Doctoral Dissertation Research: Coding Commons: F/OSS Collaboration and the Ubuntu Labor Process

博士论文研究：编码共享：F/OSS 协作和 Ubuntu 劳动流程

• 批准号: 0928777
• 负责人: Carolyn Cartier
• 金额: $ 0.94万
• 依托单位: University of Southern California
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-08-01 至 2011-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0928777&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Coding; Commons

Understanding how software functions to structure social and economic possibilities is a crucial challenge to general social science scholarship and also to more specialized interests concerned with the digital context of knowledge-based economies, digital media and the Internet. This project analyzes the underdeveloped arena of software design and production through a study of the labor processes and everyday lives of software workers who contribute to Ubuntu Linux, a Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS) project. F/OSS is different from proprietary software because it is distributed with the source code as well as with the right for anyone to edit, reuse, repurpose, and distribute the software as they see fit. This research project examines the geography of Ubuntu production cycles, which rely upon the collaborative labor of several hundred full-time paid contributors and tens of thousands of unpaid, volunteer contributors, all working around the globe. Volunteer and paid contributors regularly attribute their dedication to F/OSS and to Ubuntu in particular to personal satisfaction with being involved with the project. Creating and reproducing these conditions plays a central role in the organization and reproduction of Ubuntu labor processes. To understand the implications of F/OSS production and labor organization and to shed light on the future of the Internet and economic productivity generally, this project examines the practices and work experiences of paid and unpaid contributors and the role of enjoyment they feel in the development of the labor processes involved. At the local scale, ethnographic research using in-depth interviews and participant observation at places of Ubuntu will generate data on the experiences and rhythms of Ubuntu work. At the global scale, observing and participating in international collaboration, meetings, and discussions will generate data on the structures and norms in Ubuntu. This project will reveal F/OSS production as a network of real places and people who contribute to forming an alternative system of exchange. This doctoral dissertation project will develop a theoretical and empirical model of the significance of software grounded in a committed engagement, using interdisciplinary scholarship to understand the social and economic implications of the production of this software. The vast majority of web pages and emails in the world are served by F/OSS, and F/OSS runs the massive data centers and back offices of firms such as Google and Amazon.com. Yet it remains relatively unknown that much of the software upon which these companies and the Internet depend relies heavily on the unpaid labor of volunteers for its production. The results of this project will show how the production process of this kind of software will contribute to understanding globalizing capitalism. In doing so, it will meet the need to evaluate the promises of F/OSS as a solution to problems of intellectual property rights that restrict access to software, problems of dependency upon proprietary software, and problems in the international arena generated by state-controlled media. This project's analysis of place and labor processes makes a significant contribution to understanding how software shapes, mediates, and transforms our social lives and economies. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.

了解软件如何起到构建社会和经济可能性的作用，是对一般社会科学学术以及与知识经济、数字媒体和互联网的数字背景有关的更专业兴趣的关键挑战。这个项目通过研究为自由开放源码软件(F/OSS)项目Ubuntu Linux做出贡献的软件工作者的劳动过程和日常生活，分析了软件设计和生产领域的欠发达领域。F/OSS与专有软件不同，因为它与源代码一起分发，并且任何人都有权编辑、重用、重新调整用途和分发他们认为合适的软件。这项研究项目考察了Ubuntu生产周期的地理位置，这依赖于数百名全职付费贡献者和数万名无偿志愿者贡献者的协作劳动，他们都在全球工作。志愿人员和付费贡献者经常将他们对F/OSS和Ubuntu的奉献归因于个人对参与该项目的满意。创造和复制这些条件在组织和复制Ubuntu劳动过程中发挥着核心作用。为了理解F/OSS生产和劳工组织的含义，并总体上阐明互联网的未来和经济生产力，该项目审查了有偿和无偿贡献者的做法和工作经验，以及他们在所涉及的劳动过程发展中感受到的享受的作用。在地方一级，通过深入访谈和对乌班图地区的参与者进行观察进行的人种学研究将产生关于乌班图工作经验和节奏的数据。在全球范围内，观察和参与国际协作、会议和讨论将产生关于Ubuntu的结构和规范的数据。这个项目将揭示F/OSS生产作为一个真实的地方和人的网络，他们为形成一种替代的交换系统做出贡献。这个博士论文项目将开发一个基于承诺参与的软件重要性的理论和经验模型，使用跨学科学术来理解该软件生产的社会和经济影响。世界上绝大多数的网页和电子邮件都是由F/OSS提供服务的，F/OSS管理着谷歌和亚马逊等公司的海量数据中心和后台办公室。然而，这些公司和互联网所依赖的大部分软件严重依赖志愿者的无偿劳动来生产，这一点仍然相对鲜为人知。这个项目的结果将展示这类软件的生产过程将如何有助于理解全球化的资本主义。通过这样做，它将满足评估F/OSS作为解决限制访问软件的知识产权问题、依赖专有软件的问题以及国家控制的媒体在国际舞台上造成的问题的承诺的需要。这个项目对场所和劳动力过程的分析对理解软件如何塑造、调解和改变我们的社会生活和经济做出了重大贡献。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。