Cyprus Tech Policy Unconference: Reclaiming the Digital Commons - ReFLOSS edition

When: Saturday, 17 May | 09:30 - 18:00
Where: Cyprus Interaction Lab
Cyprus University of Technology
Pavlou Mela 13 (by CUT Radio)
Limassol, Cyprus
GPS: 34°40'44.3"N 33°02'42.2"E
OpenStreetMap, Google Maps

This is one of a series of unconferences (open space gatherings with an emergent agenda) aiming for impact in tech policy, in Cyprus and beyond.

The tech industry celebrates disruption and innovation—yet too often sidesteps the deeper conversations we urgently need: What kind of digital futures are we building? For whom? By whom? At what cost? The Cyprus Tech Policy Unconference is an invitation to pause, regroup, and reclaim the narrative. To centre ethics, digital sovereignty, and the commons in our thinking about technology. We seek to challenge extractive models and nurture free, fair, and participatory infrastructures for governance, education, and life.

We call together:

• People who think and work towards digital rights and the democratisation of technology,
• FLOSS developers, educators, researchers, creatives, and community organisers,
• People interested in co-creating ethical digital policy and resilient community tech
• People invested in mapping the obstacles and opportunities for free/libre software in public institutions, schools, and cultural spaces,
• People interested in the Right to repair, and the "public money public code" movement
• Practitioners and policy-makers looking to move toward grounded, implementable strategies for digital justice,
• People interested in connecting the above priorities with sound business practices.

What to expect

• A fluid, minimally guided, participant-led networking, brainstorming, and co-working atmosphere, following the principles of Open Space Technology: sessions are proposed and shaped by attendees themselves, allowing for spontaneity, relevance, and co-ownership of the agenda.
• Space for panels, co-writing labs, workshops, and policy roundtables.
• Emphasis on dialogue, transparency, and co-creation.

What Open Space can look like

• The Basics - https://youtu.be/XCPZ5iQLlnA?si=8q3l7NRx6_06FR3_
• The potential - https://youtu.be/WQj12jmLGr4?si=AM660pl2L7BUAZVX

Initial schedule

09:30 | Gathering
10:00 | Kick-off
10:00 | 11:00 Session Planning
11:00 | 13:30 Parallel sessions
13:30 | 15:00 Potluck Lunch
15:00 | 16:30 Parallel sessions
16:30 | Outcomes
18:00 | End of day

Fringe Programme

18:30 | rethinking the presentation of generative artworks w/ Alexandre Burton and Line Nault
@NeMe - https://www.neme.org/projects/presentation-of-generative-art
20:30 | Dinner & ELLAK Cyprus Beer Assembly

Collaborative Planning Pad