[ecrea] Bio/hardware hacking: new special issue published in the Journal of Peer Production

“Bio/Hardware Hacking”: a new special issue of the Journal of Peer
Production is now published -http://peerproduction.net/issues/issue-2/

During the past two decades, hacking has chiefly been associated with
software and computers. This is changing with the surge of synthetic
biology, fablabs and hackerspaces, all of which suggests the wider
diffusion of hacking practices and hacker politics. Hardware development
and biological science are about to be infused with the same kind of
contestations and contradictions that already characterize software
hacking. This is because hackers are not simply innovating new
technology, but are at the same time discovering new ways of engaging
with the world. The issue highlights how hacking practices are inscribed
in and shaped by the cultural and political contexts in which the
hackers find themselves, with implications for the ways hacker politics
are framed.

The special issue is curated by Alessandro Delfanti and Johan
Söderberg. It includes four research papers and two invited comments:

Denisa Kera, Hackerspaces and DIYbio in Asia: Connecting Science and
Community with Open Data, Kits and Protocols

Maxigas, Hacklabs and Hackerspaces - Tracing Two Genealogies

Sara Tocchetti, DIYbiologists as ‘Makers’ of Personal Biologies: How
MAKE Magazine and Maker Faires Contribute in Constituting Biology as a
Personal Technology

Paolo Magaudda, How to make a “Hackintosh”. A Journey into the
“Consumerization” of Hacking Practices and Culture

Morgan Meyer, Build Your Own Lab: Do-it-yourself Biology and the Rise
of Citizen Biotech-Economies

Mitch Altman, Hacking at the Crossroad - US Military Funding of
Hackerspaces

Feel free to tweet, blog, share, comment the content of this special
issue. We hope it will be a good starting point for further studies of
the spreading of hacking practices outside the software field.

Finally, we take advantage of this email to invite you to attend the
panel we will chair, together with Eric Deibel, at the 4S/EASST
Conference in Copenhagen in October. It is titled “Hacking STS -
bio-hacking, open hardware development, and hackerspaces”, and will be
another space to discuss the topics of this special issue.

Sincerely,
Alessandro and Johan


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