Archive for category i-muse

We received a lot of curricula for the stage offer related to i-muse.

Curricula from anywhere in Italy and someone even from abroad.

I did about ten interviews on the phone and then I proceeded with four interviews in our office.

The general feeling is that the opportunity to write a thesis about an innovative project in the sector of cultural goods such as i-muse is considered like a sort of privilege. 🙂

Among the students who impressed me the most for their smartness and results achieved until now in their student career there was a french girl attending international management at the Università Cattolica in Piacenza.

Now Valérie, this is her name, moved to Como thanks to the support of the international students relations office of the Politecnico.

It has been hard finding a flat for her, since the real estate market in Como is definitely “sparkling” and finding a flat not too far from the office for just four months wasn’t easy at all.

Valérie will see the birth of i-muse together with us and will assist us launching it on the market.

First prize in the category Technology – Projects, first place in the Online Award, a 1000€ voucher spendable in products and services by Maggioli Spa, articles on the magazines by Maggioli Editore and some contacts with potential customers: this is the balance of the participation of i-muse in the IQU Award at the event EuroP.A. in Fiera di Rimini! 🙂

Prizes that motivate and stimulate the whole team for the simple reason we see a real appreciation for the work done until now.

A big thank you to who voted for i-muse in the Online Award. Each vote was important since the difference from the second place was pretty tight.

In the photo you can see me holding up the prizes just received from Marcello Balzani, chief editor of the Paesaggio Urbano magazine.

Now we have to focus even more on i-muse to come up to everyone’s expectations! 😉

Innovation and Urban Quality, this is the theme of one of the awards for excellences which will be given during the event EuroP.A. taking place in Fiera di Rimini at the end of march.

An event having its target on innovation and valorization of the results of projects related to the public administration.

In this context there’s the IQU Award, composed of prizes which will be assigned according to the two main categories of works already made and to be made, then divided for thematic areas: Technology, Mobility, City and Architecture.

We submitted i-muse in the Technology category, but also for the special prize “Designing for everyone“. We take this into a lot of consideration since the usability of i-muse is one of the strong points of the product.

There’s also the Online Award in which users visiting the dedicated area of the site can cast their preference after reading the presentation documents of the projects submitted.

You can vote for i-muse if you like the project as a whole or even for a more specific motivation, such as the logo, how it is pronounced, if you like a member of the team, etc… 😉

Cast you vote!

You should pronounce it like this, as Greta says it, a beautiful little blonde jewel! 🙂

She’s the two years old daughter of my cousin Alex, a cousin like a brother since we know each other since I was born.

I heard pronouncing i-muse in different ways since we announced the product together with the logo.

Someone at the Startup Accelerator of the Politecnico in Como, where we’re incubated, thought we played some kind of music 😯 since i-muse recalled the name of the famous pop band, the Muse, author of the song Starlight, one of my favorites.

i-muse is actually the short version of Interactive Museum, but there’s also the assonance with the verb “to amaze” and also it can recall the classic inspirer muse.

A small kiss to Greta then, our voice of truth. 😉

We’ll surely amaze you with i-muse, we’re almost there!

I mean the Christmas holidays… yes, because the email we sent before Christmas with the team’s best wishes granted us the 4° prize of the XMas Email Awards 2006 contest organized by Wireless.

Now that the prize has been delivered to our office, a 5 Megapixels FIAT digital camera with a sub case :o, I’d like to thank the organizers and the jury.

The case is really nice, we’re almost sorry of opening it and use the camera for the immersions into the Lake of Como some mad guy among us already proposed to test the underwater capabilities of the camera.

After all what could you expect from someone writing in the Christmas best wishes email:

“… the three mad guys of the i-muse team, the innovative PDA guide for museums and art exhibitions, so mad to believe their project will succeed simply because they believe in it, wish you:…“? 😉

You can see the graphics made by Luca and the other winners on the site of the contest.

This is the crazy leaflet Luca made to attract the attention on our stage offer, while this is the serious version with a detailed description of the offer and requirements.

It’s actually a search for an extraordinary person! 🙂

Joel Spolsky in his book Joel on Software, recommends searching for brilliant and results-producing people, qualities rarely coexisting in the same person.

Experience in this case isn’t relevant, we know we can’t pretend too much from a student, but it’s clear we’re going to invest in this person so that he or she could take an active role in the entrepreneurial project and watch i-muse grow together with us.

Considering the kind of job, a woman would have a great advantage, but this won’t be a discriminating factor.

A fine presence will, though, and this is not a joke!

Let’s say it: being fine-looking is pretty easy nowadays, it shows respect for yourself and for the people you have to relate to, while being smart is not at all. 😉

As marketing guru Seth Godin wrote: your references are your curriculum, so if you’d like to send it to us write them down before anything else and then write why you’d like to get involved in the project.

Just a few words will be ok, the essential making all the difference!