[iDC] playgrounds, factories, clinics, homes

[Christopher Kelty]

dear all,
trebor kindly invited me to re-introduce myself here as part of the
discussion.  I am a cultural anthropologist/historian trained in science
studies and currently working at UCLA in the department of Information
studies and the Center for Society and Genetics. My book Two Bits (
http://twobits.net/) is about Free Software.  Much of the theoretical work
revolves around the concept of the "recursive public," which was my attempt
to think about the distinctiveness of Free Software amongst all the other
things taking place on and through the Internet.  The book is both intended
to clarify what Free Software is and how it works, and to be used as a kind
of "diagonostic" tool for looking at other phenomena claiming to be open,
free, social, peer to peer, or otherwise interneterrific.   I've also just
been to Spain, which is my new favorite place for thinking about these
issues: http://www.publico.es/ciencias/230612/google/proximo/monopolio

I lament that I may not be able to participate fully in the conversation
this week, and for reasons not unrelated to the topic of the conference:  I
have been busy reproducing (the original labor), taking out an enormous
mortgage on a house (part of the problem, not part of the solution), and I
cannot get Time Warner (a monopoly) to install any internets in my house
before June 15th, so I am reduced to wandering the neighborhood looking for
"linksys" and hoping for laziness (an important component of any theory of
labor).  Regardless, I will do my best to keep up.

ck
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