Rather than pointing out possible answers for a contemporary "puzzle", this article discusses the specificities of hackers' work dynamics in the case of the non-contractual and collaborative production in the online community of software development named Project GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment). By means of a "netnographic" immersion developed for over a year, we analyzed the organization of work that enables the production process undertaken by over 300 hackers and contributors from the five continents of the globe. We sought particularly to understand the nature of the work adopted by hackers throughout the development and distribution of software in this international online community. The findings pointed to the existence of a kind of non-contractual engagement in the GNOME project, which is associated with a mode of labor and exchange of goods that is completely different from that of the organizations either from the Market or the State, but that gets, through the internet, to enable an international process for the development of highly complex software. In other words, we could identify, in the social dynamics undertaken within this online community, the emergence of a new expression of the gift: a system of computer-mediated giving, both in its essence and in the way of operation and work organization.
Hacker culture; Volunteer work; Gift; GNOME Project; Utilitarianism