Working in Public Audiobook By Nadia Eghbal cover art

Working in Public

The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Working in Public

By: Nadia Eghbal
Narrated by: Tara Oakes
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

An inside look at modern open-source software developers - and their influence on our online social world.

Open-source software in which developers publish code that anyone can use has long served as a bellwether for other online behavior. In the late 1990s, it provided an optimistic model for public collaboration, but in the last 20 years it shifted to solo operators who write and publish code that's consumed by millions.

In Working in Public, Nadia Eghbal takes an inside look at modern open-source software development, its evolution over the last two decades, and its ramifications for an internet reorienting itself around individual creators. Eghbal, who interviewed hundreds of developers while working to improve their experience at GitHub, argues that modern open source offers us a model through which to understand the challenges faced by online creators. She examines the trajectory of open-source projects, including:

  • The platform of GitHub, for hosting and development
  • The structures, roles, incentives, and relationships involved
  • The often-overlooked maintenance required of its creators
  • And the costs of production that endure through an application's lifetime

Eghbal also scrutinizes the role of platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Twitch, YouTube, and Instagram that reduce infrastructure and distribution costs for creators but massively increase the scope of interactions with their audience.

Open-source communities are increasingly centered around the work of individual developers rather than teams. Similarly, if creators, rather than discrete communities, are going to become the epicenter of our online social systems, we need to better understand how they work and we can do so by studying what happened to open source.

©2020 Nadia Eghbal (P)2020 ListenUp Audiobooks
Programming & Software Development Software Development Software
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"Nadia is one of today's most nuanced thinkers about the depth and potential of online communities, and this book could not have come at a better time." (Devon Zuegel, director of product, communities at GitHub)

What listeners say about Working in Public

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    39
  • 4 Stars
    14
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    37
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    34
  • 4 Stars
    12
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Working (on GitHub) in Public

Interesting topic, but being 100% focused on GitHub does it a huge disservice.

I don’t regret listening to the full book, but I do feel duped into paying for something that should be sponsored by GitHub.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great insight into a complex topic

Maintaining open source software is much more complex than people think. I was ONE of those people. I’m glad Nadia did this research for us to benefit from.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

This is a very valuable book

I have been reading and thinking about the topic peer production, open source and working in public for years. The trail of books written about the subject had run dry until Nadia Eghbal wrote this book. It is a must read or listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!