Drupal Is Now a Digital Public Good
Drupal is now recognized as a Digital Public Good (DPG). The Digital Public Good Alliance (DPGA) approved Drupal’s application and has added it to the Digital Public Good Registry. The DPG status is granted to software that adhere to the best practices and also help to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) put forward by the United Nations (UN).
In the year 2014, Drupal founder Dries Buytaert claimed Drupal can be considered a public good. During his keynote address at DrupalCon Amsterdam, Dries explained how Drupal fits into the definition of a public good. The concept of digital public good is similar to economic term ‘public good’. In economics, public good refers to something that is non-excludable and non-rivalrous.
DPGA is multi-stakeholder initiative that aims to achieve SDGs in low- and middle-income countries. It facilitates the discovery, development, use of, and investment in Digital Public Goods. Earlier, Drupal distribution systems like Farm OS and LocalGov Drupal were conferred with DPG status. Like them, Drupal too had to go through a test of 9 indicators and requirements stipulated by the DPGA. These include:
- Relevance to Sustainable Development Goals
- Adherence to Privacy and Applicable Laws
- Adherence to Standards & Best Practices
- Do No Harm by Design and,
- Protection from Harassment
We had earlier covered the story how this thread around Drupal becoming a Digital Public Good. The thread started with Daniel Cothran asking this question publicly about why Drupal is not a DPG yet. He went ahead and started an issue on Drupal.org and then people in the community rallied behind the idea and got this done.
As part of the application process, a Google Doc was created and members of the Drupal community contributed to it by producing the evidence and answering questions required for the application process. Visit this thread to see how the Drupal community joined hands to let Drupal achieve the accreditation.
A gentle reminder to all of us that great things can happen when individuals take small steps. A special thanks to Daniel Cothran for taking that first step and to everybody in the community who helped in the process to get to this point.