Live from #UNOpenSourceWeek!
In our breakout session on Public Interest and Open Source today, we examined whether open source, in its very structure, constitutes a #publicgood.
The discussion connected open source to #education,#research, digital #sovereignty, and resistance to extractive models—raising important questions for institutional #policy and international #cooperation.
#OpenSource #DigitalSovereignty #EOSA #EUOpenSourceAwards #UNOpenSourceWeek
How do we think about infrastructure vs platforms? Is infrastructure generally public & platforms private? What happens when we add #AI? What tools do we need to store/capture data that advances the #PublicGood? How do we avoid just bigger closed silos? #UNOpenSourceWeek #OpenSourceWeek #GovTech
A public good refers to a product or service that everyone in a community can utilize without diminishing its availability for others.
#finsurlog #finance #PublicGood
Read more at: https://finsurlog.com/what-is-public-good/
Yale News: Yale, other universities file brief in case aiming to preserve research funding that benefits America. “Yale and 23 other research universities filed a legal brief Monday to aid judicial review in a lawsuit about the federal government’s freeze on research funding. The suit aims to preserve critical support that has fueled American innovation, economic growth, and key medical […]
Anil Dash: The Internet of Consent. “There’s a common thread that ties together concerns about privacy, security, even just basic usability for so many of the tech products we use today. It just boils down to whether the people who make the technology that we use believe that we should be in control. It’s simple: Technology should only ever do exactly what we have explicitly given it our […]
https://rbfirehose.com/2025/06/14/anil-dash-the-internet-of-consent-2/
Washington University in St. Louis: New Medicaid policy lab brings data to the debate. “Launched earlier this year, the Medicaid Policy Analysis Lab has begun releasing a series of timely policy briefs showing how policy decisions hit home — especially in Missouri, where Medicaid enrollment is among the highest in the nation. The lab is housed in WashU’s Center for Advancing Health […]
Notre Dame News: Notre Dame to convene government, industry and academic leaders to set regulatory roadmap for responsible social media. “Led by Notre Dame’s Democracy Initiative, this National Convening on Social Media and Democracy will gather May 27-29 at Notre Dame and will bring together leaders and scholars around misinformation, technology, social media and democracy to collaborate […]
How Capitalism Took Over Australia – And How We Take It Back
#AustraliaPolitics, #CapitalismExposed, #NeoliberalismFails, #PublicGood
Explore capitalism and its colonial roots, neoliberalism’s rise, and how Australians can build a fairer, more dignified future for all.
https://socialjusticeaustralia.com.au/origin-of-capitalism-neoliberalism/
Unfortunately, the bluesky network is effectively owned by a VC backed company. I want our digital spaces, our digital cities, to be owned by the public.
I wonder if there could be an extension to the fediverse that natively connects with the rest of the fediverse, but adds on some of the functionality that bluesky is developing. Instances of this extension to the fediverse would be supercharged, and act as digital cities.
3/N, N=3
Justin Warren is on my mind.
He writes The Crux and it makes more than a couple of pertinent observations around politicians and digital technology knowledge this week. A a nice joke about Minister for Stepping on Rakes ..
https://pivotnine.com/newsletter/
More importantly he has a transcript and link to a chat he gave about sustaining open source software
https://pivotnine.com/research/public-research/sustaining-open-source-software/
Quotes::
I want to convince you of four things.
The first one is that maintenance is more important than creation.
The second one is that ecosystems matter more than artifacts.
The third is that systems are more powerful than individuals.
And, finally, that humans are more important than computers.
We thought software was special in that it's a non-rivalrous good that is basically free to duplicate.
...
If I teach you that 2 plus 2 is 4, I don't forget my own name or that calculus is a thing... a public good,
::End Quote.
#OpenSource #Ecosystems #Humanity #Technology #RakesInFaces #PublicGood
From @paulkrugman.substack.com "Should those who aren’t scientists care? In the 21st century, #science isn’t some esoteric intellectual affair. It’s the foundation of #social and #economic #progress. And no, we can’t expect the #private sector to fill the gap left by loss of #government support. Basic #research is a #publicgood: it generates real benefits, but those benefits can’t be monetized because everyone can make use of the knowledge gained. "
Paul Krugman highlights a troubling trend in "MAGA’s War on Science" that reveals increasing hostility towards scientific inquiry, especially from GOP extremists. Funding freezes at key institutions threaten vital research, undermining science's role in societal advancement while upholding harmful beliefs. He urges immediate awareness and action to safeguard scientific integrity. Discover more in the full article: https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/magas-war-on-science
#MAGA #Science #Politics #PublicGood #Krugman
Gizmodo: Meta’s Oversight Board Is Worried Meta’s New Policies Will Harm Human Rights. “On Wednesday, Meta’s Oversight Board called on the company to evaluate how recent policy change’s may negatively impact human rights. The Board’s request comes alongside its publication of its first 11 case decisions following Meta’s sweeping policy changes at the start of the year.”
State of Connecticut: Governor Lamont: Data Submitted Through Connecticut’s Federal Impact Reporting Portal Now Being Published Online. “The Federal Impact Reporting portal was created by Governor Lamont as a way of providing state policymakers with a better and more comprehensive understanding of how recent federal actions are impacting public and private entities throughout Connecticut.”
Poynter: Access to public records and officials is worsening, investigative reporters warn in survey. “Nearly 70% of investigative journalists in the U.S. reported ‘limited access to records or sources’ as their greatest barrier in doing accountability journalism, according to a survey from the University of Florida released Wednesday.”
"As part of the WTO-driven shift, universities faced pressure to generate their own resources by raising fees or seeking private sector involvement."
"Much like scientific management in industrial production, which fragmented labor into repetitive, quantifiable tasks, the push for standardized academic data reduces educational experience to a collection of data points—credits earned, and IDs assigned."
#India #publicgood #education #commodification #privatization
Stanford Social Innovation Review: Exit to Open. “What happens when a nonprofit program or an entire organization needs to shut down? The communities being served, and often society as a whole, are the losers. What if it were possible to mitigate some of that damage by sharing valuable intellectual property assets of the closing effort for longer term benefit? Organizations in these tough […]
https://rbfirehose.com/2025/04/28/stanford-social-innovation-review-exit-to-open/
TidBITS: Why TidBITS Will No Longer Post to X/Twitter or Facebook. “What began as digital dysfunction has metastasized into tangible societal harm. Thus, this article marks our final post to X/Twitter and Facebook. I can no longer ethically provide material support to platforms whose leadership so actively undermines civil society. The TidBITS accounts will remain, but they will stand silent, […]
https://rbfirehose.com/2025/04/26/tidbits-why-tidbits-will-no-longer-post-to-x-twitter-or-facebook/
BBC: Inside the desperate rush to save decades of US scientific data from deletion. “No one knows when the next alert or request to save a chunk of US government-held climate data will come in. Such data, long available online, keeps getting taken down by US President Donald Trump’s administration. For the last six months or so, Cathy Richards has been entrenched in the response. She works […]
Honouring ANZAC Values: A Call for Justice Today
#ANZACValues, #LestWeForget, #PublicGood, #SocialJusticeAustralia
Are we truly honouring ANZAC values? Explore how Australia is failing its people—and how we can reclaim justice in their name.
https://socialjusticeaustralia.com.au/anzac-values-justice-for-all/
