On 21 May 2024, the initial discussions on the Virtual Café began, a digital environment designed to foster discussion and interaction among members of the NEOLAiA network. The idea was to create a space where academic staff and students could connect, form thematic groups, and collaborate on joint projects.
In the following days, it was decided to initially open the platform only to staff and researchers, postponing student access to a later phase. At the same time, work on privacy and distributed authentication began: thanks to the collaboration between WP9 and WP10, the Virtual Café was linked to the IDEM/GARR federated authentication system, ensuring secure access through university accounts.
During this phase, Dr. Monica D’Auria (Legal Coordination Office) and Giuseppe Sessa (Technological Systems Office) contributed to defining the privacy policy and the management of logs and cookies.
In June 2024, discussions also began regarding content moderation and the management of internal policies, laying the foundation for responsible use of the platform.
