Project INTEMO started last summer, but has been in discussion long before. For several years already we have had a vision to combine our interests and knowledge in data-driven software development utilizing smart algorithms, and the experience of the Collab research group on studying sentiments and emotions in the context of software development.
Originally it was planned that I (together with the family) would go to Bari for a 6-month long research visitation starting October 2020. In summer 2020 the visit was postponed to January 2021. And then post-poned again without any knowledge when or how the visit would actually happen. Come autumn 2021, I found myself in a situation with just enough funds left from the funding from Ulla Tuominen foundation and an opening in my calendar that also suited Collab group, and off I went in mid-December 2021, for a one-week visit.
The week in Bari was a true experience after nearly 2 years of being cooped up at the home office. We had the joy to share ideas and discuss on-going research, finding several common interests and cooking up plans to enable future collaboration and visitations in both directions. I also got a chance to get double the value out of a conference presentation (given in the virtually arranged IEEE Big Data mid-visitation to Bari) by giving the talk on our paper “Managing and Composing Teams in Data Science: An Empirical Study” at prof. Lanubile’s AI for SE class.
Due to reduced number of flights, there was luckily also time to walk around Bari for the whole of one sunny Saturday, as well as enjoy the excellent local food all through the week. Bari offers very good food, and an old town with personality, cathedrals and nonnas working on orecchiette pasta outdoors.
COVID note: the trip began December 12th, when omicron was just starting to spread. Only a few days after arriving in Italy, they changed their policies on required PCR tests upon arrival. Less than one week after returning to Finland, Finland also changed the requirements. Lucky stars were upon this trip to get there and back with minimal hassle and without infections.
Post by: Outi Sievi-Korte
