Why WordPress and Open Source Applications are a Great Solution for Government Online Projects
Lines of ‘Open source’ code have long knocked on the closed doors of state institutions. Shady vendors of closed source software have fueled myths of open solutions, including web development tools. One of these tools is WordPress, and we will show that such open applications are a great solution for the development of national Internet headquarters and the communication of interactive information.
At the end of 2012, a state institution announced a tender for the production of a new web portal. Their existing (domestic) solution proved to be technologically obsolete, editorially complicated and closed to meaningful upgrades. Well known #VendorLockIn situation, classically adopted at important state addresses. A team of our designers and programmers was invited to a consultation where we had to analyze the situation and propose a modern solution, tailored to new needs.
In the first meeting, IT forces were compared, nodding in memory of 2FA, CMS, DMS, SSL, GIT and other techno-abbreviations. The fuse lit up with far more vital questions – “Who will approve the content when we are on annual leave?” / “In which room will the server be located (!)?” / “We want to control the size of the logo”… and so we agreed how to publish and edit the online content with their marketing department. But the bomb only went off when we suggested to their IT that we work on open source technologies and that WordPress is the best platform for a new government project. At that moment, the nods turned into anxious glances, accompanied by a barrage of subjective questions stemming from the myths of the open source world.
