Hi,
I recently received my Ph.D. in Communication from UC San Diego - my dissertation is on Free/Open Source software and is entitled 'The Pressure of Openness'. I've also worked on developing an 'ecological' perspective for exploring how designers create technological infrastructures from particular value positions. I use the term ecological (borrowing from Everett Hughes and Robert Park) to describe the complex and emergent play of forces that occurs when members of different social worlds try and accomplish tasks despite having different conceptions of what those tasks involve. This research took place within a joint project between visual artists, computer scientists, university administrators, and social scientists to create a location-based, wireless infrastructure for use on the UC San Diego campus. Currently I have a post-doc position in Amsterdam at a research group called 'NERDI' (how appropriate!) studying the creation of large-scale genomic databases.
best,
Matt

Dr Matt Ratto
Networked research and digital information
KNAW-Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science
Joan Muyskenweg 25
Postbus 95110
1090 HC Amsterdam
The Netherlands
tel: (31)(20)462-8719
fax: (31(20)665-8013
http://www.niwi.knaw.nl/nerdi/