[English] This study has the purpose of analyzing and discussing the business models supporting the music social network Last.fm and Nine Inch Nails’ “Ghost I-IV” album, both archetypical examples of unconventional music distribution. The focus of the thesis is on the technological advancements, the emerging models, and the new approaches to the music business that are altering the marketplace and the role of its actors. Covered topics are the dynamics of the music industry, its value chains, the specificity of media products (music in particular) compared to other products, and the exogenous or endogenous factors responsible (along with the introduction of broadband internet connections) for the transfiguration of the market. In the case of Last.fm’s model, the research material has been sampled from the “Artist Royalty Program” (a retribution initiative for musicians and content producers sponsored by Last.fm), and from the reactions to both Last.fm’s Radio Subscription policy changes and the recently introduced Visual Radio service. Ghost I-IV’s model has been analyzed using research material composed by blog reactions to the initiative, articles detailing the proceeds of the experiment, and YouTube statistics related to the album’s viral promotion. Theme Analysis, a discursive branch of Content Analysis, has been the methodology used to set thematic categories and file contributions appropriately.  According to the findings, Last.fm’s approach to public relations during the span of time considered has been flawed to such a degree that the site registered a significant loss of users, to the direct advantage of other competitors. On the other hand, NIN's experiment "Ghosts I-IV" was a complete success from both a critical and an economical point of view, and their experiment spawned similar initiatives (mainly coming from other established artists), de facto validating the event as an industry-changing turning point. However, the validity of the “Ghosts I-IV” business model is still untested on non-established artists, and different steps, covered in the thesis, might work better for relatively unknown bands.

[English] Paper on the role of theory in a research, based on theories and practices by Adorno, Deetz, Alvesson and others

[English] An essay about harmful contents in media, including suggested solutions, written for the European Media and Communication Policies Course.

[English] Critical comment on an article of Stephen Coleman.

[English] Presentation outlining my ideas for a future society. Pictures are taken from DeviantART. Rights belonging to the respective owners.

[English] This is the report on the course Creating a Webmagazine, where I was working as a Tutor. Also, the document includes suggestions on how to improve the course in the next years.

[English] PDF slides from the presentation held at the University of Helsinki for the course Creating a Webmagazine. The legendary game studies webmagazine Ring has been used as example experience of editorial dynamics.

[Italian] Online Worlds and Communities, Analysis and Evolution Perspectives is focusing on the relation between the “real” world and the online world, and its social impact. Many basic questions are analysed: what is pushing people in spending time online? What are they doing there? How this modify their habits and what kind of new phenomena are emerging from this? What implies living in virtual worlds and what kind of society are online communities? How do they try to reproduce a real world environment? How does virtual economy works, and are common rules still valid? Is politics involved in setting rules for this “virtualization process” and why? Are identity and sexuality affected by the passage from reality to virtuality and how? And, most of all, is the distinction between “real” and “virtual” still making any sense? The thesis discuss all these topics highlighting pertinent technical, ethical and regulation issues that will be dramatically relevant in the next years, discussing also the structure of a well known community (DeviantART) and the reason behind its success.

[Italian] An analysis of the two bigger newspapers in Italy in the last 10 days before elections, with armageddon approaching...

[Spanish] A comment on the way elections were held in Italy during 2006 from the perspective of international newspapers and observers.

[English] The issue of surveillance society is, as David Lyon claims, “of sociological interest because it contributes to the very ordering of society. And thus the other face of surveillance arises from its capacity to reinforce social and economic divisions [...] Those surveillance capacities are used to sort and sift populations, to categorize and classify, to enhance the life chances of some and to retard those of others”. What is then the reason of all this surveillance? Government and companies have the right to do this, hiding behind the excuses of “security” and “efficiency”? Why and when surveillance is not only useful, but necessary to maintain the social order? Last but not least, where is all this information going? Where is it stored, and what will happen to it in some years from now? Can we really manage such an enormous flow of information? Let’s see...

[English] A group analysis of the website of Barilla and suggestions on the way to redisign it to maximize the impact on users.