Wainer Lusoli
Encyclopedia
Wainer Lusoli is an Italian academic
, trained as a political scientist and quantitative policy analyst. He has worked on issues concerning political participation, electronic democracy, digital identity
, social computing
and cloud computing
.
From 2008, he has been a Scientific Officer at the Joint Research Centre (European Commission), Institute for Prospective Technological Studies
and a Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Chester
. Previously, he was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Chester
and a Research Fellow at the University of Salford
and at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
, Italy
, Lusoli grew up in Fiorano Modenese
, Italy
and earned a Laurea
in Political Science and from the University of Bologna
, a Master's degree
in European Political Systems and Cultures from the University of Bologna
and the Network Europaeum
, and a PhD
from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
score of 15, and a g-index
score of 21. His publications fall mainly in the areas of e-government, electronic democracy and digital identity
.
Between 1999 and 2006, Lusoli published extensively in peer-reviewed journals on topics related to electronic democracy and e-participation
. Especially, he contributed to literature the use of web services by political parties, by political party members, by political representatives, by trade unions, by various political organisations, and by citizens in several countries.
In his overall work on electronic democracy, he arrives at the sobering conclusion that electronic media may have little to offer in terms of democratic engagement.
In relation to Internet and politics, he worked on several research projects funded by the Economic and Social Research Council
and other funding bodies, mainly in collaboration with Rachel K. Gibson and Stephen J. Ward. These include the ‘Virtual Observatory for Online Networks: New Forms of Collective Action on the WWW’ (July 2006 – July 2008); DEMO-net: The eParticipation Network, as affiliated expert (December 2006 – December 2008); ESRC - The Internet in the 2005 general election (March 2005 – December 2005); the Internet & Elections Project (March 2004 – June 2006), on the use of the new media by parties, candidates, pressure groups and the media during electoral campaigns in Europe, Asia and America; the ESRC Representation in the Internet Age project (July 2003 – June 2005), about the import of new media for representative democracy in Britain and Australia; and the ESRC Democracy and Participation Programme: The Internet, political organisations and participation project (August 2001 – June 2003), about the use of new media by British political organisation and citizens.
From 2007 to today, he has contributed to the policy debate and to the academic literature on digital identity
. He has researched digital natives's attitudes and behaviours regarding personal identity data disclosure; he has written on the policy and regulatory aspects of digital identity in Europe; he has written on the economics of identity markets. He has conducted research on the market and the economics of electronic identity, the changing infrastructural landscape, the structure of service provision based on digital identity and relevant policy issues in relation to the Digital Agenda for Europe. In this study and in related work, he and his co-authors argue that usability, minimum disclosure and portability, which are essential features of future digital identity systems, are at the margin of the market and that cross-country/cross-sector systems for business and public services are only in their infancy. And that in economic terms, the utility functions of users and service providers in relation to digital identity data are divergent. This generates a market asymmetry, as service providers are able to extract value from user data via opaque value propositions. From 2008, he has contributed to the debate on social computing
and identity, mainly arguing that the way personal identity data is monetised in the digital market in unclear and unregulated, both in Europe and elsewhere.
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
, trained as a political scientist and quantitative policy analyst. He has worked on issues concerning political participation, electronic democracy, digital identity
Digital identity
Digital identity is the aspect of digital technology that is concerned with the mediation of people's experience of their own identity and the identity of other people and things...
, social computing
Social computing
Social computing is a general term for an area of computer science that is concerned with the intersection of social behavior and computational systems. It has become an important concept for use in business. It is used in two ways as detailed below....
and cloud computing
Cloud computing
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network ....
.
From 2008, he has been a Scientific Officer at the Joint Research Centre (European Commission), Institute for Prospective Technological Studies
Institute for Prospective Technological Studies
The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies or IPTS, located in Seville, Spain, is one of the seven institutes of the Joint Research Centre , a Directorate-General of the European Commission .- Fields of expertise :...
and a Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Chester
University of Chester
The University of Chester is a public research university located in Chester, United Kingdom. The University, based on a main campus in Chester and a smaller campus in Warrington, offers a range of foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as undertaking academic research.Chester...
. Previously, he was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Chester
University of Chester
The University of Chester is a public research university located in Chester, United Kingdom. The University, based on a main campus in Chester and a smaller campus in Warrington, offers a range of foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as undertaking academic research.Chester...
and a Research Fellow at the University of Salford
University of Salford
The University of Salford is a campus university based in Salford, Greater Manchester, England with approximately 20,000 registered students. The main campus is about west of Manchester city centre, on the A6, opposite the former home of the physicist, James Prescott Joule and the Working Class...
and at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Early life and education
Born in SassuoloSassuolo
Sassuolo is an important industrial centre of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The town stands on the right bank of the river Secchia some 17 km south-west of Modena.-History :...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Lusoli grew up in Fiorano Modenese
Fiorano Modenese
Fiorano Modenese is a comune in the Province of Modena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 45 km west of Bologna and about 15 km southwest of Modena...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and earned a Laurea
Laurea
In Italy, the laurea is the main post-secondary academic degree.-Reforms due to the Bologna process:Spurred by the Bologna process, a major reform was instituted in 1999 to introduce easier university degrees comparable to the bachelors...
in Political Science and from the University of Bologna
University of Bologna
The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
, a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in European Political Systems and Cultures from the University of Bologna
University of Bologna
The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
and the Network Europaeum
Europaeum
The Europaeum is an organisation of ten leading European universities. It was conceived of in 1990–1991 by Lord Weidenfeld and Sir Ronnie Grierson to support the ‘advancement of education through the encouragement of European studies in the University of Oxford and other European institutions of...
, and a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Career in academia
On aggregate, Lusoli has an h-indexH-index
The h-index is an index that attempts to measure both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar. The index is based on the set of the scientist's most cited papers and the number of citations that they have received in other publications...
score of 15, and a g-index
G-index
The g-index is an index for quantifying scientific productivity based on publication record. It was suggested in 2006 by Leo Egghe.The index is calculated based on the distribution of citations received by a given researcher's publications:...
score of 21. His publications fall mainly in the areas of e-government, electronic democracy and digital identity
Digital identity
Digital identity is the aspect of digital technology that is concerned with the mediation of people's experience of their own identity and the identity of other people and things...
.
Between 1999 and 2006, Lusoli published extensively in peer-reviewed journals on topics related to electronic democracy and e-participation
E-participation
e-participation is the generally accepted term referring to "ICT-supported participation in processes involved in government and governance". Processes may concern administration, service delivery, decision making and policy making...
. Especially, he contributed to literature the use of web services by political parties, by political party members, by political representatives, by trade unions, by various political organisations, and by citizens in several countries.
In his overall work on electronic democracy, he arrives at the sobering conclusion that electronic media may have little to offer in terms of democratic engagement.
In relation to Internet and politics, he worked on several research projects funded by the Economic and Social Research Council
Economic and Social Research Council
The Economic and Social Research Council is one of the seven Research Councils in the United Kingdom. It receives most of its funding from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and provides funding and support for research and training work in social and economic issues, such as...
and other funding bodies, mainly in collaboration with Rachel K. Gibson and Stephen J. Ward. These include the ‘Virtual Observatory for Online Networks: New Forms of Collective Action on the WWW’ (July 2006 – July 2008); DEMO-net: The eParticipation Network, as affiliated expert (December 2006 – December 2008); ESRC - The Internet in the 2005 general election (March 2005 – December 2005); the Internet & Elections Project (March 2004 – June 2006), on the use of the new media by parties, candidates, pressure groups and the media during electoral campaigns in Europe, Asia and America; the ESRC Representation in the Internet Age project (July 2003 – June 2005), about the import of new media for representative democracy in Britain and Australia; and the ESRC Democracy and Participation Programme: The Internet, political organisations and participation project (August 2001 – June 2003), about the use of new media by British political organisation and citizens.
From 2007 to today, he has contributed to the policy debate and to the academic literature on digital identity
Digital identity
Digital identity is the aspect of digital technology that is concerned with the mediation of people's experience of their own identity and the identity of other people and things...
. He has researched digital natives's attitudes and behaviours regarding personal identity data disclosure; he has written on the policy and regulatory aspects of digital identity in Europe; he has written on the economics of identity markets. He has conducted research on the market and the economics of electronic identity, the changing infrastructural landscape, the structure of service provision based on digital identity and relevant policy issues in relation to the Digital Agenda for Europe. In this study and in related work, he and his co-authors argue that usability, minimum disclosure and portability, which are essential features of future digital identity systems, are at the margin of the market and that cross-country/cross-sector systems for business and public services are only in their infancy. And that in economic terms, the utility functions of users and service providers in relation to digital identity data are divergent. This generates a market asymmetry, as service providers are able to extract value from user data via opaque value propositions. From 2008, he has contributed to the debate on social computing
Social computing
Social computing is a general term for an area of computer science that is concerned with the intersection of social behavior and computational systems. It has become an important concept for use in business. It is used in two ways as detailed below....
and identity, mainly arguing that the way personal identity data is monetised in the digital market in unclear and unregulated, both in Europe and elsewhere.