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Introduction
Interactive Justice Through the Web
Giovanni Fulantelli, Mario Allegra
Istituto di Tecnologie Didattiche e Formative - Italian National Research Council
e-mail: {fulantelli, allegra}@itdfmac.itdf.pa.cnr.it
Abstract: In 1995, at the Italian National Research Council, we started to put on-line,
through the World Wide Web, the original legal documentation of two important trials
regarding the Sicily's Mafia and its connection with the political management. The main
aims of the two developed web sites were to allow user to follow the evolution of the two
trials through the complete acts of the Court and to set up a learning environment to
deepen the Italian penal code, by analysing two real cases. Web users around the World
have accessed and used the sites as on-line anti-Mafia movement, by reading the
complete acts of the trials and directly publishing on the web their messages of solidarity
to the victims' relatives and to the judges who are fighting against the Mafia.
Information and communication technologies progresses are quickly leading towards the so called Information
Society. Important social and cultural changes are occurring during this process, and must be taken in account
carefully. Theoretical frameworks for these changes can be found in literature. Marshall McLuhan, introduced
the fundamental idea of Global Village, by considering that the globe is no more than a village as electrically
contracted.
Some years later, the role of the networks as shapers of social communities was clearly discussed by J.C.R.
Licklider, one of the profets of the Net, that focused on the principles for computer networks to become
communication tools. Nowadays, it is amazing/astonishing to note how the same principles are behind the
Internet success.
In particular, the impact of the World Wide Web on the society can be very strong: through Internet, people
can access information everywhere in the World and can communicate with everyone around the World;
furthermore, the Web makes the Internet much more accessible to people, so that everyone can join the growing
Internet community. According to McLuhan, the Web is contracting the time and space distances. Therefore, it
is straightforward to consider this community as an important step towards the Global Village.
As a matter of fact, people information needs become greater and greater and networks permit users to access
huge amounts of information in a simple and effective way; in this new community, citizens are much more
active in selecting the information they are interested in; consequently, information providers have to create
and develop more and more information-on-demand services in order to satisfy the users needs.
In addition, the more people use computer networks to access information sites, the more they feel the need to
discuss their problems and questions with other citizens of the virtual networked community, and to be active
player in the social, political and cultural life. According to their specific needs, they wish to talk to the
Administration, rather than to experts or common citizens like themselves to exchange opinions with. The
Civic Networks, information systems in Internet concerning the Administration, represent the most significant
outcome of these needs. They allow citizens to get into civic and local problems, and to socialise with other
people by talking about needs, problems, solutions, common initiatives.