Abstract

The essay discusses a number of research projects concerning access to official information and the production of texts. It illustrates the feasibility of the adoption in the public administration of technologies based on the automatic processing of natural language. The aim is to furnish clear information which enhances collaboration between the administration and citizens and provides the latter with "individualized" access to information systems. A crucial contribution to this process could be made by machines capable of understanding and producing texts in natural language. These instruments would favour transition to a form of communication which effectively focuses on the needs of the citizen. The essay illustrates the Tamic-P Project (Transparent Access to Multiple Information for the Citizens-Pension) currently under way at the "Istituto Nazionale di Previdenza", and the Generating Instructional Texts Project, which is experimenting in the production of multilingual administrative documents.