Discover how Open Source and Artificial Intelligence are shaping Africa’s digital transformation in this exclusive webinar featuring @AmandaBrock, CEO of OpenUK. Join us on Sunday, 25 January at 3PM GMT / 5PM Kigali time on YouTube to learn about future trends, ethical considerations, policy impacts, and how African innovators can lead the next technological revolution. Get notified: https://www.youtube.com/live/EQ-cvCEo_Vg?si=b3HrOdlQ_ZzHTrTn 🎙️
#openuk #opensource #opensourceai

Our CEO, @AmandaBrock, is joining the Telecom AI Hot Topics Panel at UKTIN's AI & Advanced Communications: A Roadmap to MWV to explore open source, AI and telco on 15 January. More about the event: https://uktin.net/whats-happening/events/ai-advanced-communications-conference
#AI #opensource #opensourceai #openuk #telco #UKTIN

Read the OpenUK January Newsletter for the latest updates and insights into the UK's open tech conversation to read updates on SOOCon26, Global AI Impact Summit, Delhi, India and, as usual, the press we were featured in, and the events we will be at. https://openuk.uk/newsletter-posts/january2026-1/
#openuk #opensource

tl;dr: it was not a vintage year, by any means.

More on that, after some good parts.

Talks and Travels

The year kicked off with a lot of travel and speaking – this continued throughout the year, but my Talks and Travels series of posts only covered a smaller percentage of my actual trips and gigs in 2025, there were several unpublished posts that should have covered the International Journalism Festival, trips to Amsterdam and elsewhere in the Netherlands… and the third and fourth-quarter trips didn’t get written down even in draft form.

I love to have the opportunity to share my passion and excitement for the Fediverse and a better social web with others, on stage or otherwise; and to visit different places; so these trips are in the highlights section.

I’m going to ask organisers of the events that I visited during the latter part of the year to forgive my lack of an associated post here; I may get around to a belated write-up, though!

The highlights

One huge event this year was becoming full-time employed at Mastodon – a mission I believe in. This has been my real anchor in 2025.

The major personal highlights of the year all arrived in the final few months – and in one case, even the last few days.

VOLUME

In July, I was approached by María Mazzanti, the managing editor of VOLUME magazine, to take part in a collaboration with the wonderful Silvia Dal Dosso for a featured interview in VOLUME 68. As I wrote elsewhere at the time:

Incredibly honoured to have been asked to contribute to VOLUME 68 and go interdisciplinary to discuss filter bubbles, tech, social networks and the #Fediverse. Top career highlight for me, for sure.

I was interviewed for a piece in VOLUME, the biennale architecture and art journal. The latest edition is themed around “Bursting Bubbles”. Bonus illustration via @_elena

This is the physical copy, I think it may be online in the future, not sure.

https://archis.org/dossier/bursting-bubbles/

— Andy Piper (@andypiper) 2025-11-22T17:59:46.457Z

I’m very grateful to María, and the team at VOLUME for allowing me to share the article here on my blog; the entire issue is absolutely fascinating, so do pick up a copy via their website if you’re interested. I’m also very curious to get to know Silvia more if our paths cross in the future – her writings and work are extremely on-point for my interests, and I think María did a fantastic job of pairing us for this conversation.

OpenUK Awards

I was delighted to be invited to the annual OpenUK Awards as a nominee this year. I’d previously been honoured in the OpenUK 2023 New Year’s Honours List. I was not expecting anything else, but I was nominated in the Community category of this year’s Awards, and subsequently invited to the House of Commons for a lovely evening celebrating the best of the UK open source / hardware / data / standards communities.

I did not win the category (congratulations to Daniel Gale!), but came away with a very weighty recognition of my nomination.

It was also a delight to see my friend James Smith at the awards dinner, and now to discover that he is in the 2026 New Year’s Honours List for his work on Manyfold and the Fediverse – nice work, James! Also: congratulations to all those recognised!

A surprising namecheck

Last week was the annual Chaos Communications Congress. I’ve never been to Congress, but it is definitely on my bucket list of events I’d like to get to at some point (this may be more viable in future, given other life changes).

I had an unexpected message from a friend, to tell me that my name came up on stage, during the session “1965 + 60 Years of Algorithmic Art with Computers”.

“Computer: zoom and enhance, lower left quadrant“

(I cheated, that’s a still image from the recording of the session)

The gentleman on the right is none other than Frieder Nake, one of the pioneers of the computer art and drawing machine movement! I’ve spoken about him several times myself – specifically during my closing keynote at QCon London in 2024, and in a shortened version of that talk at Electromagnetic Field in 2024. You can find the related resources page for those two talks here.

This was a slightly mind-blowing moment to discover, that my own talk had been referenced at the end of this one, in a joint session involving one of my subjects, and heroes of the movement. What a highlight. Thanks for letting me know about it, Trammel!

The endings

On the downside of 2025, there were a couple of huge blows.

In the summer, we unexpectedly lost our friend Dj Walker-Morgan, aka “Codepope”.

I’d known Dj for many years, and in the past ~5 years become involved with his HackWimbledon / Makeroni pop-up maker space, which he ran as an educational and community resource.

The shock of his sudden death hit many of us very hard. Dj was a very kind, generous person who helped others to understand and build with technology; and, his line of scifi-related parody / slogan t-shirts was legendary! We miss him greatly.

We’re in the process of restarting HackWimbledon, and a small group of us will be keeping it going in his memory (there’s a meetup on January 11th, FWIW).

Yvonne Ann Piper, 1945-2025

At the end of the summer, my mother turned 80.

We’ve been extremely close for many years; we lost my father back in 2000, and my brother just 7 years ago, both at Christmas time; so, we’ve made it an annual tradition to go away at the end of the year and change our scenery (Malta has been our winter holiday spot of choice, for the past few years).

For her birthday, we took her to visit family in Ireland, but we could see that she wasn’t doing too well. On our return to the UK I had to dash off (to FediDay in Berlin, and then to EmpoderaLIVE in Málaga – two talks I’ve not covered here, as yet), and while I was away, my amazing wife ended up taking her to hospital. She was there for nearly three weeks; sadly, the doctors were not able to help in the end. The end-of-life care provided at the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust was of the best, most patient and caring quality.

My mum was the person who made me, gave me many of my values; and, she was my best friend. The very first person I wanted to tell about the three highlights above, was her – and she wasn’t there any more. Heidi and I miss her very, very much.

Needless to say, the past few months, and especially these past weeks over Christmas and New Year, remembering all three of my immediate family members – have been very difficult.

The eulogy I gave at her service was the most challenging thing I’ve done (you’re welcome to read it); but, it was also a lovely celebration and confirmation of what a great human my mum was, to have her friends and family together.

Now, we’re in the process of finalising her affairs, and slowly moving forwards.

So long, 2025. You’re not on my list of favourites.

This year, 2026 – feels like a bit of a turning point.

I turn 50 in a few months’ time. I’m all on my own now, from an immediate family perspective – the last of my line. However: I’ve got a good network of friends, around the world as well as nearby. I know what I care about, how I want to have an impact in the world, and I know the skills I have, and those I want to develop.

Time to think deeply about the future. I’m always up for a chat about that…

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2026 OpenUK Honours list is now live. Congratulations to all included https://openuk.uk/honours/ #openukhonours #opensource #openuk #opensourceai #opendata #openhardware #openstandards

As you celebrate the start of 2026, don't forget to look out for the OpenUK New Year's Honours list being shared at midnight tomorrow. The list will be our 6th annual celebration of 100 contributors to open technology from the UK. #opensource #opensourcesoftware #openhardware #opendata #openuk

Look out for our OpenUK Honours list 2026 going live at midnight on New Year's Eve, and celebrate UK leadership in open technology. #opensource #opensourcesoftware #openhardware #opendata #openuk

CEO, @AmandaBrock, talks about the sovereignty and open source conversation taking place from Bangalore to Beijing.
Read here: https://fossforce.com/2025/12/from-brussels-to-bengaluru-amanda-brock-on-ai-openness-and-digital-sovereignty/
#openuk #opensource

Read the OpenUK December Newsletter for the latest updates and insights into the UK's open tech conversation. This newsletter features updates on Honours List 2026, Christmas Party, the SOOCon26, and as usual, the press we were featured in, and the events we will be at. https://mailchi.mp/openuk/12022025-17445452
#openuk #opensource #opensourcesoftware

@AmandaBrock, CEO of OpenUK, discusses how the term open source is so often used incorrectly, why true open source is fundamental to the success of innovation and why AI and its data have created complicated conversations around what it means to be open.
https://www.uktech.news/podcast/why-open-source-matters-amanda-brock-ceo-openuk-20251125
#opensource #opensourcesoftware #ai #openuk

TechZine reports The state of cloud in 2026. “This need to demonstrate that there is no potentially crippling dependency is going to see a significant shift in cloud products and the marketplace,” said Amanda Brock. “As an example, we’re seeing the UK proactively build its first hyperscaler in NScale. We can be clear that it will be built on open source infrastructure, the same as the US hyperscalers.” Read more: https://www.techzine.eu/blogs/applications/136969/the-state-of-cloud-in-2026/
#openuk #opensource #cloud

End of year celebrations at our Christmas party last night - despite so many people being down with the lurgy. We wish everyone who couldn’t make it a speedy recovery and loved spending time with some of our community. #opensourcecommuntiy #opensource #openuk

Enterprise Time reports that Growth, partnerships, and AI are driving WSO2, discussing Amanda's talk on the role of AI in Open Source. Read more:https://www.enterprisetimes.co.uk/2025/12/03/growth-partnerships-and-ai-are-driving-wso2/
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OpenUK will be closed from today until 12 January, but look out for our 2026 Honours List being released at midnight on 31 December. We will again celebrate 100 contributors to Open Technology from the UK.
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Looking forward to the end of our year celebrations with many of our community, at the OpenUK Christmas party in London and Christmas lunch in Edinburgh.
#opensource #opensourcesoftware #openhardware #opendata #openuk

Our CEO, @AmandaBrock, has been in Asia this week, delivering keynote speeches at China's biggest open source community conference, COSCon and at the 1st UK-Japan Advanced Connectivity Technologies Innovation Forum. She also joined the launch of a Mandarin translation of the book she edited in Beijing.
#opensource #opensourcesoftware #opensourceai #openuk

The Oscars of Open Source - OpenUK's awards are now in planning for 2026. This is an opportunity to support OpenUK by sponsoring an award category. If your organisation is interested in sponsorship, then drop us a note to mailto:admin@openuk.uk for more info.

#openuk #openukawards #opensource #opensourcesoftware

The winners of our 6th OpenUK Awards 2025 are now live on our website. Thanks again to the awards committee, awards judges and awards sponsors 🙏 who enable us to run a free-to-enter and attend awards https://openuk.uk/awards
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Our creator @Floppy is off to the @openuk awards ceremony this evening, to see if we've been lucky enough to win! Looking forward to it, and best of luck to everyone who's shortlisted, you're all awesome no matter the result! ❤️

#OpenUK #OpenUKAwards

Read the OpenUK December Newsletter for the latest updates and insights into the UK's open tech conversation. This newsletter features updates on SOOCon26, OpenUK new board members, and as usual, the press we were featured in, the events we will be at and events of interest. Read the OpenUK December Newsletter here https://mailchi.mp/openuk/12022025-17445208
#openuk #opensource #opensourcesoftware