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# System prepended metadata

title: 'Talking Drupal #528 - Drupal Goes to the U.N.'

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# Talking Drupal #528 - Drupal Goes to the U.N.
Today we are talking about The United Nations Open Source Week, Digital Public Infrastructure, and Digital sovereignty with guest Tiffany Farriss & Mike Gifford. We’ll also cover Local Association (EU Sites Project) as our module of the week.

For show notes visit:
[https://www.talkingDrupal.com/528](https://www.talkingDrupal.com/528)

## Topics
* Drupal at the United Nations Open Source Week
* The Role of Open Source in Digital Governance
* Global Collaboration and Open Source Initiatives
* Challenges and Opportunities in Open Source Adoption
* The Role of Open Source Program Offices
* Understanding Digital Public Infrastructure
* The Importance of Digital Sovereignty
* Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Public Goods
* Balancing Innovation and Standardization
* The Impact of Market Capture on Innovation
* Funding Open Source as Public Infrastructure
* Future of Drupal in Global Digital Infrastructure

## Resources
* [Funding Open Source like public infrastructure](https://dri.es/funding-open-source-like-public-infrastructure)
* [chaos gone global](https://chaosgone.global/en-international)
* [UN digital](https://www.un.org/digital-emerging-technologies/content/un-open-source-week-2025-faq)
* [NEDCamp 2023 Keynote](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DqS2QzyrFh1I&ved=2ahUKEwjW1aPd_NiQAxVzE1kFHQEWL64QtwJ6BAgREAI&usg=AOvVaw3-U9kby5rwQi-9i8qpBALj)
* [Enshittification](https://craphound.com/category/enshittification/)
* Recording
    * https://govstack.global/
    * https://www.sovereign.tech/
    * https://www.drupal.be/en/drupal-eu-government-day-2026
    * https://govstack.global/
    * https://sdgs.un.org/goals
    * https://chaoss.community/
    * https://www.un.org/digital-emerging-technologies/content/open-source-week-2025
* [Tiffany’s talk about Drupal at UN](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZID1YbW3c0E)
* [EvolveDigital NYC summit on Nov 20-21](https://evolvedigital.com)

## Guests
Tiffany Farriss - [www.palantir.net](https://www.palantir.net) [farriss](https://www.drupal.org/u/farriss)
Mike Gifford - [accessibility.civicactions.com](https://accessibility.civicactions.com) [mgifford](https://www.drupal.org/u/mgifford)

## Hosts
Nic Laflin - [nLighteneddevelopment.com](https://www.nLighteneddevelopment.com) [nicxvan](https://www.drupal.org/u/nicxvan)
John Picozzi - [epam.com](https://www.epam.com) [johnpicozzi](https://www.drupal.org/u/johnpicozzi)
Maya Schaeffer - [evolvingweb.com](https://evolvingweb.com) [mayalena](https://www.drupal.org/u/mayalena)

## MOTW
### Correspondent
Martin Anderson-Clutz - [mandclu.com](https://mandclu.com) [mandclu](https://www.drupal.org/u/mandclu)
* Brief description:
    * Are you looking to create a website for a local Drupal association? There’s a project on drupal.org to help you get started.
* Module name/project name:
    * [Local Association (EU Sites Project)](https://www.drupal.org/project/la_eu)
* Brief history
    * How old: created in Oct 2023 by Jeremy Chinquist (jjchinquist) of drunomics and Drupal Austria
    * Versions available: dev version only
* Maintainership
    * Security coverage - opted in, no coverage until stable
    * Documentation guide available to help with setup
    * Number of open issues: 49 open issues, 4 of which are bugs
    * No usage stats available
* Module features and usage
    * This is an unusual project because it’s designed to help you quickly create a Drupal website but it doesn’t follow any of the usual patterns I’ve seen: a distribution, composer project template, or Drupal site template
    * Instead, the recommended path is to clone the repo local, and run a setup script. That creates your DDEV project, runs a composer install and then drush site install, and even runs a drush uli so you can log into your built site with a single click once it’s done
    * Along the way it will install a couple of custom modules. One populates a multitude of default content, so you have a populated site including navigation as your starting point. It will look like a clone of the 2022 Drupal Netherlands site, though there have been ongoing tweaks to the overall setup, with the most recent in June of 2025.
    * The other custom module provides some additional layouts for use with layout builder, and the project also includes a theme meant to be customized.
    * As you may have guessed by now, this project started when the Dutch Drupal Association rebuilt their website in 2022, and wanted to share their work with other local associations. Drupal France was the first to adopt it, and there was a BoF at DrupalCon Lille in 2023 to discuss sharing it more widely.
    * Following that, an international workgroup began collaborating to establish this project and it was adopted by Drupal associations in Belgium, Germany, Norway, Finland, and London, England.
    * Since today’s topic is about positioning Drupal on the international stage, I thought it would also be interesting to talk about how local Drupal associations have also formed their own federation to reduce effort


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Talking Drupal #528 - Drupal at the UN: Open Source Week and Digital Public Infrastructure

In this episode of Talking Drupal, we dive into the United Nations Open Source Week and discuss digital public infrastructure and digital sovereignty with special guests Tiffany Farriss, CEO of palantir.net, and Mike Gifford, Open Standards Lead at CivicActions. The session covers a range of topics, including the role of Drupal in the global open-source community, insights from the UN event, the importance of digital public infrastructure, and the benefits of open-source solutions in government technology projects. We also feature 'Local Association' as our module of the week. Join us for an enlightening conversation about the future of open-source technology on the global stage.

00:00 Introduction to Talking Drupal
00:42 Meet the Guests: Tiffany Ferris and Mike Gifford
03:57 Module of the Week: Local Association
11:03 Drupal at the United Nations Open Source Week
13:46 The Role of Open Source in Digital Governance
17:36 Global Collaboration and Open Source Initiatives
21:51 Challenges and Opportunities in Open Source Adoption
36:24 The Role of Open Source Program Offices
38:28 Understanding Digital Public Infrastructure
40:22 The Importance of Digital Sovereignty
42:12 Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Public Goods
44:56 Balancing Innovation and Standardization
48:10 The Impact of Market Capture on Innovation
01:00:11 Funding Open Source as Public Infrastructure
01:05:02 Future of Drupal in Global Digital Infrastructure
01:08:34 Closing Remarks and Contact Information