Second year around: #FreeWebSearch Day – a day for free access to digital information is happening again

Freedom of information and democracy within the digital sphere requires open access to online resources. The #FreeWebSearch Day on 29 September brings this topic to the agenda.

In 2023 the Open Search Foundation (OSF) – one of our 14 consortium partners, brought to life the International #FreeWebSearchDay, which on 29 September each year stands for free and transparent internet search: Via the #FWSD website people are invited to participate and advocate for free, transparent and open web search.

Intransparent information: A core problem

#FreeWebSearch Day on 29 September is all about raising awareness for the current lack of transparency within internet search.

“Many internet users still think that search results at the top of their results list are good, correct and trustworthy, even though they cannot know the criteria of the rankings,” states Christine Plote.

However, freedom of information is the most important foundation of a functioning democracy. There is still a huge lack of knowledge on how search results come about and are ranked or how a search engine will know, what is in a picture.

“Surprisingly, we seem to accept a high degree of digital illiteracy in this respect. Yet, it is high time that search and the evaluation of search results become part of the curricula of schools or universities, training and further education”, the co-founder of the OSF claims.

In addition, schools and companies should give higher priority to hot topics, such as the impacts on online search by artificial intelligence, the new text generators or Large Language Models (LLMs).

Call for Ideas : Actions, lectures, hackathons wanted

For #FreeWebSearch Day 2024 on 29 September contributions from many different fields of expertise are welcome: Companies, schools, universities & educational institutions, museums or associations are invited to contribute with (online) lectures, discussions, participatory activities or projects. IT specialists or programmers can contribute with technical know-how and organise hackathons and the like.
Additionally everyone can help spread awareness by downloading and reposting the #FWSD social media graphics to help spread the word.

Information and events on #FreeWebSearch Day on and around 29 September will be continuously updated at: www.FreeWebsearch.org