Together for free and open web search: OWS.EU Community Meet-Up was a great success!

From 9 to 11 October the #ossym24 brought together the open web search community to discuss technical, legal, ethical and economical aspects of free, unbiased and transparent access to information on the internet.

This year the OWS.EU consortium organised for the first time a “Community Meet-Up” on the evening of the first conference day. Many participants accepted the invitation and mingled with the experts from the project. Tables were dedicated to specific topics like “Infrastructure”, “Sustainability”, “Ethics”, “Legal” or “Web Index and Crawling”.

Megi Sharikadze (Leibniz Supercomputing Centre) who is heavily involved in management and coordinating aspects of the EU-funded OpenWebSearch.EU project explains the idea behind the gathering: “Usually the people involved in open web search initiatives are spread across Europe and beyond. It’s not always easy to stay in touch. The opportunity to meet the community locally, exchange ideas, inspire others and share common motivations is therefore of the utmost importance. As we build an open European web search ecosystem together, our community is growing and diversifying. We remain committed to motivating others and finding new allies – especially as we pass the halfway point of the OpenWebSearch.eu project. We have made great strides over the past few years, bringing on board new partners selected through our Community Programme. Now it is time to go out with our results and spread the word about how free and open web search can enhance our sovereignty and innovation potential in Europe”.

How to join the community

Are you a researcher, entrepreneur, inventor, politician, etc. interested in open web search, its chances and challenges? Don’t miss our monthly community meetings where the latest developments in open web search are presented and discussed on a regular basis. The 45-min community updates take place online on the BigBlueButton platform every first Monday of the month. The next Community Meet-Up will take place on 4 November 2024 in conjunction with our partner project NGI Search. Find out more about the event and registration in our community area.

 

OWS.EU Community Meet-Up @ #ossym24

The 6th International Open Search Symposium #ossym24 invites open search enthusiasts to discuss and promote ideas and concepts of Open Web Search at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) in Garching from 9 to 11 October 2024. OWS.EU hosts a Community Meet-Up during the conference.

OWS.EU Community Meet-Up @ #ossym24

The #ossym24 is organised by the Open Search Foundation in collaboration with the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ). OWS.EU is proud to be involved in this year’s symposium and to invite attendees to the first OWS.EU Community Meet-Up @ ossym on Wednesday, 9 October, 7 PM. Members of the OWS.EU project will be waiting for you to discuss all aspects of a European Open Web Search over a catered dinner. The community meet-up is a get together for everyone involved in the OWS.EU project and its Community Programme but also for people who want to join or learn more about the quest for a better European Web Search that enables free, unbiased and transparent access to information.

#Ossym24 with a multifaceted programme

Members of the OWS.EU project are also heavily involved in the conference programme. Our colleagues will present their work on technical, legal and ethical aspects of piloting a European Open Web Search. All details and times can be found at the event website.

Sign up and save your spot

The #ossym24 will take place in a hybrid format in presence and online, registration is required. Participation in both formats is free of charge. There are 100 places available for on-site participation at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre in Garching near Munich. Save your spot now!

Events worth attending this autumn!

While we are still enjoying the sunny, hot summer days, we are also preparing a couple of interesting autumn events surrounding topics such as free & open web search (our main topic), open data and AI, as well as fundamental rights in the context of open web search and data protection.
We invite you to join the conversation, so mark your calendar for the following events you won’t want to miss:

  • #FWSD24 – FreeWebSearchDay is going into its second year with exciting interactive actions and events happening on 29 September and the surrounding days and week. More info and how you can partake and support this special day: https://freewebsearch.org/
  • Economy Study – As part of FreeWebSearchDay, we are offering an online presentation in cooperation with Mücke Roth & Company and BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt on 30 September. The topic: A comprehensive study on the market potential of OpenWebSearch.eu in Europe. The study is part of our third-party community programme.
    Sign-up to the event: https://gstoo.de/OpenWebSearch
  • #EBDVA – the European Big Data Value Forum takes place in Budapest, Hungary from 2-4 October this year. Our session “Web-data at your fingertips for Generative AI, Data Analytics and Search” is scheduled for 3 October at 15.30 CET: https://european-big-data-value-forum.eu/2024-edition/programme/
  •  #ossym24 – The 6th international OpenSearchSymposium takes place from 9-11 October at Leibniz Supercomputing Centre near Munich. Speakers include Roberto Viola – Director General, Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission , Dr. Martin Andree – Media Scientist and Bestselling Author and Richard Socher – CEO at you.com. Participation is free, with 100 on-site spots available. The hybrid event will also be streamed. All infos and sign up link: https://opensearchfoundation.org/en/events-osf/ossym24/
  • EOSC Symposium – From 21-23 October the European Open Science Cloud Symposium sets the scene in Berlin, Germany. Join our Unconference session on „Findability in FAIR: Touchpoints between EOSC and Open Web Search“ on 22 October  from 17-18 CET: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1408259/timetable/?layout=room#20241021.detailed

To stay in the loop on further events and project updates, make sure to sign up to our quarterly newsletter right here.

Proceedings #wows24 are out

Organized by a committee of researchers of the OWS.EU consortium, the 1st “International Workshop on Open Web Search“ took place as a side event of #ECIR24. The hybrid workshop welcomed over 30 participants to discuss and workshop ideas for the future of #OpenWebSearch.

A Keynote by Negar Arabzadeh from the University of Waterloo on “Evaluation of Information Access Systems in the Generative Era“ kicked off the day, followed by presentations and discussions.
 Eight papers have been selected with topics like “Assembling four Open Web Search Components“, “A Mastodon Corpus to Evaluate Federated Microblog Search“ and “Efficiently Scoring the Health-relatedness of Web Pages“ to name just a few.

The proceedings are out now and can be accessed here.

The workshop was organised and the proceedings were edited by:
Sheikh Mastura Farzana, German Aerospace Center DLR
Maik Fröbe, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Gijs Hendriksen, Radboud University
Michael Granitzer, University of Passau
Djoerd Hiemstra, Radboud University
Martin Potthast, Leipzig University
Saber Zerhoudi, University of Passau

Proceedings #ossym23 – 5th international Symposium on Open Search

The proceedings of the 5th International Open Search Symposium #ossym23 have been published Vol. 5 (2023): Proceedings 5th International Open Search Symposium #ossym2023, 4–6 October 2023, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland Volume five of the Proceedings of the International Open Search Symposium 2023 summarises peer-reviewed articles and research results selected and presented at the Open Search Symposium 2023. […]

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#ossym24 – Call for papers for 6th International Symposium on Open Search

6th International Symposium on Open Search #ossym24: Call for papers and demos is open until 23 March

In October 2024, the Open Search community will gather at Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) in Garching near Munich for the 6th International Open Search Symposium. Papers on research and best practice projects can be submitted until 22 March 2024. For the sixth 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 hosted at LRZ, the International Open Search Symposium will  take place as a hybrid conference from 9 to 11 October 2024.

The call for papers and demos 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.

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#wows2024: Cfp Deadline Extended for until 28 February

Until 28 February 2024, the information retrieval community is invited to hand in submissions of scientific papers and implementations of retrieval components for the first #wows24 workshop. Doctoral students, but also early-stage students such as Master’s and Bachelor’s students of computer science, information science, information retrieval and NLP are welcome to submit their scientific work and implementations.

Mentoring for the practical part of submitting (parts of) retrieval pipelines is offered by the organisation team to (early-stage) participants (e.g., bachelor/master students).

The International Workshop on Open Web Search #wows24 will take place in Glasgow on 28 March 2024 (co-located with ECIR 2024). It will provide a forum to discuss and develop ideas and concepts to open up the web search ecosystem.

 

Find more information about the workshop and how to participate on the website: https://opensearchfoundation.org/wows2024

#wows2024 International Workshop on Open Web Search announced – Call for papers and software is open

The first International Workshop on Open Web Search #wows24 will take place in Glasgow on 28 March 2024.

Organised by the OpenWebSearch.eu community and co-located with the #ECIR2024 conference, the first #wows workshop calls the information and retrieval and Open Web Search community. Especially doctoral students, but also early-stage students such as Master‘s and Bachelor‘s students of #ComputerScience, #InformationScience, #InformationRetrieval and #NLP are welcome to submit their scientific work and software implementations. The organisation team offers #mentoring for the practical part of submitting to early-stage #students such as master’s and bachelor’s students.

Submitted can be scientific papers and implementations of retrieval components for the first #wows24 in Glasgow:
Submitting period for papers starts in January 2024.
Submission for software components is already open.

Find more information about the workshop and how to participate on the website: https://opensearchfoundation.org/wows2024

NGI Forum 2023 Brussels – Recap and Recordings

In November, the #NGIForum23 took place in Brussels. With a focus on Digital Commons, the gathering brought together thought-leaders, policy makers, researchers and innovators in an inspiring event to discuss an open, more secure and citizen-centred internet of the future.

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Recap #ossym23 – relive the 5th international Symposium on Open Search at CERN

In October, Researchers, Tech experts, Political Representatives and Industry Executives came together to discuss about the foundations of a human-centric, transparent and open web search at CERN in Switzerland.

The team of the Open Search Foundation has prepared comprehensive reviews of all three days Read all about the keynotes and presentations – including pictures

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