ABSTRACT
What is software and why are we emphasising that it is cultural? Software is in essence any machine-readable set of instructions, which in computing is written as a program that directs specific operations of a computer’s processor. The term software distinguishes a set of computer operations that are distinct from its hardware, which refer to the physical devices. Software and hardware comprise related dimensions of computer processes and the intermediary term, firmware, denotes software stored in hardware, which perform certain levels of computer operations. Software then is a general term which can refer to both the numerical binary code of machine instructions, as well as the source code, which is the instructions written in a code that humans can communicate in order that instructions can be executed by the machine. The writing of machine readable source code, the development of software and the uses to which it is put, represent distinct and different spheres of operation, which are not normally considered together. However, cultural scholars (Fuller and Goffey 2012) have recognised for some time that a full account and understanding of computer mediated communication needs to take all three moments of numerical coding, writing code and the execution of code into account. Synthesising the computer and cultural layer as the language of digital media is exceptionally difficult and software studies is an emerging area of research which crosses the disciplines of science and technology studies, computing and cultural studies. Another way of putting this is to say that there is a cultural relationship between the functional levels of platform and application software. In the historic development of computer software there has been a distinction between open-source software (OSS) in which the copyright holder provides the licence rights for users to study, change and distribute software without charge and proprietary software, which is commercially developed and where the copyright holder gives exclusive legal rights for use under restrictive conditions. Open source software is closely associated with the proponents of free software or public domain software that is not subject to copyright and which has been developed by a collaborative technical community.
