# 📝 My Learning Journey as a Local Community Trainer in the Ruractive Project

## 👩‍🏫 About Me
**Name:** Giulia Lapucci

**Short Bio**: *PhD Candidate at the University of Macerata and cultural worker.
I deal with Cultural Welfare, holistic evaluation, participatory processes, inland areas and cultural heritage.
Born and raised in a small mountain hamlet in the hinterland of Macerata.*

🪴**Background:** Born in rural central Italy, I am passionate about culture’s role in health, welfare, and community empowerment. With a master’s in cultural management, I have been pursuing a PhD in Global Studies at the University of Macerata since 2022, focusing on the impact of cultural institutions and creative industries on well-being in inner areas.

👩‍💻**Interests:** I am excited about this course because it aligns perfectly with my passion for the transformative power of culture and my commitment to knowledge transfer in both formal and non-formal education. My work—spanning cultural management, research, and digital storytelling—has reinforced my belief in culture’s ability to foster well-being, social inclusion, and community empowerment.
Through my PhD and hands-on experience with schools and universities, I have explored innovative ways to bridge research and practice, making knowledge accessible and impactful. This course offers an opportunity to deepen my understanding, refine my skills, and engage in meaningful exchanges with peers who share similar interests. I look forward to gaining new perspectives and contributing my expertise to a collaborative learning environment.

🎯**Goals**:* In these six weeks, I hope to strengthen my skills in facilitating knowledge transfer in both formal and non-formal education settings. I aim to explore practical digital tools for empowering local communities, ensuring that these initiatives are inclusive, impactful, and sustainable.
Additionally, I look forward to exchanging experiences with peers and learning from best practices. Ultimately, my goal is to apply these insights to my personal work and project.**

**Contact**: [e-mail]
**LinkedIN**: https://www.linkedin.com/in/g-lapucci/

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## 📆 Weekly Progress

📌 Website Access it here: https://lct.fablabbcn.org/
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## 📖 Week 1: Testing the Ground

### First Steps: Notes from the meeting with the Val di Fiastra Dynamo 21/02/2025
In a restricted meeting with the Dynamo referents, we were able to start reflecting on our objectives and target groups. The main insights were related to the components of the local task force (and their needs), and the challenges that emerged from both the **Call for Innovators** and the **second local workshop** held in January.

### **Challenges emerged during the meeting:**
#### 📲Open call for Innovators*
* **Challenge 19: Climate adaptation for the BF Festival**
*Prototyping*
**Target group**: students of the professional institute of Passo San Ginesio

* **Challenge 21: Smart selling of products**
*Digital literacy for app use*
**Target group**: elderly people, local producers and sellers

#### 🎈**Second Local Workshop**

* **First: local agricultural group**
#1 *Mapping of products and abandoned lands*
**Target group**: agronomists
#2 *Communication, content creation for social media, graphics and web design*
**Target group**: producers and sellers

* **Second: Anello della Valdifiastra Ring maintenance**

* **Third: Noticeboard search/offer (home, job, etc.)**
*Digital literacy for platform use*
**Target group**: elderly, youngsters

* **Fourth: Inclusive events + time bank and shared workshops**
** Creation of accessible content.*
* **Target group**: operators of centres dealing with disabilities or people with disabilities

**🗂 What I Learned:**
During this week I learnt how our training will be implemented, got to know the team and the other LCTs.
I was then able to reflect with my Dynamo on the challenges and target groups we would like to focus on.

This week I also learnt how to use **Hackmd**, which I had never used before, and brushed up on my knowledge of **Mir3o**, which I had used in the past but never with much awareness of the tool.

**💡 Reflection:**
This week has improved my knowledge of the two digital tools mentioned above, but it also put me in difficulty because we had to agree a meeting with the Dynamo in a short time and start thinking about the work of digital knowledge transfer that at this point in the life of the project is still a difficult step to do.

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### 📖 Week 2: SESSION 1 - Information and data literacy
**🗂 What I Learned:**
The training session provided valuable insights into leveraging technology for education, emphasizing hands-on learning, digital empowerment, and inclusion. Case studies highlighted how digital tools enhance engagement, foster equal opportunities, and support rural learners.
I've the chance to implement a shared google map, an activity I've done in the past but useful to refresh

**📸 Resources:**
💡 Eduloc360 to create geolocated information
(Community map)
💡 The possibility to provide an Inclusive Circuits for the Val di Fiastra Ring!

**🪴Reflection:**
The session focused heavily on best practices but lacked a deeper theoretical framework. While case studies were useful, a stronger focus on systemic challenges and broader concepts would have provided more context.

A more balanced approach, integrating theory with practice, could better equip participants to adapt solutions to diverse educational contexts.

**GOOD PROPOSITION FOR THE FUTURE**

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### 📖 Week 3: SESSION 2 - Digital technologies for rapid prototyping
**🗂 What I Learned:**
Useful tools to develop 2d and 3d prototype

**📸 Media & Resources:**
- 🖼️ Dear Data https://www.dear-data.com/theproject
- 🎥 Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqaVe1MCTlA

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### 📖 Week 4: SESSION 3 - Co-creation and Innovation
**🗂 What I Learned:**
Starfish tool!

Lesson by **Marion Real**

In this session, we explored the power of co-creation as a driver of innovation to address community challenges. We discusses how leveraging digital technologies can enhance collaboration and citizen engagement, ensuring adaptable and sustainable solutions.
We will also focus on developing an implementation strategy tailored to local communities to ensure that co-creation principles lead to tangible results.

I've learnt that co-creation is a very broad concepts, and there are many approaches.


We can use this process more at the early stage of innovation.

The aim of co-creation is not only to create new solutions but **sustainable processes around the solution use and implementation so that solutions **(new process, service, system) can be easily appropriated according to the state-of-the-art in which they perform.

Co-creation practice trains engaged stakeholders to share responsibility and gain know-how in addressing the challenges and iterating solutions on the go.

IDENTIFYING STAKEHOLDERS

HOW DO WE STAGE CO-CREATION?

HOW DO WE OPERATIONALISE CO-CREATION?

REMIND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MOMENTS
**

How to monitor and evaluate the level and quality of our co-creation process?
1) RELEVANCE OF THE DESIGN TOOLS YOU'VE BEEN DEVELOPED
2) STAKEHOLDERS ENGAGEMENT (along the process, how it evolved, what was the role of the facilitator)
3) DISSEMINATION AND COMMUNICATION (not only internally but also externally)

💡 Useful suggestion: to submit a survey (quick) to our participants before the first workshop to know their digital capital.

**💡 Reflection:**
**Stakeholder Engagement**: Identify and involve all relevant stakeholders to ensure diverse perspectives are represented.
**Digital Collaboration**: Utilize digital platforms to facilitate interaction, data sharing, and collaborative decision-making.
**Capacity Building**: Develop training programs to enhance stakeholders' skills in co-creation and innovation processes.
**Iterative Approach**: Implement solutions iteratively, allowing for continuous feedback and adaptation.
**Community Ownership**: Foster a sense of ownership among community members to ensure sustained engagement and impact.

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### 📖 Week 5: Information and Data Literacy & Artificial Intelligence (AI)
**🗂 What I Learned:**
During today’s session, we explored the fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its growing role in enhancing data literacy. The training provided participants with an overview of key AI concepts, tools, and platforms useful for AI prototyping, while also reflecting on practical applications, especially in rural contexts.

**📸 Media & Resources:**
- NotebookLM google
- Napkin from text to diagrams

**💡 Reflection:**
Organise all this knowledge shoud be (my) priority!

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## 📖 Week 6: Digital Content Creation. Digital Tech + Data Visualisation
**🗂 What I Learned:**
Session Focus:
In this session, we explored the potential of open data and data visualization to enhance communication and engagement in community projects. Through different presentations and a hands-on activity, participants will gain insights into how documentation and storytelling can make their initiatives more visible, accessible, and impactful.

**📸 Media & Resources:**

- 🎥 Videos:
- 📂 Files:

**💡 Reflection:**

### 📖 Week 7: Sustainable Innovation Digital Tools and Maker Practices (1st April)
**🗂 What I Learned:**
We explored how sustainable design and maker practices can empower rural communities, foster collaboration, and bridge the digital divide. Through presentations and discussions, we examined how regenerative design, hands-on innovation, and participatory approaches can drive community resilience and digital inclusion.

🌱 **Sustainable Design** – Strategies for resilience and regeneration.

🤝* *Community Empowerment** – Strengthening collaboration and local engagement.

💡 **Digital Inclusion** – Bridging the digital divide through participatory approaches.

🔧 **Maker Practices** – Hands-on learning for innovation and sustainability.

🌍 **Holistic Solutions** – Combining digital tools and sustainability for impact, to create inclusive and innovative local solutions.

**📸 Media & Resources:**
- the **Farmlab** (https://www.farmlab.at/)
- **SheMakes**:
https://shemakes.eu/topics/rethinking-wool
**and the Toolkit**:
https://shemakes.eu/topics/rethinking-wool

# 📖 Week 8: Zadar Training
**🗂 What I Learned:**

**💡 Reflection:**
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## 🌟 Final Thoughts
- **Most Valuable Lesson Learned:** [Summarize your biggest takeaway]
- **What Could Be Improved in the Course?** [Your feedback]
- **Future Plans:** [How will you apply this knowledge?]

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## 📚 Additional Resources
[Add any external links, books, or materials you found useful.]

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🔗 **Last Updated:** [Date]