Open Data and Transparency: A Paradigm Shift

The article builds on the particular condition of the Italian system, in which the weakness of the right to access PSI as a tool of transparency is offset by the provision of conspicuous obligations on public authorities to disseminate information through the web: therefore (administrative) transparency is shaped as a top-dawn dinamics, strictly functionalised to the reinforcement of the traditional democratic cycle. The paper aim to underline the relevant discontinuity produced by the irruption of the open data perspective: in this framework – still in the making – is argued that transparency will became an unplanned and unforeseen result, coming from the choices made by committed (re)-users, but also as by-product of information products & services implemented for different purposes. Those conclusions suggest the need of a relevant review of the European Directive on re-use PSI, and lead to a reconsideration of the role and responsibilities of the the re-users, as (next) prevalent mediator of trasparency