Over the last century the concept of democracy is radically changed: whatever the formula through which is declined, democracy provides for its proper functioning, the presence of an informed electorate - "The technological developments are transforming our political system and are creating a new type of 'electronic republic', a hybrid form that combines elements of direct electronic democracy to political structures, "says Lawrence Grossman, former president of NBC News and Public Broadcasting Service, during the conference of ' MIT 'Changing Concepts of Democracy' in May 1998.

Over the years many have tried to realize the concept of electronic republic, first with websites dedicated to local social and political issues, then, as in the case of the 5 Star Movement in Italy, with deeply rooted party projects in the direct participation of ' electorate.
In many cases, however, the results were disappointing least.
One of the biggest spectra of this momentum are the petitions - Constraints until a few years ago to be limited by the physical presence of the signatories, thanks to the Internet today Petitions are experiencing a new youth: anyone can sign sitting comfortably in front of his laptop or sprawled on the couch with your smartphone in hand.
Again, there are many to have tried it: avalanche sites, platforms and projects created specifically to host petitions, and that over time they will inevitably become extinct.
So it seems that the idea of petitions on the internet, harnessed to bring out the social problems deeply felt suffering from some kind of structural defect disabling.
In an ecosystem where anyone can become a promoter of an online petition and anyone can sign, the instrument loses its relevance and credibility.
Indeed, many petitions have never been able to go beyond the petition itself - is, in fact, a structural problem, no doubt due to the inherent nature of these platforms.
I am convinced, however, that much of the weight of this cross is due to a generational issue than functional: just go back a few years to realize that today only the handful of virtual signatures can really count for something, enough to warrant research on the phenomenon.
Type this, this other or this other again.
The idea that a petition can really help to change things has yet to convince me, and if tomorrow my life was disturbed by an insurmountable problem I doubt I would trust a petition to try to solve it - but I can not deny that I stopped a moment to reflect when a few weeks ago I read an ANSA launch announcing the milestone of 5 million users to Change.org, probably the most popular platform for online petitions at the time.
"We want to be the first place that people who want to change things they think."
Five million users in Italy are many, and is even more so when you consider that Change.org arrived in Italy in 2012 and the growth rates were literally exponential.
Nevertheless, for the contrasts that I described above, I could not explain this success-So I called the boys of the platform, "What is certain is that we are the largest platform in the field, and probably people use us so so much because the user experience we offer is the best, "he explains Elisa Finocchiaro Liberators, Italian director of Change.org.
"We want to be the first place that people who want to change things they think - even Lately politicians are beginning to use it to structure their social campaigns," she continues.
The question remains, however: in what way Change.org was able to make petitions hosted concrete?
"Every petition has its own story.
First, petitions are public and allow the promoter to communicate with the petitioners: it then creates a thread, and when the petition becomes large enough it begins to think about how to realize the desire for change, "he said Elisa.
"In fact, beyond the online petition and therefore the collection of signatures, it is difficult that the change is consumed by itself.
When volumes of signatories become important you go to talk to the proper authorities, with decision makers: Petitions are an important social thermometer and are increasingly being taken into account by those who, in fact, makes the decisions - when signatures are so many do not go unnoticed. "
The results surprised me: for Change.org petition is successful when the promoter of the initiative states reached the goal of the petition - The page for petitions successful is really rich and touches the most diverse subjects with actual concrete numbers.
I speak, only in Italy, more than 500 victories from 2012 to the present, with an average of 11 wins per month: more than 500,000 signatures for a halt to the pension for former MPs convicted of mafia and corruption, 300,000 signatures for a tightening of the law on political-mafia electoral exchange, 150,000 signatures to request a parliamentary debate on euthanasia and legalized yet, 150,000 signatures for the cancellation of the annuity for the deputies and senators who have been convicted for crimes in more than two years penis Mafia.
All achievements.
While the platform can promote the emergence of social problems feel "bottom", on the other hand, however, the risk is that it will turn into an excellent vehicle for popular initiatives uninformed, "The issue is divided into two parts - for example, on the issue of civil unions we guarantee the possibility of discussion whether you are pro and con, the important thing is to respect our standards, "explains Elisa me.
"On the other hand there is disinformation: it may happen that a person carry forward an initiative uninformed in good faith, in these cases we communicate with the developer to verify his information, and if necessary act."
"It is not the number of signatures to be concerned, the important thing is that the petition is valid and that history is important."
Change.org is a horizontal platform, and its nature involves a horizontal relationship with all the initiatives.
Often, however, the good will is not enough: it may happen that an important social issue does not have enough 'appeal' to become relevant, "It is not the number of signatures to be concerned, the important thing is that the petition is valid and that history is important "I Elisa explains.
"Our team works out of ten a week petition, while most of the initiatives developed independently.
In some cases we decide to try to help out, including a number of petitions on the homepage or in the newsletter that we forward to our members - we choose thinking how a request can be realistically attainable, we analyze the personal story behind a petition.
Normally we work on petitions that are promoted by individuals - we do not like to work on initiatives promoted by a party.
In this sense, the analysis and evaluation process, we carry out a purely journalistic work. "
The question is in what way can become a Change.org actually a functional body to the structure of democracy, "Last year we were in Perugia for the journalism festival - Peter Gomez, director of the Fact Daily, said that he would Change.org become a crucial platform in the next election.
That's where the citizens are activated, discuss and debate, "he says Elisa.
"We've provided a tool, the decision maker tool, which allows public figures to get in touch with the petitions that interest them: in short, politics is with the citizens - the citizens we are already there, what to expect politicians?"
"On our platform emerging social forms that do not always get noticed in traditional media stream, long ago a very young boy he had launched a petition to ask Marino to withdraw the resignation - For traditional media days were all very lined up on each other while the petition revealed a social support from below against Marino: in a few days the initiative had exceeded 50,000 signatures, "says Elisa.
The question then remains the same: democracy can go to the internet?
Many try, many fail, very few succeed - In my opinion, Change.org in his (not so) small he is succeeding better than others.

From Vice