Dentro il paesaggio

Though structures of feeling are always hard to pin-point, a shared feeling that the last three or four decades have witnessed a radical change in the way we perceive our visible world is equally hard to deny. This holds especially true in the case of traditional notions of landscape. In this essay, I will first identify a few signs or clues pointing to recent new ways of seeing and perceiving places, then, I will work out a few general trends, and in the end, I will try to synthesize three models of landscape that, in my view, increasingly shape our perceptions. My clues will include three clusters: the changed attitudes one displays vis-à-vis visual technologies; the new ways in which tourists behave and the new travel-guides that give form to their tastes and choices; the senses that have replaced sight in defining landscape, especially with the rise of the notion of soundscape. Three trends can be inferred from such clues: first, our landscape is steadily made dynamic both by highlighting the pathways one can follow in it, and by representing it in motion; secondly, objective landscape observation and representation have been replaced by an appropriating attitude endowing landscapes with identity claims. As a result, three models of landscape ensue: an environmental landscape, a puzzle-landscape, and finally, a traditional landscape.Though structures of feeling are always hard to pin-point, a shared feeling that the last three or four decades have witnessed a radical change in the way we perceive our visible world is equally hard to deny. This holds especially true in the case of traditional notions of landscape. In this essay, I will first identify a few signs or clues pointing to recent new ways of seeing and perceiving places, then, I will work out a few general trends, and in the end, I will try to synthesize three models of landscape that, in my view, increasingly shape our perceptions. My clues will include three clusters: the changed attitudes one displays vis-à-vis visual technologies; the new ways in which tourists behave and the new travel-guides that give form to their tastes and choices; the senses that have replaced sight in defining landscape, especially with the rise of the notion of soundscape. Three trends can be inferred from such clues: first, our landscape is steadily made dynamic both by highlighting the pathways one can follow in it, and by representing it in motion; secondly, objective landscape observation and representation have been replaced by an appropriating attitude endowing landscapes with identity claims. As a result, three models of landscape ensue: an environmental landscape, a puzzle-landscape, and finally, a traditional landscape

Tranfaglia come studioso di comunicazione e la Storia della stampa italiana - Nicola Tranfaglia and communication studies: the Storia della stampa italiana

In order to understand Tranfaglia’s contribution on journalism and media, it is important to consider his peculiar way of co-working in collaborative projects. Two examples are Il mondo contemporaneo and the creation of the Scienze della comunicazione university curriculum in Torino, which was one of the very earliest in Italy and the one in which the presence and role of historical research made itself most recognized. Tranfaglia tended always to work collectively, as a primus inter pares. And he was open to a variety of sciences but without a simplistic combination of disciplines: rather, a critical dialogue and mutual interrogation. This is visible in the construction, with Valerio Castronovo, of the seven volumes of Storia della stampa italiana, which is still a reference point not only for the history of journalism but for media studies more in general. Two essays by Tranfaglia, his contribution on newspapers as a historical source and his preface to a recent Italian translation reprint of Walter Lippmann’s Public Opinion demonstrate on the one hand his critical perception of the journalistic representation and selection of reality, on the other hand his attention to the contribution of the media to the strength but also to the limits of democracy

Strategic Numbing: Su un passaggio nel pensiero di McLuhan

Negli ultimi quindici anni ho fatto tanti corsi e tante lezioni su Marshall McLuhan, usandolo, pur nella sua difficoltà di lettura anzi proprio grazie a quella, come autore di avvio per il ragionamento sulla comunicazione e i suoi mezzi. Ho preso alla lettera la sua promessa di capire, e far capire, i media; e insieme e soprattutto ho usato consapevolmente la sfida implicita nel suo scrivere come arma didattica, anti-manualistica per così dire. Mentre i manuali (intesi come genere, poi ovviamente c'è manuale e manuale, e comunque guai se non ci fossero anche i manuali) stendono la materia un po' come si fa con la pasta e il mattarello, la appianano e la uniformano per invitare la mente di chi legge a un percorso ordinato e anch'esso uniforme, la lettura di Understanding Media di volta in volta aggruma la materia e la distende potenzialmente all'infinito, è quanto di meno uniforme, ci invita a cambiare di continuo ritmo, a perderci e ritrovarci; e il messaggio che comunica al lettore è: �Fai come me e continua i miei pensieri, oppure prendi quello che ti serve e vai per la tua strada

Homo ludicus. The ubiquity of play and its roles in present society

In the last decades new technologies, the rearrangement of living and labour time and other less visible cultural factors have brought some significant historical modifications to the traditionally separated area of the ludic. New types of games have emerged and the threshold between play and reality has been redefined to include aspects of social life that seemed to be unrelated to playing activities

What is a government of experts? The Italian example

Mario Monti’s government, which took office in Italy in November 2011, is undoubtedly a “government of experts”, since all its members are specialists. However, their legitimacy is based not so much on their areas of competence as on their difference (in style especially) compared to the previous “political class”, and on the fact that they are seen as responsible for applying decisions that the laws of economics have made inevitable. A “government of objectivity” after twenty years of personalisation.Le gouvernement de Mario Monti, qui s’est installé en Italie en novembre 2011, est sans doute un « gouvernement des experts », tous ses membres sont des spécialistes. Mais leur légitimité est fondée moins sur leur compétence que sur la différence (surtout en termes de style) de la « classe politique » qui les a précédés, et sur le fait qu’ils sont considérés comme les applicateurs de décisions rendues inévitables par les lois de l’économie : le « gouvernement de l’objectivité » après vingt ans de personnalisme

Il vento sferza forte sulla linea del confine. Il medium come frontiera e il caso della televisione

Nello scenario dei media contemporanei, e in particolare di quelli audiovisivi, una serie di traiettorie di media e lunga portata (come singoli fenomeni puntuali) stanno negli ultimi anni mettendo alla prova, estendendole fino spesso a superarle, le tradizionali definizioni di medium. Si pensi, per citare alcuni esempi spesso trascurati soprattutto dalla riflessione teorica, all’alta definizione televisiva, sia visiva sia sonora, o al progressivo sviluppo di una distribuzione non lineare e on demand dei contenuti audiovisivi accanto (e in modo complementare) al classico broadcasting. In questo lavoro sono messe alla prova alcune ridefinizioni del concetto di medium rese lampanti dall’attuale quadro comunicativo: da un lato quella di media come ambiente, luogo di vita dove avvengono di continuo azioni di adattamento e ridisegno, e come parte di un più complesso ambiente plurimediatico; dall’altro quello di media come frontiera, nel quale si confrontano e insieme si dividono i ruoli soggetto e oggetto, oralità e scrittura, messaggio e azione. La riflessione su queste definizioni di media, e in particolare delle teorie di Marshall McLuhan, è messa alla prova con il caso specifico della televisione contemporanea