#ossym23 – Register now for 5th International Symposium on Open Search

#ossym23: Registration is open

In October 2023, the Open Search community will gather at CERN in Geneva for its autumn meeting. For the fifth time, #ossym will provide a forum to discuss and further develop ideas and concepts of open internet search. Registration for the free event is now open.

Discuss all things Open Web Search and meet the OpenWebSearch.eu partners and community at the interdisciplinary conference on Open Search. Organized by ows.eu project partners Open Search Foundation and CERN, the International Open Search Symposium will again be hosted as a hybrid conference in Geneva from 4 to 6 October 2023.

5th International Open Search Symposium

CERN, Geneva (Switzerland) + online

4 to 6 October 2023

free

opensearchfoundation.org/ossym23

Discuss about all aspects of Open Web Search, such as:

  • Architectures and platforms
  • Societal and ethical challenges and solutions
  • Web Data Analytics and Web Mining
  • Large Language Models, Machine Learning and generative AI
  • Green computing and sustainability
  • Politics and governance
  • Economic dimensions, business models, applications of open search
  • Legal aspects of open search
  • and many more …

Information and Registration

More information is provided on the webpage of the organizer Open Search Foundation: opensearchfoundation.org/ossym23

#ossym23 5th Open Search Symposium 4-6 October 2023 CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

About the Organiser – Open Search Foundation e.V.
The Open Search Foundation e.V. is a European movement to create the foundation for independent, free and self-determined access to information on the Internet. In cooperation with research institutions, computer centres and other partners, we’re committed to searching the web in a way that benefits everyone.
Motto: “Together for a Better Net”. More info on the website: opensearchfoundation.org

Ideas, strategies and demands for policy: Policy Paper on Open Web Search in Europe

The EU project OpenWebSearch.eu has successfully mastered the first phase. In the next steps, it is now important to explore how the Open Web Index (OWI) can be operated as a public infrastructure in the long term. This involves political support, funding models and governance structures.

The most important basic requirements for an Open Web Index are long-term funding, an organisational form that supports the European legal framework and the support of policymakers. Under the leadership of the Open Search Foundation, the OpenWebSearch.eu community has developed ideas and strategies and derived demands for policy from them. The results have been incorporated into a policy paper aimed at political decision-makers. The position paper is now publicly available.

It explains why the European Union needs a digital infrastructure like the Open Web Index and how society will benefit from it. And it lists the steps that policymakers need to take to ensure that such an infrastructure can be built and sustained. Such steps include a funding model supported by public money from the EU and member states and an organisational form that creates the conditions for democratic control.

The OpenWebSearch.eu community calls on the EU Member States and the European Commission to establish a European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC) and to provide funding for it in the next multi-annual financial framework. This is an essential step towards an EU programme for a European Open Web Index and Web Analytics in the coming years.

You can download the full policy paper here:

Download Policy Paper

#ossym23 – Submit your papers and save the date for 5th International Symposium on Open Search

#ossym23: Call for papers is open until 31st May

In October 2023, the Open Search community will gather at CERN in Geneva for its autumn meeting. Papers on research and best practice projects can be submitted until the end of May 2023. For the fifth time, #ossym will provide a forum to discuss and further develop ideas and concepts of open internet search.

Organized by ows.eu project partners Open Search Foundation and CERN the International Open Search Symposium will again be hosted as a hybrid conference in Geneva from 4 to 6 October 2023.

The call for papers is aimed at a wide range of experts – invited are, among others, researchers and speakers from research and informatics, data centres, libraries, technology companies, politics, education as well as legal, ethical and societal thought leaders.

Participants can submit scientific papers, practical experiences or new concepts and positions on relevant areas of Open Search. This includes topics as diverse as Open Search architectures and platforms, web data analytics and mining, Large Language Models (LLM), Machine Learning (ML) and generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), but also new business models for an Open Search world or policy and governance.

Research contributions are accepted as full papers (4-6 pages) in English. Developers of concepts and best practices may submit an extended abstract (1 page). Acceptance is subject to peer review and will be communicated by 15 July 2023. Full papers and abstracts presented at #ossym23 will be published in an online proceedings (including DOIs and ISBN) after the event.

Information and Registration
The #ossym23 will be hosted – in person and online – by the CERN in Geneva from October 4th to 6th. Participation is free of charge. More information is provided on the webpage of the organizer, the Open Search Foundation. Registration is open as of May 31st, 2023.
More detailed information can be found on the website: opensearchfoundation.org/ossym23

#ossym23 5th Open Search Symposium 4-6 October 2023 CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

About the Organiser – Open Search Foundation e.V.
The Open Search Foundation e.V. is a European movement to create the foundation for independent, free and self-determined access to information on the Internet. In cooperation with research institutions, computer centres and other partners, we’re committed to searching the web in a way that benefits everyone.
Motto: “Together for a Better Net”. More info on the website: opensearchfoundation.org

“OpenWebSearch.EU is an open project where others can contribute” – Interview with Megi Sharikadze and Michael Granitzer about the third-party calls of openwebsearch.eu

A trustworthy search that protects the personal data of its users and integrates European laws: That is the goal of OpenWebSearch.EU. The plan also includes bringing external research groups and companies on board. To this end, a total of three so-called third-party calls are planned. The first public call ends on 28 April.

What is the strategy behind openwebsearch.eu’s third-party calls? Who applies? And how will the entries be evaluated? Susanne Vieser interviewed the two project coordinators, Prof. Michael Granitzer from the University of Passau and Dr. Megi Sharikadze from the LRZ.

Read the full interview on the website of LRZ

 

 

First EU project on Open Web Search launches third-party call | Media Release

Third-party call – an invitation to advance R&D for a new Internet Search in Europe

OpenWebSearch.EU – a consortium of 14 research partners – is open for third-party proposals to help building an Open and independent Web-Index based on European values (OWI). The first call addresses business and research partners to submit their applications in two tracks from March 1st until April 28th, 2023.

Read more

Third-Party Call #1: Announcement

First third-party Call has launched

The OpenWebSearch.eu project consortium is eager to identify new project teams to be funded under the OpenWebSearch.eu Community Programme, on-board and integrate them into ongoing and future activities for sustainable Research and Development on Open Web Search.

Third-party activities are driving forces in the OpenWebSearch.eu Community Programme, with funding provided by the OpenWebSearch.eu project (funded by the EC under the GA 101070014). In spring 2023 the OpenWebSearch.eu Community Programme is coming to life. The Community Programme is comprised of activities in support of third-party project initiation, execution and successful completion.

Topics of Call 1

The first call consists of two tracks:

Track 1: Conceptual contributions on legal or economic aspects of Open Search

Building an Open Web Index (OWI) does not only include technical challenges, but also legal and societal ones, especially when considering recent EU legislation like the Digital Service Act or the Digital Market Act. Furthermore, challenges for new business models or significant changes in the search engine market arise.

The consortium seeks for two possible kinds of studies:

  • Legal Studies to analyse and understand legal constraints and requirements for building and operating an OWI, which includes, but is not limited to (i) compilation and analysis of the laws and norms that are relevant to building and maintaining an OWI, (ii) legal assessment of technical and non-technical prevention mechanism, (iii) legal assessment of the implications of the right to de-referencing for an OWI or (iv) analysis of existing open source and open data licenses in regard to the suitability for usage in an OWI.
  • Economic Studies for setting up and maintaining an OWI as public European infrastructure. This includes, but is not limited to studies for analysing and estimating the costs associated with setting up, operating and maintaining a distributed open web index infrastructure across Europe and analysing and estimating the market potential and economic impact of such an infrastructure.
Track 2: Technical approaches to legally compliant data acquisition considering societal constraints:

Web crawling is the predominant method for web search engines to gather content for their index. However, webmaster and content owners have only limited control over the crawling process via mostly proprietary services. OpenWebSearch.eu is looking for concepts and approaches for opening the proprietary components and provide webmasters and content owners with more control over the crawling process and the usage of their content. Envisioned solutions should be technical in nature, including new metadata schemata/ontologies, algorithms / services for collecting website metadata, services and tools for webmaster and content owners to define legal constraints for crawling as well as open datasets and machine learning models for analysing and filtering web pages during the crawling process.

The OpenWebSearch.EU project consortium is eager to onboard new third-party project teams in OpenWebSearch.eu landscape and integrate them in the future activities for sustainable Research and Development. Therefore, the candidate third-party project should probe the closely related topics addressed in the project and should aim at widening and enriching the existing R&D activities as well as suggesting new ones which are complementary to the project goals and aims.

Dates and Modalities

  • Opening date: 1st March 2023
  • Closing date: 28th of April 2023, 17:00
  • Notification date: 30th June 2023
  • Start of projects: 1st August 2023

Successful applications can request funding between 25,000 and 120,000 EUR in this first call for a funding period of up to 12 months.

In particular, we are targeting smaller companies (e.g. SMEs, start-ups), individual innovators, individual researchers or research teams (e.g. doctoral or post-doctoral researchers) from renowned universities. Eligible applicants are individuals residing in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries, or organisations registered in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries.

Find more info and the full call application package at:
openwebsearch.eu/call1

Third-Party Call 1: Pre-Announcement

OpenWebSearch.eu
“Piloting a Cooperative Open Web Search Infrastructure to Support Europe’s Digital Sovereignty”

Third-Party Call for Proposals: Call 1 Pre-Announcement

OpenWebSearch.EU will call for proposal to help us building an open and independent Web-index. The call will open on 1st of March 2023 and invites researchers and innovators to submit their applications to join our mission. Applications will be accepted until 30th of April 2023.

The first call consists of two tracks:

  • Track 1: Conceptual contributions on legal or economic aspects of Open Search
  • Track 2: Technical approaches to legally compliant data acquisition considering societal constraints

The OpenWebSearch.EU project consortium is eager to onboard new third-party project teams in OpenWebSearch.eu landscape and integrate them for future activities for sustainable Research and Development. Therefore, the candidate 3rd-party project should probe the closely related to the topics addressed in the project and should aim at widening and enriching the existing R&D activities as well as suggesting new ones which are complementary to the project goals and aims.

Successful applications can request funding between 25,000 and 120,000 EUR in this first call for a funding period of up to 12 months.

In particular, we are targeting smaller companies (e.g. SMEs, start-ups), individual innovators, individual researchers or research teams (e.g. doctoral or post-doctoral researchers) from renowned universities. Eligible applicants are individuals residing in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries or organisations registered in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries.