transparency - Page number 3

One of the things I love most about the open source communities I’m a part of is that when I ask a question, I just don’t get the answer, I get taught how to find the answer. » Read more

Last month, Don Drummond - a leading economist hired by the Ontario government to review how the province delivers services in the face of declining economic growth and rising deficits - published his report.

There is much to commend, it lays out stark truths that frankly, many citizens already know, but that government was too afraid to say aloud. It is a report that, frankly, I think many provincial and state governments may look at with great interest since the challenges faced by Ontario are faced by governments across North America (and Europe). » Read more

The name Michelle Rhee most likely rings a bell because of all the hard work she put towards reforming the Washington, DC public schools as Chancellor from 2007 to 2010. During that time period, she hosted hundreds of community meetings, even creating a Youth Cabinet to bring students' voices into DC Public Schools reform. » Read more

Raleigh, NC—City Council adopts open source policy

Today, the Raleigh City Council passed an Open Source Government Resolution, unanimously, promoting the use of open source software and open data. The resolution includes language that puts open source software on the same playing field as proprietary software in the procurement process. It also establishes an open data catalog to house data available from the city. » Read more

What qualities make a city open source? Is it technology, government policies, or businesses? No. It's the mindset of the people. It's the philosophy and the culture.

About a year ago, I started trying to define an open source city.  I'm very interested in seeing my own city (Raleigh, NC) become a hub for open source and a leader in open government.  With Red Hat's announcement to stay headquartered in Raleigh earlier this month, the City of Raleigh appears poised to "establish a growing ecosystem of partners and providers around the open source leader and to bolster Raleigh’s reputation as a leading open source community."

» Read more

Joining the open source (and CityCamp) movement has been one of the best experiences of my life. I've been involved with open source for over a decade, but I never got involved in a community project in any significant way--until I found CityCamp. I haven't submitted a single line of code, but I'm able to bring my project management and community-building skills to the table. That's important because it highlights the fact that there is more to open source contributions than writing code. » Read more

According to a computing.co.uk article entitled Open Source: The government's commitment so far, most of the IT technology used in the UK government is still proprietary and comes from single vendors.

Open source adoption by government agencies in the UK is progressing, but is still being hindered by a focus on "free as in gratis." Decisions based on cost-of-acquisition alone ignore the other real and more important values offered by open source, which are derived from "free as in freedom." » Read more

The principles of open source continue to have a huge influence on the science of management. Collaboration, transparency, community, and rapid prototyping are used frequently to describe  management innovations that are taking place in companies around the world.

We published a great collection open source business stories during 2011--here are a few of my favorites: » Read more