Artesãos online: parcerias virtuais e hardware livre

Abstract

The present text brings the results of a research about handmade synthesizer builders and the knowledge connections and exchanges that they establish through websites and online forums. Synthesizers are electronic devices that produce sound through the modulation of electric currents. Since the 1990 decade, there has been a diffusion of the practice of building such instruments in an artisanal way, based on information obtained online. Many builders offer free synthesizer design project and, through exchanges of opinions and suggestions, improve their knowledge and the technology used. We sought to observe the way in which technological knowledge is developed through partnerships mediated by virtual platforms, as well as bringing the fluidity of the associations established through the internet and the various connections between machines and human beings in this practice.