24C3 - 1.01
24th Chaos Communication Congress
Volldampf voraus!
| Speakers | |
|---|---|
|
Arjen Kamphuis |
| Schedule | |
|---|---|
| Day | Day 3 (2007-12-29) |
| Room | Saal 2 |
| Start time | 21:45 |
| Duration | 01:00 |
| Info | |
| ID | 2387 |
| Event type | lecture |
| Track | Society |
| Language | en |
| Feedback | |
|---|---|
|
Did you attend this event? Give Feedback |
Open Source Lobbying, tips from the trenches
From one angry e-mail to writing national policy on open source
On January 1st, 2002 I tried to use the website of the Dutch national railway (www.ns.nl) using Linux. The site refused me access, it was IE-only. This sparked a conversation with members of parliament about the need for open standards. Over a five year period I progressed from talking to opposition-MP's to meeting the economics minister directly and was able to significantly influence national policy despite total lack of funding or any specific mandate.
On December 12th we achieved a stunning victory, the Dutch public sector will move to standardize on Open Documents Format and use opensource where comparable functionality is available in all new procurements as of 2008. Use of ODF as a public sector document standard will be mandatory in 2009. My talk will tell the tale of why we did it but mostly how we did it and how others can do it too in other countries around the world. How to get access to the power-that-be, how to get non-technical people interested in the subject. How to align your policy proposals with existing policies. While I'll do a short lead-in with some of the political reasons for wanting open standards and opensource in government IT I'll focus mainly on how to get results. From having no policy at all in 2002 the Dutch government has recently decided to mandate the use of open standards for all government institutions, health care, education, libraries and any other tax-funded organizations. Opensource software will receive preferential treatment.
Details:
Why; opensource and open standards in government-IT Why this vital to our democracies, Good for our economy, Ultimately good for the effectiveness and efficiency of government,
Small beginnings; the importance of a trigger-events The Dutch situation – laggards in Europe, Access denied; being forced to buy proprietary software by government, Action; don't get mad, get even
Moving up; from the digital barricades to playing in parliament, Translating what you know is wrong with the world into viable policy, Cars & TV's; using analogies to explain concepts, Building relationships with key people, Machiavelli; being politically smart without losing your idealism
Having an impact; creating actual policy, So you finally got your 45 minute meeting with the minister, now what? Helping the politico's to shine, Building trust with the civil servants
Wrap-up Ghandi was right (ignore, laugh, fight, win), The Dutch policy in EU-context, exporting a good idea, Get ready for the counter-attack!
The slide presentation and an English translation of the official policy document will be made available under Creative Commons licence.