[Air-L] “Bio/Hardware Hacking”: new special issue of the Journal of Peer Production

[Mathieu ONeil]

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[Apologies for multiple posts]



“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.





Sincerely,

Alessandro and Johan