My research focuses on the socio-technical factors influencing the design and uptake of Collective Intelligence infrastructures. These are online environments which seek to improve collective awareness of the changing environment, and collective capacity to make the best use of expertise to problem solve, and adapt appropriately. I have particular interests in knowledge construction through discourse, and the role of technology in scaffolding dialogue and argumentation in contested domains, in which there is more than one point of view. The approaches I work with are network-centric, modelling and visualizing ideas and arguments as networks of nodes which can be analysed for topographical and semantic patterns.
As background, I am an Urban Planner and Designer; I took a BSc in Civil Engineering, a MSc in Transport Planning at Polytechnic of Bari, Italy, and a MSc in Environmental Policy and Management at Institut National des Sience Appliquees in Lyon (France). I gained my PhD in Urban and Environmental Planning at Polytechnic of Bari, Italy, investigating ICT for Participatory Planning and Deliberation. In this respect I am interested in investigating tools to support knowledge representation, structuring and management, particularly with regards to collaborative decision-making processes in Environmental and Urban Planning domain.
