Stopping in Milan to present at Open Culture conference

I'm adding a stop on my Europe itinerary to present a paper at the conference Open Culture: accessing and sharing knowledge in Milan, Italy from June 27-29th.  The paper, entitled "Community Plumbing in Action" includes a description of the BEAT program and its first project which consists of kick-starting Weblogs@UPEI, Weblogs@HollandCollege, and the emergent groups which extend from it, all of which are (slowly) being rebranded as the Campus Commons.  This additional stop will require me to cut short, by a couple of days, a brief tour of North-Western Europe with my brother but it's a great invitation, an interesting opportunity, and, hopefully, an entirely new experience.  That said, I'm not entirely sure what to expect.  I plan to be in Milan for just two nights and then will be flying to Heraklion to meet Courtenay in Crete as planned.

Comments

[Patrick Ledwell]

Sounds like an excellent mind sift.

And talk about your synchronicity ... Tara and I are going to be in Milan from June 24th to 27th. We'll be staying with a past guest of her family in P.E.I., a literature student who did her work on Lucy Maud Montgomery. Small worlds continue to spin in on each other.

If it doesn't mean changing itineraries too much, we should see if we can connect.

Our plans are really taking shape, striking that blend between anxiety-inducing openness and retentive-induced brochurelalia. The internet shrinks and expands the world, bringing you instant access to more details than your dendrites can farm.

Early this week, though, a conversation with a lovely lady in Florence brought us a week's reservation in this apartment. Astounding.

For the love of Brunelleschi, do you think that terrace could be any closer to Il Duomo? My sensibilities are already vaulting from Dark Ages to Renaissance ....

[Joshua]

A great oppourtunity; interested to hear how it goes.

Hey Patrick, would you mind translating those big words and obscure references for this lightly educated fisherman? You should write a book.

[Mark]

Thanks guys. Patrick I will be arriving in the afternoon of the 27th. That'd be really cool if we could hook up for dinner or something. Maybe I could steal some ideas from you about what to see and what to skip (in just a couple of days). That's a great in that you have there. It's always better with locals.

[Mark]

Patrick, it just dawned on me. If you can stay over another day....why don't you present with me. After all, it's your project as much as it is mine.

[Patrick]

Thanks for the invitation, man. What an incredible experience that would be-- I appreciate it.

My slow reply can be partly explained by the work on this end to get the trip together. The neverending teaching year didn't leave much time for trip details.

So you're presenting on the 28th at 10h00 ... hmmm. We may have to hit the road before then, seeing as how we're slated to arrive in Florence on the 30th, and want to have at least a night in Cinque Terre before that.

I'm really tempted. I'll keep you posted as our trip particulars come together. You're not arriving until the 27th?

[Mark]

That's right....the afternoon of Monday, June 27th.