The recent Talking Drupal episode featuring Mike Gifford and Tiffany Farriss present how Drupal is playing a role in the global conversation on digital public infrastructure. Their discussion highlights what the Drupal community already knows, governments are beginning to treat open source as a strategic requirement.
Tiffany Farriss representing Drupal at United Nations' Open Source Week.
The United Nations' Open Source Week brought together policymakers, Open Source Program Office (OSPO) leaders and practitioners from across sectors, and Drupal had a seat at the table. The UN uses Drupal, as do most of their members. It reflects the project's maturity, governance structure and long record of delivering large-scale public services.
The episode goes beyond event commentary. Mike and Tiffany confront a core tension in today's public-sector technology landscape. Digital public infrastructure is becoming a contested space, shaped by national policy, commercial influence and competing definitions of "openness". Drupal's model-global, diverse, community-governed, and not tied to a single vendor-puts it in a different category than many projects marketed as "open". Their conversation makes the case that Drupal's longevity and governance give it credibility that is hard to replicate. If you work in public-sector digital services or care about the future of open source in government, this is worth your time.
Most importantly, the talk challenges Drupal professionals to think bigger. If open source is becoming the backbone of digital government, then Drupal contributors have a role to play in shaping that future. That requires awareness, coordination and a willingness to step into policy-adjacent discussions. Mike and Tiffany lay out why these global conversations matter and how Drupal can show up with confidence.
Tim Lehnen and Mike Gifford at United Nations' Open Source Week
If you want to understand where Drupal fits in the next decade of public-sector digital transformation, watch or listen to the episode and explore the details at https://talkingdrupal.com/528
