Hacking Collective as a Trading Zone. Notes from the Ethnography of Hackerspaces in Poland
- Institution: Warsaw University
- Year of publication: 2015
- Source: Show
- Pages: 134-151
- DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/kie.2015.04.08
- PDF: kie/110/kie11008.pdf
Development in computing resulted in creation of various communities devoted to nonformal computer science and engineering practices. The article examines Polish hackers, defined as a legal part of computer subcultures, and compares studies of hackers done abroad with findings from ethnography done in Poland. Applying actornetwork theory as a methodological framework, it also shows how hacking collectives contribute to ecologies of knowledge on different scales. This contributions, observed as various technological, scientific, or political actions, construct hackerspace as a trading zone. The paper also discusses problems with merging descriptions of hackers’ culture with ANT approach.