Which described the role of “digital public goods in unlocking the full potential of digital technologies and data.” The road map discussed the need to steward these technologies to minimize not just the deliberate assaults on democratic societies such as state censorship, mass surveillance, and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure but also the unintended violations of human rights through, say, algorithmic bias and the unauthorized collection and unsafe storage of personally identifiable information that disproportionately harm vulnerable persons and marginalized groups.

The Digital Public Goods Alliance formed to accelerate this process, by describing four categories of digital assets that could support sustainable development:

Openstandards:Standardsandspecificationsaccelerate global innovation and collaboration. They lower the barriers to entry, preclude vendor lock-in, and lubricate workflows and global supply chains, with greater tracking.

Open source software: Developers of programs that run on computer systems or networks can choose to distribute their source code under licenses that make the code available at cost or without any payment from users.

Open content: All these open assets require documentation. New users need guidance, whether they want to contribute to asset development or participate in working groups exploring new directions. Those projects that engage and train prospective users help to educate and include more people in the process.

Open data: Data is the new oil. Like oil, open data can accelerate innovation, collaboration, and coordination of efforts. The benefits of open data are increased transparency, greater user engagement, exploration of new markets or other data products, and greater efficiencies.

This report represents an insightful account of the open source ecosystem from the perspective of the people, the environments, and the social and political systems that are impacted by my personal work.