Dádiva e internet: os artífices dos tutoriais de software livre

Abstract

The research proposes a reflection on tutorial videos from Youtube, seen as a form of gift in modern society. Our reflection parts form a perspective of mutual exchange, which avoids the patterns of trade with current economic purposes. We present these video producers as craftsmen of cyberculture due to the skill and competence which they transmit their knowledge. The research is consisted by the observation of video tutorials on YouTube over the Linux operating system and its distributions. Analyzing the interactions between video producers, users and the website. The analysis is based on the classic Mauss (2003) and his reinterpretations of Caille (1998, 2001, 2002, 2006), Godbout (1992, 1998) assisted by Aime Cossetta (2010) and Sennett (2009) to help understand the idea of the craftsmen. The Internet as an open territory in expansion ables us to understand that the relationship in this medium also constitutes the reciprocal links pointed out by Mauss in the early twentieth century. The circulation of intangible property, in this case the knowledge beyond the establishment of social links, promotes a collaborative extent to produce the common in cyberspace.