La diffusione delle nuove tecnologie informatiche trasforma in modo dirompente la nostra vita individuale e collettiva. Cambia il campo della politica, dalle tecniche di costruzione del consenso alle modalità di gestione del policy making.
Call for Paper
(E)lezioni digitali
Non esistono più elezioni senza il digitale. Per quanto il ruolo delle nuove tecnologie dell’informazione e della comunicazione (Ict) possa essere più o meno decisivo, tutte le campagne elettorali osservate nell’ultimo decennio si sono dovute confrontare con le possibilità che gli strumenti digitali mettono a disposizione degli attori della politica e degli utenti della Rete.
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Digital elections/lessons
Elections without digital no longer exist. The role played by the new information and communication technologies (Ict) may be more, or less, decisive, but every election studied over the last decade has had to take account of the opportunities that digital tools offer to political actors and Web users alike.
Oltre ai focus indicati, per tutte le call for paper verranno prese in considerazione submission (saggi o web reviews) sui diversi temi della digital politics.
Amministrazione 5.0
1-2/2022
- Fortunato Musella, Digital regulation: come si cambia la Pubblica amministrazione
- Gianluca Sgueo, The paradox of «Low-Fi» digital public services
- Giorgia Nesti, Gli Innovation lab: nuovi spazi pubblici per l’innovazione digitale e la sperimentazione digitale
- Federica Cacciatore, Fabrizio Di Mascio, Alessandro Natalini, Telelavoro o smart working? Il caso delle autorità indipendenti ai tempi del Covid-19
- Carla Acocella, Alessandro Di Martino, Il rinnovamento delle competenze nell’amministrazione digitale
- Lucio Todisco, Paolo Canonico, Gianluigi Mangia, Andrea Tomo, Pasquale Sarnacchiaro, Rafforzare i processi decisionali nella Pubblica amministrazione: la percezione dei dipendenti pubblici del ruolo dei social media
- Armando Vittoria, Verso una burocrazia legale-digitale?
- Giuseppe Borriello, Gaia Fristachi, Stato (d’assedio) digitale e strategia italiana di cybersicurezza
- Sabrina Tranquilli, Il nuovo citoyen européen nell’epoca del Data governance act
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Abstract: Digital regulation: come si cambia la Pubblica amministrazione
Fortunato Musella
DIGITAL REGULATION: HOW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IS CHANGING
As new technologies have become a core element in public sector reforms in several Western countries, public investments have been mainly concentrated on Icts equipment. Yet, as with all other domains of the digital revolution, the change in hardware in public administration must be matched by new software, with the extensive redefinition of management practices, organizational structures, cultures, and work roles. This article will present the concept of digital regulation, by considering the main fields – and challenges – of its application, such as the internal restructuring of public administration, the design of public services, the establishment and defense of administrative boundaries.
KEYWORDS: Public Administration, Digital Innovation, Organization, Algorithms, Digital Regulation.
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Abstract: The paradox of «Low-Fi» digital public services
Gianluca Sgueo
THE PARADOX OF «LOW-FI» DIGITAL PUBLIC SERVICES
Electronics for general use – also known as «consumer tech» – are designed to provide instantgratification to their users, primarily via four design features: hyper-velocity (epitomised by shortened delivery time), over-simplicity (embodied by simplified user interfaces, accessible to anyone, regardless of their level of expertise), singularity (exemplified by digital services and products tailored to users’ needs and expectations) and (occasional) free-of-charge access to digital services. Consumer tech’s instant-gratification, however, comes at a cost: a lower average quality of its products and services when compared to their analogical – or professional – counterparts. As consumers, we may accept standardised low-fi technology, and adapt to the trade-off between rapid gratification and lower quality. This compromise, however, becomes unacceptable when we step into the shoes of citizens interacting with public administrations via online platforms or other digital means. Hence, the paradox of low-fi digital public services. Democratic decision-making is antithetical to consumer technology on four grounds. First and foremost, digital democratic spaces must necessarily stay inclusive. Consumer tech instead can be – and often is – exclusive. Second, public regulation is designed for durability, while consumer tech plans its obsolescence. Third, norms and rules are directed to large and undifferentiated communities (with rare exceptions of ad-hoc approaches). Fourth, digital public services differ from consumer tech in terms of reliability. Consumers may always opt out and adopt cheaper alternatives – citizens can’t. Higher complexity, extended duration and lower accessibility are passively accepted by many of us as regards the analogic, offline, public services. However, our acceptance quickly turns into frustration when we relate to, and engage with, digital public services. We expect our digital institutions to be easy to interact with, capable of responding both immediately and effectively to our demands, and possibly in a personalised fashion. In this article I propose to re-conceptualize the aesthetics of digitalised public services. I suggest ownplaying the idea that digital decision-making can only be effective when it delivers rapid and successful responses to the issues of the day, regardless of its complexity. I propose three actions to sustain highly performing digital government: first, elaborate a storytelling approach to digital government that shifts the focus from immediacy to complexity; second, frame digital public spaces with a focus on the interactions, not the outcomes; third, and finally, encourage civic engagement through creative approaches (through game-design elements, for instance).
KEYWORDS: Design, Digital, Government, Performance, Public Sector.
LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/105065
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Abstract: Gli Innovation lab: nuovi spazi pubblici per l’innovazione aperta e la sperimentazione digitale
Giorgia Nesti
INNOVATION LABS: NEW PUBLIC SPACES FOR OPEN INNOVATION AND DIGITAL EXPERIMENTATION
Since the mid-Nineties, the development of Icts has accompanied the modernization process of public administration. Almost all governments have adopted plans to apply them to the provision of public services also under the influence of the European Union. Among them the Italian government has heavily invested in digitalization policies aimed at modernizing its office and making the relationship with citizens more transparent. Now the offer of e government services is quite high, as reported also by the last Desi Index 2022 report. Unfortunately, the level of interaction between citizens and institutions through digital services is still low, mainly due to the level of citizens’ digital competences. To cope with this problem, in 2019 the Veneto Region financed a network of ten Innovation Labs distributed around the Region and aimed at promoting digital literacy, the reuse of open data, and user involvement in open innovation processes. Innovation labs (or Living labs) are physical spaces managed by local public administrations, often in collaboration with civil society organizations and experts. They organize diverse activities targeted at citizens, such as workshops, seminars, laboratories, hackathons, product testing and prototyping that are ideated and co-produced with citizens. Using a framework to assess different types of user involvement in open innovation, the paper aims at analyzing the impact of Innovation labs in promoting citizen engagement in digital contexts and to identify their main strengths and weaknesses as «agents» of digitalization
KEYWORDS: Living Lab, Open Innovation, Public Administration, Digitalization, User Involvement.
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Abstract: Telelavoro o smart working? Il caso delle autorità indipendenti ai tempi del Covid-19
Federica Cacciatore, Fabrizio Di Mascio, Alessandro Natalini
TELEWORKING OR SMART WORKING? INSIGHTS FROM ITALIAN REGULATORY AGENCIES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
This research examines the switch to teleworking due to social distancing measures during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy. It focuses on a sample of Italian regulatory agencies that are autonomous from central government. Findings highlight that autonomy matters, meaning that teleworking in regulatory agencies has followed patterns that differ from those in place in central government. Drawing on the historical institutionalist approach, the empirical analysis shows that teleworking was already practiced in these organizations before the Covid-19 emergency. It also reveals a picture of variation in the impact of the pandemic on patterns of teleworking across regulatory agencies due to the legacy of actions undertaken in the past
KEYWORDS: Pandemic, Smart Working, Public Employment, Digital Transformation, Remote Working.
LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/105067
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Abstract: Il rinnovamento delle competenze nell’amministrazione digitale
Carla Acocella, Alessandro Di Martino
UPDATING COMPETENCES IN DIGITAL ADMINISTRATION
The adequacy of the competencies held by the bureaucratic structure of public bodies has long been a focus of debate – although not only legal – has focused on, because it is a variable that directly affects administrative capacity. The tendency is to emphasize a legal-administrative culture in the training and professional competencies of public personnel. This can sometimes negatively affect the ability of public bodies to address the challenges raised by the transformation of PA in terms of technological and digital innovation. This essay tries to point out how the Italian national recovery and resilience plan, and specifically the underlying urgency to acquire and develop (new) competencies (of a digital nature) for public employees, can lead to the achievement of goals relating to a long-term debate on the role played by people in determining the face of the public administration, the effectiveness of public policies, and therefore to the promotion of a real digitalization and modernization of PA.
KEYWORDS: Digital Administration, Technical Entities, Pnrr, Technical Empowerment, Bureaucratic Transition.
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Abstract: Rafforzare i processi decisionali nella Pubblica amministrazione: la percezione dei dipendenti pubblici del ruolo dei social media
Lucio Todisco, Paolo Canonico, Gianluigi Mangia, Andrea Tomo, Pasquale Sarnacchiaro
STRENGTHENING DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: CIVIL SERVANTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
In recent decades, digital transformation processes have enabled unprecedented dissemination and access to information in society, and previously unimaginable levels of participation and interaction by citizens. This sudden process of change, facilitated by new technologies, has also caused significant transformations in public organizations, impacting both processes and the relationship with citizens. Public administrations are increasingly relying on different types of social media, such as microblogs, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and other social platforms to improve relations between the public sector and citizens, ensure new forms of content sharing, and increase the participation and collaboration of citizens themselves. This rapid organizational change has also impacted how public employees work and perceive their administrations and has sparked new interest in whether, and how, digital platforms improve internal processes and facilitate the work of managers and public employees. This paper explores the effectiveness of implementing and using digital platforms in the public sector, with a specific focus on the role that social media can play in improving public decisionmaking processes and the quality of public services. We used a structured questionnaire to ask Italian public employees about the potential of, and critical issues around, social media use in the public sector. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data. The paper has two main objectives. From a theoretical point of view, this paper enriches the literature on the use of new technologies in the public sector, expanding the discussion regarding organizational changes generated by the ongoing digital transformation and decision-making processes in public administration. Secondly, the paper highlights the key aspects that influence the effectiveness and usefulness of social media in decision-making and the impact they have on public services offered to citizens, and thus provides valuable reflections on the managerial levers to be used for practical implementation in the public context.
KEYWORDS: Public Sector, Digital Platforms, Decision-Making, Processes, Digital Transformation.
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Abstract: Verso una burocrazia legale-digitale?
Armando Vittoria
TOWARDS A LEGAL-DIGITAL BUREAUCRACY?
The digital transition suggests a paradigm shift for the public sector: new institutional arrangements as well as new cultural codes. The real challenge for the so-called platform bureaucracy is therefore a «connection» strategy with the social demand for public innovation, to enhance the potential for modernization that digital transition involves, but without yielding to the logic of populism. The public sector digital transition is undoubtedly achieving promising results for administrative processes in terms of efficiency and institutional rationality. Far beyond the triumphalism proposed by a certain neo-liberal rhetoric, a few critical aspects still persist, first with regard to the effect that the digital transition is having on one of the significant problems that besets the public sector: public corruption. Are we really overcoming, via digital transition, the paradigm of classical bureaucratic legitimacy? Is a new digital rationality for administration leading to a convergence, on both the supply and demand sides of administration, on a new digital rationality undermining bureaucratic particularism? In short, how is the digital transition impacting on public corruption? The paper seeks to answer these questions by addressing the area of administrative transparency – between publicity and social accountability – in the Italian public sector. After an assessment of the scholarship, it tries to outline a framework for the effects of the digital transition on corruption, using as a case-study the new forms of digital governance within the tax control agencies.
KEYWORDS: Corruption, Digitalization, Platform Bureaucracy, Italy, Digital Rationality.
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Abstract: Stato (d’assedio) digitale e strategia italiana di cybersicurezza
Giuseppe Borriello, Gaia Fristachi
DIGITAL (SIEGE) STATE AND ITALIAN CYBERSECURITY STRATEGY
The increasingly massive affirmation of digital technologies in the public sector introduces important potential for improving public action, although it involves a whole series of security issues. The digital space is the new battlefield in which States play the game for sovereignty. The current historical contingencies push Nations towards a new digital arms race. Over the last few years, Europe, to carve out a leading international role, has displayed increasing attention on the defense and digital security sector. Italy, for its part, is responding to EU input, and trying to take steps forward regarding cybersecurity. The Italian commitment is embodied in a new political awareness of the issue. This effort consists in a first major public investment and in the reorganization of the institutional structure. Cyberspace has never before been a policy priority like it is today, as demonstrated by the pandemic crisis and the outbreak of recent international conflicts, the importance of which is expected to increase even further in the near future.
KEYWORDS: Cybersecurity, Cyberwar, Sovereignty, European Scenario, Italy.
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Abstract: Il nuovo citoyen européen nell’epoca del Data governance act
Sabrina Tranquilli
Il nuovo citoyen européen nell’epoca del Data governance act
The article gives an initial reading of the recent European Regulation 2022/868 on European data governance (Data governance act), highlighting its potential for public administration. The Dga introduces, in fact, some provisions with a highly innovative impact and which introduce into the national legal system tools aimed at implementing the external (in particular between the European Commission and the member States) and internal (between national administrations) organizational relations concerning the so-called «re-use» of data held by public authorities. Moreover, the Regulation acknowledges the global drive urging the active (so-called «data activism») and conscious participation of citizens in the improvement of public services by making their own data available, voluntarily and free of charge, to public and private entities (an activity called «data altruism» by the Regulation itself). After an overview of the new regulation, the contribution deals with some issues that will have to be considered by the Italian legislator and the public administration when putting the new provisions into practice.
KEYWORDS: Personal Data, Public Administration, Reuse, Data Governance Act, Public Data
- Valentina Reda, Arizona dreamin’. L’innovazione digitale delle università
- Daniela Piana, Luca Verzelloni Epistemic communities meet communities of practices
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Abstract: Arizona dreamin’. L’innovazione digitale delle università
Valentina Reda
ARIZONA DREAMIN’. DIGITAL INNOVATION OF UNIVERSITIES
Higher education institutions are facing the challenge of redefining their educational mission in the new digitized environment, while competing with a plurality of private players who are exploiting their global penetration to erode the local university monopoly. This challenge directly concerns the awareness and responsiveness of university governance. The universities currently proposing new evolutionary models, which aim to balance sustainability and innovation, are still relatively few, and are ones that can count on more agile frameworks and more substantial resources, starting with the Anglo-American context, which has traced the main evolutionary stages of the hegemonic university model. For this reason, in this article we have chosen to start by illustrating the emblematic case – in terms of vision and international prominence – of Arizona State University, which has tried, over more than two decades, to achieve the transition from a multiversity model, campus-centered and with a weakly integrated governance, to the one imagined for the mega university, which is what characterizes the fifth wave of university development. With this, centralization of direction and strengthening of peripheral governance became functional in creating the conditions for the scalability of teaching and research activities. We then go on to review the more recent but no less disruptive developments at Coventry and Leeds universities in the Uk, selected on the basis of their standing and innovative potential. Our aim is to identify elements of convergence and key factors in their current development as useful references in the context of the ongoing process of university reform.
KEYWORDS: University, Governance, Innovation, Digitalization, Digital Learning.
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Abstract: Appunti per una teologia della Rete
Daniela Piana, Luca Verzelloni
EPISTEMIC COMMUNITIES MEET COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICES
In the age of deep and wide digital transformation disrupting both democratic accountabilities and the administration-citizens nexus, there is a need for a methodological approach that allows for the establishment of trust between all the platform actors, and that can adapt to each particular context. It is also a question of integrating the legal and democratic issues inherent in the sustainable deployment of territorial digital trusted third parties. The objective is to propose, evaluate and experiment with a process of creation and sustainable operation of a trusted third party, i.e., the definition of a scientifically validated process of governance and the use of the platform, and the integration of specific modules into its digital architecture. It is a method that acts as a permanent catalyst for trust-in-context, going beyond abstract modeling and keeping the necessary transversality to consider applications that go beyond them.
KEYWORDS: Augmented Governance, Trust, Community of Practice, Epistemic Community, Digital Democracy.
- Raffaella Fittipaldi, Intellettuali online
- Vinicio Brigante, La dematerializzazione dei servizi e degli spazi urbani: un modello perennemente incompiuto
- Gianluigi Spagnuolo, Il procedimento automatizzato: il caso dello Sportello unico per le attività produttive (Suap)
- Sara Concetta Santoriello, Il Meta-diritto dell’oversight board
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Abstract: Intellettuali online
Raffaella Fittipaldi
INTELLECTUALS ONLINE
The digital revolution poses a special focus on the figure of the intellectual in the contemporary age. The crisis of representative democracies is often combined with the crisis of (cultural) authority. In this line, the crisis of the public function of intellectuals represents a crucial point of reflection. This review article offers a critical reading of three volumes recently published – «Gli intellettuali» (by Sabino Cassese), «Abbiamo ancora bisogno degli intellettuali? La crisi dell’autorità culturale» (by Franco Brevini) and «Voci della democrazia. Il futuro del dibattito pubblico» (by Sara Bentivegna and Giovanni Boccia Artieri) – following the fil rouge of the recent social and political transformations. Moving from different perspectives of study, the three books address the «challenged» role of Intellectuals within both the democratic framework and the digital ecosystem. Public debate, political participation, government, and political disintermediation are, indeed, all issues closely related to that of cultural authority. Therefore, this contribution aims to offer a reflection on Intellectuals along with the current challenges in an era of social distrust and (mass) individualism.
KEYWORDS: Intellectual, Online, Digital Revolution, Mass Individualism, Personalisation.
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Abstract: THE DEMATERIALIZATION OF URBAN SERVICES AND SPACES: A PERENNIALLY UNFINISHED MODEL
Vinicio Brigante
THE DEMATERIALIZATION OF URBAN SERVICES AND SPACES: A PERENNIALLY UNFINISHED MODEL
The paper aims to explore the theoretical and applicative perspectives that digital technology can unveil in urban contexts, with reference to notions of smart city and sharing economy, which risk configuring pathological hypotheses of non-regulatable spontaneous activities, when, on the contrary, they could play an ancillary and infungible role with respect to the provision of services in a renewed context of cities.
KEYWORDS: Digitalization, Data Interoperability, Sharing Economy, Urban Rationalization
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Abstract: Il procedimento automatizzato: il caso dello Sportello unico per le attività produttive (Suap)
Gianluigi Spagnuolo
AUTOMATED ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS: THE CASE OF THE SINGLE OFFICE FOR PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES (SUAP)
The legislation on administrative simplification provides for an increasing use of computerization of administrative procedures. The digital transformation of the PA that is currently under way goes further, making it possible not only for certain actions to be automated, but also for entire proceedings to be automatic, such as the automated procedure for setting up a business provided for by the regulation of the Single office for productive activities (Suap). In this type of administrative process, request and proceeding tend to coincide, since the initial application, thanks to the guided computerized procedure, already contains all the elements of the proceeding, including the issue of an automatic receipt which counts as the license authorization, while the administrative proceeding – properly computerized and made interoperable – allows for checks to be carried out which are not only preventive or subsequent, but even contextual to the request. The contribution highlights, on the one hand, the relationship between automatic proceedings and administrative simplification, and, on the other, the current opposing trends in place with respect to the automation of administrative proceedings and procedures
KEYWORDS: Single Office for Productive Activities, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Automatic Proceeding, Administrative Simplification.
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Abstract: Il Meta-diritto dell’oversight board
Sara Concetta Santoriello
THE META-LAW ISSUED BY THE OVERSIGHT BOARD
Digital platforms experience new levels of complexity as their reach and interactions increase. Every day, thousands of pieces of content are classified as unsuitable for permanence on the web. The balance between forms of control and the actions of users has led Meta’s administration toward the implementation of the Oversight board (Mob), a guarantor of freedom of expression and online safety that can provide independent judgment on compliance with the Community standards. Based upon the guidance given by the regulations, content moderation employs two approaches: horizontal, with user reports; vertical, through automated detection driven by Artificial intelligence and the supervision of reviewers, who are employed by the company. While content moderator is just one of the temporary jobs in the gig economy, Ai guarantees efficient control, identifying content classifiable as spam, but it risks encroaching on the field of decision making in certain cases requiring protection such as freedom of expression. Therefore, the Oversight board has a decisive role in determining «what to remove, what to leave, and why», although it does not directly affect the algorithms and market business strategies. Beginning with decisions published from 2020 to 2022, this article profiles the risks citizens face in exercising their rights in relation to the code and the predictive ability of algorithms to implement qualitative discriminations.
KEYWORDS: Meta Oversight Board, Administration, Social Media, Digital Platforms, Algorithms, Meta Ai