Digital Infrastructure Research Grants Project Summaries

This document is a collection of project summaries from the 2018 Digital Infrastructure Research Grants funded by the Ford Foundation and Sloan Foundation. Each project aims to address different aspects of digital infrastructure and open-source software. For example, one project examines the definition of 'critical digital infrastructure' and the lack of a clear policy framework to regulate it, drawing analogies from non-digital public goods. Another project investigates how waged labor affects the sustainability of free and open-source software (F/OSS) projects, emphasizing the intersection of commercial and communal practices. Other projects focus on understanding the historical evolution of communities around JavaScript, exploring harassment mitigation techniques, and identifying the needs of infrastructure projects distinct from application-layer projects. The summaries provide insights into the methodologies employed, such as ethnographic studies and qualitative analysis, and highlight the unique challenges faced by these projects in sustaining digital infrastructure within diverse community contexts.