Incidentally, I recently ran into Ian Makgill from spendnetwork.com/, a London startup funded by the Open Data Institute which looks at using open public data to create the first comprehensive and publicly available repository for government transaction data.

We ended up chatting about the situation with open government data in Italy. To be honest I’m no expert on the matter but a couple of names quickly came to mind.

First, the excellent OpenPolis association. Their mission is to enable free access to public information on political candidates, elected representatives, and legislative activity thus promoting transparency and the democratic participation of Italian citizens.

One of their most successful projects is Open Parliament (similar in scope to theyworkforyou.com in the UK). More recently the Open Bilanci platform was created so to allow citizens to search&compare the budgets and expenses of municipalities (local boroughs) in Italy.

Second, the ongoing work done by the Open Knowledge Foundation, which also has an Italian charter. For example one of its long-standing projects, openspending.org, contains references to several datasets about Italy’s public spending.

Another useful resource is the Italia open data census, a community driven initiative to compare the progress made by different cities and local areas in releasing Open Data.

Soldipubblici.gov.it: a first look

It should be clear by now that the people behind soldipubblici.gov.it are not the only ones looking at increasing transparency and democracy by releasing open data.

What’s not clear at all though, is whether these different groups are talking to each other – which would seem the most obvious thing to do before embarking on a new enterprise like this. Especially since soldipubblici.gov.it is strikingly similar (in scope) to the aforementioned Open Bilanci portal. I’m sure that both the folks at the OKFN and openpolis.org would be interested in getting their hands on these data so to integrate them with their existing services.

Nonetheless, it’s great to hear that more is happening in this space. Even more so because it’s the Italian government who’s taking responsibility for it this (as it should be).

That’s the good news. The bad news is that, from a data perspective, there isn’t much you can do with the soldipubblici.gov.it in this beta release. If one wants to put these data to use there are various key elements missing I believe. Here’s a few ideas:

Conclusion: how serious do you want to be about open data?

This is an inspiring start and I can’t wait to see it being developed further. Especially if it gets developed with real end-users in mind!
To that end, it’s useful to bring up what the OKFN has declared to be the key features of data openness:

Availability and access: the data must be available as a whole and at no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, preferably by downloading over the internet. The data must also be available in a convenient and modifiable form.

Reuse and redistribution: the data must be provided under terms that permit reuse and redistribution including the intermixing with other datasets. The data must be machine-readable.

Universal participation: everyone must be able to use, reuse and redistribute — there should be no discrimination against fields of endeavour or against persons or groups. For example, ‘non-commercial’ restrictions that would prevent ‘commercial’ use, or restrictions of use for certain purposes (e.g. only in education), are not allowed.

Personally, I can’t stress strongly enough how useful it’d be being able to access the raw data. Excel, CSV, a REST API or even better a Linked Data API.
A data-level access point would turn this nice-looking but essentially siloed website into an open resource which thousands of data journalists or data scientists (of any kind) could build upon.

Are you looking forward to see this happen? I do!

Clearly, the high impact of scientists who are now abroad bears testament to the quality of the Italian education and attitude when it comes to Computer Science. The inevitable question thus arises: why are Computer Scientists who work in Italy not among the top in either the world ranking or the TIS list? I have been asking this question to various colleagues in the field, both inside and outside the Via-academy network. The consistent answer I have been receiving is that there is a clear disadvantage Computer Scientists must face when working in Italy with respect to their colleagues who work abroad. This disadvantage derives from a mixture of excessive teaching duties, a lack of large-scale funding and a limited recognition of scientific merit

Recent reports include the “Top 100 researchers- home & abroad” (which includes the quotation above) and the “Top 50 Italian Institutes“.

The H-method: a first step towards meritocracy

This type of analyses are mainly based on the H-index method (an index that attempts to measure both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar); it therefore suffers from various limitations deriving from factors such as the difference in average number of publications among disciplines (especially, between science and the humanities), or from the fact that it’s a purely quantitative analysis.

However, it seems to me as being an important step in the right direction: meritocracy.

p.s.
I found out there’s a recent article by Ignazio Marino on the topic [Working Toward Meritocracy in Italy, Ignazio R. Marino, Science 6 June 2008: 1289]; I couldn’t download it but here’s a short commentary on it I could find online:

…

Needless to say, it’s good news for the (poor) freedom of press in Italy.

Here’re some international articles mentioning ‘il Fatto’ when it initially started out (almost a year ago) on printed paper:

..

Some say that Italy’s ruling class is just struggling to keep pace with the Internet revolution. “Italy’s political culture is far removed from new technology,” says Luca Conti, 34, a blogger in the coastal city of Senigallia. “They’re not even focused yet on how to control the Internet since they haven’t even figured out how to use it to their advantage.” Case in point: more than 100,000 people attended an anti-Berlusconi rally in Rome last month that was organized on Facebook, but the top opposition politicians snubbed the event. Conti says the country’s leaders — left, right and center — are still focused solely on reaching the public via TV and newspapers. And unlike the Internet, the movers and shakers of the old media are some very familiar faces.

What can I say? It’s disgusting – just spread the word and don’t let this people walk on your turf. Knowledge is power.

Some related links:
– other posts about italy
– a previous government’s attempt to stop italian bloggers
– [funny] berlusconi’s worst gaffes

…

Below: an excerpt of the UK MP’s expenses you can freely scrutinize online. I wish stuff like that would be happening in Italy too (as the overspending situation is quite more dramatic..)
. . .

…

From the latest post on Beppe Grillo’s blog:

We are living through an unequalable historical phase. The worst of the Italian State. Berlusconi is the worst President of the Council of the last 150 years. Napolitano is the worst President of the Republic (a true “outsider” that makes one miss even Giovanni Leone who was kicked out). The PDminusL is the worst Opposition since the start of the existence of Parliament with Bersani as major-domo to D’Alema, the most intelligent and f**ked politician but also f**king, of the Republic. I want to be optimistic. We are at the bottom of the well and we can stop digging. We have got to the other side. I feel like an Italian towards the end of the second world war under the bombs. He knows it cannot go on for long. That the sky will once more be pale blue and that he will be able to go out into the street, happy as a child, and kiss the first stranger. My optimism is reasoned. The State has gone bust, a billion a day in Public Debt Is insuperable even for “Tremorti”. Millions of people have lost their job. The fund for those who are laid off is close to collapse. Parliament does not exist. It has been expropriated by Constitutional delinquents. The Church is in command. The camorra is in command. The ‘ndrangheta is in command. The citizen counts for nothing. Everything is lost and above all honour. Italian and clown are synonyms throughout the world. “Italian fucking clown”. The Council of Ministers is a continual replay of “Oggi le comiche” {Today the comics}. Any prostitute, any idiot could become Minister in Italy. This regime, like fascism in its time, can no longer be saved by anyone. It has shattered together with the dishonesty and the indifference of many Italians in the last few years. It’s like, after a tragedy, you pick yourself up out of necessity, that’s how it will happen in the near future. The Five Star Movement has no connections with the past, with none of the rotten names of corruption that govern us. The Movement is starting from zero, from the bottom, this is its strength. The Movement will present itself for the regional elections in Emilia Romagna, Campania, Veneto and Piedmont, with Davide Bono heading the list. Many 5 Star Lists are in preparation for the local elections. The Statute is nearly ready as is online registration. On 5 December I am supporting “No B-day”. I will not be on the stage and I will not speak as that has been requested by the organisers. “For us he is a politician and thus will not speak” is the decision of the promoting committee. We are living through social and institutional ruin that no one would have believed possible, starting with me. We are still in the basement, from the TV stations arrive voices of a present that is already past, of people like Schifani, Gasparri, Dell’Utri, Casini. So present and yet already far off. They will never give up (but is it in their interests?). Neither will we.

>>>
By the way, Beppe Grillo is doing a gig in London on Wednesday, 27 January 2010. Sounds interesting?

…

An interesting study recently issued by the Freedom House (a non profit organization inspired by the ideals of democracy and freedom) positions Italy and another couple of unlucky countries at the bottom of the ladder. Well, kind of – we could say half-way up the ladder – but still quite alarmingly.

New Study: Global Press Freedom Declines in Every Region for First Time Israel, Italy and Hong Kong Lose Free. I report just a couple of passages…

StatusWestern Europe: The region continues to boast the world’s highest level of press freedom. However, Italy slipped back into the Partly Free category with free speech limited by courts and libel laws, increased intimidation of journalists by organized crime and far-right groups, and concerns over the concentration of media ownership. Greece also suffered a significant decline.

Fragile Freedoms: Declines in Israel, Italy and Taiwan illustrate that established democracies with traditionally open media are not immune to restricting media freedom. Over the last five years, a number of emerging democracies have also suffered considerable declines in press freedom including: Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Thailand, the Philippines and Senegal.

The other related thing that came up to my mind, and that people outside Italy (but not only) often ignore, is that the italian government a few years back attempted to PUT A BRAKE ON THE INTERNET REVOLUTION, BY WANTING TO CHARGE BLOGGERS. I know it sounds amazingly incredible, especially because it’s coming from a country which is part of the G8 (supposedly, the bunch of guys who’re ‘leading’ – whatever that means). This piece of news was covered by the times online some time ago – here’s an excerpt:

Recently, Italian lawmakers once again took aim at modern life, introducing an incredibly broad law that would effectively require all bloggers, and even users of social networks, to register with the state. Even a harmless blog about a favourite football squad or a teenager grousing about life’s unfairness would be subject to government oversight, and even taxation – even if it’s not a commercial website.

Outside Italy, the legislation has generated sniggers from hardly sympathetic industry observers. Boingboing cleverly reports Italy is proposing a “Ministry of Blogging.” Out-law.com plays it straighter, calling the measure an “anti-blogger” law.

Pass it on! Knowledge is power

Anyways – the most recent one is the supreme selection of candidates the italian parties are sending to Bruxelles for the EU parliament. Travaglio docet:

If you’re not lucky enough to understand italian, there’s a nice article by The Times about it, titled ‘The beauty of democracy as Silvio Berlusconi picks model MEP candidates‘:

Silvio Berlusconi has an eye for pretty girls with a background in showbusiness and has brought some of them into parliament and even his Cabinet to brighten up politics.

Even by his standards, though, Mr Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, has chosen a striking roster of candidates to give his party a new face for the European Parliament elections in June, including a Big Brother star and a Miss Italy contestant.

None has any known political experience although Angela Sozio, 36, a flame-haired former contestant of Grande Fratello, the Italian version of Big Brother, made the headlines two years ago when the paparazzi photographed her and other showgirls strolling hand-in-hand with Mr Berlusconi, 72, at Villa Certosa, his villa in Sardinia.

The photographs, which appeared in the mass circulation magazine Oggi under the headline “Berlusconi’s Harem”, showed some of the women sitting on the Prime Minister’s knee. He insisted that he was being hospitable in showing the women round his seaside estate while his wife, the former actress Veronica Lario, was at her villa near Milan […….continues….]

It’s on tomorrow in all the major italian squares, and various world ones. If I were there, I would definitely join them! (wanna become a friend of Grillo? take a look at this)