The Information Society has not only brought changes at a social and economic level, but also the appearance of a multitude of terms that give meaning to the set of new realities that have emerged. Hacker Ethics is one of them, which has acquired special relevance in recent years for being one of the main engines of Internet development.
The objective of this article is, precisely, to explain what the Hacker Ethics consists of, showing its repercussions in the business world, and the way in which it has generated a new vision of work. And above all, the intention is to show how the principles of this new ethic can be valid to generate innovation in the activity of our companies.
After this brief introduction more than one person may be wondering:
But what do hackers have to do with the corporate world?
And with Free Software?
And with innovation?
Manuel Castells, Pekka Himanen, Stephen Levy and Lena Zúñiga are some of the people who have been working and researching on this and other related topics, and who answer the questions posed here.
The Company-Network is based on the Internet
The relationship between the business world and the hacker community, as well as everything that revolves around the Free Software movement, is creating new social cartographies that, in Manuel Castells' terms, could be the driving force behind what he calls "Company-Network".
“The essential thing here is that the new economy is not the economy of the companies that produce or design the Internet, it is that of the companies that work with and through the Internet. This is the new economy and this is what is happening around the world. ”1
This new economy that Castells talks about refers to the new business relationship models that have emerged from the use of the Internet both in the relationship between suppliers and customers, as well as in the company's internal work.
The case of Zara has become a classic and clear example of these new relationship models. This company is what we might call an "Internet-Company".
Zara currently has around 2,000 warehouses distributed in thirty-five different countries, where each seller has a small device where sales are recorded. These data allow the director of each warehouse to make a weekly report that is sent through the Internet to the headquarters in La Coruña, where 200 designers process the information by computer determining market trends. In a matter of days, the design of the new clothing is sent to factories, where patterns are cut and production takes place.
This system, based entirely on electronic communication and processed through the Internet, has reduced to two weeks the time it takes Zara to redesign a product and put it on the market in any store in the world.
Consequently, these new forms of organization of companies are directly related to what happens on the Internet. The Internet has modified the imaginary regarding communication and interaction between agents, whether they come from business or social sectors in general.
Both the hacker culture and Free Software have had and still have a clear importance in the processes of change and in providing companies with all the necessary elements to become a Company-Network. Manuel Castells affirms that the hacker culture is one of the pillars of the construction of the Information Society. And that hackers, in their impulse to create technology, formed most of the protocols on which the Internet is supported today, the support on which the various models of said society and therefore of the Company-Network are built.
Internet is Free Software
If the Enterprise-Network exists because of the appearance of the Internet, the Internet has been and is possible thanks to Free Software. And this was stated in May 2004 by some of the most significant people in relation to the Internet and Free Software:
“Most of the Internet infrastructure is based on Free Software and open protocols.
Currently more than 70% of web servers use Apache, a large number of mail servers use Sendmail or Postfix to manage the sending of email and practically all the name servers (DNS), essential in the operation of the Network, use the BIND program or derivatives of its source code. The importance that Free Software has had in the extension and development of the Internet since its inception is indisputable, and the mutual influence of these two technological fields is a proven fact. "
Barcelona Declaration for the advancement of Free Software Signed: Manuel Castells, Vinton Cerf, Marcelo D'Elia Branco, Juantomás García, Jesús M. González Barahona, Pekka Himanen, Miguel de Icaza, Rafael Macau, Jordi Mas, David Megías, Òscar del Well, Pam Samuelson.2
This group of experts is made up of people dedicated to different disciplines such as sociology, philosophy, engineering or hacking. And all of them underline the relevance that Free Software has had in the creation of the Internet, but emphasizing the importance of the people responsible for its creation: Hackers.
Free Software is due to computer hackers3
Bearing in mind the importance of Free Software in the construction of the Network, we have to refer to the group of people who are the protagonists of this story, better known as “Hackers”. As defined by Himanen4:
“… The hacker slang dictionary, the“ jargon file ”, compiled collectively on the Web, defines hackers as people who dedicate themselves to“ enthusiastically programming ”and believe that“ sharing information constitutes an extraordinary well, and that it is also an ethical duty for them to share their competence and expertise by developing free software and facilitating access to information and computing resources whenever possible… "
University of Chicago researcher Gabriella Coleman notes: “Hackers in general have a great love for Freedom of Information. It is at the same time an ethical position, an aesthetic sensibility and increasingly, a political issue ”.
We will stop at the ethical position of hackers, their new way of understanding and performing work that has transformed classic concepts of organization, production, management and labor cooperation.
The essential values of computer hackers give rise to the Hacker Ethics.
According to Pekka Himanen, one of the most cited authors on the subject of Hacker Ethics, the three essential values of such an ethic are a work ethic, a money ethic and a network ethic. The former has had more influence on the ethics of the Information Society and the latter is still a challenge in its adoption in other areas. We can also add other points related to the evaluation criteria.
- Work Ethics is driven by passion, that is, the hacker works energetically seeking fulfillment. Hackers do not organize their lives in routine terms but rather in a dynamic, non-routine and optimized flow between creative work and the play space. Passion and freedom converge in this ethic. In the Money Hacker Ethics, the latter is not considered a value in itself. Hackers motivate their activity based on goals such as social value or software accessibility. These people choose to collectively create something that has value to the community and, as a result, gain recognition from their peers. The products of this creativity can be used, developed and reformulated by anyone, allowing one another to learn.The Ethics of Networks is defined by the values of complete freedom of expression in action, privacy as protection of individuality and the rejection of passive receptivity, in favor of the active exercise of one's own interests.
In addition, this ethic includes a concern for others with the desire to eliminate the survival mentality that dominates other areas and that, according to the hacker, should not exist in the networked society. This means seeking the participation of others and the inclusion of those who do not participate. (Himanen 2001).
- Ability as the sole endpoint. Hacker communities are not governed by formal decision-making structures and assigned responsibilities. They are governed by a system in which the technical merits and experience of the community attribute certain powers and prerogatives to certain members (mainly related to software development, but not exclusively).
These points of the Hacker Ethics, added to the previously commented on the relationship between the Free Software communities and the Internet, are what represent a challenging alternative spirit to the Protestant work ethic.
But, how the Hacker Ethics can help in the innovation of my company?
Hackers are creating a new technological and social paradigm, which redefines the classic values regarding work, money and social relationships. Access to information, horizontality, and the sharing of knowledge become the fundamental sources from which hackers feed, and consequently many of the innovative techno-social advances are created.
These new ways of organizing and producing are some of the factors that we propose to take into account so that, applying the principles of the Hacker Ethics, generate innovation and knowledge in our company.
Final thoughts
- What is the space in our company for creative work, play, personal fulfillment, freedom and passion? What is the work ethic of our company? What motivates our activity? Is it just the money? Or also the social value, general accessibility, learning or knowledge sharing? What is the money ethic of our company? What is the way of working of the people of our company? Do we seek the participation of all of them in the projects? What is the networking ethic of our company? Are we a Company - Hacker? The bet is very clear: Free Software is more than code, it is a new way of understanding technology, work and innovation to generate wealth and quality of life for everyone.
