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.