Vicki E. Allums, Associate General Counsel for Intellectual Property at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) will join GOSCON this week to discuss a document released today by CENDI, a cooperative of the major Federal science, technology and information centers. The document titled “Frequently Asked Questions about Copyright and Computer Software: Issues Affecting the U.S. Government with Special Emphasis on Open Source Software”, its principal authors from Defense Information Systems Agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is expected to serve as a useful resource as federal agencies increasingly adopt the use of open source software in their IT architectures.
Allums will walk attendees thought the new document including:
US Government policy guidance regarding use of Open Source Software (OSS)
Issues unique to federal agencies distributing OSS
OSS copyright licensing and contractual considerations for the US Government
Advantages and Disadvantages to federal agencies using OSS as an alternative to proprietary technologies.
Hope you can join me at GOSCON this week and not miss these important milestones in the evolution of information technology within the US Government.
Yesterday the White House Office of New Media announced it had migrated its legacy system for whitehouse.gov to Drupal. Let’s be clear that this constitutes a change in plumbing – important plumbing – and not policy – but is a significant and of course highly visible sign that open source software has gone main stream.
Perhaps we can look forward to that day in the future when someone quips “No one ever got fired for implementing Drupal”.
This made yesterday a double red letter day for me and my colleagues in Oregon; an open source application was rolled out in mission-critical environment in government AND it was one the projects supported by Oregon State University’s Open Source Lab (OSL) where I work. Double the satisfaction. Although I don’t talk about it much here – where I focus on government adoption of open source – our core activity at the OSL is supporting many significant open source projects through hosting, administration and development as part of our charter to build community. We’ve been quietly at work since 2003 at this important endeavor.
There is no shortage of news coverage on this event so I won’t rehash here. I’m focused on the upcoming Government Open Source Conference – GOSCON DC, but wanted to share with you that Drupal Association will be present at the event next week – November 5 at the Ronald Regan Building & International Trade Center. On-line registration is still open, hope you will plan to join us if you’re in the area (or make the trip, we have colleagues as far away as Japan joining us for the day!)
GOSCON AWARDS for Open Business Use in Government Nominations are now being accepted for the 2009 Excellence Awards for Open Source Business Use in Government.
It’s true. After five years of operation of the Government Open Source Conference, we’re looking forward to recognizing government employees who have made significant accomplishments in the application of Open Source Technology to meet government business or mission requirements.
To nominate a government employee or project, visit www.goscon.org/awards for information and an on-line submission form. Deadline is Friday Oct 23 2009.
Not too long ago I attended TransparencyCamp in DC and led a discussion on how to work with government. The session was intended for technologists and advocates. I was pleasantly
surprised to find one of the participants was a senate staffer. After listening to much of the discussion she explained that she had worked on a bill that included a
role for open source software which eventually failed to move forward. Her question to me: why was that no one from the open source community stepped forward or offered to help answer questions. Where were they? Her question gave me pause.
Several moths later, the cavalry has arrived. Along with the town crier, the
librarian, the community manager, the mayor and a cadre of plumbers. The newly formed coalition is “Open Source for America”, and I’m pleased to have bee
n a par
t of its founding effort. Read more at the association web site.
Open source shares critical values with government and public education that make them function in the ideal; meritocracy of ideas, transparency, collaboration. But where is the sweet spot in the confluence of these social, technical, and public policy ideals? And where is the opportunity for the citizen developer to get involved? Read more.
My colleagues at the Global IT Group in DC and the e-Development Thematic Group in Russia at the World Bank are producing another outstanding web cast and I wanted to pass along the news. These are very informative and professionally produced global discussions. Sri Lanka’s expereince is of particular interest to me as they worked to make extensive use of open source software and have one of the highest per-captial ratios of software developers contributing to global open source projects. Drop in on them and see:
e-Sri Lanka: Transforming Government and Society with ICT
When: May 28, 2009, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET (GMT – 4 hours)
Live webcast: http://vcg01.worldbank.org/eDev
World Bank invites you to this seminar to discuss lessons learned from
implementing an integrated e-government and e-development program in Sri
Lanka and setting up a dedicated government agency to support this agenda.
The E-Sri Lanka initiative, which became effective in January 2005 is one
of the pioneering ICT for Development projects supported by the World
Bank. This ambitious e-development project aims to bring connectivity to
rural populations, improve the way government operates and raise awareness
of the benefits of ICT for remote rural populations as well as support the
development of a vibrant private ICT sector. The leadership team from Sri
Lanka’s ICT Agency will present (i) the original E-Sri Lanka vision and
(ii) emerging lessons and key results after the first four years of
implementation experience. To learn more about e-Sri Lanka program visit:
www.icta.lk
Event details: http://go.worldbank.org/8RRMW83HB0
You can ask questions and post comments via Twitter (#eSL09) which will be
shared live with the speakers and audience in Washington
The June 23, 2009 Government Open Source Conference (GOSCON) DC Call for Speakers is now open!
The conference will include one day of intense GOSCON program content, exciting keynotes, lightening-round sessions, rich opportunities to network with peers. Topics include:
Open Source in the Enterprise
Sustainability
Policy
Open Collaboration & Federal Grants
Open Health IT- Vertical Showcase on Public Health
Effective E-Government – Gov 2.0
Speaker Guideline and online proposal forms are availlable through the conference Call for Speakers page.
Last winter I received a request from the US Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Policy to come Charleston and meet with a group of innovative law enforcement execs. If you belong to the public safety community or are interested in how governments are making collaboratives work, a copy of my presentation is viewable on google from this link:
Matsue City is a beautiful and remote city located in the Shimane Prefecture of Japan. The region has drawn national recognition for the Matsue “Ruby City” project, a highly innovative initiative to promote open source software through a collaborative partnership created by local industry, academia and government.
I was very fortunate to have been invited to participate in a number of events in early February to help share what the state of Oregon, industry, government and the Open Source Lab (OSL) has learned though its years in supporting the growth of the Open Source Community. The visit included meetings with Shimane University’s President Honda; Matsue’s mayor; Shimane Prefecture’s governor; keynoting at a seminar for industry and government; addressing the 37th Open Source Salon of the Open Source Software Society Shimane; spending time with colleagues from Japan’s IPA Open Source Lab (their national referendum on OSS); National Applied Communication Labs and Mr. Inoue and Matz; touring historic and scenic sights in Matsue – a beautiful blend of historic and traditional architecture and modern as well – and enjoying many wonderful meals courtesy of my hosts.
Many thanks especially go to Mr. Doi from the City of Matuse, to Mr. Noda of Shimane University, and especially to Mr. Tansho my host and translator – and of course to Shimane University which sponsored my visit. The dedication of these three individuals to this project is amazing as is the commitment of everyone I met from all sectors – education, private industry and government.
BTW plans are underway for a “Ruby for Business” conference fall of 2009 in Matsue, drop a line if you are intersted in talking with the organizers.
I have not been tracking Oregon’s Health Record Bank (HRB) project closely the last several months after it slowed progress, but current documents are now available for this project. Oregon’s Department of Human Services Office of Medical Assistance Program (DHS OMAP) was granted $5.5mm as transformational technology in 2007. Open source technology and Oregon’s local resources and domain expertise where named in the original grant proposal. I think this is an important project because it distinguishes itself from most other HRB projects in that the information is patient centric. Under the proposed approach, the patient, not the provider, is the owner of their own medical information. Score one for individual information rights, with a difference that can truely mean life and death.
The project was scheduled to let a Request for Proposal (RFP) this month, February 2009. Oregon’s DSH has a big challenge on their hands as they must consider the simultanious replacement of their thirty year old (yes – 30) Medical Management Information System (MMIS) at the same time, presenting both an opportunity and a challenge. More information is available at the official project web site.
You and also click on the architecture slide below to download the current project overview.
My colleagues at the Global IT Group in DC and the e-Development Thematic Group in Russia at the World Bank are producing another outstanding web cast and I wanted to pass along the news. These are very informative and professionally produced global discussions. Sri Lanka’s expereince is of particular interest to me as they worked to make extensive use of open source software and have one of the highest per-captial ratios of software developers contributing to global open source projects. Drop in on them and see:
