The Nexa Center for Internet & Society is a research and training center of the Department of Control and Computer Engineering at Politecnico di Torino. It has significant experience in open content, open data, open education, and ICT applied to societal issues. The Nexa Center arose from the activities of an informal interdisciplinary group – with expertise in technology, law, and economics – that was formed in Torino in 2003 and has conceived, designed, and implemented a number of initiatives: Creative Commons Italia (2003-present), CyberLaw Torino (2004), Harvard Internet Law Program Torino (2005), SeLiLi (2006-2013), COMMUNIA (2007-2011), Neubot (2008-present), and LAPSI (2010-2012).
The Nexa Center, along with international partners, has taken part in interdisciplinary research projects and initiatives. From October 2014 to October 2016, it was coordinator of the Global Network of Internet & Society Research Centers (NoC). Moreover, the Nexa Center holds a partnership agreement with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University (2011) and with the Internet & Society Lab at Keio University, Tokyo (2012). In 2013 the Nexa Center became part of the Global Network Initiative (GNI), a multi-stakeholder international group devoted to protecting and advancing freedom of expression and privacy in the ICT sector.
On the basis of such experiences, the Nexa Center aims to become a point of reference for Internet research in Europe (and beyond), thus interacting with the European Commission, regulators, local and national governments, as well as with businesses and other institutions.
Why we are Participating in the Project
The EduHack project represents an opportunity for the Nexa Center for Internet & Society (consecutively with the project of OpenMed, of which it is a partner), thereby bringing together two main areas of intervention strictly related to its mission: the promotion and dissemination of the Open paradigm (Access, Science, Education) and the fostering of awareness regarding the “Digital” and its multiple uses in the educational field.
Our Role in the Project
Nexa Center covers the following role within the EduHack project:
- Project coordinator, involved in operational and administrative management of all the project’s activities;
- Leader of the preparation of the EduHack Knowledge Sharing Platform. The platform collects all the contents developed by teachers during the three intensive training events as well as during their online work with a “connective” approach;
- Leader of the organisation for one of the EduHack Intensive Training Sessions (Hackathon). The Hackathon is an event in which the participants in the training work intensively in groups to learn how to design educational digital “artefacts” from their existing course material and to put this knowledge into practice;
- Contributor to the creation of the Curriculum for eLearning/OER/MOOC production intensive course, EduHack Online Course, and EduHack Toolbox.
Our Team
J.C. De Martin
He is a Faculty Fellow at Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and a Senior Visiting Researcher at the Internet and Society Laboratory of Keio University (Tokyo). He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the author, or co-author, of over 100 peer-reviewed conference papers, journal papers, and book chapters. He has been teaching a new course on the digital revolution to first-year students at the Politecnico di Torino.
Antonio Santangelo
Antonio is a semiotician. He teaches Semiotics and philosophy of language, Textual Semiotics and New Media Languages at the eCampus University, and Semiotics of television programs at the University of Turin. His main interest is the development of a vision of semiotics as a social science that can be used as an analytical and a creative tool at the same time, to understand and also to predict the meaning people may give to their experience of communication products and to their mutual interactions around them.
Mattia Plazio
He earned a degree in Italian Literature from the Faculty of Humanities at University of Turin. He worked in the field of education. Since 2012 he has developed, coordinated, and managed cultural projects funded by private and public institutions (Borderscapes; Spaesamenti; Gamblers). He writes about cinema and new media, and also collaborates with Azulfilm.
Selina Fenoglietto
She joined the Nexa Center for Internet & Society in May 2009 as administrative assistant. She holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from the University of Torino and her former experience includes the administrative management of projects funded by the European Commission, the World Bank, and the Italian Foreign Office. Since December 2010, she has been the administrative manager of the Center.
Francesco Ruggiero
He is the founder of the literary group sparajurij and is on the editorial board of the periodical “Atti Impuri”. He specializes in contemporary Italian literature, and is the author of literary reportages for “Il Reportage” and co-author of the book Viaggiatori nel freddo. Come sopravvivere all’inverno russo con la letteratura (Travellers in the cold. How to survive to the Russian winter with literature), published in 2015.
Giovanni Garifo
He is graduated in October 2016 in Computer Engineering at Politecnico di Torino and he’s currently attending the courses for the master degree in Software Engineering. He joined the Nexa Center in January 2017 as IT Manager. He’s interested in web technologies, especially hybrid mobile application development, but also in photography and computer hardware.
