Call for Papers

             Call For Paper for a special issue on
                 'Socio-technical Dynamics in
     the Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) Social World'

             Submission deadline: October 29, 2006


Guest Editors:
Yuwei Lin (University of Manchester) & Lars Risan (University of Oslo)


CONTENT
The development of Free/Libre Open Source Software not only intrigues 
computer scientists to review processes and methods in software 
engineering, but also stimulates social scientists to look into what 
have become a mythical phenomenon of our digital era. Questions around 
how distributed groups of individuals work together in an on-line 
environment, seemingly without formal ties, to produce high-quality 
software that acquire cross-sector acceptance continue to puzzle social 
scientists. Over the past years, anthropologists, economist, historians, 
lawyers, philosophers, and sociologists have tried to provide various 
explanations to the phenomenon of on-line social networking, on-line 
collaboration and on-line knowledge creation and sharing (i.e.
common-based peer production). However, the existing body of literature 
on FLOSS faces a bottleneck, namely that of lacking a STS-inspired 
empirical investigation of the multiplicity of FLOSS-practices. Here, we 
try to raise some provocative questions: What kind of questions do 
FLOSS-practices and networks pose to STS? And does STS really possess 
theoretical tools that are good enough to analyse the FLOSS development? 
Might it be that the materiality – and the immateriality – of code needs 
theoretical and methodological contributions from other fields in social 
sciences such as politics and economics (such as network effects, lock 
in and abstract objects)? But then, that challenge is also 
bidirectional: How does the theoretical vocabularies and the empirical 
methods of STS add something new to the more economical understandings 
of FLOSS?
This special issue aims to meet these theoretical and methodological 
challenges in both FLOSS and STS studies. It does so by encouraging 
research based on qualitative research methodologies and methods. Such a 
qualitative inquiry challenges the universally vocal and normative way
of depicting FLOSS culture and practices (e.g. a homogeneous gift-giving
and volunteering culture). The special issue will take a practice-based
view to exploring multiple cultures and practices in developing, 
localizing, appropriating, commodifying, customizing FLOSS. The issue 
would also like to address the diversity in FLOSS communities through 
asking how seemingly global FLOSS culture is translated (un)successfully 
into different contexts and locales.
We believe that this issue will demystify several stereotypes and 
mis-understandings about FLOSS and shed light on many emerging and 
changing cultural and socio-technical practices in our digital society 
and knowledge driven economies. Thinking reciprocally, we would also 
like to allow peculiar im/materialities of FLOSS practices challenge the 
way STS has traditionally dealt with socio-technical networks.

WORKSHOP
The authors of the papers selected at the first-round will have a chance 
to attend a workshop, in Helsinki, Finland, Friday January 19. and 
Saturday 20.,  2007. The trip and the stay will be subsidised. Further 
details on the arrangement will be sent to those who submit papers.

The venue of the workshop will be: Center for Activity Theory and 
Developmental Work Research University of Helsinki, Finland.


INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS
Manuscripts in English in any area relevant to the special issue should
be submitted electronically to the guest editor Yuwei Lin and Lars Risan 
. You will normally receive an acknowledgement within a few days. Please 
provide email addresses for all authors.
Papers, no exceeding 10,000 words including notes, references and 
abstract, are accepted in electronic format, with Open Document Text 
(.odt) or OpenOffice.org 1.0 Text Document (.sxw) being the preferred 
formats (other formats are acceptable by prior arrangement). Files 
should not be security protected, and should be anonymised. The editors 
reserve the right to make the style of presentation uniform prior to 
publication, whilst making every effort not to alter the content of an 
article. Paper submission will be acknowledged via email. Subsequent 
enquiries concerning paper progress should be made to the guest editor 
Yuwei Lin [email protected] and Lars Risan [email protected]

IMPORTANT DATES
October 29, 2006: full paper submissions to guest editors.
January 19-20, 2007: Guest editors and authors complete manuscripts and
round robin referee each other’s articles (with the possibility of 
attending the workshop).
February 7, 2007: Guest editors submit a complete set of articles to
Science Studies for review. Science Studies may return articles for
revision if needed before sending to outside referees.
April 25: Deadline for referee reports to be sent back to Science
Studies. Reports and decisions sent to authors and guest editors.
August 22: Final Copy Due
September – October 2007: Layout and proof-reading.
November 2007: Issue goes to press.

SOME LINKS:
CFP: http://www.sciencestudies.fi/v20n2CFP
WIKI: 
http://www.ncess.ac.uk/support/wiki/index.php/FLOSS_session_at_the_EASST_2006_Conference