Malaysian Government Open Source Conference 2009 presentation

Strengthening Public Policy Using Open Source Principles

Transcript

1. Strengthening Public Policy Using Open Source Principles Harish Pillay Open Source Affairs APJ Red Hat hpillay@redhat.com Malaysian Government Open Source Conference 2009 November 4-6, 2009 Putrajaya, Malaysia
2. 2 What this talk is NOT about • It is not about adoption of open source technologies in Government per se • It is not about why open source technologies are better for government (and everyone else) • What it is about is the idea that open source principles and best practises can help in the formulation and execution of public policy • Disclaimer: – I am not a public policy practitioner but I am a very keen and interested observer
3. 3 Seven Principles of Sound Public Policy • Free people are not equal and equal people are not free • You take care of what belongs to you and what does not falls into disrepair • Sound policy considers long term effects and all people not short-term and fewer people • Incentives helps increase, disincentives force reduction • No one spends someone else's money as carefully as their own • Governments cannot give without taking and the bigger government gets, it can take everything away • Liberty makes all the difference [Lawrence Reed's 2002 paper]
4. 4 My Corollary to the 7 Principles • Transparency • Data availability – raw, not massaged It is never an easy thing to have transparency, but knowing that your work is for all to see encourages you to do the Right Thing But that does not imply decisions will always be sound, in other words, we will make mistakes
5. 5 Six Open Source Principles • Availability of source code - transparency • Maximize End-user Choice • No Royalty • No discrimination • Extensions and Subsets • Predatory Practises [Bruce Perens 1999] These have helped with the rapid progress in open source software over the past neary two decades
6. 6 The principles in one page • Availability of source code - transparency • Maximize End-user Choice • No Royalty • No discrimination • Extensions and Subsets • Predatory Practises • Free people are not equal and equal people are not free • You take care of what belongs to you and what does not falls into disrepair • Sound policy considers long term effects and all people not short- term and fewer people • Incentives helps increase, disincentives force reduction • No one spends someone else's money as carefully as their own • Governments cannot give without taking and the bigger government gets, it can take everything away • Liberty makes all the difference Corollary to Public Policy • Transparency • Data Availability
7. 7 Consider Citizen Engagement • The Internet (delivered via mobile phone as well) offers the best means to engage with the citizens in all aspects of government policy making, discussions and execution • The enablement and flattening of the hierarchy does the following: – Making those who govern and are governed as peers – Peer consultation and collaboration is challenging, but highly rewarding • It is not about questioning authority, but the recognition that if you (as in public policy makers aka government) sideline the target audience, because of technology, the recipients of public policy will do it themselves
8. 8 Consider Open Source Engagements • Starts from “scratching an itch” • An itch can be a powerful motivation for anyone – it is annoying and you need immediate (or close to it) satisfaction/resolution • Participating in an open source project is all about meritocracy – you write the code, documentation, manual, test case, marketing materials. • Release early and release often • The benefit of the participation is being able to contribute to the bigger good, in other words, it is not about the $$.
9. 9 How would you apply OS principles to public policy then? • From the outset, it is not about egos, hidden agenda etc. • It is about “scratching an itch” • Open invitation to any interested parties to participate as peers • Using tools like wikis, irc, email, forums and other social media tools to facilitate participation far and wide • Release early and release often – the value of rapid change (even if tiny) in the policy considerations, will have wide ramifications • Peer review is what drives open source and the power that brings to public policy discussion cannot be ignored
10. 10 Action – moving forward • Identify projects and start them with community engagement tools • State up front the expectations and desired outcomes • Invite participation • There will be conflicts and disagreements – it is in the heat and tension of debate that best ideas emerge • Empower and Enable – ideas and positive feedback will start to flow • Remember to make mistakes – Mistakes are a good teacher
11. 11 Comments? /me: hpillay@redhat.com /me: @harishpillay (identi.ca/twitter.com)