This event opens the 2020 conce[r|p]t tour of the Jug Band Colline Metallifere, featuring Mauro Tirannosauro. For more information in English, please write to micalosapevo@pibinko.org
TO BE TRANSLATED
[PER CHI VOLESSE PARTECIPARE: SI RACCOMANDA DI PRENOTARE ALLO 0564 575492].
La rete pibinko.org, attiva dal 2007 su progetti di tutela e valorizzazione di risorse minori o poco note nel campo della cultura, dell’ambiente e dell’innovazione libera, opera da sempre in un contesto internazionale, pur affrontando spesso tematiche e specificità legate a situazioni apparentemente “piccole” (per esempio, una delle principali aree di ricerca che abbiamo in corso è se nel gioco del panforte il panforte si debba incartare col giornale o meno. Preghiamo la regia di mandare il video, e se avete altri pareri vi invitiamo a scrivere a micalosapevo@pibinko.org per condividerli).
Nel triangolare lingue, etnie e fedi calcistiche, da ormai un anno e mezzo ci troviamo a interagire con alcuni rappresentanti della Repubblica della Macedonia del Nord (in macedone: Република Северна Македонија, traslitterato: Republika Severna Makedonija; in albanese: Republika e Maqedonisë së Veriut).
Su cosa si interagisce? Be’, la cosa è in via di sviluppo. Nei primi mesi (eravamo nel dicembre 2018, durante i preparativi del terzo Festival d’Inverno in Val di Farma) le domande erano tipo “vuoi zucchero nel caffè?”, dato che ci si trovava la mattina alle 6.30 al bar. La conversazione si è però presto sviluppata su temi quali, come si dice “buongiorno” e “buonasera” nella Macedonia del Nord, le priorità di finanziamento di grandi opere, e cose simili. A un certo punto ci siamo detti: “Quando si organizza un evento pubblico in cui non si parla solo di questo e di quale zona di bosco sei stato a smacchiare?”.
Per domenica 21 giugno, come apertura della stagione conce[r|t]tistica della Jug Band dalle Colline Metallifere, vi proponiamo una serata per conoscere un po’ più da vicino la piccola-grande nazione della Macedonia del Nord, a partire da spunti e testimonianze offerti da alcuni dei residenti nelle Valli di Farma e Merse. In particolare, la nostra guida per la serata sarà Ferit Idrizovski, originario di Crn Vrv , da oltre venti anni residente in Italia.
Si comincerà con un aperitivo, poi cena con menu alla carta, e per dessert mentale “Macedonia del Nord”.
La partecipazione all’evento è libera e gratuita (ma è possibile lasciare un contributo per l’organizzazione e lo sviluppo di progetti di gemellaggio). E’ necessario prenotare allo 0564 575492.
Per sapere quali saranno altre iniziative a cura della rete pibinko.org e della Jug Band Colline Metallifere, controllate periodicamente il nostro Calendario, e datevi il tempo di un thè lungo per conoscere meglio le nostre attività a partire dai siti pibinko.org e jugbandcm.it.
Una versione PDF del manifesto (7 Mb), per la stampa, è scaricabile da questo link.
Please provide answers to micalosapevo@pibinko.org by September 3, 2020.
[In the header image: who is the scientist and who is the politician? and, most of all, who owns the monocycle?]
Here is a new con(-)test by pibinko.org to start your “phase 3” (if you are in Italy…we re-open today, June 3, 2020).
Over the past fifteen years I had to deal in various ways as a scientist/technologist supporting policies and policy makers (see this page for references). In time I realized that things work reasonably well if roles are clear, and if people taking up different roles are self-aware and aware of what others are doing. A bit like in most aspects of life and business.
In the case of the relation between science and politics, to date my understanding is that science needs politics in order to have goals which are related to actual needs, while politics needs science to give substance to its ideas (or ideals). So far, so good.
Is this image taken from a scientific article or from some campaign?
In parallel, there are cases where you may find politicians who start acting as technical folks (possibly because they were doing technical work before politics…it is difficult that a real politician will want to become a scientist). More often, we see cases of scientists who want to become politicians. This is not a bad thing per se: approaching new challenges and walking out of comfort zones are always good things to do, if this doesn’t happen at the expense of others.
Chi dei due è lo scienziato, e chi il politico?
If you are a politician who started to do scientific work, or if you are a scientist who decided to start doing politics (e.g. collecting signatures for petitions, contacting local, national or “above-national” politicians, running for some election, etc.), please write to micalosapevo@pibinko.org , and we will draw a picture from these stories.
It may be that you have become a “politicist” or a “scientician”. These are interdisciplinary profiles which are important in an ever-more-complex world, and in this case we should talk. Or, it may be that you are not making the best use of your time, and of resources on which you can authorize expenses, and also in this case we should talk.
The novel (and the movie) which have been censored by the dark-sky protection community with measure that are harsher than those used for “Last Tango in Paris”.
Wikipedia Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_Is_Illuminated
To learn more about the reasons for such a reaction:
If you have no more than four minutes for the pibinko.org network today, please be sure to reach the end of this paragraph. You are invited to check out the the latest single (in the sense that the performer recently became single) by the Jug Band Colline Metallifere (i.e. Metalliferous Hills Jug Band). The video was produced in social distancing mode with lyrics written as an input to the online conference on work and environment hosted on May Day by an association based in Roccatederighi, Southern Tuscany. The song represents a debate between a city (e.g. Milano, Italy) dweller with prejudice towards rural areas, and a member of an “indigenous community” (e.g. Roccatederighi) with prejudice towards urban areas. The track is also available on Bandcamp. The lyrics are in Italian, but the video is subtitled in English. …one minute gone…click here for the video (2’59”).
If you are in for a coffe break, please read on, with a summary of events and output from the pibinko.org network + Jug Band Colline Metallifere from Apr. 25 through May 1. If you are curious about the recall to “lithurgy” …it was an miscommunication issue with a potential client, given the bad quality of mobile coverage in the Metalliferous Hills (when I told him “Participatory Lithology” he understood “Participatory Lithurgy”)….
PLEASE NOTE: not all the articles mentioned below are yet translated into English. We strive to keep all our content available in Italian and English, as a minimum, but the pace of events in the past weeks is making this difficult. If you would like to help as a translator for the pibinko.org network + Jug Band Colline Metallifere, please write to info@pibinko.org.
Concerning Participatory Lithology, the event for the presentation of the PL prototype is confirmed, with date t.b.d. between Fri. 15 and Sat. 16, May. The event will be online. By May 9 we will provide detailed information about speakers, performers, bonus content, and whatnot.
For more information and booking: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228 (SMS or whatsapp)
One of the disciplines launched Mauro Tirannosauro, and now trending in the Metalliferous Hills (where normally red wine is the fluid of choice, when not water)
This is an article which was beer-reviewed by Mauro T., and sent for peer review during the past week to about 50 senior researchers around the globe (feedback from the researchers is gradually arriving and we will summarise it by mid-May).
Eccovi una sorta di “sintesi temporale” del numero di articoli presenti nel blog della rete pibinko.org. Alcune note:
Per ciascun mese e anno le barre colorate vi danno un’idea del movimento.
Cliccando su un “mese-anno” verrete portati all’elenco corrispondente degli articoli.
Nel marzo 2019 abbiamo avviato il sito della Jug Band Colline Metallifere (ci serviva un sito separato perché parte dei contenuti sono in tedesco). Le attività che svolgiamo sono comunque combinate, per cui dal 2019-03 in poi il numero di articoli per mese viene sommato, e potete andare al blog di un sito o dell’altro.
Nei blog si sommano fatti ed eventi legati alla rete, segnalazioni, e schede che possono essere riferite anche o alla “loro data” (ad esempio l’anno di pubblicazione di un libro), o alla data in cui l’oggetto è stato “censito” nella rete. Via via ragioniamo sul modo migliore per rappresentare questi dati, e ci piacerebbe averli più ordinati, ma per ora, considerate le risorse in campo, si fa così. Se siete interessati a contribuire a migliorare questo aspetto della rete, scrivete a info@pibinko.org.
Il lancio della campagna per l’aumento delle tesi di archeologia in provincia di Grosseto (#ioRestoaCosa) non è stato vano. Grazie al sistema di trasferimento delle menti, è stato intercettato da alcuni amici sardi che hanno una stazione di ascolto a Capo Marrargiu. Solo che nella trasmissione è saltato qualche bit, e quindi loro hanno recepito “io resto a Bosa“.
E’ un po’ che non ci passo, e chissà se dopo il ponte,a destra scendendo verso, sud c’è sempre “La Farmacia dei sani” (un’enoteca).
Mauro Tirannosauro si è unito da poco alla rete pibinko.org e sta suggerendo prospettive inedite per la Fase Bue, su cui si sta documentando. Per esempio, diceva che, anche se ci saranno alcune opzioni in più, sarà importante restare il più possibile a Cosa, e ha lanciato lo hashtag corrispondente. Perplessità sull’uso del camelcase…comunque: si prevede un’escalation di tesi di archeologia nella sessione invernale di lauree di quest’anno. Intanto Mauro T è al lavoro con altre analisi. Estote parati.
This is the elaboration of a draft presented live at Noisy-Champs, France, in February 2019. This “live poster” was proposed as a way to formalize a method to share the perception of credibility in participatory investigation.
A full report of the workshop where this poster was presented is here. The report includes the poster, but it might help to add that it was part of the discussion on “trajectories of participatory investigation”. The poster was drafted in about 15 minutes, while other working table rapporteurs were presenting the results of other sub-groups.
The method presented in this poster was considered original and innovative by the participants who provided feedback (in a group of about 25 people, with various roles in research and management of organisations working if the cultural or in the scientific sector).
The full poster is visible in the header of this article, and it is re-pasted at then end. Below we review its various parts.
please note: Examples made in the article are fictional, but inspired by various cases observed working in interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder projects since 1994. The article has been beer reviewed by various collaborators of the pibinko.org network, and has been accepted for publication on the pibinko.org blog on April 27, 2020.
Acknowledged authors are Andrea Giacomelli (info@pibinko.org), C. Van Reeth, A. Vargiu, N. Zimmermann. The sketch on the right indicates seats at the discussion table during the last of three break-out sessions. CG is Claudia Goebel, the facilitator.
Let us also assume that investigation and participation ability are “orthogonal” (i.e. the perfect investigator is the worse “participator”).
Let us identify two actors. An investigator (I) and a “participator” (P).
Typical investigators are researchers, academics, etc.
Typical “participators” are people who are able to engage other people in coordinated activities. Could be the creator of a rock band, the coach of a village sports union, or the manager of a large event (e.g. an international summit).
We can represent the magnitude of their capability on an axis. The orientation of the axes and the intersection point is to be confirmed (rotate the screen as you see fit)
Examples of “capability” on P and I axes:
a “zero” Investigator: somebody who does not have a clue about the topic of the investigation
Investigators with increasing capability: they work on it. At their maximum, they will become Nobel prizes, or have equivalent recognition in their field.
a “zero” participator : someboedy ho never even invited two friends for a drink
High-level participators: all greato politicians, Hugh Hefner, etc.
We may also decide if these axes should have an origin on zero, or if negative values should be allowed. If not, how could we represent investigation activities which after years have not produced tangible results at any level of society? And how should we position subjects who discourage relations among people?
We introduce the concept of credibility.
Credibility must be referred to somebody who perceives it. CP is the credibility perceived by the “participator”; CI is the credibility perceived by the investigator.
The credibility perceived by someone needs to be about something. CP(P) is the credibility of the participator as perceived by him/herself. CP(I) is the credibility of the investigator as perceived by the participator. etc. for CI(I) and CI(P).
Examples:
There is an outreach meeting where researchers propose a participatory investigation activity to be launched in new region. The researchers are explaining the rationale of this effort, and providing some introductory background.
CI(I): I work for a big research institution. Hence, I am a good researcher. I will enlighten this community with my knowledge. They need us.
CP(I): These guys should spend more time working at construction sites. I can’t understand a work they are saying.
CP(I): Hey, these guys come from a university. They must be professors. I will do anything they say because I am a farmer and I don’t have a degree. (while in fact they are PhD candidates on their second year, replacing the actual professor because he had an schedule conflict with a tennis game with his pal).
CP(P): My father and my grandfather have been on this land, taking water from that stream. We know how it works. Why do we need a “hydrogeologic model” (did I spell it right?)
These statements are fictional…but not far from reality (based on 25 years of attending events with different stakeholder groups in the same room).
There are of course a lot of cases which are less negative, and very much reasonable. But it helps to highlight the “bad cases”.
Having introduced these concepts…. A prerequisite condition is that there needs to be a will to start a participatory investigation effort. In absence of this, no need to go further.
Assuming there is a will to start a PI activity, before anything else P and I need to agree on the perception of credibility in its combinations: CP(P) needs to reasonably match CI(P) and CP(I) needs to reasonably match CI(I)
The matching process needs to happen…
…in a finite time (and using a finite amount of resources)
…with time and resources on a magnitude order lower than the expected joint effort.
Examples of “perception matching” efforts environments of different magnitude: an aperitif (to decide where we should have a pizza for dinner), a half-day meeting (before launching a utility survey involving subcontractors for two months)…etc.
At the end of our credibility perception matching phase…will P&I agree?
NO. IF P and I do not agree, i.e. CP(I) and CI(I) and/or CP(P) and CI(P) are very different, two two scenarios are possible: (1) the “reasonable path” and (2) the “You’ve got it comin'”.
The “reasonable path”. P&I can agree that when they met was not a good moment and/or setting to trigger a joint effort. They might want to wait and try again in the future. Or they might decide that they have no mutual interest to collaborate in the future. There will be a “no go” by at least one of the two parties (and, as in every relationship, there will always be one with a stronger “no go”). This can be declared more or less graciously.
Gracious “no go”:
[Rainy day – Living room – Franco Califano is on TV. Joe is casually flipping the pages of “Participatory Investigation and Country” Magazine. Phone rings. Joe answers]
Jane: Hi Joe Joe: Hey Jane, what’s up? Jane: Remember you invited me to go to the movies to see The Revenge of the Killer Chihuahua and of the Zombies? Joe: Yep, I got two tickets already. Pick you up at 8…right…? Jane: Well…you know…I got a really bad headache…maybe next week, ok? Joe: Jane…that’s fine Epilogue: Jane goes out with Jack, to see the Palla a 21 from Tuscany to Chicago documentary, and Joe stays at home, watching repeats of Space 1999.
…there can also be the case that, in spite of no matching of credibility perception, P&I decide to proceed anyway with the participatory investigation effort. Examples of considerations :
Hey, we got the funds, anyway.
Well, I’m not really sure these guys can develop this app, but Roger who is the CTO of a large company told me they’re ok, so they must be ok
In this case, the participator and the investigator have it coming, and they have a shared responsibility in one of these possible situations
The investigation starts. Things will go smooth until they go smooth. But, as in any human activity, issues are bound to happen. At this point, in absence of shared credibility perception, other factors will come into play
hope (the conclusions of the meeting were not really convincing, let’s hope next time it’s going to be more productive, and that it doesn’t rain during the social dinner)
re-enforced hierarchy (I am the project coordinator and I have two PhDs and I am the chair of a committe of an international organization, so you do what I say)
amplified prejudice + trust breach (I remember this guy didn’t feel like he was a good surveyor…well, surely he cooks really bad as well)
when hope fails… faith (Oh mighty Belushandir, lord of all participatory investigation activities, please make our report be delivered on time)
Hopefully, instead, the Participator and the Investigator will find a joint credibility perception condition.
How can this be confirmed? Well…it may not be simple to define it analytically, but there are lots of proxies: emails being answered within 48 hours (rather than 4.8 weeks), capability of greeting your counterparts with a good feeling, willingness to meet again, etc.
At this point, the joint participatory investigation effort should be started ASAP.
The credibility perception should also be conveyed to other stakeholders: issue a joint press release in all languages involved by your project; write a four-hand article (but not for a journal requiring one year for the review process); write it on the walls.
The whole thing should be re-assessed periodically, especially for PI efforts spanning over six months.
While the preparation of the milestone event for our little participatory lithology exercise [1] is under way….
..music is flowing, both in the form of our Lithobags, and thanks to Pietro “Raman” Crivelli from Piloni (Southern Tuscany). Peter is sending us before sunset either a song or a painting (e does both), asking to republish them and spread around to wish the universe a good night (see this link). Then:
20.4.2007, Scalvaia (SI)
Monday 20:
We started to publish the names of some of the analyzed samples (see article).
The Jug Band Colline Metallifere published its first track on Bandcamp.com (see article).
The Jug Band Colline Metallifere was invited to do something at a May 1st celebration event. More details will follow.
13th anniversary fo the first fundraiser for the palla a 21 to Chicago mission. In Scalvaia. i finanziamento della missione della palla a 21 a Chicago. A Scalvaia. More photos found on another external HDD (just kidding…it was the same one). Yet more memories emerge, for those who were there, and yet more incredibly strange characters appear, for those who were not there: see article, with the same note as above for non-Italian-reading folks.
Thursday 23: In the vault of New York’s Natural History Museum a portrait of teenage Mauro Tirannosauro was found. The shot is just after he had is first scooter. You can tell from the light in his eyes…this was around 70 million years ago: see the article. The portrait is also on sale by Tattistampa (same link)…Ben Stiller ordered ten copies.
To receive directly the weekly-or-so newsletter on Participatory Lithology, plus other initiatives by the pibinko.org network + Jug Band Colline Metallifere, please write to info@pibinko.org asking to be added to the mailing list.
