This presentation was given at OCITA's 5/18/12 meeting by Jill Miller Zimon, Network Facilitator, The Civic Commons EfficientGovNetwork

1. Sponsored by the Ohio County/City Information Technology Association (OCITA)
Hosted by Cuyahoga County Government IT
Cleveland Metroparks - Fairview Park
OCITA: Regionalization of County/City Government
OPENING UP TO OPEN SOURCE & IT SHARING
May 18, 2012
Jill Miller Zimon
The Civic Commons EfficientGovNetwork
http://theciviccommons.com/egn
jillmzimon@theciviccommons.com

2. Mom, Where Does Linux Come From?
QuickTimeª and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

3. Introduction
Basics: Goals:
•Why Me? •Get to a common
•What it is understanding
•Myths •Raise awareness
•Pros and Cons
•Examples
•Resources

4. What is Open Source?
Learn About Open Source Software
A presentation from the Open Source Initiaive
http://opensource.org
December 2008 Copyright © Alolita Sharma; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

5. Myths on Open Source…Busted
• Security concerns…no more than proprietary; openness allows
for agility & control; development of security tools
“As a cryptography and computer security
expert, I have never understood the current
fuss about the open source software
movement. In the cryptography world, we
consider open source necessary for good
security; we have for decades. Public security
is always more secure than proprietary
security. It's true for cryptographic algorithms,
security protocols, and security source code.
For us, open source isn't just a business model;
it's smart engineering practice.” Brian
Schneier, 9/15/99 Crypto-Gram Newsletter
• Lack of support…community; proprietary demise
• Migration of data…overcome through evaluation and planning

6. Pros of using Open Source
Lower cost; less likely to have contractually-bound upgrade costs
Greater opportunities to share data across platforms
Increased opportunities for re-use
Collaborative design makes user-facing open source products intuitive
Potential for fast cycle time of releases and bug fixes
Opportunities for customization and community innovation within government and
the wider public sector and citizens
Open Source solutions are scalable in both directions
From “Pros and Cons of Open Source Solutions” by Liz Azyan (4/23/12)
http://opengov.zaizi.com/pros-and-cons-of-open-source-solutions/

7. Cons of Open Source Solutions
Wider availability of source code increases vulnerability
Must assess support & maintenance costs versus proprietary
package
Potential legal risks around whether code retains its open source
status & who owns IP rights of modified code
Those considering using & developing open source ‘in-house’ must
ensure that they have the right level of expertise to manage it
Open source solutions may require additional development to enable
integration with existing proprietary environment
Re-training of staff using the software
From “Pros and Cons of Open Source Solutions” by Liz Azyan (4/23/12)
http://opengov.zaizi.com/pros-and-cons-of-open-source-solutions/

8. Examples of Successful Open Source Projects in
Government
• US Navy nuclear submarine fleet
• Steamboat Springs, Colorado
• City of Newport News, Virginia
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
– Started from scratch
– Not legacy
– Processed and planned
• 50 Places Linux running you might not expect
– Pakistan, Cuba, Macedonia
– New York Stock Exchange (okay not government
but still worth noting!)

9. ARE WE THERE YET?
Deborah Bryant, who, among many other
engagements, is involved with the Boards of the
Open Source Initiative (OSI), Civic Commons,
DemocracyLab.org, and the
Open Source Digital Voting Foundation, suggests
that opportunity may be around the corner if:
License expiring?
New project?
Don’t rip out what’s working

10. Places to start…
Create an open source software policy:
•Public
•Operational
New Hampshire Law Promotes Open Source Software
Best Practices for Creating an Open Source Policy
Three Steps to Jumpstart Your Open Source Policy
Open Source Usage Policies
Create a sandbox:
Pick a project
Get feet wet
Determine where support will come from
Virtual Sandbox: http://virtual-sandbox.winsite.com/

11. Resources to Find Open Source Projects and Examples
• Virtual Sandbox: http://virtual-sandbox.winsite.com/
• Open Source Initiative: http://opensource.org
• Open Source for America: http://opensourceforamerica.org
• GovLoop-Open Source Software in Government: http://www.govloop.com/group/OSSinGov
• OSCON: http://www.oscon.com/oscon2012
• GOSCON: http://goscon.org/
• sourceforge: http://sourceforge.net/
• VIDEO: Open Source Trends in Government: How is it being used?
http://www.posscon.org/presentation/open-source-trends-government-used/
• VIDEO: Open Source is Making a Difference in Health Information Technology:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leYbpCS394Q
• Steamboat Springs Q&A on going open source:
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/application-development/2006/02/20/linux-taken-for-a-ride-in-the-old-west-392
• “How Linux Mastered Wall Street:”
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/238068/how_linux_mastered_wall_street.html
• Using Free, Open-Source Software in Local Governments: Streamlined Internal Computing for Better
Performance and Record Keeping:
http://icma.org/en/icma/knowledge_network/documents/kn/Document/301522/Using_Free_OpenSource_So
• Why Big Sites Run Drupal:
http://www.govtech.com/policy-management/Why-Big-Sites-Run-Drupal.html?page=1
• POSSCON: Open Source Trends for Government 2011: http://issuu.com/posscon/docs/possconbryant

12. IT Sharing Initiatives in Ohio
The Civic Commons and EfficientGovNetwork
Jquery: open source javascript library. http://jquery.com/
Solr: search engine, is an apache open source search server.
http://lucene.apache.org/solr/
MySQL: database
Nginx: http server
Git: free and open source distributed version control system
Ruby on Rails: open source web application framework PLUS all
of Ruby’s Gems (200+)

13. IT Sharing Initiatives in Ohio
The Civic Commons and EfficientGovNetwork
Local Government Innovation Fund Applicants:
Sourcing Office: Butler County; Summit County
•Grant for two county entities and five communities; will test the feasibility of a new collaborative
budgeting strategy which will provide a fuller reporting of public spending on economic and community
development
•Eleven public sector entities in Summit County submitted a grant application to support a feasibility and
cost benchmarking study to create a shared broadband infrastructure that will serve public, not-for-profit,
and private sector entities. The communities are: County of Summit, Bath Township, Copley Township,
the Village of Mogadore, Akron General Health System, the University of Akron, and the cities of
Fairlawn, Hudson, Stow, Tallmadge, and Twinsburg.
ACCESS: Mahoning & Columbiana Counties
A group comprised of 10 cities and towns and a handful of county representatives met on Friday,
Feb. 17, to gauge interest in jointly using the same Internet and email services to save money and
be more efficient. The Area Cooperative Computerized Educational Support System (ACCESS)
currently provides those services and other technology to schools and is exploring how it could do
the same for municipalities.

14. Questions?
Comments?
Concerns?

15. Thank you
Jeff Mowry, CIO, Cuyahoga Government IT
OCITA
Josh Schram & Mike Dobida, Stone Crossing
Solutions
Deborah Bryant, Open Source Initiative
Jill Miller Zimon
The Civic Commons EfficientGovNetwork
http://theciviccommons.com/egn
jillmzimon@theciviccommons.com