(Qui in Italiano)

Renewing the Foundation website in 2023 led us into contemplating what it means to have a website today, and not only to question what will still make sense (if it will make sense) five years from now, but also how that sense will be made.

This led to a departure from what could be seen as typical engineering approaches to web design. We have chosen three driving forces and designed the website accordingly. The first driving force can be seen as a contradiction: finding something new as opposed to feeling that you have missed something. The second is our wish to provide an invaluable Desk Space for our readers. In the third, other people’s words become the focus of the Cover Stories.

1. Finding Something New vs. Feeling Like You’ve Missed Something

We have been motivated by the wish to relieve a certain type of anxiety sometimes induced by web-use. Who amongst us, while navigating the web, has not experienced the recurring sensation of missing out, producing content that is below par, not feeling sufficiently up-to-date or abreast with the latest developments? These are feelings we would rather not contribute to. We aim to create a place where upon returning, visitors have the pleasure of finding something new, rather than feeling they have been overwhelmed by too much information. With this in mind, our audiovisual and textual material is organized into a Live-archive, with the Cover Stories (described below) offering a different experience from the usual browsing.

2.The Desk-space

The second driving force for the Foundation website turns the contents of the Live-archive into documents that can be commented on, rather than merely consumed (read, watched or listened to).

The concept is that of a personal study where each visitor can work and consult our materials. The Foundation website becomes a personalized Desk-space, information that is always at hand, a personal rack of documents that you can take on the train.
What differentiates a stack of papers on a desk or a file on a computer from a document on a website? The distinction lies in the reader’s ability to make annotations. It is now possible on this website to make notes within the articles themselves and save them in the memory of your computer (or smartphone). At present, the writing functions are a little basic, but as this option becomes widely used we will develop more sophisticated tools. Please note that none of your data will be stored (not even temporarily) and what you write will only remain in the temporary memory of your device. If you encounter difficulties using the note facility, please consult the FAQ or write to us.

3. The Cover Story, or In Other’s Words

The desire to have a website that reflects the inclusive and dialogical vision of the Bassetti Foundation led us to the third driving force, to seek forms of engagement dedicated to the entities, foundations, institutions or individuals with whom we interact. The aim is not to build a repository separate from our stakeholder community, but rather a place where they can find interests that are shared amongst each other and with the Foundation.

We offer space for the words of others. We imagine a rotating cycle of people and organizations with whom we have established significant and prolonged dialogues. For each story we highlight the most relevant materials from the Live-archive and provide a free, narrative and iconic space for our guest’s words. We also ask them to share their perspective on the Fondazione and the values they attach to their collaboration.

This happens in three forms:
The first – the most obvious and pervasive – dedicating the homepage images to the guest. We also present a selection of multimedia materials that describe the activities carried out together, in video, podcast and photograph form.
The second is the Cover Story, a web space that is independent from the rest of the organization of the website and can be used to unconventionally narrate an entire relationship. Cover Story can be accessed through a special tab on the homepage and we have a specific search field for previous issues.
The third form is a guest authored newsletter that reaches our entire mailing list simultaneously with the publication of the new Cover Story.