"Be A Wonk" a talk by Patrick Wagstrom from Ohio LinuxFest 2009 that talks about how policy is made and what geeks need to do to influence policy development.

1. Be a Wonk! Patrick Wagstrom Ohio LinuxFest 2009 September 26, 2009 patrick@wagstrom.net http://patrick.wagstrom.net/

3. Deployed Linux in wacky environments

4. Currently research software development and software development communities The views and opinions expressed in this presentation are my own and are not necessarily those of International Business Machines, Carnegie Mellon University, the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the Army Research Lab, or any other persons or organizations past, present, or future.

6. Explanation of policy vs law

8. 100% apolitical

9. Legal advice – IANAL

10. Why should FLOSS projects care about Policy?

11. Why should I care about Policy?

17. OFAC Embargoed

18. ITAR Controlled

19. Any Notable Restrictions

21. Teh internets

26. Network providers

27. Service providers

30. High bandwidth tools with no latency requirement receiving equal treatment

31. ISPs imposing bandwidth limits

32. Wireless internet

33. Generally intelligent people on both sides

37. Local (town)

38. State

39. Federal

40. International Organizations

42. FCC

43. EPA

44. WIPO

45. Numerous other TLAs

47. Law enforcement

48. ISPs

49. Trade organizations

50. Individuals

52. Privacy

53. Cryptography

55. If people ask you questions about it

56. You hold an advanced degree

57. You've implemented something in a novel context

58. Your business operates in the same market

60. A pernickety person who overly focuses on details

61. A nerd or an expert

62. (US politics) shorthand for a policy wonk – Definitions from wikitionary.org

64. Thomas

66. Freedom to Tinker

67. Public Knowledge

68. Electronic Frontier Foundation

70. Committee

71. Full Chamber

72. (resolution)

74. Unless your legislator is on the committee, they won't read the bill until it's in the full chamber

77. No guarantee that the correct person will read it

78. At state level, often the policy maker reads it

80. Automated systems cause problems with email issues

81. Gov't systems typically lack robust spam filters

82. FCC Complains by Month 24,068 17,837 505 179,997 OMGWTFBBQ?

85. Be aware of what time it is when you are calling – lunch break for you typically means lunch break for them Phone Call + Letter = Best Choice

89. Rewrite what you're going to say

90. Be “Clean”

91. Practice

92. Practice

93. Practice

95. Benefit-Cost Analysis

96. Net Present Value

97. Precedent

102. Productivity increases

104. Net Present Value? From the Arizona Republic: For possible sale with a lease-back: Two three-story buildings, constructed in 1960, with a connecting basement, electronic-voting system and reliable, if somewhat combative, tenants. The Arizona Legislature, in a bid to close up the state budget, is looking to sell the House and Senate buildings and lease them back for as long as 20 years. The move would cost as much as $1.2 billion in lease payments, but give the state some quick cash, possibly up to $735 million. An increase of 7 percent in the broadband adoption rate in every state, yields an overall economic benefit of approximately $134 billion a year. This would product 2.4 million jobs, saving $92 billion; $35.2 billion in benefits from accessing broadband at home; $6.4 billion from the reduced needs for travel; $662 million in health care savings; and $18.2 million in carbon credits. http://connectednation.org/research/economic_impact_study/

106. Make programs easier to sell

107. Provide public with a comparison point

109. Let your local reps know you can help