While looking for a personal position within increasingly homogenized computational environments I discovered the world of free culture some years ago. From the direction of DIY and alternative copyright practises I proceeded slowly to the technological aspects of free software. The book How I stopped to learn programming and love the Bash collects and revisits memories of growing within and into free software, memories of expanding my personal comfort zone. The GNU Bourne‑Again SHell was and still is a big inspiration towards a practise, not so much focussed on ‘writing code’ but ‘embracing connectivity’.

This exploration is driven by the naive desire for a Re‑De‑McDonaldization of my personal practise. The disclosure of tools and doing, to be again more, than pushing buttons on the surface of black boxes. What {c,w,sh}ould this be? I don’t know, but I’m curious. Digital, intermediary, networked. Sometimes connective, sometimes disruptive. Write, make, arrange, process, imagine symbols, operators, software, texts, interfaces, relations. Fragile and situative, ephemeral and fun. Publishing adventures beyond the desktop with software as operational collage. Time will tell.

This book collects documentation, ideas, software and experiments made between 2008 and 2016. Furthermore you’ll find inspirational writings on different aspects of digital culture, generously made available by their authors under copyleft licenses.

• Appropriation and Type – Before and Today
• Do (not) Repeat Yourself
• Hacker Culture and the Fear of WYSIWYG
• From Consumer to Creator – The Lego Generation in the Digital Age
• Gambiarra and The Prototyping Perspective