| Abstract: |
The empirical studies relative to the Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS)
case stress the important role played by psychological and social motivations.
However, the theories elaborated to cope with this dimension, such as “gift
economy”, “epistemic community” or “community of practice”, are not combined
into a unique structured framework. It is possible to draw inspiration from
philosophical studies about language and from sociological studies about
collective action in order to construct a mechanism –here called “reflexive
identity”- able to bridge the analyzed theories and to explain the empirical
evidences left aside by self-supply, reputation and signaling. The reflexive
identity mechanism is triggered by the dialog between the members. In order to
simply communicate, in fact, members have to “negotiate” the system of
meanings they use to interface with the world and with the communitarian
environment. But this means reshaping also their own vision of the world,
redefining their identity. Community aims, principles and ethos act directly
on members’ identity, making them internalize the communitarian structure of
rules. The reflexive identity principle, then, merges the psychological and
social dimension of the FLOSS phenomenon with the structure of rules adopted
by the FLOSS community, and thus it constitutes together with self-supply,
signaling, reputation and peer regard the basis upon which the FLOSS community
is built. |
| Keywords: |
Free, Open Source, Software, Motivation, Incentive, Social Interaction, Identity, Production Model, Innovation. |