Social Media Lab, Universita IULM, Milan, 27th November 2007

This week, it was my pleasure to be able to speak at Social Media Lab, (on Facebook), a one-day conference at the Universita IULM, in the South-west of Milan. Professor Francesco D'Orazio assembled the event to kick-start a Milanese social scene based around technology and in particular Web 2.0 and Social Networking, having seen the galvanising effect on innovation that regular social events in London has brought about. Francesco put together a formidable panel of speakers drawn from the UK and Italy, covering a wide range of topics centred around the opportunities that Web 2.0 provides, speaking before an audience of approximately sixty attendees drawn half from the University and half from the Milanese blog scene. Christian Alhert, of Minibar fame, who put Francesco in touch with me in the first place, talked about Web 2.0 business models. Francesco discussed the history of Social Networking. I spoke about the fundamental memes behind Web 2.0. Other speakers covered Moodle and Social Networking as it applies to Academia.

The line-up was as follows:

Craig Smith, O’Reilly Media
Cos’e’ il Web 2.0

Christian Ahlert, Open Business / Minibar UK
The More you Give, the More You Get: modelli di business dell’impresa 2.0

Francesco D’Orazio, IULM / MYRL / ZZUB
Breve storia dei social network: dai sei gradi di separazione ai quindici miliardi di Facebook

Gianandrea Giacoma, Psicologo, Ricercatore nell'Osservatorio PKM360, Dip. Univ. Cattolica "Elementi Teorici per la progettazione dei social network. Dinamiche psicologiche e sociali motore dei Social Network"
http://ibridazioni.com

Stefano Mizzella, Dottorando in Società dell'Informazione, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Bicocca
University 2.0: user-generated-content e social networking per l’innovazione nel contesto accademico http://bicromi.it

Mario Pireddu, Dipartimento di Progettazione Educativa e Didattica dell'Università di Roma Tre
Moodle e la dimensione sociale dell'apprendimento

Michele Finotto, Unilife
Social network per le universita’ italiane

Judging by the enthusiasm of the audience, the event was a thorough success. The audience were keen and asked plenty of questions, and another Social Media Lab is being planned for early next year. Christian also intends to take Minibar to Milan sometime in late Winter/early Spring.

In the evening Francesco took Christian, his colleague - also called Christian - and I to dinner with Antonio Bonanno and Giorgio Montersino of the Milanese Start-Up, Digital Natives. Digital Natives build bespoke CMS tools for Italian companies, using PHP. Giorgio and Antonio are both graduates of the University and they talk Social Networking from the time they meet up to the time they depart, (other than when they're helping me order food from an all-Italian menu). Beside his teaching gig, Francesco is building Myrl, a social network for the Metaverse, which is in super-stealth incredibly secret private beta mode, but which promises to be particularly interesting when it opens itself up to the public. Between them, they are putting their time, reputation and enthusiasm on the line in order to put their understanding of the theory of Web 2.0 into practice.

All in all, Social Media Labs was a lovely event. Francesco was an able and knowledgeable host and moderator. Of all the lessons to be learnt from the event, the main one is that Web 2.0 is alive and well in Milan, and there is a real passion to take these technologies out for a spin to see what they can do.