Resistance Studies | writing notes

For a long time the dominant player in the personal computer market has been Microsoft. This has created a de facto standard among users who have come to expect and tolerate certain technological standards (and flaws) from their computers. One of the results of this dominance, among computer users, is the usersâ?? ability to praise diversity in principle but expect conformity from their computers.

If we all use the same tools we will produce the same limited range of products. Naturally there is a great variation within these products but still it is a freedom with limitations. One example of this is our perception of learning â?? at many (most?) universities today, when we say the word lecture most students and teachers think powerpoint. Therefore education becomes bullet-point lists. (more on powerpoint/eductation here: Do you hand out your handouts?).

But there is a technological resistance. Not to Microsoft. But a resistance to the current software ownership models which make it impossible (legally and sometimes technically) for users to

Run their software for any purpose
Study and adapt software to their needs
Redistribute, so others can be helped by such adaptions
Release improvements to the benefit of all

These four points are collectively known as the Four Freedoms and form the fundamental philosophy of the Free Software Foundation. The FSF works to provide software that fulfills such conditions.

Now many users argue that they are not competent to make changes to their software and therefore do not see the purpose of caring about such goals. This is a shortsighted outlook. The Four Freedoms grant others the ability to make changes. As non-techies all we have to do is reap the rewards of their labour. But without the freedom for them to make changes â?? we would have no rewards to reap.

Examples of Free Software are too numerous to list. But here are a few: Gnu/Linux operating system (comes in many different versions for example Ubuntu), Firefox (an internet browser), Thunderbird (an email client), GIMP (picture editing tool), Open Office (Office package with all you need), WordPress (the software that drives this blog) and much, much moreâ?¦

The software is free (fulfills the four freedoms) and is available at no cost. This is technology AS resistance.

For some time now I have been dropping (subtle?) hints about another project in my life. It’s now time to come clean admit what I am doing. Some university colleagues at the Dept. of Peace and Development Studies and at the History of Ideas and Theory of Science and I have formed the Resistance Studies Network at GÃ¶teborg University.

While the whole thing is in its infancy the idea is to develop the topic of resistance studies and eventually establish it as a legitimate field of research and as a subject in its own right. Resistance has been studied before but usually it is about technical resistance (ohm and stuff) or the Belgian resistance of WWII but the subject has not been studied as a topic of its own.

The idea is to find and define the concept of resistance. To attempt to understand the nature of resistance. When is resistance resistance? When is resistance legitimate? Resistance to what? The questions seem endless…

Anyway right now we have a web page, blog, wiki pages and a mailing list. Next term we start seminars and text discussions. This will be followed by publications and conferences. Ah, academia… So far there is a natural inclination for hands on “action research” so there may even be some prison time (not sure if this will help you get tenure…)