Two Bits

""Two Bits" describes the way those who work and play with Free Software themselves change in the process--engendering what Kelty calls 'recursive publics'--social configurations that realize the Internet's non-hierarchical, ever-evolving, and thus historically attuned logic, creatively updating the types of public spheres previously theorized by Habermas and Michael Warner, among others. "Two Bits" does something similar, pulling readers into an experimental (ethnographic) mode that draws out how Open Source movements have garnered the momentum and significance they have today. The book--on paper and online--quite literally shows how it is done, itself embodying the standards that make Free Software work. "Two Bits" is critical reading, in all senses."--Kim Fortun, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Christopher M. Kelty is an assistant professor of anthropology at Rice University.