Sebastiano Faro

A framework for semantic mapping between thesauri

Thesaurus interoperability is an important property which guarantees quality in indexing and retrieval of heterogeneous data sources in a distributed environment. It contributes to guarantee semantic interoperability of public services and information quality which are essential features of eGov-ernment implementation policies. This paper presents a methodological framework for semantic mapping between thesauri as well as a specific approach within such framework on a case study aimed at mapping five thesauri of interest for European Union institutions having only schema information available.

Trans-European access to national case law: the Caselex project

Starting from the description of the reasons why the transnational access to case law is important especially in the context of European legal systems, some major information systems providing access to this type of data are presented. Then, Caselex (Case Law Exchange), a project financed by the EU Commission aiming at deploying a service equipped with a variety of semantic tools facilitating the transnational and multilingual access to national case law, is highlighted. It has been developed by a strong public-private partnership and has as major targets legal professional categories as well as citizens.

Research Quality Evaluation: The Case of Legal Studies

Among SSH, legal studies create difficult challenges for the evaluation process. Legal scholarship is based on systematic analysis of legislation and jurisprudence, using a hermeneutic and logical approach that usually leads to a variety of formulations. Consequently the practices of citation have a different epistemic meaning than in STEM disciplines. Over time differences in interpretation consolidate in schools and research traditions. In light of the international literature on research assessment in Law, the chapter examines the main issues at stake. While bibliometrics are usually rejected, a number of criteria used in peer review are recommended.

The Italian perspective of the right to oblivion

This paper gives a brief overview of the state of the art relating to the right to oblivion in Italy. Three major issues on the way this right is perceived, recognized and protected are presented. First, the strict link between the right to oblivion and the right to information is discussed. Then, the role of the internet revolution in enlarging the protection to different situations related to the right to oblivion is analyzed. Finally, a reflection on the distinction between the right to oblivion and the right to data protection and specifically from the right to erasure, anonymization or blocking of data that have been processed unlawfully is drafted.

A Survey on Legal Research Monograph Evaluation in Italy

The chapter presents an original survey carried out in 2015 on legal research monographs evaluation. The target respondents were the Italian legal community. The rate of answers was quite high (taking into account a low level of national responses to mail or web surveys), reaching 26% of all professors and researchers. The survey examines in detail the criteria of research quality adopted by legal scholars. It also delivers a number of recommendations with respect to peer review, journal classification, and other evaluation practice.

Network, Visualization, Analytics. A Tool Allowing Legal Scholars to Experimentally Investigate EU Case Law

Legal Informatics has recently witnessed a growing interest towards the insights offered by the intersection among Network Analysis (NA), visualization techniques and legal science research questions. Also thanks to several seminal works, the field is ready to tackle new challenges at a theoretical and application level. The first is to bring the network approach into “genuinely legal” research questions. The second is to create tools allowing legal scholars without technical skills to exploit NA with two goals: (i) make experiments with NA and push new ideas both in legal and NA science; (ii) use NA and visualization in their daily activities (e.g., legal analysis and information retrieval). Against this backdrop, a truly interdisciplinary approach deeply involving legal experts/scholars is needed. The paper presents an ongoing research project - EUCaseNet - dealing with these challenges and aiming to explore the potentialities of NA in supporting the study of EU case law.