[p2p-research] on forking

[nathaniel tkacz]

hi sam - i think i remember having a similar conversation with you before,
over at the idc list! as i said in the initial message, i will post my text
when it is finished.

there are obviously many, many projects and incidences that could be looked
at and i can understand how someone actively engaged in some of these might
want to say "there's more to floss/p2p than wikipedia and linux".

my work on forking is part of a larger work (phd thesis), which focuses on
wikipedia. the reason that i focus on wikipedia is because it is, in my
opinion, the best example of p2p outside software. my criteria here is
mainly impact, size and its place in the popular imaginary. further, because
my writing is not only directed at people who are already actively engaged
in this scene, turning to the most popular projects seemed like a good idea.
i also have an interest in questions of knowledge and the history of
enlightenment and this also played a part!

i'm sure other people have different ideas about this, and that's fine. some
people, for example, are of the opinion that wikipedia is 'exceptional',
that it doesn't represent the broader movement (MeatballWiki), or others
might say that apache and linux are more significant in terms of
infrastructure.

i look forward to your comments when i circulate the piece.

best

Nate Tkacz

Research Fellow,
RMIT University

Twitter: http://twitter.com/__nate__
Homepage: www.nathanieltkacz.net
Current project: http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/cpov/about-2/
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