Not quite literally, but the White House’s website has switched to open source code under the Drupal Content Management System (CMS), which is under the GNU General Public License. The source code of the website can be downloaded and edited by programmers for their own specific purposes. The White House’s new media director Macon Phillips has said, “We now have a technology platform to get more and more voices on the site. This is state-of-the-art technology and the government is a participant of it.” This use of open source provided by Drupal allows for the use of blogs, comments, polls, and user profiles. This creates a forum for individuals to participate in the politics that shape their lives.
Interestingly enough, security which is a vital element to consider for the White House’s website is said to be even more secure under the open source CMS because programmers around the world can look at the source code and collaborate to find problems, according to Terri Molini of Open Source for America.
This change to open source is said to parallel the Obama administration’s stance on change and progress. According to Richard Stallman’s definition of free and open software, “In this freedom, it is the user’s purposes that matters, not the developer’s purpose.” With this said, the open participation established by the new Drupal-run website allows for the American community to become active participants in the online forum. This project also corresponds to the overall goal of the Free Culture Manifesto to promote the idea that “culture is a two-way street, about participation, not merely consumption.” Because of the users’ increased rights for participation, this website is a step closer to building a more open and free digital medium for communication.
The future of the Internet is still unknown, but it seems to me that that projects such as this one provide a step in the right direction. The overall impressions of the public seem to be positive to these new open source changes. For example on Tim O’Reilly’s blog Radar, people such as Daniel Hudson recognize that
This is a huge leap forward for the open source community and our Government. The talks about change makes me feel good. The proactive action of change is good!
This action should help more people realize the value of crowdsourcing. I hope more people and organizations see this action as an invitation to join this journey of a collaborative society on the path towards Government as a Platform (Gaap). These type of actions are filling the “Gaap”.
The question now remains on how to expand projects such as open source software to develop a proactive and participatory digital stage. The White House’s website allows the public to have a voice so that free speech (not free beer!) is represented in the online community. With the establishment of new organizations such as Creative Commons, the path is being paved to changes in the future. How can we as participants in online forums help promote these changes? Do we have a responsibility to do so, or does the power for change rest solely in the hands of big organizations to use open source software platforms?
Sorry for the delayed comment but I think the White House’s switch to an open-source CMS is great. It complements their overall Open Government Initiative that not only invites citizens to voice their opinions/concerns in a participatory manner, but also aims to increase government transparency and accountability. I saw Tim O’Reilly and Beth Noveck (Deputy CTO for Open Gov Initiative) speak on different Gov 2.0 panels in DC this summer and they both expressed optimism about working toward “collaborative governance” – or, as O’Reilly calls it, “government as a platform” to connect solutions to problems and citizens to data/policies.
Whoops, forgot to link to the Open Gov sites…
http://www.whitehouse.gov/OPEN/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/innovations