Three Ethical Moments in Debian

@article{citeulike:409605, abstract = {This article is a detailed examination of ethical cultivation as it occurs in the Debian project, whose volunteers produce a non-commercial distribution of the GNU/Linux OS. Thus far, much of the literature on free and open source software (F/OSS) production has been heavily focused on the question of motivation or incentive mechanisms and has tended to ignore how hacker valuations, motivations, and commitments are transformed by the lived experiences that unfold in F/OSS projects and institutions that are mediated through project charters and organizational procedures. In this anthropological piece, I draw heavily on the work of the legal theorist Robert Cover (1992), who examines the ways in which "jurigenisis," the production and stabilization of inhabited normative and legal meanings, requires an ongoing and sometimes conflicting narrative interpretation of codified textual norms. I specify his model in examining how three different ethical moments are the grounds for the adoption, transformation, and re-evaluation of a set of values related to accountability, freedom, transparency, openness, and mutual aid: conflict-free enculturation, legal pedagogy and production, and lastly crisis.}, author = {Coleman, Gabriella }, citeulike-article-id = {409605}, comment = {This is the best paper ever written on the co-production of culture and technology, period.}, keywords = {hackers, hacking, open\_source}, month = {September}, posted-at = {2005-11-27 10:49:38}, priority = {0}, title = {Three Ethical Moments in Debian}, url = {http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract\_id=805287}, year = {2005} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:409605 L3 - citeulike-article-id:409605 TI - Three Ethical Moments in Debian N2 - This article is a detailed examination of ethical cultivation as it occurs in the Debian project, whose volunteers produce a non-commercial distribution of the GNU/Linux OS. Thus far, much of the literature on free and open source software (F/OSS) production has been heavily focused on the question of motivation or incentive mechanisms and has tended to ignore how hacker valuations, motivations, and commitments are transformed by the lived experiences that unfold in F/OSS projects and institutions that are mediated through project charters and organizational procedures. In this anthropological piece, I draw heavily on the work of the legal theorist Robert Cover (1992), who examines the ways in which "jurigenisis," the production and stabilization of inhabited normative and legal meanings, requires an ongoing and sometimes conflicting narrative interpretation of codified textual norms. I specify his model in examining how three different ethical moments are the grounds for the adoption, transformation, and re-evaluation of a set of values related to accountability, freedom, transparency, openness, and mutual aid: conflict-free enculturation, legal pedagogy and production, and lastly crisis. KW - hackers KW - hacking KW - open_source N1 - This is the best paper ever written on the co-production of culture and technology, period. AU - Coleman, Gabriella PY - 2005/09/15/ UR - http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=805287 ER -