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Open sessions for open-source communities — all skill levels welcome.
A Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a concern or passion for something they do — and learn how to do it better by interacting regularly. The concept, introduced by cognitive ethnographer Étienne Wenger in 1998, rests on three pillars: a Domain (shared interest and identity), a Community (members meet, exchange, and learn from each other), and a Practice (members develop shared resources, tools, and best practices). CoPs are open to all skill levels — whether you are evaluating a tool, running it in production, or contributing to its development.
Open-source groupware for calendars, contacts, and email
SOGo is an open-source groupware server that providesCalDAV, CardDAV, and ActiveSync-compatible access to calendars, address books, and email. It integrates natively with Thunderbird (via the SOGo Connector plugin) and Microsoft Outlook, making it a practical choice for academic institutions and non-profits that need shared calendars and email without proprietary lock-in. The SOGo Community of Practice covers deployment patterns, customization options, and the roadmap ahead — whether you are evaluating SOGo for your institution or already running it in production.
Interested in participating or contributing? tobias@tobias-weiss.org
Open-source office suite for digital sovereignty
OpenDesk Community Edition is an open-source office and collaboration platform — an alternative to proprietary office suites — built entirely on open-source components and designed for institutions that prioritize digital sovereignty. It covers document editing, real-time collaboration, video conferencing (BigBlueButton), and file sharing, all connected through a unified single sign-on experience via Keycloak. The OpenDesk CoP brings together the people running, evaluating, and contributing to openDesk CE to share operational experience, discuss the development roadmap, and shape the future of the project together.
Interested in participating or contributing? tobias@tobias-weiss.org
The next Community of Practice sessions are scheduled for the end of June 2026 — exact dates will be announced via the mailing list. To receive announcements and session links, reach out to tobias@tobias-weiss.org.
Contributions and presentations from previous sessions:
A workshop focused on open science practices and tools, fostering collaboration among researchers and practitioners.
An open-source extension of OpenDesk Community Edition that adds educational services to the OpenDesk cloud stack.
A comprehensive analysis on digital sovereignty for academic institutions, exploring open-source alternatives to proprietary software.
A practical implementation report on OpenDesk solutions — presented at BenutzerGruppe NetzWerke Tagung.