> Peter van Heusden wrote:
>
> >P.S. unfortunately, not enough geeks know their Marx, else the recent
> >trend towards introspection (articles on ageism in the IT industry, the
> >increased reliance of geek lifestyle on temporary relations (short terms
> >contracts, rented accomodation, frequent relocation)) might have been a
> >bit more fruitful.
>
> Hmmm? Please expand on this....
As the post that kelley forwarded points out, the community around Slashdot (geeks/free software users/programmers/etc) is defining itself by much more than which version of Linux is most popular.
'Free' or 'Open Source' software has entered the business mainstream in two ways - firstly, through the time-honoured tradition of systems people deciding on how to tool-up their servers the way they like (or struggling with management to get things done that way), and secondly, through the commercial 'open source' bubble which has been related to the IT-stocks bubble (things like people getting paid to work on code that is given away). There now exists substantial opportunities for a certain class of workers to produce commodities which don't function as exchange values - and the complex networks of co-operation which sustain 'free software' projects provide workers in the field with an image of non-commodified relations of exchange.
This has a tendency to get people thinking - which is reflected in the high volume of 'social comment' articles in Slashdot.Org (and other 'geek' forums) - the first significant threat that I remember was on the topic of school shootings, and targetting of 'wierd' kids at school (something the - often young - 'geek' community knows a lot about). The trend has continued, with - as I mentioned yesterday - recent discussions on issues which affect the 'geeks' in the IT industry. Unfortunately, the tendency remains to write as if the ideas which make up 'geek culture' are somehow entirely new, radical, etc.
Clerely the 'IT geeks' form a particular fragment of the working class at present. Just as clerely, they compose themselves as a collective, at various levels, through various processes, which are more or less conscious. I'm just suggesting that a little Marx (amidst other left analyses of the world) might help geek culture understand itself better. After all, a group of workers who fashion their own tools is hardly new (Sergio Bologna suggests that the core of the German Social-Democratic movement which formed the basis of the workers councils post WWI was made up of skilled engineers, whose interactions within production in some ways mirror the non-Fordist organisation of modern programming / IT systems teams).
I don't have enough time for a full analysis - I'm just suggesting (as a semi-geek myself) that the geeks are worth watching (and, if possible) engaging with.
Peter -- Peter van Heusden <pvh at egenetics.com> NOTE: I do not speak for my employer, Electric Genetics "Criticism has torn up the imaginary flowers from the chain not so that man shall wear the unadorned, bleak chain but so that he will shake off the chain and pluck the living flower." - Karl Marx, 1844