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In the January issue

OSOR’s and FOSS community’s 2024 work has already begun
Dear OSOR readers, 2024 is already off to a good start with partnerships, analysis and participation in events. A lot of the great work of 2023 in the public sector went into organisation of the use of open technologies - both for developing strategies and for implementation. We look forward to seeing what will be built on top of that work in 2024 and in OSOR we hope we contribute by making people aware of what's happening in other parts of the EU.

Estonia has published its online classroom software, Schoolaby, as free and open source software under the EUPL licence. While this category of software attracted a lot of interest during the COVID lockdowns, the developers highlight that it can also assist with schooling for children who are absent due to illness or for other reasons, and the software will be ready if any future crisis causes schools to close again.

In France the government's Interministerial Digital Directorate, DINUM, has announced yet another partnership. Following on from existing partnerships with NLnet, Adullact and OW2, DINUM has now partnered with DesCodeuses (Women Who Code) to provide training to that organisation’s members. DesCodeuses helps women get involved in IT careers and DINUM is going to provide training for how to work with free and open-source software. Readers looking for more background on the state of FOSS in France might also be interested in the recent paper “Open source & logiciels libres” (in French), based on 15 expert interviews.

FOSDEM, 3 & 4 February in Brussels, is upon us and we’re happy to see the European Commission participating again, this time both in a presentation on the main stage and a panel on the Cyber Resilience Act and the Product Liability Directive. Live streams and recordings will be available for anyone who can’t be in Brussels or who can’t choose which of the 65 tracks to attend. FOSDEM is run by a volunteer community and is one of the biggest FOSS events in Europe. This year’s agenda features 515 speakers. This year European Commission organised their own satellite event too on Thursday 1 February in Brussels: Workshop on Open Source key areas for Digital Autonomy.

The OSOR Team is also busy. Our most recent publications are a new country intelligence report, on Nigeria, and a case study on Munich’s FOSS strategy. Nigeria's position as an IT HUB in Africa is well known, but we hope this report brings attention to the structures there that are working on free and open-source software and how Nigeria is connected to larger FOSS initiatives in Africa. Munich is an interesting story which highlights that progress is not always linear and setbacks can be learned from and overcome.

We look forward to a productive year and we hope that 2024 is already giving OSOR readers a few things to be positive about,

The OSOR Team

Latest News

New partnerships for the french OSPO

The OSPO of the French government’s Interministerial Digital Directorate, DINUM, has announced a partnership with “DesCodeuses”. This continues DINUM’s approach to working with the open source community through formal partnerships. In particular, this partnership is expected to be a first step for longer-term collaboration between DINUM and...
 
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SCHOOLABY - Open Source distance learning

Known for the quality of their education system, Estonia provides its online E-education tool SCHOOLABY under the European Union Public Licence (EUPL).
 
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Open Source and Free Software: Perspectives and Visions of Open Source Actors

A recent paper titled: “Open Source and Free Software: Perspectives and Visions of Open Source Actors” (in French) has been published by the OpenStudio group. Compiling 15 interviews, and providing an analysis of them, this white paper gives an overview of various actors of the French open source community. OpenStudio, a digital services compan...
 
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OW2con'24: European Open Source Conference Announces Call for Presentations

OW2con'24 has issued a call for presentations, seeking proposals that contribute to technical skills, imagination, and professional development. The primary theme for this year's presentations is "Open Source Funding."
 
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Upcoming Events

FOSDEM 2024

The 2024 edition of FOSDEM will be held as usual on 3-4 February 2024. FOSDEM operates as a bustling conference, boasting this edition's inclusion of 515 speakers, 482 events, and 65 tracks.
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Date
date 03/02/2024 - 04/02/2024

EU Open Source Policy Summit 2024

The 10-year anniversary of the OpenForum Europe’s EU Open Source Policy Summit is taking place on 2 February 2024, just before FOSDEM. The Summit gathers an assembly of policymakers, open source businesses, community members, developers, foundations, and experts engaged in diverse digital policy matters.
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Date
date 02/02/2024 - 02/02/2024

OSPOlogyLive with Dutch Tax and Customs Administration

Join the third OSPOlogyLive Europe in Apeldoorn (part presentations, part roundtable sessions) to help organizations navigate Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) operations and management in European regions. OSPOlogy Live is hosted by the OSPO at the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) and co-organized with Linux Foundation Europe, InnerSource Commons Foundation, Foundation for Public Code, LF Energy, OpenChain, SPDX, CHAOSS, TODO Group and OpenSSF projects.
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Date
date 28/02/2024 - 29/02/2024

Latest Publications

Munich's Long History with Open Source in Public Administration

This case study is a retrospective on the policies and use of open source solutions in public administration in the German city of Munich. The OSOR team had the chance to exchange with the Munich City Hall’s IT Team, it@M. You will learn about Munich's ongoing 25+ year history of open source in public administration and its future.
 
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New county report on the state of OSS in Nigeria

OSOR has just published the first version of its report on the state of open source in Nigeria. This report offers an overview of the country's recently initiated digital government reforms. Structuring 36 federated states, the Nigerian central government is also coordinating a wider policy work with the other member states of the African Union.
 
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Solution of the Month

Signal

The Signal app allows for end-to-end encrypted messaging between devices, primarily phones. There are similar apps which are also free and open-source software but Signal is one of the few for which the server software is also free and open-source software. 2024 is its tenth year of active development. Signal was recommended by the European Comm...
 
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The European Commission’s Open Source Observatory is part of the Interoperable Europe initiative under the Digital Europe Programme for a reinforced interoperability policy in the public sector.
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