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3 - ‘So Many Cool Things to Do!’

Hacker Ethics and Work Practices

from Part I - Experiencing at Work

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2020

By
Mickael Peiro
Edited by
Jeremy Aroles ,
François-Xavier de Vaujany  and
Karen Dale
Jeremy Aroles
Affiliation:
Durham University
François-Xavier de Vaujany
Affiliation:
Université Paris-Dauphine
Karen Dale
Affiliation:
Lancaster University
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Summary

This chapter highlights the daily activities of the hackers grouped together in the same place, making it possible to experience new form of organisation and order social relations. Thus, the analysis of the relationships between the means and ends of organisation suggests that, far from being confined to individual values and attitudes, the pleasure and power given to ‘doing’ represent organisational principles within hackerspace. The study proposed in this chapter is based on an ethnographic study of/within a hackerspace based in the south of France. The fieldwork combines direct participation with a long-term presence in the community, years of archived exchanges and interviews with all the hackers involved in the initiative. It highlights the structuring of the alternative project and hackers organisation according to their ethics. The hacker ethic is reflected in the organisational tasks and the constitution of a legitimate order ; not linked to rational, charismatic or traditional motives, but to a real power given to the ‘doing’: the do-it-ocracy.

Keywords

Hackershackerspaceethnographydoingfun
Type
Chapter
Information
Experiencing the New World of Work , pp. 62 - 83
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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