European Commission News & Articles

This week in document management brings us plenty of Microsoft news including SharePoint (news, site) archiving in the cloud and a new secure cloud service to simplify doing business for the Feds.

In early 2007, the European Commission's Consumer Affairs Directorate released the Green Paper "on the Review of the Consumer Acquis," a document inviting comment on specific aspects of current consumer protection regulations and how they might be improved.

After over three hundred responses (apparently a high number) from stakeholders ranging from the business sector to consumer organizations and public authorities at various levels, the Commission has released a proposal that has many in the software industry in a bit of a sweat.

The Interactive Knowledge Stack (IKS) project is relatively new, formed in January 2009 in part with funding from the European Commission. Its goal is to provide an open source technology stack for adding semantic web enhancements to existing open source content management systems.

There are many ways the IKS can enhance existing content management system implementations for this purpose, from the user interface down to the guts of the database layer. The IKS is currently seeking developers, integrators, vendors, end users, consultants and others in the open source community who are involved with related projects.

The mission: to build a specification, design, and then implement the IKS. To this end, a requirements workshop for open source developers has been scheduled in Salzburg for May 27 through 29, though it may move to Munich in June if there is enough interest. The purpose of the workshop is to present the technical vision of the IKS, offer your critical assessments and discuss participation details.

For more information about the IKS Project, see the IKS Project site.

When the updated version of Europe’s records management software standards are ready for adoption in 2008, Open Text says it will be poised to deliver compliant solutions and assist customers with preparation.