The meaning of sharing in free software and beyond

Abstract

is a research fellow at Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín. He is a doctoral graduate of sociology at Palacký University in Olomouc with a dissertation thesis based on ethnographic research of knowledge networks in free and open source software development. In his work, he addresses the relationship between digital technologies and knowledge dynamics. The topic of knowledge production and transmission represents a general research interest which navigates his work into areas such as technology development or collective memory. He gained experience with qualitative research strategies while participating in several research projects funded by the Internal Grant Agency of Palacký University or by the Czech Science Foundation.

Free and Open Source Software organizations: A large-scale analysis of code, comments, and commits frequency

“…While open source may be on the rise as an effective organizing principle [ 74 ], it has been disentangled from at least some of its original premises. The principles of sharing economy, rooted in collaborative, prosocial, and anti-commercial ideals [ 75 ] have also been used rhetorically and adjusted for the mainstream economy, leading to further exploitation and inequality [ 76 ]. In a way, FOSS movement has both “won and lost the war” [ 77 ], as it has been widely accepted as a form of software development, but the profits deriving from it have largely been appropriated by corporations.…”

A Maussian bargain: Accumulation by gift in the digital economy

“…Where the hacker culture framed its ideology around principles of free circulation and democratic control, corporations in this sector came to understand their business model through the metaphors and practices of "openness" (Chesbrough, 2003) and, later, "sharing" (Karger, 2017). The words have a pleasant and fuzzy connotation.…”