Hellenic OCR Team
Est. 11111100001members and counting...
documents processed...
Gigabytes of data...
Cups of coffee...
In late 2017, a unique crowdsourcing platform was born. The Hellenic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Team represents the first scientific crowdsourcing initiative that aims exclusively at the processing and study of parliamentary textual data. It builds on the plain idea that a decentralized group of people can be more than the mere sum of individuals.
Our team members are virtually linked through an online exchange platform and gather regularly for monthly meetings, where problems are discussed and best practices are exchanged. Newcomers receive basic training on entering the group, while more experienced members, called ‘mentors’, provide peer-to-peer advice and support. Text processing follows a well-defined streamlined process, which is developed in order to build quality corpora of parliamentary relevance. The resulting content is brought in an open and structured format, such as XML (eXtensible Markup Language), and enables the use of novel tools and methods from the exciting field of computational linguistics.
The opportunities that arise from the study of the aforementioned corpora are tremendous, as they allow for interlinking of several – formerly distant – areas of research, such as history, political science and linguistics, thus opening up new horizons in the understanding of parliamentary data and discourse. The Hellenic OCR Team is rapidly expanding and we are looking for interested individuals to further enhance our dynamic interdisciplinary team.
We need..
- A bit of your spare time
- A lot of scientific curiosity
- Your engagement and support
We offer..
- Certified training
- Opportunity to join an international scientific network
- Early access to scientific projects
- Hands-on working experience on state-of-the-art tools and methods
Contact the Hellenic OCR Team - Become a Member
The Team

Dr. Fotis Fitsilis
Co-Founder and Team Leader
Hellenic Parliament

Prof. Giorgos Mikros
Co-Founder and Head of Science

Prof. Iasonas Lamprianou
Head of Methods
University of Cyprus

Prof. Ioannis Armakolas
Comparative Politics
University of Macedonia

Marina-Eirini Kousta
International Health Policy
London School of Economics

Alexandra Fiotaki
Computational Linguist
University of Ioannina

Katerina Tzortzi
Computational Linguist
University of Crete

Polytimi Mountanea
International Political Economy

Eleni Zisioglou
Law student

Ioannis Gianniadis
Digital Identity Specialist

Panagiotis Papantonakis
Electrical and Computer Engineering student

Prof. Christos G. Alexopoulos
Academy of Applied Preschool Teaching and Health Studies

Vasileios Syros
History of Parliaments

Anna Maria Moutsai
Law student
Democritus University of Thrace

Spyridoula-Anna Pappa
Italian Philology
University of Athens

Dr. Michael Fitsilis
Head of Programming
Software developer

Sotiris Leventis
Director

Dimitris Garantziotis
Law student
University of Athens

Dr Maria Kamilaki
Linguist

Alexandros Tsomarelis
Technical Solutions & Crypto Enthusiast

Vasileios Anastasiou
Software developer

Natasa Theochari
Italian Philology postgrad. student
University of Athens

Konstantinos Christopoulos
Law student
Democritus Univ. of Thrace

Vasilis Kesidis
Italian Philology student
University of Athens

Eleni Tsaireli
Contemporary European Studies

Foteini Kakaitsa
Italian Philology postgrad. student

Konstantinos Tsiaras
Computer Science student
University of Athens

Ioanna Asanakidi
Linguist

Evangelos Dimiou
Undergraduate Student of Political Science

Athanasia Pliakogianni
Political Science
University of Bamberg

Alexandros Fikas
Italian Philology student
University of Athens

Anna Karampali
Computational Linguistics Lab
University of Athens

Sotiris Kranias
Computational Social Science

Franco Gatti
PhD Student in Italian Linguistics

Paraskevi Tsimpouki
Linguist
University of Athens

Apostolos Dalas, M.Sc.
Electrical and Electronics Engineer

Prof. Juan de Dios Cincunegui
Parliamentary Law and Diplomacy
Institutional Members
Member Locations
Athens
– Hellenic Parliament
– National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
– SW development, private sector
Komotini
Democritus University of Thrace
Nicosia
University of Cyprus
Thessaloniki
University of Macedonia
Coventry
Warwick University
Padova
Padova University
London
London School of Economics
Friedrichshafen
SW development, private sector
Doha
Hamad Bin Khalifa University
Huddersfield
Hansard at Huddersfield
Patras Science Park
Kavala City
Krusevac City
Montreal City
Luxembourg
Organization
Luxembourg
Organization
Our Blog
hellenicOCRteam.gr/blogJanuary 2021 newsletter
Becoming an expert network
In the advent of 2021, the Hellenic OCR Team is initiating its transition from a crowdsourcing initiative towards a structured expert network for the processing and analysis of government and parliamentary data.
36 months of operation
October 2020 newsletter
The Hellenic OCR Team October 2020 newsletter (#8) is out! This time on the menu: a new milestone, a huge boost in transparency, networking and significant contributions to scientific literature.
Partnership with LUDCI.eu
Newly Launched Diplomacy and Communications Institute, LUDCI.eu, and the Hellenic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Team announce partnership.
A new milestone!
The Hellenic OCR Team reaches a new milestone! Today, we proudly celebrate our expansion to 40 members. As of now, our Team has 36 individual and four institutional members that closely cooperate to achieve a set of greater goals, such as data openness, systemic interoperability and digital transformation of parliamentary institutions. read more…
A Joinup solution
The Hellenic OCR Team, an innovative crowdsourcing platform for the processing and analysis of parliamentary data and more…, now appears as a solution at Joinup, EU’s collaborative platform for Interoperability solutions for public administrations, businesses and citizens under the ISA2 Programme.
Digital Humanities 2020 poster
At this year’s Digital Humanities 2020 (virtual) conference, between 20 and 24 of July, the Hellenic OCR Team presented a poster on Xtralingua, our latest digital tool for extracting quantitative text profiles.
Hellenic OCR Team – Hypernetica joint announcement
The Hellenic OCR Team, the world’s first crowdsourcing initiative for the processing and analysis of parliamentary data, and Hypernetica, an emerging provider of business process automation and interoperability software solutions, join forces to commonly tackle legal informatics challenges in the parliamentary environment and in public governance at large.
Hellenic OCR Team members produce top-notch research on SDGs
The article titled “How parliaments monitor sustainable development goals – a ground for application of post legislative scrutiny” that appeared on June 4, 2020 in The Journal of Legislative Studies includes top-notch research by members of the Hellenic OCR Team.
Hellenic OCR Team enters EU’s Transparency Register
The Hellenic OCR Team hereby announces that it entered the EU’s Transparency Register, a system of transparency that is operated jointly by the European Parliament and the European Commission.
May 2020 newsletter
Our May 2020 newsletter (#7) is finally there and includes major steps of our aggressive evolutionary process, such as ramping up software development, concluding parliamentary control sampling, initiation of cooperation with European Commission instances and partnerships with Hypernetica and Hansard at Huddersfield.
Working on LEOS
On 29 April 2020, our development team, i.e. Sotiris Leventis, Konstantinos Tsiaras, Panagiotis Papantonakis and Dr. Fotios Fitsilis, had the opportunity to participate to an online workshop for LEOS – Legislation Editing Open Software organized by DG DIGIT at the European Commission.
Stay home: video message
This is a social message by the Hellenic OCR Team. In view of the novel coronavirus pandemic, please STAY HOME. STAY SAFE. Watch the video below.
Summer of Code 2020
Here we go again! Following successful project implementation during GSOC 2019, the Hellenic OCR Team and its partners have proposed two new exciting software development projects to org admin GFOSS! Interested students are kindly requested to express their interest at any time.
Our presence in the press: TA NEA Weekend
An interesting reportage by Marnie Papamattheou on the Hellenic OCR Team and our innovative crowd sourcing approach to parliamentary data appeared today February 1st, 2020, at the weekend edition of the newspaper “TA NEA”.
Second anniversary meeting – the real thing!
It has been a fruitful anniversary team meeting on Wednesday 22 January 2020 at the Found.ation! After two years in operation, the Hellenic OCR Team now counts 31 members in seven countries, 11 team meetings, six newsletters, and -most importantly- approx. 40K of processed parliamentary control documents.
Second anniversary meeting – announcement
Our second anniversary meeting is ante portas! Enter the Found.ation on the 22th of January and learn about the team, our achievements and goals. The agenda shall include a short presentation by the initiative’s main stakeholders, lightning talks by our members and a developer’s forum to plan for the next steps.
It’s our second anniversary!
Something big happened back in November 2017; our scientific crowdsourcing initiative, the Hellenic OCR Team, came to life! This November, members and supporters celebrate our second anniversary. Look out for a special monthly meetup and get introduced into the state-of-the-art processing and analysis of parliamentary data.
To άρθρο του Παναγιώτη Παπαντωνάκη για το GSoC 2019
Στα πλαίσια του Google Summer of Code 2019 αναπτύχθηκε για το Hellenic OCR Team ένα πρόγραμμα Windows για την εξαγωγή γλωσσικών χαρακτηριστικών από αρχεία κειμένου με τίτλο Development of a Tool for Extracting Quantitative Text Profiles. Διαβάστε στο blog της ομάδας εργασίας για το ανοικτό λογισμικό το σχετικό κείμενο του μέλους μας Παναγιώτη Παπαντωνάκη.
Our cooperation with Hansard at Huddersfield
The Hellenic OCR Team announces its cooperation with the Hansard at Huddersfield, a project that aims to provide an easily searchable web-version of Hansard using interactive visualisations and simplified linguistic software to search large databases.
Celebrating 30 members!
The next milestone is reached: the Hellenic OCR Team is now 30 members strong! With the combined force of 28 experts and two institutional members, the Patras Science Park and the Hansard at Huddersfield project, our Team is more than ever in the position to tackle its goals.
IPU’s innovation tracker
The Hellenic OCR Team is featured in the latest (#3) IPU’s Innovation Tracker with an article titled “Hellenic parliament: Making past parliamentary data usable through crowdsourcing”. Enjoy responsibly in English and French!
September 2019 Newsletter
Our September 2019 newsletter (#6) is out … and what a busy summer this has been! A plethora of activities is presented therein, from our participation to the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2019 to the expansion of our operations in new and exciting sectors.
Participation to Open Science working group
The Hellenic OCR Team participates in the Open Science working group, which constitutes an initiative of the ATHENA Research and Innovation Center.
Hellenic OCR Team supports Post-Legislative Scrutiny
The Hellenic OCR Team signs the London Declaration on Post-Legislative Scrutiny!
GSoC 2019 tool ready for use!
The Hellenic OCR Team announces the finalization of the software development project Tool for Extracting Quantitative Text Profiles. The code was developed by Panagiotis Papantonakis for GSoC 2019. Project management was undertaken by Hellenic OCR Team members, so called mentors.
April 2019 newsletter and more…
Check out our newsletter no.5 (April 2019) for more information on current operations of the Hellenic OCR Team as well as details of our future activities.
Watch our Hellenic OCR Team teaser trailer
The Hellenic OCR Team is a unique scientific crowdsourcing initiative for the processing and analysis of parliamentary data. Interested in our work? No need to read through papers and tons of related information. Watch our first teaser trailer and join our cause!
Participation to the 2019 Google Summer of Code
Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is a global program focused on introducing students to open source software development. In Greece, the Open Technologies Alliance participates in GSOC 2019 with more than 25 open source projects. The Hellenic OCR Team has provided a highly intresting project proposal, which is presented below. We invite students who wish to participate to contact us in order to be guided through the process.
Hellenic OCR Team Newsletter #4: January 2019
Happy New Year! Check out our latest (#4) newsletter. Featured topics include the establishment of a sub-group on Linked Open Data, the progress towards organizing a hackathon for parliamentary open data and our prospective participation to the Google Summer of Code.
Happy birthday Hellenic OCR Team!
The Hellenic OCR Team, a novel crowdsourcing initiative for the processing and analysis of parliamentary data, celebrates its first birthday. What started as a confined experiment within the Hellenic Parliament and Greece’s oldest academic institution, the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, has now evolved into an international cooperative platform.
Cooperation with Patras Science Park
The Patras Science Park, a prominent Technology Park in the Greek ecosystem of research, technology and innovation, and the Hellenic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Team, an innovative crowdsourcing platform for the processing and analysis of parliamentary data, are pleased to announce the launch of their cooperation.
Hellenic OCR Team Newsletter #3: October 2018
The third newsletter (October 2018) of the Hellenic OCR Team is out, featuring the latest news from our team as well as the results of our recent visibility offensive. read more…
Blackjack! Hellenic OCR Team reaches 21 members
The Hellenic OCR Team has now reached 21 members! Dedicated to science and innovation, our ever-expanding platform is utilizing crowd sourcing to process and analyse textual parliamentary data. Thirty (30) members is our next milestone. read more…
Collaboration with Scienceview
The Hellenic OCR Team has joined forces with Science View, the Hellenic Association of Science Journalists, Communicators and Writers, in order to reach out to a wider audience and potential new members. As a first step to foster cooperation, the Hellenic OCR team is presented in the 20th issue of the Science View newsletter (7/2018).
Hellenic OCR Team presentation at the IFLAPARL July 2018 newsletter
The IFLAPARL July 2018 newsletter just came out with an official announcement and presentation of the Hellenic OCR Team! The newsletter is a publication of the Library and Research Services for Parliaments section of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).
The Hellenic OCR Team web site is now online!
The Hellenic OCR Team has now its own website! Following our presence on Linkedin, our website shall present our crowdsourcing activities and extend our visibility to interested third parties. Information science professionals, data scientists, linguists and students from a wide spectrum of fields are hereby invited to participate to an one-of-its-kind cooperative platform for the processing and study of parliamentary data. More details may be found in our open Call for Members.
Linkedin page
The Hellenic OCR Team just got its dedicated Linkedin page! A presence in the Linkedin universe provides a reach out to a wide business-oriented audience and -at the same time- added-value to connected team members and supporters. Below one may found a series of screenshots from the Linkedin page, but why not visit it directly and build your own opinion?
Hellenic OCR Team Newsletter #2: May 2018
This is the May 2018 newsletter of the Hellenic OCR Team. Overall, it is the second one and the first one drafted in English. It is also the last one before the hot Greek summer. However, work within the team never stops! The next newsletter will appear in late September with more insights on team development, collaboration with related organisations and more information the processing and analysis of parliamentary texts.
Hellenic OCR Team Newsletter #1: April 2018
Το πρώτο newsletter της Eλληνικής Oμάδας OCR (Hellenic OCR Team) είναι γεγονός! Σε αυτό ενημερώνουμε τα μέλη μας για την εξέλιξη των εργασιών μας, τη διεύρυνση της ομάδας και πολλά άλλα ενδιαφέροντα θέματα. Η Eλληνική Oμάδα OCR, πρώτη στο είδος της, είναι μια ανοικτή πρωτοβουλία για την επεξεργασία και μελέτη κοινοβουλευτικών δεδομένων. Περισσότερες πληροφορίες μπορείτε να βρείτε εδώ.
Hellenic OCR Team reaches milestone!
The crowdsourcing initiative Hellenic OCR Team reaches an important milestone. After less than three months of operation, the team has now expanded to 10 members. The members are originating from the private, the public and the academic sector. Currently, team members are resident in Greece and in France. They are virtually linked through an online exchange platform and regularly gather for monthly meetings, where problems are discussed and best practices are exchanged.
Hellenic OCR Team
Interdisciplinary science at its best – Be part of it!
On the eve of 2018 a new crowdsourcing platform came to life. The Hellenic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Team represents the first scientific crowdsourcing initiative that aims exclusively at the processing and study of parliamentary data. Naturally, the application, handling and further development of OCR processes stand in the core of our endeavor.