimensions in Testimony project. It involves producing a life-sized interactive biography that can be displayed into classrooms, lecture halls, and museums.

In the production phase, and as the initial participant, Gutter spent a week answering over 2,000 questions while being filmed in a lattice-like dome with 20 cameras — a setup fitted to capture every angle in preparation for the holograms of the future.

Whilst probably no one should ever be tempted about comparing the public relevance of their personal vital testimony to Gutter’s, I do think we should pay more attention to the transferring of encapsulated knowledge. Particularly to our own relatives in future generations.

This might take the –more traditional– form or a written book, audio files, or video footage, or be the result of a fully rolled out version of a hologram-based self-directed project. What is important is that we do not rob those who will follow in our footsteps –or chose to take a very different path– of their genuine desire to dig deeper into our deeply personal experience.

I do know I wish that postmortem connection with my ancestors was available to me — starting with my own father.

 

 

Inspired beauty

I stumbled upon Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie via pure serendipity. The close proximity of her Americanah novel title to Bhu Srinivasan’s brilliant Americana: A 400-Year History of American Capitalism did the trick. I was hunting for more essays on the last few centuries of socio-economic development and ended bitten by the Nigerian-American author’s captivating fiction.

In Americanah’s pages characters come to life, do so poetically, and even afford to teach us readers a lesson or two. Take Obinze, the leading male character, who in his travails navigating through passion-of-old for Ifemelu and present-day marriage to Kosi, asks the following heartfelt question: “how can we live a shared life if the questions we ask of it are completely different?”

Now a big fan, the last thing I have read penned by Ngozi Adichie is Notes on Grief. A short biographical piece on handling the loss of her most cherished father. It is one of those books that slides just perfectly in its very own section, paternal grief in this case. Right next to, for example, Héctor Abad Faciolince’s The Oblivion We Shall Be –‘El Olvido que Seremos’, in its Spanish original–. Not shying away from pain but performing a sincerest rendition of their fatherly figures too.

As the Columbian novelist before, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie succeeded at conveying true, unadulterated emotion. The loss of a person around whom authors’ lives had largely been built as the motive for word-based art. The unfillable void. The eternal gratitude. All together as the two sides of a single, indestructible coin. We shall be thankful for their inspiration and courage.

Iris.ai's researcher workspace

Iris.ai is deep into a crucial strategic transition. After years invested in developing our algorithmic core for the machine understanding of scientific text, we are now launching a unique, content-centric researcher workspace. With this AI-powered workspace, which incorporates frontier NLP technology, researchers of all affiliations –corporate, academic, independent– will be able to tailor our different tools to their preferred work process. Be it search, filter, extract or summarise, our incredible team –currently 23-members strong– has researchers’ knowledge processing needs covered.

The use cases we are initially focused on include, among others, new product research, application development, Post Market Surveillance, Pharmacovigilance, regulatory compliance, or IP-based competitive analysis. And this is just the beginning. Our R&D pipeline will continue to feed our researcher workspace new modules and functionalities for science-based innovators. Bringing it all together, early in 2022 we will launch a new funding round to finance our product and business development roadmap –adding to the c. €5 million secured to date from private and public investors–.