TYPO3 as a Digital Public Good: An Interview with Mathias Bolt Lesniak
TYPO3 Regonized as a Digital Public Good
Last month, TYPO3 was officially recognized as a Digital Public Good (DPG). The certification, overseen by the Digital Public Goods Alliance, represents a major milestone in the project’s history and reaffirms its commitment to open source values and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Inclusion in the DPG registry alongside notable open source projects like Wikipedia, will undoubtedly have an impact on TYPO3’s position within the open source ecosystem. Our CMS is already playing an active role in digital infrastructure projects around the world, where it helps countries achieve digital sovereignty by building local expertise and creating technological independence..
To explore the potential impact of inclusion in the DPG registry, we spoke with TYPO3 Project Ambassador Mathias Bolt Lesniak. Mathias is one of TYPO3’s most recognizable voices and an advocate for the proliferation of open source solutions worldwide. He shared his thoughts on the milestone, reflected on the process of being recognized as a DPG, and discussed some of the most important topics surrounding the achievement. Mathias is one of TYPO3’s most recognizable voices and an advocate for the proliferation of open source solutions worldwide.
For more information on TYPO3 becoming part of the DPG registry, read our press release.
Below is the interview in its entirety:
Inclusion in the DPG Registry is a major milestone for TYPO3. How do you reflect on its significance?
Mathias: Being certified as a DPG is a goal we’ve been working towards for a long time. We started our first conscious government knowledge-sharing project back in 2019. By transferring expertise to local agencies in the Global South, they can serve their governments and make good websites for public sector institutions.
During that process, we realized that the TYPO3 Association is more than just an open source organization. It’s actually also a development aid organization. We contribute digital infrastructure in the same way that the Red Cross might contribute water infrastructure to a country. Looking at TYPO3 in that regard, places us in a different group, alongside other development organizations, like the GIZ (the German Government’s international development cooperation organization) and ITU (the International Telecom Union), both of whom we have collaboration projects with.
How did the inclusion come about and what did the process entail? Were there any challenges?
Mathias: The process included comprehensively documenting how the project meets the requirements of the DPG standard.
Making sure we included all the relevant information was no small feat, especially as this involved finding all of the contributors to TYPO3 over the 27 years that we’ve been active.The same thing goes for trying to find out how many installations there are or even how many top level government websites use TYPO3. We didn’t manage to deliver a complete list, but it was definitely long.
Once we did submit the form, the remaining process was surprisingly easy. I expected some further questions, but the application was accepted as submitted.
I guess TYPO3 was a perfect fit!
TYPO3 has made considerable efforts in strengthening its commitment to digital and data sovereignty. How does this value, among others, reflect the TYPO3 Association’s vision of an open web?
Mathias: Having an open web that’s accessible and free, and doesn’t require you to have money or clout anywhere to express yourself freely, is important. In that regard, open source projects are an expression of freedom of speech and freedom of choice.
At the same time, we often forget that together with freedom, there’s also a responsibility. That responsibility points to governance, digital sovereignty, and data sovereignty. Open source projects have a responsibility to uphold them and to ensure that our product can serve as a vehicle to support them.
What effect do you feel being listed as a Digital Public Good will have on TYPO3’s efforts in supporting digital infrastructure projects in the Global South? As part of the TYPO3 Community Expansion Committee, do you feel being part of the registry increases credibility, and could it help secure new tenders?
Mathias: To start from the last part of the question, regarding tenders, being recognized as a digital public good will have an important impact on the tenders that agencies take part for new websites and the government. Where tenders mention them, agencies should hone in on the non-technical value and TYPO3’s certified alignment with the sustainable development goals. Businesses want to hear they’re choosing an open source project that shares their customers’ values.
For the expansion committee, our role isn’t as much about tenders as it is presenting ourselves as the best digital infrastructure solution for government and enterprise websites. In that regard, inclusion of TYPO3 in the registry is a recognition and validation. It recognizes the work that we are doing, and validates we are indeed the solution that we present ourselves as.
This will come on top of the existing projects that we already had with organizations like GIZ and the International Telecoms Union. It also complements the CMS building block that we are currently creating for GovStack, a project that delivers specifications for the government tech stack, aimed especially at the Global South.
Inclusion in the registry allows us to stand strong and say that we support a digital infrastructure that is non-exploitative, that is anti-colonial, and that supports users in local communities. We're not selling software that ties you into a negative dependence through license fees. You can use our software freely, something that has important impacts down the line, from allowing people to act independently to supporting job growth and building vibrant ecosystems.
Community is at the heart of the TYPO3 project. How has TYPO3’s active community fostered an environment of sustainable development?
Bolt Lesniak: The sustainable development of a country or region relies on the same collaboration faculties as open source collaboration and open source communities do. It also requires togetherness and shared values. That’s illustrated by the UN describing open source as culture’. Culture is an important pillar in the UN’s value system, so it is a recognition of the important part we can play.
So, as a project, TYPO3 is really taking part in the journey to achieve sustainability, along with the whole world. We need to be able to work democratically together, to solve problems together. We need to live in peaceful coexistence together. That’s all mirrored in the Sustainable Development Goals.
Good governance is also an important criteria for inclusion. Do you see this inclusion as a recognition of TYPO3’s transparent approach to governance, especially at a time when other open source projects face challenges in that regard?
Bolt Lesniak: I often compare open source projects to countries. And countries can sometimes have difficulties, just like open source projects can. We’re dealing with humans after all.
The answer isn’t to label a country or all of its people as bad. We have to recognize the play between giving people freedom and allowing them to act on their responsibilities. We should consider what it means to participate in an open source project, in a similar way to how we consider what it does to participate in society.
A country isn’t just its leadership, it’s also the totality of exchanges people have with each other, in what we call civil society. I often call TYPO3 a civil society initiative, with all of the weight that such a definition holds.
How would you recommend web agencies using TYPO3 to communicate the news to existing and potential new customers? How can they build on this achievement?
Mathias: Being certified as a DPG for TYPO3 makes the product more valuable for web agencies. In order to benefit from it, they will have to tailor their message to customers.
The greatest impact of TYPO3 being a public good comes when you work with NGOs or public sector organizations that are already aware of the need for digital sovereignty and civil involvement. The certification will be another indicator that TYPO3 aligns with their own sustainable development goals.
On the commercial side, using TYPO3 will reflect that the business makes good choices when choosing software. It becomes an ethical choice as well as a business choice. Shared sustainable development goals can have a positive impact on that business’s target market. Public perception is shaped by the values it chooses to uphold.
What impact do you feel TYPO3’s inclusion in the DPG registry will have on the rest of the open source CMS landscape?
Mathias: Let me first say that I believe the registry has a very positive impact on open source projects in general.
We are seeing a lot of what we call open washing. That is when proprietary or less open products use the positive image of open source to market themselves. The registry validates truly open source projects, allowing us to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace, something that both we and other open source CMS’s need.
Other CMS’s and other well-known projects, like Wikipedia, have also been added to the registry. I want even more open source CMS’s to join the registry.
Inclusion in the registry means that we can count TYPO3 as one of the foremost actors in the open source community. It’s also a way for us to underline our dedication to sustainable development goals and our continuing involvement in development cooperation projects, building digital infrastructure and contributing to digitization projects worldwide.
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