The European Commission's unit responsible for the IDABC programme is organising a special event for public administrations that use or are considering to use open source and open standards, at the Open World Forum conference which is taking place in Paris on 1 and 2 October 2009.

Titled 'The Power of Communities', IDABC's Open Source Event 2009 will take place on 2 October 2009. The event is meant to address how European public administrations can best interact with and participate in open source communities. Following a keynote speech on the economical sustainability of open source software, a number of examples of successful collaboration between public administrations and open source communities will be presented and discussed.

Public administrations using open source software need to learn how to work with and to participate in the communities that develop and maintain such software, explains Karel De Vriendt, head of the unit responsible for the IDABC programme. "The culture of these communities is often very different from that in public administrations."

Another reason to consider such involvement is that the actions of public administrations need proper justification, says De Vriendt. "They may feel a moral obligation to give back to the open source development community. But it has to fit within the mandate of the organisation and it must be a good use of public funds."

Attending the IDABC event is free for visitors of the Open World Forum. However, prior registration is required.

IDABC stands for "Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations, Businesses and Citizens". The programme uses the opportunities offered by information and communication technologies to encourage and support the delivery of cross-border public sector services to citizens and enterprises in Europe, to improve efficiency and collaboration between European public administrations and to contribute to making Europe an attractive place to live, work and invest.

 

Further information: 

• Original news article - OSOR.EU 
• IDABC website  
• ePractice announcement for the IDABC Open Source Event 2009