COMPACT: From research to policy through raising awareness of the state of the art on social media and convergence

The central objective of the COMPACT project was to increase awareness among key stakeholders on the state of the art on social media and convergence. COMPACT sought to:

• provide knowledge support to the various stakeholders (policy makers, co- and self-regulators, market players, researchers and the public at large);
• stimulate debate on appropriate policies and regulatory actions; and
• diffuse innovative ideas and best practices.

To achieve these objectives, COMPACT:

• Reviewed the state of the art in terms of research on social media and convergence across the EU Member States.
• Identified and analyzed national policies and regulatory frameworks on social media and convergence across the EU Member States.
• Identified the jurisprudence of national higher and constitutional courts concerning social media and convergence in selected Member States and explored the contribution of national judiciaries to the protection and balancing of distinct fundamental rights and interests in the field.
• Collected data on policy pre-standardisation initiatives and stakeholder coordination actions in the field of social media and convergence across the EU.
• Organized nine thematic seminars across the EU to present the project output, provided a platform for debate among policy stakeholders and researchers and stimulated experience exchange.

The project consortium

• National University of Ireland Galway (NUI, Coordinator), Ireland
• Skola Komunikacie a Medii, n.o (SCM), Slovakia
• Data Poslovne Storitve, d.o.o (DATA D O O), Slovenia
• Pan European ICT & Ebusiness Network for SME Association (PIN SME), Belgium
• Sdruzenie Bulgarska Asociacia na Softuernite Kompanii Bascom (BASCOM), Bulgaria
• Institut Jozef Stefan (JSI), Slovenia
• Ontotext AD, Bulgaria
• Non-governmental Organization Agency of European Innovations (AEI), Ukraine
• Media 21 Foundation (M21F), Bulgaria
• Universidade Catolica Portuguesa (UCP), Portugal
• Partnerstvo za Drustveni Razvoj Udruge (PSD), Croatia
• IT-Forum, Denmark
• Latvijas Universitate (LU), Latvia
• Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), Greece
• MEDIAFRAME LTD, United Kingdom

The project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme (grant agreement no. 762128) and had a duration of 3 years (October 2017-October 2020).

Publications: Psychogiopoulou, E., F. Casarosa and A. Kandyla (2019), National courts, social media and convergence, COMPACT project report