Welcome to the InfoSci Platform
Reference Hub2
Social Technologies and the Digital Commons

Social Technologies and the Digital Commons

Francesca da Rimini
Copyright: © 2007 |Pages: 21
ISBN13: 9781591409991|ISBN10: 1591409993|EISBN13: 9781591408925
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59140-999-1.ch005
Cite Chapter Cite Chapter

MLA

da Rimini, Francesca. "Social Technologies and the Digital Commons." Handbook of Research on Open Source Software: Technological, Economic, and Social Perspectives, edited by Kirk St.Amant and Brian Still, IGI Global, 2007, pp. 47-67. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59140-999-1.ch005

APA

da Rimini, F. (2007). Social Technologies and the Digital Commons. In K. St.Amant & B. Still (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Open Source Software: Technological, Economic, and Social Perspectives (pp. 47-67). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59140-999-1.ch005

Chicago

da Rimini, Francesca. "Social Technologies and the Digital Commons." In Handbook of Research on Open Source Software: Technological, Economic, and Social Perspectives, edited by Kirk St.Amant and Brian Still, 47-67. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2007. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59140-999-1.ch005

Export Reference

Mendeley
Favorite

Abstract

This chapter investigates the premise that software is culture. It explores this proposition through the lens of peer production, of knowledge-based goods circulating in the electronic space of a digital commons, and the material space of free media labs. Computing history reveals that technological development has typically been infl uenced by external sociopolitical forces. However, with the advent of the Internet and the free software movement, such development is no longer solely shaped by an elite class. Dyne:bolic, Streamtime and the Container Project are three autonomously-managed projects that combine social technologies and cooperative labour with cultural activism. Innovative digital staging platforms enable creative expression by marginalised communities, and assist movements for social change. The author fl ags new social relations and shared social imaginaries generated in the nexus between open code and democratic media. In so doing the author aims to contribute tangible, inspiring examples to the emerging interdisciplinary fi eld of software studies.“Humanity’s capacity to generate new ideas and knowledge is its greatest asset. It is the source of art, science, innovation and economic development. Without it, individuals and societies stagnate. This creative imagination requires access to the ideas, learning and culture of others, past and present” (Boyle, Brindley, Cornish, Correa, Cuplinskas, Deere, et al., 2005)

Request Access

You do not own this content. Please login to recommend this title to your institution's librarian or purchase it from the IGI Global bookstore.