An important debate has developed in the last few years on the subject of social participation, centered above all on the study of the forms of participatory democracy and the relations between the main subjects of it. Almost all the studies on participation bring out the role of cognitive resources and the risks of information asymmetries between the various subjects taking part in the planning. The setting up of information social systems in the welfare field too has been the most suitable response for avoiding this risk. However, not all the information systems guarantee the same level of participation, and so theory and the use of ideal types can be used to identify the various possible models and the type of participation preferred for each. only subscribers can see the full article

This contribution deals with the importance of process-produced data in government information systems (particularly at regional level), or of the usefulness of linking synergically the information gaps for social planning with the information gaps for bureaucratic purposes. There are two basic criteria behind this method: information-gathering techniques used for censuses and the choice of the organizational unit of service providers (and not the individual user) as the basic unit of observation. The essay also considers the strategic choice of the unit of service provision and unit of elementary observation in activating reliable information flows and the correct placing and evaluating of information tools and data bases on the individual user for case management. The development of social information systems based on information taken from process-produced data also fills in many of the information gaps, that can also be defined at differentiated territorial levels, including central national level, with an undoubted advantage for the trans-regional comparability of data, as well as for reconstructing otherwise incomparable data on a national scale. only subscribers can see the full article