Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking
One ofChoice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2013"Coding Freedomis insightful and fascinating, a superbly observed picture of the motives, divisions and history of the free software and software freedom world."--Cory Doctorow,BoingBoing"Anyone who thinks about programmers, open source, online communities, or the politics of intellectual property should have a copy ofCoding Freedomon the shelf. It is an invaluable portrait of how free-software coders work, individually and collectively."--James Grimmelmann,Jotwell"The hacker ethic may be peculiar to outsiders. But it stems from a deep commitment to justice, fairness, and freedom. Anthropologist Gabriella Coleman describes in her phenomenal bookCoding Freedomhow hacker ethic gets encoded into both technical and political practice."--Danah Boyd,Wired"Though occasionally she uses academic jargon, her book is an intriguing read and connects the dots. . . . Reading this book will help you to understand the conflict, as well as hacker culture."--David Hutchinson,io9.com"[S]triking and important. . . . Coleman has captured a great deal of the essential spirit of the free- and open-software movement. . . . I strongly suggest that you buy a copy of the book."--John Gilbey,Times Higher Education"[I]t is well-written and the analyses really get to the heart of some deeply ethical questions about individual, group and political relationships in voluntary groups which are rarely considered in such detail."--John R. Hudson,Briefing Bradford"This work by Coleman is at once history, ethnography, cultural criticism, and storytelling. . . . Once can read the book as a narrative of the free software and open source movements, or as a sympathetic description of the behavior norms of hackers. . . . Some readers will likely not consider hackers' aesthetic appreciation of good or clever coding as beauty, nor hackers' humor as funny, but these are Coleman's courageous attempts to provide a rounded depiction of this subculture. This book seems likely to be one of the defining works of cultural anthropology."--Choice"Coding Freedomis a persuasive piece of writing that tackles some of the questions central to the current political climate."--Sebastian Kubitschko,Culture Machine"Coding Freedomis an important analysis of F/OSS that offers deep ethnographic detail and creates a complex appreciation of this phenomenon. Coleman is also able to take this rich detail and extend it into the ethics and politics of F/OSS, connecting internal community principles to wider political effects, of which she provides a unique analysis. This book is compulsory reading for anyone interested in the cultural and social meaning of F/OSS and will powerfully repay anyone interested in the nature of ethics and society in the 21st century."--Tim Jordan,American Journal of Sociology