Some 20 years in the software industry already, open source software is now much more than just a few weird fellows trying to break free from commercial software. This workshop invites all Open Source stakeholders and public administrations, and especially those linked to European Union funded initiatives, to discuss the quality dimension of open source with special focus in the use of open source by public administrations. The workshop is supported by the ePractice.eu and the OSOR.eu communities and it will be held in Brussels, on Thursday 7 April 2011. Information about this workshop can also be found through the OSOR. eu platform. The workshop topics can be grouped in two major directions:

Licensing issues:

o How to choose an Open Source software product for professional use

o Re-using OSS from other public administrations and the implications of licensing

o How to agree on a license for a cross border development of OSS

o The effect of open source licenses to the software development process

Software production perspectives:

o OSS production quality improvement

o Documenting Open Source Software o OSOR.eu contribution to communities, licensing and collaborative development and re-use

o How to set up a project on OSOR.eu, set up roles and manage contributions

Additional subjects falling within the umbrella of the workshop’s topic in general are also welcome based on potential speaker proposals. For further information, please download the call for participation that is available in the section presentations & documents.

Important deadlines to remember: (please note the deadlines have been extended)

• Summary (1 page) & 4 presentation slides to be submitted by 29 March 2011

• Speaker confirmation by 30 March 2011

• Final presentations (6 slides) 4 April 2011

Speakers/Audience: This workshop is open to anyone interested in the area of Open Source, in public administrations as well as businesses and/or citizens who interact with them: cross-border project implementers; developers of Open Source software; stakeholders in FP6 and FP7 research projects; researchers; businesses; European Commission officers; ePractice members etc.

Registration:

To register for this workshop, please create an ePractice account at http://www.epractice.eu/en/user/register if you are not a current member. Subsequently, kindly login and once you are in this page click the yellow button that reads "participate in this workshop" to activate your registration. ePractice members can simply login and click on the same page as described above.

Submission of summaries / Presentation slides:

To be considered for a speaker placement kindly submit a summary of one page and four presentation slides of your intended presentation to events@eurodyn.com. Regarding your summary, please download and complete the workshop proposal form that may be found in the presentation and documents section below. Final presentations should not exceed 7 power point slides and should be concise and factual. Please, don't use busy slides, too many graphics or pics and consider that every slide should not use more than 6 bullet points per slide. The main point of your presentation is to briefly inform about the project/initiative and encourage participation, questions and overall discussion.

Networking:

This workshop is all about networking. A few selected speakers will set the scene with a 15 minute presentation and the rest of the programme will be dedicated to roundtable discussions and networking purposes.

Contact:

Please, direct all queries to the above events@eurodyn.com. The event coordinators will assist you promptly.