Introduction
Government agencies have not only adopted the use of open source software, but are increasingly looking to release their code under open source licencing. Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency making code open source by default as one of its best-practice . And the Victorian government has recently published a on making projects open source as part of its Digital . The guide is aimed at helping Victorian Public Servants and provides practical details on making software projects open source.
Why make projects open source?
Sharing projects under an open source licence has many benefits for both government and society. Different government agencies – not just within the state but in other jurisdictions also – need to solve many of the same problems. By re-using or adapting ready-made open-source solutions, agencies can develop projects faster and cheaper. By leveraging open source solutions that are well maintained, updated and tested in production, the quality of projects will increase across government.
From a citizen perspective, if different agencies use similar solutions and design patterns, there will be consistent user experience across government departments. And while the solutions are aimed at other agencies, there is potential for solutions to be used by the public and industry. The solutions implemented by government agencies are effectively paid for by public funds, so from this perspective alone, it makes sense to make these assets open source where possible, and for governments to give back to the community.
The open source project movement around the world
Transparency and accountability are not new concepts when it comes to governments and democracy, but many of us associate the open government movement with the US government’s adoption of “Government ” principles and the creation of . So it is no surprise the US government also focused on releasing government projects under open source licencing. Its site is a central repository of projects released by the federal government. As of June 2020, there were 7,333 repositories listed on the site. The US government mandates at least 20% of custom code be released as open source software (OSS), and that all source code be shared between agencies.
The UK government was another early adopter of open government principles and publicly released its site in 2010, and is also releasing projects under open source licensing. Source code is published on its git repository, which has about 1,400 repositories. And it is not just code that is released openly. By embracing “Government as a ”, UK agencies create and share common components – styles, components and design patterns are available on the GOV.UK Design System .
The government open source project landscape in Australia
The open movement in Australia is strong. All jurisdictions are committed to open government and open data, though they are at different stages on the journey. There is a less consistent approach to open source projects, and the push to make projects open source is somewhat less progressed compared to comparable countries such as the UK or USA.
But this is changing.
The success of the federal government’s GovCMS has highlighted the power of open source software within government. Launched in March 2015, GovCMS now more than 300 websites and has many more in development. The GovCMS is strong and growing.
The Queensland government provides detailed for using and releasing open source software. The guide outlines the many benefits of open source software, and provides a list of considerations for agencies aiming to release projects as open source software. The Queensland government’s currently has 43 repositories.
New South Wales provides well developed guidelines for digital transformation. Its Design toolkit makes styles, patterns and software solutions available for NSW agencies to create consistent interfaces and experiences for users. The NSW design standards also promote reuse and agencies to “contribute back” by making solutions open source.
In terms of other jurisdictions, a look at Github’s government community shows several Australian agencies and institutions releasing their source code openly.
On a national level, the DTA plans to release a digital edition of the Style (currently in Beta).
The Victorian guidelines
The “Make your project open source – Digital ” guide will be a valuable first-stop for agencies starting projects and for others looking to release past projects as open source software.
The guide is quite detailed – whereas the DTA’s are relatively high level, the Victorian guide provides agencies with practical information on the requirements and process of releasing open source software.
The guide covers the basics – such as what open source means and its benefits are covered, but also outlines important standards around security and privacy that agencies need to consider. The guide then goes onto to provide detail around the four steps of releasing projects under open source:
Choosing a licence
Preparing the project code for release
Developing a plan for maintaining and supporting the project
Releasing the project
This is an incredibly important guide that could be transformative for the Victorian government. By encouraging the Victorian Public Service to make projects open source, the potential for sharing and re-use across the Victorian Government is immense. Once a critical mass of projects are made open source, there should be considerable cost savings and increased collaboration between agencies.
And it is not just software that should be shared. By opening up designs and content, there will be considerably less duplication of effort. By using open source projects, designs and content, agencies can focus more of their efforts (and budgets) on innovation.
Victoria’s Single Digital Presence is a great example of how open source projects can reduce the cost and effort of development. The SDP platform was built by Salsa Digital and the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) to make it easier for citizens to find, understand and use Victorian Government information, while also making building websites easier and cheaper for all Victorian Government agencies who choose to leverage SDP.
Tide, SDP’s Drupal based content manager, allows content to be shared across departments – one source of content can be ‘served’ to different sites. SDP also provides a library of components via Ripple, which provides a consistent look and feel across government websites. And SDP has been to the community under an open source licence.
Salsa’s take
The advantages of open source software are now well established within industry and governments. We are now seeing governments transition from being users of open source software to also contributing solutions under an open source licence. This is an important change and one that Salsa supports and encourages. Purely from an efficiency perspective, the cost and time savings of sharing projects are profound.
If a strong open source community is built around government software, there is potential for agencies and the public to continually improve the original solution. This will increase the quality of the solution across governments, and promotes collaboration across departments and jurisdictions.
And like open data, distributing projects under open source licensing will increase trust and transparency in government. This is particularly important where there are decisions based on algorithms or where there is concern about how personal data is used – the COVIDSafe app is a good example of the public wanting the source code to be released.
In the current landscape, the challenge for decision makers from government departments looking to use open source solutions is actually knowing what is available and finding what they need. Currently there is no central repository for Australian government open source software. If such a resource was available, it would make searching for components and solutions much easier. It would also encourage more agencies to release their projects as open source software.
