90413 - Communication and Mediation Processes of Information

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to provide a historical-sociological approach to the relationship between institutions and information practices in their insertion in social contexts and in the imaginary. At the end of the course, students will be able to understand the communication processes built from the social need for information and the related requests. Students will be able to establish relationships between theories, techniques and professional practices, through the presentation of communication experiences such as mediation and information reception in different socio-historical contexts.

Course contents

The course addresses communication and information mediation as social, cultural and sociotechnical processes. Attention is devoted to the ways in which information is produced, organized, made visible, interpreted, appropriated and transformed by institutions, communities, platforms and mediation professionals.

The course is organized around four main thematic areas:

1. Mediation, information and the construction of meaning
   Communication, information, intermediation and mediation; the social production of meaning; representation; visibility; cultural legitimation; symbolic power.

2. Knowledge institutions and cultural practices
   Libraries, archives, museums and other spaces of cultural mediation; access to information; reading practices; knowledge communities; inclusion, accessibility and participation.

3. Participation, appropriation and collaborative production
   Social reading, reading groups, collaborative platforms, book influencers, interpretive communities, fan culture, bottom-up production of information and new forms of authority.

4. Sociotechnical mediations, platforms and artificial intelligence
   Algorithms, ranking, recommendation, personalization, opacity, generative AI, digital memory, web archiving, link rot, public responsibility and the preservation of online information.

The course concludes with an assessment simulation in the form of a Role Playing Game, devoted to the design of a public platform for collecting, organizing and promoting cultural, informational and documentary content.

Readings/Bibliography

Required readings for attending and non-attending students

Federico Meschini, “I turbolenti anni Venti. Riflessioni sul ruolo delle biblioteche nell’attuale ecosistema informativo e su ciò che auspicabilmente verrà,” AIB Studi, 64(2), 151–162.

Simona Paolantoni, “Social reading e nuova mediazione: indagine qualitativa sul rapporto tra lettura giovanile, reti sociali e biblioteche,” AIB Studi, 61(1), 85–99.

Gino Roncaglia, “Intelligenze artificiali generative e mediazione informativa: una introduzione,” Biblioteche oggi Trends, 9(1), 13–26.

Federico Mazzini, “Una nota polemica sul web archiving in Italia,” Padova University Press, 2025, excerpt indicated on Virtuale.

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, “Web archiving.” Institutional support page of the National Central Library of Florence, used to understand web preservation as a public, library-based and documentary function.

Operational readings assigned to groups

These readings will not necessarily be required in full for all students. They will be used for group activities, guided discussions or preparation for the final RPG.

Anna-Maria De Cesare, “La comunicazione mediata dall’IA generativa. Nuovi oggetti, nuovi concetti, nuovi termini,” Treccani Magazine.

Tiziano Bonini, Emiliano Treré, “Poi diventa proprio brutto. Un estratto da Algoritmi per resistere,” cheFare.

Teresa Numerico, interview: “Big data e algoritmi. Prospettive critiche,” Letture.org.

Additional compulsory bibliography for non-attending students

The compulsory reading dossier includes:

Federico Meschini, “I turbolenti anni Venti”;

Simona Paolantoni, “Social reading e nuova mediazione”;

Gino Roncaglia, “Intelligenze artificiali generative e mediazione informativa”;

Federico Mazzini, “Una nota polemica sul web archiving in Italia”;

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, “Web archiving”;

Teresa Numerico, interview on “Big data e algoritmi. Prospettive critiche.”

In addition, each student will choose one volume from among the following:

Chiara Faggiolani, Libri insieme;

Antonella Agnoli, La casa di tutti;

Francesca Manca, I giovani e la lettura: il ruolo delle biblioteche nell’epoca del BookTok;

Giovanni Solimine, Cervelli anfibi, orecchie e digitale. Esercizi di lettura futura.

Recommended further readings

Further recommended texts will be indicated on Virtuale during the course. They may concern the sociology of culture, cultural mediation, libraries, digital platforms, AI, social reading and participatory practices.

Teaching methods

The course privileges a participatory and student-centered teaching approach. Lectures will serve an introductory function and will be complemented by guided discussions, case analyses, cooperative exercises, concept maps, peer discussion and simulations.

The first lesson will be devoted to presenting the course, its activities, assessment criteria and the use of materials on Virtuale. The following 14 operational lessons will be built around applied and progressive activities.

As a rule, each operational meeting will follow this structure:

• brief review of the previous lesson;
• introduction of key concepts;
• individual or group activity;
• collective feedback and discussion;
• connection with the assessment portfolio.

The activities are designed to enable attending students to build their assessment progressively during the course.

Assessment methods

 Attending students

For attending students, assessment takes place through ongoing assignments, classroom activities and a final activity in the form of a Role Playing Game. Students who complete the pathway and achieve at least 18/30 may register their grade without taking an additional oral examination, by formally enrolling for the exam session.

Students are considered attending students if they actively participate in at least 10 of the 14 operational lessons and submit the required activities.

Assessment componentsActivity Weight Active participation, preparation for discussions and classroom work 3/30 Individual evolving concept map 6/30 Case-analysis sheet on information mediation 6/30 Policy brief in preparation for the final RPG 6/30 Final RPG “Who decides what becomes visible?” and individual debriefing 9/30Total30/30

 Brief description of the assignmentsIndividual evolving concept map

Students build and update, during the lessons, a map of the main concepts: mediation, information, representation, participation, authority, platform, algorithm, digital memory and visibility.

Case-analysis sheet on information mediation

Students analyze a concrete case, for example a digital library, an OPAC, Wikipedia, Google, TikTok, Goodreads, BookTok, ChatGPT or a cultural platform, applying the concepts discussed in class.

Preparatory policy brief

In view of the final RPG, students prepare, based on the role previously assigned to them, a short policy proposal for a public platform for cultural and information mediation. The text must address access, classification, visibility, the use of algorithms, institutional responsibility, participation and inclusion.

Final RPG and individual debriefing

In the final lesson, students take part in a simulation in which different actors must define the rules of a public digital platform. Assessment does not concern theatrical performance, but the ability to use the concepts of the course to interpret conflicts, mediations, hierarchies and decisions. At the end of the simulation, each student submits an individual debriefing note.

Assessment criteriaAttending students

The following will be assessed:

• understanding of the fundamental concepts of the course;
• ability to connect theories, professional practices and contemporary cases;
• ability to critically analyze informational, cultural and sociotechnical mediations;
• appropriate use of disciplinary vocabulary;
• quality of argumentation;
• ability to work in groups while maintaining individual responsibility;
• capacity for critical reflection in the final debriefing.

The grading scale will be as follows:

18–19
Essential and mainly descriptive knowledge of the topics; limited connections; ability to apply concepts to cases only with guidance.

20–24
Correct knowledge of the main concepts; ability to apply them to simple cases; orderly argumentation, though not always autonomous.

25–29
Good command of the syllabus; autonomous connections between concepts, materials and cases; critical analysis and appropriate use of terminology.

30–30L
Broad and integrated command of the topics; ability to connect mediation, representation, participation, platforms, AI and digital memory; critical autonomy, originality of argumentation and strong capacity for self-reflection.

Use of artificial intelligence

For assessed activities carried out outside the classroom, limited, declared and non-substantial use of AI is permitted, for example for language support, preliminary summarization, reorganization of notes or self-assessment. Students may not present an AI-generated text as their own.

When AI is explicitly the object of the exercise, students must also submit prompts, outputs and a short critical comment. In these cases, the aim is not to delegate the work to the machine, but to analyze the mediation produced by the system.

During the final RPG, the use of AI is not permitted, unless otherwise indicated by the instructor.

Non-attending students

Non-attending students prepare for the exam through the concept sheets available on Virtuale, the common reading dossier and one volume chosen from among those listed. They must also submit, at least 7 days before the exam session, an individual case-analysis sheet on information mediation, approximately 6,000–8,000 characters in length. Details regarding the individual sheet are available on Virtuale.

The compulsory reading dossier includes: Federico Meschini, “I turbolenti anni Venti”; Simona Paolantoni, “Social reading e nuova mediazione”; Gino Roncaglia, “Intelligenze artificiali generative e mediazione informativa”; Federico Mazzini, “Una nota polemica sul web archiving in Italia”; Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, “Web archiving”; Teresa Numerico, interview on “Big data e algoritmi. Prospettive critiche.”

Each student will also choose one volume from among the following: Chiara Faggiolani, Libri insieme; Antonella Agnoli, La casa di tutti; Francesca Manca, I giovani e la lettura: il ruolo delle biblioteche nell’epoca del BookTok; Giovanni Solimine, Cervelli anfibi, orecchie e digitale. Esercizi di lettura futura.

Assessment consists of an individual case-analysis sheet, worth 9/30, and an oral examination, worth 21/30. The oral examination will focus on the case-analysis sheet, the common readings and the chosen volume.

Assignment Weight Individual case-analysis sheet on information mediation 9/30 Oral examination on the bibliography and course concepts 21/30Total30/30

The exam is considered passed with a minimum grade of 18/30.

Oral examination

The oral examination lasts approximately 20–25 minutes and is divided into three parts:

1. Discussion of the case-analysis sheet

The student briefly presents the case analyzed and discusses its main aspects.

2. Questions on the common materials

The instructor verifies knowledge of the fundamental concepts: mediation, information, representation, participation, platforms, AI, digital memory, visibility, authority and access.

3. Discussion of the chosen volume

The student must show that they are able to connect the chosen volume to the general themes of the course and to the case analyzed in the sheet.

During the oral examination, the use of books, notes, digital devices or AI tools is not permitted, except in cases previously agreed upon, including through the relevant offices, for students with specific learning disabilities.

Use of artificial intelligence

For the preparation of the case-analysis sheet, limited, declared and non-substantial use of AI is permitted, for example for language support, reorganization of notes or self-assessment. AI may not be used to produce substantial parts of the written assignment.

The sheet must include, at the end, a short declaration regarding any use of AI tools. In the event of undeclared or substantial use, the assignment may be considered invalid.

The oral examination will also serve to verify the student’s actual individual command of the submitted sheet.

Teaching tools

Virtuale, slides, concept sheets, short articles, case studies, analysis grids, collaborative concept maps and digital tools for comparison and self-assessment activities will be used.

Virtuale will contain working materials, assignments, bibliographical excerpts, activity sheets, portfolio guidelines and preparatory materials for the final RPG.

Generative AI may be used as an object of analysis and, in some guided activities, as a tool to be questioned critically. It will not be treated as a neutral source, but as a sociotechnical device of mediation.

Students with specific learning disabilities or disabilities:

Students with specific learning disabilities, temporary disabilities or permanent disabilities are invited to contact the relevant University office in good time (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it/per-studenti)

Any adjustments will be proposed by the competent office and must be submitted to the instructor for approval at least 15 days in advance, in relation to the learning outcomes of the course.

 

Office hours

See the website of Giulia Crippa