Paolo blog: Ramblings on Web2.0, Trust, Reputation, Recommender Systems, Social Software, Free Software, ICT4D and much more

Together with my friends, napo, ket and franz, we decided to organize the first DolomitiCamp, just as a BarCamp but in a mountain hut in the wonderful Dolomites in Trentino, Italy! Because geeks need some physical exercise too. And some fresh air sometimes. ;)
So please, register in the DolomitiCamp wiki page!

When? Sunday 24th August 2008. A bit close in time and space there is the BlogFest which is going to be an amazing event in Riva del Garda, 12, 13, 14 September 2008. But we thought we would organize the DolomitiCamp anyway, the DolomitiCamp would be perfect if you are already close to Trentino in holidays. But also for coming just for this weekend. As written on the the DolomitiCamp wiki page, the day before, Saturday 23th August there is a free concert by Tetes des Bois in Val Rendena in the Suoni Delle Dolomiti festival, great musicians playing outdoor in the Dolomites.

Where? Rifugio Segantini (see the map at the end of this post). In Alta Val d’Ámola, Presanella, (mt. 2371), Trentino, Italia. One hour and 19 minutes from Trento.

Is there Internet connection? Yes, it was recently installed. But, since we need to make the final tests, it would be great if you can register in the DolomitiCamp wiki page.
There is also a dolomiticamp user on facebook who you can friend and the dolomiticamp event on facebook which you can subscribe to and the DolomitiCamp group on Facebook which you can join.

I see you on 24th August 2008 on Trentino mountains, ok?

Visualizzazione ingrandita della mappa

The Rules of DolomitiCamp (derived from The Rules of BarCamp)
* 1st Rule: You do talk about DolomitiCamp.
* 2nd Rule: You do blog about DolomitiCamp.
* 3rd Rule: If you want to present, you must write your topic and name in a presentation slot.
* 4th Rule: Only three word intros.
* 5th Rule: As many presentations at a time as facilities allow for.
* 6th Rule: No pre-scheduled presentations, no tourists.
* 7th Rule: Presentations will go on as long as they have to or until they run into another presentation slot.
* 8th Rule: If this is your first time at BarCamp, you HAVE to present. (Ok, you don’t really HAVE to, but try to find someone to present with, or at least ask questions and be an interactive participant.)

WebValley is the FBK-IRST summer school for dissemination of interdisciplinary scientific research. The selection is now open so, if you are a student, you can apply for WebValley 2008.
The WebValley formula is to create a team of enthusiast and motivated high school students (18 y) tutored by IRST researchers. The team accepts a challenge by a scientist collaborator from Ecology, Biology or Social Sciences, and develops in 3 weeks a new web-based prototype for data analysis and management. Also characteristic of the WebValley formula is that the project activities are developed mostly by group work, and that they are located in a high-tech lab but in a small size Alpine village, to show that web access may support new types of innovative actions also in the periphery. The project is run by about 20 students and 3 resident tutors, supported by junior researchers and expert programmers from IRST and other experts in the field.
I’ve the honour to be one of the tutors and I’m really looking forward for this experience.
This year, we accepted the challenge from OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and from June 23th to July 12th 2008 we will study how new Web technologies can be used in order to measure and pursue the progress of societies, with the goal of allowing people to make sense of social indicators and pushing a well-informed use of statistics in evaluation of public decisions. WebValley 2008 is a pilot project in the Global Project on Measuring the Progress of Societies. We look forward for the challenge and the opportunity!

Did I mention that the selection is now open and you can apply?

Below a video from a 2-days meeting we recently had at Centrale Fies, a terribly cool ex hydroelectric plant now used for events and performances, with all the past students (the project is ongoing since some years) but there are more videos. as well.

Some time ago I started TrentoWiki.it. I opened TrentoWiki because I needed a place to store information about the places, the events, the many opportunities that this small charming city and its surroundings offer. Up to now it didn’t attract thousands of contributors but it is anyway a useful service at least for myself.

So, who can be interested in a Wiki about Trento?
(1) People who are going to come to Trento (because of a conference, such as the upcoming conference about Free Software (May 16, 2008), or BlogFest in Riva del Garda, or for working in a research centre or just for tourism) and might be able to find information in the wiki, and in fact one of the most accessed pages in “Cercare casa a Trento” (find house in Trento) and Photos of Trento), and
(2) people who lives in Trento and possibly don’t know about all the interesting stuff happening and available in the city.
So please share your local knowledge and insights and, please, be bold in editing TrentoWiki!

TrentoWiki is Mediawiki powered, just like Wikipedia.
The license is Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 which means that the knowledge created on the wiki can be reused legally elsewhere as long as attribution is given and the license remains the same; this means that even if I decide to close the wiki or anything else, all the content can be moved by anyone elsewhere.
TrentoWiki is opened to anonymous editing but you are certainly welcome to create an identity on the wiki.
For me running a wiki is also a very useful experiment, for example for experimenting with the challenge to be multilingual (there is a Category:English) which will be an issue also for the project of getting a wiki internal to my research institute adopted. And it is also an experiment because I’m curious to see if a wiki targeted to a small community can work even by reaching a critical mass of few users. We’ll see, and in the meantime, please do join TrentoWiki.it