Towards new scenarios of public communication. Considerations on the Italian case

In recent years, the Italian public communication has gone through a period of great ferment that involved actors, regulations, tools and technologies, skills and expertise. The article focuses on the development of public communication in little more than ten years after the law 150/2000, in order to identify new challenges and solicitations. In fact, tracing the path of change provide some remarks upon development of communication of public administration and the many professional competence that today move around it and contribute to its re-definition, urging some changes and especially highlighting the need to develop reflexivity and high awareness in acting communicative, more and more called upon to combine transparence, visibility and accountability.En los últimos años, la comunicación pública italiana ha pasado por un período de gran agitación donde se han involucrado actores, regulaciones, herramientas y tecnologías, habilidades y experiencia. Este artículo se centra en el desarrollo de la comunicación pública en poco más de diez años, tras la ley 150/2000, con el fin de identificar nuevos retos y requerimientos. De hecho, el rastreo del camino del cambio proporciona algunas observaciones sobre el desarrollo de la comunicación de la administración pública y la gran competencia profesional que hoy la rodea. Además, contribuye a su redefinición, impulsando algunos cambios y destacando especialmente la necesidad de desarrollar reflexividad y alta conciencia para la actuación comunicativa, a la que cada vez más se les pide combinar transparencia, visibilidad y rendición de cuentas

Relaciones virtuosas. Empresas y asociaciones frente a la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa

La Responsabilidad Social Corporativa (RSC) emerge como un fenómeno comunicativo interesante, presentando ejemplos relevantes que muestran que es posible conciliar los valores éticos con los objetivos de las empresas. Si en el pasado este tipo de acciones se interpretaban como un intento de la empresa para conquistar al consumidor, sin que hubiera una implicación real en los temas sociales propuestos, a día de hoy se erige como objetivo la construcción de una relación diferente entre la empresa, el consumidor y el contexto social. En este trabajo se presentan los resultados de una investigación que estudia la comunicación de la RSC. Se han analizado en profundidad 10 proyectos realizados por 10 empresas y una decena de asociaciones. Para conseguir los objetivos de la investigación se ha utilizado una metodología de análisis cualitativo: a) el análisis de las páginas web de las asociaciones y de las empresas implicadas en los proyectos, para poder identificar las modalidades comunicativas de las iniciativas y enmarcar así el proyecto seleccionado en un contexto comunicativo más amplio para ambos socios; b) realización de entrevistas en profundidad de al menos un representante de cada uno de los socios (en total se han realizado 23 entrevistas); c) el estudio de los materiales utilizados en el proceso de producción y comunicación de la iniciativa y el análisis del contenido de los mismos. Los datos de los casos analizados y la articulación de los resultados obtenidos se han seleccionado, refutado e interpretado en base a un objetivo concreto: identificar, a pesar de su heterogeneidad ineludible, los elementos que comparten todos los proyectos y que favorecen la posibilidad de incrementar y reforzar el “espacio” que los proyectos de responsabilidad social corporativa están intentando conquistar en el escenario más amplio y variado de la comunicación social. Se considera que a la colaboración entre empresas y asociaciones es una relación comunicativa y, por tanto, se ha analizado desde el punto de vista relacional y dialógico.Corporate social responsibility is coming out as an interesting communicative phenomenon, suggesting important examples as it’s possible to bring out the aims of ethic values with business organization goals. If in the past this action was an attempt of the companies to win consumers without a real involvement of the social subjects suggested, nowadays it has to create a different relationship among companies, consumers and social context. This work shows the results of a research about the corporate social responsibility communication. Ten projects carried out by ten companies and by as many other associations have been analysed. The research used qualitative methods: a) the analysis of web sites of associations and companies involved in the projects, to identify and analyse the communicative strategies and arrange the selected project in the wider communicative context of both partners; b) interviews to a referent of each partner at least (23 interview have been carried out); c) the analysis of materials communication both partners. The wealth of the analysed experiences and the results achieved are here selected and interpreted as regards a precise aim: to identify –even if in their heterogeneity- those peculiarities you find in every project and that are able to increase and reinforce the «space» that projects of corporate social responsibility are hardly acquiring within the social communication. The partnership between business organizations and associations is considered a communicative relationship and so analysed from a relational and dialogic point of view

En una escala de todo el municipio. Uso de redes sociales en municipios italianos: información e interacción

La contribución tiene como objetivo investigar el papel de las redes sociales en los gobiernos locales italianos en el escenario de «modelos de madurez», entre el uso informativo e interactivo de los medios digitales. En particular, el documento presenta los resultados de un estudio piloto en una pequeña muestra de municipios italianos que generalmente adoptan sus perfiles de Facebook para comunicarse con los ciudadanos. Incluso si se dedican muchos trabajos empíricos a este tema, se presta menos atención a las necesidades y expectativas de los ciudadanos en la literatura. El artículo tiene el propósito de proporcionar una mejor comprensión de los comportamientos de los ciudadanos en las páginas institucionales de Fb con el propósito más amplio de explorar qué significa «información» e «interacción» en la relación específica ciudadano-municipal en un entorno digital.Como sugieren los resultados, el uso de las redes sociales basado en la información es necesario para mejorar la calidad de vida de los ciudadanos y su uso efectivo de los servicios públicos. Los municipios, que explotan su «proximidad», tienen un papel fundamental como «centro de información», a través de la integración y reconexión de los contenidos de información, ya sean de producción propia o producidos por otras partes interesadas.The contribution aims at investigating the role of social media in the Italian local governments in the «maturity models» scenario, between informative and interac-tive use of digital media. In particular, the paper presents the results of a pilot study on a little sample of Italian municipalities who usually adopt their Facebook profiles to communicate with citizens. Even if many empirical works are devoted to this issue, less attention is paid at the citizens’ needs and expectations in lite-rature. The article has the purpose to provide a better understanding of citizens’ behaviors on institutional Fb’s pages with the wider purpose to explore what «in-formation» and «interaction» mean in the specific relationship citizen- municipal in a digital environment. As findings suggest, the information-based use of social media is necessary to improve citizens’ quality of life and their effective use of public services. Munici-palities, exploiting their «proximity», have a pivotal role as «hub of information», through the integration and reconnection of information contents whether self-produced or produced by other stakeholders

Re-Connecting Scholars' Voices: An historical Review of Public Communication in Italy and New Challenges in the Open Government Framework

In an international theoretical framework relating to the challenges of digitalization on public sector communication, the article focuses on the open government process to present a historical review of the public sector communication as it has developed in Italy in the past thirty years. Definitions, reforms and the regulatory framework, structures and competences, different communication approaches and goals are collected here thanks to those "scholars' voices" which have fuelled the scientific debate on communication in public administrations since the 1990s. A diachronic approach is necessary in order to investigate the dynamic nature of the relationship between citizens and public sector organizations in a wider changing context and to further grasp the influence of digital technologies, with their impact on communication strategies and paradigms. The focus of the contribution is on the challenges that communication is facing in the new digital environment and in the contemporary scenario of open government. As the authors underline, the use of digital media is often seen as functional both to promoting a culture of transparency, openness and accessibility and to overcoming the traditional limits of the bureaucratic organizations, but there are some opportunities and risks to consider. So, the final part of the article offers a reflection on the consequences of digitalization. It introduces some key aspects of the contemporary debate on public sector communication in general and specifically in Italy, offering a critical discussion on those topics – new skills and professional profiles, training programmes, internal management, multichannel strategies, etc. - that are revealing their complexity in the new relational and organizational context

Political Communication and Social Change. Political Communication and Challenges in the Digital Age

The relationship between political institutions and citizens has been redefined in the digital environment. The aim of this paper is to identify the main circumstances of this transformation. In this regard, individualization has been a key factor. So far, this relationship had been based on collective commitment and a global vision of society. Instead, it now depends on personal commitment and interest in individual issues. The voting process, traditionally based on affiliation, is now conditioned by voters’ opinions. Public opinion can no longer be taken for granted. In addition, persuasion as the only strategy to connect with the electorate is insufficient. Therefore, professionals of political communication have been forced to use the logic of marketing and to explore the potential of digital media, to obtain more consensus and visibility in an increasingly competitive context of communication.La relación entre las instituciones políticas y la ciudadanía se ha redefinido en el entorno digital. El objetivo de este artículo es identificar los principales factores que enmarcan esta transformación. La individualización ha sido un factor clave en este sentido. Hasta ahora, los vínculos entre los ciudadanos se sustentaban en el compromiso colectivo y una visión global de la sociedad. En cambio, actualmente se basan en el compromiso personal y el interés por los asuntos individuales. El proceso de votación, tradicionalmente basado en la afiliación, depende ahora de las opiniones de los votantes. La opinión pública ya no puede darse por sentada. Además, la persuasión como única estrategia para conectar con el electorado resulta insuficiente. Por eso, los profesionales de la comunicación política se han visto forzados a emplear la lógica del marketing y a explorar el potencial de los medios digitales, para obtener mayor consenso y visibilidad en un contexto comunicativo cada vez más competitivo

DIVERSE eppur VICINE

In the broader scenario of social communication, the volume deals with the issue of the communication of social responsibilities: a field which, in recent years, has been offering interesting examples of how it is possible to reconcile corporate values and goals with ethical purposes and values in Italy. Starting from the analysis of some projects carried out by companies and associations in the Italian context, the authors analyse the ways in which people build, manage and renew a relationship between apparently distant and yet close subjects

Activated T cells sustain myeloid-derived suppressor cell-mediated immune suppression

The expansion of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), a suppressive population able to hamper the immune response against cancer, correlates with tumor progression and overall survival in several cancer types. We have previously shown that MDSCs can be induced in vitro from precursors present in the bone marrow and observed that these cells are able to actively proliferate in the presence of activated T cells, whose activation level is critical to drive the suppressive activity of MDSCs. Here we investigated at molecular level the mechanisms involved in the interplay between MDSCs and activated T cells. We found that activated T cells secrete IL-10 following interaction with MDSCs which, in turn, activates STAT3 phosphorylation on MDSCs then leading to B7-H1 expression. We also demonstrated that B7-H1+ MDSCs are responsible for immune suppression through a mechanism involving ARG-1 and IDO expression. Finally, we show that the expression of ligands B7-H1 and MHC class II both on in vitro-induced MDSCs and on MDSCs in the tumor microenvironment of cancer patients is paralleled by an increased expression of their respective receptors PD-1 and LAG-3 on T cells, two inhibitory molecules associated with T cell dysfunction. These findings highlight key molecules and interactions responsible for the extensive cross-talk between MDSCs and activated T cells that are at the basis of immune suppression