Using WordPress and Open Source to Improve Government, With Luke Fretwell

BySteve Burge

Luke Fretwell is one of the most creative and pioneering people I've met in open source. He's enjoyed a 25 year career that has covered multiple projects, collaborations, and businesses. The through-line for all Luke's projects has been making government better through technology.

Luke created GovPress, a very popular WordPress theme focused for governments. He built Proud City, a WordPress-based SaaS service for government. His latest work includes ScanGov to track the quality of government websites, and Proudly Serving, a collectively written playbook that helps governments build people-centered digital public services.

Watch this episode

Listen to this episode

Show notes

Timestamps:

  • 02:53: The Journey from Journalism to Technology
  • 10:15: Connecting Technology and Government
  • 12:09: The Birth of GovFresh
  • 16:12: Launching Proud City
  • 24:27: Navigating the Government Market
  • 24:55: Navigating Government Procurement Challenges
  • 28:05: Innovating in Government Tech: The Innovator's Dilemma
  • 29:28: Introducing ScanGov: A Civic Tech Initiative
  • 36:13: The Future of Civic Tech and Open Source
  • 41:24: AI in Government: ChatCivic and Its Potential
  • 53:17: Civic Leadership and Influential Voices

The PublishPress Podcast

On the PublishPress Podcast, we talk with people interested in WordPress publishing. You'll hear interviews with publishers who are using WordPress, and also people in the WordPress community.

  • Steve is the founder of PublishPress. He's been working with open source software for over 20 years. Originally from the UK, he now lives in Sarasota in the USA. This profile is generated by the PublishPress Authors plugin.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *