open standards

Chemistry is not the most open field of scientific endeavor; in fact, as I began working more in the area (coming from a background in physics), I was surprised with the norms in the field. As a PhD student way back in 2003, I simply wanted to draw a 3D molecular structure on my operating system of choice (Linux), and be able to save an image for a paper/poster discussing my research.

This proved to be nearly impossible, and in 2005 a group of like-minded researchers got together at a meeting of the American Chemical Society and formed an unorganization: The Blue Obelisk (named after their meeting place in San Diego).

Great things for open government happened last year on November 15-16 at the 4th annual Capitol Camp event, organized and hosted by the New York State Senate and the New York State Office of Information Technology Services, in collaboration with the Center for Technology in Government.

I have discussed recently the NY State Senate progressive stance on open government and its embrace of open source. Capitol Camp 2012 was another display of the powerful benefits the adoption of open practices in government can bring to the public. The event involved an unconference-day and a hackathon-day, both of them fully open to the public.

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The year 2012 had many important FOSS legal developments which reflects the continued increase in FOSS use. FOSS projects have increased from 600,000 in 2010 to 900,000 by December 2012. In addition, a Dr. Dobbs' survey in the third quarter of 2012 stated that more than 90% of developers are using FOSS in two of the most rapidly growing areas, cloud computing and mobile computing.

Continuing the tradition of looking back over the top ten legal developments in FOSS, my selection of the top ten issues for 2012 are as follows.

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Many heroes will remain unsung because there is no-one to tell their story. I first came across this story over eight years ago, and three years ago it became connected with my own. The hero in our story is an unlikely candidate for heroism: a public sector body in Germany, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). » Read more

Last week, the UK Cabinet Office released its Open Standards Principles: For software interoperability, data and document formats in government IT specifications. It became effective November 1, 2012, and applies to IT specifications for software interoperability, data, and document formats for all services delivered by, or on behalf of, central government departments, their agencies, non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), and any other bodies for which they are responsible. » Read more

Below are my notes from the talk I gave at OSDC (Open Source Developers Conference) 2011 on open government, where I tried to go into some of the practicalities of open government implementation and projects. I had a great response from the packed room, so thanks everyone for attending (and for encouraging me to blog) » Read more

 In an important development last week, Open Document Format (ODF) version 1.2 was adopted as an OASIS standard after four years of hard work. And it was approved with a strong 'yes' vote and no negative votes. » Read more

In 2009, two French filmmakers snuck into Burma to document what they're calling the "absurd decisions" of its dictatorial government. Now author Tristan Mendès France and director Gaël Bordier have edited their footage into a 30-minute "hypervideo experiment," are are using open tools to screen it for the world. » Read more

On Monday I was invited to participate in the Energy panel of the President's Council of Jobs and Competitiveness.  After introductions by NCSU Chancellor Randy Woodson, North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan, and US Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Chair of the Council (and Chairman and CEO of GE) Jeffrey Immelt got right to the point of the session: He and his team came to North Carolina to listen.  His job, and the job of the council, is to integrate ideas and insights from business leaders around the country into a realistic plan that can meaningfully reduce unemployment, strengthen our economy, and do so in a sustainable way.  Energy technologies, policies, and strategies are all important dimensions to this overall challenge, and the assembled leaders--who are users, distributors, and generators of energy--came ready to participate in the discussion. » Read more