Digital engagement around launch of Open Source, Open Standards & Re-use Action Plan

Aim Promote widespread awareness of, and constructive comment around, the

launch of the policy statement Define scope for feedback clearly – this is a publication, not a consultation

Audiences UK open source community (publishers, users and advocates) UK Government IT community Wider UK IT community including suppliers and trade bodies Specialist media (online and offline)

Approach

Offline approaches: Press Notice to be issued by Cabinet Office Press Office

Online approaches: Document published on cio.gov.uk site in HTML and PDF format Press Notice published on cabinetoffice.gov.uk site in HTML Online public ‘dashboard’ to aggregate online coverage of the document

and UK government use of open source/standards. This is set up at: http://www.netvibes.com/cabinetoffice#Open_Source - suggest that this is linked to from the document itself

Target selection of influential bloggers/tweeters on open source issues with summary of new policy and invite them to share with their networks

Invite bloggers/tweeters to use the tag #ukgovOSS to help others follow and aggregate discussion around the publication

Timing Planned for launch Tues 24th Feb

Resources XXXX: policy lead, Transformational Government unit – preparing content

for publication XXXX: press officer – managing press notice and promotion to offline

media XXXX: digital engagement adviser – assisting with dashboard and

strategy for blogger outreach

Suggested list of bloggers/tweeters to approach with summary:

Cabinet Office staff:

[REDACTED]

Influencers:

[REDACTED]

Online publications:

[REDACTED]

Suggested introduction:

Hi

I’m a press officer at the Cabinet Office representing the Transformational Government team.

As you’ve written online about the UK government’s approach to open source, I thought I’d let you know that we’re publishing a new action plan today to establish a ‘level playing field’ between open source and proprietary software. You can find the full document at:

http://www.cio.gov.uk/LINKTODOC

In summary, the key points are that Government will:

- adopt open standards and use these to communicate with the citizens and businesses that have adopted open source solutions

- ensure open source solutions are considered properly for government projects and, where they deliver best value for money (taking into account other advantages, such as re-use and flexibility)

- strengthen the skills, experience and capabilities within Government and in its suppliers to use open source to greatest advantage

- embed an ‘open source’ culture of sharing, re-use and collaborative development across Government and its suppliers

- ensure that there are no procedural barriers to the adoption of open source products within government

- ensure that systems integrators and proprietary software suppliers demonstrate the same flexibility and ability to re-use their solutions and products as is inherent in open source.

This is a statement of policy, rather than a consultation, but the policy team will be following the online discussion at http://www.netvibes.com/cabinetoffice#Open_Source. It would help them and others to follow the debate if you use the tag #ukgovOSS if you write about this online.

Best regards[REDACTED]Cabinet Office Press Office