The Blog
Dr. Fotis FitsilisHellenic OCR Team’s second anniversary!
Something big happened back in November 2017; our scientific crowdsourcing initiative, the Hellenic OCR Team, came to life! This November, members and supporters celebrate our second anniversary. Look out for a special monthly meetup and get introduced into the state-of-the-art processing and analysis of parliamentary data.
My book presentation at the ICON-S in Florence
A book presentation and the following discussion are great moments for every author. Moreover, it does not get any better when these take place in the majestic environment of Università Degli Studi di Firenze, Italy, during an ICON-S conference, the International Society of Public Law, 22-23 November 2019.
My presentation on digital democracy
Glad to have participated on September 26th, 2019, to a highly specialized expert meeting on Digital Democracy organized by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Greece and Cyprus.
Open datasets in Figshare
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The opening of three very interesting data sets is announced today! These data sets originate from three distinct research sectors that are being pursued by our Parliamentary Foresight Lab, a virtual research laboratory in the Department for Scientific Documentation and Supervision at the Scientific Service of the Hellenic Parliament.
read more…
YouTube channel going live!
It is time to go live! Established long ago, it took some time to become fully functional, but now its here. My YouTube channel with my TV appearances and academic presentations is now up and running!
Participation to Open Science working group
The Hellenic OCR Team participates in the Open Science working group, which constitutes an initiative of the ATHENA Research and Innovation Center.
Hellenic OCR Team supports Post-Legislative Scrutiny
GSoC 2019 tool ready for use!
The Hellenic OCR Team announces the finalization of the software development project Tool for Extracting Quantitative Text Profiles. The code was developed by Panagiotis Papantonakis for GSoC 2019. Project management was undertaken by Hellenic OCR Team members, so called mentors.
Being at Wroxton (once again!)
My presentation on SDGs in Yangon
I had a great opportunity to present my latest research on the parliamentary monitoring of SDGs in Yangon, Myanmar at the Academic Conference on Post-Legislative Scrutiny in Asia, 17-18 June 2019. This was a joint contribution with Franklin De Vrieze titled: Interface between PLS and SDGs and the state of play in South East Asia and the Pacific.
Twinning talk at the Inter Pares conference
As a former Resident Twinning Advisor, I was honoured to represent the Hellenic Parliament at the INTER PARES inaugural conference, which took place at the European Parliament from 11 to 12 July 2019. The conference on this new EU global project to strengthen the capacity of parliaments was jointly organised by DG DEVCO and International IDEA.
My new book on the regulation of algorithms! (updated)
I am really excited to have learned that Springer has announced the publication of my new book Imposing regulation on Advanced Algorithms! Publication is scheduled for early fall 2019. Don’t need to queue at the bookstores; pre-order has started.
Mentor for GSoC 2019
In early May, Google announced this year’s projects for the Google Summer of Code (GSoC). The project proposal of the Hellenic OCR Team was among the ones that were accepted for implementation! As a mentor to the project, I am glad to be able to contribute to this exciting endeavor.
My presentation at the RES Workshop
On May 7, 2019, I participated at the regional consultation workshop of the Renewable Energy Sources community in Athens, Greece. My presentation was on ‘Lawsourcing and Post Legislative Scrutiny concepts in the area of renewable energy’.
My appearance on a TV series on the history of parliamentary assemblies in modern Greece
It is an honor to be part of this special documentary produced by the Hellenic Parliament Television on the parliaments of modern Greece. Take a tour back in time to see the historic background of the first steps of parliamentarism in modern Greece.
Hellenic OCR Team Newsletter #5: April 2019
Check out our newsletter no.5 (April 2019) for more information on current operations of the Hellenic OCR Team as well as details of our future activities.
Participation to the 2019 Google Summer of Code
Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is a global program focused on introducing students to open source software development. In Greece, the Open Technologies Alliance participates in GSOC 2019 with more than 25 open source projects. The Hellenic OCR Team has provided a highly intresting project proposal, which is presented below. We invite students who wish to participate to contact us in order to be guided through the process.
Hellenic OCR Team Newsletter #4: January 2019
Happy New Year! Check out our latest (#4) newsletter. Featured topics include the establishment of a sub-group on Linked Open Data, the progress towards organizing a hackathon for parliamentary open data and our prospective participation to the Google Summer of Code.
Η συνέντευξή μου στον “Τυπολόγο”
Στις 22 Δεκεμβρίου 2018 δημοσιεύτηκε στον “Τυπολόγο” συνέντευξή μου με θέμα “η Δημοκρατία μεταξύ της εξέλιξης και της παράδοσης”. read more…
Μελέτη για τον ψηφιακό μετασχηματισμό
Τον Δεκέμβριο του 2018 δημοσιεύτηκε η μελέτη του Forum Ελληνικής Καινοτομίας και Στρατηγικής για τον ψηφιακό μετασχηματισμό της δημόσιας διοίκησης. Ως μέλος του Επιστημονικού Συμβουλίου του Forum και εμπειρογνώμονας για τα ανοικτά δεδομένα και τις συμμετοχικές δημοκρατικές διαδιασίες, είχα την ευκαιρία να μετάσχω στην ομάδα σύνταξης.
My talk on the evolution of parliamentary institutions
Once in a month the Athens Chapter of the AHEPA order (HJ-1) organises a public lecture. On Nobember 16th, 2018, it was my turn to deliver a talk on the evolution of parliamentary institutions.
Happy birthday Hellenic OCR Team!
The Hellenic OCR Team, a novel crowdsourcing initiative for the processing and analysis of parliamentary data, celebrates its first birthday. What started as a confined experiment within the Hellenic Parliament and Greece’s oldest academic institution, the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, has now evolved into an international cooperative platform.
Cooperation with Patras Science Park
The Patras Science Park, a prominent Technology Park in the Greek ecosystem of research, technology and innovation, and the Hellenic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Team, an innovative crowdsourcing platform for the processing and analysis of parliamentary data, are pleased to announce the launch of their cooperation.
My new article on the relation between Terrorism and Trafficking
My new article on ‘The Legal Dimension of Terrorism in Human Trafficking – The Cases of Italy and Greece’ has just been published by the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich.
Hellenic OCR Team Newsletter #3: October 2018
The third newsletter (October 2018) of the Hellenic OCR Team is out, featuring the latest news from our team as well as the results of our recent visibility offensive.
Blackjack! Hellenic OCR Team reaches 21 members
The Hellenic OCR Team has now reached 21 members! Dedicated to science and innovation, our ever-expanding platform is utilizing crowd sourcing to process and analyse textual parliamentary data. Thirty (30) members is our next milestone.
Out now! My contribution on inter-parliamentary cooperation
My latest article on Inter-parliamentary cooperation and its administrators is out now! It is part of a special issue of Perspectives on Federalism titled ‘Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny in the EU: the Contribution of Interparliamentary Cooperation’ and edited by Elena Griglio and Stelios Stavridis.
Graduation from the Academy of European Public Law
It has been a privilege taking part at the Academy of European Public Law (AEPL)! It has been tough 1 1/2 years, but I learned a lot and made friends for life. Overall, a rewarding experience! Founded in 1995, the Academy is the oldest and most esteemed educational establishment of the European Public Law Organization (EPLO).
Recent reviewing activity
Despite calls for change, peer-review (or simply: reviewing) remains the cornerstone of scientific publication [1]. This basic fact is embedding ethical values and principles [2] and is positively acknowledged by most scholars worldwide. This is why I am proud to participate in editorial boards or/and scientific committees of a number of conferences and institutions worldwide, such as EUPADRA, ScieConf and InSite 2019.
IFLA WLIC 2019 contribution
It’s been almost a year since joining the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (short: IFLA). At the same time, I became member of the IFLAPARL community, the dedicated IFLA section for Library and Research Services for Parliaments. Overall a valuable and rewarding experience!
My participation at the Artificial Cosmoi and the Law (2nd edition) workshop
I was fortunate to be able to take part (once again) in the 2nd Artificial Cosmoi and the Law workshop which took place on Monday, July 30th, at the History Museum of the University of Athens in Plaka. This time, the organisers were the UCL Centre for Law, Economics & Society (CLES), Yale Law School and the Faculty of Law, University of Athens. Overall, there were five panels filled with top legal and Artificial Intelligence researchers…
Hellenic OCR Team presentation at the IFLAPARL July 2018 newsletter
The IFLAPARL July 2018 newsletter just came out with an official announcement and presentation of the Hellenic OCR Team! The newsletter is a publication of the Library and Research Services for Parliaments section of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).
Public Presentation of the Greek Innovation and Strategy Forum!
The Greek Innovation and Strategy Forum, a new think-tank aiming to reshape public discourse in vibrant topics such as politics, social relations, economy, environment, is going public! As a member of the Scientific Council of the Forum, I am proud to be part of this ambitious effort.
Hellenic OCR Team gets own online presence!
The Hellenic OCR Team has now its own website! Following its presence on Linkedin, the website shall present this unique crowdsourcing activities and extend its visibility to interested third parties. Information science professionals, data scientists, linguists and students from a wide spectrum of fields are hereby invited to participate to an one-of-its-kind cooperative platform for the processing and study of parliamentary data. More details may be found in the open Call for Members.
Hellenic OCR Team Newsletter #2
This is the second newsletter of the Hellenic OCR Team. Overall, it is the second one and the first one drafted in English. It is also the last one before the hot Greek summer. However, work within the team never stops! The next newsletter will appear in late September with more insights on team development, collaboration with related organisations and more information the processing and analysis of parliamentary texts.
An evening in the European Parliament: Digital skills and Greek tourism
Brussels view
A highly interesting event regarding growth in the tourism sector through development of digital skills took place on 15 May 2018 in the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels [1]. Analysis of the future potential of state-of-the-art technologies in tourism was supported by a presentation of Google’s initiative Grow Greek Tourism Online [2].
Hellenic OCR Team Newsletter #1
Το πρώτο newsletter της Eλληνικής Oμάδας OCR (Hellenic OCR Team) είναι γεγονός! Σε αυτό ενημερώνουμε τα μέλη μας για την εξέλιξη των εργασιών μας, τη διεύρυνση της ομάδας και πολλά άλλα ενδιαφέροντα θέματα. Η Eλληνική Oμάδα OCR, πρώτη στο είδος της, είναι μια ανοικτή πρωτοβουλία για την επεξεργασία και μελέτη κοινοβουλευτικών δεδομένων. Περισσότερες πληροφορίες μπορείτε να βρείτε εδώ.
Hellenic OCR Team reaches milestone!
The crowdsourcing initiative Hellenic OCR Team reaches an important milestone. After less than three months of operation, the team has now expanded to 10 members. The members are originating from the private, the public and the academic sector. Currently, team members are resident in Greece and in France. They are virtually linked through an online exchange platform and regularly gather for monthly meetings, where problems are discussed and best practices are exchanged.
Contributing to Post-Legislative Scrutiny
‘The act of evaluating laws that a parliament has passed is known as Post Legislative Scrutiny’ [1]. In 2017, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) completed a publication triplet on Post-Legislative Scrutiny (PLS). It now includes a Comparative Study of practices of PLS in selected parliaments, a Guide for Parliaments and a policy document with principles for PLS.
Hellenic OCR Team
Interdisciplinary science at its best – Be part of it!
On the eve of 2018 a new crowdsourcing platform came to life. The Hellenic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Team represents the first scientific crowdsourcing initiative that aims exclusively at the processing and study of parliamentary data. Naturally, the application, handling and further development of OCR processes stand in the core of our endeavor.
My presentation at the Chamber of Deputies of Argentina
On 31 August 2017 I presented the topic ‘Advancing capacities of representative institutions: a proposal’ at the Parliamentary Capacity Building Institute of the Argentinian Chamber of Deputies (Instituto de Capacitación Parlamentaria – Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina). The presentation via teleconference was organized by the Foreign Affairs Office of the Chamber of Deputies and was attended by several parliamentary officials and employees.
My presentation on Advanced Algorithms
My presentation on ‘The influence of new technologies on administrative law‘ at the Academy of European Public Law took place on 29 August 2017 in Legrena, Greece. Below you may find the contents of my presentation as well as a short abstract. A related paper to be published in a peer-reviewed journal is in the making too.
Η παρουσία μου στις "Κοινοβουλευτικές Ιστορίες": Τα Ευαγγελιακά
Ως “Ευαγγελιακά” έχουν καταγραφεί τα αιματηρά επεισόδια που έλαβαν χώρα στις 8 Νοεμβρίου του 1901 στην Αθήνα με αφορμή τη δημοσίευση από την εφημερίδα Ακρόπολις των Ευαγγελίων μεταφρασμένων στη δημοτική γλώσσα από τον Αλέξανδρο Πάλλη.
Impressions from Wroxton
The 13th Workshop of Parliamentary Scholars and Parliamentarians took place between the 29th and the 30th of July 2017 at the Wroxton College in Wroxton, Oxfordshire, UK. The 1st Workshop was held at the Berlin Science Centre in 1994. Its success led to it being a biennial event. A one-of-its-kind gathering of all relevant stakeholders around representative institutions. It is no coincidence that the workshop is sponsored, among others, by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which closely monitors all contributions and presentations.
Paper: "Content Reconstruction of Parliamentary Questions"
Check online my new article on «Content Reconstruction of Parliamentary Questions» (31 July 2017).
Paper: "Implementing structured public access to the legal reports on bills and law proposals of the Scientific Service of the Hellenic Parliament"
My new article on “Implementing structured public access to the legal reports on bills and law proposals of the Scientific Service of the Hellenic Parliament” just went online (13 July 2017).
Abstract
In an era of end-to-end digitalization in parliamentary institutions, open data and established printed and electronic publication formats for contemporary and future content, the old, non-digitized and potentially corroded content still poses a great challenge in terms of preservation and promoting efficient usage.
Paper: "Implementing Digital Parliament Innovative Concepts for Citizens and Policy Makers"
My conference paper on “Implementing Digital Parliament Innovative Concepts for Citizens and Policy Makers” went first online on 13 May 2017.
Abstract
The organizational stability of Parliaments comes in direct contradiction with rapid progress in digital technology in recent decades, particularly in the ICT domain.
PRINCE2 Practitioner certified
After passing the relevant examination in July 2017, I am now a certified PRINCE2® Practitioner. PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is a process-based approach for project management providing an easily tailored and scalable method for the management of all types of projects. The method is the de-facto standard for project management in the UK and is practiced worldwide. PRINCE2 is a flexible method that guides you through the essentials for running a successful project regardless of project type or scale. PRINCE2 can be tailored to meet the requirements of any industy or organization.
Visiting the European Parliament Reseach Service
An official visit of the Hellenic Parliament Research Service to the European Parliament Research Service (EPRS) took place on 28-29 June 2017. I was very fortunate to be part of this historic mission, as it represented the first official visit of our service to a foreign parliament in 30 years! read more…
Συνέντευξη: Επισκέπτης καθηγητής στη Μαδρίτη – μια σύντομη καταγραφή εμπειριών
Το κτίριο της Νομικής Σχολής του Πανεπιστημίου Complutense στη Μαδρίτη
Ακολουθεί η συνέντευξή μου στον δημοσιογράφο Τόμη Τσομπανίδη – Karditsaportal.gr
About Me
Dr. Fotis Fitsilis
As engineer and economist Dr. Fotis Fitsilis has been active in a broad range of fields, from telecommunications and logistics to management and governance. After a career as a research engineer in Germany, he worked as Special Advisor for Business and Industry in the Greek Ministry of Development. Since 2007 he has been working in the Hellenic Parliament. Learn More..