Paolo Massa Blog

This blog permanently moved to http://gnuband.org

Paolo — 2007-04-13T19:37:43+01:00

This blog permanently moved to http://gnuband.org
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Craigslist CEO isn’t nuts … but it would have been just few years ago

Paolo — 2007-01-02T22:46:32+01:00

This blog permanently moved to gnuband.org.
This post is cross-posted from gnuband.org where it was originally written.
Please, if you want to follow my rants, update your bookmarks to the new blog URL http://gnuband.org and more importantly
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Reading the long thread discussion on CouchSurfing titled “how’s the money flow?”, I found Irv Thomas’s contribution that summarizes an article of Forbes about Craiglist. The article is delicious: it is so good that Internet has been able to make reasonable and possible something that would have sounded totally unreasonable just few years ago. Excerpts from the article below (by the way, I would love to be able to write in English half as well as this article …):

Craigslist President and Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster isn’t nuts. He just sounds that way, particularly to anyone who thinks that the point of running a business is, you know, to make money.
And that was enough to make his appearance last week at the UBS Global Media & Communications Conference feel like a dizzying trip through Lewis Carroll’s looking glass.
Speaking in an unflappable, near-monotone, Buckmaster calmly discussed with UBS analyst Ben Schachter a business model which, by any rational standard, is completely insane.
(…)
OK, so Craigslist boasts a huge potential to make money, but isn’t really interested in generating big profits. Given that combination, why not raise funds through equity investments or advertising and then give the money away to charity, Schachter asked.
“I think it’s a valid argument and one that we don’t necessarily have a persuasive answer for,'’ Buckmaster said. “That is a proven model for doing good in the world. It just doesn’t happen to be our model. Ours is to try to be as philanthropic in our core business as we can be and leave all the money out there in the hands of users.'’
We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality, already in progress.

A blog post is a permanent email with cc:world

Paolo — 2006-12-21T01:06:46+01:00

During my long no-blog period, I kinda lost the unconditioned reflex "This is interesting, let me blog it" in favour of the less advanced "This is interesting, let me think about who might be interested and send her an email containing just this link".
At least this is something that was happening with my previous blog post, I was starting to think who might be interested in knowing that "Italian public television (RAI) will be entirely under Creative Commons" in order to send them an email. Luckily a strike in the blue sky of my mind came to rescue me with a providential "why don't I blog it so that I don't clutter their mailbox and ... if they want to read, they simply come here, when they want? Moreover the possible readers might include people I don't know that find the post after months via a search engine."
I strongly rationally believe that Email is where knowledge goes to die, I just think I lost the unconditioned reflex.
By the way, the metaphor of blogging as writing an email cc:World is due to Doc Searls.

Italian public television (RAI) entirely under Creative Commons!

Paolo — 2006-12-21T01:03:11+01:00

The Italian Government has prepared the new guidelines for the Italian public television (RAI).
It is delightful to read that one of them is:

(in Italian) offrire all’utenza, nell’ambito della licenza nome come Creative Commons, la possibilita' di scaricare via Internet tutti i contenuti radio-televisivi prodotti dalla RAI mediante proventi dei canoni di abbonamento;

(in English) offer, under a Creative Commons licence, the possibility to download through Internet all the radio and television content produced by RAI using the mandatory subscription fees;

I must admit that I'm profoundly surprised but, hey, this is probably one of the effect of having a passionate blogger as Minister of Communications.

]]> Thanks to Stefano Quintarelli for the good news, you can read more of the guideline on his blog (in Italian): another very interesting point is the mention to incentive the upload of user-generated content on rai.it
Since this post is too optimist, let me quote the last sentences of Stefano:
this are 3 steps in the right direction, the very right direction, the VERY RIGHT direction.
Ale'!
(well, Italy is Italy and after 3 steps forward it is always possible to make 6 steps backward)
[via punto-informatico]

Help in making Ryzom a Free MMORPG!

Paolo — 2006-12-15T16:14:01+01:00

This blog permanently moved to gnuband.org.
This post is cross-posted from gnuband.org where it was originally written.
Please, if you want to follow my rants, update your bookmarks to the new blog URL http://gnuband.org and more importantly
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One of the big advantages of using GNU/Linux is that most of the computer games don't run on it and, as a consequence, I don't have the risk of trying one, become addicted and hence even less productive (whatever productive means). However I somehow feel isolated from conversations and frontier experiences for not being able to try World of Warcraft or SecondLife. I once tried to find some Free Software alternatives and downloaded PlaneShift, a very cool Free Software MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role-playing game) that runs also under GNU/Linux, but what happened is that I played until 6 in the morning and the following day I was sooo sleepy!
Another game that might soon become Free is Ryzom.
"Ryzom is an innovative MMORPG, which has been developed since the year 2000 by the independent studio, Nevrax. For the past two years Ryzom has been marketed and sold to gamers, developing a fiercly loyal fanbase. Unfortunately, due to market conditions and other unforseen cirucumstances, a request to begin bankruptcy proceedings has been filed at the commerce tribunal."

The Free Ryzom Campaign is soliciting donations in order to "help us purchase the source code, artwork and other game data associated with Ryzom, so we can breathe new life into it as an open, democratically run player project".
It is great to read that the Free Software Foundation announced that it will officially support the Free Ryzom Campaign with a pledge of $60,000. Lack of games is often mentioned as one of the main reasons for people not to switching to GNU/Linux.
And Ryzom seems incredibly cool too (see the YouTube video), so who will need the non-free software World of Warcraft or SecondLife anymore?!?

You might want to support this initiative and donate to The Free Ryzom Campaign or donate to the Free Software Foundation.

[via gnuvox] (this post was also an excuse to try how embedding YouTube videos works)

The Rules of BarCamp, now in Italian

Paolo — 2006-12-06T14:36:29+01:00

This blog permanently moved to gnuband.org.
This post is cross-posted from gnuband.org where it was originally written.
Please, if you want to follow my rants, update your bookmarks to the new blog URL http://gnuband.org and more importantly
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Last Saturday I participated in the BarCampTurin. Bru and I spoke about CouchSurfing as an example of "Sharing as a modality of economic production". Well, I wanted to speak about this concept while Bru wanted to speak about hidden profits, we probably didn't coordinate very well. ;-)
Anyway the slides are on slideshare in case you are interested.

It was my first BarCamp and, reading on the wiki there were more than 200 registered people, I was very afraid to burn my first experience of BarCamp. Overall, I think it went well (thanks Vittorio!) given the fact more than 250 people shown up.
Anyway, I would be very curios to run a poll asking to participants of BarCampTurin:

Did you read the RulesOfBarCamp on the wiki? YES | NO

(Of course there is no critical mass of readers in this blog so I solicit some more popular blogger to post the poll, if she finds the question interesting).

My impression is that 70% of the participants would say "NO, I didn't read the RulesOfBarCamp".
The fact we didn't even bother to translate the rules on the BarCampTurin wiki page might be an indicator. Of course the critique is first for myself and so in a pure free-wiki-doacracy-philosophy today I took some time to translate TheRulesOfBarCamp (English) in LeRegoleDelBarCamp (Italian). The translations is attached below but you better read them on the BarCamp wiki itself. And of course the translation is not perfect at all, but hey, it is a wiki, isn't it? Go ahead and improve it.

BarCampTurin was the second BarCamp in Italy (the first was BzaarCamp in Milan) and there are already more BarCamps in preparation, I know of RomeCamp and MarCamp (in Marche region).
It is self-evident that in order to run successful BarCamps we should at least be aware of the rules (and discuss them).
The important rule I think we should try to stick with is

NO SPECTATORS, ONLY PARTICIPANTS

or according to my translation in Italian

NIENTE SPETTATORI, SOLO PARTECIPANTI

even if I probably liked more "NIENTE SPETTATORI, SOLO ATTORI".

]]> TheRulesOfBarCamp (English) LeRegoleDelBarCamp (Italian). BarCamp: What's this all about?
COMMUNITY AND INFORMATION

BarCamp is an ad-hoc unconference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees.

Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join.

When you come, be prepared to share with barcampers.
When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.

NO SPECTATORS, ONLY PARTICIPANTS

Attendees must give a demo, a session, or help with one, or otherwise volunteer / contribute in some way to support the event. All presentations are scheduled the day they happen. Prepare in advance, but come early to get a slot on the wall. The people present at the event will select the demos or presentations they want to see.

Presenters are responsible for making sure that notes/slides/audio/video of their presentations are published on the web for the benefit of all and those who can’t be present.

BARCAMP FOR EVERYONE

Contact us if you have any questions or want to participate. Let us know if you’re hosting your own. BarCamp is about support as much as it is about information.

web: http://barcamp.org/

email: barcamp@gmail.com

irc: freenode.net #barcamp

mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/barcamp
The Rules of Bar Camp.

* 1st Rule: You do talk about Bar Camp.
* 2nd Rule: You do blog about Bar Camp.
* 3rd Rule: If you want to present, you must write your topic and name in a presentation slot.
* 4th Rule: Only three word intros.
* 5th Rule: As many presentations at a time as facilities allow for.
* 6th Rule: No pre-scheduled presentations, no tourists.
* 7th Rule: Presentations will go on as long as they have to or until they run into another presentation slot.
* 8th Rule: If this is your first time at BarCamp, you HAVE to present. (Ok, you don't really HAVE to, but try to find someone to present with, or at least ask questions and be an interactive participant.)

by Tantek Çelik as parodied from The Rules of Fight Club.

Other Ways to Show Your Support

* Send ThankYouLetters and refactor the wiki!
* Donations cover our costs: paypal at factorycity.net
* Attendees and Organizers: What worked? What didn't work? What Could Be Better (and How)? Enter details here: PostMortem and LostFound
* Organize a local BarCamp.
* Answer a question in the FrequentlyAskedQuestions list.

BarCamp: Di che si tratta?

COMUNITA' E INFORMAZIONE

BarCamp e' una sconferenza (o nonconferenza) ad-hoc, nata dal desiderio delle persone di condividere e apprendere in un ambiente aperto e libero. E' un evento intenso con discussioni, demo e molta interazione tra i partecipanti.

Chiunque abbia qualcosa da condividere o il desiderio di imparare e' benvenuto e invitato a partecipare.

Quando arrivi, sii preparato a condividere con i barcamper.
Quanto te ne vai, sii preparato a condividere con il mondo.

NIENTE SPETTATORI, SOLO PARTECIPANTI

Tutti i partecipanti devono mostrare una demo, preparare una presentazione/discussione, una sessione o aiutare in una. Altrimenti possono offrirsi come volontari e contribuire in qualche modo al supporto dell'evento.
Tutte le presentazioni devono avvenire il giorno del barcamp. Preparala in anticipo ma soprattutto arriva presto al mattino in modo da prendere uno spazio sul muro con il post-it col titolo della presentazione.
Le persone presenti all'evento sceglieranno quali demo o presentazioni vogliono ascoltare.
Chi presenta si impegna a pubblicare newl web le slide, le note, l'audio e/o il video della sua presentazione, in modo che anche chi non era presente ne possa beneficiare.

BARCAMP PER TUTTI

Contattaci se hai domande o vuoi partecipare. Facci sapere se stai organizzando un barcamp. Il barcamp riguarda il supporto reciproco almeno tanto quanto riguarda l'informazione.

web: http://barcamp.org/

email: barcamp@gmail.com

irc: freenode.net #barcamp

mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/barcamp
Le Regole del Bar Camp.

* Regola 1: Si parla del Bar Camp.
* Regola 2: Si blogga del Bar Camp.
* Regola 3: Se vuoi partecipare, devi scrivere il tuo argomento e il nome in uno spazio di presentazione sul muro.
* Regola 4: Le introduzioni riducile a solo di tre parole.
* Regola 5: In ogni istante, ci sono tante presentazioni simultanee quante ne permette la struttura (e almeno una per stanza).
* Regola 6: Nessuna presentazione proposta nei giorni precedenti al Bar Camp, nessun turista.
* Regola 7: Le presentazioni durano finche' devono durare o finche' non collidono con un intervallo temporale assegnato ad un'altra presentazione.
* Regola 8: Se questa e' la tua prima volta al Bar Camp, DEVI presentare. (Ok, non e' che DEVI proprio a tutti i costi pero' cerca di trovare qualcuno con cui presentare o almeno fai domande e partecipa in maniera attiva e interattiva).

by Tantek Çelik as parodied from The Rules of Fight Club.

Altri Modi di Mostrare il Tuo Supporto

* Invia lettere di ringraziamento e rifattorizza il wiki!
* Dona per coprire i costi: paypal at factorycity.net
* Per i partecipanti e gli organizzatori: Cosa ha funzionato? Cosa non ha funzionato? Cosa si puo' migliorare (e come)? Scrivi i dettagli in PostMortem e LostFound
* Organizza un BarCamp locale.
* Rispondi ad una domanda nella lista FrequentlyAskedQuestions .

I moved to GnuBand.org, follow me there

Paolo — 2006-12-05T23:21:47+01:00

This blog permanently moved to http://gnuband.org.
In case you are interested, you can subscribe to the new RSS feed that is conviniently located at http://gnuband.org/feed.

Summaryzing:
Follow the new blog at http://gnuband.org
Subscribe to the new RSS feed at http://gnuband.org/feed

Agent Reputation and Trust (ART) Testbed

Paolo — 2005-11-23T23:49:05+01:00

Wow, I received an email with another trust-related project.
The Agent Reputation and Trust (ART) Testbed initiative has been launched with the goal of establishing a testbed for agent reputation- and trust-related technologies. The ART Testbed is designed to serve in two roles:
* as a competition forum in which researchers can compare their technologies against objective metrics, and
* as an experimental tool, with flexible parameters, allowing researchers to perform customizable, easily-repeatable experiments.
You can play with the code released on Sourceforge and you can also enjoy the explanation movie!

Another workshop: Reinventing trust, collaboration and compliance in social systems

Paolo — 2005-11-23T23:06:43+01:00

Today is a day of interesting conferences about trust.
Reinventing trust, collaboration and compliance in social systems
A workshop exploring novel insights and solutions for social systems design
April - 2006 in conjunction with CHI 2006

More from del.icio.us/tag/trust

Paolo — 2005-11-23T18:39:52+01:00

- 22nd Chaos Communication Congress - Private Investigations - Breaking Down the Web of Trust
Even with tutorials on the WoT and good trust policies the concept of "trust" can still be hard to grasp. Here we'll look at trust metrics, ways of using current trust systems better, and some non-crypto applications of trust.
- Microformats Proposal for Reputation and Trust Metrics By Charles Iliya Krempeaux, B.Sc. Very interesting!!!
[From http://del.icio.us/tag/trust, subscribe to the rss feed (http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/trust)]

Lies, damn lies, and facts found on the Web

Paolo — 2005-11-23T18:06:33+01:00

"There are three types of lies - lies, damn lies, and facts found on the Web."
Dr. Tim Finin, paraphrasing the well known quotation by Benjamin Disraeli on Statistics

This quotation opens the "Workshop Motivation and Goal" of the Models of Trust for the Web (MTW'06), a workshop at the 15th International World Wide Web Conference (WWW2006), May 23-26, 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland.
The workshop seems incredibly interesting.
(via del.icio.us/tag/trust)

repressing the "Expression under Repression" workshop at WSIS

Paolo — 2005-11-18T18:09:42+01:00

I read from Ethan Zuckermann who is currently in Tunis for the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) some shocking news.
I�m here to help run a workshop titled �Expression Under Repression�, hosted by Hivos and organzied by the Global Voices team. When we arrived at the exhibition hall this morning, we were warned that our workshop could be cancelled. (...) Specifically, it was suggested by Tunisian authorities that �expression under repression has nothing to do with ICT for development.
and
Yesterday, we were warned that our session could be cancelled by the Tunisian authorities. We also discovered that the session wasn�t listed in the official program guide. Today, we came to the room where the session was to be held and there was a sign on the door stating that the workshop was cancelled. Friends who passed by the UNDP booth on the WSIS floor earlier today heard gossip that the security forces would appear at our session and anyone who attended would be arrested. And I got a few SMSs from people who�d asked about our session at the information booths and had been told there was no information on our session.
It is incredibly stupid for Tunisia to just show its repressive and censorship face when all the world is looking in their direction for the WSIS. And we all should really think about it more often, many countries control Internet and negate freedom of expression to their citizens.
Something you can do (but only a tiny contribution of what we should do) is to join the Electronic Frontier Foundation which, among millions of other worthy campaigns, published How to Blog Safely (see also GlobalVoices technical extension and the Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Just one more shocking news, RSF head Robert Menard was not allowed by Tunisian security officials to leave the plane after his arrival from Paris in Tunis.
Too often, leaving in a country where Internet is not (too much) filtered and there is (enough) freedom of expression I forgot about these important matters. If you care about these matters, do join EFF and follow Ethan's blog.

Apple offers for free MacOSX for $100 laptops, MIT says "No, thanks"

Paolo — 2005-11-16T20:42:39+01:00

You probably have heard of the MIT initiative One Laptop Per Child, a plan to develop a $100 laptop computer for distribution to millions of schoolchildren in developing countries.
Today I read from WallStreetJournal:
Steve Jobs, Apple Computer Inc.'s chief executive, offered to provide free copies of the company's operating system, OS X, for the machine, according to Seymour Papert, a professor emeritus at MIT who is one of the initiative's founders. "We declined because it's not open source," says Dr. Papert, noting the designers want an operating system that can be tinkered with.
Wow! Apple offers for free its fabolous operating system and the MIT has the strenght to refuse such an offer. Just think if this would have happened 5 years ago. MIT would probably have been so happy and thanking. But now GNU/Linux on the desktop is almost as usable as other operating systems, and it will be better in few years.
Of course MIT's refusal makes a lot, a lot of sense and I totally support their decision, even if they should speak fo Free Software and not Open Source. Anyway, embracing a proprietary operating system would not give to schoolchildren in developing countries the freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0), the freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). [Access to the source code is a precondition for this.], the freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2), the freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). [Access to the source code is a precondition for this]. These are the freedom that Free Software gives you.
The $100 laptop is just a mean for achieving a goal, that is reducing poverty (that can be defined as inability to improve your current conditions). In this sense, only the ability to "play with" and study how your tool works, the ability to be an active player in the game and not just a passive swallower of information can produce empowerment. So being able to play with the tool (i.e. access to its source code) is mandatory. And the before mentioned freedoms as well.

A rural computer for free, Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid and WSIS

Paolo — 2005-11-14T16:29:14+01:00

From rediff:
In an effort to spread information technology literacy and make the Internet more accessible to the masses, Hong Kong based Asiatotal.net has launched iT, a stripped-down version of a personal computer which will be distributed free of cost to lower income individuals and small businesses. iT is a compact, portable desk top computer equipped with Windows CE (operating system for hand-held devices) complete with everything necessary to connect to the Internet, and has home entertainment devices, a printer, a USB card reader for reading memory cards of digital cameras and many other USB peripherals.
It seems there is a new attention on how to squeeze business opportunities out of the poor, since they are so many. In fact how will this firm (the one giving away computers for free) make money? This device has a conventional keyboard with 14 additional keys, 10 of which will be sponsored by firms that want to tap rural markets, like a firm selling seeds or crop insurance. By pressing the relevant "hot key", farmers can directly access firms' websites where product information will guide them to making the right purchase.
I'm a bit skeptical about this approach (especially about the choice of Windows CE that means no real endogenous development can spark) but I don't have too much experience about the topic, even if these days I'm reading a lot about ICT4D, Information and Communication Technologies for Development (more about this later).
Related to the "economic opportunities at the Bottom of the Pyramid", I would also like to share that a new economical thinking seems on the rise patronized mainly by C.K. Prahalad. I keep finding his ideas, in particular the ideas presented in his book "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits".
This is a purely capitalistic approach to reach one of the millenium goals: halving extreme poverty by 2015. I can see why International Economic Agencies (WTO, World Bank, ...) and the rich countries who govern them like this approach: the new mantra might sound something like "no more need to donate percentages of the GDP to poor countries, just let keep our corporations trying to maximize their profits and everything will settle down by magic".
I have no idea if C.K. Prahalad's approach can really work, surely it is very realistic and not abstact, it argues about a possible way to eradicate poverty. It is not serious to criticize without proposing an alternative and I don't really have experience on macroeconomics. I'm more for approaches like global redistributions of richness but at the present moment they are politically totally unviable and unproposable.
Going back to the rural computer for free, I would like to underline that from 16 to 18 November 2005 there will be in Tunis the World Summit on Information Society. Surely one of the topic will be if and how ICTs will help in reaching the millenium goals and reduce global poverty. I'll try to keep an eye on it.

Users reviews are THE market

Paolo — 2005-11-14T14:56:04+01:00

Users reviews of products (like "I bought an Ipod and it was not working" or "I went yesterday to XYZ Restaurant and it was fabolous" or "i saw 'paradise now' and it was great") are the basic building blocks of Recommender Systems. And of course they are able to determine the success or failure of a product. Many people nowadays before buying a product check "what Internet is saying about this product?", usually the level of information awareness is precisely this one.
So, it should not be surprising that:
- There are authors on Amazon who write reviews of their own books under pseudonyms
at least one U.S. author was mistakenly outed on Amazon.com's Canadian website as having written a review of his own work. The real names of thousands of people who had posted anonymous customer reviews under pseudonyms like "a reader from St. Louis" were revealed online for several days - a mistake that finally was corrected after reviewers, some of them authors themselves, complained.
- a restaurant is suing zSurvey.com, a company that collects restaurant reviews from common consumers and posts them online and in a book, for damaging its reputation. (...) seeking a public apology and 50,000 yuan (US$6,173) each in compensation.They are also demanding the Website delete all of the negative comments it has posted online and stop publishing a guide book with negative comments".
- and mainly that Amazon Gets Patents on Consumer Reviews
Review your local dry cleaner, pay $10 million?
User reviews are a hot new content area, being used by Google (Quote, Chart), Yahoo (Quote, Chart) and MSN to sweeten their local search results. But as of Thursday, such consumer reviews could put search providers, as well as thousands of e-commerce sites, video rental or review sites and online booksellers, in the sights of Amazon.com's (Quote, Chart) lawyers.
The patents are simply absurd (you can read them in the article) and I'm not going to comment them and I'm very happy that at least for now Europe voted against Software Patents).
About reviews, I think that creators should be free to publish their opinions (in term of reviews in this case), they should own their reviews (hreview seems a great format for this task), reviews should be released under very liberal licences and everyone should be allowed to aggregate the reviews and do whatever she prefers with this information: offer a Recommender System service, use them for her own decisions, .... Reviews are one of the cornerstones of the Information society and they should be usable by anyone who has an idea.