Category Archives: Services

Expat Services

Services

With a life of wanderings (starting from a birth out of Italy), international relations since the early Nineties, having experienced directly three “expatriations” (namely from Milan to the UK, from Milan to Sardinia, and then from Milan to Southern Tuscany), and having followed very closely many relocation stories towards Italy, we are able to support non-Italian citizens in all phases of their relocation experience.

Some examples of support areas include, but are not limited to:

  • before you finalize your decision to relocate: does your plan tick all the boxes?
  • selecting the best Italian destination for you
  • language support
  • dealing with Italian suppliers and consultants
  • cultural mediation
  • DO’s and DON’T’s in the first 100 days of your stay
  • …and many more

For more information: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228

Songs with translations

Services

In the branobag blog series, started in 2012 and proposed in various seasons, I have been translating the lyrics for several songs. I kind of lost track of this work, but I recovered it by browsing the articles and tagging them accordingly.

In addition to the songs listed below, the most recent series of translations is related to the “lithobags” published between March and May 2020, during the pilot phase of the Participatory Lithology project. These songs are in the Jug Band Colline Metallifere blog (see this link).

Note: The titles of the “boscoriserva/avresiocsob”, dedicated 2014 to the Woodstock Festival, are intentionally “mis-translated”.

For comments, questions, or requests for new translations, please write to info@pibinko.org

Photography

Services

Photos published on this site, in random order each time you reload this page (Note: in many blog posts you will find more photos).

Please note that we are in the process of aligning the translations of titles of old photos we recently migrated from Flickr, so if you go on the Italian version of this page, you will get a chance to see a lot more shots.

Videos

Services

please note: Videos for the Metalliferous Hills Jug Band (Jug Band Colline Metallifere) are proposed in a dedicate page on the JBCM web site: http://www.pibinko.org/jugbandcollinemetallifere/videos/

Shorts, in reverse date order.

Nine videos are co-productions (with: Lucio Monocrom, Orsola Sinisi, Francesco Giubbilini, Manuel Schianchi).

Some videos are, intentionally, “lo-fi”, instant productions. Others follow a detailed production plan and are created with high quality standards. If you like the overall mood of these works and would like to have a similar video made (you choose the quality), please contact us and we will be glad to discuss the details.

Medium-length (directed by Lucio Monocrom)

Translations

Services

Since 1993 I have been working in parallel in Italian and English.

I routinely handle translations from English (and occasionally from French) into Italian.

I had three years of my primary school in the UK, thus acquiring a quasi-mother tongue level of English. Since 1993 I have always been working in international settings, and in particular between 2002 and 2010 I have worked for an American company. In these contexts I have developed a command of the language and a knowledge of English and American culture which provide an added value in the translations I deliver.

Please write to info@pibinko.org for more information and quotes.

Training and tutoring

Services

Since 1995 I have been providing training/tutoring in terms of:

  • tutoring for environmental engineering students in preparation of their MS dissertation
  • trainer in courses and worskhops on Geographic Information Systems (in Italian, English, and French)
  • tutor for junior employees

Geographic Information Systems and Databases

Maps, Services

Since 1993 I have worked on Geographic Information Systems and data management (mostly, but not only, environmental data). Selected projects cover:

  • Integration of radar remote sensing data and distributed hydrologic models
  • Satellite-based assessment of flooded areas
  • Site selection and promotion of industrial parks
  • Decision support systems for water resource management
  • Text and web log mining
  • Tourism
  • Data conversion (from CAD to GIS and from GIS to GIS)
  • Utility surveys (in large industrial facilities and in extended regions)
  • environmental site characterisation and remediation
  • Spatial analysis to support the design of large remediation wetlands
  • Hiking trails

Web

Maps, Services
  1. http://www.pibinko.org (since 2008, various versions)
  2. http://www.pibinko.org/pib – my blog (2011)
  3. Attivarti.org – social activism (2011)
  4. BuioMetria Partecipativa (with Francesco Giubbilini, since 2008, various versions)
  5. palla21.it – on the game of Palla a 21 (or Palla Eh!) (since 2007, various versions)
  6. Toscana Foto Festival (2014-2015) (note: the site was dismissed in 2016 following a re-organization of the Festival)
  7. CORDILIT – Collection of data for light pollution monitoring (2011)
  8. Associazione Filarmonica Popolare di Torniella (GR) – a community marching band (2012)
  9. Mostri di Media Dimensione – Movie by Lucio Monocrom (2013)
  10. Officine Pandino – video productions (only hosting, 2012)
  11. Ricette Bone – Tuscan recipes, recommended by aunt Eda (2009)
  12. Ermanno X, la notizia che uccide.  Movie by Lucio Monocrom (2009)
  13. La Vendetta del Chihuahua Killer e degli zombi. Movie by Lucio Monocrom
  14. Circolo ARCI LO-FI – Live music in Milano, Italy (2010)
  15. Caffé Ricasoli, in Grosseto, Italy (2011)
  16. Agriturismo Casa del Chiodo, Piloni (GR), 2010
  17. Emiliano Baldi, artist (2011)
  18. Fra il tramonto e l’alba – photography competition (2010)
  19. Le palline sulle colline – photo exhibitions and competition(2008)
  20. Toscana Stellata (con Francesco Giubbilini, 2012)
  21. GIS LAB page for CRS4 (1997-2002)
  22. SITAI WEB, web GIS for the indutrial parks of Sardinia (1999 – no longer online) -see article on  Mondo GIS,  Sep. 2001 (in Italian)
  23. Information system for local development (2000-2004- no longer online) – see article by FORMEZ (in Italian)
  24. Specifications and management for a Sharepoint system for a large environmental program in Europe (2006-2010)
  25. web GIS within the  SHAPE  project (2013)
  26. web site for the “Falde costiere” project (2001)

Promotion, communication, facilitation

Services

Since 2006 I have been working in a growing array of projects related to promotion, outreach, facilitation, and community engagement. For these activities, I often collaborate with other professionals or organizations.

The track record is provided below. Individual events or very short projects (e.g. a one week campaign or a presentation) are listed separate from long-term running initiatives.

A note on language diversity
Several of the initiatives listed below are currently documented in Italian. In English you will find brief descriptions, and subtitles for the majority of videos. Please write for more information (in English ou français).

[last update: Apr. 2, 2022]

Events or short projects

2000

  1. Survey of GIS skills in Sardinia, with web forms and paper dissemination. 120 replies obtained.

2005

  1. Procurement of a band for a wedding party (Nema Problema, an Italian-Balkan band)
  2. Date for Nema Problema for an event on “wine and stars” (Calici di stelle) in Massa Marittima (Tuscany)

2006

  1. The Revenge of the Killer Chihuahua and of the Zombies: Scripted and co-produced a short movie [2] with a production team involving 30 people

2007

  1. Riflessioni sul tema(tismo) video “spot” for the Italian OSGEO Chapter [3]
  2. Palla 21: from Tuscany to Chicago (and back): Promotion and management of a “mission” of a group of 20 players of an ancient hand ball game from Souther Tuscany (for Spanish folks: very similar to pelota Valenciana), to Chicago, Illinois in the Summer calendar of events by the Dept. of Culture of this city [4]

2008

  1. participated in the organization of an OpenStreetMap mapping party in Arezzo [5]
  2. M(‘)appare Milano: created a three-month participatory mapping campaign in Milano [6] (for Milano I created the title “M(‘)appare”). Various people took part in the events, including citizens which you might not expect, such as a blind lady, or people typically disconnected from ICT and mapping. Note: The M(‘)appare was then used as a “format” in Ferrara, Portofino, Antola Park.
  3. organizer of a national conference on “Culture, environment, and free/open informatics: which opportunities by the integration of diverse themes” [6.1]
  4. Summer campaign for GFOSS.it – Proposal and management of a stand at Festambiente (the main Summer festival on environment in Italy), for the Italian OSGEO Chapter, together with collateral activities. [7]
  5. “Le palline sulle colline” (little balls on the hills): promoter and manager of two photographic exhibitions (one in Tuscany and one in California) and one photographic contest on the ancient Tuscan hand ball game [8]

2009

  1. New Year’s Eve party (with participation for three days of 50 people from outside Tuscany in a village of 200 residents) [10]

2010

  1. “l’altro lato dell’altro lato” – farewell event for a major radio show (l’Altro lato – creator of the event, and part of the organizing committee). The event was attended by over 250 people from all over Italy. [11]
  2. photographic contest “between dusk and dawn” (with some 600 participants from 52 countries) [12]
  3. organizer of the “First INSPIRE mashup” (on biodiversity), from April to the INSPIRE conference in Krakow [13]

2011

  1. Presentation event of the Attivarti.org association at Terra Futura (Florence, one of the main events in Italy on awareness raising about environmental sustainability), with a session on light pollution and a concert arranged in the evening. [14]
  2. Lecture at Politecnico di Milano [15] (this is included as an “event” since it was provided as a performance, rather than a “standard” lecture).
  3. Proposer and manager of the second INSPIRE mashup [16], including a social event and a live radio interview with Radio 24 (the main “news and talk” radio in Italy).
  4. Photo exhibition in the Toscana Foto Festival of a selection of the best shots from the “Between dusk and dawn” contest in 2010.
  5. Festambiente stand for Attivarti.org

2012

  1. Presentations at various events related to biodiversity, in the context of the ENVIROFI project (see below)
  2. Coordination of the exhibition and a web catalogue for the Società Filarmonica Popolare Torniella [20]
  3. Organization of a two-day event on Culture, environment, and open innovation (Nov. 19, Monticiano, and Nov. 20, Massa Marittima) [21]
  4. Organization of presentation for the proposal of comments to the new Master plan on environment and energy by Regione Toscana
  5. “Brano bag“: a series of blog posts published by 7AM CET on each working day (live, no automatic scheduling), proposing  a song, its lyrics, and some thoughts inspired by the song, or the previous day. From July to December.

2013

  1. New Year’s Eve concert in Torniella (Southern Tuscany), again with Hardisco (in collaboration with the Torniella and Piloni communities)
  2. See “Long-term projects”, below

2014

  1. Four articles for the Opinions Post, a citizen journalism web site (January)
  2. Boscoriserva: a series of articles commenting songs from the Woodstock festival.

2015

  1. Experimental campaign in Torniella and Sesto Fiorentino (Tuscany), with a combined meeting of the Loss of the Night network.
  2. Facilitator for the participation of a team from the Farma Valley to the INVOLEN location-based game contest
  3. Mentor and jury member for the Connected Automobiles 2015 Hackathon

2016

  1. Farma Valley Winter Fest

2017

  1. pibinko.org + Attivarti.org + associates Winter campaign (with fifteen events and activities in eight Italian regions)
  2. Events for the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the “Palla 21 to Chicago” Mission
  3. Promotion of the Farma Valley Community map
  4. Second Farma Valley Winter Fest

2018

2019

  • Development of the Metalliferous Hills Jug Band, with over 30 performances between Tuscany, Milan, and Germany since November 2018. Please see this page for an updated listing of our performances.

2020

  • Launch of the Participatory Lithology project as a resilience initiative (the project kicked off on March 21, during the COVID lockdown, after a fast-track design phase of one week)
  • Hired Mauro Tirannosauro (Mauro the T-Rex) to support pibinko.org activities.

2021

2022

  • From February 12 to March 5: production of four episode of the Jugcast dalle Colline Metallifere, with guests, on the topics of culture, environment, open innovation, and musica (see link).
  • Jury member for Silbersalz 2022, International science media festival
  • through the end of June: preparation of the European tour by a delegation of the Jug Band Colline Metallifere, centered on the participation to the ninth Living Knowledge conference in Groningen, The Netherlands (see link).

2023

  • Support to the promotion of “Tre Cani Rossi” (Tuscan wine).
  • Organization of a palla a 21 course for children of Summer Camps in Sassofortino
  • Brezel Tour with the Jug Band Colline Metallifere (with 21 events from June to September, between Italy and Germany)
  • Fourth pibinko.org network winter fest
  • First national survey of hand-made crochet hook Christmas trees

Long-term projects

  1. 2003-2006: I had the role of staff manager in the Italian branch of a large environmental engineering company (multinational). In addition to recruitment etc, among my tasks in this role I had the responsibility of creating and managing entertainment/social activities for the staff and for guests/clients (mostly from the USA).
  2. 2008-ongoing: BuioMetria Partecipativa project (participatory light pollution monitoring) [21], then leading also to CORDILIT [22], Toscana Stellata [23], and the Loss of the Night EU COST Action
  3. 2007-2010: GFOSS.it (the Italian OSGEO Chapter) – Founding member. Board member (2007-2008), and vice president (2008-2010). Mainly active in communication/marketing, and relatioships with other entities. [24]
  4. 2010-2012: Facilitator of the INSPIRE European Directive on spatial data infrastructures. Name I have bee working for the Thematic Working Group of the “Production and Industrial Facilities data specification”.
  5. 2012 -2013: Citizen science coordinator for the biodiversity work package of the ENVIROFI project [19]
  6. a concise history of participatory night sky monitoring from Italy (work in progress)