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CODING COMMONS:
FUN AND THE UBUNTU LABOR PROCESS
by
Jacob J. Peters
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(GEOGRAPHY)
August 2012
Copyright 2012 Jacob J. Peters
Object Description
| Title | Coding commons: fun and the Ubuntu labor process |
| Author | Peters, Jacob J. |
| Author email | jjpeters@usc.edu;jjpeters@usc.edu |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Geography |
| School | College of Letters, Arts And Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2012-07-30 |
| Date submitted | 2012-07-30 |
| Date approved | 2012-07-30 |
| Restricted until | 2012-07-30 |
| Date published | 2012-07-30 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Gilmore, Ruth Wilson |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Hise, Greg Bar, François McKenzie, Roderick |
| Abstract | Coding Commons: Fun and the Ubuntu Labor Process explores what is at stake in how we understand ""digital work"" and builds a theory of code that exposes the dependencies and externalities of code production. This labor geography uses ethnographic research methods to analyze the labor process of Ubuntu, an international software project emblematic of emerging conditions of work and new organizations of productive resources. Ubuntu is a free software project--meaning that the collaborative practices of creating Ubuntu are dedicated to making it freely available to be used and changed by anyone--and it is built by the labor of a few hundred paid contributors and tens of thousands of volunteers. Ubuntu is made via an on-going uneasy negotiation between the capitalist mode of production and a non-capitalist mode of production organized by something coders themselves call ""fun."" My research has revealed that fun is more than an individual motivation or experience: it is a means through which labor is organized. As firms seek to capitalize on our desire for fun--via processes such as ""crowd-sourcing"" or the creation of ""fun"" workplaces--knowing what our fun produces is as important as knowing what our work produces. So, why this fun now? What else does our work and fun produce when part of the commons? What is the nature of the relationship between capitalism and the commons when code is held in common? What is code? Or, to sum all these questions up, how is life breathed into 0s and 1s? I answer these questions though the words and experiences of Ubuntu contributors, all the while working to build a theory of the material life of code. This theory rests on my argument that code is the material with which all things digital are made. Code is metal, plastics, and other material that has a dual nature: it is both something akin to a set of instructions, and in it its use, code is movement and machine. I demonstrate how focusing on this material life allows for tracing the movement of value into the commons and though moments of being put to use for capital--in other words, how it works that capital can seek a spatial fix in a commons of computer code. Capital is dependent upon the commons, and making sense of the form and outcomes of this dependency is crucial to understanding capitalism and its extractive strategies. Dealing with the material life of code and coders leaves us with the challenge of connecting distant people, machines, and labor processes that are all part of creating the computing environment we have before us. Making these connections is a basis for making it common sense to ask: is a more just way of distributing resources is possible? And how can any work--from coding to hand soldering circuit boards--be organized so that it is fun? And how might this fun be part of creating humane and sustainable ways for producing what we need and more justly allocating the surpluses we produce? |
| Keyword | code; commons; digital; free software; FLOSS; spatial fix; labor geography |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m |
| Rights | Peters, Jacob J. |
| Access conditions | The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given. |
| Repository name | University of Southern California Digital Library |
| Repository address | USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 7002, 106 University Village, Los Angeles, California 90089-7002, USA |
| Repository email | cisadmin@usc.edu |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume4/etd-PetersJaco-1065.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | CODING COMMONS: FUN AND THE UBUNTU LABOR PROCESS by Jacob J. Peters A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (GEOGRAPHY) August 2012 Copyright 2012 Jacob J. Peters |
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