FLOSS, development and digital inclusion in countries of the Global Majority

Global Information Society Watch launched a special edition report titled “Free/libre and open source software: Visions of openness from the Global South” during this year's Global Gathering, JOSA's senior officer Haitham Dahboor contributed by authoring a chapter titled “FLOSS, development and digital inclusion in countries of the Global Majority”.

In this chapter, Haitham claims that the road to digital sovereignty is paved with free and open source software and infrastructure, and that digital sovereignty isn't a luxury for Global Majority countries that are often treated as data dumping sites and a mere source of raw material and cheap labour.

Drawing from examples across the globe, Haitham also argues that successful open source tools are being developed or have already deployed locally and regionally, such as Ushahidi in Kenya, Sahana from Sri Lanka, RapidPro in Rwanda and Nuha in Jordan and the Middle East, tools that range in their purposes from governments interactive messaging to content moderation all the way to crisis mapping.

You can read or download the full chapter on this page.
If you would like to read the full edition you can visit GISwatch website.