A connective ethnography of a file sharing practice: the bulgarian case.

Abstract

This dissertation called "A connective ethnography of a file sharing practice: The Bulgarian case" aims to provide an understanding about file sharing activities while considering the local context of a specific country. In doing so, it is possible to find out more about the characteristics of the phenomenon and the motivations of those who are part of it. To fulfill this research aim, the dissertation answers the following questions: • What are the distinctive features of the file sharing practice in the Bulgarian cultural context? • What are the incentives for being part of this practice in Bulgaria? • How could the file sharing practice in Bulgaria be understood considering the local context in which it occurs? The empirical study contains 22 formal interviews with key informants from the file sharing community - experts, uploaders/downloaders and translators, online participant observation in two websites - the biggest Bulgarian torrent tracker, called Zamunda. net and the pioneer in making subtitles - Subsunacs. net. The ethnography of the file sharing activities in Bulgaria gives insights into actors involved, roles, rules, rituals, norms and incentives for file sharing. The analysis in this dissertation is focused on three main actors identified during the fieldwork - Internet Providers, torrent trackers and subtitling websites. These actors have their own dynamics and characteristics but they are interconnected and share a common purpose - file sharing. The construction of this file sharing network is an outcome of the ethnographic research rather than its precursor. It is a good practical example of how different groups are overlapped and connected in order to constitute the file sharing community in the country, a community which is rather a network of connections than a collectivity fixed in a location. Furthermore, the analysis reveals four main incentives for participating in file sharing activities: cost and "poverty", choice, scarcity and convenience. A specific motivator related only to subtitling is the passion for the proper translation and language and translators define their activity as (a) a hobby, (b) a way to enrich their language knowledge, and (c) a contribution to content in proper Bulgarian language. The file sharing practice is well accommodated and seminstitucionalized in the country and can be understood as autonomy and strategy helping to formulate the phenomenon of P2P-based file sharing as one of condition/norm rather than reaction/deviation. File sharing venues have publicly visible presence and even the "copyfight" is yet non-existing in the country they play the role of occasional activists without giving the impression of the activism as more crucial to the phenomenon that it actually is. The contribution of the dissertation lies first and foremost in the empirical evidence that it adduces. The study provides insight into the file sharing subculture through questioning commonsense assumptions about file sharing, As most file sharing activities are considered illegal, this research is significant as it explores a topic not often discussed in social studies and helps in growing this field up. More specifically, it contributes also to the body of studies about file sharing by providing data on that activity in a cultural context often considered "periphery" and remaining outside the scientific interest. By taking into consideration the local economic, political and social forces, the present study helps to gain a better understanding of the file sharing in Bulgaria and adds knowledge to the pool of studies about interaction between Internet and Society in different regions and the diversity of technological appropriations that exists nowadays.

Date of Award	23 Apr 2015
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Department of Social Psichology
Supervisor	Juan Manuel Muñoz Justicia (Director)