Articulating the speed(s) of the Internet: the case of open source/free software

Abstract

"The Internet is widely considered as a key factor of speeding up social and cultural change. It represents the merging of information and communication technologies and enables flows of information and capital, and communication and co-operation regardless of space and, possibly, time. The paper explores the example of Open Source/Free Software development, i.e. software development in self-organised projects based on a considerable share of voluntary work. Here, we find complex articulations of speeding up and slowing down technological development. Open Source/Free Software projects complement the logic of speeding up technological progress and of obsolescence with a reflexive logic of optionality, variety and sustainability which addresses the accessibility of technology and knowledge as a precondition for future creativity beyond markets and organisations." (author's abstract)