Hacker education and transformative agency: an empirical study in hacker communities and in the school case of Conexão Escola-Mundo

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates how particular aspects of hacker education are perceived as drivers of transformative agency in hacker communities and a brazilian school by applying a qualitative study of a broader mixed-method research. The analysis revealed a multidimensional understanding of hacker education, pointing to elements of a transformative activist stance based pedagogy in digitalized societies. Six dimensions emerged: inquietude, action-fun, collective, society-community, sharing and the humanistic-technological dimension. The findings indicate that in both contexts, the co-creative process, in addition to strengthening the sense of community, is what drives participants to act as transformative agents through the artifacts they can create.

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPQ, Portuguese: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) [grant number: 440065/2017-8 CHSSA 2016]; The Federal Institute of São Paulo with the paid leave for training program, was fundamental for the development of the research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Available in <https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/List_of_Hacker_Spaces>.

2. Know more: https://rqda.r-forge.r-project.org.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [440065/2017-8 CHSSA 2016].