May 15th, 2009
Activists push city endorsements of open source
The city of Vancouver, in British Columbia, is about to pass a resolution endorsing open source, open standards, and open data networks.
The resolution is supported by Mayor Gregor Robertson. It is being pushed locally by activists like Ifny Lachance of Free Geek Vancouver, who says open source reduces e-waste.
Among those behind the resolution are David Eaves, who writes on his blog,
I can certainly see this motion as the cornerstone to transforming Vancouver into a open city, or as my friend Surman puts it, a city that thinks like the web.
Surman, in this case, is Mark Surman, executive director of the Mozilla Foundation. Eaves produced the presentation above for the city of Toronto after Surman gave a talk called “A City That Thinks like the Web” at a conference last year.
As the site puts it (I can’t tell whether the writer is Eaves, Surman or someone else):
This marked a turning point in the history of the city. It was the moment when the Mayor, Council, City Staff and an increasing number of citizens collectively understood the power and potential of architecting a city to be open and participatory.
This is a movement on the march. Want to join or would you prefer to fight it?
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
Subscribe to Linux and Open Source via Email alerts or RSS.
| 05/15/09
