Open Documents and Democracy: a Political Basis for Open Document Standards

Modern information society depends upon an enormous variety of electronic devices in order to function on a day-to-day basis. Information and communication technology (ICT) devices are able to exchange information only if they adhere to common communication protocols, technical interfaces, and information formats. ICT standards are the blueprints enabling users to access, create, and exchange information regardless of their hardware or software choices. Increasingly, governments are establishing policies to use ICT products based on standards that adhere to principles of openness and interoperability. Academic analyses of open standards policies usually address economic and technical concerns. But technological design is also political. Technologies both embody values and, once developed, have political consequences. Rationales for government procurement policies based on principles of openness and interoperability should not be viewed exclusively through an economic or a technical lens, but through the prism of the principles that provide democratic governments with their legitimacy. The overarching conclusion of the authors, emanating from both the theoretical and descriptive portions of this paper, suggests that movements toward open standards, particularly in the context of electronic public documents, are highly beneficial for citizens who value democratic principles. THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF LAW AND TECHNOLOGY