DB Open, a technologically advanced database developed by the National Research Council (CNR) to preserve and provide access to the documentary heritage of the parliamentary Antimafia Commission, is now freely available online. Supported by a powerful search engine, the digital platform provides real time access to the extensive archive of acts and documents produced as part of the Commission’s activities.
Some of these records were already opened to the public but couldn’t be easily accessed due to the lack of appropriate search systems, while others have been declassified – i.e. officially declared to be no longer secret – during the 18th legislative term. The database provides as many as 46,146 pages and 26 multimedia files, and further material may be added in the future.
The initiative is part of a research and technological development project launched in 2021, in cooperation with the CNR, to support the opening of the Commission’s activities to outside users. As underlined in the Report recently published on the Parliament’s website (ITA), the new valuable tool aims to raise awareness of organized crime and help to spread an antimafia culture. The published material will be a particularly useful resource for the work of members of parliament and the research activities of academics, as well as for dissemination activities in schools and educational contexts.
