AI, government, and open source for social good: Thoughts and insights from T3CON24
tl;dr
OSPea Dylan McNulty-Holmes attended T3CON24, TYPO3'S annual conference, in November 2024. Here are his impressions of the event.
The TYPO3 Conference (T3CON) is an annual fixture for developers, marketers, and digital leaders seeking insights about TYPO3, the open source content management system. Whether you're already using TYPO3 or exploring open source CMS options, this event offers valuable perspectives. Since 2005, the conference has offered attendees the opportunity to connect, share new ideas, and discuss the present and future of the web industry and open source technologies.
Open Strategy Partners (OSP) have been enmeshed in the TYPO3 community for years — they’ve hosted or given a talk at T3CON in some capacity every year since 2018, and OSP’s cofounder Jeffrey A. McGuire (we call him “jam”) gave this year’s keynote. T3CON24 marked my first T3CON, and I was thoroughly impressed by the high-quality talks and abundance of practical advice. It was clear throughout the week that TYPO3 practitioners are engaged with the health of their community, pushing the platform forward, and committed to advocacy of open source values.
Here are some key topics that emerged for me throughout the event.
Open source for social good
One of the notable strengths of the conference for me was the focus on how to harness TYPO3 as a tool for social impact. Jeffrey highlighted the TYPO3 Association’s commitment to “doing good in the world” in his keynote presentation. He talked about their work with the Rwandan government and its fleet of TYPO3 websites. “Instead of behaving in a colonialist and exploitative manner, the community decided to do something incredible: They gathered volunteers from partner agencies and paid for them to work with people in Rwanda, to train government employees and people from the local economy, and update and secure their sites, and build new ones,” he explained. “That means the money stayed in the Rwandan economy, and is now being spent to create more value, more jobs, and more expertise.”
Mohamed Shafi Yusuf, Thomas Wiemann, and Mathias Bolt Lesniak also highlighted this commitment to social good in their lightning talk about their experiences from an ongoing knowledge-transfer project with the Somali government. The TYPO3 Association has been working closely with the Government of Somalia's Ministry of Communications and Technology to lead workshops and share strategies for website standardization, allowing participants to build user-friendly and sustainable sites.
Building and growing healthy communities
Flourishing communities, like the one around TYPO3, use their events not just to shore up existing connections but also to strategize on how to grow and sustain their networks into the future.
Community health and growth were firmly on the agenda for Marc Thiele’s talk, in which he shared what he had learned from more than 25 years of experience in community events management. He particularly stressed the importance of independent community events. Such events are crucial because, where bigger commercial conferences can only take feedback on aggregate, indie events have much more scope to take individual critiques on board and grow the community organically through word-of-mouth.
Martin Helmich and Maximilian Hafer explained the responsibility established tech companies have in developing the engineers of tomorrow. In their talk “From SysAdmin to Platform Engineer: Crafting Tomorrow’s Tech Talent,” they encouraged companies to partner with schools, offer internships and support educational initiatives to ensure younger generations are educated and enthused about careers in programming.
AI: What it is, what it isn’t, and how it could prove useful
You’d be hard-pressed to find a recent tech conference that didn’t address AI in some guise. Dr. Patrick Glauner gave T3CON24 attendees a solid grounding in what AI is (and isn’t) and explained the basic structures of neural networks and transformers. With this foundation in place, discussion about AI's potential opportunities and risks felt more grounded in reality rather than hype.
Regarding opportunities, Julia Leusing and Marie Reckendrees demonstrated how the current generation of AI tooling opens up new avenues for product development, marketing, and retail experiences.
In terms of risks, Dr. Glauner cautioned against “doing AI for AI’s sake.” “If you can solve your problem with just two or three rules, please don't train a neural network,” he said. He recommended training your employees about what AI algorithms can actually do, and asking them for suggestions about where automation could help in their daily processes.
Government, legislation, and compliance
Undoubtedly, one of the most significant news items discussed at T3CON was the launch of Government Site Builder 11, the German Federal Government’s standard web content management solution as of 2025 — based on TYPO3.
Legislation and compliance more broadly were also spotlighted in several talks.
- Anja Schröder and Patricia Moock’s talk about sustainable communications governance was a highlight. They introduced the audience to the Green Claims Directive, a proposed law to standardize the verification processes and language used around environmental claims. With 53% of green claims made by companies currently being unsubstantiated, this Directive could prove hugely beneficial for those looking to make more environmentally friendly decisions.
- Dr. Glauner’s talk discussed the recently passed EU AI Act, which will segment AI applications into four categories — from “no risk” to “forbidden” — and impose compliance standards on the riskiest applications. He highlighted the work of companies whose AI applications were deemed “high risk” to create industry-standard checklists and streamline compliance processes. He urged companies who might be subject to such standards to get involved.
Building the open source communities we need
The event’s focus was firmly on the future across compliance, community growth, and AI. It’s heartening to see participants taking active steps to build sustainable, equitable communities that address problems faced in our jobs and broader lives.
I want to thank OSP for inviting me to join them at T3CON, and to all the speakers and attendees for sharing so many insights and perspectives. I’m thankful for the opportunity to see the open source ethic of collaboration and free knowledge exchange put into practice.
If these themes resonate with you, register for next year's T3CON or explore more TYPO3 community resources to discover how to contribute your skills and join this global open source community.