The FERMI project consortium held its fifth major meeting online on 17 and 19 September 2024, attended by representatives from all partner organisations. Unlike previous in-person meetings, this one took place online and placed a special emphasis on tasks that started relatively recently (such as training, exploitation and policy recommendations).
Platform and technological Updates
Technology Offerings (WP3) provided updates on ongoing developments, with work progressing steadily across various contributions. Some technical challenges were noted in integrating specific features into the platform, and efforts are focused on exploring solutions to enhance functionality. Partners are collaborating to ensure the deliverables meet the project’s objectives and align with user needs, with ongoing assessments to address any integration challenges.
User Interfaces and Platform Integration (WP4) reported steady advancements in platform functionality, with ongoing refinements to improve user experience. Some adjustments are being made to ensure optimal performance, especially regarding interactions with third-party data sources. Technical partners are focused on enhancing response times and ensuring users can access timely results, while user feedback continues to inform iterative improvements. Further fine-tuning of the platform is planned following the conclusion of the pilots and the gathering of relevant feedback.
Pilot Demonstration and Validation Campaigns
The project pilots were a central point of discussion, with the first and the second one having already been completed by the time of the meeting. The first pilot, which took place on 17 June 2024 and aimed to validate the Spread Analyser module, reported a successful completion and gathered positive feedback from 26 users. The second pilot was conducted a few days before the consortium meeting, on 10 and 12 September 2024. It focused on validating three crucial tools of the FERMI platform: the Sentiment Analysis module, the Dynamic Flows Modeller and the Swarm Learning framework that enable end-users to grasp the sentiment of social media messages and estimate the future crime landscape without sharing sensitive or classified data and feedback is still being collected. Both sessions took place virtually and were preceded by a training session organised by FERMI’s technical manager, ITML (with the support of the other technical partners).
Planning is underway for the third pilot, expected to take place in early October. WP5 leader on pilot demostration and validation campaigns IANUS will arrange follow-up meetings to ensure insights from user feedback guide further refinements to the platform.
Outreach Management and Exploitation
Steady progress has been reported, with many key performance indicators (KPIs) have already been surpassed. However, additional outreach activities are planned to further enhance public engagement, including workshops and other events. Partners are encouraged to contribute to ongoing communication efforts, with a focus on increasing visibility and maximising impact. Plans are underway to ensure that project insights and findings reach a broad audience, including stakeholders and policymakers, to reinforce FERMI’s objectives in building digital trust and addressing disinformation.
General Assembly
In a brief session on September 19, the General Assembly reached a quorum and discussed a potential amendment to extend deadlines for the second pilot iteration and relevant deliverables in WP3 and WP4, conditional on updates following the first pilot iteration.
This meeting emphasised FERMI's ongoing commitment to refining its technology, ensuring robust user feedback mechanisms, and expanding outreach initiatives to reinforce project goals in combating disinformation.