From Technosignatures to Human Identity: The INAF Strategic Roadmap for SETI Outreach from Schools to the General Public

For several years, the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) has been systematically consolidating its outreach and educational activities around the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), with the explicit goal of connecting high-profile international research programs with broader public engagement on the theme of life in the universe. Italy's contribution to contemporary SETI research is substantial: both the Medicina Radio Observatory and, most notably, the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT) participate in the Breakthrough Listen program. The SRT, equipped with a 64-meter dish, currently serves as a primary asset in the global search for technosignatures, conducting observations of targets identified by NASA's TESS mission and of the Galactic Center.

Within this framework, INAF launched the national school competition C'è posta per E.T. (A Message for E.T.), now in its second edition for the 2025–2026 academic year. The initiative exemplifies an Active SETI pedagogical approach: students are tasked with designing a message intended for a hypothetical extraterrestrial civilization, following the legacy of the 1974 Arecibo Message. The competition is deliberately multidisciplinary, engaging students across astrophysics, biology, linguistics, and the social sciences. A central methodological element is the application of computational thinking and coding: participants encode their messages using binary sequences and Pixel Art via Run Length Encoding (RLE), directly mirroring the processes involved in actual interstellar signal synthesis. The impact of this approach was evident during the inaugural edition in 2022, when over 70 school groups participated. Winning messages were transmitted from the ASI Space Geodesy Centre in Matera toward target exoplanets, including TRAPPIST-1 and Kepler-296. The event also incorporated a Moon bounce (Earth-Moon-Earth) experiment, engaging the amateur radio community alongside thousands of students in a coordinated online field trip.

Complementing this school-based initiative is "Tracce di vita" (Tracks of Life), a science communication podcast in Italian language, dedicated to the scientific search for extraterrestrial life. The project fills a gap that had long existed in the Italian science media landscape: no podcast had previously addressed this research domain through a narrative-driven format. Across its episodes, Tracce di vita explores multiple scientific frontiers, including astrochemistry, astrobiology, the history of Mars exploration, exoplanet research, and SETI itself.

The podcast employs a narrative-led format, drawing on interviews with researchers from diverse disciplines — planetologists, biologists, chemists, and historians — to offer an integrated perspective on the search for life. Each episode opens with a historically or culturally situated story: the origins of Fermi's question, Schiaparelli's Martian canals, or the Great Moon Hoax of 1835. This storytelling structure enables listeners to explore both the scientific tools and the deeper motivations behind the research, while foregrounding its historical trajectory and cultural resonance.

By integrating the technical rigor of C'è posta per E.T. with the narrative depth of Tracce di vita, INAF has developed a holistic outreach model. The competition addresses the how of SETI — encoding, transmission, and active signal design — while the podcast investigates the why and the broader historical context, from the Arecibo Message to the Voyager Golden Record. Together, these initiatives offer a replicable framework for the multidisciplinary community, combining scientific communication, interdisciplinary collaboration, and critical reflection.

This approach highlights that science is always tied to its social and historical roots. Instead of treating SETI as a purely technical task, we frame it as a cultural effort to define who we are and what it means to be human. In directing sophisticated instruments toward nearby and distant stars, and in analyzing elusive cosmic radio signals, we are simultaneously engaged in a reflection on human identity. This presentation examines the pedagogical methodology, the technical tools employed, and the outcomes of these initiatives, offering a roadmap for incorporating SETI themes into formal science education and public discourse through digital and narrative innovation.