[Solar-general] Fwd: [hipatia-socios] documento

Jue Ago 19 05:11:51 CEST 2010

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Arun M <colonel.m en gmail.com>
Date: 2010/8/19
Subject: Re: [hipatia-socios] documento
To: La lista de los socios de ONG-hipatia <hipatia en listas.hipatia.net>

Dear All,

I learn that there is some discussion in Hipatia on use of term public
software.
I dont follow it due to linguistic barrier. But I thought i should give a
quick update
of what is happening in India.

I've been keeping away from free software scene in India for last one and a
half year.
Partly the reason is I see a bureaucratic-NGO take over of free software
scene
in India. Philosophy  and community does not stand much any more (Money
Money Money!).

Couple of weeks back I got a call from a friend who works with Govt of
Kerala. He
told me that chief bureaucrat in the govt received a letter from an NGO
suggesting
that term Free and Open Source Software in the govt policy document may be
replace with 'Public Software'. Bureaucrat was in favor of the suggestion.
But I asked
minister's office to reject the suggestion as any change in policy needs ot
be done
only in consultation with public. (We had several rounds of public open
discussions
across the region to arrive at our policy- very open transparent process)

Then I tried to understand what is public sector software. One document I
found is attached to this letter.
I feel that intention here is not very good. Going through search results I
got I found that it is just a single organisation, IT for Change, which does
not have any considerable experience or commitment on free
software that tries to promote this. Though it is good that they are trying
to promote free software in
government. To me their strategy looks to be an effort to remove freedom
from the discussion. Same
old issue with Open Source, while Open Source was coined in the interest of
private business, here new
name to enter into public projects- Accessing public fund, making friends
with  !

Interestingly this group which does not have any experience in free software
obtained funding from EU and UNESCO !!!! Now you see right ? Who needs
community, who needs freedom ! Free software movement, as it is
getting institutionalized through complacent NGO, is loosing revolutionary
content. Only good thing is Richard has put it in a very strong foundation
with GNU GPL.

(I am loosing my interest in free software movement as a revolutionary
movement. It has been taken over by NGOs and Financial interests.Doesnt mean
that I dont contribute or support the idea).

Couple of links:

http://www.itforchange.net/oss/83-ps.html
https://www.pubsoft.org/pubsoft.py/index
http://public-software-centre.org/

May be the first use of public software :-
http://publicsoftwarefoundation.org/index.php?wiki=Release2008-04-09
http://karlierobinson.blogspot.com/2010/02/public-software-rides-again-maybe.html

--------
Kochi Declaration on Public Software

We, the participants of the “International Conference on Public Sector
Software and FOSS in
Education”, jointly organised by UNESCO and Government of Kerala, in Kochi,
Kerala,
after detailed deliberations amongst various stakeholders from May 27 to 29,
2010
on the context, need and imperatives for software that is in alignment with
the
spirit of the public sector, hereby make the following declaration:

We understand Public Software as software, used for serving the public
interest, developed or procured through public funding, and publicly owned,
permitting its free sharing, modification and distribution. Recognising the
unique context of public software and its objectives of ensuring equity and
social justice has implications for ensuring universal access to such
software, and transparency and participation by the citizens in its design
and use.

We define Public Sector for the purpose of this declaration broadly, as
comprising of institutions working for public interest, which include
governments, entities established by acts of parliament, academia and civil
society institutions.

We recommend that:

As universal access to public services requires universal access to
software, especially as more and more of such services are delivered through
the use of ICTs, Public Software needs to be freely shareable amongst all
members of society.

Public institutions uphold the principles of transparency, equity, public
participation and accountability to larger society. Therefore, it is
essential that Public Software be open to permit public overview,
participation and audit.

Public Software must use open standards that ensure interoperability, and
portability across multiple media.

Repositories for Public Software resources be established at national and
sub-national levels, that support re-use of applications.

Digital learning material should not be procured on a royalty basis and any
exception should need justification.

We believe that

Public Software requires 'strategic and substantive public ownership' for
which ownership of source code is necessary but not sufficient. To this end,
it must be ensured that the public agency commissioning a software
development or procurement take up complete ownership of the software. This
ownership should be real and not nominal providing the concerned public
agency with full ability to share and modify the software as required, in
perpetuity

This requires adequate and relevant capacity building of public
functionaries, stakeholder participation in design and development,
componentisation of the development process, as well as required user and
program documentation

To realise strategic and substantive public ownership, aspects of
documentation, content, connectivity, data security and citizen privacy
should meet the test of public sector imperatives

We commit to take forward the experiences and learnings in Public Software,
advocate and
support Indian states and South Asian countries to adopt Public Software
principles.
We welcome the offer of Government of Kerala to support this effort, and we
acknowledge the role of UNESCO as facilitator in this process.
We urge governments and other public institutions in these
countries to adopt and promote Public Software
in the spirit of this Declaration.

_______________________________________________
Hipatia mailing list
Hipatia en listas.hipatia.net
http://listas.hipatia.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hipatia

-- 
Diego Saravia
Diego.Saravia en gmail.com
NO FUNCIONA->dsa en unsa.edu.ar
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