DigitCult - Scientific Journal on Digital Cultures
DigitCult is an academic journal of international scope, double-blind peer-reviewed, and open access, aiming to value international research and to present current debate on digital culture, technological innovation, and social change. DigitCult, taking into account the increasingly pervasive diffusion of digital cultures and their social impacts, intends to study the processes of transformation and innovation within different disciplinary traditions, also in relation to the design of new digital models, both in the field of Social Sciences and Media Studies as well as in that of Library and Information Science and Digital Humanities. DigitCult aims to discuss key issues on both theoretical and empirical research.
The Third Wave of Human Computer Interaction: From Interfaces to Digital Ecologies
This is an historical moment where machines play an increasing role in all the aspects of human life, with the digitisation of nearly everything and the increasing automation of sectors that were traditionally human-centred. In this contribution we present the forms of innovation that characterise this period, using a distinction introduced by Verganti. We then review the role that the discipline of human-computer interaction can play (and have traditionally played) in this scenario. We end the contribution by highlighting how the complexity of the current situation demands for a discipline that can assist in identifying the questions to be answered, rather than in solving well-defined problems. Video Extension Click on the thumbnail below for the video extension on YouTube.
Copyright (c) 2016 DigitCult - Scientific Journal on Digital Cultures
The Public Use of History in the Digital Society
In recent times, digital approaches have been applied in many different branches of the humanities and have led to the creation of a major new cross-sector area which brings together disparate expertise and necessitates interdisciplinary cooperation. The digital approach is a common denominator in specialised research and teaching as well as in archival practices, dissemination and publishing. Above all, though, it links people with a specific forma mentis. Looking at this cross sector from an academic point of view one can see that it stimulates a new kind of cooperation among traditional disciplines. Today's researchers, indeed, much more than just making use of digital tools, are seeking a new digital perspective: what in this approach is the common element capable of creating shared knowledge? This is ongoing change requiring an open-minded point of view which can really foster profound innovation, both in culture and in society, and researchers and academics have a crucial role to play to achieve this. Digital History, as part of Digital Humanities, also includes new approaches in research and in dissemination. Our task is to discuss and to publish how historians are using digital potential in "making history". This approach could also prove very effective in fostering both a culture of history and one of participation in society. The result expected, however, goes beyond simple access to historical information, with the creation of a cultural condition for public access to historical knowledge. It should ultimately shape new interactions in the construction of the collective memory, and, as such, it can be a fillip to social and cultural development at large.
Thingbook: The Society of All Things (Humans, Animals, Things and Data)
In considering the origin of Things, it is quite conceivable that a designer, reflecting on the mutual affinities of organic and inorganic beings, on their morphological relations, their geographical distribution, cultural succession, social function and other such facts, might come to the conclusion that things had not been independently created, but had descended, like varieties, from other Things. Nevertheless, such a conclusion, even if well founded, would be unsatisfactory, until it could be shown how the innumerable Things, inhabiting this world have been modified, so as to acquire that perfection of structure and coadaptation which justly excites our imagination. In seeking out the future of the origin of Things the authors take a Beaglesque voyage to identify the social, cultural and technological forces which drive the emergence of a Thingbook - a place where all Things converge to define a new phylogenetic tree of networked relationships. With this homage to the Origin of Species (Darwin, 1859), this paper explores the emergence of a society of all Things (Humans, Animals, Things and Data), by mapping the circumstances that have enabled this emergence and identifying the new relationships and behaviours that are developing between Things. It moves beyond morphic and linguistic relationships to the behavioural, performative and predictive qualities of algorithms that provide a DNA for future modification. The Thingbook is both a taxonomy of things, an algorithm for their form and behaviour, which in turn is a generative meshwork of relationships. Video Extension Click on the thumbnail below for the video extension on YouTube.
Transmedia Storytelling and Other Challenges (and Opportunities) for the (Digital) Humanities
The evolution of research infrastructure toward digital formats seems to undermine not only the ways we do research in the humanities but also widespread assumptions about the role of the humanities as a whole in contemporary society: what is at stake is not only the transformation of the procedures of humanistic research but also, and more importantly, the transformation of its goals. The emergence of the so-called Digital Humanities (DH) has further fueled this debate within our profession. The Authors identify five fundamental challenges for humanities research in the digital age: 1) a challenge of scale - in the age of big data, also the humanities feel somewhat compelled to increase the scale of their object of study; 2) a challenge of evanescence/ obsolescence, the actual vanishing (or deliberate destruction) of our object of research; 3) a challenge of ethos, with an alleged shift from individualistic toward increasingly "collectivized" values, as a result of the pervasive networking and “socialization” of research; 4) an institutional challenge, as a neo-liberal ethos pervades the contemporary “corporatization” of higher education; 5) a challenge of public relevance, directly connected to the output of humanities research. One example of how a traditional, feature of humanistic culture is radically evolving in the current environment is "transmedia storytelling" (TS). Since storytelling (and more generally, narrative discourse) is also one of the most distinctive forms of humanistic knowledge production (production of "meaning" beyond mere "information"), this evolution may also offer an opportunity for a thought experiment aimed to test the state of humanities research, both from a critical and an operative point of view: a comprehensive look at this multidimensional phenomenon (and complex object of research) can stimulate a discussion about all the points (challenges) mentioned above. Video Extension Click on the thumbnail below for the video extension on YouTube.
Public Service Media and the Common Good
This paper attempts to identify the mission of public service media (PSM) if they are to reassert their role in the twenty-first century. It is argued that PSM still have, and must accept, the responsibility of planning both schedules and programs with the aim of encouraging people to make better choices for their own wellbeing, as well as promoting audience development, inclusion, and social awareness. It is also argued that this traditional mission must be renewed by identifying new instruments and new spaces for mediating a public debate that engages the productive and progressive forces of the country, from active citizen communities to cultural and scientific communities. Indeed, the role of PSM must be constantly negotiated in order to be fully participative and open to change. They must not only be able to maintain dialogue and accountability with respect to their audience, but also be open to outside ideas, influences and “hybridization”. This role has become even more strategic in the new digital habitat. PSM must manage this transitional phase, promote digital inclusion, encourage the country to use new platforms and, above all, to use them proactively and consciously. Video Extension Click on the thumbnail below for the video extension on YouTube.
Cultural Heritage and ICT: State of the Art and Perspectives
This paper tries to outline the evolution of the role of ICT with respect to Cultural Heritage showing how, starting from the first digitization projects, ICT has gradually become the major driving force for both preserving and exploiting Cultural Heritage. Specifically, the key role of advances in automatic recognition within texts and multimedia information are considered. Essential Website References Cultural Heritage Search Engine Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) IEEE1599 International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (JOCCH), ACM, New York Journal of Cultural Heritage, Elsevier, Amsterdam, NL Library of Congress, Washington, USA MPEG official site UNESCO - Intangible Cultural Heritage UNIMARC World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) - Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Videos Click on the thumbnails below to open videos on YouTube. An Advanced Technology for Music Contents Digital Archives for Music Cultural Heritage Digitizing Audio, Scores, and Iconographic Materials
Our field of research deals with the interaction between CULTURAL ELABORATION AND REAL PROCESSES. We know how to use a continuous idea that is seamlessly in line with both the recent past and the prevailing dynamics that historically characterize our present society (i.e. the European society). On the contrary, we can use an idea of rupture that emphasizes profound changes: a real change of civilizations, an irreversible, general turning point, an unquestionable revolution with new players and new leading forces. DigitCult aims to define the field of digital cultures by facing the key categories that are widespread today while still maintaining a close link between cultural elaboration and real processes, between specialist research and the spreading of relevant information. Our purpose: RE-BUILD A MAP and A CONSTELLATION OF MEANINGS AND BELIEFS IN A PROCESS OF SHARING AND CULTURAL AND SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION. Video Extension Click on the thumbnail below for the video extension on YouTube.
Design Futures: A New Discipline, Tool and Medium
While digital media are providing a valuable resource to keep the world connected, their intrinsic channel speed has made information extremely transient and present-oriented in its nature, often lacking overall quality in an era of data over-abundance. If rear-view mirrorism has been characterizing our attitude towards the future, nowadays our speed of technological development is making it unfeasible to face what is next while running backwards. At the crossroads of design fiction, interaction design, ethnographic research and future foresights, the design futures discipline aims to create engaging future-projected experiences, with the goal of inspiring people, increasing their awareness on contemporary challenges and their willingness to act, responsibly impacting the future and consciously choosing among possible alternatives. In this paper we trace the origins and the role of the new discipline, we provide a definition, we introduce some examples and we analyze design futures’ role as a multidisciplinary platform for discussion and convergent media experimentation and development.
From the Real to the Virtual: The Re-Presentation of the Spatiality of the Museum on Its Website
The museum is not only a transmitter of information about objects, but also ‘a technology in its own right’: the spatial and conceptual arrangement of its display and the architectural layout of its spaces, which together constitute the spatiality of the museum, act as media that generate and structure the way it presents knowledge. This paper explores whether museums seek to re-present their spatiality in the virtual sphere of the website, and if so, in what ways and why. Studies of the use of websites which stress interdependence with the real museum, provide the grounding for these questions. Forty-three websites of the most visited European museums are analyzed, on the basis of 16 themes that index spatiality. The paper clarifies high variability in the way they interpret spatiality, distinguishing three modes of relating real and virtual: the synergetic, the presentational and the discursive. Methodologically, a conceptual framework is developed for interpreting these strategic differences. Theoretically, website design is related to museum theory, in that the philosophy among leading museums to transmit their spatiality powerfully through the website can be theorized as reflecting a performing, rather than informing, museological approach, and a move towards a more ‘participatory’ website culture.
Google, Facebook, the New Monopolies and Silicon Valley Ideologues
This article addresses the issues posed by the de facto monopolies created by digital platforms, focusing in particular on the cases of Google and Facebook. These two companies have assumed a dominant position in the fields of online research and of social networks. An analysis of their activity performed so far by the antitrust Authorities in the US and Europe shows the difficulty of dealing with these situations when applying methods which have traditionally been used to address questions of monopoly. The new element, compared to the past, is constituted by the huge data archives in possession of these companies: it’s the information on users to give Google and Facebook the ability to provide more competitive and customized services. Some scholars believe that it is necessary to regulate data collection, to redefine their property or even to oblige the dominant companies to share data with competitors. Others argue that “attention market” should be regulated, where a consumer’s attention is a scarce resource in the age of abundant information. However others believe that in the new world of the web and digital platforms the old categories of the economy are obsolete and monopolies are the natural and desirable outcome of the markets. The outcome of this battle will depend on the structure of economic power and the role of consumers in the near future. Video Extension Click on the thumbnail below for the video extension on YouTube.
Massive Online Open Courses: Towards Openness
The paper is on the phenomenon of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) that is currently undergoing many changes. It takes into consideration the relationship of MOOCs with Open Education, Online Education and Distance Education and investigates the directions that assumes that openness in Education. They are examined the many reasons behind MOOCs, their types and forms, the positive and negative aspects of the activation of MOOCs in Universities. The paper concludes by proposing some sociocultural perspectives for MOOCs, as identified by stakeholders. Video Extension Click on the thumbnail below for the video extension on YouTube.
Preserving the Digital: The National Model and the International Context
The article analyses the digital preservation with specific reference to the archival context and to the Italian legislative framework. The rich literature on the sector cannot be deeply investigated in this article, but some contradictions of the Italian model are here considered with specific reference to the lack of consistency of the concept of digital preservation in the legislation and the limited attention paid by the legislation to the role of the archival institutions. A final template lists and compares the main requirements for a correct preservation system to the models applied in Europe, North America and Italy.
From the Actor to the Actions. Sociology and the Transformations of Intellectuals towards Network Society
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the transformation of intellectuals in contemporary global post-industrial society, through a critical review on sociological studies and researches. The thesis is that contemporary intellectuals should not consider a socio-cultural élite or vanguard but a swarm of social actors defined by their relationship with the digital media and the economic sphere. After two introductive paragraphs focused on the critic approach – it is based on the new knowledge sociology – the third and the fourth ones argues the most important studies on intellectuals wrote in industrial society age (theory of the New Class, New-Marxism theory, Weberanian theory, sociology of knowledge). The least paragraphs are focused on a discussion about the new sociology of intellectuals in a post-industrial society and the problem of the relationships between digital media and the intellectual actions in contemporary world.
Advances and Perspectives in Web Technologies for Music Representation
Web technologies are quickly evolving in order to provide an increasing set of services to Internet users. Multimedia is one of the fields where the availability of high-speed networks, innovative devices and new technological approaches is noticeably arousing the interest of content producers and consumers. In this regard, it is worth mentioning new HTML5 elements to embed multimedia, recent evolutions of e-book formats towards interactivity and hypermedia, and the establishment of new W3C groups addressing specific media-related issues. Such technological advances can have a deep impact on digital cultures, as it regards both content production and dissemination on the Web. The current challenge is to combine new hardware and software technologies in order to radically improve and customize content experience. After discussing a number of approaches to music representation, this paper aims to review the most relevant Web technologies already available and to propose new Web applications addressing music in an advanced multimedia context.
Image-Based Models Using Crowdsourcing Strategy
The conservation and valorization of Cultural Heritage require an extensive documentation, both in properly historic-artistic terms and regarding the physical characteristics of position, shape, color, and geometry. With the use of digital photogrammetry that make acquisition of overlapping images for 3D photo modeling and with the development of dense and accurate 3D point models, it is possible to obtain high-resolution orthoprojections of surfaces.Recent years have seen a growing interest in crowdsourcing that holds in the field of the protection and dissemination of cultural heritage, in parallel there is an increasing awareness for contributing the generation of digital models with the immense wealth of images available on the web which are useful for documentation heritage.In this way, the availability and ease the automation of SfM (Structure from Motion) algorithm enables the generation of digital models of the built heritage, which can be inserted positively in crowdsourcing processes. In fact, non-expert users can handle the technology in the process of acquisition, which today is one of the fundamental points to involve the wider public to the cultural heritage protection. To present the image based models and their derivatives that can be made from a great digital resource; the current approach is useful for the little-known heritage or not easily accessible buildings as an emblematic case study that was selected. It is the Vank Cathedral in Isfahan in Iran: the availability of accurate point clouds and reliable orthophotos are very convenient since the building of the Safavid epoch (cent. XVII-XVIII) completely frescoed with the internal surfaces, which the architecture and especially the architectural decoration reach their peak.The experimental part of the paper explores also some aspects of usability of the digital output from the image based modeling methods. The availability of orthophotos allows and facilitates the iconographic reading of the frescoes; adding to the radiometric data there is the metric potentiality of reading the proportions and composition of the organization of the frescoes. Furthermore, simplified and suitably schematized models can be even printed and can be used in a didactic environment such as the knowledge dissemination intended by the museums and other cultural institutions.Actually, this test case is even a pretext to discuss the current chance to enhance the crowdsourced collection of image data concerning the cultural heritage scattered in the world with the aim to derive spatial data and models.
Co-creation in Italian Transmedia Production
This essay analyzes the forms of co-creation which have involved the operators in broadcast communication, the new creators of non-institutional content and the users in the context of transmedia production, with a particular focus on the Italian situation. The first part of the essay analyzes and compares the definitions of transmedia in literature, aiming to identify the specific characteristics of communication strategies which identify it and to clarify the differences with the concept of cross-media, which is often used wrongly as a synonym. In the second part of the essay, the main study models of transmedia structures in literature are used in order to analyze some emblematic cases of transmedia co-creation which have experimented some collaborative solutions over the last decade in Italy, leading to the production of contents designed for a distribution on multiple platforms, used in a coordinated and complementary manner.
Digital Transformation: Developing Skills and Cultures
Digitalization is completely transforming the way companies work and their organization. The focus point for any innovation is not only the development of digital competence but rather to help the organization change its culture. We are now going through a profound metamorphosis in the professions, in qualifications and also in the organizations themselves which means we are now experiencing a period of greater uncertainty and complexity as we search for new working patterns and increased knowhow. The digitalization profoundly modifies the way enterprises work: it modifies their methods of production, reshapes their structure, introduces new ways and platforms of communication and increases skills and changes organizational culture. In this paper, a research aiming to understand the different digital skills and cultures of an Italian company of 4.000 employees will be presented.
Grand Tour: Imaginary, Territory and Digital Cultures
Could the Grand Tour be recovered as a narrative asset oriented to a strategic re-branding of the travel in Italy? The present contribute analyzes the context and the conditions for a design of that level in the digital age cultural environment. According to the modern archetypes of the places mediation as a great reservoir of meaning, it points out strategies to reactivate them both through practices based on serial and transmedial formats promoting the territories by creative production, and through the construction of digital infrastructures and trans-places aimed at enhancing cultural attractors.
EU Digital Regulation Versus Copyright: A Way to Reconcile Digital Economy and Copyright?
In September 2016, the European Commission presented a proposal for a Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market, part of a package that also includes the transposition into European law of the Marrakesh Treaty and its effects on the European Union’s relations with third countries, as well as the regulation on online transmissions of broadcasting organisations. The copyright directive is of major importance in the context of digital regulation as it proposes a new related right for press publishers and a new mechanism aiming to give rightholders better control over the use and remuneration of their works on Internet. The proposal also narrows the liability exemption under the e-commerce directive, which has given platforms that provide access to protected works a way out of concluding licensing agreements with rightholders. The draft directive proposes three exceptions to copyright to reinforce digital use in education, protection of the cultural heritage and text-and-data mining. The aim of this paper is to present and to comment on the copyright directive and offer an overview of the opinions that are starting to emerge among different stakeholders.
Social Networks and Participation: A Critical Literature Review
This paper explores the controversial concept of participation in the ecology of contemporary commercial social networking media. It begins by investigating a number of contemporary theories related to social networking media in order to bring forth the assumptions that underline current research. The concept of participation, regardless of the epistemological and the ontological assumptions of the research surveyed, is generally accepted as the necessary pre-condition for the sustainability of social networking media. Specifically, studies from economic, social, cultural, and political perspectives make use of the concept of participation to make sense of the current usage of social networks. However, there is no agreed upon definition of participation across such studies, and in some among the most notable cases, the definitions are either unsubstantiated, reductionist, and/or deterministic. This presents an impediment in furthering the understanding of the role of social networking media in contemporary societies and further fragments the understanding and analysis of the phenomenon. This paper argues that participation is a concept that cannot be understood without a multi-disciplinary approach that takes into consideration and embraces the inherent controversies of participation. By critically analysing a multitude of perspectives on participation, and drawing upon secondary empirical evidence regarding political cases, grassroots campaigns, and business-related issues, this critical survey attempts to develop a balanced definition of participation that can be used as a sensitizing device across different disciplines.
Towards Multimodal Content Fruition in On-line Scientific Journals: The Case of DigitCult
On-line journals are becoming increasingly important and credited as scientific communication tools. The advantages of Web publishing, and in particular open-access peer-reviewed repositories, are remarkable in terms of availability, information retrieval, and potentially addressed audience. Quite surprisingly, some aspects typical of on-line publishing have never been fully explored and exploited: for example, the possibility of providing readers with multi-modal content (e.g., different file formats for text encoding, attached multimedia objects, etc.) non-traditional paths to navigate information and further investigate research themes (links to external content, video interviews with authors, multimedia insights, etc.), and the use of social networks and forums as spaces for debate among peers and with experts. DigitCult is an academic journal dealing with digital cultures, and - due to its multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary vocation - it has been conceived to achieve the mentioned goals. Consequently, a paradigm shift is required in the design of contents by authors, the rethinking of the editorial process, and the study of technical solutions aiming to adapt existing on-line publishing platforms to the new requirements. This paper will document the analysis, design and implementation efforts that led to the release of DigitCult: Section 1 will address the problem of technological affordances and editorial cultures, with particular reference to on-line scientific journals; Section 2 will propose a multi-layered reading environment aiming to enhance transmedia communication; finally, Section 3 will focus on the technical issues encountered to achieve this goal, discussing the limits of the OJS platform and proposing some workaround solutions.
This article tackles and analyses the role of book as socialization agent, or, precisely, as a socialization textual agent. The study thus focuses on young readers and children – from the very first reading experiences to 14 years – and on the educational functions that books and literature can have for them. Over the years, socio-cultural research has studied the book as a social product (sociology of literature), a package of signifiers (semiotics), and a good from cultural industry and market (cultural studies): the present study recalls fundamental conclusions of decades of research about the book and literature, so as to retrace adequate criteria for an original classification and theory of 0-14 literary genres, specifically meant to highlight the educational, socializing roles of each one.
Copyright (c) 2017 DigitCult - Scientific Journal on Digital Cultures
The Paradigm of Augmentation: Immediate Interactivity and Cooperative Design
This contribution aims to contextualize the increased reality within the mediological field, looking at it as an occurrence of the avant-garde paradigm, and highlighting some of the forms of interactive textuality that used this model. In the first part, we will try to correlate with the concept of radical remodeling and mediation proposed by Richard Grusin, looking at the structures and meanings, typically postmodern, which participate with them in technological evolution. Secondly, the emblematic case of the city and the urban space will be analyzed in two directions: the territory, understood as technically written text by the user, and the spatial value of the text, understood as programming scripts, narrative, browsable, and performable. The goal is to understand the ways in which this technology - in its natural evolutionary path - affects the user's emotional and emotional experience, creating complex processes of narrative and collaborative meaning making paradigmatic use of the model of augmentation.
Organizational Aspects of Innovative Paper Digitization and E-Invoicing Services in the Public Sector
The article tries to describe a model of analysis to evaluate and measure real benefits and organizational effects arising from the process of paper digitization and e-invoicing for the Italian Public Administrations. The analysis is focused also on the interaction between citizens, professionals, companies and the Italian public administrations. The approach at the basis of the investigation highlights several critical traits of the digitization activity and delivers an analysis that displays how those difficulties brought forward by motivational and involvement factors. The digital transformation in the Public sector can give several opportunities from the organizational point of view, but at the same time can propose some complex difficulties for the delivering of effective services and for the innovation development.
The Socio-spatial Transformations of Piazza S. Carlo in Turin Experienced Through Digital History
This paper aims to analyse the methodology and the results of an interdisciplinary study of Piazza San Carlo in Turin. This space, known for its precious urban and architectural design, has also been a place where people, actions and social transformations have given a different conformation without altering its design and perceptual structure. The square, that represent in also the a point of widening of Via Roma (one of the main historical arteries of the city) has been re-studied by linking the architectural transformations with social changes, during the period between the early 19th century and major projects of rehabilitation of the early years of the last century. This work was conducted through the experimental use of digital tools, used both as support for research and as a fundamental tool for the narration of the results obtained.
Massive Online Open Courses: The New Frontiers of Experience
Here we intend to take account of the experiences of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) in the contexts of developing countries and business. These are new experiences that start at a later stage than the initial one,that saw the birth of MOOCs within US élite universities and their diffusion in the academic sphere. In both cases, they are highlighted the opportunities that, as educational and vocational training systems, MOOCs seem to offer, the difficulties that emerge in the development of of programs and the resulting adaptations needed for an effective implementation. The paper concludes with some contestualized reflections on the concept of quality and on the evolutionary lines of the teaching-learning process.
eLeadership: Digital Challenges Managers
Digital is not simply “another tool”, another competitive environment, a new group of companies. We should rather consider it the “mother” of all new technologies, the leading character in transforming societies and markets. This is due to the fact that digital is an horizontal technology, with an exponential growth factor and it is basically “infesting” everything it get in touch with. As a matter of fact it develops and grows at a whirling pace and it mates and hybridize itself with everything it touches. It enters both into products and processes (production, commerce, and governance) and it is the main character both in the business world and in the dreams of our children. For these reasons adopting good practices in the use of digital – above all for the managers – depends on many factors, much more sophisticated and articulated with respect to those tackled by a basic training. It’s not enough to add an “e” in front of the noun “Leadership” and to simply give a dusting of digital knowledge, but letting the managers do the same things they were used to do. We need to reinterpret the leadership by means of a digital lens and – more and more frequently – start to rethink it, to redesign the leadership itself. And we also need to experiment new practices and new organizational models now feasible thanks to the digital revolution. The challenge driven by digital technologies it’s not a training challenge but an educational challenge. Ordinary digital training teaches the basics (basic terms and main functioning) of the most frequently used tools. But we need to build a deep comprehension, a sensibility and a critical thinking with respect to the digital phenomenon as a whole. For all these reasons, we need to reintroduce the critical thinking with respect - above all - to digital technologies and unmask the stereotypes attached to them, more and more widespread among users not particularly well-educated. And this has happened thanks to digital solutions’ providers and biased journalists willing to enhance only the brilliant surface of digital applications, its “sunny side”. The knowledge regarding also the “dark sides” of digital it’s therefore particularly relevant. Adjusting the well-known Anna Karenina’s incipit to our purpose, we may say that “the useful digital applications are all alike, but every dark side is problematic in its own way”.
Free Software Licenses and Other Free Licenses: Genetic Code of Digital Common Goods
This article explores the history and describes the main features of free software licenses and other free licenses in an attempt to shed light on the reasons for their success in promoting individual behaviors converging towards the collective construction of digital commons.
Editoriale di Mario Ricciardi, editor di DigitCult
Current and Novel Strategies for Biomarkers Detection in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Future Graphene-Based Applications
Scientific progress has significantly reduced pandemic death causes, thus progressively increasing life expectancy. This achievement forced researchers to face the main problem related to an aging population: the occurrence of neurodegenerative disorders (NDDs). Unfortunately, today only symptomatic drugs are available to delay the disease progression of NDDs. Moreover, the specificity and selectivity of the current clinical diagnosis does not allow an early disease detection for a prompt clinical intervention before symptoms onset. Therefore, part of the research is now focusing on two main aspects: i) find out new selective biomarkers, ii) detect biomarkers in body fluids with more sensitive and specific technological tools. In particular, in the last decade graphene has raised great interest thanks to its unique chemical properties, easy availability, biocompatibility and low cost for the synthesis of electrochemical and optical sensors-biosensors. Here we report some of the most relevant new biomarkers under investigation and the new graphene tools that could be potentially used to improve NDDs early diagnosis. Despite further investigations are needed before a useful clinical employment of such new nanomaterials, promising positive results are expected in the next future.
Copyright (c) 2018 DigitCult - Scientific Journal on Digital Cultures