CYBER ATTIVISMO, CITIZEN SCIENCE, DATA ACTIVISM: LA GIUSTIZIA AMBIENTALE URBANA DI PEACELINK

Abstract

This essay proposes a mediological analysis of the role played by the scientific citizenship of the Peacelink association in the Italsider-ex ILVA case in Taranto. It focuses on how the association produces ecological data on industrial pollution, digitally exposing health risks to the local community through the evolution of ICTs and the platformization of the public sphere. In addition to verifying the applicability of the definition of citizen science to this activist context, the study will assess the hypothesis of extending this definition to fully self-managed citizen projects aimed at environmental monitoring and democratic control, moving away from the idea that the role of a citizen scientist is constituted exclusively in relation to professionals. Through a mixed methods approach based on qualitative interviews and digital ethnography (Hine 2004; Underberg, Zorn 2013), a detailed account has been provided of various initiatives in which Peacelink's eco-sentinels have uncovered and brought to light substantial hidden knowledge about the impacts of the steel plant on the territory. The collected data underscore the decisive role that these data collection activities have played in initiating environmental advocacy processes. The organization's platform has assumed a prominent role in presenting easily accessible and interpretable data on its website, thereby educating the local civil society to implement daily practices of resistance.