A Critical Ethnography of an Online File Sharing Community: An Actor-Network Theory Perspective of Controversies in the Digital Music World

Abstract

This dissertation titled 'A critical ethnography of an online file sharing community: an actor-network theory perspective of controversies in the digital music world' aims to provide an understanding of file sharing activities, and the technologies and systems that support these activities, while also considering the influencing role that the power structures of the music recording industry have. In doing so, it is possible to find out more about the individuals who are part of this subculture, and their motivations for file sharing. Through exploring the roles, rules, rituals, norms, values, ideologies, and language in file sharing, this dissertation gives detailed insight into how distribution and social structures in the music recording industry are changing, and how these changes impact on the way people access (search and download) and use (listen and share) music. These activities make up an online music experience, which can be thought of in contrast to the music experience (access and use) before the Internet, which centred primarily on physical artifacts (CD’s, cassettes, albums) and other sources of music radio, concerts). To fulfil this research aim, this dissertation answers the research question: 'How do information systems support unauthorised file sharing activities within an underground online community?'. To understand file sharing activities in an underground online community, it is important to situate them within a wider social, political, legal and historical context. Within this wider context, this dissertation demonstrates the controversies that have emerged with the growth of the Internet as a distribution mechanism for music...