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github-government-one-pager.md

GitHub for Government

What is GitHub

  • GitHub is a social network for software developers
  • GitHub is a social layer built on top of a long-standing open source project called Git.
  • At its most basic level, Git simply tracks who made what change when
  • Used by many popular open source projects, bulk of technology you touch on a daily basis built on our platform
  • While it was originally used for collaborative software development, and still is, the collaborative workflow is equally applicable to countless applications including modern open data and open government efforts
  • GitHub hosts projects, commonly referred to as repositories
  • Secret sauce of GitHub is the Pull Request, which, unlike wikipedia, where anyone can edit, allows anyone with access to make proposed changes. Community discusses, project maintainer accepts or rejects. URL remains accessible forever.

How government uses GitHub

  • Within an organization (or with contractors) - Due to the bureaucratic nature of government, one business unit may not know what another is working on, let alone have the opportunity to collaborate
  • Across government - By and large, the types of challenges faced by government are not unique to a particular agency or locality. A press release is a press release. Shared code prevents reinventing the wheel and helps the taxpayer's dollar go further.
  • With the public - Government is the world's largest and longest-running open source project. Working in the government acknoledges allows for transparency of process and gives citizen hackers the opportunity to help make government better.

GitHub as a public engagement platform

  • Open source - government releases the source code underlying the tools used to deliver citizen services, inviting civic hackers to help improve them. Taxpayer-funded code can be used outside of government to spur civic innovation.
  • Open data - government releases machine-readable data in open, immediately useable formats inviting feedback (and corrections). Version control shows who made what changes when and the evolution of that data over time.
  • Open government - government drafts and publishes law and policy on open, collaborative platforms, inviting participation from every day citizens. Open source workflows and philosophies are applied to the process of governing.

History

Notable projects and organizations on GitHub

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