Ireland gets cosmolocalism. Their govt donated their COVID Tracing App to Linux, making it open source for the world
from NearForm’s “Covid app development”
The COVID crisis is forging new alliances between people - and here’s a great example of how a national government can become a “partner state” to commons-based digital players. Specifically, the Irish state to the open-source pioneers the Linux Foundation.
Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) announced today that it is donating the code for the COVID Tracker app as Open Source to the not-for-profit Linux Foundation. This will enable jurisdictions worldwide to quickly build and deploy their own contact tracing apps using a wildly successful proven base. The donated app has been named COVID Green.
…The rapid adoption of the COVID Tracker app in Ireland exceeded all expectations. One million people installed it in the first 36 hours, and the app currently has over 1.3 million installations. That figure represents more than 30% of people in Ireland with compatible devices.
The code is also being used in the app for Gibraltar and the upcoming apps for Northern Ireland, other jurisdictions in EMEA and multiple US states.
“We are pleased to contribute COVID Green, the open source code behind Ireland’s COVID Tracker app, to Linux Foundation Public Health,” said Fran Thompson, Chief Information Officer of the HSE. “This app is a great demonstration of innovation within the Irish health sector combined with the IT capabilities of the Irish software industry.”
Of course, it takes expertise to customise and use this software in other nations and jurisdictions in the world. But it’s a continuing tremor and indicator that the cosmo-local model - where making is local, but design is drawn down from a global commons of material - is become a viable response.
Especially under conditions of widespread human precariousness and cross-border vulnerablity, requiring a fully mutual response.
For more thoughts on Corona and the Commons, read here.