Lobbying and advocacy for FLOSS and Open Standards

The Macedonian Experience

Government Role in MK ICT Sector

Government is the single biggest employer and services customer

Most companies depend on doing business with the Govt.

Strategic contracts presented as way of increasing Foreign Direct Investments

Government Role in MK ICT Sector

Strategic Partnership Agreement with Microsoft Corporation (2003)

Branch Office opening

Localization of Windows XP & Office XP

6200 purchased +6200 donated licenses

Training, knowledge transfer

Legalization campaign…

Committee for IT of the Govt. of RM

www.kit.gov.mk

IT Use by Government Authorities

Local Government:

“The level of computer literacy of employees and members of the municipality council is graded very low, with a quality measure of 0.75 on a scale from 0 to 4, where value 1 signifies basic IT skills and value 2 moderate IT skills, which scores very low in comparison to the surprisingly high educational background.”

UNDP (2004)

www.undp.org.mk/e-governance

IT Use by Government Authorities

97% of Govt. bodies use computers. Platforms:

Windows 95/98 – 28%

Windows 2000 – 22%

Windows XP – 25%

Windows NT – 8%

DOS – 7%

Linux – 5%

UNIX – 3%

other – 2%

RM State Statistical Office (2005)

Usage of ICT, 2004, Results of Pilot Survey

IT Use by Government Authorities

Awareness of FLOSS & open standards

Low awareness in general

When used, used for servers due to personal initiative of IT staff

Schools equipped with dual boot systems (Windows/Linux), few mentions of the former

National Strategy for Information Society Development

Comprehensive roadmap till 2007

Policy, Strategy, and Action Plan

Expert task force: govt., business, academics, civil society

Public participation

Part of process of Euro-Atlantic integration

Financed by UNDP and FOSIM

National Strategy for Information Society Development

Pillars

Infrastructure

E-Business

E-Government

E-Education

E-Health

E-Citizens

Legislation

National Strategy for Information Society Development

Principles

Technology free

Brand free

Inclusiveness

Transparency

Serving the citizens

National Strategy for Information Society Development

FLOSS

E-Citizens, 2.6.1:
It is necessary to support the use of the FLOSS as a public good accessible to all citizens, especially through the freedom of choice of a platform in the formal and informal ICT education.

National Strategy for Information Society Development

Open Standards

E-Citizens, objective 06.03:
Enabling accessible e-services irrespective of the software platform, which shall use open standard formats of documentation and exchange of information.

Based on EU and OASIS recommendations.

Related Legislature

Law on Free Access to Publicly Owned Information
(Freedom of Information Act)

Defining the standards for access to everyone (regardless of software platform)

Governmental delay

Civil society campaign

Open Standards Practice

Warnings since 2003 in regard to Strategic Partnership Agreement between MS and the Govt. of RM

Media

Print: occasional articles (Forum, Vreme)

Online media (nonprofit, youth/FlOSS oriented)

Civil Society

Free Software Macedonia

Metamorphosis

Open Standards Practice

Case 1:

Time: December 2005

Actor: Central Government

New Services portal (www.uslugi.gov.mk) uses exclusively proprietary document formats, including PDF and DOC to present documents and forms.

Response: none so far.

Open Standards Practice

Case 2:

Time: December 2005

Actor: Central Government

Pension Fund client software for submitting monthly reports on salaries works on MS Windows only. Software is provided free of charge.

Media focus: lateness of software development.

Response: none so far.

Open Standards Practice

Case 3:

Time: since 2nd half of 2005

Actor: Ministry of Finance

Official website (www.finance.gov.mk) presents banners advertising OpenOffice and Firefox.

Individual staff initiative, but in accordance with the National Strategy.

Open Standards Practice

Case 4:

Time: since 2nd half of 2005

Actor: Municipality of Veles

Official website (www.veles.gov.mk) based on JOOMLA.

Local (Municipal) ICT Strategy, but in accordance with the National Strategy.

Lobbying Recommendations

Raise Public Awareness

Talk to people without expecting they already know

Most journalist have little ICT background

Most IT experts and educational institutions focus on single platform

Most policymakers have little grasp on ICT

Lobbying Recommendations

Persistent informing is fruitful, while open confrontation rarely brings results

Adopt a stance and stick to it

Be dignified, not childish: never condescend or undermine

View others as potential allies, not enemies. There’s something for everybody in the FLOSS/OS world.

Lobbying Recommendations

When dealing with policymakers

Appeal to authority

international (UN) standards

EU policy guidelines

Emphasize already adopted commitments

Stress on common gain and increased goodwill of the citizens, and

Make it sound like it’s their idea – let them take the credit

Metamorphosis Activities

Supporting localization

In cooperation with OSS communities in Macedonia (Free Software Macedonija)

OSS Distribution

CD

Building Capacities

TOT

Publishing

EU policy guidelines

Networking and cooperation

Local and international organizations

Lobbying & Advocacy

Questions?

Thank you for your participation.

For further questions and comments, we are at your disposal via:

info@metamorphosis.org.mk

Идни планови и насоки

Bardhyl Jashari

2005-05-20T09:01:11