Publications     

Current position

Assistant professor in Sociology
Department of Communication
University of Bologna

Education

1997: Laurea cum laude in Sociology, Facolty of Sociology, Università of Trento, specializing in Economic sociology, dissertation on <<Polesine local development: industrialization without autonomy?>>.

2002: Phd in Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, dissertation on <<Consumption and daily life in the age of the Internet>>.

Employment

May 2002 – June 2004: fellowship in Sociology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Bologna. Research title “Internet and daily life: individualism or new forms of social networks? Concepts of community, time and consumption in the age of the Internet.

July 2004 - April 2005: fellowship in Political and social sciences, Faculty of Political sciences, University of Bologna. Research title “Social capital and the Internet”.

 

Research interests

Digital divide; Digital inequalities; Internet governance; Social consequences of the Internet in daily life; Internet and social inequalities; E-inclusion; Economic sociology; Social capital and the Internet; Social capital and local development; Consumption and social inequalities; Crime and fear of crime.

Research activity

August 2000 - July 2001: visiting scholar, COI (Center on Organizational Innovation) – director Professor David Stark -  and ISERP (Institute for Social and Economic Research Policies), Columbia University, New York.

Since february 2002: researcher at the Istituto Carlo Cattaneo, Bologna.

April-September 2007: Visiting professor at IN3 (Internet Interdisciplinary Institute), Universitad Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.

April 2010 - May 2010: Visiting professor at Stanford University, Usa.

May 2010 - June 2010: Visiting professor at Washington University, Communication Dept., Usa, Global Universities Program fellowship.

 
Conference attendance

August 2001: paper “E-consumers in Italy and the US: evidences and hypotheses”, ESA (European Sociological Association), Helsinki, Finland (28.8-2.9 2001).

September 2003: paper “Trends and patterns in Internet use: a comparison between Italy and the US”, International Association for Research in Economic Psychology (I.A.R.E.P.), “Firms and consumers facing e-commerce”, Rimini, Italia.

December 2003: Istat (Italian center of Statistics) “Per una società più sicura”, Roma, Italia.

March 2004: “Sixth International Conference of German Online Research”, Duisburg, Germania. 

July 2005: “New social inequalities in Italy: beyond the digital divide”, SASE (Society for the advancement of socio-economics), Budapest, Hungary. 

June 2006: Panel expert at Ianis Annual conference “TOWARDS eREGIO 2010 - Challenges & Threats for the competitiveness of the regions in the Global Knowledge Economy”, Sweden, in the TRANSFORM Group “Transformative Use of ICT in EU Region". 

23-26 January 2007: Tavola rotonda "Governance di Internet", Festival delle Arti e delle culture digitali, Torino, www.toshare.it 

12 March 2007: Demo-Net, Workshop on E-participation public policies and implications of e-participation on the decision making process, Università di Bergamo, Facoltà di Economia e Giurisprudenza. 

25-28 March 2007: GOR07, General Online Research; Liepzig, Germania, www.gor.de. Paper "Beyond the digital divide: the new digital inequalities".

17 July 2007, "The digital divide: micro and macro levels of analysis", Seminar at the Universidad Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spagna. 

13-15 September 2007, IX Congreso Español de Sociologìa, Barcelona, Spagna.

24 January  2008, “Il divario digitale”, Communication Lunch, Dipartimento di discipline della comunicazione, Università di Bologna.

10-11 April 2008, Evaluator on European project, TRANSFORM, Panel expert, RICEG meeting, Eris@, Bruxelles.

11-13 June 2008, Expert consultant at the Eris@ Annual Conference 2008, "Opportunities and Rewards for Regional Development through ICT: New Paradigms – New Challenges", Cardiff, Uk. http://www.ianis.net/about/conferences/cardiff2008/

5-8 September 2008, Invited paper at the First International Sociological Association Forum on Sociology, Barcelona, ES, http://www.isa-sociology.org/barcelona_2008/

 4-6 February 2009, Bridge-IT Kick off meeting, European Project on Migrants and Ict, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

 8 April 2009, E-democracy 2.0 - Istituzioni, cittadini, nuove reti: un lessico possibile, International Conference promoted By Emilia Romagna Region, Bologna, Italy.

8 April 2010, What is a political party?, Mapps (Methods of analysis for the social sciences), colloquium series, Stanford University, with Paolo Parigi.

29 June -4 July 2010, Presenting a co-authored research paper on Italian legislative process in the 70’s, at Lago di Garda, Italy, International Sunbelt Social Network Conference (INSNA).

29-30 November 2010, Italian Internet Governance Forum (IGF), Invited talk “Why Italians do not connect to the Net”, Roma.

17 January 2011, Laboratorio Urbano, “Progettare la città digitale”, Invited talk “Dal digital divide alla città digitale”, Università di Bologna.

Teaching activity

Sociology
Methodology of social research
Sociology of new media
Social change
Sociology of organization
 

Membership

October 2000 -  ASA (American Sociological Association), Section CIT (Communicattion and Information Technology).

September 2002 - AiOR, Association of Internet Researchers .

January  2004 -  Editorial Board, <<Polis>> review.

January 2004 -  Sase (Society for the advancement of socio-economics)

Current research

- Political Parties in Italy in the 70’s. Network Analyses on Member Parliament’ law proposals in the Italian Deputy Chamber. With Paolo Parigi, Stanford University, Usa.

- Internet and Politics: New forms of political participation. With Dario Tuorto, University of Bologna, Italy.

- Digital inequalities among Communication Students in 4 Universities (Northwestern, Usa; Trier, Germany; Goteborg, Sweden; Bologna, Italy).

Book's Index

The digital divide: Internet and new social inequalities, 2006, Il Mulino, Bologna, Italy.

Introduction: What is the digital divide?

1. From access to use: hypoteses and classifications
2. Discovering the global digital divide: differences across countries
3. The social divide: differences across individuals and families
4. Use's inequalities
5. Internet governance and digital inequalities