GOSCON (Government Open Source Conference) is a conference held annually to explore the use of open standard and open-source software in the public sector, mostly in the United States.
GOSCON was conceived of at Oregon State University's Open Source Lab, and first held in 2005. From 2005 to 2008, GOSCON was held in Portland, Oregon. In 2009, it was held in Washington DC at the Ronald Reagan Building. Deborah Bryant is the founder and director of the conference.
In GOSCON, University and Government IT managers from the local, state and national level discuss opportunities and challenges presented by the use of Open Source Software—some of which are specific to public sector situations (such as the typical government procurement process) and some of which are shared by many IT departments (such as questions about the ongoing support of Open Source Software projects). Speakers have included Open Source Software project leaders such as Brian Behlendorf, Larry Augustin and Ward Cunningham; Government and University IT managers at various stages of Open Source Software implementations; academic researchers and corporate executives. Past sessions have covered:
- The ROI of Open Source Software in government settings (2005)
- The "Community source" model (2005)
- Best Open Source Software practices for state and local government agencies (2005)
- The impact of Open ICT infrastructure on economic development (2005)
- Open Source Software and public procurement ...
