Category Archives: Announcements

Wolfgang is waiting for you for the International Day of Art Printing (Mar. 17, 2024)

Announcements

Sunday March 17, from 11AM to 6PM, Wolfgang Scheibe AKA Tattistampa, known in the world for his production of hand-made prints, posters and other graphic works, is waiting for you to celebrate the international day of art printing in his secret workshop between Tatti and Meleta, in the rolling hills of Southern Tuscany.

Considering the limited size of the premises, it is necessary to book your visit by Saturday, March 16, 8PM. Please write to micalosapevo@pibinko.org or message on whatsapp or SMS on +393317539228. A few slots are still available.

The day will also be an opportunity to learn about other projects on which Wolfgang is active, and in particular with his Jug Band Colline Metallifere. Some of the band members will be present during the day and, accidentally, there might be musical instruments in the surroundings…who knows what might happen…

But please, book yourr visit by 8PM, Saturday March 16!

In addition to the promo video below, we encourage you to review some of Wolgang’s feats since 2014 in the pibinko.org netowrk (link 1), and with the Jug Band Colline Metallifere (link 2)…combining music, printing, and agriculture there are lots of intersting stories!

Please see also the initial announcement for this event, published on Jan. 31.

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

A Video by CNR IBE Featuring a “BuioMetro” in the Svalbard Islands

Announcements

During our last “M’illumino di Meno” we explained that Luciano Massetti from the Italian Research Council’s Institute of Bioeconomy could not participate directly to the BuioMetria Partecipativa events due to the overlap with a mission to the Svalbard Islands. In fact, his goal was to deploy a night sky quality sensor. We did check with Luciano the possibility of having some form of live connection, but due to the tight schedule in such a peculiar research facility this was not possible. However, Luciano was able to document a few moments of his presence in this video, from which you may also have a glimps of what happens when Italian researchers venture in very cold places:

For more information:

Video source: https://video.ibe.cnr.it/w/oZwcqDV6UYxZ8rG1jcHxAv

To Friends in Bayern and Baden-Württemberg (and surroundings)…

Announcements, Gran(i)Tour

…if you live in Bayern or Baden-Württemberg and you are curious about the Jug Band Colline Metallifere and about stuff we propose about “music & territories”, please contact us for an initiative which will be reaching you in a couple of months: micalosapevo@pibinko.org o 3317539228.

For a refresher:

Please note that for posts after May 2023 the Italian-language version of the sites has a lot more content than the English-language version, so you are encouraged to browse the Italian version..

The BuioMetria Partecipativa Map now embeds also readings by Unihedron

Announcements
A sky quality meter in the process of being “passed” as a relay baton between two characters in the pibinko.org network (Dec. 2016).

After switching back on the interactive BuioMetria Partecipativa map during the twentieth edition of “M’illumino di Meno”, we are gradually adding layers to the canvas that we would like to use over the coming months to trigger actions about light and darkness.

After the CNR IBE monitoring network, we have reloaded the data collected by Unihedron, i.e. the producer of the “Sky Quality Meter”, which we renamed as “buiometri” for our Italian communities.

The new map is available at https://www.pibinko.org/buiometriapartecipativa-map/.

We would like to recall that the Sky Quality Meter is not the only type of sensor existing for the measurement of night sky quality. In fact, with the BuioMetria Partecipativa since 2011 we have conducted various intercomparison and cross-calibration experiments. However, the SQM still remains as the most widespread entry-level sensor, plus it is the one which we have historically used as a liaison between the various participants to the buiometria measurement campaigns.

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

Here we go with the “In the Heart of Tuscany” survey!

Announcements

The more you review presentations of tourism and culture situations in Tuscany, the more you get the feeling that a very high number of these places is characterised as being “…in the heart of Tuscany”. At this point we would like to better assess what is the perimeter of this heart…

The pibinko.org network, with over thirty years of experience in incredibly strange mapping, welcomes you to a “geo-anatomy” exercise, by helping us to locate the pulse-setting organ in this region.

If you manage a business, or you know somebody who does, and this business is “in the heart of Tuscany”, please let us know at micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228.

For those of you who are more social-network oriented, please see also https://www.facebook.com/groups/intheheartoftuscany/

All of your feedback will be relayed to our mapping department, and they will gradually create a map, which will be published at some point (we will give the survey a couple of months). If you like the initiative and would like to help us keep it alive, please consider supporting the pibinko.org network (https://www.pibinko.org/support/)

Thank you for your attention, and best regards from…the heart of Tuscany!

The BuioMetria Partecipativa Map now includes the CNR IBE Research Network

Announcements

Thanks to Luciano Massetti of the Italian Research Council Bioeconomy Institute, who is a historical collaborator of the BMP project, we are glad to add to our “classical” measures (i.e. those made with manual measurements by citizens), a new information layer.

This is represented by the location of fixed stations that CNR IBE has been deploying since 2015 to monitor artificial night sky brightness in various parts of Tuscany. The Tuscan network had a recent “spin-off” in the Svalbard Islands, since Luciano was on a mission in February 2024 to install a sensor in that remote location. By clicking on a given station, you may either review publications where the data have been presented, or contact Luciano for more information.

Open Data Day 2024: Merging the pibinko.org network Community Maps

Announcements

In the framework of the 2024 Open Data Day, we are preparing a simple “alignment” exercise involving various community maps which we created starting from 2013 in collaboration with various characters in the Metalliferous Hills, and beyond. In a few days we will release additional details on this initiative, which will take place between March 4, and March 10, 2024.

In the meantime:

The new Participatory Night Sky Quality Monitoring Map

Announcements

Between 2008 and 2020, in collaboration with Luca Delucchi, a geographer and a big supporter of the Sampdoria footbal club, the data collected by citizens with the Buiometria Partecipativa project were collected on a web site which allowed to display maps, reports, and more. For a few years we had to put the service on hold, but -taking the opportunity of the 2024 M’illumino di Meno 2024, we decided to re-propose the service in a lighter form.

The map is available from this link: https://www.pibinko.org/buiometriapartecipativa-map/

The pibinko.org Network will collaborate with the AquaPLAN Project

Announcements

With the BuioMetria Partecipativa project, which since 2008 proposes interdisciplinary activities for protection and promotion of the night sky, we have been invited to be part of the “Stakeholder innovation Board” of the AquaPLAN research project, funded by the HORIZON programme of the European Commission, and coordinated by the University of Pisa. The project kicked off at the beginning of the year, and will run until the end of 2027. At the time of writing it does not have an official web site (and this is normal, since the web site development is planned in the first months of activity), so the official presentation for the moment is available from this link: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101135471.

In a nutshell, the project will be studying the management of impacts on biodiversity deriving from noise and light pollution in aquatic environments.

If we put together…

  • 30 years of relations to EU-funded research
  • 20 years of creation and management of innovative project
  • 16 years of activity related to light pollution
  • 9 years of project dealing with acoustics

…we do have some ideas. However, we never heard about “stakeholder innovation”.

Before any other step, we wanted to clarify this concept. We read from authoritative sources that stakeholder innovation is “is a way to bring attention to the need for collaboration in innovative endeavours”. We also checked with institutional subjects in the European Commission space, and they told us to do “what is best”…so we are in an innovation space!

We will start to propose our activities starting from Friday, Feb. 16, with a whole day dedicated to M’illumino di Meno by RAI Radio Due (see this presentation link), and other initiatives which will follow. For more information: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228

A “palla 21” ball is on its way to Colorado (USA)

Announcements

Last year we were contacted by Noel C. , a physical education high school teacher based in the Denver, Colorado, area. Noel found out through the internet about the existence of palla 21 (aka palla eh!), and he contacted us to explain about his project: teach the game to his students, and possibly write some articles, or a book, about this story.

We told Noel that we were flattered about his interest and that we have several videos and text explanations to provide guidance. But, there was a big but…the ball, the ball…how can you teach a ball game without the proper ball?

Noel wrote that he had been looking for the palla a 21 balls on Amazon and did not find them. This was possibly a joke, since he had seen the videos where the ball is made by hand, but we appreciated the spirit. So, after various consultations with selected representatives of the pibinko.org network we decide to go for it and put a rare palla a 21 (or palla eh!) ball in the hands of an international courier.

At this point with the Tuscan ball players we are following with trepidation the tracking for the ball (and you can do it as well: https://www.mbe.it/it/tracking?c=270514124149), and when the ball will arrive we will give you more news.

To give a little emphasis to this moment, together with Sean Connerie and Silvia from Centro Color in Follonica, Tuscany, we prepared a little “boxing video” (normally people do “unboxing” videos)…

In 2007 we went with a crew of 21 people from Tuscany to Chicago to demonstrate palla a 21 (or palla eh!). In 2024 we are looking forward to see a ball from the Tuscan Metalliferous Hills making people play in Denver, Colorado, and we will see where this will bring!

Musica: i Lubrophonics