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ABSTRACT their human selves in the virtual realm? How do they make use of
This article advances the perspective that consumers who online technology, what parts, representations, or extensions of
engage in online collaboration construct, re-present, and create themselves do they exhibit for self-realization (or virtualization)
their Net self not primarily for others to view, but also for self- to occur that transcends their real world existence? In what way do
realization. A review of different ontological realities of the Net as other digital selves contribute to that process?
a space for consumer activity provides the contextual framework The empirical investigation is based on an online semi-struc-
from where possible forms and expressions of consumer self- tured questionnaire and many years of intense observation of the
realization on the Net become apparent. Empirical evidence is biggest online consumer innovation network that is independent
based on an online questionnaire and netnographic observation of from a single corporation. The free software (http://www.fsf.org/)
the free/open-source movement. The findings reveal that consum- and the open-source (OS) network (http://www.opensource.org/)
ers various forms of self-realization on the Net are characterized by consists of millions of software enthusiasts, from top programming
materialization of mind and passionate work, gift-giving and experts to users, most of whom contribute to the common effort on
the communal self, tech-culture and revolution. The achieve- a voluntary basis.
ment of a digital Higher self is accompanied by a sense of
immortality and merging with the Other. THEORY
PICTURE 1
User Friendly Cartoon Zock and Stef playing Quake
(source: http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=19980211)
Freed from the corporeal self, individuals also use various The community has clear rituals for newbies, norms and
symbols, language, humor, and word art for self-construction. sanctions, status rules, its own religious value systems. Culture
Being a real hacker means being familiar with the hacker jargon, defines the possibilities and the boundaries of self-construction
of course. However, this is not a jargon in the common sense. Dry within an online community. Its functional role for the construction
humor, irony, puns, and a mildly flippant attitude are highly and realization of the self lies in the individual striving for
valuedbut an underlying seriousness and intelligence are essen- belongingness. Its language, rituals, symbols, and signs provide the
tial. tools for the construction of the communal self. In the virtual realm,
community culture also defines the public positioning of its mem-
hacker n. bers.
[originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 1. A
person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable children of the revolution: emanicpatory activism.
systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to Redmond has screwed up badly, alienating an entire genera-
most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. tion of computer Nerds, once you have experienced the thrills
2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or of working with a opensource project, you never want to go
who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about back into the straight-jacket of proprietary software, where
programming. you cant fix any bugs you come across.
(source: http://www.hack.gr/jargon/html/lexicon.html)
They revolt; not against the Western economic system per se
However, apart from cultural conformism, individuals con- but against its extreme manifestations as power-exerting entities
struct their own digital hacker self through their contributions to which cut off individuals from a self-determined life. Hence,
the community discourse, through the use of symbols and signs, individuals homestead the Internet as an open space or room to
through nick names, ASCII and word art, for instance the use of moveestablish a contradiction to the closed-ness of economic
recursive acronyms: institutions and corporations, of corporate thinking and acting, of
narrow-mindedness. Activism is their way to escape and surpass
Rodent of Unusual Size <Kxx.xxx@xxxxx.Com> the limitations of modernist Western thought. As such, it has
The Apache Software Foundation significant political and economic impact. Within a pluralist culture
(nick name e-mail address of a high status community mem- they fight for liberty, anarchy, communism, and capitalism, what-
ber) ever it needs to maintain an outsider status (Giesler, 2004) and break
the old paradigms of corporate thinking. Similar to the Napster
community, they oppose commodification, corporations and copy-
right (Giesler and Pohlmann, 2003b), however, in a highly reflec-
tive way.
PICTURE 2
Richard M. Stallman: founder of the Free Software Foundation; founder of the GNU is Not Unix project and free
source ideologist
St IGNUcius
Stallman is a saint in the Church of EmacsSaint IGNUcius.
Saint IGNUcius says: Some people dont realize that Saint IGNUcius is Saint
IGNUciuss way of not taking himself too seriously. Therefore,
Warning: taking the Church of Emacs (or any church) too seriously may be
hazardous to your health.
(source: http://www.stallman.org/saint.html)
put itself outside of the market. For the success of its distinction, a Spiritual reality is something we make for ourselves, through
protest system depends on everything it excludes (Giesler, 2004). our symbols and rituals and communicative interaction. Because
Hence, for the definition of the digital self it is vital to emphasize the cyberspace embodies and extends our symbol-making minds, it can
distinctions from the evil empire and to fight the holy war. A mediate these sacred communications with each other, as well as
protest system is only successful as long as it is able to reproduce with the entitiesthe divine parts of ourselvesthat we invoke in that
itself, reflects on its environment and on its actions. The free / open- space. (Davis, 1998, 193). Spirituality is not a lonesome exercise.
source movement is characterized by an idealist-pragmatist dual- We also do it in order to achieve togetherness, something that
ism portrayed in person by its two, probably most famous evange- outreaches the sum of the parts, being one of, merge into the grand
lists and founders of the Free Software Foundation and the Open- creation of the commons.
Source Initiative. Its success is partly based on that dialectic as it
constantly forces communicative interaction and discourse, reflec- The only real reward provided to the people who are actually
tion and contemplation on: Who are We? However, even the most writing the code is to be recognized as one of The People That
controversial issues are subject to the communitys playful and Make Things Happen.
humorous attitude. It is a form of self reflection in a public space. The knowlege that I can make an impact, participating in
something bigger than I am.
The spiritual self
Sense of immortality and the networked Other. Cyberspace is Digital association with others is vital for an understanding of
a shared interactive environment, an electronic soul-space that the Net self (Schau and Gilly, 2003). We want to be linked with
invites the postmodern psyche to both find and remake itself (Davis, others, hence cyberspace is full of links that link us to other selves
1998). Margaret Wertheim (1999) argues that by creating a space who are a constituent part of our own self. Hawaiian HUNA
that follows the virtual laws of thought rather the concrete laws of philosophy maintains that all life expressions remain forever linked
matter, cyberspace provides a cosmos where the psyche can once with each other as the Universal Oversoul. Creative Kahuna (a
again live and breathe. Caught in our fragmented, postmodern self Kahuna is a Hawaiian shaman) work must be related to the totality.
that tries to resist modernist norms and traditions we are in constant Abuse of Kahuna power relies on the illusion of separation (Bray
search for a renewed, re-unified, and authentic self. Cyberspace and Low, 1980). Finally, in cyberspace our selves have found, and
becomes the sacred place for contemplation and self-construction, merged into, the Oversoul, the networked Other (Lacan, 1970;
and the space where our digitalized minds, freed from the corporeal Belk, Ger and Askegaard, 2000; 2003), and can live on forever.
mortality, become eternal. As long as the physical backbones of the
Net are alive our contributions, our materialized thoughts, our DISCUSSION
digital selves, will also live on forever. The many ways of self-realization on the Net presented are not
meant to be fully applicable to each and every Net self. Self-
I always think that there is a little angel on my shoulder saying realization is itself a mental construction. The findings presented
that contributing to open source is your way to be remembered, above, however, give reason to assume that consumers do become
well past my time creative and innovative together with like-minded others in order to
Even though we are a University project, all the code we achieve a sense of being (Heidegger, 1986). Individuals immerse in
produce is GPLd so that other people can take whatever we the networked world, become a constituent part of it and derive
have done and move it on. ie all our intellectual property can much of their identity from being linked to others in a hypertextual
live on. and a relational sense. Individuals feel interconnected, being
see also Eric S. Raymonds online legacy at : http:// weirdly wired with everyone, share the physical and spiritual vibes
www.catb.org/~esr/continuity.html of the global Network. The Net provides a whole new way of
Advances in Consumer Research (Volume 32) / 659
thinking about Jungs concept of the collective unconscious-a Bray, David K. and Low, D. (1980), The Kahuna Religion of
realm of abstract mental, emotional and spiritual forms, living Hawaii, Crabb, R. H. (ed.), Vista, California: Borderland
outside of physical space and time, accessible by all human beings, Science Research Foundation.
and guiding our thoughts and feelings. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1997), Creativity: Flow and the
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