Open AccessRetiring the Network Spokesman
Author(s) -
Anita Chan
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
science and technology studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.675
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 2243-4690
DOI - 10.23987/sts.55213
Subject(s) - legislation , mandate , productivity , politics , work (physics) , government (linguistics) , meaning (existential) , business , political science , law , economic growth , engineering , economics , mechanical engineering , psychology , linguistics , philosophy , psychotherapist
National legislation to mandate the use or consideration of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) in government institutions is increasingly emerging as a strategy for FLOSS advocates in Latin America and the broader developing world. Such movements for the political use and regulation of FLOSS mark a distinct turn in the objectives and work of FLOSS advocates, whose activities largely focused on the dissemination of FLOSS as a technological artifact. This paper investigates the network of diverse actors involved in promoting FLOSS legislation in Peru, one of the first nations where a movement for FLOSS legislation emerged. It emphasizes that crucial to the work of FLOSS’ network actors is not their merely technological productivity, but their cultural and political productivity – that is, their ability to produce diverse body of meaning made both evident and mobile in narratives of FLOSS use and adoption.