David M. Berry

• DPhil (Sussex)
• University of Sussex

Recognized as great works of world literature, Shakespeare's poems and plays have been translated into dozens of languages for over 300 years. Also, there are many re-translations into the same language, for example, there are more than 60 translations of Othello into German. Every translation is a different interpretation of the play. These large...

This book is a critical introduction to code and software that develops an understanding of its social and philosophical implications in the digital age. Written specifically for people interested in the subject from a non-technical background, the book provides a lively and interesting analysis of these new media forms.

The use of networks as an explanatory framework is widespread in the literature that surrounds technology and information society. The three books reviewed here - The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler, Decoding Liberation: The Promise of Free and Open Source Software by Samir Chopra and Scott Dexter, and The Exploit: A Theory of Networks by Alex...

Over the past thirty years there has been an increasing interest in the social and cultural implications of digital technologies and ‘informationalism’ from the social sciences and humanities. Generally this has concentrated on the implications of the “convergence” of digital devices and services, understood as linked to the discrete processing cap...

This article considers the implications that the use of free and open-source software in government might have for democracy and public participation. From a constructionist perspective, the democratic 'effects' of non-proprietary software are contingent on how the practice of free and open-source software is discursively represented and constitute...

The project of 'free culture' is committed to the creation of a cultural space, rather like the 'public domain', seeking to complement/replace that of proprietary cultural commodities and privatized meaning. This has been given a new impetus with the birth of the Creative Commons. This organization has sought to introduce cultural producers across...

This paper examines some of the ethical problems involved in undertaking Internet research and draws on historical accounts as well as contemporary studies to offer an analysis of the issues raised. It argues that privacy is a misleading and confusing concept to apply to the Internet, and that the concept of non-alienation is more resourceful in ad...

This paper uses discourse analysis to examine the free/libre and open source movements. It analyses how they fix elements within the order of discourse of computer code production. It attempts to uncover the key signifiers in their discourses and trace linkages between the sedimented discourses of wider society. Using discourse theory and critical...

Being a global icon, Shakespeare's plays have been translated into dozens of languages for about 300 years. Also, there are many re-translations to the same language, for example, there are more than 40 translation of Othello into German. Every translation is a different interpretation of the play. These large quantities of translations reflect cha...

We have been encouraged of late to see more critical reflection and commentary about libre culture, Creative Commons and the immaterial commons coming up on our screens (Berry 2005; Dvorak 2005; Hill 2005; Nimmer 2005; Orlowski 2005; Tóth 2005). In this article, we once again aim to foment and contribute to this discussion. We maintain that the pol...

Shakespeare's Othello, along with much of his other work, has been translated by many people over the last 300 or so years. The variations in these translations provide a powerful platform to study the literature in more detail, as well as the changes in culture and society over time. Further, recent developing phenomenon on the Web now provide new...

We see before us a turning in free culture. This turning, lies between the claims of the ordinary against those of the extraordinary, and suggests that we need to carefully examine our current situation. The ordinary highlights the fact that even in the beginnings of free culture there existed its middle and its end, that its past invaded its prese...

This paper examines the moral claims of free software through the lens of a (re)reading of their theory and practices together with aspects of Nietzsche's works. It seeks to make a preliminary sketch of how such an analysis might draw attention to oft-neglected aspects of the free software and open source movements. Does an aristocratic moment with...