[Marta Pancaldi]

#12425

Hi everybody, so nice to see so many new faces! 😀

My name is Marta, I’m 24 and I’m originally from Reggio Emilia. I’ve done my Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at the University of Bolzano, with an exchange semester in the USA, then I’ve moved to England where I’ve obtained a MSc in Software Engineering, and lived and worked in Manchester since, precisely as a software dev at Booking.com Transport (formerly known as Rentalcars.com).

I took part in the SVST 2017 (Paolo will remember what an incredible trip that was for me, flying to San Francisco for the tour and then immediately leaving for Shanghai to attend another event – craziest 3 weeks of my life) and as you can imagine it was an incredible opportunity for me to get to know how big tech companies work and learn that everyone’s success lies in the road to it.

Sadly this year this pesky virus thing won’t allow you guys to experience the Silicon Valley in a physical way, but at least it’s a chance for me and hopefully many other “SVST veterans” to jump in and enjoy those moments one more time, as well as for you to know brilliant people and their amazing stories!

Feel free to get in touch and ask me anything 🙂

• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Marta Pancaldi.

[Marta Pancaldi]

#1600

Hello everybody!
With the permission of Paolo, I thought it would be a good idea to create a group on Facebook to discuss our amazing SV Tour.
During our meeting in Milan, I saw that many of you have already purchased a flight ticket and, for those who are still searching for flight options, this could be a good opportunity to find a “travel companion” 🙂
Also, since many of us are coming to San Francisco a few days earlier, this group may help us find a common accommodation, so that we can stay and explore the city together 🙂

The group is (obviously) called “Silicon Valley Study Tour 2017” and you’ll find it at this address: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1416433395090723/
Feel free to join it and somebody will grant you the access.

Meanwhile, good luck to everybody for the upcoming exam session! 😀

[Marta Pancaldi]

#1599

Hello everybody!
With the permission of Paolo, I thought it would be a good idea to create a group on Facebook to discuss our amazing SV Tour.
During our meeting in Milan, I saw that many of you have already purchased a flight ticket and, for those who are still searching for flight options, this could be a good opportunity to find a “travel companion” 🙂
Also, since many of us are coming to San Francisco a few days earlier, this group may help us find a common accommodation, so that we can stay and explore the city together 🙂

The group is (obviously) called “Silicon Valley Study Tour 2017” and you’ll find it at this address: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1416433395090723/
Feel free to join it and somebody will grant you the access.

Meanwhile, good luck to everybody for the upcoming exam session! 😀

[Marta Pancaldi]

#1598

Hello everybody!
With the permission of Paolo, I thought it would be a good idea to create a group on Facebook to discuss our amazing SV Tour.
During our meeting in Milan, I saw that many of you have already purchased a flight ticket and, for those who are still searching for flight options, this could be a good opportunity to find a “travel companion” 🙂
Also, since many of us are coming to San Francisco a few days earlier, this group may help us find a common accommodation, so that we can stay and explore the city together 🙂

The group is (obviously) called “Silicon Valley Study Tour 2017” and you’ll find it at this address: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1416433395090723/
Feel free to join it and somebody will grant you the access.

Meanwhile, good luck to everybody for the upcoming exam session! 😀

[Marta Pancaldi]

#1597

Hello everybody!
With the permission of Paolo, I thought it would be a good idea to create a group on Facebook to discuss our amazing SV Tour.
During our meeting in Milan, I saw that many of you have already purchased a flight ticket and, for those who are still searching for flight options, this could be a good opportunity to find a “travel companion” 🙂
Also, since many of us are coming to San Francisco a few days earlier, this group may help us find a common accommodation, so that we can stay and explore the city together 🙂

The group is (obviously) called “Silicon Valley Study Tour 2017” and you’ll find it at this address: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1416433395090723/
Feel free to join it and somebody will grant you the access.

Meanwhile, good luck to everybody for the upcoming exam session! 😀

[Marta Pancaldi]

#1596

Hello everybody!
With the permission of Paolo, I thought it would be a good idea to create a group on Facebook to discuss our amazing SV Tour.
During our meeting in Milan, I saw that many of you have already purchased a flight ticket and, for those who are still searching for flight options, this could be a good opportunity to find a “travel companion” 🙂
Also, since many of us are coming to San Francisco a few days earlier, this group may help us find a common accommodation, so that we can stay and explore the city together 🙂

The group is (obviously) called “Silicon Valley Study Tour 2017” and you’ll find it at this address: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1416433395090723/
Feel free to join it and somebody will grant you the access.

Meanwhile, good luck to everybody for the upcoming exam session! 😀

[Marta Pancaldi]

#1595

Hello everybody!
With the permission of Paolo, I thought it would be a good idea to create a group on Facebook to discuss our amazing SV Tour.
During our meeting in Milan, I saw that many of you have already purchased a flight ticket and, for those who are still searching for flight options, this could be a good opportunity to find a “travel companion” 🙂
Also, since many of us are coming to San Francisco a few days earlier, this group may help us find a common accommodation, so that we can stay and explore the city together 🙂

The group is (obviously) called “Silicon Valley Study Tour 2017” and you’ll find it at this address: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1416433395090723/
Feel free to join it and somebody will grant you the access.

Meanwhile, good luck to everybody for the upcoming exam session! 😀

[Marta Pancaldi]

#1594

Hello everybody!
With the permission of Paolo, I thought it would be a good idea to create a group on Facebook to discuss our amazing SV Tour.
During our meeting in Milan, I saw that many of you have already purchased a flight ticket and, for those who are still searching for flight options, this could be a good opportunity to find a “travel companion” 🙂
Also, since many of us are coming to San Francisco a few days earlier, this group may help us find a common accommodation, so that we can stay and explore the city together 🙂

The group is (obviously) called “Silicon Valley Study Tour 2017” and you’ll find it at this address: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1416433395090723/
Feel free to join it and somebody will grant you the access.

Meanwhile, good luck to everybody for the upcoming exam session! 😀

[Marta Pancaldi]

#1577

Dear Paolo, sorry for my late reply. I had just forgot to click “Going” on the Facebook event, but of course I’ll be in Milan on the 19th May – I bought the train tickets like three weeks ago 🙂

[Marta Pancaldi]

#1559

Thank you very much, Paolo!
I have a question about the ESTA: if I plan to stay in a hotel in San Francisco during the week before the Tour and, say, go back to S.F. during the following week (I booked the flights for the 16th August and 5th September), which address should I insert?
I know that this travel information is not mandatory for the ESTA, but since it is officially a holiday period I would go for the first location I will stay (which should be also the longest stay). What do you think?

[Marta Pancaldi]

#1499

Also, congratulations to all who have been selected! If you already have the passport, just a quick reminder that you also need to apply for the ESTA authorization: all the info are in the link that Paolo wrote a few posts above.

I was wondering if we could create a Facebook group including the participants from all universities: I think it would be easier to organize the travel, share techniques for sponsoring/crowdfunding and get to know each other before the tour. What do you think?:)

[Marta Pancaldi]

#1498

That’s the kind of news that improves your day! 🙂

As Florian reminded me, since we are travelling for less than 3 months, there’s no need for a VISA for Italian people, but the ESTA module is necessary in addition to the Passport. It can be filled in online (https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/) and it should take few days… I applied this morning and I already received the confirmation.

I’m looking forward to meeting in Milan and then, hopefully, the SV tour 🙂

[Marta Pancaldi]

#1497

Hello, people from Trento 🙂
My name is Marta and I study Computer Science at University of Bolzano, and like Florian I’m here to discuss with you, since it feels a bit lonely in Bolzano’s group…

@giovannitoso I understand your point, that is new laws are needed to regulate new technologies. For example, when I think that collection and analysis of big data may have had such a large impact on the recent US elections – to cite the article about Cambridge Analytica – I cannot help but feel scared too.
My largest concern, however, is not that computers become masters of our lives or human relationship are soon to be replaced by artificial ones. As @adrianofontanari wrote, some algorithms may do a job faster and in a more efficient and dependable way than a human, but still there are jobs that will not be replaced so soon by AI: artistic activities and research for example, and of course engineers who are developing and improving AI systems.
The general problem, although it is surely more complicated than this, will probably concern the ratio between the new jobs and the old ones: technology will replace jobs involving labour and assembly line and will open more positions as software engineers whose task is to improve AI itself. But of course, training all those workers, who lost their job because of AI, to fill higher level roles created by new technologies is not easy.

I would like to suggest an article (and check out the whole website in case you don’t know it… In a few words, Quora is a container of all answers to any questions you could possibly think of) that features different points of view about the impact of AI on the labour market: https://www.quora.com/Will-AI-kill-jobs

[Marta Pancaldi]

#1446

PPS: nevermind, I just noticed that Florian had the same idea 🙂 Let’s “invade” Trento’s group then…

[Marta Pancaldi]

#1442

Finally I got some time to comment the article, and also reply to Florian.

I had not yet discovered the magic world of the Internet 10 years ago, so I guess the change that Florian is referring to passed without me noticing, and when I ended up on the web adapting ads were already there. However, a few years back, when I signed up for Facebook, I was quite puzzled by the fact that my homepage showed me ads for products I had looked for on Amazon moments before. Today I’ve learnt to install an ad-blocker in my browser, but of course this doesn’t stop them from reaching me in other ways.

After reading the article and remaining both intrigued and scared, I tried out the prediction tool based on Facebook likes on Kosinski’s website, and after what I thought was just another silly personality test, I ended up even more frightened. Can a bunch of likes tell so much about my personality, detect my political orientation or guess my relationship status?
I was honestly impressed by the accuracy of this tool. I assume that many of us have “stalked” a friend of ours on Facebook, trying to deduce his or her tastes based on their likes, but would it be the same if done on a much larger scale, with a dataset of almost two billion people?
While there are many potential application for analysis of big data in order to improve people’s life (for example, I am thinking of more accurate dating websites, targeted advertising for a novel I would definitely enjoy according to the books already read…), there is also no doubt that such a powerful instrument would be exploited for political reasons. It may have already happened more than once, if the article is accurate about the extent that big data analysis had during the recent US elections or the Brexit referendum.

Perhaps the scariest aspect is that there is no such thing as going offline to stop being reached from ads or preventing companies like Cambridge Analytica from categorising people. Nobody is truly offline. If anyone succeeded in disconnecting totally and ultimately, then he would most certainly end up living in an igloo on the South Pole – would it be worth it, when interpersonal connection are the basis of today’s society?

In any case, I would not agree about blaming Kosinski for the outcomes of his research. In fact, I think it pointed out something that was already manifest, and if not Kosinski, sooner or later somebody else would have reported the potential of big data. And exploited of course, to drive the outcomes of the elections or maybe something we are not even aware of.
As Florian wrote, we have probably only scratched the surface.

PS: I was just wondering… if nobody else shows up on the UniBz group, would we be allowed to participate in other groups, for example Trento’s? It feels a bit lonely in here…

• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by Marta Pancaldi.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by Marta Pancaldi.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by Marta Pancaldi.

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