Hi everyone JoPP #8 is out. Congratulations to the editors for a really great issue (and a thousand apologies for the delay in publishing). Thanks to Peter for his work on resuscitating and improving the site (signals and metadata now available on every peer reviewed article page). I see that Lilly has posted a short statement to AIR but have not seen anything anywhere else (including here). So unless otherwise advised I am planning to post the following to CITAMS; Fibreculture; ACS; and ICS. Others could post elsewhere. @SSL: please let me know asap if this is OK. cheers Mathieu =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= We are delighted to announce the publication of the Journal of Peer Production #8, “Feminism and (Un)Hacking” The issue is available here: http://peerproduction.net/issues/issue-8-feminism-and-unhacking/
From the Introduction, "Feminist Hacking/Making: Exploring New Gender Horizons of Possibility" by SSL Nagbot (a.k.a Lilly Nguyen, Sophie Toupin, and Shaowen Bardzell)
This special issue of the Journal of Peer Production shows a growing body of work that brings together feminism with hacking and making. To date, feminist thinking has been taken up by hacking and making researchers to reveal the gendering of techno-labor, to facilitate emancipatory efforts, to cultivate alternative perspectives, and to make visible the infrastructural relations of technology. This combination of visualization with emancipatory alterity demonstrates the ways that feminism in hacking is largely based on a politics of visibility; that is, hacking and making serve the broader objectives of bringing to light the invisible infra/structures of power that render technological achievement possible. In this special issue, we see that the extant forms of feminist research and practice critique gendered forms of marginalization in hacking and making in several ways. First, many feminist hackers and makers seek to redress the lack of gender diversity within these techno-communities through the designs of women, queer, and trans-friendly spaces for hacking and making or addressing women-centered concerns such as improving breast-pumps for nursing. Second, we also see that hacking and making comprise both a method and a framework to introduce new kinds of expertise, such as craft and care, into conversations of information technology. These configurations of hacking and making as a method and framework depart from the strict focus on technology associated with the masculinity of hacking. Instead, we find that the feminist inquiry and interventions within the essays in this special issue alter the very notions of hacking and making and thus introduce alternate values of inclusion and intimacy. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= or - short version
From the Introduction, "Feminist Hacking/Making: Exploring New Gender Horizons of Possibility" by SSL Nagbot
In this special issue, we see that the extant forms of feminist research and practice critique gendered forms of marginalization in hacking and making in several ways. First, many feminist hackers and makers seek to redress the lack of gender diversity within these techno-communities through the designs of women, queer, and trans-friendly spaces for hacking and making or addressing women-centered concerns such as improving breast-pumps for nursing. Second, we also see that hacking and making comprise both a method and a framework to introduce new kinds of expertise, such as craft and care, into conversations of information technology. These configurations of hacking and making as a method and framework depart from the strict focus on technology associated with the masculinity of hacking. Instead, we find that the feminist inquiry and interventions within the essays in this special issue alter the very notions of hacking and making and thus introduce alternate values of inclusion and intimacy. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=