[artinfo] CFP: Expanding the frontiers of hacking

[Mathieu ONeil]

Expanding the frontiers of hacking
Bio-punks, open hardware, and hackerspaces
A special issue of Critical Studies in Peer Production
Edited by: Johan Soderberg and Alessandro Delfanti

Call: 500-word abstract
Both theoretical and empirical contributions accepted

During the past two decades, hacking has chiefly been associated with 
software development. This is now changing as new walks of life are 
being explored with a hacker mindset, thus bringing back to memory 
the origin of hacking in hardware development. Now as then, the 
hacker is characterised by an active approach to technology, 
undaunted by hierarchies and established knowledge, and finally a 
commitment to sharing information freely. In this special issue of 
Critical Studies in Peer Production, we will investigate how these 
ideas and practices are spreading. Two cases which have caught much 
attention in recent years are open hardware development and garage 
biology. The creation of hacker/maker-spaces in many cities around 
the world has provided an infrastructure facilitating this 
development. We are looking for both empirical and theoretical 
contributions which critically engage with this new phenomenon. Every 
kind of activity which relates to hacking is potentially of interest. 
Some theoretical questions which might be discussed in the light of 
this development include, but are not restricted to, the politics of 
hacking, the role of lay expertise, how the line between the 
community and markets is negotiated, how development projects are 
managed, and the legal implications of these practices. We welcome 
contributions from all the social sciences, including science & 
technology studies, design and art-practices, anthropology, legal 
studies, etc.

Interested authors should submit an abstract of no more than 500 
words by July 10, 2011. Authors of accepted papers will be notified 
by July 31. All papers will be subject to peer review before being 
published.

Abstracts should be sent to delfanti at sissa.it

Critical Studies in Peer Production (CSPP) is a new open access, 
online journal that focuses on the implications of peer production 
for social change. http://cspp.oekonux.org/