Internet & Democracy: Biennale Democrazia

The Nexa Center is playing a leading role in the organization of the “Internet & Democracy” activities within the program of Biennale Democrazia (the “Biennial of Democracy”).

Since 2009, the City of Turin hosts and supports Biennale Democrazia, a national event with international guests devoted to democracy in the broadest sense. Juan Carlos De Martin, Nexa co-director, is a member of the scientific committee of Biennale.

The Nexa Center supports Biennale Democrazia since 2009 and it took a more relevant role within the 2011 edition, supporting the organization of events such as Lawrence Lessig’s Lectio Magistralis In sunlight. The nature of corruption within the US Congress or of the Torino Open Data Contest. In 2013 the Nexa Center organizes three major public events, involving Philippe Aigrain, Roberto Casati, and Stefano Rodotà.

The Nexa Center nurtures the “Internet & Democracy” related themes within the program of Biennale Democrazia. It also uses this venue to reach a broader public, including high school students.

The 2019 Biennale Democrazia edition took place from 27th to 31st March in Turin. Juan Carlos De Martin and Gustavo Zagrebelsky talked about the ethical and democratic issues behind every technological evolution; Jean-Claude Guédon, in a lecture chaired by Juan Carlos De Martin, illustrated the role of “open science” as a barrier to the forms of power inherent in the process of production of scientific knowledge

In occasion of the 2017 edition of Biennale Democrazia, the Nexa Center proposed five public conferences: “Emergencies on the Net. Hacking, Anonymous, Wikileaks” (Gabriella Coleman, Juan Carlos De Martin), “Democratic city technologies” (Francesca Bria, Juan Carlos De Martin), “Internet & Democracy. An ironical inversion” (Evgeny Morozov, Anna Masera), “Robotics and web: a new industrial revolution?” (Evgeny Morozov, Federico Pistono), “Collective Intelligence and Collective Stupidity” (Juan Carlos De Martin, Christian Raimo).

In occasion of the 2015 edition of Biennale Democrazia, the Nexa Center proposed three public conferences: “Memoria e oblio ai tempi di Internet” (Luciano Floridi), “Una Magna Charta per Internet” (Philippe Aigrain, Juan Carlos De Martin, Stefano Rodotà), “I social network: chi decide cosa vediamo” (Sara Bentivegna, Antonio Casilli, Fabio Chiusi).

During the Biennale Democrazia 2013 edition the Center organized three major public events: “Sharing knowledge”, with Juan Carlos De Martin, Carlo Donolo, and Ugo Mattei and concerning digital commons, intellectual property and new enclosures; “The utopias of e-democracy”, with Roberto Casati, Juan Carlos De Martin, and Alexander Trechsel, coordinated by Riccardo Staglianò, also discussing the role of intermediaries and of transparency; “Is Internet a fundamental right?”, with Juan Carlos De Martin and Stefano Rodotà, coordinated by Ferruccio De Bortoli, and analyzing the option of amending article 21 of the Italian Constitution.

In collaboration with Wikimedia Italia, CSP-Innovation in ICT and the Dschola Association, the Nexa Center also organized the meeting “Wikipedia as a tool for digital citizenship”, which represented the final public event of a longer process called “Dai una Voce alla Democrazia” (i.e., “Give a voice to democracy”, but also “Give an encyclopedia entry to democracy”). During this process, tens of high school students were tutored while editing Wikipedia items related with the concepts of utopia and democracy.

In 2011 the Nexa Center supports the organization of events such as the Lawrence Lessig’s Lectio Magistralis and the interview with Amelia Andersdotter, the youngest parliamentarian elected in the European Parliament. In 2009 the Nexa Center proposes the project “Università Aperta” (Open University), an online consultation of university students of Turin on the Wheeler Declaration.