Open-Source Software,
Open Everything in
the NY Senate
Andrew Hoppin
CIO, NY State Senate

Mission
The Office of the CIOʼs mission is to strategically leverage
technology and information in order to:
• TRANSPARENCY: create a more
transparent legislature,
•EFFICIENCY: enable Members to serve
constituents in a more effective and efficient
manner,
• PARTICIPATION: provide New Yorkers with
the means to take a more participatory role in
their State government,

Rationale
•Cost Savings (no license fees)
•Innovation (leverage of community-built
software)
•Speed to Deployment (clone product a peer
has created)
•No Vendor Lock-In (hire anyone to work on it)
•Recruit Talent (top developers like to work
with F/OSS)
•Leverage Tax Dollars (share our code to
benefit others)

Used in NYSenate For
•Server Software (Linux, Apache)
•Databases (MySQL)
•Programming Languages (PHP, Java)
•Platforms / Applications:
•Content Management: Drupal, WordPress
•Relationship Management: SugarCRM or CiviCRM
•Task Tracking: RedMine, TRAC, OpenAtrium

NYSenate.gov (Drupal)
http://flickr.com/photos/rocketqueen/1573565705/

Data (WordPress)
http://flickr.com/photos/rocketqueen/1573565705/

CRM?
http://flickr.com/photos/rocketqueen/1573565705/

Task Tracking (RedMine)
http://flickr.com/photos/rocketqueen/1573565705/

News 2.0

Open Everything
•Software (e.g.: LAMP, Drupal)
•Data (e.g.: legislative data)
•Standards (e.g.: schema, taxonomy for
legislative data)
•Copyright (e.g.: Creative Commons)
•Community (e.g.: sharing via
unconferences, developer code sprints)

Open-Source (Code)
http://flickr.com/photos/rocketqueen/1573565705/

Open Data
http://flickr.com/photos/rocketqueen/1573565705/

Open Legislation (Feeds, API)
http://flickr.com/photos/rocketqueen/1573565705/

Open Standards
http://flickr.com/photos/rocketqueen/1573565705/

Open Content
http://flickr.com/photos/rocketqueen/1573565705/

Open Community (unconferences)
http://flickr.com/photos/rocketqueen/1573565705/

Followup
Twitter.com/ahoppin
Twitter.com/NYSenateCIO
NYSenate.gov/department/cio
Hoppin@Senate.State.NY.US
Ciodesk@Senate.State.NY.US