Open Source Embroidery and the "gendered gift economy"

Whitney sez, “I recently interviewed Ele Carpenter, who runs the Open Source Embroidery Project, a “socially engaged art project” that “brings together programming for embroidery and computing.” She has some interesting things to say about the gendered nature and gift economy of both coding and crafting. The project is currently on display at the HTTP Gallery in London.”

Embroidery is constructed (mostly by women) in hundreds of tiny stitches which are visible on the front of the fabric. The system of the stitches is revealed on the back of the material. Some embrioderers seal the back of the fabric, preventing others from seeing the underlying structure of the pattern. Others leave the back open for those who want to take a peek. A few integrate the backend process into the front of the fabric. The patterns are shared amongst friends in knitting and embroidery ‘ciricles’.

Software is constructed (mostly by men) in hundreds of tiny pieces of code, which form the hidden structure of the programme or interface. Open Source software allows you to look at the back of the fabric, and understand the structure of your software, modify it and distribute it. The code is shared amongst friends through online networks. However the stitches or code only make sense to those who are familiar with the language or patterns.