Hacking Diversity: The Politics of Inclusion in Open Technology Cultures (Princeton Studies in Culture and Technology, 21)

This book examines contemporary efforts to make hackerspaces and open source software communities more diverse and inclusive, and identifies the challenges faced by those spearheading these efforts. **Note:** This is a simultaneous release. Cloth edition: $85.00, ISBN: 9780691182070. **A firsthand look at efforts to improve diversity in software and hackerspace communities** Hacking, as a mode of technical and cultural production, is commonly celebrated for its extraordinary freedoms of creation and circulation. Yet surprisingly few women participate in it: rates of involvement by technologically skilled women are drastically lower in hacking communities than in industry and academia. __Hacking Diversity__ investigates the activists engaged in free and open-source software to understand why, despite their efforts, they fail to achieve the diversity that their ideals support. Christina Dunbar-Hester shows that within this well-meaning volunteer world, beyond the sway of human resource departments and equal opportunity legislation, women face unique challenges. She brings together more than five years of firsthand research: attending software conferences and training events, working on message boards and listservs, and frequenting North American hackerspaces. She explores who participates in voluntaristic technology cultures, to what ends, and with what consequences. Digging deep into the fundamental assumptions underpinning STEM-oriented societies, Dunbar-Hester demonstrates that while the preferred solutions of tech enthusiasts—their “hacks” of projects and cultures—can ameliorate some of the “bugs” within their own communities, these methods come up short for issues of unequal social and economic power. Distributing “diversity” in technical production is not equal to generating justice. __Hacking Diversity__ reframes questions of diversity advocacy to consider what interventions might appropriately broaden inclusion and participation in the hacking world and beyond. Cover Half title Series title Title Copyright Contents List of Illustrations Figures Table Acknowledgments 1 | Introduction Give Me a Hackerspace and I Will Make the World Hacking Emancipation Technology and Social Order (Or, How Hacking and Emancipation Came to Be Linked) If Diversity Is the Answer, What Is the Question? How This Book Is Organized Research Methods Researcher’s Position Research Sites: Names and Anonymity 2 | History, Heresy, Hacking Geeks and Hackers FLOSS; Hackerspaces and Hacktivism Women in Computing and Hacking We Chew on The Roots Of Control And DomInatIon Hacking Hacked? 3 | To Fork or Not to Fork: Hacking and Infrastructures of Care Changing the Dominant Culture: Visibility and Dialogue in Mainstream Spaces Changing the Dominant Culture: Codes of Conduct Separate Spaces: Hackerspaces and Unconferences Separate Spaces: The Backchannel “No More Rock Stars”: The Backchannel Goes Public Conclusions: Progress, Ambiguity, and Maintenance 4 | Crafting and Critique: Artifactual and Symbolic Outputs of Diversity Advocacy Hacking Meets Feminine Craft Autonomy of Infrastructures Conclusions: Crafting Capacity? 5 | Working Imaginaries: “Freedom from Jobs” or Learning to Love to Labor? Politics of Open-Technology Projects and Their Relationship to Paid Labor Working Imaginaries along a Continuum Conclusions: Can Diversity Advocacy Do Scary Work? 6 | The Conscience of a (Feminist) Hacker: Political Stances within Diversity Advocacy Radical Politics and Activism Opposing Militarism Global Positioning Systems: “Decolonizing Technology” Conclusions 7 | Putting Lipstick on a GNU? Representation and Its Discontents Background on Social Identities and Technical Cultures Gender, Trouble Contesting Gender Essentialism Genderfuck: Queer, Nonconforming, Otherwise Positionings: Ethnicity, Race, Nation Conclusions: Social Identity, Power, and Expert Knowledge 8 | Conclusion: Overcoming Diversity Bibliography Index A Note On The Type A firsthand look at efforts to improve diversity in software and hackerspace communities Hacking, as a mode of technical and cultural production, is commonly celebrated for its extraordinary freedoms of creation and circulation. Yet surprisingly few women participate in it: rates of involvement by technologically skilled women are drastically lower in hacking communities than in industry and academia. Hacking Diversity investigates the activists engaged in free and open-source software to understand why, despite their efforts, they fail to achieve the diversity that their ideals support. Christina Dunbar-Hester shows that within this well-meaning volunteer world, beyond the sway of human resource departments and equal opportunity legislation, members of underrepresented groups face unique challenges. She brings together more than five years of firsthand research: attending software conferences and training events, working on message boards and listservs, and frequenting North American hackerspaces. She explores who participates in voluntaristic technology cultures, to what ends, and with what consequences. Digging deep into the fundamental assumptions underpinning STEM-oriented societies, Dunbar-Hester demonstrates that while the preferred solutions of tech enthusiasts—their "hacks" of projects and cultures—can ameliorate some of the "bugs" within their own communities, these methods come up short for issues of unequal social and economic power. Distributing "diversity" in technical production is not equal to generating justice. Hacking Diversity reframes questions of diversity advocacy to consider what interventions might appropriately broaden inclusion and participation in the hacking world and beyond. "We regularly read and hear exhortations for women to take up positions in STEM. The call comes from both government and private corporate circles, and it also emanates from enthusiasts for free and open source software (FOSS), i.e. software that anyone is free to use, copy, study, and change in any way. Ironically, rate of participation in FOSS-related work is far lower than in other areas of computing. A 2002 European Union study showed that fewer than 2 percent of software developers in the FOSS world were women. How is it that an intellectual community of activists so open in principle to one and all -a community that prides itself for its enlightened politics and its commitment to social change - should have such a low rate of participation by women? This book is an ethnographic investigation of efforts to improve the diversity in software and hackerspace communities, with particular attention paid to gender diversity advocacy"-- Provided by publisher