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James Purser

User Profile Image James Purser
Member since : Sep-04-2009 (Verified)
4 Ideas, 14 Comments, 16 Votes

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Ideas Posted

Washington DC has just launched their own App Store. This store contains web apps and phone apps covering everything from bus route calculators to parking, crime stats and more.

Imagine a Gov App Store that allows developers to promote their Gov2.0 applications, and provides a central repository for users to access these applications.

For the DC Version have a look here: http://appstore.dc.gov/
Well I'll start the ball rolling by nominating Pia Waugh and Senator Kate Lundy for their series of Publicsphere conferences.

The Publicsphere conferences have been a very interesting and to my mind successful experiment in participatory democracy. It has opened a new avenue for people to get involved in Policy development and has already shown the way for others (witness the NSWSphere event).
If we want people to get used to the idea of social networking within Government, why not setup an internal social network.

Social Gov could consist of a variety of different tools, including Micro-blogging and Facebook like "Walls" and groups. If it becomes part of the day to day operation of government then it will be much less of a leap to connect to external networks
One of the problems that people keep bringing up is the fact that each department/governemnt body keeps re-inventing the wheel to a certain extent. Why not setup a code sharing site or project hosting site for the development of Government Applications.

As an example of such a project why don't we have a look at plonegov in the states. This is a shared project between multiple Local Government bodies with the stated aim of developing a standard intranet system that can be used across the board.
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Comments Posted

James Purser 5 months ago
Hi David,

To be honest, I've been toying with building such a service here. I haven't done much in terms of advocation but I have been exploring various options.

I think it might be useful for us to compare notes on this.
James Purser 6 months ago
Good point, call it an App Portal or something like that. On another note, I've moved apps4gov to its own home at http://apps4gov.planetgov20.com

I'm now toying with the idea of adding Datasets and linking them to the various apps.
James Purser 6 months ago
Hi Jimi,

To answer your question, I guess when I envision GovForge, I'm looking at it from an Open Source point of view. Rather than being the canonical "You must use these packages!" type resource, I see it as more of a collaborative "we've got the same itch to scratch" environment.

Once again it comes back to cultural change I think. Along with GovForge the PS needs to start de-siloising (if you know what I mean).
James Purser 6 months ago
I thought I would have a crack at this one myself.

Right now it's sitting at http://apps4gov.development.collaborynth.com.au/ however it should be moving to its own domain soon.
James Purser 6 months ago
Hi Aaron,

Yup this is definitely an area rich in debate and ideas. I'd just like to respond to a couple of points.

"The "do something for the common good" view adds cost to a project that is developing code. It is a legitimate and economically rational view that says investing in efforts to open source the code is non-value adding for the project."

In my mind, Government is different from business, in that the common good has to be a core plank in the rationale for doing anything. It is the very reason for the Government to exist in the first place.

The economically rational view is one that I find generally tends to ignore things like "the common good" as not being economic and thus unimportant.

"That's not to say there isn't real value to be found. If I thought that I wouldn't be here discussing this. The point is that the direct value to projects of open source needs to be accepted at a very senior level before the project management culture of an organisation will change."

Agreed, I think everyone can agree that for any of the projects being proposed we're looking at needing a cultural shift.

"If we can agree that: "Open source software is a community asset used to create wealth in the private sector." (among other things)"

I'd be happy to agree to "Open source software is a community asset used by the community". Yes it's used by the private sector to make money (I make money with it every day), but that isn't the central reason for the existance of Open Source Software by any stretch of the imagination.

"So I think we're just thinking about the problem a little differently. I wonder: How can we encourage grass roots access to government code without government having to take additional the risk or make investments with uncertain gains?"

Simple, make it open, make it free and have Government willing to engage on it. You want grass roots access you remove as many road blocks as possible for people to get access.

Locking the source code into commercial contracts is your basic definition of the opposite of grass roots. You immediately put commercial interests above those of the people/community.
James Purser 6 months ago
"If the government took a policy position that IP is open source by default, whose got any incentive to publish it? You would have to have an open source publishing office or something. Code could be called open source by default and stay undiscovered because it doesn't serve any one's economic utility to publish it."

Umm, the idea behind GovForge isn't monetising internally developed software. Instead it's about developing the community of hackers and developers within Government and encouraging the sharing of code and ideas.

Of course the next argument against the closed source unless otherwise noted idea is that the software has been developed on the publics dollar. This isn't a case of a private company taking something built by their accounts people and commercialising it.

I would also like to point out that it is quite possible to make money off Open Source software.
James Purser 6 months ago
Of course the alternative is that we turn this idea on its head and say that the default position for Government Software should be Open Source.
James Purser 6 months ago
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James Purser 6 months ago
The "Intranet" is nothing more than an internal internet. In this context the Whole of Government Intranet would be a web that supported other projects such as the Government Social Network, Govdex, Web Managers Council and so on.
James Purser 6 months ago
Govdex is limited to being a wiki/collaboration space rather than a genuine "Social Networking" site. Craig hit it on the head when he brought up Govloop as a model of any future Government Social Network.
James Purser 6 months ago
Sounds like a plan. Both of these proposals cover different sides of the same coin.
James Purser 6 months ago
I was thinking something similar to GovLoop but run internally to Government. Hell have it be cross the three tiers, however keep it internal for the start, to give people the time to get used to the idea.
James Purser 6 months ago
Yeah, a widget market could be part of GovForge. I would love to see the source code of these widgets (those bits that won't breach the copyright of the underlying application) available for improvement.
James Purser 6 months ago
Hi,

"I know there is a certain reluctance among some technology executives to seriously discuss open-source owing to a view that contracting support services is more difficult."

I'd be interested in seeing why they believe that contracting for support of Open Source projects would be harder than "closed source". To my mind, the fact that the code is open and available widens the support base rather than shrinks it.

"How important, as a driver for re-invention, is an inability to share (and market) code? What are some of the other drivers on the technology side of the equation? What are the business- or governance-side drivers of fragmentation?"

From the discussions I've had, the biggest problem is that people have is that they are unaware of the efforts other people might be making in the same area. A centralised GovForge allows people with similar needs and interests to get together and exchange ideas and knowledge.

"There is also a security/risk-management view that source code should be kept secret."

Keeping source code secret is never a genuine security consideration. Good code is a much better deterrent to attacks.