On Tuesday, Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang (唐鳳) announced the official launch of a “public code website”(code.gov.tw) in collaboration with representatives from six city governments, Digital Democracy and other NGOs.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs says it is committed to promoting public code. By publicly releasing the government’s non-sensitive system and software codes, the ministry intends to make transparent the operation mechanisms behind them. Through this, it hopes to open the door for discussions, collaborations, and improvements.
Public code initiatives began in Europe in the 2010s with the concept that the source code developed by governments is public property and should therefore be open to the public.
Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang says the code platform is like a library of information, and the codes inside are books. The “public code website” already has 15 categories and 22 public programs, including the front-end coding of the website. Anyone connecting to code.gov.tw can download, use, or improve the programs. In the interest of information security, the program code is reviewed and security-tested before it makes it to the website. Overall, this still greatly shortens development time while further strengthening the security of government digital services.
Audrey Tang also remarks that services such as these are rare, and that Taiwan holds a place among the top 10 in the world.
