RIO IN THE GLOBAL WORLD OF SOFTWARE

While my book (Coding Places: Software Practice in a South American City) dedicates many pages to Lua, it is not about Lua and certainly not about a "syndrome" from which Brazil needs to free itself. The book is about globalization and the paradoxical position cities such as Rio have in the global world of software. One part of that paradox is that Rio is a city like many others. It's not "strange" - it's quite normal. Silicon Valley is unusual - and quite lucky. People working in Silicon Valley do not have to make difficult choices that people in Rio (and many other places) need to make. The book analyses those choices and aims to show how those decisions help maintain the existing order, even as they tug on it from the edges. It is not my intention to condemn those choices, however. I would probably make the same choices myself. In fact, I often do (My own book is also only available in English). Yet I think it's worth reflecting on those choices more, considering them in their complexity.Embora meu livro Coding Places: Software Practice in a South American City (Lugares de desenvolvimento: a prática de software em uma cidade sul americana, en tradução livre), a que se refere este ensaio, dedique muitas páginas à linguagem Lua, ele não é sobre Lua e, seguramente, não é sobre uma “síndrome” da qual o Brasil precise se livrar. O livro é sobre globalização e a posição paradoxal de algumas cidades como o Rio de Janeiro no mundo global do software. Uma parte do paradoxo é que o Rio é uma cidade como muitas outras. Não é “estranho” – é absolutamente normal. O Vale do Silício é incomum – e muito afortunado. As pessoas que trabalham no Vale do Silício não precisam fazer as escolhas difíceis de quem mora no Rio (ou em muitas outras partes). O livro analisa essas escolhas e procura mostrar que elas ajudam a manter o status quo. Contudo, não é minha intenção condenar essas escolhas. Eu provavelmente também as realizaria. Na verdade, o faço com frequência (meu próprio livro está disponível apenas em inglês, não havendo uma edição em russo). Ainda assim, acho que vale a pena refletirmos sobre essas escolhas, considerando-as em toda a sua complexidade

Half a Century of Public Software Institutions: Open Source as a Solution to Hold-Up Problem

We argue that the intrinsic inefficiency of proprietary software has historically created a space for alternative institutions that provide software as a public good. We discuss several sources of such inefficiency, focusing on one that has not been described in the literature: the underinvestment due to fear of holdup. An inefficient holdup occurs when a user of software must make complementary investments, when the return on such investments depends on future cooperation of the software vendor, and when contracting about a future relationship with the software vendor is not feasible. We also consider how the nature of the production function of software makes software cheaper to develop when the code is open to the end users. Our framework explains why open source dominates certain sectors of the software industry (e.g., the top ten programming languages all have an open source implementation), while being almost none existent in some other sectors (none of the top ten computer games are open source). We then use our discussion of efficiency to examine the history of institutions for provision of public software from the early collaborative projects of the 1950s to the modern "open source" software institutions. We look at how such institutions have created a sustainable coalition for provision of software as a public good by organizing diverse individual incentives, both altruistic and profit-seeking, providing open source products of tremendous commercial importance, which have come to dominate certain segments of the software industry.

Ordering space: Alternative views of ICT and geography

We analyze two ways of thinking about ICTs in the production of space. One is what we call the “mimetic” view. This view focuses on ICTs’ ability to bring representations from one locale into another. Debates about ICTs and geography have historically been driven by this “mimetic” view and continue to be constrained by it. In contrast, we discuss what we call the “algorithmic” view of ICTs, which focuses on computational re-ordering of representations and subsequent reordering of real-world entities. Recently, scholars of ICTs, communication, and geography have increasingly drawn on examples that fall under the “algorithmic” view, yet the distinction between the two views has not been clearly articulated. This paper clarifies this distinction

Retrocomputing as preservation and remix

This paper looks at the world of retrocomputing, a constellation of largely non-professional practices involving old computing technology. Retrocomputing includes many activities that can be seen as constituting “preservation.” At the same time, it is often transformative, producing assemblages that “remix” fragments from the past with newer elements or joining together historic components that were never combined before. While such “remix” may seem to undermine preservation, it allows for fragments of computing history to be reintegrated into a living, ongoing practice, contributing to preservation in a broader sense. The seemingly unorganized nature of retrocomputing assemblages also provides space for alternative “situated knowledges” and histories of computing, which can sometimes be quite sophisticated. Recognizing such alternative epistemologies paves the way for alternative approaches to preservation.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Retrocomputing as Preservation: Poster - iPRES 2012 - Digital Curation Institute, iSchool, Toronto

This project explores the world of retrocomputing, a constellation of largely—though not exclusively—non-professional practices involving old computing technology. Retrocomputing includes many activities that can be seen as constituting “preservation,” and in particular digital preservation. At the same time, however, it is often transformative, producing assemblages that “remix” fragments from the past with newer elements or joining historic components that were never previously combined. While such “remix” may seem to undermine preservation, it allows for fragments of computing history to be reintegrated into a living, ongoing practice, contributing to preservation in a broader sense. The seemingly unorganized nature of retrocomputing assemblages also provides space for alternative “situated knowledges” and histories of computing, which can be quite sophisticated. Recognizing such alternative epistemologies in turn paves the way for alternative approaches to preservation. The institutional digital preservation community may have a lot to gain from paying closer attention to retrocomputing. This gain, however, should not just involve looking for ways to make use of the knowledge and labor of retrocomputing enthusiasts. Rather, it is important to recognize the value of their projects on their own terms and ask in what ways institutional efforts can support such projects

© notice, is given to the source. Half a Century of Public Software Institutions: Open Source as a Solution to Hold-Up Problem

Alstyne and Rajesh Veeraraghavan for comments and suggestions. We also would like to thank for comments seminar participants at CMU, Microsoft Research and Fifth bi-annual conference on the Economics of the Software and Internet Industries. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research