Hacking and Open Source Culture

Hacking and Open Source Culture: Readings of the Ideas, Social Movements, and People Who Shaped the Information Society helps students explore the creative, cultural, and social contexts of modern technology. Readers learn how the hackers, innovators, ideas, and events of the past have created the age of information and technology we live in today.

The anthology is divided into three parts. Part I explores the development of the computer, including readings about FORTRAN, the development of general-purpose software, and the creation of the transistor, integrated circuit, and microprocessor. In Part II, students read selections about the people and events that led to the development of the internet. The final part of the anthology focuses on hacking and open-source culture as a social phenomenon, including readings on cultural stereotypes of the hacker, the roles of Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds in the creation of open source software, and an exploration of the maker movement.

Hacking and Open Source Culture helps students connect the dots between technological developments of yesterday and our current time and place. It is an ideal text for courses in information studies, computer science, the history of technology, and the cultural influence of technology.