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Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure
Our modern society runs on software. But the tools we use to build software are buckling under increased demand.
Nearly all software today relies on free, public code, written and maintained by communities of developers and other talent. This code can be used by anyone—from companies to individuals—to write their own software. Shared, public code makes up the digital infrastructure of our society today.
Everybody relies on shared code to write software, including Fortune 500 companies, government, major software companies and startups. In a world driven by technology, we are putting increased demand on those who maintain our digital infrastructure. Yet because these communities are not highly visible, the rest of the world has been slow to notice.
Just like physical infrastructure, digital infrastructure needs regular upkeep and maintenance. But financial support for digital infrastructure is much harder to come by.
In the face of unprecedented demand, the costs of not supporting our digital infrastructure are numerous. No individual company or organization is incentivized to address the public good problem alone. In order to support our digital infrastructure, we must find ways to work together.
Sustaining our digital infrastructure is a new topic for many, and the challenges are not well understood. In this report, Nadia Eghbal unpacks the unique challenges facing digital infrastructure, and how we might work together to address them.
Nearly all software today relies on free, public code, written and maintained by communities of developers and other talent. This code can be used by anyone—from companies to individuals—to write their own software. Shared, public code makes up the digital infrastructure of our society today.
Everybody relies on shared code to write software, including Fortune 500 companies, government, major software companies and startups. In a world driven by technology, we are putting increased demand on those who maintain our digital infrastructure. Yet because these communities are not highly visible, the rest of the world has been slow to notice.
Just like physical infrastructure, digital infrastructure needs regular upkeep and maintenance. But financial support for digital infrastructure is much harder to come by.
In the face of unprecedented demand, the costs of not supporting our digital infrastructure are numerous. No individual company or organization is incentivized to address the public good problem alone. In order to support our digital infrastructure, we must find ways to work together.
Sustaining our digital infrastructure is a new topic for many, and the challenges are not well understood. In this report, Nadia Eghbal unpacks the unique challenges facing digital infrastructure, and how we might work together to address them.
143 pages, ebook
First published June 14, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 3, 2017
This is a brief, readable, persuasive paper summarizing the tragedy of the commons faced by much of the open source software on which we collectively rely.
This paper manages to be accessible for a not-very-technical audience and music to the ears of developers who have grappled with these problems for years. Eghbal establishes clear mental models for following her main thesis, introduces necessary historical context, and then proves her problem statement through a multitude of examples from recognized software projects. She even ventures into related territory such as promoting diversity of contributors, adjusting to agile development models and full-stack generalism trends in the workforce, and explores the differing ways in which individuals, private companies, academic institutions, and foundations can and will act on incentives to promote positive change.
If Eghbal seems to repeat some points again and again through anecdotes, it is because consistent and reliable data does not exist to explain the situation another way, and she needs the chiming in of many respected voices to make her individual points and to support the spirit of her overall thesis. If you cannot commit to reading the entire thing, skimming the callout boxes will zip you straight to some of her best summaries and insights.
This paper manages to be accessible for a not-very-technical audience and music to the ears of developers who have grappled with these problems for years. Eghbal establishes clear mental models for following her main thesis, introduces necessary historical context, and then proves her problem statement through a multitude of examples from recognized software projects. She even ventures into related territory such as promoting diversity of contributors, adjusting to agile development models and full-stack generalism trends in the workforce, and explores the differing ways in which individuals, private companies, academic institutions, and foundations can and will act on incentives to promote positive change.
If Eghbal seems to repeat some points again and again through anecdotes, it is because consistent and reliable data does not exist to explain the situation another way, and she needs the chiming in of many respected voices to make her individual points and to support the spirit of her overall thesis. If you cannot commit to reading the entire thing, skimming the callout boxes will zip you straight to some of her best summaries and insights.
October 18, 2020
Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure (2016) by Nadia Eghbal is a zero cost report on open source software and how it has become a vital part of global infrastructure. Just to reiterate, this book can be downloaded from the Ford Foundation and read for free, just as open source software is used by so many of us for free.
Roads and Bridges is really interesting. Eghbal makes the point that the economics of open source software is often really odd. Really critical parts of digital infrastructure such as the OpenSSL library are often maintained by small groups and sometimes individuals despite their importance to the internet and computer software. OpenSSL is discussed in depth and the impact of the Heartbleed bug discussed.
Eghbal points out that funding for open source is often very hard to obtain. While there are well funded projects like the Linux kernel there are also other important projects where the work is a labor of love. She spends a good amount of time pondering how good support structures could be created.
Roads and Bridges is well worth a read. Open Source is under appreciated by the wider community. The importance of what has been created is enormous and is really remarkable. It’s also fragile and studies such as this book is very much needed.
Roads and Bridges is really interesting. Eghbal makes the point that the economics of open source software is often really odd. Really critical parts of digital infrastructure such as the OpenSSL library are often maintained by small groups and sometimes individuals despite their importance to the internet and computer software. OpenSSL is discussed in depth and the impact of the Heartbleed bug discussed.
Eghbal points out that funding for open source is often very hard to obtain. While there are well funded projects like the Linux kernel there are also other important projects where the work is a labor of love. She spends a good amount of time pondering how good support structures could be created.
Roads and Bridges is well worth a read. Open Source is under appreciated by the wider community. The importance of what has been created is enormous and is really remarkable. It’s also fragile and studies such as this book is very much needed.
January 8, 2023
It’s been 7 years but this report is incredibly relevant to people working on
Software, especially on or around open source software. I’m excited to read her book now!
Software, especially on or around open source software. I’m excited to read her book now!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews