Working in Public

“Nadia writes from a unique perspective at the intersection of open source, economics, and poetry. This is the definitive book on the dynamics of online creative communities.”—Nat Friedman, CEO of GitHub“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 as the ways we relate to each other has become sharply more mediated by the internet. It dives deep into the heart of how some of the most complex and productive online communities open source projects have grown along with the internet they helped create, with lessons for many others far beyond software.”—Devon Zuegel, director of product, communities at GitHub“In the age of information abundance, we’re all maintainers now. Working in Public is an anthropological dive into the stories of real developers, providing us a lens of open source with which to ask new questions. Nadia presents us with a book not focused on just money, licenses, or code but for all of us who make, as creators of all kinds.”—Henry Zhu, open source maintainer, Babel“Working in Public is the fantastic follow-up to Roads and Bridges, and shows how Nadia’s scope has widened and thoughts have evolved since the first book. A must-read for anyone interested in open source software communities.”—Mike McQuaid, engineer at GitHub and Homebrew maintainer

Nadia Eghbal is a writer and researcher who explores how the internet enables individual creators. From 2015 to 2019, she focused on the production of open source software, working independently and at GitHub to improve the open source developer experience. She is the author of Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure, published by the Ford Foundation, in which she argued that open source code is a form of public infrastructure that requires maintenance. She lives in San Francisco.