In the first stage of internet diffusion and appropriation interactivity
has often been seen as one of the innovative forms of citizens’ participation
in public life, a proof of citizenship social and/or political
involvement. Unfortunately this vision is based on mythology rather
than on empirical evidence. In this article I discuss the relationship
between interactivity and e-participation, on the basis of four research
projects that I carried out with colleagues on online newspaper interactivity
and the influence of the Internet on journalists’ practices in
newsrooms. The cross-cultural research projects were carried out
from 2003 to 2006 inside the newspaper working group of COST A20
(a European funded research network on the influence of the Internet
on mass media). In this article I will focus specifically on the results
from the Italian context.
