Politecnico di Bari – Technical University of Bari IT Italy
This is a public sector Higher Education institution, whose main areas of activity are teaching and research in the areas of Architecture, Civil Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Information technologies.
The University has 350 members of staff and 10000 students, and whose particular expertise and quality is general and specific sensibilities towards social problems and customer satisfaction.
Name: Mario Refice
1. Previous work
What work have you done (research, publications, courses, activities, etc) that is related to consumer citizenship, consumer education, citizenship education, environmental education and protection or issues of sustainable development?
Please provide a brief list.
Due to my previous background (degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics) and to my present position (University Professor of Computer Science) my publications mainly refer to scientific and technological issues, namely Software Engineering, Natural Language Processing, Speech Processing, Artificial Intelligence and Computer Aided Instruction.
At the private level it may be cited my service, in the past, to the local councils related to educational problems (both at school and district levels) as representative of the children parents. In such a role my main objective has been to help educators and school administrators in understanding users’ needs in order to better fulfill their social duties.
As a professor I usually dedicate a significant part of my lectures (which refer to technical contents, not to economical ones) to make a clear distinction between technical and economical issues in the application domain. This leads the students to intuitively understand the difference between costs and prices and, consequently, to catch the different roles of producers and consumers. Several well known examples (particularly significant in the software domain) are also given to show the scenarios of an ideal market and a real one, showing the different points of view and interests which play an important role in the present society.
a. What languages have these activities/materials been in?
Italian.
b. Are the materials or publications available? If so, where?
N.A.
c. Are there other issues than those related to the work you have done which you are particularly interested in exploring further?
As human being we are at the same time producers and consumers of information.
The tools available in our society, over all Internet, are changing even the meaning of intellectual property and reliability of the information freely accessible in the Web.
The first aspect is crucial in any research activity and, without a strict adherence to some effective rules (ethics seems at moment out to date), it may lead to a miserable value of the research itself in any field. The economical problems related to intellectual property are also evident.
As information consumers, students are particularly vulnerable since, due to the easiness and effectiveness of the research tools, they tend to consider any information there inserted as a “truth” and, moreover, to consider the Web as the only repository of information.
2. Expectations
What expectations do you have about the Consumer Citizenship Network?
I would like, first of all, to take advantage of such a huge European forum to hear and understand several, possibly different, point of view, knowing problems which I might even be not aware of. Secondly I expect to contribute in building up a common view, at European level, which I may use as a credible reference in my daily educational activities. Thirdly, it may be also the case that the work made in this Network be adopted by some international body and transformed in some recommendations and/or European rules.
3. Contributions
What do you think you and your institution can contribute to the Network?
As Educators in the technical field we (my colleagues and I) are fully aware of the ethical values which our students should understand: we are entitled to judge and grant to candidate engineers their professional status which enables them to formally sign projects and assume full responsibility, according to the Italian laws. Since this kind of requirement is not common in all the European countries I think that our specific experience may give another point of view which may be useful in building up a European approach to these kind of problems.
University of Bari IT Italy
This is a public sector Higher Education institution, whose main areas of activity are teaching and research in the areas of Architecture, Civil Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Information technologies. The University has 350 members of staff and 10000 students, and whose particular expertise and quality is general and specific sensibilities towards social problems and customer satisfaction.
Contact person: Michelina Savino
University of Florence IT Italy
This is a public sector Higher Education institution, whose main areas of activity are teaching and research in the areas of Psychology, Pedagogy.
The university department of economics has 45 members of staff and whose particular expertise and quality is demonstrated by running research projects on school evaluation.
Contact person: Maria Tinacci
CIR.IS - Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca- INDACO - Politecnico ci Milano IT Italy
This is a public sector Higher Education institution, whose main areas of activity are teaching and research in the areas of Education and Humanities.
The organisation has 400 members of staff, of whom 1 will be participating in the TNP, and whose particular expertise and quality is demonstrated by research into parenting, value and civic education.
Contact person: Ezio Manzini
Centro Interdisciplinare di Ricerca Educativa sul Pensiero - Tecnical Regional Research Center on European Consumption IT Italy
This is a research institution, whose main area of activity is research in the areas of Innovation for Sustainability and Product System Innovation.
The organisation has recently carried out hree European projects: SusHouse (Strategies towards the Sustainable Household, HICS (Highly Customaries Solutions), MEPSS (Methodology on Product Service System) among various activity.
Name: Marino Melissano
1. Previous work
a. Consumer education
- In Italy the Ctrrce has coordinated for years the Eurpean Competition of the Young Consumer, obtaining by this way the contract of the Euroean Commission.
- In 2000/2001 the center realized the didactic part of the “www.educonline.org project” (education for young students), in collaboration with the consumer association “Altroconsumo”.
- In 2003-2003-2004 the Ctrrce will be coordinating the on-line consumption education project “www.educonsumer.net”.
- Every year in the self-goverment province of Bolzano,the Ctrrce organizes courses and seminaries about consumption in each order and degree of scool.
- The Ctrrce is an in-service training agency (http://www.provincia.bz.it/cultura/educazionepermanente/vivere_aggiornarsi_2000a/c.t.r.r.c.e.htm).
- In 1996 the center pubblished a guide which suggested some scolastic programmes containing also the consumption education (this pubblication is available in our center)
- Every year the Ctrrce edits some monothematic guides (New discipline of consumer goods guarentees, Nutricional labelling, E- commerce, Alimentary education)
b. The publications are in italian and german
The thematic modules on the on-line education webside www.educonsumer.net
are available in italian, english, french and german
c. Future projects
- The center has partecipated as italian partner together with “Generation
Europe” at announcement of competition by European Commission DG Sanco, for realization and distribution of the European Diary (initiative which goes to
replace the European Competition of the Young Consumer).
- The center is working on creation of some masters in collaboration with
italian Universities (Master in consumtion law and economy –
University of Trento; Master in alimentary consumption tecnic and law
– University of Padova).
- Participation as consumerism partner to the VI research frame
programme with the University of Ferrara, in order to work on alimentary safeness, new products and control.
2. Expectations
The Ctrrce aimsto to exchange knowledge of best practice in matter of consumption education, in order to improve the quality of delivered sevices and of its diffusion.
3. Contribtutions
Contribution is rappresented by acquired experience in this years in matter of consumer protection, and especially in consumption education. Marino Melissano, president of Ctrrce, is involved and devote oneself on comsumers since the eighties and at the same time he’s also vice president of “Altroconsumo”.
ACU Assocation of Consumers and Users Non Profit NGO IT Italy
This is a national Association (non-profit), whose main areas of activity are research and training (also on-line) on consumer subjects.
The organisation has particularly focused on research and coordination of European projects on “Consumption and Nutritional Education”.
Name Pia Valota
1. Previous work
a. What work have you done (research, publications, courses, activities, etc) that is related to consumer citizenship, consumer education, citizenship education, environmental education and protection or issues of sustainable development?
Please provide a brief list
Please let me answer quoting from ACU statute, art. 3:
SOCIAL OBJECT: ACU is a not-profit association, exclusivly pursuing social solidarity scopes in the field of consumers’ and users’ civil rights defence, under prohibition to exert other activities. In particular, the association’s activity is turned to bring benefits to those consumers and users who are in a disdvantage situation because of their physical, psychical, economical, social and family condition. ACU bases its activity on the priciples of democracy, ethics, social solidarity, environmental defence, quality of life, conscious consumption, usury prevention, and condemns those activities that are inspired and/or practise violence, racism, social and ethnical discrimination, abuse of power and corruption. ACU’s purpose is to protect and represent (especially disadvantaged) consumers’and users’ civil rights that have been recognized and ratified by United Nations World Organization, by Consumers International, by the European Union, by the Italian State, by the Italian Regions, complying with formalities set in their regulatory disposals.
b. What languages have these activities/materials been in? Italian, French, English
c. Are the materials or publications available? If so, where?
Some may be downloaded from the ACU web-site www.acu.it , some from the AEC web-site www.consumer-aec.org but most are scattered in different places
d. Are there other issues than those related to the work you have done which you are particularly interested in exploring further?
2. Expectations
What expectations do you have about the Consumer Citizenship Network?
To come in contact with other organizations/institutions that look at the consumer citizenship issue from a different and possibly broader scientific perspective than that of consumer organizations.
3. Contributions
What do you think you and your institution can contribute to the Network?
A large experience on consumers and on the many kind of mechanisms that are in place - both in the institutions’ and the productive system’s side - in order to narrow the consumers’ awareness of the links their practice in the market has with the values they stand for as citizens
ANCC-COOP National Association Cooperatives Consumers IT Italy
This is a national civil society organisation working with teacher training in consumer education
Contact person: Emanuela Rinaldi
IRES Social and Economic Research Instutute IT Italy
L'Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociale a été créée en 1982 par l'ensemble des organisations représentatives françaises, avec le concours du gouvernement. La CFDT, la CFE-CGC, la CFTC, la CGT, la CGT-FO et l'UNSA Education le gèrent en commun depuis cette date. L'IRES est juridiquement constitué sous forme d'association. Son conseil d'administration est composé de neuf syndicalistes, neuf personnalités scientifiques et quatre représentants du Premier ministre. Son bureau regroupe six syndicalistes, un par organisation constitutive. La présidence est assumée à tour de rôle par le représentant de l'une d'entre elles. Le Directeur est un universitaire
Contact person: Elena Battaglini