Our friends from Agricamping Ixtlan in Tatti, Southern Tuscany, told us the the camping is now ready to receive guests. In addition to the camping, we remind you of the products from their farming activity, in addition to various situations which you may experience in this hamlet in the Metalliferous hills.
We announced in early January that a delegation from the Jug Band Colline Metallifere (namely Jack O’Malley and Mauro Tirannosauro) would have been attending the fifth European Citizen Science Association conference.
This is a medium-large event for a congress (around 500 participants), with a significant presence of extra-European folks. The topic is “citizen science”, where any citizen can become an active component of a research team, interact with professional researchers (especially in data collection) and help improve how society addresses some of its challenges with such an approach.
With the pibinko.org network we work in this domain since 2008. Our flagship projects are the buiometria partecipativa on light pollution project and our community maps, so we were curious of interacting with other projects on a global scale. In the meantime, together with parts of the Jug Band Colline Metallifere, we brought parts of our stories, including some wheat ears selected by Wolfgang Scheibe in the context of his rural regeneration projects in Southern Tuscany. Putting together these ingredients, and Mauro Tirannosauro in great shape, we had the possibility of presenting to a wider audience our upcoming Gran(i)Tour. In addition, we provided a little sample of our live entertainment at a workshop on citizen science and rural communities.
The initial idea for our presence in the workshop was to propose some songs from our “music and territory” repertoire. These were to be from our Italian songs, since listening to Italian is interesting for many non-Italian listeners, with the idea of showing the translation of the lyrics on screen. As the workshop was progressing, we agreed with the organizers that it would have not been immediate to make this work. At that point, Jack O’Malley sat down and in twenty minutes he wrote an English version of “Livin’ Milano” (the first of the JBCM songs about the relationship between city and countryside), adapting it to the workshop setting (but please also check out the original version). A few more acts followed.
We are now heading South, back toward the Tuscan latitudes. Thanks again to the Empowerment, Inclusiveness, and Equity ECSA working group for co-funding this mission, together with some of our JBCM viennese fan base.
Below, a few shots from the event, as well as some of the m(‘)appare Vienna survey by pibinko. For more information and booking: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228.
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.
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!
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
Following our Jan. 17 article presenting our track record on light and darkness engineering (link 1), and the Jan. 23 article proposing some activity hints (link 2, in Italian), here are some detailed instructions on how to participate to M’illumino di Meno (the Italian National Day of Energy Saving and Sustainable Lifestyles) together with us.
We did our homework by reviewing the list of ten actions proposed by the Caterpillar radio show crew (link). We then validated this with respect to the modus operandi we have been using for years as environmental engineers. The combination of these lists has led to four ideas which we encourage you to follow:
If you are participating from out of Italy: the name of the country has to be typed in English (and if you are not in a country using the Latin alphabet, the original name will automagically appear).
As action type indicate “altro” (else) from the drop-down list. In the description write whatever you plan to do, and add two hashtags. One for #buiometria and a second one corresponding to the activity you would like to engage in (listed below)
Please send a copy of the action proposal also to us (micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228).
From today until Feb. 16 we can “play”. If you reside in Tuscany (and especially between Grosseto and Pisa) we might actually be able to meet and elaborate further on these actions. In any case, we will provide a summary of our activities following Feb. 16. For more information: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228
General rule
We will not make any videos related to these four activities. A video requires a lot more energy than a photo, and even more energy (in terms of preparation and post-production) if it has to be a cool video. So a photo might be more related to the spirit of M’illumino di Meno, rather than a 4K video. Please take pictures with the lowest possibile resolution for your device.
1. “Two birds with a stone” logistics (#bmp-tbws)
This is an application in the energy saving context of the “extreme logistics” methods in use for years in the whereabouts of the pibinko.org network. Not recommended for IT specialists due to a potential side effect, reported below.
If you have to move with your own means of transportation, find a place more or less half way, and stop in a publicly accessible space. This can be a cafe, a grocery shop, a library, etc.
Take or give something following your inspiration, or establish a non-digital contact with somebody. Spend no more than 30 minutes in the process.
With this action, for any given amount of energy required for your trip, and at most an extra of 30 minutes of your time, you will have caught “two birds with a stone”. Sometimes interesting and productive things will happen if you stop where you considered rushing.
There is a sole counter-indication: if you apply this logic in a recursive manner, you will end up in a situation similar to the Zeno’s paradox, and Christopher Nolan might shoot a movie about you. E.g, between Milano and Bologna you will stop in Parma. Then, between Milano and Parma, in Casalpusterlengo. Then, between Milano and Casalpusterlengo, in Zorlesco, and so forth (but you will find more interesting situations!).
This is reserved for residents in urbanized places with less than 100.000 inhabitants.
Collect small pieces of metal from the street. Save them for later (the 500-gram yogurt cups are excellent micro-containers for your micro-metal waste). Operate safely.
In this case, you are not necessarily saving energy, but you are not using a lot more either, while the world will be cleaner.
3. Non-online series (#bmp-nols)
Starting from Feb. 3 via our web site we will propose openings of stories. We might either re-use old articles (we have several thousands) or create new ones.
Instead of watching an online series (or, if you are from the old school, maybe watching basic TV shows), you can spend thirty minutes writing a longer story, starting from our opening. Please do this on a piece of paper, with a pen.
If you can write at least half a page, with readable handwriting, take a picture, or transcribe it, and send it to us. We can interact directly in Italian, English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish.
The following day we will re-publish your story on our site, and we will invite our audience to continue the story
All the stories will be credited to the respective authors – we reserve the right not to publish content which we do not consider acceptable for the pibinko.org network.
This way we are saving energy by spending less time in video streaming mode (the energy to send a photo or your text via mail o messaging is a lot less than the energy required to watch an online show).
With the BuioMetria Partecipativa project we have four “sky quality meters”, allowing the measurement of night sky quality (hence, light pollution), plus a lux meter.
Starting from Feb. 2, through Feb. 17, these sensors will be available in some of our hubs in Southern Tuscany. One of them will be around Scansano, another one in the Metalliferous Hills. The other two might operate as “free riders”.
If you are interested in taking some measurements, please check in at bmp@pibinko.org or +393317539228
All the measurements collected will be added to the BuioMetria Partecipativa database.
Thanks to your participation in BuioMetria Partecipativa you will be saving energy, first of all by not watching the next random episode of a random web series. During your night walk you will be able to think about what to write as a continuation of our story openings. While you go to collect your sky quality meter, you might stop in a mid-point, possibly collecting odd beer caps and other metal parts on the road. Last but not least, you will have an increased awareness on the use of artificial light and light pollution. So: the “full monty”!
Any other business (#bmp-aob)
With some folks in the network we have brainstormed about playing cards with no light, participatory “hypo-cryotherapy”, cats in the dark, and so forth. Since the “any other business” field can become very wide in our spaces, we will avoid a full listing. If you have other ideas that you would like to link to our proposal, please contact us (micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228) and we will assess them together.
Header image: a composition with parts of the M’illumino di Meno 2024 press kit with some of our logos and non-random shots from last Sunday.
In a nutshell: if you know how to twist and you would like to be part (from home) of the next Jug Band Colline Metallifere video, send a clip of your best twist dancing to +393317539228 (Whatsapp or Telegram). For more context, read on…
1. Introduction
On Nov. 1, 2023, with the Jug Band Colline Metallifere we recorded six tracks in the “forestudio” (one of our mobile studios in Southern Tuscany. The post-production has been completed, and we considered that it would be cool for one of these tracks to have a video.
The song is called Tatti Twist. The lyrics are in English, and they tell the story of a foreign guy who likes Tuscany, and eventually relocates…you guess…in Tatti, our home base. In this video it would be nice to see some of you folks dancing: so, we decided to launch a casting for dancers. Namely, we are looking for guys or gals who will provide some twist moves.
2. To be part of the casting
2.1 Shoot a video where you are dancing some twist. Maximum duration: 15 seconds. If you have any doubts, see this page for technicalities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twist_(dance)). PLEASE NOTE – THE SONG IN THIS VIDEO IS NOT THE ONE YOU WILL BE DANCING ON FOR OUR VIDEO, BUT THE GROOVE IS THE SAME:
2.2 Send the video to the Jug Band Colline Metallifere casting team
Together with the video, please also send a few lines of presentation about who you are, where you live, and why you would like to be in our video.
3. Deadline
The deadline to submit you material is February 9 (CET).
4. What happens after?
4.1 By February 23 you will be re-contacted by our casting team. If you have been selected, you will also received the instructions to be part of the video. The production will take place roughly bettween Feb. 24, and May 5, 2024.
4.2 At the end of the production phase, all the selected participants will receive a nice JBCM gift, in addition to credits in the video, which will have international visibility (to give you an idea, please consider https://www.pibinko.org/in-the-media/, in addition to a netowkr of contacts of a few tens of thousands of people in our social networks).
5. Miscellanea
5.1 Please note that Wolfgang, our one-string bass player, has been participating to Twist contests in the Sixties, and that we collaborate with various dance professionals.
5.2 Depending on the nature of the “dance company” that we will assemble, this casting might be used to develop ideas for other events and initiatives with the Jug Band Colline Metallifere, the pibinko.org network, Tattistampa, Il Casino Booking, and other partnering organizations.
5.3 If you are intetested to sponsor the production of the video, please contact micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228
5.4 The participation to the video will not require you to move from your home.
6. For more information
…on the Jug Band Colline Metallifere and its interdisciplinary activities about music and territories: http://www.jugbandcm.it
We have only one event left to close one year of work with the pibinko.org network and the Jug Band Colline Metallifere: this will be the epilogue of the Fourth Winter Fest, on Dec. 21.
In fact, the year of work is not even closing as a year, in that we are somehow following a calendar of our own. Since last Spring we are in a continuous flow of events, initiatives, and planning. This is helping us to actually slow down our pace, since we have more advance time (even though the effect on the outside is that we go too fast). Since last July we are already at work on stuff for the Summer of 2024, and so forth…stay tuned.
We hope you will enjoy reviewing the list below…feel free to go with random clicks. You will have the possibility of refreshing some stories which you already knew, and to find out things you skipped.
Also, if you like these stories (which are in fact interdisciplinary territorial animation services), please consider the possibility of supporting them, and contact us to understand how. As E.V. from Pisa once said, after spending 24 hours in our space:
They do not live to work. Rather, the do not “work”, but the “live”. They do work, as in physics, not as in economics. Their goal is to be, to be well, and to know it. They pursue this goal for themselves and for the people they care about, who are a lot. They deal with ecology, from any angle, including that of human aggregates, and of aggregates within each of them. They are fractal.
Blog articles in 2023 (as of Dec. 20), in reverse chronological order. The list combines the Italian and English version of our stories (translations are not automated, so we think they should count as an additional article).
Il 3 settembre scorso si è avuto a Tatti, frazione di Massa Marittima (GR) il rinnovo del Comitato per l’Amministrazione Separata dei beni ad uso civico di questa localitĂ . Per i prossimi cinque anni questa risorsa sarĂ amministrata da Marco Fiacchi, Sergio Cappelletti, Auro Luti, Guido Maria Bendinelli e Adriano Fronzaroli.
L’evento potrebbe essere facilmente rubricato nell’ampia collezione di microsituazioni di microcronaca locale in una delle province con la minor densitĂ di popolazione d’Italia (ma grandi tramonti sul mare). In effetti, l’avvio di questo nuovo ciclo di gestione assume una valenza diversa per il fatto che, mentre l’ASBUC di Tatti si prepara un’altra volta a gestire la propria attivitĂ principale, ovvero il taglio della legna per approvvigionamento dei residenti, ha espresso l’interesse a valorizzare altri aspetti del proprio territorio. A partire dai confini.
Nel frattempo vi invitiamo a rivedere gli articoli del 2019, quando si avviò la prima mappa di comunità di Tatti (2 marzo e 14 aprile), e a guardare cosa succederà il 15-10 a Montemerano (GR) in tema di rimappatura partecipata (e sempre con Andrea Giacomelli e altri colleghi a lavoro assieme ai residenti di là ).
Nelle foto sotto, alcuni momenti del sopralluogo di martedì scorso. Per altre informazioni: micalosapevo@pibinko.org oppure whatsapp 3317539228
This was on Friday Apr. 15, 2022 live @ Zanzibar in Saline di Volterra (Pisa): with Tom (Newton:Â @tomharpnewton), Tom Sorba (@thomas_sorba) and friends.