best practice – Page 6 – GFOSS – Open Technologies Alliance

Interim evaluation of the programme on interoperability solutions for administrations, businesses and citizens

1 February 20191 February 2019 by Ellak-Editor

About this consultation Feedback period: 7 December 2018 – 1 March 2019 Topic: Digital economy and society, Institutional affairs Target audience We welcome contributions from: i) citizens; ii) businesses; iii) associations representing businesses or professionals; iv) associations representing consumers or the civil society; v) public administrations. Why we are consulting This public consultation aims to … Read more

Cities agree on minimal interoperability mechanisms

24 January 2019 by Ellak-Editor

Over a hundred European cities have agreed on ‘Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms’ defining the communication between software programmes and building blocks to allow co-creation and sharing of services. The MIMs, advocated by the Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC) initiative, are “simple steps towards using new technology”, OACS chairman Martin Brynskov said on Thursday. “The MIM … Read more

“The Competences we need” – Documentary on the Council of Europe Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture

25 December 201826 December 2018 by Ellak-Editor

“The Competences we need” – Documentary on the Council of Europe Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture from Council of Europe OP Services. “We were not born as fully informed and active citizens. This is something that we become with time”. This is the opening sentence of the new documentary produced by the Education … Read more

More revenue, new jobs: Basque Country open source ICT sector grows 8%

6 December 201826 December 2018 by Ellak-Editor

In the past year, ICT companies in the Basque Country in Spain that specialise in free and open source software report a revenue growth of 8 percent – much higher than the autonomous region’s average – according to a member survey by ESLE, the region’s trade group for these ICT service providers. “This year’s growth … Read more

European cities reuse Madrid’s open source citizen participation solution

14 September 201828 September 2018 by Ellak-Editor

Consul, the citizen participation platform shared as open source by the city of Madrid (Spain), is being implemented in 18 countries across the world. In Spain, Consul is used by over 40 villages, towns and cities. In Europe, Consul is also used by Paris and Aude (France), Turin (Italy), and Tirana (Albania), while Madrid has … Read more

Germany funds open source security check for SMEs

14 September 201828 September 2018 by Ellak-Editor

Germany’s federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has been funding a 26-month project to help small and medium-sized companies avoid IT security issues when using open source content management systems. The project started in September 2016 and will end in November this year. The project is now looking for sponsors to continue the online … Read more

Finland’s open code repository now includes municipalities

29 August 201828 September 2018 by Ellak-Editor

Municipalities in Finland should now find it easier to discover reusable, open source ICT solutions. A list of available solutions is available on the Avoinkoodi (“Open Code”) portal, managed by COSS, the country’s open source resource centre. To promote sharing and reuse of open source solutions, the centre is working with Kuntaliitto, the Association of … Read more

Why we should start taxing the robots that are taking human jobs

4 March 2018 by Ellak-Editor

This post is also available in: Greek (Image by Shutterstock via The Conversation) Ryan Abbott, University of Surrey and Bret Bogenschneider, University of Surrey for The Conversation Automation promises to be one of the great social challenges of our generation. The fear that robots will steal our jobs is an old one. But it’s being felt … Read more

3 Projects That Show How Cities Can Use Technology as a Force for Good – #smartcities

27 December 201727 December 2017 by Ellak-Editor

Platforms enabled by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), like Uber and Airbnb, are increasingly being seen as looters by cities. They are like Death Stars, extracting great swaths of value from local communities only to transfer that wealth elsewhere. Indeed, it would seem that the original ideas of sharing and peer-to-peer collaboration have been co-opted … Read more