Yesterday at DrupalCon, representatives of WhiteHouse.gov announced they are making modules of Drupal code they have developed and customized open source, i.e. are giving them away free of charge.

Drupal itself is an open source project and one of the most popular website building tools around. This CMS powers a sizable chunk of the Internet, from Warner Records artists to World Bank's data site. The code WhiteHouse.gov is releasing into the wild deals with three main aspects: scalability, communication and accessibility. This move is part of the general move toward openness we've seen in a slew of recent government initiatives online, such as Data.gov. The opening of WhiteHouse.gov's platform means that more developers will get to use, review and modify WH code for their own applications, while quite possibly expanding and improving the modules' capabilities along the way.

Here are some details on what the WH modules can do:

Context HTTP Headers Lets developers add metadata to content. "We use this to tell our servers how to handle specific pages, such as cache this type of page for 15 minutes or that type for 30," wrote WH developer Dave Cole. "A second module that addresses scalability is called 'Akamai,' and it allows our website to integrate with our Content Delivery Network, Akamai."

GovDelivery For active email programs used for large-scale public communication. Allows organizations to send "more dynamic emails tailored to users' preferences."

Node Embed Manages multimedia content and ensures that all images have the proper metadata to make them machine-readable for those who use screen-reading software. Cole wrote, "We take very seriously our obligation to make sure WhiteHouse.gov is as accessible as possible and are committed to meeting the government accessibility standard, Section 508."

Hat tip to Mark Krynsky for buttonholing us after DrupalCon to share this news.