Built with Bits (BWB) is an international online experience where a group of participants learn how to design virtual environments through which to generate a positive impact addressing local issues regarding digital culture and education.
We work with a methodology called «living lab». This means that five institutions from different cities have already proposed five projects to develop in virtual spaces. Now, we are looking for people like you to collaborate in this projects.
Built with Bits fits perfect with you if you are...
An educator
If you are a teacher with a group of students, it is possible to take advantage of one of the projects and work on it during the next months.
Maybe you can find a new educational approach for that institution and start a collaboration long-term.
Techie
Maybe you are that kind of person who enjoys testing new tools, spending hours with brand new and not-so-new technologies.
This is an incredible opportunity to face a new challenge and help people less skilled on turning their ideas into a reality.
A professional
Perhaps your daily work is related to arts, design, or culture but feel like offering that experience into a project with a social aim.
This is especially valuable since a virtual space is not only about building, but about thinking first.
Curious
Of course! As this is a living lab, everybody around the world is welcome to participate.
It’s also totally perfect if you don’t know anything about virtual spaces yet but feel a connection with one of the projects Our work too is to help you define your role 😉
Multiple reasons to join Built with Bits (2025 edition)
International
Experience
- Free training and upskilling about diverse topics and tools.
- Connection with other international participants with alike interests.
- Technology as a means to generate a positive social impact.
- Artistic creation to showcase as output validated by the institutions.
- Certificate of participation provided by Europeana Foundation (European Commission).
Technical
Mentoring
You will learn the basics to use different virtual environment software and make your own spaces! This includes:
- XR introduction.
- Types and uses of virtual spaces.
- Licenses for virtual assets.
- Art direction on virtual spaces.
- Technological mediation & facilitation in virtual spaces.
- Use of Europeana repository in the platforms.
Live Learning Sessions
- Online citizen participation, collaboration, and literacy.
- Art through technology (creative, ethics).
- Critical thinking applied to technology.
- Digital footprint of virtual projects on the planet.
What we ask from you in return (it's fair, isn't it? ;))
- Be open to collaborate in a social, educational or cultural project that already exists. This project has already a leader, open to new contributions which build upon their existing work.
- Flexible availability to join the live sessions (explained in the next section). We ask for at least one person per team, so in case of bad compatibility, we can arrange the matches to balance this.
- Commitment to use open-license files or own files, and the extensive repository of Europeana.
- In the form, you can rank your favorite topics, and we will ensure that you will match with one of your top 2. You can help with up to 2 projects at once.
- You will join the official communication channels provided by the Built with Bits organization team:
Whatsapp,
for practical communication amongst teams.
Mailing,
for official communication
Notion,
for the wiki.
Google Drive,
for storage and delivery.
Google Meets,
for videocalls.
Roblox,
for virtual spaces.
Spatial,
for virtual spaces.
⚠️ Important: Don’t drop off during the course of the program. We know life can sometimes be uncertain so we can expect an estimation of invested time of around 12h, depending on the project, of course.
If things get hard, please, let us know in advance so we can find a substitute or rearrange the team’s configuration. After the sign-ups, we will ask for further re-confirmation of collaborators.
These are the key dates to mark in the calendar
10th February – 2nd March
Open call for collaborators. If we haven’t forgotten to upload this page, you are supposed to be living here.
3rd March – 16th March
We will communicate with you (maybe before if we see an instant match with one of the projects), to inform you about what is our final teams set-up and asking for your definitive confirmation. Next, provide access to the communication channels explained above.
17th March (16h CET)
Kick-off. Live session to introduce each other and know every detail about the edition.
17th March – 12th May
Program running. We will celebrate live sessions almost every week on Mondays at 16 – 18h CET. Actual dates: 24th March, 31st March, 7th April, 21st April, 28th April, 5th May, 12th May.
Teams can talk on their own during the week in between live sessions, and receive or asynchronous mentoring.
12th May – 31st May
Deadline for projects submission. They don’t need to be perfect, but need to be something. Don’t worry about the output now, trust us. 😉
Some day mid-June
Closure ceremony. Every project will have some minutes to expose the process and outcomes and share our learnings together.
Okay, but I need to see some examples to understand what a virtual space exactly is.
We call “virtual environment” any digital interface where a group of users can remotely collaborate to produce, design, edit, publish and/or communicate a creation made by themselves from scratch or from existing digitized assets.
A virtual environment can be created through the combination of multiple technologies and tools.
We know it can be difficult to imagine it at the beginning. For that reason we show you below the log with all the projects from the three previous editions:
Do you want to take a glance at all the former projects?
Download this poster of the three editions
Okay, this is the end of the page
After you submit your information, don’t feel rushed. We like to read every entry carefully in order to try to generate good teams in terms of skills, diversity, and affinity.
Still got questions? Reach us at info@builtwithbits.eu
Built with Bits is an original project of Europeana Foundation funded by the European Commission with the goal of empowering the cultural heritage sector in its digital transformation, along with the Macedonia team and the support of the AIDI community.
