Slavko Žitnik
Speaking Sessions
From Datasets to Data Spaces: What they are and what to expect?
We will explore the evolution of the data space concept—from its origins in the European data strategy to emerging reference architectures designed to support sovereign, interoperable, and purpose-specific data ecosystems. We'll examine sectoral implementations across domains such as health, mobility, and culture, and critically assess their technical and societal value. Special focus will be given to the Language Data Space (LDS), a strategic initiative aiming to facilitate large-scale, multilingual language data sharing across Europe. As language data becomes foundational for training robust and transparent AI models, the LDS offers a promising infrastructure for advancing AI research and unlocking new opportunities for the digital humanities.
Biography
Slavko Žitnik, PhD, is an associate professor and a vice dean for education at the Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana. His research is focused into information retrieval, information extraction, semantic Web, and information systems. He participates in multiple research projects and actively collaborates with multiple researchers from EU and USA. Currently, he is a member of the supervisory board at the Agency for Communication Networks and Services of the Republic of Slovenia, president of the Slovenian Language Technologies Society, and president of the the Slovenian Society INFORMATIKA.