Susanna Sancassani

PLATFORM THINKING AND UNIVERSITY: TOWARD THE NETVERSITY

The concept of «netversity», seen as a new direction of evolution of university models so well summarized in the concept of «multiversity» (Sancassani 2021), is the basis of new models of production and reproduction of knowledge where the main point is the connection. Nothing like education determines the creation of value through the interaction between subjects, and the digital dimension is becoming more and more important in this interaction. A recent model for understanding the digitization processes of activities and new value making strategies is «platform thinking», an approach to the design of services that determine the creation of value through interaction (catalyzed and managed by a digital ecosystem), of various subjects often difficult to be traced back to the categories of demand, supply and more, often, labelable as a mix between the two, the so-called «prosumers» (producer and consumer at the same time). Platform thinking can therefore constitute an interesting methodological paradigm of reference for exploring the new university models that will emerge from the progressive obsolescence of traditional «multiversity» models towards the new idea of «netversity».

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KEYWORDS: Platform Thinking, Netversity, Learning, Systems, Digital Learning.

LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/103801

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

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.

LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/105068

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.

LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/105071

Marco Valbruzzi

THE CYBER ELECTIONS ERA: FROM E-VOTING TO ELECTORAL DIGITIZATION

The article aims to analyze the main characteristics of e-voting and its worldwide diffusion. After suggesting a new classification scheme for different e-voting systems, the author develops an original proposal for measuring the degree of digitization of the main stages of the electoral cycle (i.e., collecting/compiling, casting, counting) that allows a comparison, in terms of technological progress, between different states or between groups of countries aggregated by level of economic development or democratic quality. As is discussed in the second part of the article, it is not only democracies that are now investing in the field of e-enabled elections. In fact, in recent years even authoritarian regimes have introduced technological innovations in the electoral process with the aim of strengthening their power. Finally, in the last part of the article, survey data are analyzed to investigate Italians’ attitudes toward online voting, considered by many as a possible remedy to declining voter turnout.

KEYWORDS: E-Voting, Electoral Integrity, Electoral Digitization, I-Voting, Icts.

LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/107474

Giuseppe Borriello

«SPID VOTE»: FAST DEMOCRACY AND DIGITAL IDENTITY FOR CITIZENS IN ITALY

The paper focuses on the introduction of the electronic vote in Italy, proposing a developmental reading of the phenomenon as the result of a more general transformation of the political system. The article is divided into two parts. The first part defines the different modalities of electronic voting and proposes a historical reconstruction of the main experimentations realized in Italy, with particular attention to remote vote solutions linked to the diffusion of digital identity for citizens. This first step also highlights the importance that electronic voting systems are acquiring on the market with the introduction of two private platforms in this sector, such as Eligo and Skyvote. The spread of electronic voting in the decision-making process of public and private organizations shows the importance of the phenomenon and anticipates what could be future developments for political elections as well. The second part of the work introduces, instead, the concept of «fast democracy», linking the spread of e-voting systems to a more general process of transformation of representative democratic systems in sense of more direct and speedy participation of citizens. In conclusion, to clarify the concept, three empirical variables are identified that are studied for Italy.

KEYWORDS: E-Election, Digital Identity, Democracy, Participation, Citizens

LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/107476  

Domenico Giordano, Maria Cristina Antonucci

THE STRATEGY OF NORMALIZATION: GIORGIA MELONI’S ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN ON SOCIAL NETWORKS IN THE 2022 GENERAL ELECTION

Giorgia Meloni’s electoral campaign on social issues as the leader of FdI distinguished her from her competitors by a fundamental strategy: videological normalization she managed to achieve this normalization for a party positioned to the far right by the means of pragmatism in the topicalization of politics and the simplification of electoral issues. At the same time, a strategy of leaderization and personalization, based on a gender-specific identity (mother, daughter, sister) constituted the second leverage for Meloni’s campaign on social networks; a campaign which always aimed at proposing viral contents to the social network users

Alfonso Amendola, Martina Masullo

ELECTION AND SOCIAL NETWORK: THE EFFECT OF (ULTRA)POP POLITICS ON Z GENERATION

The election campaign for the 2022 Italian general elections was the most social ever. The determination to intercept the new voter – member of Z generation – made the political leaders of the main parties approach the social universe without actually fully knowing its operating rules. However, despite the fact that politicians have for months inhabited the same «places», used the same hashtags, and participated in the same challenges, the young and very young continue to perceive their language as distant from that typical of Z generation. This is confirmed by a survey conducted by Freeda on a sample of voters under-34: in 80% of cases, voters do not feel represented either by the content published through social media by political leaders or by the election programs proposed by parties. The decision on the part of Italian politics to be present on the main social media platforms constitutes the pursuit of a transformation that was already under way – and is, still today, in continuous evolution – towards the concept of «pop politics», whereby political discourse is no lonmger seen as being of a higher level, but rather uses the process of disintermediation as a solid basis from which to branch out into the dimension of intimate politics. The electoral race no longer develops within well-defined and precise temporal boundaries but becomes a «permanent campaign». Starting from these theoretical assumptions, the aim of this paper is to examine the main strategies introduced in the social sphere by Italian political leaders during the 2022 elections and intercept the effects they had on Z generation to understand how much they really affected the voting choices of post millennials. By reviewing the most popular trends and content published during the election campaign – with an eye always on televised political propaganda, which is the indispensable starting point for examining the new languages of contemporary politics – we will come to draw a broad and complete picture of the contemporary social-political universe

KEYWORDS: Pop-politics, Z Generation, Social Network, Berlusconism, TikTok

LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/107480

Sara Concetta Santoriello, Agostino Stavolo

MILLENNIALS DIGITAL MOBILIZATION. ELLY SCHLEIN’S POLITICAL COMMUNICATION FROM 2013 TO 2023

The rise of general secretary Elly Schlein in the Italian Democratic party (Pd) primary elections highlights the influence of generation y as politicians. Popularly known as millennials, they are born in the 1981-1995 cohort, grown up with technology and familiar with computers and mobile phones at the same time. Schlein’s account on social media and her shrewd skill in using these platforms to popularize her program and mobilizing voters exemplify this trend. A common ground with Western generation y can be detected in the political use of Instagram with live video and stories filters to inform, chat and engage the followers. This analysis examines the communication strategies employed on Facebook and Instagram during European (2014), regional (2020), national (2022) and primary (2023) elections, which contributed to enhance her character. By studying Elly Schlein’s leadership, we can identify notable changes in her main issues and highlight their trajectories in the agenda. The research proposes a quantitative analysis of the political language used during these periods, implementing topic modeling techniques to identify recurring themes in her communication style and visualize its evolution over time, examining the terms most closely associated with these topics.

KEYWORDS: Elly Schlein, Partito Democratico, Italian Left-Wing, Millennials, Social Media, Topic Modeling.

LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/113724