The meaning of sharing in free software and beyond

Abstract

This study brings together findings about two contexts of sharing in order to explore the meaning of the word in the digital environment. First, this study is based on ethnographic research of free software projects and uses the resulting thick description to determine the meaning of sharing in this context. Second, the current literature on sharing usually takes user-generated content (UGC) platforms as its empirical reference, resulting in identifying a distinct meaning of sharing in this context. By combining the two sets of findings into a single narrative, this study makes three points: (1) the academic discourse on free software conceptualizing it as a form of gift-giving antithetical to the ways of capitalist production needs to be revised; (2) the use of sharing in the context of UGC platforms relies heavily on references to the culture of free software; (3) although representatives from both contexts claim to be taking part in the same sharing practices, there are substantial differences in the type of information being shared, the explicitness of the sharing mechanisms, and the organizational context of monetization of the shared objects.