Check out Chris Kelty’s new piece, Geeks, Social Imaginaries, and Recursive Publics. Not only is it a very clever argument about the unique constitution of the geek public, this may be the first full length article related to FOSS to come out in an anthropology journal. CK edited a shorter set of articles in AQ on IP, geeks, FOSS, and the law but this new piece ups the ante. He has cracked up the coconut for anthro geek studies in provocative ways and I am sure more good stuff will follow.

Abstract:
This article investigates the social, technical, and legal affiliations among “geeks” (hackers, lawyers, activists, and IT entrepreneurs) on the Internet. The mode of association specific to this group is that of a “recursive public sphere” constituted by a shared imaginary of the technical and legal conditions of possibility for their own association. On the basis of fieldwork conducted in the United States, Europe, and India, I argue that geeks imagine their social existence and relations as much through technical practices (hacking, networking, and code writing) as through discursive argument (rights, identities, and relations). In addition, they consider a “right to tinker” a form of free speech that takes the form of creating, implementing, modifying, or using specific kinds of software (especially Free Software) rather than verbal discourse.