The South Tyrol Free Software Conference, SFSCON, is one of Europe’s most established annual conferences on Free Software. SFSCON promotes the use of Free Software in digital infrastructures as a tool to achieve greater innovation and competitiveness. Here decision-makers and developers meet, learn and get inspired.

OW2 is partner of SFSCon since many years now. We will be there on a booth run by OW2 corporate member Engineering Group and organizing a conference track. 

OW2 Conference Track

Date: Friday, November 10th, 2023, starting at 2 pm.
Venue: Seminar Room 2
Moderator: Noemi Maglio, Engineering Group

AGENDA

Talk 1: RIOS and the OSPO Alliance

Schedule : 14:00 - 14:15
Title: Updates on the OSPO Alliance and the Good Governance Initiative.
Speaker name: Stefano Pampaloni, Seacom
Abstract: The Good Governance Initiative (GGI) developped by the OSPO Alliance proposes a methodological framework to assess open-source awareness, compliance and governance in any kind of organizations, helping them to structure and improve the use of FOSS towards an OSPO. This presentation will highlight the main progresses and new features achieved since last year's introduction at SFScon, such as the translation of the GGI Good Governance in five languages, the recent Success Stories presented in the OnRamp meeting series, and many more.
See the slides PDF

Talk 2: TETYS project

Schedule: 14:15- 14:30
Title:The CORD-19 Topic Visualizer: Exploring the evolution of research topics during the COVID-19 pandemic
Speaker name : Francesco Invernici, Politecnico di Milano
Abstract : The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped research across various fields, producing an unprecedented flood of articles. In response, several open-access corpora were created; among them, the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19) collected over a million articles in 2.5 years. 

In this presentation, we introduce the CORD-19 Topic Visualizer (CORToViz), a method and tool for exploring CORD-19's scientific abstracts. It uses a stack of modern open source technologies to cluster articles and mine temporal topics. CORToViz has an interactive dashboard for quick topic visualization, time series tracking, and statistical testing.

We will show the results extracted with CORToViz, which allowed us to visualize and tell in a synthetic way what happened to react against COVID-19, comparing it with the key moments of the pandemic. The high adaptability of our approach suits any textual document corpus, and it lends itself easily to exploring new challenging fields of research, such as climate change. 

CORToViz represents the first prototype of a series, which we aim to develop within the NGI Search Program, under the TETYS project (Topics Evolution That You See), aiming to build the next-generation Web topics explorer.
See it on SFScon website: https://www.sfscon.it/talks/the-cord-19-topic-visualizer

Talk 3: HeReFaNMi project

Schedule: 14:30 - 14:45
Title : Can AI counteract Health-related Fake News? HeReFaNMi: an open-source project to counteract health-related misinformation
Speaker name: Alessandro Bruno, PhD in Computer Science, Faculty of Communication, IULM
Abstract: HeReFaNMi (Health-Related Fake News Mitigation) is an NGI-Search-funded project to give back trustworthiness to the Internet community by tackling fake news spread. Other than the well-known cyber threats, several factors have been undermining the Internet search experience lately. One of the pandemic's lessons learned concerns the health-related fake news spread over websites and social media networks. Some nefarious effects came as a non-negligible hesitancy towards national healthcare systems' guidelines. Since then, several AI-powered solutions have been developed to counteract fake news circulation using supervised and unsupervised learning. The task is challenging due to the need for continuous updating upon introducing new scientific findings. The so-called data drift and catastrophic forgetting also affect the effectiveness of AI-powered classification methods. LLMs (Large Language Models) have recently made their way through the AI landscape by delivering unprecedented performances over text analytics, mining, question and answering systems, and text generation. However, LLMs suffer from Hallucination, meaning they can elaborate contents that are unreliable as a source of truth even when fine-tuned on scientifically sound datasets.
See it on SFScon website:https://www.sfscon.it/talks/can-ai-counteract-health-related-fake-news/

More information about SFScon: https://www.sfscon.it/

Mindtrek Conference
October 3, 2023
Tempere, Finland
Website: https://www.mindtrek.org/

OW2 member "City of Paris" will participate at the Mindtrek 2023 conference and give a keynote talk.  

About Mindtrek: Mindtrek is an international technology conference organized annually in the city of Tampere, Finland that offers a horizontal view into the field of future technology. It’s all about networking and exchanging ideas with people who come from different backgrounds and who have different areas of expertise. Mindtrek consists of several different sessions. Themes of the conference vary each year and can cover topics such as open source, open data, smart city, immersive tech, eHealth, IoT, AI and more.

OW2 is happy to be partner of the 2023 Open Source Week, organized by RIOS, Rete Italiana Open Source. 

Dates: October 3-5, 2023
Venue: Eataly Roma - Piazzale 12 Ottobre 1492, 00154 Roma
Website: https://opensourceweek.it/

The OSPO Alliance and GGI (Good Governance Initiative) will be presented Day one by our partners from RIOS. 

Find more information about RIOS: www.reteitalianaopensource.net

OW2's position on the CRA is clear: we are not trying to get all of open source out of scope, but CRA should only apply to direct commercial beneficiaries of OSS deployment. "Full stop", should we add?

For details, please refer to OSI's September 4, 2023 post by Simon Phipps ("Diverse Open Source uses highlight need for precision in Cyber Resilience Act") which  perfectly reflects our vision. We have no other requirements, and fully support its conclusion:

"The Cyber Resilience Act should exclude all activities prior to commercial deployment of software and clearly ensure that responsibility for CE marks does not rest with any actor who is not a direct commercial beneficiary of deployment."

About the Cyber Resilience Act:
The proposal for a regulation on cybersecurity requirements for products with digital elements, known as the Cyber Resilience Act, bolsters cybersecurity rules to ensure more secure hardware and software products. Even though the CRA provides an exemption for open source software developed or supplied outside the course of a commercial activity, there are many remaining challenges in defining the scope of the exemption, which are currently beeing discussed.
Find more about the CRA initial introduction from the EU: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/cyber-resilience-act

We are collecting below a number of useful links from the press, media and technical blogs to provide some background information on the topic. 

• Position of the CNLL, French Cluster of free digital and open source software companies, September 6
• Article from APELL : Europe’s Open Source Industry’s Statement on the Cyber Resilience Act, September 5 
• "Diverse Open Source uses highlight need for precision in Cyber Resilience Act, Blog post from OSI, September 4
• "No Cyber resilience without open source sustainability", Blog post from Github, July 12
• "European Parliaments version if the CRA threatens cybersecurity and open source development", Blog from Mozilla Foundation, July 13 
• "EU Cyber Resilience Act moves to next stage impending tragedy for open source", Article DevClass, July 21

[French version]
La communauté open source OW2 recherche une collaboration avec un/une travailleur indépendant(e) du secteur marketing et/ou évènementiel pour l'organisation de sa conférence annuelle (en Juin 2024) : OW2con'24.

OW2 est une communauté informatique indépendante dédiée à la promotion de logiciels open source pour les systèmes d'information et à l’animation de leur écosystème. Chaque année, OW2 rassemble à l'occasion de sa conférence annuelle environ 200 participants (30% d'étrangers), incluant des experts, responsables de service informatique, architectes, développeurs et chefs de projets open source.

Période et durée de la mission: la prestation s'étalera sur une période allant de février à juin, sur une base d'une demi-journée par semaine au démarrage, évoluant jusqu'à une journée par semaine avant l'évènement. Nous prévoyons une enveloppe d'environ 6 à 10 journées au total. La présence sur place à Paris courant juin est à prévoir (les dates seront précisées ultérieurement, prévoir 3 jours de déplacement, les frais seront pris en charge).

Descriptif:

• Suivi et mise à jour du retro-planning existant, en soutien et en collaboration avec la Responsable Evènement OW2.

• Gestion des prestataires (consultations, choix, suivi des commandes, facturation, accueil et suivi pendant l'évènement).

• Participation à la définition et l'implémentation du plan de communication, et contribution à l'animation communautaire en amont de l'évènement, aide au recrutement de participants.

• Participation aux autres tâches selon les besoins et disponibilités.

Le/la prestataire devra faire preuve de d'initiatives et capacités d'adaptations, d'un niveau correct d'anglais (anglais écrit minimum requis). Une expérience de base dans l'évènementiel, ainsi qu'une connaissance du secteur informatique et de l'open source seraient appréciées.

Merci de contacter: catherine.nuel@ow2.org

_

[English version]
The OW2 open source community is looking for a collaboration with a freelancer specializing in marketing and/or events management for the organization of its annual conference (in June 2024): OW2con'24.

OW2 is an independent IT community dedicated to the promotion of open source software for information systems and the animation of their ecosystem. Each year, OW2 brings together around 200 participants (30% from abroad) at its annual conference, including experts, IT managers, architects, developers and open source project managers.

Period and duration of the mission: the mission will be spread over a period from February to June, on the basis of half a day per week at the start, evolving to one day per week before the event. We anticipate an envelope of approximately 6 to 10 days in total. Presence on site in Paris during June is to be expected (the dates will be specified later, allow 3 days of travel, the costs will be covered).

Description of tasks:

• Follow-up and update of the existing retro-planning, in support and in collaboration with the OW2 Event Manager.
• Management of suppliers (consultations, choice, follow-up of orders, invoicing, reception and follow-up during the event).
• Participation in the definition and implementation of the communication plan, and contribution to community animation before the event, help in recruiting new participants.
• Participation in other tasks according to needs and availability.

The freelancer must show initiative and adaptability, a good level of English (minimum written English required). Basic experience in events, as well as knowledge of the IT sector and open source would be appreciated.

Thanks for contacting: catherine.nuel@ow2.org

[OW2con'23 pre-event] Web technologies for applications Workshop, Paris, June 13th 2023

[English version]
A unique event looking at the intersection of web innovation, emerging standards for light app technologies, and mobile devices.

This half-day event, endorsed by the W3C (developers of global web standards), Systematic (the largest innovation pole in France), and OW2 (Europe’s historic open source foundation) will provide insight into web technology trends, foster discussion, through a technical program of conferences during the morning.

It will give you a rare opportunity to speak with renowned web experts not just from the W3C, but also from companies such as Startin'blox and Huawei. And it is also a pre-event to OW2’s fantastic annual conference "OW2con'23", in Paris on June 14th and 15th.

Program and registration.

[French version]

Un événement unique qui se penche sur l'intersection de l'innovation Web, des normes émergentes pour les technologies d'applications légères et des appareils mobiles.

Cet événement d'une demi journée, soutenu par le W3C (développeurs des standards mondiaux du web), Systematic (le plus grand pôle d'innovation en France), et OW2 (fondation historique de l'open source en Europe) permettra d’explorer les tendances technologiques du web, à travers un programme de conférences techniques tout au long de la matinée.

L’événement vous donnera une occasion rare de discuter avec des experts du Web renommés non seulement du W3C, mais aussi de sociétés telles que Startin'blox et Huawei. Et c’est un pré-événement à la conférence annuelle d'OW2 à Paris "OW2con'23", le 14 - 15 juin.

Programme et inscriptions.

Free Software Professional Meeting
(Rencontres Professionnelles du Logiciel Libre)
Date: May 24, from 9:00 to 18:00
Venue: Hotel de région, Lyon

OW2 will be present at RPLL along with members such as FusionDirectory and Worteks. 

This event is organized by PLOSS-RA (PLOSS Auvergne Rhône-Alpes), and aim at facilitate the development of a solid and persistent open source ecosystem. 

More information about the RPLL: https://www.rpll.fr/ (in French)

OpenExpo Europe

Date: May 18, 2023, from 9:00 to 21:00.
Venue:
La Nave 5 Calle Cifuentes
28021 Madrid Spain
Website: https://openexpoeurope.com/en/

Open Expo Europe is back this year to in-person event! 

OW2 is partner of the conference and will participate as Bronze Sponsor. 

Visit us booth #12 and do not miss our presentation, at 13:30 in the Open Talks Plain Concepts. 

What will be presented on the OW2 booth

Project	Main capabilities
	The NGI Search project supported by the European Commission through the Horizon Europe programme is a cascade funding project designed to support the development of digital innovation in the domain of searching and discovering data on the internet. The first beneficiaries from the Open Call 1 will be presented at Open Expo Europe. Open Call 2 will be open to possible new candidates.
	The Good Governance Initiative (GGI) proposes a framework to help shape, build and develop a governance of FOSS in any kind of organization, toward an OSPO (Open Source Program Office) structure. The GGI Handbook will be presented on the booth.

To reserve a ticket, please go to : https://www.eventbrite.es/e/entradas-openexpo-2023-pre-registro-466830250847

About OpenExpo Europe:
OpenExpo Europe has been one of the disclosure windows in Technological Innovation, Digital Transformation and Open Source for 7 years.
OpenExpo has brought together more than 3,500 professionals from the technology sector from all industries, such as decision makers, technicians, experts and users of all levels, who had the purpose of learn first-hand about the latest trends, tools and services in innovation and technology, as well as increase their network of contacts.