TICI - Tracking Italian Conflict of Interest (Round 5)
Summary
TICI is an infra-structure to analyze and monitor power in Italy, by bringing together data on political figures and institutions, companies and economic entities, as well as public administrations and civil servants. Three different layers put together will create a single map representing power in Italy. A map to draw lines connecting politicians and civil servants to companies; economic interests to political appointments; track conflicts of interest and much more.
The solution
The best way to intercept conflicts of interest is by gathering data on the institutions (both private and public) that hold power, something that has not been done before in Italy. A great deal of work is needed, work that is often too time consuming for most newsrooms in Italy that tend to be in economic distress. TICI will tackle this problem by creating an infrastructure capable of offering analysis tools to newsrooms, single journalists, and researchers that are interested in the dynamics of power at all institutional levels and that want to study potential conflicts of interest.