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blending yeari ­ issue 1 ­ fa l l 2 0 1 1 gucci opening mixing the wisdom of the past with the excitement of the future museum bls blending literary supplement introducing smart wine digitally archiving history in-depth coverage of the 2011 conference

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blending is created and produced in collaboration with the students and faculty of palazzi florence association for international education

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letter by grace joh from the editor dear readers this semester s magazine theme and production have come together in a deeply auspicious not to mention coincidental moment in our publication s young history the digital renaissance theme in the feature section certainly generated a contagious excitement amongst our regular contributors for its innovative topic the theme presented at the yearly squola and suny stony brook conference in florence gives an in-depth overview of the rich program of speakers and panels at the three-day conference but that s not all the feature section is in fact a novelty in itself starting from fall 2011 the magazine theme will cease to occupy the entire issue and will be concentrated in the theme feature section that opens the magazine this substantial change reflects a complete remake ­ given the theme why not adopt the term renaissance ­ of blending magazine s structure and content the changes and resulting operations were planned and carried out with this semester s lifestyle magazine i class who analyzed every aspect of 1 blending fa l l 2 0 1 1 magazine production from proposing new sections and layouts to the design some key features that have been implemented are not in any particular order a palazzi staff and faculty section editors that will work more closely with our writers b a more significant photo section for photojournalism and photography arts c new layout d a renewed interest in the performing arts and last but certainly one of our top surprises to announce e the brandnew literary supplement featuring excellent short stories written by the creative writing class seeing how much blending has evolved in the span of a single semester makes the digital renaissance theme even more significant given the era that we live in and the continued possibility for positive growth whether you are a current student at the end of the very first semester abroad in florence or a regular reader with us from the start we have high hopes for an enhanced reading experience through the renewed revived and renaissance-d blending magazine happy reading l b

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blending semestrale semesterly magazine reg trib di firenze n° 5844 del 29 luglio 2011 anno 1 ­ numero 1 ­ autunno 2011 year 1 ­ issue 1 ­ fall 2011 direttore responsabile director matteo brogi communications@palazziflorence.com coordinamento editoriale managing editor grace joh grace.joh@palazziflorence.com in redazione masthead the following production team was coordinated by lifestyle magazine i instructor rocco poiago progetto grafico e impaginazione graphic design and layout maria vasquez carey wong megan looney photo editors elizabeth miklozek melanie hill redazione copy editor brianna bond rebecca valpy organizzazione e marketing organization and marketing allison miller laura aloise copertina cover by photo by allison miller concept by elizabeth miklozek editore publisher florence campus per ingorda editore via alfonso la marmora 39 50121 firenze redazione news office corso tintori 21 50121 firenze tel 055-0332745 stampa printer nuova grafica fiorentina il numero è stato chiuso in redazione nel mese di novembre 2011 this issue was completed in november 2011 copyright © 2011 by florence campus firenze all rights reserved 4 12 14 17 18 20 22 24 30 32

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digital renaissance culture visual arts performing arts fashion food wine photo story opinion bls 3 blending fa l l 2 0 1 1 blending literary supplement

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photo by alessandro schneider the digital renaissance the conference united academics and professionals from italy and the u.s who presented the following topics 4 blending fa l l 2 0 1 1

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starved for culture the potential role of food blogs in the study abroad experience a lawrence apicius this paper exploreed the idea that italian food blogs web sites and related social media can support students abroad in their search for a deeper cultural understanding not only do these blogs and web sites introduce and educate students about local specialties but they explain and often connect gastronomy to the larger concepts of culture and values in the host culture most significantly the presentation examined the potential of food blogs and related new media to act not only as information education and support but as motivators for a more active i.e non-virtual involvement with italian gastronomy and related interactions thereby satisfying students hunger on both a physical and cultural level photo by alessandro schneider italian poetry in the digital era programs and perspectives l fontanella stony brook university how does poetry interact within our telematic age how do its long pauses for reflection and absorption cope with the short and quick times of online reception what are poetry s perspectives what are the new expressive and interactive fields of a genre like this one which is traditionally considered a private and secret practice in our time some years ago cesare segre talked about the progressive crushing of literary creativity meaning for example that poetry risks suffocation or trivialization in this modern frantic and often superficial times a general disaffection towards poetry may be added to all this this is considered today as a difficult complex and not usable genre what are the most significant web sites promoting and spreading italian poetry what projects and programs do they present to poetry readers and writers how has poetry audience changed the lecture examined these questions and new problems and suggestd some new possible ways out for italian poetry and possible future openings to the digital field photo by alessandro schneider photo by alessandro schneider 5 blending fa l l 2 0 1 1 blending fa l l 2 0 1 1 ­ 5

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digitizing the grand dukes the medici archive project enters the second decade of the 21st century with digital images online l kaborycha ­ medici archive long a familiar player on florence s academic scene the medici archive project has been a training ground for young scholars many of whom have gone on to teaching positions both here and abroad the material these researchers have entered in its database documentary sources for the arts and humanities in the medici granducal archive 1537-1743 over the years has grown to a sizable collection of documents fully searchable and free of charge on the internet now thanks to generous funding from the andrew w mellon foundation the medici archive project is preparing to digitize the entire archival corpus presented on an entirely new software platform the new platform with its digitized images will enhance the participation of the scholarly community on an unprecedented scale bringing the virtual medici archives to the entire world this talk demonstrated how to use the medici archive project database for personal research and in the classroom as well as discussing opportunities for internship and community involvement photo by alessandro schneider children s cartoons a cannizzaro upter ­ università popolare di roma i love cartoons maybe it is because i studied architecture and i ve been drawing for a long time but to me animation is like paradise for directors it can draw a whole world and therefore create one from nothing it can create its characters without having to adapt them to the face and character of actors but where to start in creating a cartoon i started from what i had at my disposal i thought that maybe by using together several simple programs i could end up with some results i moved on like a child in the sense that i was completely new to any specific software the idea was to develop a simple kind of graphics based on essential geometric figures i could use to draw once the drawings were ready i then added a very simple program for editing to create some basic animation i insist on the word simple because the use of elementary softwares is the essential condition to allow children to express themselves through that fascinating tool which is animation the representation of knowledge in the realization of cultural digital products the case of xl-knowledge r lanfredini s ranfagni a bemporad università di firenze this lecture examined the organization of individual and collective cognitive processes for the creation of cultural products intended to improve the response to the cultural offer this study took into consideration the convergence of philosophical ontology and the consumer marketing theory the first one is seen as a systematic and structured description of what exists it is directed towards the resolution of questions of definition classification and communication the second one offers the instruments for an analysis of the consumer s market who are the addressees of the cultural offer the integration of these two disciplines aims at providing a clear and shared representation of knowledge from which intelligent and highly interactive digital products can be created this analysis was carried out by presenting the case of xl-knowledge a digital product used to increase the usability of the uffizi museum the digital globalization of local food a sustainable paradox z nowak the umbra institute in our hyper-modern world the celebration of local food and the digitalization most of life s spheres seem antithetical are they my presentation looked at the binomial local-global to see if the new gastronome can truly be local one fundamental question is if the use of the internet as a marketing tool for small often artisanal producers will lead to their success in a global market does this render the green of local food a shade lighter or do transport costs represent only a small overall part of a food product s energy footprint making global just as green rip intellectual property g fallani the internet protocol ip has given rise to both a cultural and a technological revolution that is changing the way people think and behave the web is a plural environment characterized by an abundance of resources where cooperation appears to override competition the new practices force the individual to a complementary role dealing with complex totalities that transcend it here the idea of intellectual property seems to be doomed to disappear giving space to a new humanism that thanks to technology is affirming its progression as a result of an actively public action 6 blending fa l l 2 0 1 1

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new media art studio drawing the figure with the mind of michelangelo software j g albano this presentation featured the new media software mind of michelangelo developed by j g albano in collaboration with harvestworks of new york the software was designed for studio artists to assist in developing innovative figure renderings as well as unique compositions the creation of the software was influenced by albano s development as an artist at the art students league of new york where he served as robert beverly hale s studio assistant and monitor as well as his study of renaissance drawings and michelangelo the principles of drawing the figure established in the florentine renaissance were applied to the new media program allowing modern artists to incorporate the software into their artwork or capture the life model in innovative posing the presentation demonstrated these features and presented the audience with an opportunity to explore the software s ability to create innovative images and to find more information about albano s book drawing the figure with the mind of michelangelo and the software eccentrics in tuscany literature food and wine new perspectives on tourism n ceramella università per stranieri di trento what do we mean by `cultural tourism besides traditional activities like visiting museums and cities of art the concept has expanded to entertainment e.g theater concerts sport events natural attractions mountain and sea activities but there are two relatively new entries literary and eno-gastronomic tourism though they represent two particular niches in the tourist world both of them are growing fast especially the latter the presentation showed how they can be combined together focusing my attention on tuscany by far the leading destination with italians and foreigners alike indeed visitors from all over the world have always been mesmerized by such a magic region offering them unique scenery and art add to that literature food and wine and you will have the most appealing `cocktail of all enjoy dialectics between tradition and innovation the new dantean philology of the digital era c di fonzo university of teramo and florence can the digitization of texts replace the skills of an editor who reviews collates and judges in order to answer this question the history of philology and in particular the history of dantean philology should be retraced in order to see how text editing has changed in time a brief profile of the history of textual criticism must be traced just for dante s philology new technologies to revive the past social networks to live the present the condition of art in italy in the relationbetween institutions and citizens f pira new technologies bring the past back to life social networks to live the present the lecture was inspired by zygmunt bauman s idea that in its liquid-modern form culture is shaped around the liberty of individual choices it s destined to serve the needs of this liberty this way when we visit a museum a smartphone can show and describe to us the works of art that we have in front of us and we may know all about our neighbor from their facebook page by communicating through the network instead of through the balcony next door italian public administration is making an effort however to meet its citizens on the web tracing the historical development of news discourse in electronic corpora n brownlees university of florence the paper discussed the recent research that has been carried out in the compilation of digitized corpora of early english periodical news the 17th and 18th century press make fascinating reading but only very recently have electronic resources become available to media historians and the general public at large through these resources we can see the linguistic and rhetorical strategies employed by early journalists as they wrote up the news of the day the presentation concluded with both a cultural and linguistic overview of 18th century american and british newspaper advertisements found in two online resources photo by alessandro schneider 7 blending fa l l 2 0 1 1

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cultural heritage valorization via collaborative platform and europeana n mitolo m paolucci m serena ­ university of florence eclap european collected library of artistic performance is a project to set up a best practice network and a service portal that will take advantage of advanced social network semantic solutions and delivery tools for the aggregation and distribution of rich multilingual performing arts content this will result in cultural enrichment and promotion of european culture and in improvements in learning and research in the field of performing arts eclap http www.eclap.eu is focused on setting up an infrastructure for integrating multi-lingual metadata and content coming from several european institutions and making content available on europeana the european digital library homo turisticus in the digital era s annecchiarico if the relation between tourism and digital communication evolves exponentially as the result of the versatility of information implied in this new communicative technology the treacherous risks of distorting the human contact and the respect towards nature cultures people and places grow implicitly while the term industry of tourism is now commonly used the new social subject of homo turisticus can be assimilated to it this lecture focused on the vocabulary that the new digital technologies dedicate to tourism and to cultural tourism in a strict sense to then open a debate on the possible solutions for minimizing the risk of distorting the human and social relationship among the various subjects involved photo by alessandro schneider interaction food design between food practices and culture s massari ­ università di firenze siena e urbana champaign university of illinois this paper explored the ambiguous term of food design what does food design mean and how much is the design process strongly connected with social and modernity changes should food design be included in culinary arts how can technologies and new socialization media influence or modify usual human activities ­ behaviors related to food experiences discipline definitions are changing and so are the expectations for people working in the many aspects of gastronomy the interconnections between food and society food and markets food and culture and certainly food and politics are starting to be perceived and very strongly felt around the world the digital archive of the neapolitan theater a lezza ­ n acanfora university of salerno this paper presented the web site teatro napoletano www.teatro.unisa.it a digital archive created in january 2011 and sponsored by the university of salerno which was directed and founded by antonia lezza the web site whose main purpose is to archive promote and spread the theatre culture of southern italy is a free internet space accessible to all that can submit bio-bibliographical information online operas press releases interviews images audiovisual material and information on new publications on theatre this paper also illustrated the web site future objectives a digital museum dedicated to pulcinella an archive of neapolitan songs for the theater and an inventory of the theater on italianamerican emigration trends advantages and challenges of digitalization in the fashion industry b kahn ­ e a hughes farmingdale and eahughes co inc in this presentation the speakers provided examples and case studies as to how the digital renaissance is transforming all facets of the fashion industry today ­ whether one speaks of the work of the fashion designer of the leadership management marketing and finance in the industry itself or the experience of the consumer/customer trends advantages and challenges were examined the speakers concluded by offering some lessons for the next generation of students who aspire to careers in the fashion industry 8 blending fa l l 2 0 1 1

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a virtual italian community italianness and transnational identities in the digital age s luconi university of padova since cultural anthropologists nina glick schiller linda basch and cristina blanc-szanton edited in 1992 their most influential toward a transnational perspective on migration race class ethnicity and nationalism reconsidered transnationalism has become a key analytical category in the study of the migrants experience and of their sense of identity broadly speaking this concept refers to a special condition expatriates live by being in two societies at the same time their native and their adoptive one therefore far form being ripped from their homeland migrants maintain a strong link with their countries of origin by creating a transcultural space outside the national boundaries however the notion of transnationalism has become so popular as a kind of globalization from below that has been gradually applied to other immigrant groups across time and space against such a backdrop this paper addressed the case of italians abroad at the turn of the 21st century it concluded that the digital age has facilitated the elaboration of a transnational identity among italians scattered outside their native country because by using e-mails skype italy-related web sites and other digital resources such contemporary migrants have been able to forge a global virtual community along the lines of their common national origin the role of web technologies in learning teaching and training professionally l2 italian d troncarelli ­ m la grassa centro fast ­ università per stranieri di siena web technologies have modified the way we learn languages by expanding the range of teaching resources by offering new learning opportunities and training opportunities for teachers and by allowing to respond effectively to the growing request for a flexible and delocated training coming from a society that is free from boundaries and globalized and in which people learn languages throughout their life this speech explained the experience gained in the last five years by the fast centre of the università di siena in the teaching of the italian language using the backup of technologies and in the training of instructors working in italy and abroad writing and university academic writing course for exchange foreign students e jafrancesco university of florence this lecture looked at the use of information and communication technologies in university education by analyzing the results of a cfer online academic writing course level b1-b2 council of europe 2001/2002 carried out at the linguistics centre of the university of florence using a moodle learning platform the course is mainly addressed to foreign university exchange students who take part to programs of international mobility especially european students cfr llp/erasmus the course is part of a body of actions by cla promoting the use of tics for teaching languages in order to improve the quality of the teaching and learning processes also employing the use of innovative didactic practices this lecture started by describing the profile of the audience of sl italian at university language centers the linguistic-communicative needs of this specific typology of students the lecture also focused on the online writing course that was created and tested and it underlines positive and negative aspects of the use of tic in teaching/learning languages and in particular in developing writing skills photo by alessandro schneider avatar s fashion ­ role-playing games and virtual fashion who judges by the cover s piccolo paci fua the look era judges the world by impressions appearances and a superficial look the digital world is often a master of illusions the web is full of countless web sites where you can interact with images even with one s own and play virtual games with an avatar these virtual simulacra are much inspired by traditional imagery and by the imagery influenced by manga cartoons the fantasy genre science fiction and many other icons of the postmodern world this year the qrtribe capsule collection s/s 2011 project allows people to share files videos and network profiles simply by framing a t-shirt with a cell phone this lecture used a questionnaire addressed to a group of players who both play live and online ­ to examine whether virtual identities set up in online and offline games correspond to any socio-cultural identity that is dissimilar to the one in the real world and whether the concept of privacy has a role in this process blending fa l l 2 0 1 1 ­ 9 9 blending fa l l 2 0 1 1

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is that why you decided that students should be involved this year absolutely why do you believe that it s important for students to be involved in a way i was handicapped when i graduated because i missed that portion being on campus which is extremely important the learning process should not take place exclusively in the classroom students must understand that ­ the university offers much more than that there are many lectures and conferences on campus but students see those things as something distant well in my course of modern italy i require them to go to an event on campus for extra credit i do not accept any other organization it has to be a cultural event on campus it could be a film screening a lecture a show ­ any cultural event students must understand that the experience of their four years in college is much more than just going to class and reading a book or an article we have an expression in italian sgobbone hunchback used to describe the student who just sits and reads the sgobbone does not have much respect in italian culture what do you think is the most important aspect for students who study abroad if they come over here and they make their main objective to do work in class and do the readings then they missed the purpose of being abroad the idea is that is just a small part of the experience when you go out many times your mindset is challenged you re here to learn how to react to the challenge ­ not with reject but with an analytical mind ask why do these people do this is that how you felt when you first went to america yes there were certain things i just could not understand that were so critical i questioned a lot of things one of the things that bothered me a lot was the fire escapes in the front of the buildings once i understood the problem of fire in america i understood why but i could not understand why it had to be in the front of the building which ruined the aesthetic of the building but you are challenged when you go out and you need to respond to that challenge would you say that your family influenced you in any way in choosing what you wanted to do my father and my mother certainly professor mignone accomplished still accomplishing by emily shan after introducing myself to professor mario b mignone thursday night at the digital renaissance conference aperitivo he offered a lot of advice when he heard that i was interested in pursuing a degree and career in teaching while he is a distinguished service professor he was very humble and easy to speak with on friday after the student panel i spoke with him again to learn more about his experiences at the age of 20 being the oldest of eight children he left his home country of italy with his mother to move to america without many options for jobs because of his lack of english and work experience he accepted a job working at a factory soon after his arrival on top of working 56 hours a week he was also going to school professor mignone had to overcome many obstacles to get to where he is today but he never shied away from the challenge after earning his ph.d he found a job at stony brook university in new york as an associate professor and has continued to grow with the university over the years professor mignone has accomplished various achievements including founding and directing the center for italian studies he has led thousands of students on trips abroad photo by alessandro schneider with the hope that they ll become involved and broaden their own horizons with the experience unfortunately for mignone as a student in college he wasn t able to participate in these outof the classroom experiences because of his professional commitments.from participating however he continues to advocate and encourage students to explore and challenge themselves as much as they can let s begin with the reason why you are here today i am here as you can see with this program at florence university of the arts three years ago we came to visit students but i thought that if we organized a conference between stony brook and fua the two institutions would put some energy together and offer the students here and also the faculties of the two institutions an opportunity to present their research and scholarly findings after all it s a forum ­ a forum to present new ideas i certainly believe in the use of conferences because it is a lively forum it doesn t have to be seen in a negative way the idea is to throw out ideas and to get reactions usually undergraduate students rarely participate in these kinds of forums 1 0 blending fa l l 2 0 1 1

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could not tell me what to do because they did not have much of an education but we are a family of eight children three became doctors one a dentist two became university professors and two became teachers my parents did not have an education but they made sure that their children received the highest level of education they did not tell me what field to go into but they set the environment what kind of environment did they set home for us provided a sense of security i know that when i was going home i was going back to an environment where i found nourishment security and stability and that is a lot there are certain things you cannot buy with money my mother especially was there the whole time she gave us support because we had to overcome a lot of obstacles my mother had a lot of faith so i think in her case that was her biggest strength is there anyone else who has given you that kind of support well let me tell you i was at the golden key national honor society as the keynote speaker i introduced myself and then told the students that i was able to achieve all those things but i was only able to do it because of my family especially my wife of 43 years especially during the first few years of our marriage i was focused on my profession but my wife tolerated me and focused on our children would you say that family is something important to you absolutely in my book when we talk about success in our lives professional success is important but i also include family i did what i did professionally but i also did not miss sight of what should be number one yes i like to take care of my students pay attention to them provide all assistance and guidance they need but also for my children professor mignone has certainly accomplished much throughout the years even so he continues to provide insight and guidance to his students and even his children pushing them to challenge themselves and to see things from in a different light by doing so he is constantly accomplishing his personal goal of encouraging others to experience different things in life l reporting from the conference student panel by lindsay la marca every year stony brook university and florence university of the arts host a conference that draws professors and scholars from all over the world this year the conference coordinators francesca bocci from florence university of the arts and antonio morena from stony brook university included a student panel in the conference program this was a great idea because scholars and other conference participants were able to get a taste of students thoughts on the conference topic this year s theme the digital renaissance in the humanities allowed students to reflect on how technology is shaping students experiences in the classroom participants in the student panel included emily shan junior from stony brook university eddy almonte senior from hunter college brendan musa senior from suny-cortland lindsay la marca senior from stony brook university and tara plastock senior from stony brook university because the panel consisted of students from different scholastic backgrounds we were able to collaborate effectively and offer unique opinions in order to create a well-rounded thoughtful presentation it was a good experience to see how education has changed throughout the years and how it differs from place to place said emily shan student panel participant other students expressed surprise at the speed of the digital revolution and how quickly it is affecting society i was surprised at how everyone in the conference was seriously engaged in the topic of digital humanities said eddy almonte another student panel photo by alessandro schneider participant it made me realize how this is a growing trend of our modern age the student panel presented an explanation of its interpretation of the digital renaissance as well as a brief summary about some of the universities who are energetic about the digital revolution era we also discussed how professors and scholars at florence university of the arts are interpreting the digital renaissance finally we compared the reaction to the digital renaissance in florence and new york city and the unique opportunity in florence to digitally preserve their arts dr william e arens dean of international academic programs at stony brook university shared his thoughts on the conference this conference is great because it brings me up to date on new technologies l 1 1 blending fa l l 2 0 1 1

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archiving medici history by ashley wheeler the reading room of the archivio di stato di firenze emanates a strong vibe of history and knowledge thanks to the cutting-edge research being conducted today through the medici archive project map currently a small group of researchers and developers are working to transcribe contextualize and examine more than four million letters from the medici granducal archive collection the information gained from this process will then be entered into a new digital interactive platform which is slated to open in 2012 these letters represent only a small portion of the centuries of history housed in the archive documents chosen to be placed on the database are indicative of aristocratic culture in tuscany from 1537 to 1743 they chronicle changes in the arts advancements in science and medicine and the political economic and military conditions of the time the medici family was an integral part of european history and was considered the nexus of an information network that stretched across europe and beyond said lisa kaborycha director of academic affairs for map as a result of the medici s influence and contributions the medici granducal correspondence commonly includes reference to major historical events such as the english reformation the thirty years war and the mobilization of the spanish armada countless letters from prominent figures such as queen elizabeth i michelangelo buonarroti the holy roman emperor charles v and galileo galilei are also housed in the archives these letters 1 2 blending fa l l 2 0 1 1 discuss a wide variety of topics including politics gift-giving art and medicine researchers enter material into the database according to strict criteria based on 41 topic categories kaborycha said some fascinating documents do not fit in any of these categories and we always find a way to get the juicy stuff into the database one such atypical tale began with a letter describing the execution of a prisoner the researcher in charge of deciphering this document noticed the letter s in-depth description of the the medici granducal correspondence commonly includes reference to major historical events such as the english reformation the thirty years war and the mobilization of the spanish armada person sentenced to death which emphasized the person s red hair and beard the researcher then turned the page of the manuscript only to find a clump of red hair from the prisoner himself sent by the letter s author to the medici physical proof of his description another story concerns caravaggio s favorite prostitute fillide melandroni who was the subject for the artist s famous painting portrait of a courtesan destroyed in wwii as stated in one of the letters melandroni was forcibly removed from rome at the request of pietro strozzi s father who was infuriated by his son s desire to marry her the research being done through map has also altered history that has been accepted for nearly half a millennium a prime example is the 1548 assassination of lorenzino de medici in venice at the hands of two hit men it has been widely accepted that cosimo i de medici hired the two men after reviewing hundreds of pieces of correspondence researcher stefano dall aglio finally pieced together the mystery and discovered the true culprit to be charles v of hapsburg the most powerful european man at the time the map is not only providing further insight into the past but is literally changing history ­ and this is merely the beginning these accounts offer one-of-kind insight into the early modern period and everyday life from the 16th to 18th centuries as of now only a tenth of the documents stored at the archivio di stato have been examined but the researchers at the archivio di stato are on the verge of revolutionizing the archival process with the introduction of its digital interactive platform this type of platform is the first of its kind and will allow researchers also known as distant fellows all around the world to decipher transcribe and contextualize archives based on the digital images of each document this will also permit researchers to interact through community forums based on social networking software kaborycha describes the current process scholars work in the reading room at the archives in isolation from one another and in total silence there are few opportunities for sharing discoveries discussing ramifications of their findings or soliciting advice on the reading of a difficult passage the digital interactive platform will transform all of this and streamline the process of entering documents using digital technology just as the medici family was a nexus of innovation and advancement for their times kaborycha hopes map will create a consortium to connect with people and databases across the world l

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digital interaction at the galileo museum by megan standbrook while the artifacts within the museo galileo are ancient and unchanging the museum is updating itself to become more accessible to its audience the exhibits which wind-up several different levels and are separated by style of scientific instruments lend themselves to being a little dense to the average viewer they are nonetheless beautiful as in the times of galileo there is not a distinct chasm between science and art the museum is using advances in technology very much echoing the artifacts it houses to make the methods of use of galileo s various instruments more widely understood near each section of the exhibit is a plasma television screen that offers clear animations of the ways that the various tools were used paired with explanations in both english and italian the animations go beyond the typical poster board paragraphs where before a telescope may have seemed simple and easily passed over now it unveils itself to the viewer as the incredible mechanism that it really is the screens also give the museum an interactive feel involving guests in the exhibits and integrating the entire experience of the visit the videos within the walls themselves are not the only way that museo galileo is making itself more accessible to its audiences their web site www.museogalileo it also boasts a newly added virtual museum viewers may find pictures of each floor of the museum including a panoramic scene with a guided description as well as downloadable videos and audio clips the online museum is another way for guest to experience and absorb the wonders within the walls of the institution the advances that museo galileo is making are duly fit for the nature of the exhibitions they house the interactive aspects not only make the displays more easily understood but also create a more lasting effect on the viewer the contributions galileo made to modern science still resonate with us today and now the beauty and complexity of his inventions may also resound within those who bear witness to it l by becca pilolla tech-savvy travel by casey gallagher imagine you re roaming the streets of a new country you are trying to read the street signs but nothing seems to make sense the pocket translation dictionary you thought would save your life is proving useless with new advancements in technology there is something that might make you feel like a local speaking the native language a smartphone app that is easy to use and that won t take up extra space in your luggage it will help you talk to the locals restaurant owners people working in the shops and anyone else you want to communicate with the feeling of being lost in a new country will disappear and you will feel more comfortable venturing out into this new place some of these apps are free while the cost of others can vary based on the app s producers the highest rated free app is msnbc s world nomads with 23 different languages this app provides basic phrases for travelers needs as well as a helpful pronunciation feature so you can hear how a native would say it for $1 you can purchase coolgorilla talking phrasebooks although this app only provides translations for eight languages it provides 10 times more phrases per language than world nomads when traveling a language app will help you communicate with foreigners all you have to do is speak into your phone and it will display your words translated onto your screen and offer an audio translation this app makes speaking to new people easier than it has ever been it allows you to break through the barrier of language differences and immerse yourself in the culture in a more authentic way this will also help those traveling for business it could help people communicate when trying to execute a business deal internationally this app opens a whole new world for those who are dealing with international affairs if you are planning on traveling for leisure business or school the language app is definitely a worthwhile investment if you have a smartphone not only will it help you speak and communicate with the locals but it will also help you learn how to speak the language so that maybe one day you won t need to use the tool l how florence has changed my daily routine getting around back home i walk through the city instead of taking the l chicago s elevated train service i prefer walking as opposed to driving and florence is very pedestrianfriendly walking everywhere means i can eat a lot of pasta pizza and gelato and drink wine without gaining a pound food every day i go to the fresh-food market instead of a grocery store i enjoy a cappuccino with a pastry while standing at the coffee shop s counter instead of sitting down to drink a large iced chai tea latte a personal florentine renaissance from starbucks i love my cappuccino-atthe-bar routine plus it s much easier to say vorrei un cappuccino as opposed to i ll have a venti iced chai tea latte fashion as a fashionista living in florence is a dream come true i get to dress in my favorite european-style outfits and i fit right in no one wears sweat pants on the streets unless they re in the middle of a run wearing heels while trying to navigate the cobblestone streets only makes me feel super chic and the weather is perfect for just about every outfit 1 3 blending fa l l 2 0 1 1

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