THE MAKING OF LABORER SUBJECTIVITY AND KNOWLEDGE IN THE INFORMATION INDUSTRY: GENDER DIMENSIONS OF FREE AND OPEN SOURCE DEVELOPMENT Yeon Ju Oh A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2013 Committee: Radhika Gajjala, Advisor Deborah G. Wooldridge Graduate Faculty Representative Oliver Boyd-Barrett Victoria S. Ekstrand ii ABSTRACT Radhika Gajjala, Advisor This study examines female software developers as knowledge laborers with a special emphasis on free and open source software (FOSS) development. In examining female developers as knowledge laborers, this study focuses on both labor and knowledge. Women’s low participation in FOSS development is not an issue of recent years, but a consequence of women’s overall status in the computing field over the last three decades. In order to explicate women’s low participation in FOSS development, a broader historical and economic analysis is needed. Thus, this study explores the historical context of computer science education and industry in the 1980s since this is when the groundwork for FOSS development was laid. Furthermore, the power of cultural discourses that maintain and reinforce the gendered construction of FOSS development is discussed to unpack how the gendered construction is interrelated with the labor relations in the knowledge industry. In addition to the labor relations in FOSS development, this study attends to the knowledge produced by FOSS development. Knowledge gains importance as a sum of values of the knowledge producers. Source codes written by software developers turn into products that engage users with certain utility. Female FOSS developers produce knowledge that reflects their values constructed from their embodied experiences. Attention to the voices of female FOSS developers is significant as their different experiences lead to the ways in which knowledge is produced within FOSS communities. iii For all female workers, who live with and live through everyday struggles. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without support and guidance from the committee members, colleagues, friends, and family. I would like to thank them for being part of my dissertation journey. I owe the committee members a debt of the deepest gratitude. The work they have produced and the scholars they have mentored, even if I do not repeat, tell how scholarly great they are. They have been intellectually stimulating for the last two years of dissertation advising. Beyond their academic guidance, each of the committee members has shown the highest integrity as a person, which I truly respect. Dr. Radhika Gajjala, my advisor, was not only the greatest mentor in my years at Bowling Green State University, but also one of my dearest friends. She always had me feel supported, respected, and loved. Dr. Oliver Boyd-Barrett was eagerly attentive to my research and gave both wider perspectives and deeper insights. His modest attitude, while being a highly considered scholar, inspired me to be self-reflexive. Dr. Tori Ekstrand’s warm encouragement made the time of dissertating pleasant. Especially, I want to thank her for leading my research to have clear, practical implications. I am grateful to have had Dr. Deborah Wooldridge as the graduate faculty representative, and share enthusiasm for feminist movement with her. Finally, I must thank all of the free and open source contributors, whether I met them in person or not. Attending free and open source conferences, reading the contributors’ blogs, and having discussions with them have given me both inspiration and enjoyment. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 Gender as an Analytical Category ............................................................................. 8 Literature Review....................................................................................................... 11 Gendering the Field of Computer Science ..................................................... 11 FOSS Development ....................................................................................... 17 How to Link the Existing Studies? ................................................................ 22 Theoretical Frameworks ............................................................................................ 24 Feminist Political Economy of Communication ............................................ 25 Politics of Technology ................................................................................... 32 Method…………. ...................................................................................................... 38 Historical Document ...................................................................................... 39 Online Forum ................................................................................................. 40 Fieldwork ....................................................................................................... 41 Interviews ....................................................................................................... 41 Chapter Breakdown ................................................................................................... 48 CHAPTER II. THE ADA INITIATIVE ............................................................................... 50 The Noirin Shirley – Florian Leibert Incident ........................................................... 54 Equal Opportunity Unprotected ..................................................................... 56 FOSS Community as a Tribe of Men ............................................................ 60 Individualized Problem-Solving .................................................................... 63 Activities of the Ada Initiative ................................................................................... 66 vi Conference Anti-Harassment Policy .............................................................. 66 Male Allies Workshop ................................................................................... 70 Public Presentation......................................................................................... 73 New Feminist Labor Movement ................................................................................ 75 Voluntary Change .......................................................................................... 76 Enforcement ................................................................................................... 78 Pseudo-Government ....................................................................................... 80 Conclusion…… ......................................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER III. WOMEN DISPPEARING FROM THE COMPUTING FIELD................. 86 Constructing the Identity of Computer Science ......................................................... 90 Early Debate over Computer Science Education ........................................... 90 Maturation of Computer Science as an Academic Discipline ....................... 93 Gendered Effects of Maturation of Computer Science .................................. 100 Careers in the Computing Industry ............................................................................ 106 Independent Contracting ................................................................................ 107 Employment Model ....................................................................................... 118 Conclusion…… ......................................................................................................... 126 CHAPTER IV. GENDER IN THE MAKING OF FOSS IDENTITIES .............................. 129 Constructing the Identity of FOSS Contributors ....................................................... 131 Intrinsic Motivation for FOSS Development ................................................. 131 Pragmatist vs. Idealist, or Pragmatic Idealist ................................................. 134 Self-Development .......................................................................................... 137 Making the Gender Boundary .................................................................................... 140 vii It Is about Freedom, It Is Their Choice .......................................................... 140 There Is No Such Thing as Sexism ................................................................ 142 There Is Sexism, But… ................................................................................. 148 FOSS Identities and the New Economy ................................................................... 153 FOSS Developer as Paid Labor ..................................................................... 154 New Economy ................................................................................................ 158 Efficient FOSS Labor .................................................................................... 160 Conclusion…... .......................................................................................................... 161 CHAPTER V. GENDER DIMENSIONS OF LABOR RELATIONS AND KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 163 Story of Angie Byron, an Atypical Hacker ...............................................................