Current Issue
Dear readers,
In another edition of the #ossym conference series, it is our great pleasure to present the proceedings of the 7th International Open Search Symposium - #ossym25 - which takes place from 8 to 10 October 2025 in Helsinki, Finland, hosted by CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd.
In this year’s symposium there are 22 accepted papers from 58 authors. The constant strong interest in open search and artificial intelligence is reflected in many inspiring contributions to topics such as “Architecture and Infrastructure”, “Applications”, “Alternative Search Engines”, Information Literacy”, “Social Science Track”, “Legal aspects”, as well as “Ethics and Society”.
All in all, the #ossym symposium offers a variety of formats exchange and inspirations. From scientific presentations, workshops on horizontal aspects of open search topics, to exchange with industry players and policy makers. It provides a platform for researchers engaging in the Open Web Search Initiative to present and exchange on their results with the community.
Not covered in these proceedings, nevertheless very important, are the keynote speeches featuring valuable insights into technical, governmental, community-related and ethical aspects:
• Henna Virkkunen (Executive Vice-President Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy of the European Commission): Welcome address,
• Aura Salla (Member of the Europen Parliament): Opening Keynote,
• Harri Ketamo (Founder & Chairman Headai): “The openness of knowledge data and its role in Future Search Solutions”,
• Viivi Lähteenoja (Chief Executive Officer, The MyData Company & Doctoral Researcher at the University of Helsinki): “Searching for Trust: Reflections on Epistemic Virtue Online”.
We want to express our special thanks to all authors for their sound contributions, the program committee for their valuable reviews and recommendations, all keynote and featured speakers for the inspiring insights, all sponsors for their financial support to the event, as well the team of this year’s host, CSC, for all the organizational efforts. Without all these great contributions and helpful support, it would not be possible to successfully run the International Open Search Symposium.
The initial motivation for establishing the #ossym conference series was to establish a place for exchange, demonstration and inspiration on the multifaceted approaches, disciplines, angles and activities in the vibrant Open Web Search community. We are convinced that #ossym provides this place of exchange in a very fruitful and interesting manor. Every #ossym takes the Open Web Search activities and related initiatives a big step further - year after year. We look forward to meeting all participants: whether onsite or online. Your engagement, contributions and lively discussions are the foundation that the Open Search Initiative is based on and that stimulate its advancements.
In this spirit: We are very happy to already announce and look forward to the next year’s gathering – #ossym2026 - to be hosted by the Germany Aerospace Center (DLR) in Berlin!
On behalf of the #ossym25 conference committee,
Michael Granitzer, Christian Gütl, Per Öster, Megi Sharikadze, Stefan Voigt, and Andreas Wagner
