INDICE 1/2021
RIVISTA DI DIGITAL POLITICS
Numero 1- Politiche virali
Dopo un ventennio di egemonia incontrastata del virus digitale, quello biologico si è preso la rivincita. Rubandosi la scena mediatica e politica, e costringendoci a riflettere sui limiti del prometeo tecnologico. Al tempo stesso, la risposta alla pandemia sarebbe stata impossibile – per ampiezza e tempestività – senza il ricorso alle risorse della connettività planetaria. Dall’uso dell’informazione no-stop e low-cost alla marcia trionfale del biotech per la nuova generazione di vaccini, dallo smartworking che sta ridefinendo contesti urbani e strategie aziendali all’e-learning che sta rivoluzionando le metodologie e l’ampiezza della galassia educational: il virus biologico si è rivelato uno straordinario volano della digitalizzazione.
Il primo numero della Rivista di Digital politics riflette sull’intreccio tra informatizzazione e pandemia, analizzandone le implicazioni per gli indirizzi delle politiche pubbliche e per l’infrastruttura – culturale, economica, democratica – della nostra vita associata.
FOCUS
- – Mauro Calise, Virus contro Virus
- – Leonardo Morlino, Ripensare la rappresentanza: la manipolazione digitale
- – Daniela Piana, Augmented democracy. More open, less free?
- – Giliberto Capano, Rincorrere, rincorrere, rincorrere. Anti-Covid Italian Style
- – Susanna Sancassani, Dalla multiversity alla netversity
- – Fortunato Musella, Amministrazione 5.0
SAGGI
- – Maurizio Ferraris, Documanità. Istruzioni per l’uso
- – Federica Nunziata, Platform Leaders
- – Paolo Natale, Il terzo paradigma: lo studio del web
WEB REVIEWS
- – Valentina Reda, Web Reviews. Cosa, come, perché
- – Mauro Santaniello, Sunburst. La grande eclissi della cybersecutity Usa
- – Marco Valbruzzi, Il dilemma delle presidenziali Usa tra sicurezza e protesta
- – Luigi Rullo, Corti online
- Mauro Calise, Virus contro Virus
- Leonardo Morlino, Ripensare la rappresentanza: la manipolazione digitale
- Daniela Piana, Augmented democracy. More open, less free?
- Gilberto Capano, Rincorrere, rincorrere, rincorrere. Anti-Covid Italian Style
- Susanna Sancassani, Dalla Multiversity alla Netversity
- Fortunato Musella, Amministrazione 5.0
Abstract: Virus contro Virus
Mauro Calise
VIRUS CONTRO VIRUS
Over the last twenty years, viral has become a catchword, standing for everything which gained sudden and global diffusion on the web. Be it a post, a software, an influencer or an algorithm capable of sabotaging hundreds of thousands of devices, viral referred to the emerging power of digital connectivity. With the outburst of the Covid-19 pandemic, viral has gone back to its original biological meaning of a deadly threat to human life. The real virus seemed to take center stage again in social and political discourse. Yet, it has been thanks to the extraordinary resources of Ict technologies that citizens have been able to cope with the severe limitations imposed upon each household by governments all over the world. With circulation, working and studying blocked, most activities turned to a laptop or a smartphone as their main means for survival. With the web becoming the key agora for public opinion and political interaction, the world has become a battle of virus versus virus. A battle which will go on, for a long time to come.
KEYWORDS: Viral Policy-Making, Digital Administration, E-Democracy.
Abstract: Democrazia Virale
Ilvo Diamanti
DEMOCRAZIA VIRALE
KEYWORDS:
Abstract: Ripensare la rappresentanza La manipolazione digitale
Lenoardo Morlino
RETHINKING REPRESENTATION. THE DIGITAL MANIPULATION
This article summarizes some of the main empirical research results conducted at a comparative level and in Italy only. Although emphasizing some theoretical elements, it remains firmly anchored to the main empirical findings. Thus, the focus is on how representation has changed because of technological transformation and the pandemic push. More precisely, in the first paragraph, the main definitions will be suggested, building on traditional political science, such as influence, persuasion and manipulation. In the second paragraph, the focus will be on the central mecha- nisms that we suppose are at the core of political manipulation by partisan leaders. These derive from transformations in information technology and the spread of social networks, and include reinforcement, saturation, polarization, and oppositive reaction. In the third paragraph, there is a selection of the empirical findings on manipulating public opinion that seem most relevant from an Italian perspective. How empirically the four mechanisms work will be discussed by taking Twitter, Facebook, and the partisan leaders’ role complemented by the interaction between the press and the social networks as the empirical base. The brief conclusions will only take stock of what has been analyzed, with some first additional observations of both the empirical and research perspectives that reality makes us glimpse.
KEYWORDS: Public Opinion, Persuasion, Manipulation, Polarization, Saturation, Oppositive.
Abstract: Augmented democracy. More open, less free?
Daniela Piana
AUGMENTED DEMOCRACY. MORE OPEN, LESS FREE?
Constitutional democracies comprise high levels of freedoms’ guarantees to meet the needs of an open and fair society. This overarching principle has inspired countless domestic policies addressing the conditions of access to information, participation in the public sphere, and the effective scrutability of rulers and policy-makers. The promising tale of the digital transformation as a catalyzer of democratic changes leading to more openness and, thereby, more freedom, proved to be less genuinely reflected into the reality. This article raises several critical questions about the linearity – often praised in the international debate – between digital opportunities and the improvement of democracy.
KEYWORDS: Freedom, Digital Democracy, Digital Transformation, Rule of Law.
LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/101171
Abstract: Rincorrere, rincorrere, rincorrere. AntiCovid-19 Italian Style
Gilberto Capano
CHASING, CHASING, CHASING. ANTICOVID-19 ITALIAN STYLE
This paper analyses the characteristics of the Italian policy dynamics in managing the pandemic during the first year of the outbreak. By assuming that the Covid-19 crisis must be defined as a creeping crisis, the analytical focus sheds light on how the characteristics of the recurrent cycles of agenda setting, decision-making and implementation, and their intersections with the political, institutional, organizational, and digital capacities have shaped the Italian response to the pandemic. What emerges is that decision-makers have reiterated the same cognitive and behavioral schemes both in defining the problem and in taking the decisions, while implementa- tion has been deeply affected by weak institutional capacity, marginal consideration of digital tools, and conflictual inter-governmental relations. Thus, since the beginning, the Italian response policy has always been a step behind in relation to the pandemic, and has never shown any attempt at learning from the experience.
KEYWORDS: COVID-19, Policy Design, State Capacity, Digital Policy, Digital Tools, Crisis Management.
Abstract: Dalla multiversity alla netversity
Susanna Sancassani
FROM MULTIVERSITY TO NETVERSITY
The pandemic crisis highlights how contemporary universities face a changing context where some main force-lines can be recognized: the lowering of entry barriers for both users and new subjects on the supply side; the collapse of historical borders between sectors; the unbundling of the traditional value chain, creating gates for focused and fast-moving subjects. The growth and the interaction of these force-lines is making existing paradigms creak, creating the conditions for the emergence of new models for structuring both educational demand and the educational offer on the part of universities and new operators. In the digital world, students, who are rapidly transforming from a homogeneous group defined by age and motivation into lifelong learners with a wide range of objectives, demand that learning be aligned with an ever-changing job market, and seek a greater degree of control over their learning in terms of content, process and timing. The lowering of entry barriers resulting from the digitalization process is thus creating competition in contexts where emerging demand is not fully satisfied by traditional higher education. The new role that universities could play relies on their ability to govern long-term processes, anticipating issues of public interest that actors who do not also invest in research find difficult to intercept, and to construct alliances, and strategies of integration, between local and global digital learning players in lifelong learning projects. However, the sustainability of knowledge and its reproduction is even more strongly recognized as a public good and perhaps the rapid change determined by the pandemic crisis could open new perspectives.
KEYWORDS: Digital Learning, MOOCs, Unbundling, Knowledge Sustainability, University.
Abstract: Amministrazione 5.0
Fortunato Musella
ADMINISTRATION 5.0
The massive spread of new digital technologies has opened a new era, bringing about disruptive innovation for traditional collective actors. While the use of information technologies has been one of the most important instruments of the administrative reforms since the Nineties, it is only in the last few years that the astonishing development of Icts has stimulated the re-elaboration of the role and functioning of public administration at a pace and scale not witnessed before in history. After considering the main drivers for digitalization of the public sector, largely accelerated during the phase of the pandemic emergency, this article will devote particular attention to the spread of the use of algorithms in public action. On the one hand the extreme richness of digital data displays clear benefits in terms of public efficiency. On the other hand, the growing digitiza- tion of governmental operations poses a series of vital challenges to the democratic State and its constitutional principles. A problem which is transversal to the different regulatory models is the question of who governs the algorithms, and what is the level of possible political direction of the new processes of automation.
KEYWORDS: Public Administration, State, Digital Innovation, Algorithms, Covid-19.
- Maurizio Ferraris, Documanità. Istruzioni per l’uso
- Federica Nunziata, Il platform leader
- Paolo Natale, Il terzo paradigma: lo studio del web
Abstract: Il platform leader
Federica Nunziata
THE PLATFORM LEADER
The digital disruption is challenging the personal party, a model based on the prominent role of the party leader. For one, platform politics becomes the core of the so-called digital party, a new organizational structure independent from – if not antagonistic to – personal leaderships. However, the rapid expansion of direct relationships between leaders and their followers through social media platforms is further enhancing the leader’s prominence versus the party organiza- tion. This paper presents a matrix-based typology of the digitalization of political parties and defines a personal and charismatic leadership emerging in the web environment. Relying on an improved organizational structure, in terms of professionalization, tools and resources, the platform-leader leverages digital platforms – even in a controversial and unconventional way – to spread his or her messages and, in the end, galvanize grassroots support. This is the case for Matteo Salvini’s use of social media to set the political agenda, as well as for Jair Bolsonaro and Narendra Modi’s use of instant messaging technologies to promote disinformation. It is, however, the rise of Donald Trump that takes platform leadership to a higher level, while at the same time compromising its survival.
KEYWORDS: Digital Leadership, Digital Platforms, Political Party, Digital Party, Donald Trump.
Abstract: Documanità. Istruzioni per l’uso
Maurizio Ferraris
DOCHUMANITY. OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS
The time has come to stop thinking of the future as a simple projection of the past. The techno- logical revolution has brought us into a new ecosystem. Let’s leave the homo faber in the tool shed and ask ourselves again – who are we? where do we come from? where are we going? The web is the largest repository that humanity has hitherto developed, and this explains the importance of the changes it has produced. Suffice it to say that the number of connected devices is 23 billion: more than three times the world’s population. This digital connection produces every day a greater number of socially relevant objects than all the factories in the world: a huge amount of acts, contacts, transactions and traces encoded in 2.5 quintillion bytes. The number of signs available for manipulation and combination becomes immeasurably higher than in any previous culture – and this changes everything. That is why understanding the true nature of the web is the first step towards understanding the ongoing revolution, which generates a new world, a new capital, a new humanity. Indeed, a dochumanity.
KEYWORDS: Webfare, Infosphere, Documentality, Biopolitics, Technology.
Abstract: Il terzo paradigma Lo studio del web
Paolo Natale
THE THIRD PARADIGM. THE STUDY OF THE WEB
If the digital revolution has produced an epochal change in society in general, the same thing has happened, albeit more slowly, also in socio-political research and in the tools that the researcher can use in his or her analysis. This paper aims to clarify, first of all, the type of data we find on the Internet (digitized data, virtual data and digital data), distinguishing in particular between «provoked-data» and «user-generated data». The latter are the ones that present absolutely new characteristics in the history of research, being generated solely by the will of users to leave traces of themselves on social media. We cannot approach these data through one of the two traditional paradigms of quantitative and qualitative research (respectively, positivism and inter- pretativism), which both provided for a strong, albeit different, interaction between scholar and social actors being studied. In fact, digital data, Big Data, have a genesis completely free of intru- siveness, they are not ‘solicited’ in any way by the researcher, and the approach to their study therefore responds to a sort of «third way», a different and original paradigm, whose distinctive features are presented and discussed here, together with the most relevant tools of web analysis.
KEYWORDS: Web Analysis, Methodological Paradigms, Digital Data, Big Data, Virtual Data.
- Valentina Reda, Web Reviews. Cosa, come, perché
- Mauro Santaniello, Sunburst. La grande eclissi della cybersecutity Usa
- Marco Valbruzzi, Il dilemma delle presidenziali Usa 2020
- Luigi Rullo, Corti online
Abstract: Web Reviews. What, How and Why
Valentina Reda
WEB REVIEWS. WHAT, HOW, AND WHY
The pace of political change is advancing to the rhythm and space of digital innovation, with direct repercussions for the methods and sources we use to construct a Digital Politics epistemology. A newspaper article has the timing of a digital publication, and it’s designed to be integrated with comments and referenced in other posts, which produces reactions and behaviors which are then analyzed by algorithms, which leads to targeted advertising, which in turn influences innovation in policy and business. Studying this kind of phenomena, at the speed required to make sense of the political implications, is becoming more and more difficult, and relies on the agility of the analyst as they move between databanks and publications. It is for this reason that Web Reviews focuses on digital sources , those that deal with digital politics, i.e. political phenomena that are fueled by digital data. The aim of this article, therefore, is to present the column, whose title it shares, and to provide an overview of the platform ecosystems – and sources – that the analyses – Insights and Review Articles – that are included in this section of the journal.
KEYWORDS: Web Reviews, Digital Politics, Open Access, Catalogues, Data banks.
Abstract: Sunburst. La grande eclissi della cybersecurity Usa
Mauro Santaniello
SUNBURST. LA GRANDE ECLISSI DELLA CYBERSECURITY USA
In mid-December 2020, a private cybersecurity firm discovered an unprecedented cyber-hack that had compromised thousands of digital networks all over the world, including those in use by many US government agencies and departments.
The article advances an analysis of this case in order to shed light on some crucial issues related to contemporary cybersecurity policies. More in detail, the case study focuses on two key political aspects that have proved to be controversial and fraught with consequences. The first one concerns political mechanisms such as blaming, attribution and retaliation, and their relevance for international norms regulating interstate conflicts. The second aspect relates to the recent emergence of a new cybersecurity paradigm, which is challenging both the economic logics upon which the global diffusion of digital networks was based in the 1990s and 2000s, and the technical logics that in the two previous decades (1970-80) had informed the design principles and the governance system of the early Internet.
KEYWORDS: Cybersecurity, Cyber Warfare, Internet Governance, Sunburst, Solorigate.
Abstract: The dilemma of the 2020 US presidential elections
Marco Valbruzzi
THE DILEMMA OF THE 2020 US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
In recent years, there have been major concerns about the role of technology in US elections and, more in general, about the integrity and fairness of the whole electoral process. The question of whether or not the introduction of information and communication technologies (Icts) into critical aspects of election administration would improve electoral integrity and democratic quality has been widely debated, both inside and outside the US, especially after the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic at a global level.
The article is divided into two parts. The first examines the diffusion of the Icts in the 2020 US presidential elections, with special attention to their impact on three stages of the electoral process: voter registration, voting process and election result processing. The second part of the article deals with the dilemma presented by the 2020 elections – that is, how the most secure and fair elections in the history of the United States, with a record-high level of turnout, turned out to be the most litigious since the end of WWII. To solve this dilemma, the role of (rising) polarization and (negative) partisanship is considered and empirically analyzed.
KEYWORDS: Digital Voting, US Presidential Election, Electoral Integrity, Polarization, Election, Administration.
Abstract: Online Courts
Luigi Rullo
ONLINE COURTS
The emergence of new forms of digital technologies in the justice systems has precipitated increasing scholarly interest opening up to a stimulating field of analysis. This review article synthesizes four recent books on justice and digital technologies to evaluate the specific research questions, substantive domains, theoretical approaches, methodologies and thereby provides a better understanding of the topic. Then, it underlines the nature of the digital revolution in the justice sector by outlining successful experiences and specific trends that will characterize the near future. Besides, it observes how the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the need to invest in digital technologies and how they can enhance democratic procedure through improved access to justice.
KEYWORDS: Digital Justice, Legal Services, Courtroom Technology, Judicial System, Justice App.
Leader e/o Partiti
2/2021
INDICE 1/2021
RIVISTA DI DIGITAL POLITICS
Numero 1- Politiche virali
Dopo un ventennio di egemonia incontrastata del virus digitale, quello biologico si è preso la rivincita. Rubandosi la scena mediatica e politica, e costringendoci a riflettere sui limiti del prometeo tecnologico. Al tempo stesso, la risposta alla pandemia sarebbe stata impossibile – per ampiezza e tempestività – senza il ricorso alle risorse della connettività planetaria. Dall’uso dell’informazione no-stop e low-cost alla marcia trionfale del biotech per la nuova generazione di vaccini, dallo smartworking che sta ridefinendo contesti urbani e strategie aziendali all’e-learning che sta rivoluzionando le metodologie e l’ampiezza della galassia educational: il virus biologico si è rivelato uno straordinario volano della digitalizzazione.
Il primo numero della Rivista di Digital politics riflette sull’intreccio tra informatizzazione e pandemia, analizzandone le implicazioni per gli indirizzi delle politiche pubbliche e per l’infrastruttura – culturale, economica, democratica – della nostra vita associata.
FOCUS
- – Mauro Calise, Virus contro Virus
- – Leonardo Morlino, Ripensare la rappresentanza: la manipolazione digitale
- – Daniela Piana, Augmented democracy. More open, less free?
- – Giliberto Capano, Rincorrere, rincorrere, rincorrere. Anti-Covid Italian Style
- – Susanna Sancassani, Dalla multiversity alla netversity
- – Fortunato Musella, Amministrazione 5.0
SAGGI
- – Maurizio Ferraris, Documanità. Istruzioni per l’uso
- – Federica Nunziata, Platform Leaders
- – Paolo Natale, Il terzo paradigma: lo studio del web
WEB REVIEWS
- – Valentina Reda, Web Reviews. Cosa, come, perché
- – Mauro Santaniello, Sunburst. La grande eclissi della cybersecutity Usa
- – Marco Valbruzzi, Il dilemma delle presidenziali Usa tra sicurezza e protesta
- – Luigi Rullo, Corti online
- Mauro Calise, Tecnopartiti
- Marco Valbruzzi, C’è un PD digitale. Negli Usa
- Francesco Raniolo, Valeria Tarditi, Rivoluzione digitale e trasformazioni organizzative dei partiti
- Paolo Gerbaudo, Social media activism and the funnelling of participation
- Robin Piazzo, Connective campaigning: Ground-wars in the digital age
- Sofia Eliodori, Trump’s populism and the Twitter diplomacy
- Martina Carone, Matteo Cavallaro, Giovanni Diamanti, Claudio Riva, Donne ed elezioni, gioie e dolori
- Matteo Giardiello, Populismi digitali al tempo del Covid-19
Abstract: Tecnopartiti
Mauro Calise
TECHNOPARTIES
Political parties are by far the most adaptive of all political institutions. Over more than two centuries of democratic life, their organizational structure has changed several times, from elitist factions to mass political machines, eventually evolving into a symbiotic relationship with state administration, and functions. However, through all these changes, they have retained their original technological asset: the strength and the leverage of a human network. The impact of Ict is modifying this genetic feature. First radio and television, then social media, have all forced political parties to re-engineer their inner structure. A disruptive innovation whose outcome is hard to envisage, let alone control.
KEYWORDS: Technoparties, Digitalization, Platformization, Leadership.
Abstract: C'è un Pd digitale. Negli Usa
Marco Valbruzzi
THERE IS A DIGITAL DP. IN THE US
The article analyzes the transition of the main Us political parties from traditional, offline organizations into the digital world. In particular, it focuses on the technological innovations introduced by the Democratic party over the last two decades. The analysis begins with an exploration of Howard Dean’s run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2003-2004 and reveals its enduring legacy on the Democratic innovativeness in technology over the whole period considered. Then, the article discusses the role played by the first «social media president», Barack Obama, in making the Democratic party an even more digitally-enabled organizations in which digital, data and analytics have become central components of the party technological infrastructure. The last section focuses on the consequences of Donald Trump’s election in 2016 and, more specifically, on the countermeasures that the main leaders of the Democratic party have taken, in terms of technological innovation, as a reaction to the unexpected electoral success of the Republican party.
KEYWORDS: Digital Parties, Political Parties, Party Digitization, Social Media, Us Politics, Democratic Party.
Abstract: La rivoluzione digitale e le trasformazioni organizzative dei partiti
Francesco Raniolo, Valeria Tarditi
DIGITAL REVOLUTION AND ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATIONS OF PARTIES
The article proposes a reinterpretation of party typologies, starting from a criterion of relevance identified in the transformations of communicative ecologies. The article focuses on the impact generated by new digital information and communication technologies (Icts) in changing operational environments of parties. In this framework, we consider the opportunities Icts offer in terms of innovation potential not only with reference to communication, but also to other functional and organizational aspects. In particular, it is highlighted how the absorption of new technologies can generate different levels of innovation (in the organizational models of parties) on a continuum between «sustainable innovations» and «disruptive innovations». The former, typical of established parties, imply an instrumental conception of new Icts as resources for the effective performance of certain functions, without particular organizational consequences; the latter, instead, which can be found in some new parties born in the age of the Internet, are linked to a constructivist conception of Icts which assume the role of frames that incorporate radical and innovative visions of political reality. Adopting a dynamic perspective, the article therefore proposes to integrate the concept of «original model» considering a further factor, namely that of technological imprinting. The technological dimension, in fact, plays a crucial role in the twenty-first century in influencing the construction and organizational evolution of parties, offering opportunities but also establishing conditions for change and opening new risks for the quality of democracy.
KEYWORDS: Political Parties, Sustaining/Disruptive Innovations, Original Model, Organizational Model, Typology.
Abstract: Social media activism and the funnelling of participation
Paolo Gerbaudo
SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVISM AND THE FUNNELLING OF PARTICIPATION
To understand the way in which social media have influenced the transformation of protest and politics it is important to get to grips with the spatial and organisational transformation of forms of mobilisation that has been facilitated by the diffusion of new platforms and apps. To this end in this article I will reflect on and expand the concept of choreography of assembly introduced in my first book Tweets and the Streets, as a means to capture the way in which social media concur in the process of creation of events, and the construction of the space of mobilisation. I will argue that the new forms of action that are associated with social media and in particular the format of the flash mob, involve the idea of the protest event as a moment of assembly of individuals that are otherwise socially and spatially dispersed. In this context, the construction of the event is not just a manifestation of the protest movement that exists in other forms but something more radical: the precipitation of an online crowd into a physical gathering. This precipitation is filtered through a number of operations, such as the fixing of specific times and places where it is due to occur, the present of various instructions that are meant to guide the process of gathering and finally the narratives and symbols that accompany this process. Movement leaders in this context appear in the form of choreographers, namely as «namers», «placers» and «programmers» of a movement which while relying on the collaboration of manifold individuals is nevertheless stamped with the initial instructions, the «concept» that has been established by the initial group of creators. This view of protest as the result of a process of social media construction can help us better understand what happens in the genetic phase of a social movement and appreciate the importance of the moment of concept-development and design of the movement performance, thus overcoming the usual opposition between organisation and spontaneity and showing how rather the two act in concert.
KEYWORDS: Social Media, Activism, Mobilisation, Sales Funnel, Movements, Political Communication
LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/101943
Abstract: Connective campaigning: Ground-wars in the digital age
Robin Piazzo
CONNECTIVE CAMPAIGNING: GROUND-WARS IN THE DIGITAL AGE
This paper aims to analyze the forms taken by digitally enabled ground campaigns for political elections in the last fifteen years in Anglo-Saxon countries. First of all I will develop a theoretical framework allowing a deeper understanding and the categorization of the different cases of digitally enabled ground campaigns. The first step is the revision of the categories of collective and connective action proposed by Bennet and Segerberg (2013), in order to develop the concept of connective campaigning. I will then turn to integrating Flanagin, Bimber and Stohl’s (2006, 2012) concepts of interactivity and engagement within Stromer-Galley’s (2014) controlled interactivity framework, to provide a new theoretical framework useful to compare different forms of digital management of interactions within connective campaigns. The article also develops the concepts of digital and human infrastructure, in order to distinguish the different components of connective ground campaigns. Once the theoretical frame is completed, the article analyses four case studies of connective campaigns: Howard Dean’s primary campaign; Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008; Bernie Sanders’ campaign for the Democratic Party primary in 2016; and finally Labour Party’s campaign for the general election of 2019, with a specific focus on the app My Campaign Map developed by Momentum. The comparative analysis shows that all these campaigns combine high personalizability in the level of individual involvement with a medium level of interactivity and tightly controlled engagement. This confirms the results of previous research by Stromer-Galley (2014), according to whom the constraints of electoral competition lead organizers to manipulate the affordances of digital technologies in order to reduce the participants’ margins of organizational autonomy; moreover this article adds to Stromer-Galley’s reading a specific focus on the interrelation between digital and human infrastructure as affecting both engagement and interactivity patterns.
KEYWORDS: Campaigning, Connective Action, Digital Infrastructures, Participation, Political Parties.
Abstract: Trump's populism and the Twitter diplomacy
Sofia Eliodori
TRUMP’S POPULISM AND THE TWITTER DIPLOMACY
After the electoral defeat of Donald Trump in 2020, the «populist moment» in the West seems to have taken a break. It is now time to reflect upon the effects that this particular period has had – and will have – in the future of international politics and the possible decline of liberalism. This paper aims to start a conversation on this topic, beginning from the analysis of the legacy of Donald Trump in American foreign policy-making. In order to interpret the 45th President’s foreign policy approach, a general framework – related to the characteristics of his specific kind of populism – will be adopted. The thesis is that the traits of Trump’s populism are nativism, anti-globalism, and isolationism; those facets applied to American foreign policy influenced the perception of change of the international role of the United States, being no longer the hinge of the global liberal order. Above all, the focus of the theoretical investigation will be the connection between his foreign policy decisions and statements and his peculiar use of the so-called Twitter diplomacy. Based on this perspective, the paper underlines the functions that his «social routine» of digital political communication played in American foreign policy through the global spread of his political thinking. Indeed, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, declared that at the time he was in charge he used to print the President’s tweets early in the morning to schedule his daily agenda of foreign policy and diplomacy. In doing this, President Trump was not only bypassing the traditional media, but he was also bypassing other governmental bodies and the State’s bureaucracy. Hence, the digital revolution plays a crucial role in detecting the novelty of the effects that Donald Trump’s foreign policy had on fostering the perception of a possible decline of the international liberal order and the West as we have known it so far.
KEYWORDS: Donald Trump, Foreign Policy, Twitter Diplomacy, Populism, Theoretical Framework.
Abstract: Donne ed elezioni, gioie e dolori
Martina Carone, Matteo Cavallaro, Giovanni Diamanti, Claudio Riva
WOMEN AND ELECTIONS, JOYS AND PAINS
Our paper focuses on the intersection of three different dimensions: female leadership, local electoral competition, and digital communication. We wish to capture the main differences between female and male candidates in terms of digital campaigning, investigating the strategies and narratives used on the social media, the levels of interaction, the degree of personalization and intimate politics, the influence of pop politics, and the presence of gender issues. We do so by quantitively analysing Facebook posts collected over the 2016-2020 period, corresponding to five different local election campaigns. In total, our sample includes of 42 women and 70 men candidates for the office of mayor for one of the three major Italian political families (Centerleft, Center-right, 5 Star Movement), for a total of over 19,000 «election campaign» posts (i.e. published two months prior to the first election round). Through the study of different metrics and the development of an ontological dictionary, we test the existence of gender differences in local political leadership both in reference to the strategies adopted (frequency of publication, chosen themes) and in terms of digital success, that we operationalize as the number of post interactions. Our analysis suggests that there are indeed differences in the communication style and success of male and female candidates on social media, although these are often embedded and more easily appreciated within each political family.
KEYWORDS: Female Leadership, Local Electoral Competition, Electoral Campaigns, Digital Campaigning, Social Media.
Abstract: Populismi digitali al tempo del Covid-19
Matteo Giardiello
DIGITAL POPULISM AT THE TIME OF COVID-19
The paper aims to analyze populist digital communication at the time of Covid-19. It is going to focus on the Italian case and the Usa case, two of the most affected countries by the pandemic crisis. Four different case studies will be analyzed, two per each country: for the Italian context, the digital communication of Giuseppe Conte (M5s, movement-party example of valence populism) and the opposition carried out by Matteo Salvini (Lega, example of right-wing populism); for the Usa, the communication campaign of Donald Trump (Republican Party, famous example of right-wing populism) and the opposition carried out by one of the components of the Democratic Party, the Democratic Socialists of America (Dsa), whose main exponents are Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (symbols of the new american left-wing populism). The analysis uses both a quantitative and a qualitative method, by comparing the points of convergence and differences between the communicative strategies of the three different types of populism. While crises have always been an important opportunity for populisms, the extraordinary nature of the pandemic crisis has led to different outcomes. Populist communicative strategies have varied in accordance to the position of the actors on the government/opposition and right/left axes.
KEYWORDS: Populism, Covid-19, Crisis, Digital Communication, Digital Leadership.
Abstract: Cultural virology. The principle of virus in modernity and the digital era
Susanne Ristow
CULTURAL VIROLOGY. THE PRINCIPLE OF VIRUS IN MODERNITY AND THE DIGITAL ERA
The Corona pandemic has recently given the virus topical significance, but viruses and virality have been among the central concepts of a manipulative fusion of nature and technology in contemporary Western culture at least since the post-war modern era. As a synonym for change and an evolutionary «all-rounder», the virus is presented in the context of the technological preconditions for the storage and transformation of cultural information. If viruses did not exist, they would have had to be invented. The virus, which in contrast to bacteria has only been studied in detail in the late 1920s, must reprogram foreign cells as an obligatory parasite in such a way that mass reproduction of the virus itself takes place in the host body. Mutation and recombination are the most significant criteria of the viral. All important discourses of the 20th century come together in the «principle of virus». However, with virality, the so called «going viral» of information in mass culture, something arises that can by no means be spoken of as a familiar biologistic metaphor, but which testifies to a new communicative phenomenon of the 21st century, rapidly accelerated by digital reproduction technology. The cultural virology proposed here provides a broad overview of the virus as a figure of thought for interaction, transmission, interdisciplinarity, connectivity and interdependence in the 20th and 21st centuries. Regarding artistic, pop cultural and philosophic viral potentials» one must ask to review the contemporary pandemic mood: could it be possible to imagine the virus as a principle of freedom and transformation?
KEYWORDS: Virus, Border Opening, Mutation, Data Viruses, Virality, Viral Marketing.
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- Davide Azzolari, Valeria Marina Borodi, Diego Garusi, Il Forum degli Incel: la costruzione del consenso politico nella manosfera italiana
- Massimiliano Panarari, Il Leviatano digitale e il neototalitarismo soft
Abstract: Il forum degli Incel: la costruzione del consenso politico nella manosfera italiana
Davide Azzolari, Valeria Marina Borodi, Diego Garusi
THE FORUM OF THE INCEL: THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE POLITICAL CONSENSUS IN THE ITALIAN MANOSPHERE
Since the advent of Web 2.0 and social media, a particularly toxic brand of antifeminism has become evident in a wide range of online networks and platforms. Indeed, the digital environment allows a new relational modality that can promote more cosmopolitan attitudes, but at the same time is likely to encourage the creation of movements marked by a more exclusive sense of identity. An example of this is the manosphere, characterized as a composite and often contradictory set of different forms of masculinities which, despite multiple internal conflicts, is generally united by an adherence to the red pill philosophy, or to one of its many variants. Although the manosphere has attracted the attention of several scholars, literature on the subject has largely overlooked the political demands made by its constituent communities. Therefore, this work aims to investigate through which discursive strategies minority and ideologically connotation movements that inhabit the manosphere try to build a widespread consensus and legitimize their political demands. Specifically, this article is focused on one of the most active and well-known realities in the Italian manosphere, the «Forum degli Incel». With more than 1300 users, about 7000 discussions and almost 420.000 total visits, this forum, thanks to its public nature, allowed us to do a naturalistic netnographic analysis, to collect valid empirical material and provide an adequate response to our research questions. Our findings suggest that their political demands are promoted and justified through alleged scientific and philosophical discourses, conveyed within an echo chamber.
KEYWORDS: Political Consensus, Manosphere, Incel, Italy, Netnographic Analysis.
Abstract: Il Leviatano digitale e il neototalitarismo soft
Massimiliano Panarari
THE DIGITAL LEVIATHAN AND THE SOFT NEW TOTALITARISM
The crisis of political representation and liberal democracies offers one of the most investigated topic, both on an academic side and a cultural and political perspective (at large). Some books recently published – coming from a variety of approaches and orientations – suggest the idea of a «Soft New Totalitarianism» related to the digital revolution. And the birth of a «Tech-Leviathan» at the confluence of Surveillance Capitalism, biopower, postdemocracy and restrictions of personal freedom. A process accelerated in the present pandemic age, which is testing the boundless rise of high-tech firms influence and a renewed public intervention. This review article reconstructs a path of scholars and books designing a multiple critical and «Tech-pessimist» theory concerning the risks of «Soft New Totalitarianism» for western audience democracies.
KEYWORDS: Soft New Totalitarianism, Surveillance Capitalism, Liberal Democracy, Biopower, Imaginary.
Didattica Online
3/2021
- Mauro Calise, Valentina Reda, Governare l’e-learning
- Mark Brown, Eamon Costello, Enda Donlon, Digital education as social practice: Major trends shaping online learning futures
- Susanna Sancassani, Platform thinking e università: verso la netversity
- Mina Sotiriou, Michele Giovanardi, The role of private and public educational providers in the digital post-Covid world
- Chris Dede, Yong Zhao, Punya Mishra, Curtis J. Bonk, The Silver lining for learning webcasts as a bottom-up driver of global educational innovation
- Martin Wirsing, Dieter Frey, Agile governance for innovating higher education teaching and learning
- Giuseppe Galetta, La digital education delle Forze armate italiane: modello attuale e prospettive future
Abstract: Governare l'e-learning
Mauro Calise, Valentina Reda
GOVERNING E-LEARNING
In the second decade of the new century, digital education has been spreading fast worldwide through the Mooc revolution: massive, open, online access to top quality academic courses. With the sudden lockdown of over 1.4 billion students, e-learning has become the new normal. This article provides an overview of major drivers of changes in public versus private institutions, in Ict giants versus a myriad of ed-tech startups, in traditional Western universities as well as in Asian hybrid new entries. A late comer in the process of digitalization, e-learning is catching up with major industrial sectors such as e-commerce, e-health, fin-tech, fueled by the same factors of success: globalization, scalability, flexibility. In this new environment the future of education will depend on how fast national governments and international authorities will become aware of the new trends and live up to their disruptive innovations.
KEYWORDS: Mooc, Ed-Tech, Lifelong Learning, Unbundling Universities, Online Public Program Management.
Abstract: Digital education as social practice: Major trends shaping online learning futures
Mark Brown, Eamon Costello, Enda Donlon
DIGITAL EDUCATION AS SOCIAL PRACTICE: MAJOR TRENDS SHAPING ONLINE LEARNING FUTURES
This paper explores some of the major trends shaping the future of online learning. It asks, what might the future look like? While the paper does not set out to predict the future as the authors do not have a crystal ball, it does endeavour to provide a bigger picture helicopter view of the online learning field. It responds to the tendency to overlook the research literature during the Covid-19 pandemic and aims to help keep the future of online learning in the political spotlight.The paper establishes that defining online learning is not a straightforward task and widespread differences exist in the global use of the term. A critical multifocal perspective is then adopted to identify five macro-level trends which help to frame the analysis from different angles and viewpoints. The discussion covers much ground and draws on a wide range of literature to illustrate how the digital education ecosystem is simultaneously converging, getting larger in scale, more open and closed, and is growing in diversity. Inherent tensions across these contradictory trends demonstrate how online learning needs to be understood in terms of wider societal change forces. Accordingly, the helicopter analysis attempts to steer a path between wider social issues, the language of opportunity, and the need for deeper criticality. Throughout the paper, there is the spirit of hope as educators have considerable agency to help shape possible, probable, and preferred online learning futures.
KEYWORDS: Online Learning, Covid-19, Future Trends, Hybrid Learning, Digital Education
Ecosystem.
Abstract: Platform thinking e università: verso la netversity
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.
Abstract: The role of private and public educational providers in the digital post-Covid world
Mina Sotiriou, Michele Giovanardi
THE ROLE OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC EDUCATIONAL PROVIDERS IN THE DIGITAL POST-COVID WORLD
The paper discusses and investigates the differences in the aims, purpose and roles of public Higher education institutions and private sector actors in digital education. Specifically, we discuss whether big tech multinationals play an invasive role in the educational arena that risks undermining the role of traditional public sector Higher education institutions and, therefore, whether we need digital education governance and what kind. The paper uses secondary data and critically evaluates opposing arguments in the literature to analyse and investigate theories and practices of educational offering in both the private and public sectors, arguing that: (1) there are differences between Higher education teaching & learning (public domain) and training and professional development (private domain) purposes; (2) tech companies like Microsoft and Alphabet (private) have a role to play in the knowledge-based economy especially in the post-Covid era; (3) this prompts the need for public funded Higher education institutions to work with industry to become more entrepreneurial and re-design their pedagogy by incorporating some of the best-practices in digital education; (4) we need independent instruments and institutions to safeguard our citizens and communities of learners; (5) and finally, argue that public investment in digital education should increase accordingly to enable universities to meet these new educational challenges. The paper does not position the analysis within a specific framework but rather presents a focus for discussion of current issues, located within a theoretical context. It is concluded that any «threat» publicly funded Higher education Institutions may face in the current commercialised educational world, is the result of outdated educational practices and a misconception of the roles and missions of public and private institutions in education. As such, we do not need stringent governance of digital education but a better digital education framework.
KEYWORDS: Higher education, EdTech, Covid, Private, Public.
LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/103802
Abstract: The Silver lining for learning webcasts as a bottom-up driver of global educational innovation
Chris Dede, Yong Zhao, Punya Mishra, Curtis J. Bonk
THE SILVER LINING FOR LEARNING WEBCASTS AS A BOTTOM-UP DRIVER OF GLOBAL EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION
Silver lining for learning (Sll: silverliningforlearning.org) is an unfunded, unsponsored, bottom-up initiative that emerged as a direct result of the pandemic. The authors are part of a team that co-founded this series of weekly webcasts (starting mid-March 2020), with close to 100 episodes as of March 2022. As the website describes, Sll «is an ongoing conversation on the future of learning» with innovative educators and education leaders from across the globe. The demands of 21st century work, citizenship, and life require a transformation of instruction to foster a very different set of knowledge, skills, and dispositions than those mandated by current national and regional educational governance systems focused on outdated educational goals and methods. This article describes representative Sll episodes and highlights the grassroots innovations that have been featured in them. The episodes on Sll have highlighted bottom-up models for transformative innovation that complement top-down initiatives for incremental educational improvement in industrial-era schooling. Regional, national, and global policies and reports have some value, but their recommendations lack detail about specific models for educational transformation in which participants experience ownership, cultural relevance, and contextual alignment. These bottom-up cases of innovation have been selected to illustrate educational transformation, particularly those involving digital forms of learning, design, and technology. Sections in this article on Student autonomy and Self-determination, Communities of learners, and Educational creativity and Innovation highlight a range of perspectives on innovation from the co-hosts. The creative tensions among these perspectives drive rich dialogues that help to make the show evocative for new models and methods. Sll demonstrates that, with almost no resources, locally led but globally motivated innovations can be recognized, celebrated, and shared across the world.
KEYWORDS: Innovation, Technological Change, Education, Policy.
Abstract: Agile governance for innovating higher education teaching and learning
Martin Wirsing, Dieter Frey
AGILE GOVERNANCE FOR INNOVATING HIGHER EDUCATION TEACHING AND LEARNING
In the field of study and teaching at universities today, digitisation is the cause and driving force for change and innovation. Online teaching, blended learning and new digital techniques for data structuring, simulation and interaction offer many opportunities for revising and renewing teaching and examination content, curricula and also communication between students and academics. In Germany, however, the Humboldtian principle of «freedom of teaching and research» applies. According to the German Basic Law and the Higher education acts of the German federal states, university lecturers are free «in their way to hold courses and to organise their content and methodology» and are therefore not obliged to develop their teaching techniques. To reform teaching, we propose agile processes that emphasise self-direction, collaboration, and lightweight procedures. In software development and business operations, such methods have proved to be successful in dealing with changing technologies and product requirements. In higher education, agile-based instructional methods are used but are not yet the method of choice. In this paper we present a novel agile governance approach for fostering innovation in university teaching and learning. The so-called «multiplier method» is also based on ethical principles and consists of two steps. Firstly, academics carry out innovative, self-selected teaching projects in small teams; they are coached by experts and also receive training on relevant topics such as teaching, inspiring, and leadership. Secondly, the participating academics act as multipliers: they pass on their experiences to their colleagues and become contact persons for good teaching in their faculties. The «multiplier method» was successfully tested in a large teaching innovation initiative. Over a period of 9 years, more than 150 individual innovation and online learning projects were successfully implemented.
KEYWORDS: Agile Governance, Software Development, Teaching and Learning, Higher Education, Multipliers.
Abstract: La digital education delle Forze armate italiane: modello attuale e prospettive future
Giuseppe Galetta
THE DIGITAL EDUCATION OF THE ITALIAN ARMED FORCES: CURRENT MODEL AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES
In close co-operation with the University of Turin, Italian Armed forces (Afs) have been introducing e-learning as a training method for their personnel for some years, making extensive use of Moocs and developing progressively a specific digital education model, based on particular management characteristics, as well as on specialized personnel, able to respond to servicemen’s lifelong learning needs. Italian Afs have long been aware of the potential of digital education; in fact, after a starting up incubation period, they have embarked a gradual process of emancipation from the University model, in order to develop an autonomous framework. But how far has this process of emancipating the digital education of Italian Afs from the University model gone? If in an early stage Italian Afs leant on the University to get fully understood the dynamics and capacities of the e-learning and digital education in the Military field, by creating a hybrid training environment for their personnel, the competition between two public model of digital education, one civil (open), the other military (closed), as well as the particular training and strategic needs of the military sector, are imposing a separation of their respective governance systems of digital education, aiming to create an interforce training environment, in close collaboration with the Armed forces of the other Nato countries. This paper aims at outlining the possible developments of a new governance system of digital education, the Military one, tracing the evolution of the Italian Afs model, from the first stage of incubation into the University model, up to the progressive detachment from it.
KEYWORDS: Digital Education, E-learning, Italian Armed Forces, Military Education, Military Training.
- Mauro Santaniello, La regolazione delle piattaforme e il principio della sovranità digitale
- Rita di Leo, Appunti per una teologia della Rete
Abstract: La regolazione delle piattaforme e il principio della sovranità digitale
Mauro Santaniello
PLATFORM REGULATION AND THE PRINCIPLE OF DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY
The article presents a typology of platform regulation. After a critical review of a multidisciplinary set of definitions of digital platform, the paper emphasizes the transformative capacity of platforms in relation to the whole architecture of the internet. Then, regulative approaches to digital platforms are categorized into four ideal types on the base of two political dimensions of platform regulation: the source of regulation and the object of regulation. Finally, the paper discusses the policy principle of digital sovereignty as a type of internet regulation, which is particularly useful to understand recent policy initiatives designed by the European Union to deal with the challenges and opportunities of global internet governance.
KEYWORDS: Platform Regulation, Digital Sovereignty, Internet Governance, Internet Regulation.
Abstract: Appunti per una teologia della Rete
Rita di Leo
TOWARDS A WEB THEOLOGY
The penetration of Internet into our lives is changing the nature of social relationships. Conflict for change – the main principle regulating Western civilisation civilisation – is replaced by the new algorithmic rule of control by consent. Web connectivity becomes the environment where goods are produced and exchanged, on a strictly individualistic basis. The very existence of religious supernatural beliefs is called into question by the limitless power of electronic gods.
KEYWORDS: Web Theology, Social Control, Algorithmic Rule.
Abstract: La nuova dieta informativa
Luigi Rullo
THE NEW INFORMATION DIET IN DIGITAL TIMES
Effective participation in democratic processes requires informed citizens. The web provides new solutions for fostering citizens’ political participation and engagement, urging citizens to learn and be informed about politics and current affairs in a completely new way. This Insight highlights the characteristics of the new information media diet in the web environment and focuses on the Italian scenario. The article is divided into four sections. First, it presents the profiles of the well-informed citizen 2.0. Second, the article focuses on the characteristics of the information diet of Italian citizens. Third, it reflects on the rise of the content hubs, observing how experimenting with new formats and sources of political information can improve public awareness and interest in politics and current issues. The last section concludes the article and observes that in the digital ecosystem a healthy citizens’ information diet depends on the quality rather than the quantity of political information. All in all, the Insight stresses the need to better exploit the opportunities and potentialities of the web as a source of political news and its key role in well-functioning democracies.
KEYWORDS: Democracy, Digital Platforms, Media Diet, Content Hub, Political Information.
Abstract: From learning innovation to digital distance education
Ruth Kerr
FROM LEARNING INNOVATION TO DIGITAL DISTANCE EDUCATION
Higher education is currently challenged by a shifting demographic, declining public funding, the rapidly changing needs of the job market in a global knowledge society, questions of rising costs and affordability/value for students, as well as competition from new non-academic and for-profit players in the Higher education marketplace. In line with the platformization of society, narratives around Higher education, and its digital future, embrace disruption theory, the uberization of teaching, the Netflix effect on the Higher education (He) industry, alternative credentials, and the partial substitution of universities’ role by tech giants. There is also an increased focus on preparing career-ready graduates for the 21st century workplace via the teaching of competencies and skills in in-demand areas and collaboration with industry. This review article looks at four recent works that try to respond to these challenges facing He. They propose diverse reflections on how to achieve an effective and resilient evolution of Higher education. Their strategies may vary but the direction is online, and all of them bring the narrative firmly back to the institution and system level, highlighting the intrinsic value of a formal university education, and the benefits of that education to the individual and society. This review provides a synthesis of key issues for the future of Higher education explored in all four of the books selected for review. It then summarizes the governance approaches and main issues explored in each one.
KEYWORDS: Learning Innovation, Digital Learning, Digital Governance, Moocs, Institutions.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
Monocratic cyber(in)security
3/2022
- 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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
(E)lezioni digitali
1/2023
- Marco Valbruzzi, L’età delle cyber-elezioni: dal voto elettronico alla digitalizzazione elettorale
- Paolo Feltrin, Giuseppe Ieraci, Facilitating voting and electoral participation in Italy. On some possible measures to contrast involuntary and imposed abstentionism
- Giuseppe Borriello, «Spid vote»: fast democracy and digital identity for citizens in Italy
- Domenico Giordano, Maria Cristina Antonucci, La strategia della normalizzazione: la campagna elettorale social di Giorgia Meloni alle elezioni politiche del 2022
- Luca De Luca Picione, Digital politics and voting geography. Potential connections between online storytelling and election results in the Campania regional elections
- Federica Nunziata, La politica degli influencer
- Alfonso Amendola, Martina Masullo, Elezioni e social network: gli effetti della politica (ultra) pop sulla generazione Z
- Laura Minguzzi, Uno spettro si aggira nella comunicazione politica: lo spettro del populismo in Rete
Abstract: THE CYBER ELECTIONS ERA: FROM E-VOTING TO ELECTORAL DIGITIZATION
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.
Abstract: FACILITATING VOTING AND ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION IN ITALY. ON SOME POSSIBLE MEASURES TO CONTRAST INVOLUNTARY AND IMPOSED ABSTENTIONISM
Paolo Feltrin, Giuseppe Ieraci
FACILITATING VOTING AND ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION IN ITALY. ON SOME POSSIBLE MEASURES TO CONTRAST INVOLUNTARY AND IMPOSED ABSTENTIONISM
Voter abstentionism and declining voter participation are widespread phenomena in European democracies. Recently, the decline in electoral participation has also reached alarming proportions in Italy. However, a non-negligible share of abstentionism is not due to political attitudes or protest, but simply to objective impediments to going to the polling stations. These impediments include work and study in locations other than that of residence and electoral registration, as well as illness or physical immobility. The article emphasizes the possibility of limiting this imposed or involuntary abstentionism by using postal voting, deferred voting or free voting at any polling station, and above all by introducing digital voting supported by web platforms.
KEYWORDS: Abstentionism, Italy, Postal Voting, Deferred Voting, Digital Voting.
Abstract: «SPID VOTE»: FAST DEMOCRACY AND DIGITAL IDENTITY FOR CITIZENS IN ITALY
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
Abstract: THE STRATEGY OF NORMALIZATION: GIORGIA MELONI’S ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN ON SOCIAL NETWORKS IN THE 2022 GENERAL ELECTION
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
KEYWORDS: Election Campaign, Social Network, Normalization, Personalization, Giorgia Meloni
LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/107477
Abstract: DIGITAL POLITICS AND VOTING GEOGRAPHY. POTENTIAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ONLINE STORYTELLING AND ELECTORAL RESULTS IN THE CAMPANIA REGIONAL ELECTIONS
Luca De Luca Picione, Domenico Trezza
DIGITAL POLITICS AND VOTING GEOGRAPHY. POTENTIAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ONLINE STORYTELLING AND ELECTORAL RESULTS IN THE CAMPANIA REGIONAL ELECTIONS
Digital political communication has undergone a revolution due to the emergence of new digital media platforms, significantly impacting electoral campaigns. However, there remains limited understanding of the implications of digital communication in local elections and its correlation with territorial vote concentration. The objective of this study is to investigate these relationships during the 2020 regional elections in Campania. Specifically, the focus is on four candidate profiles from the outgoing president’s political list. The employed methodology follows a quantitative approach, entailing a secondary analysis of an extensive dataset encompassing the candidates’ digital profiles and electoral outcomes within the Naples district. The digital content from their public Facebook pages is extracted using Api strategies, encompassing textual aspects, language style, political communication sentiment, and follower engagement. Through spatial analysis of the candidates’ obtained votes, potential relationships between the geographical distribution of votes and candidates’ digital activity are identified and summarized using the Digital activity index. The findings suggest promising avenues for future research concerning the evolution of political communication in the digital era and its interplay with electoral outcomes.
KEYWORDS: Digital Political Communication, Elections, Local Politics, Social Media, Territorial Vote Concentration
Abstract: THE POLITICS OF INFLUENCERS
Federica Nunziata
THE POLITICS OF INFLUENCERS
Digital platforms play a major role in the rise, success and decline of the political players of the new era. On the Internet, the dynamics of agenda setting not only involve traditional political actors, but also influencers and digital opinion leaders who assume a new centrality in public debate. This article examines the relationship between politics and influencers in the digital environment, defining its main trends and potential risks. Firstly, it proposes a reflection on the processes and mechanisms that triggered this connection, starting from the crisis of intermediate bodies and their traditional role of mediation, up to the emergence of new protagonists who autonomously interpret politics by exploiting digital disintermediation. Secondly, it identifies and explores three aspects of this relationship: the recruitment of influencers, as a widespread practice in the context of campaigns both as an endorsement to a candidate, and to mobilize citizens – especially the younger ones – to vote; the spontaneous and on-demand involvement of digital creators on specific political and social issues, i.e. influencers who use the popularity gained on social networks to influence users’ opinions and political choices, or in some cases to actually run for political roles; the new forms of political leadership that build their image and influence through digital media, assuming the traits of actual influencers lent to politics, or political influencers. In conclusion, some perspective considerations will be drawn on the relationship between politics and influencers in the overall context of the platformization of politics
KEYWORDS: Influencers, Political Influencers, Digital Opinion Leaders, Digital Platforms, Political Communication
Abstract: ELECTION AND SOCIAL NETWORK: THE EFFECT OF (ULTRA)POP POLITICS ON Z GENERATION
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
Abstract: A SPECTRE IS HAUNTING POLITICAL COMMUNICATION: THE SPECTRE OF POPULISM ONLINE
Laura Minguzzi
A SPECTRE IS HAUNTING POLITICAL COMMUNICATION: THE SPECTRE OF POPULISM ONLINE
The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated major changes in contemporary society, particularly in regard to communication. Within the political sphere, leaders had to increasingly rely on social media to communicate with the electorate. In many countries, this transition, far from affecting only the period of pandemic emergency, has gone hand in hand with the contemporary populist wave. The paper aims to investigate how political communication of party leaders on social media has been influenced by «populist rhetoric», focusing on the pandemic influence on this shift. This was done by comparing the Facebook posts of populist and mainstream party leaders in three different Western European countries – Italy, the United Kingdom, and Spain – and analyzing the language they used to interact with followers, starting from, with a comparison of periods before and after the pandemic. We identified four essential characteristics of populism Chameleon nature, Manichaean dialectic, Anti-elitism, and Charismatic leadership – which provide the theoretical basis for the content analysis carried out on the reference sample. These changes were observed in a period of rapid socio-cultural transformation. Indeed, the pandemic seems to have pushed the leaders of the parties analyzed toward a more populist vocabulary, even when they were not originally leaders of parties definable as such. This could be traced back to the inherent characteristics of social media, which rely more on the visual medium than on written text; prompting leaders to rely on more direct and impactful rhetoric to convey their message. However, «populist contagion» goes beyond the simple use of communication techniques, and the results of the analysis seem to confirm how populist rhetoric also affects the way leaders (and thus parties) choose to address certain policy and programmatic issues, moving them, in some cases, away from their traditional agendas
KEYWORDS: Populism, Political Communication, Social Media, Content Analysis, Personal Leadership
-
- Valentina Reda, Il sondaggio è morto? Viva il sondaggio. Conversazione con Nando Pagnoncelli
- Andrea Scavo, Laura Caldarella, Federica Ferri, Eva Sacchi, Leader e partiti: analisi della comunicazione su Twitter nella campagna elettorale più social di sempre
- Claudio Esposito Scalzo, Il mercato unico digitale in Europa: big tech e politiche pubbliche
Abstract: IL SONDAGGIO E' MORTO? VIVA IL SONDAGGIO.
Valentina Reda
IL SONDAGGIO E’ MORTO? VIVA IL SONDAGGIO. CONVERSAZIONE CON NANDO PAGNONCELLI
LEGGI QUI: https//rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/107482.
Abstract:LEADERS AND PARTIES: AN ANALYSIS OF THE COMMUNICATION ON TWITTER DURING THE MOST SOCIAL ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN EVER
Andrea Scavo, Laura Caldarella, Federica Ferri, Eva Sacchi
LEADERS AND PARTIES: AN ANALYSIS OF THE COMMUNICATION ON TWITTER DURING THE MOST SOCIAL ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN EVER
The electoral campaign for the last Italian general election was the first held during the summer. With voters even more «distracted» and distant from politics and traditional information channels than usual, the relevance of social media as disintermediated means of communication has grown further. The analysis described in this article shows how the trend toward personalization of political communication has experienced further strengthening in that period. Political leaders and political parties have used Twitter in a more structured and articulated way, differentiating their strategies for different purposes and targeting messages (both in terms of topics covered and in terms of communication styles) based on the intended audiences to reach. Therefore, we argue, communication choices reflect the structure of the political offer and the strategic options available to different political actors. The analysis was conducted on the social profiles on Twitter of the main leaders and political parties in Italy, focusing on publicly available messages published in the period between July 21 (the formalization of Draghi’s cabinet crisis) and September 25, 2022 (the election day). Messages have been collected through a Social intelligence platform, enabling the measurement of key quantitative metrics. The qualitative analysis has been conducted on a probabilistic sample of all the published messages
KEYWORDS: Twitter, Communication, General Election, Personalization, Political Leaders
Abstract: IL MERCATO UNICO DIGITALE
Claudio Esposito Scalzo
EUROPEAN UNION DIGITAL SINGLE MARKET: BIGH TECH AND PUBLIC POLICIES
The global challenges of the 21st century push all modern countries to compete in multiple fields with different approaches, times, and methods. Particularly, digitization, articulated in all its forms, represents one of the most considerable and fascinating issues that the European union has to face. It is a journey that starts from afar and that has its roots in the desire to generate ever greater integration between the member countries, aimed at laying the foundations for shared public policies in the digital field. One of the crucial issue in recent years concerns the creation of the Digital single market (Dsm), i.e., that shared space in which one can benefit, from both an economic and social point of view, from digital developments and their consequent applications. Therefore, the purpose of this Web review is to explore the issue of European public policies about the Dsm and its implementation, providing a focus on the role of Big tech, the use of big data and possible regulatory developments. This analysis will be addressed through the study and discussion of two recent volumes on the subject (Manganelli and Nicita, 2022; Mãrcuţ, 2020). The texts prove to be fundamental for analyzing the major regulatory interventions in the sector, the interventions of the European commission and the main challenges to the creation of the Dsm. Furthermore, the article highlights the critical issues that Europe will be called upon to resolve, especially considering the economic and political strength of big tech, as well as the potential social impact. All in all, it is observed how the correct development of the Dsm can guarantee a dynamic, protected, and efficient economic and social system, fundamental conditions for responding to the challenges for the present and the future of the European union.
KEYWORDS: Digital Single Market, Digital Innovation, Digital Regulation, Big Tech, Governance
Open Access
2/2023
- Marco Valbruzzi, L’età delle cyber-elezioni: dal voto elettronico alla digitalizzazione elettorale
- Paolo Feltrin, Giuseppe Ieraci, Facilitating voting and electoral participation in Italy. On some possible measures to contrast involuntary and imposed abstentionism
- Giuseppe Borriello, «Spid vote»: fast democracy and digital identity for citizens in Italy
- Domenico Giordano, Maria Cristina Antonucci, La strategia della normalizzazione: la campagna elettorale social di Giorgia Meloni alle elezioni politiche del 2022
- Luca De Luca Picione, Digital politics and voting geography. Potential connections between online storytelling and election results in the Campania regional elections
- Federica Nunziata, La politica degli influencer
- Alfonso Amendola, Martina Masullo, Elezioni e social network: gli effetti della politica (ultra) pop sulla generazione Z
- Laura Minguzzi, Uno spettro si aggira nella comunicazione politica: lo spettro del populismo in Rete
Abstract: THE CYBER ELECTIONS ERA: FROM E-VOTING TO ELECTORAL DIGITIZATION
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.
Abstract: FACILITATING VOTING AND ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION IN ITALY. ON SOME POSSIBLE MEASURES TO CONTRAST INVOLUNTARY AND IMPOSED ABSTENTIONISM
Paolo Feltrin, Giuseppe Ieraci
FACILITATING VOTING AND ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION IN ITALY. ON SOME POSSIBLE MEASURES TO CONTRAST INVOLUNTARY AND IMPOSED ABSTENTIONISM
Voter abstentionism and declining voter participation are widespread phenomena in European democracies. Recently, the decline in electoral participation has also reached alarming proportions in Italy. However, a non-negligible share of abstentionism is not due to political attitudes or protest, but simply to objective impediments to going to the polling stations. These impediments include work and study in locations other than that of residence and electoral registration, as well as illness or physical immobility. The article emphasizes the possibility of limiting this imposed or involuntary abstentionism by using postal voting, deferred voting or free voting at any polling station, and above all by introducing digital voting supported by web platforms.
KEYWORDS: Abstentionism, Italy, Postal Voting, Deferred Voting, Digital Voting.
Abstract: «SPID VOTE»: FAST DEMOCRACY AND DIGITAL IDENTITY FOR CITIZENS IN ITALY
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
Abstract: THE STRATEGY OF NORMALIZATION: GIORGIA MELONI’S ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN ON SOCIAL NETWORKS IN THE 2022 GENERAL ELECTION
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
KEYWORDS: Election Campaign, Social Network, Normalization, Personalization, Giorgia Meloni
LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/107477
Abstract: DIGITAL POLITICS AND VOTING GEOGRAPHY. POTENTIAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ONLINE STORYTELLING AND ELECTORAL RESULTS IN THE CAMPANIA REGIONAL ELECTIONS
Luca De Luca Picione, Domenico Trezza
DIGITAL POLITICS AND VOTING GEOGRAPHY. POTENTIAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ONLINE STORYTELLING AND ELECTORAL RESULTS IN THE CAMPANIA REGIONAL ELECTIONS
Digital political communication has undergone a revolution due to the emergence of new digital media platforms, significantly impacting electoral campaigns. However, there remains limited understanding of the implications of digital communication in local elections and its correlation with territorial vote concentration. The objective of this study is to investigate these relationships during the 2020 regional elections in Campania. Specifically, the focus is on four candidate profiles from the outgoing president’s political list. The employed methodology follows a quantitative approach, entailing a secondary analysis of an extensive dataset encompassing the candidates’ digital profiles and electoral outcomes within the Naples district. The digital content from their public Facebook pages is extracted using Api strategies, encompassing textual aspects, language style, political communication sentiment, and follower engagement. Through spatial analysis of the candidates’ obtained votes, potential relationships between the geographical distribution of votes and candidates’ digital activity are identified and summarized using the Digital activity index. The findings suggest promising avenues for future research concerning the evolution of political communication in the digital era and its interplay with electoral outcomes.
KEYWORDS: Digital Political Communication, Elections, Local Politics, Social Media, Territorial Vote Concentration
Abstract: THE POLITICS OF INFLUENCERS
Federica Nunziata
THE POLITICS OF INFLUENCERS
Digital platforms play a major role in the rise, success and decline of the political players of the new era. On the Internet, the dynamics of agenda setting not only involve traditional political actors, but also influencers and digital opinion leaders who assume a new centrality in public debate. This article examines the relationship between politics and influencers in the digital environment, defining its main trends and potential risks. Firstly, it proposes a reflection on the processes and mechanisms that triggered this connection, starting from the crisis of intermediate bodies and their traditional role of mediation, up to the emergence of new protagonists who autonomously interpret politics by exploiting digital disintermediation. Secondly, it identifies and explores three aspects of this relationship: the recruitment of influencers, as a widespread practice in the context of campaigns both as an endorsement to a candidate, and to mobilize citizens – especially the younger ones – to vote; the spontaneous and on-demand involvement of digital creators on specific political and social issues, i.e. influencers who use the popularity gained on social networks to influence users’ opinions and political choices, or in some cases to actually run for political roles; the new forms of political leadership that build their image and influence through digital media, assuming the traits of actual influencers lent to politics, or political influencers. In conclusion, some perspective considerations will be drawn on the relationship between politics and influencers in the overall context of the platformization of politics
KEYWORDS: Influencers, Political Influencers, Digital Opinion Leaders, Digital Platforms, Political Communication
Abstract: ELECTION AND SOCIAL NETWORK: THE EFFECT OF (ULTRA)POP POLITICS ON Z GENERATION
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
Abstract: A SPECTRE IS HAUNTING POLITICAL COMMUNICATION: THE SPECTRE OF POPULISM ONLINE
Laura Minguzzi
A SPECTRE IS HAUNTING POLITICAL COMMUNICATION: THE SPECTRE OF POPULISM ONLINE
The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated major changes in contemporary society, particularly in regard to communication. Within the political sphere, leaders had to increasingly rely on social media to communicate with the electorate. In many countries, this transition, far from affecting only the period of pandemic emergency, has gone hand in hand with the contemporary populist wave. The paper aims to investigate how political communication of party leaders on social media has been influenced by «populist rhetoric», focusing on the pandemic influence on this shift. This was done by comparing the Facebook posts of populist and mainstream party leaders in three different Western European countries – Italy, the United Kingdom, and Spain – and analyzing the language they used to interact with followers, starting from, with a comparison of periods before and after the pandemic. We identified four essential characteristics of populism Chameleon nature, Manichaean dialectic, Anti-elitism, and Charismatic leadership – which provide the theoretical basis for the content analysis carried out on the reference sample. These changes were observed in a period of rapid socio-cultural transformation. Indeed, the pandemic seems to have pushed the leaders of the parties analyzed toward a more populist vocabulary, even when they were not originally leaders of parties definable as such. This could be traced back to the inherent characteristics of social media, which rely more on the visual medium than on written text; prompting leaders to rely on more direct and impactful rhetoric to convey their message. However, «populist contagion» goes beyond the simple use of communication techniques, and the results of the analysis seem to confirm how populist rhetoric also affects the way leaders (and thus parties) choose to address certain policy and programmatic issues, moving them, in some cases, away from their traditional agendas
KEYWORDS: Populism, Political Communication, Social Media, Content Analysis, Personal Leadership
-
- Valentina Reda, Il sondaggio è morto? Viva il sondaggio. Conversazione con Nando Pagnoncelli
- Andrea Scavo, Laura Caldarella, Federica Ferri, Eva Sacchi, Leader e partiti: analisi della comunicazione su Twitter nella campagna elettorale più social di sempre
- Claudio Esposito Scalzo, Il mercato unico digitale in Europa: big tech e politiche pubbliche
Abstract: IL SONDAGGIO E' MORTO? VIVA IL SONDAGGIO.
Valentina Reda
IL SONDAGGIO E’ MORTO? VIVA IL SONDAGGIO. CONVERSAZIONE CON NANDO PAGNONCELLI
LEGGI QUI: https//rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/107482.
Abstract:LEADERS AND PARTIES: AN ANALYSIS OF THE COMMUNICATION ON TWITTER DURING THE MOST SOCIAL ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN EVER
Andrea Scavo, Laura Caldarella, Federica Ferri, Eva Sacchi
LEADERS AND PARTIES: AN ANALYSIS OF THE COMMUNICATION ON TWITTER DURING THE MOST SOCIAL ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN EVER
The electoral campaign for the last Italian general election was the first held during the summer. With voters even more «distracted» and distant from politics and traditional information channels than usual, the relevance of social media as disintermediated means of communication has grown further. The analysis described in this article shows how the trend toward personalization of political communication has experienced further strengthening in that period. Political leaders and political parties have used Twitter in a more structured and articulated way, differentiating their strategies for different purposes and targeting messages (both in terms of topics covered and in terms of communication styles) based on the intended audiences to reach. Therefore, we argue, communication choices reflect the structure of the political offer and the strategic options available to different political actors. The analysis was conducted on the social profiles on Twitter of the main leaders and political parties in Italy, focusing on publicly available messages published in the period between July 21 (the formalization of Draghi’s cabinet crisis) and September 25, 2022 (the election day). Messages have been collected through a Social intelligence platform, enabling the measurement of key quantitative metrics. The qualitative analysis has been conducted on a probabilistic sample of all the published messages
KEYWORDS: Twitter, Communication, General Election, Personalization, Political Leaders
Abstract: IL MERCATO UNICO DIGITALE
Claudio Esposito Scalzo
EUROPEAN UNION DIGITAL SINGLE MARKET: BIGH TECH AND PUBLIC POLICIES
The global challenges of the 21st century push all modern countries to compete in multiple fields with different approaches, times, and methods. Particularly, digitization, articulated in all its forms, represents one of the most considerable and fascinating issues that the European union has to face. It is a journey that starts from afar and that has its roots in the desire to generate ever greater integration between the member countries, aimed at laying the foundations for shared public policies in the digital field. One of the crucial issue in recent years concerns the creation of the Digital single market (Dsm), i.e., that shared space in which one can benefit, from both an economic and social point of view, from digital developments and their consequent applications. Therefore, the purpose of this Web review is to explore the issue of European public policies about the Dsm and its implementation, providing a focus on the role of Big tech, the use of big data and possible regulatory developments. This analysis will be addressed through the study and discussion of two recent volumes on the subject (Manganelli and Nicita, 2022; Mãrcuţ, 2020). The texts prove to be fundamental for analyzing the major regulatory interventions in the sector, the interventions of the European commission and the main challenges to the creation of the Dsm. Furthermore, the article highlights the critical issues that Europe will be called upon to resolve, especially considering the economic and political strength of big tech, as well as the potential social impact. All in all, it is observed how the correct development of the Dsm can guarantee a dynamic, protected, and efficient economic and social system, fundamental conditions for responding to the challenges for the present and the future of the European union.
KEYWORDS: Digital Single Market, Digital Innovation, Digital Regulation, Big Tech, Governance
Digicracy
3/2023
- Marco Valbruzzi, L’età delle cyber-elezioni: dal voto elettronico alla digitalizzazione elettorale
- Paolo Feltrin, Giuseppe Ieraci, Facilitating voting and electoral participation in Italy. On some possible measures to contrast involuntary and imposed abstentionism
- Giuseppe Borriello, «Spid vote»: fast democracy and digital identity for citizens in Italy
- Domenico Giordano, Maria Cristina Antonucci, La strategia della normalizzazione: la campagna elettorale social di Giorgia Meloni alle elezioni politiche del 2022
- Luca De Luca Picione, Digital politics and voting geography. Potential connections between online storytelling and election results in the Campania regional elections
- Federica Nunziata, La politica degli influencer
- Alfonso Amendola, Martina Masullo, Elezioni e social network: gli effetti della politica (ultra) pop sulla generazione Z
- Laura Minguzzi, Uno spettro si aggira nella comunicazione politica: lo spettro del populismo in Rete
Abstract: THE CYBER ELECTIONS ERA: FROM E-VOTING TO ELECTORAL DIGITIZATION
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.
Abstract: FACILITATING VOTING AND ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION IN ITALY. ON SOME POSSIBLE MEASURES TO CONTRAST INVOLUNTARY AND IMPOSED ABSTENTIONISM
Paolo Feltrin, Giuseppe Ieraci
FACILITATING VOTING AND ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION IN ITALY. ON SOME POSSIBLE MEASURES TO CONTRAST INVOLUNTARY AND IMPOSED ABSTENTIONISM
Voter abstentionism and declining voter participation are widespread phenomena in European democracies. Recently, the decline in electoral participation has also reached alarming proportions in Italy. However, a non-negligible share of abstentionism is not due to political attitudes or protest, but simply to objective impediments to going to the polling stations. These impediments include work and study in locations other than that of residence and electoral registration, as well as illness or physical immobility. The article emphasizes the possibility of limiting this imposed or involuntary abstentionism by using postal voting, deferred voting or free voting at any polling station, and above all by introducing digital voting supported by web platforms.
KEYWORDS: Abstentionism, Italy, Postal Voting, Deferred Voting, Digital Voting.
Abstract: «SPID VOTE»: FAST DEMOCRACY AND DIGITAL IDENTITY FOR CITIZENS IN ITALY
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
Abstract: THE STRATEGY OF NORMALIZATION: GIORGIA MELONI’S ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN ON SOCIAL NETWORKS IN THE 2022 GENERAL ELECTION
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
KEYWORDS: Election Campaign, Social Network, Normalization, Personalization, Giorgia Meloni
LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/107477
Abstract: DIGITAL POLITICS AND VOTING GEOGRAPHY. POTENTIAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ONLINE STORYTELLING AND ELECTORAL RESULTS IN THE CAMPANIA REGIONAL ELECTIONS
Luca De Luca Picione, Domenico Trezza
DIGITAL POLITICS AND VOTING GEOGRAPHY. POTENTIAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ONLINE STORYTELLING AND ELECTORAL RESULTS IN THE CAMPANIA REGIONAL ELECTIONS
Digital political communication has undergone a revolution due to the emergence of new digital media platforms, significantly impacting electoral campaigns. However, there remains limited understanding of the implications of digital communication in local elections and its correlation with territorial vote concentration. The objective of this study is to investigate these relationships during the 2020 regional elections in Campania. Specifically, the focus is on four candidate profiles from the outgoing president’s political list. The employed methodology follows a quantitative approach, entailing a secondary analysis of an extensive dataset encompassing the candidates’ digital profiles and electoral outcomes within the Naples district. The digital content from their public Facebook pages is extracted using Api strategies, encompassing textual aspects, language style, political communication sentiment, and follower engagement. Through spatial analysis of the candidates’ obtained votes, potential relationships between the geographical distribution of votes and candidates’ digital activity are identified and summarized using the Digital activity index. The findings suggest promising avenues for future research concerning the evolution of political communication in the digital era and its interplay with electoral outcomes.
KEYWORDS: Digital Political Communication, Elections, Local Politics, Social Media, Territorial Vote Concentration
Abstract: THE POLITICS OF INFLUENCERS
Federica Nunziata
THE POLITICS OF INFLUENCERS
Digital platforms play a major role in the rise, success and decline of the political players of the new era. On the Internet, the dynamics of agenda setting not only involve traditional political actors, but also influencers and digital opinion leaders who assume a new centrality in public debate. This article examines the relationship between politics and influencers in the digital environment, defining its main trends and potential risks. Firstly, it proposes a reflection on the processes and mechanisms that triggered this connection, starting from the crisis of intermediate bodies and their traditional role of mediation, up to the emergence of new protagonists who autonomously interpret politics by exploiting digital disintermediation. Secondly, it identifies and explores three aspects of this relationship: the recruitment of influencers, as a widespread practice in the context of campaigns both as an endorsement to a candidate, and to mobilize citizens – especially the younger ones – to vote; the spontaneous and on-demand involvement of digital creators on specific political and social issues, i.e. influencers who use the popularity gained on social networks to influence users’ opinions and political choices, or in some cases to actually run for political roles; the new forms of political leadership that build their image and influence through digital media, assuming the traits of actual influencers lent to politics, or political influencers. In conclusion, some perspective considerations will be drawn on the relationship between politics and influencers in the overall context of the platformization of politics
KEYWORDS: Influencers, Political Influencers, Digital Opinion Leaders, Digital Platforms, Political Communication
Abstract: ELECTION AND SOCIAL NETWORK: THE EFFECT OF (ULTRA)POP POLITICS ON Z GENERATION
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
Abstract: A SPECTRE IS HAUNTING POLITICAL COMMUNICATION: THE SPECTRE OF POPULISM ONLINE
Laura Minguzzi
A SPECTRE IS HAUNTING POLITICAL COMMUNICATION: THE SPECTRE OF POPULISM ONLINE
The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated major changes in contemporary society, particularly in regard to communication. Within the political sphere, leaders had to increasingly rely on social media to communicate with the electorate. In many countries, this transition, far from affecting only the period of pandemic emergency, has gone hand in hand with the contemporary populist wave. The paper aims to investigate how political communication of party leaders on social media has been influenced by «populist rhetoric», focusing on the pandemic influence on this shift. This was done by comparing the Facebook posts of populist and mainstream party leaders in three different Western European countries – Italy, the United Kingdom, and Spain – and analyzing the language they used to interact with followers, starting from, with a comparison of periods before and after the pandemic. We identified four essential characteristics of populism Chameleon nature, Manichaean dialectic, Anti-elitism, and Charismatic leadership – which provide the theoretical basis for the content analysis carried out on the reference sample. These changes were observed in a period of rapid socio-cultural transformation. Indeed, the pandemic seems to have pushed the leaders of the parties analyzed toward a more populist vocabulary, even when they were not originally leaders of parties definable as such. This could be traced back to the inherent characteristics of social media, which rely more on the visual medium than on written text; prompting leaders to rely on more direct and impactful rhetoric to convey their message. However, «populist contagion» goes beyond the simple use of communication techniques, and the results of the analysis seem to confirm how populist rhetoric also affects the way leaders (and thus parties) choose to address certain policy and programmatic issues, moving them, in some cases, away from their traditional agendas
KEYWORDS: Populism, Political Communication, Social Media, Content Analysis, Personal Leadership
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- Valentina Reda, Il sondaggio è morto? Viva il sondaggio. Conversazione con Nando Pagnoncelli
- Andrea Scavo, Laura Caldarella, Federica Ferri, Eva Sacchi, Leader e partiti: analisi della comunicazione su Twitter nella campagna elettorale più social di sempre
- Claudio Esposito Scalzo, Il mercato unico digitale in Europa: big tech e politiche pubbliche
Abstract: IL SONDAGGIO E' MORTO? VIVA IL SONDAGGIO.
Valentina Reda
IL SONDAGGIO E’ MORTO? VIVA IL SONDAGGIO. CONVERSAZIONE CON NANDO PAGNONCELLI
LEGGI QUI: https//rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/107482.
Abstract:LEADERS AND PARTIES: AN ANALYSIS OF THE COMMUNICATION ON TWITTER DURING THE MOST SOCIAL ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN EVER
Andrea Scavo, Laura Caldarella, Federica Ferri, Eva Sacchi
LEADERS AND PARTIES: AN ANALYSIS OF THE COMMUNICATION ON TWITTER DURING THE MOST SOCIAL ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN EVER
The electoral campaign for the last Italian general election was the first held during the summer. With voters even more «distracted» and distant from politics and traditional information channels than usual, the relevance of social media as disintermediated means of communication has grown further. The analysis described in this article shows how the trend toward personalization of political communication has experienced further strengthening in that period. Political leaders and political parties have used Twitter in a more structured and articulated way, differentiating their strategies for different purposes and targeting messages (both in terms of topics covered and in terms of communication styles) based on the intended audiences to reach. Therefore, we argue, communication choices reflect the structure of the political offer and the strategic options available to different political actors. The analysis was conducted on the social profiles on Twitter of the main leaders and political parties in Italy, focusing on publicly available messages published in the period between July 21 (the formalization of Draghi’s cabinet crisis) and September 25, 2022 (the election day). Messages have been collected through a Social intelligence platform, enabling the measurement of key quantitative metrics. The qualitative analysis has been conducted on a probabilistic sample of all the published messages
KEYWORDS: Twitter, Communication, General Election, Personalization, Political Leaders
Abstract: IL MERCATO UNICO DIGITALE
Claudio Esposito Scalzo
EUROPEAN UNION DIGITAL SINGLE MARKET: BIGH TECH AND PUBLIC POLICIES
The global challenges of the 21st century push all modern countries to compete in multiple fields with different approaches, times, and methods. Particularly, digitization, articulated in all its forms, represents one of the most considerable and fascinating issues that the European union has to face. It is a journey that starts from afar and that has its roots in the desire to generate ever greater integration between the member countries, aimed at laying the foundations for shared public policies in the digital field. One of the crucial issue in recent years concerns the creation of the Digital single market (Dsm), i.e., that shared space in which one can benefit, from both an economic and social point of view, from digital developments and their consequent applications. Therefore, the purpose of this Web review is to explore the issue of European public policies about the Dsm and its implementation, providing a focus on the role of Big tech, the use of big data and possible regulatory developments. This analysis will be addressed through the study and discussion of two recent volumes on the subject (Manganelli and Nicita, 2022; Mãrcuţ, 2020). The texts prove to be fundamental for analyzing the major regulatory interventions in the sector, the interventions of the European commission and the main challenges to the creation of the Dsm. Furthermore, the article highlights the critical issues that Europe will be called upon to resolve, especially considering the economic and political strength of big tech, as well as the potential social impact. All in all, it is observed how the correct development of the Dsm can guarantee a dynamic, protected, and efficient economic and social system, fundamental conditions for responding to the challenges for the present and the future of the European union.
KEYWORDS: Digital Single Market, Digital Innovation, Digital Regulation, Big Tech, Governance
Digicracy II
1/2024
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- Valentina Reda,L’Ai digital education e la sfida della (iper)personalizzazione
- Luigi Rullo, (Open)Ai saga
- Gianluigi Spagnuolo, Artificial intelligence and the end of administrative proceedings
- Daniele Battista, Comunicazione politica e intelligenza artificiale: un bilancio tra partecipazione e manipolazione
- Michele Barbieri,A subtle hypocrisy: insights into Italian politics’inertia on the counter-disinformation policy
- Camilla Volpe, Guido Anselmi, Vincenzo Laezza, Social sanctions during disasters. The Italian case of coronavirus on Twitter
- Sara Concetta Santoriello, Agostino Stavolo, La mobilitazione digitale dei millennial. La comunicazione politica di Elly Schlein dal 2013 al 2023
AI DIGITAL EDUCATION AND THE (HYPER)PERSONALIZATION CHALLENGE
Valentina Reda
AI DIGITAL EDUCATION AND THE (HYPER)PERSONALIZATION CHALLENGE
The integration of Artificial intelligence (Ai) into education is catalyzing a shift towards personalized digital education. This article emphasizes Ai’s role for managing and personalizing educational content. The rapid evolution of generative Ai technologies has accelerated this shift, transforming higher education by enabling more adaptive learning environments and promoting widespread digital education. The transition from an emphasis on openness, characterized by the rise of Massive open online courses (Moocs), to a focus on hyper-personalization mirrors broader trends in the new industrial revolution, where micro-level innovations outpace macro-level structures. The article details how these technologies are redefining the delivery and consumption of education, improving online learning design and interaction, and tailoring education to individual needs. With a growing number of higher education institutions placing a strategic emphasis on Ai-enhanced tutorship as a primary innovation.
KEYWORDS: Ai, GenAi, Higher Education 4.0, Mooc, Ai-Tutoring, Personalization
(Open)Ai saga
Luigi Rullo
(OPEN)AI SAGA
The article examines OpenAi, the corporation known for revolutionizing the generative Ai industry with the launch of ChatGpt. In November 2023, OpenAi was thrown into the center of a worldwide echoing affair when it fired and then rehired its deus ex machina, Sam Altman, within the space of a week. The OpenAi saga approaches the defining characteristics of digicracy, its souls, and its underlying nodes. The article examines the background and career of Sam Altman, scrutinizes the corporate governance of OpenAi, and reveals the ideological backgrounds of the key actors seeking to control and develop this technology. The article emphasizes that the tension between OpenAi’s original ideals and economic pressures reveals the operational difficulties of satisfying conflicting goals: advancing Ai, attracting more investment, assessing risk, and «protecting humanity». Overall, the OpenAi saga is a reminder of the volatile nature of the new tech elite, and highlights the complex and unsustainable web of power and value interests that define, guide, and imagine the present and future of Ai.
KEYWORDS: Digicracy, GenAi, Politics, Ai Corporate Governance,OpenAi, ChatGPT, Sam Altman
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE END OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS
Gianluigi Spagnuolo
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE END OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS
The progressive evolution of the use of It in the exercise of administrative power has invested the public administration and the public decision-making process, redesigning its form and substance, influencing organisation and procedures. The automation of administrative proceedings not only allows to redesign internal processes to increase efficiency and improve organizational performance, but also changes the very nature of the proceeding: cancelling the traditional sequence of acts, flattening all the phases, rendered contextual, thus determining the end of the administrative proceeding as known up to now. The use of Artificial intelligence (Ai), which is often seen as a panacea to the problems of the Pa, must not confuse the neutrality of the instrument (enough to credit it) with the neutrality of the method. Indeed, the Ai has itself become the subject of decisions, in administrative proceedings, as in the legal system itself. It is therefore crucial to analyse the design of algorithms, with regard to the opacity of design and transparency on the values they incorporate, in particular with regard to possible unequal treatment resulting from Machine learning (Ml). The analysis of concrete cases highlights the possible repositioning of the different actors involved in the automated administrative proceeding, compared to the redesign of public services and participation in decision-making processes.
KEYWORDS: Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models, Machine Learning, Automated Proceeding, Administrative Simplification.
POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A BALANCE BETWEEN MANIPULATION AND PARTICIPATION
Daniele Battista
POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A BALANCE BETWEEN MANIPULATION AND PARTICIPATION
The current technological landscape has been profoundly shaped by the rapid and significant advances related to Artificial intelligence (Ai), sparking extraordinary interest in academia and beyond. This innovative development has fueled a wide debate on its political, social, and ethical impacts, raising important questions that require multidisciplinary insights and investigations. In particular, whether its integration into the policy context represents a promising opportunity to improve the efficiency of policy decisions and increase the accountability of institutions is being debated. The objective of this article makes it essential to fully understand the implications and potential consequences of applying Ai in the policy arena. Furthermore, it is of paramount importance to assess whether such initiatives can truly be considered democratic or whether they represent a dangerous trend toward the use of an algorithm for manipulative purposes. In order to achieve the proposed objectives, the research methodology will adopt a deductive approach that will be based on an in-depth analysis of the narratives, imaginaries and expectations regarding Ai in this specific dimension. This study aims to make a significant contribution to the understanding of the complex dynamics within the disruptive issue, offering a critical perspective and a comprehensive picture of the multiple contexts involved in its use.
KEYWORDS: Artificial Intelligence, Political Participation, Manipulative Algorithms, Democratic Dynamics, Technological Innovation.
LEGGI QUI: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.53227/113721
A SUBTLE HYPOCRISY
Michele Barbieri
A SUBTLE HYPOCRISY: INSIGHTS INTO THE ITALIAN POLITICS’ INERTIA ON THE COUNTER-DISINFORMATION POLICY
Disinformation has become a significant concern in the digital age, particularly with the proliferation of social networks. This phenomenon poses a threat to Western democracies, as it can manipulate public opinion, fuel political polarization, and facilitate the spread of fake news. The mechanisms provided by digital platforms have played a pivotal role in promoting the so-called «post-truth» era, enabling the dissemination of misleading narratives and the manipulation of public opinion. The Italian context began to prioritise the issue of disinformation after the notorious «Facebook-Cambridge Analytica» scandal. However, despite empirical evidence demonstrating the dangers of disinformation, the Italian political system has not adopted regulatory measures to address the issue. This essay aims to analyse the stance of the major Italian political parties and explore why the Italian political apparatus has not taken adequate action to ensure transparency, reliability, and trustworthiness within the digital media information ecosystem. To achieve this goal, a qualitative analysis of Italian political party leaders’ Facebook posts from 2018 to 2021 will be conducted, to identify how the issue of disinformation is framed and understood by political actors. By detecting convergences or divergences in the narratives and strategies employed, valuable insights into the parties’ approaches to disinformation can be gleaned. The findings of this study will shed light on the configuration of the issue within the Italian politics, providing explanations for the lack of regulatory tools and institutional responses to counter disinformation. Finally, understanding how the major political parties in Italy perceive and address disinformation is crucial for safeguarding the integrity of democratic processes and fostering public trust in the digital media information system.
KEYWORDS: Online Disinformation, Counter-Disinformation Policy, Disinformation Politics, Italian Case, Social Media.
SOCIAL SANCTIONS DURING DISASTERS
Camilla Volpe, Guido Anselmi, Vincenzo Laezza
SOCIAL SANCTIONS DURING DISASTERS. THE ITALIAN CASE OF CORONAVIRUS ON TWITTER
Natural disasters disrupt group stability but also bring out the potential in social capital, aiding in organizing collective responses, social norms and sanctions. In the digital environment, two forces can swiftly modify social norms: the digital propaganda discourse on the digital sphere and platform affordances. As social media has transformed Italian political propaganda, shaping a new form of communication distinct from the past, recognizing the role of affordances in the normative context is crucial. Twitter’s communicative arena operates based on these affordances, continually evolving and shaping new communication strategies. Politicians leverage these affordances to advance their goals, engaging with their audience uniquely. Observing changing social norms, especially during crises like Covid-19, is possible from the perspective of the technical communication system. This study explores collective resilience and social norms during Italy’s first Covid-19 wave, considering political and technical dimensions. Analysing two catalytic events through digital ethnography and content analysis of tweets, focusing on #Milanononsiferma and #Navigli, reveals distinct patterns in the first wave of the pandemic in Italy. In the first phase, conflicting opinions among experts and politicians made health issues challenging to identify. Social sanctioning targeted mask-wearing individuals. In the second phase, severity forced a convergence of natural and artificial factors, shifting sanctioning towards unmasked crowds. This evolution can be understood through socio-technical features: the extensive use of hashtags on Twitter may have amplified messages from political leaders and media, intensifying the a lowcost sanctioning and the adoption of norms that bolster social capital and a sense of belonging.
KEYWORDS: Covid-19, Social Sanctions, Disasters, Affordances, Political Communication.
MILLENNIALS DIGITAL MOBILIZATION. ELLY SCHLEIN’S POLITICAL COMMUNICATION FROM 2013 TO 2023
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.