Patrick Wagstorm explained How to Be a Wonk. That is, how to be someone is a policy wonk--someone who is an expert in their field, and who talks to legislators about their field. Comparatively, most open source users are likely experts in their field, so they are generally knowledgable enough to talk to Congress and other levels of government objectively and informationally.Wagstrom holds a Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy and Computation, Organizations, and Society from Carnegie Mellon University in BIOS LEVEL's home of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He's dealt with all levels of government, influencing policy with his knowledge of technology.He speaks briefly on network neutrality, citing that the new FCC chairman Julius Genachowski is very active and wants to see fair network neutrality policy enacted.He urges folks to care about policy because policy affects everyone, yet is decided by a very small group. Acts of Congress are law, decisions made by agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are policy. He also cited examples of non-governmental agencies who seem like they make and who think they establish policies, such as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA). Wagstrom also describes how experts can effect both policy and law. In general, experts are for a certain policy (e.g. climate change), against (e.g. tariffs), or conflicted (network neutrality, privacy, cryptography). Meeting with legislators and policymakers is always the best way to affect their ways, but postal mail and a phone call are always good measures, too. He warns against using email, as it is often filtered and read less often. He also warns against using public forum meetings, as such can draw large, unruly crowds and diminish the effectiveness or directness of an expert's message. Less