Materializing privacy in local and global developer communities: Developers’ perspectives
This project explores how ideas about information privacy are translated into code – how local informational norms and practices take tangible form in global software products. This issue has recently been addressed through studies of developers. However, with few notable exceptions, this emergent body of research tends to regard developers as a generic professional category and overlook their cultural specificity, failing to acknowledge the pervasiveness of “not Silicon Valley” developers.
Adopting a trans-local perspective, I draw on interviews with developers in Israel and Germany, seeking to disentangle flows of ideas about information privacy in both physical and virtual peripheral encounters. I ask:
How do developers negotiate ideas about privacy in cross-cultural encounters?
How do developers translate local and global ideas about privacy into code?
Through an analysis of developers’ discourse, the project aims to shed light on the cross-pollination of ideas about privacy in “not Silicon Valley.”
References:
Greene, D., & Shilton, K. (2018). Platform privacies: Governance, collaboration, and the different meanings of “privacy” in iOS and Android development. New Media & Society, 20(4), 1640-1657.
Kraidy, M. M., & Murphy, P. D. (2008). Shifting Geertz: Toward a theory of translocalism in global communication studies. Communication Theory, 18(3), 335-355.
Takhteyev, Y. (2012). Coding places: Software practice in a South American city. MIT Press.
Main Research Topics
- Communication technologies
- Privacy
- Developers
- Cultural production
- Surveillance
Research Results
During my stay at CAIS, I analyzed 24 in-depth interviews conducted in 2023-24 with developers who are former Israelis now living in Germany. As part of a larger project seeking to introduce cultural nuance into the study of algorithms, this research draws on the interviewees’ migrant sensitivity to explore their perceptions and practices of privacy production. The interviewees’ recurrent references to GDPR highlighted the role of this European strategy in their daily work, as well as their tactics of engaging with it – accepting, negotiating and resisting the regulations. The analysis points to similar positions in adopting AI in code development, along with the threats it poses to users’ privacy. Thus, the study underscores the localized nature of this global industry, the critical role of developers as cultural mediators within it, and the challenges of implementing effective privacy protections when relying on individuals – whether users or developers.
- Baum, I., & Ribak, R. (2024). Accumulative cartography: A visual semiotic analysis of online mobile maps. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 29(4), zmae009.
- Levi-Eshkol, K., & Ribak, R. (2024). “Track every move”: Analyzing developers’ privacy discourse in GitHub README files. New Media & Society, 14614448241270541.
- Ribak, R. (under review). GDPR and me: Migrant developers practice EU privacy regulations.
Curriculum Vitae
- 1993 Ph.D. Department of Communication, University of California, San Diego
- 1993-2005 School of Education, University of Haifa
- 1994- Department of Communication, University of Haifa
- 2011-2014 Department of Communication, University of Haifa, Chair
Publications and Presentations
Levy-Eshkol, K. and Ribak, R. (2022, November). Voices from the margins: Privacy discourse in GitHub README files. Paper presented at AoIR 2022: The 23rd Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers. Dublin, Ireland: AoIR. Retrieved from http://spir.aoir.org.
Levy-Eshkol, K. and Ribak, R. (2023, October). Identifying with privacy: References to privacy in developers’ GitHub profiles. Paper presented at AoIR2023: The 24th Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers. Philadelphia, PA, USA: AoIR. Retrieved from http://spir.aoir.org.
Ribak, R. (2019). Translating privacy: Developer cultures in the global world of practice. Information, Communication & Society, 22(6), 838-853.